Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

A nice, quiet start to the new year. I did go biking with the club. We did about 20 miles (plus to and from the site), most of which was in the rain. Should’ve put on my toe covers, but I don’t know that it would have kept my socks from getting as soaked as they did. Regardless, it was a fun time, and I’m going to try to do more rides with the club from now on. It was just too helpful to be out with other folks on the bike.

Though I suppose it is, as I told one friend tonight, “the masochism tango in all its forms.”

What that would mean is earlier bed times, though, since the weekday rides are at (ugh) 6:30 am. Not a bad thing, overall, but the change will be rough to adjust to. I’ll have to confirm that we’re still biking, since it’s not really winter here yet in DC (no temperature lows are predicted to get below freezing in the next week, and we have highs predicted in the 60s).

(side note: I worry about the areas that are getting neither snow nor rain this winter – that precipitation, no matter the form, though snow is better in some areas, is necessary for the spring and summer or large parts of the country could be in drought, yet again, which is Not A Good Thing)

Lots of cleaning today and all weekend (and two big batches of soup made as well), and likely will continue. I’m still trying to cull down the posessions, even after the culling I did before the move. I emptied out an entire footlocker worth of stuff, so now I have to figure out what to do with the extra locker. I think I know how it all accumulated, but I’m glad to be rid of it.

Anyway, off to bed for this Moose, have to get up and run. That Cherry Blossoom race is only 3 months off now…

I alternate between really bored and really excited about projects at work. There are two long-term things on the desk that I absolutely dread working on because they’re just terribly dull, complicated, and seemingly never-ending. Then there are some more fun projects that I keep trying to get to, that are equally important as the other two dull ones, but which never seem to be able to come to the top of the stack, despite ongoing talks with various folks about the status thereof. I need to just knuckle down and kill off the dreaded tasks, but they always manage to sap my will to live.

And they wonder why I don’t want to be a manager.

Did finally manage to motivate myself to hit the grocery store and pick up a few foodstuffs on the way home. Had meant to yesterday, but came directly home, had something simple from the cupboard, and crashed semi-early after doing a couple of things around the house. Slept really, really well, and really, really late (for me), but needed the catch-up from the weekend and the return to work.

Haven’t touched the uberlist yet for this upcoming year. I’ve thought about it some, but not put thought to file just yet. Soon. Oh, and I’m debating a change in my normal new year’s day routine. Normally I go on a run, commemorating my return to running from 2000 after having mono. Just me, no electronic devices, no watch, nada. Just a run. But this year my club is having a ride that morning at 10, and I think I want to go do that. I joined the club so I’d have folks to train with, and part of moving down to Southwest was to get over to Hains Point and practice with them, but I’ve not really taken advantage of the proximity like I had intended to, so I’m thinking it’s time to get out and practice with them. Still could run, but I suspect a slightly more social beginning to the year should be in order.

After biking all over creation today (well, not quite, but more than the usual for me as I had errands to run, post-gym), and swimming for an hour, I feel much, much better. Moose + Exercise = Much Better Mood. It also = much hungrier Moose, but that’s par for the course.  It helped that it was insanely warm here in DC today, around 70 F (~21 C) for the high, where the normal high is about 23 degrees cooler than that, around 47 F (~8 C) or so. So after all that it was home to wash clothes, grab some leftover soup and chill out.

Work is in that odd state of not-quite-fully-loaded-up, but not-quite-on-down-time either. We always expect it to be quieter, but somehow the inevitable last minute crises appear. At least it’s not completely dead, though then I would be able to catch up on filing and clear off my desk.

Party tomorrow evening, and seeing MG for probably the last time before he takes off for his trip back home for the holiday. Office party is also tomorrow (my particular section, as opposed to my larger attorney office, which was last week). My boss asked one of the organizers if it was going to be a dry party. We assured her it was not, so she zipped off the requisite mother-may-I letter to the building manager and got our permission (long gone are the days when feds could legally keep liquor in their offices without any check or fear or reprimand).

Not sure if I’ll get a run in tomorrow morning or not. If not, so be it. If so, yay. Would be better with, to stave off the party calories, but that’s what the rest of the week is for.

While home at lunch, I went by the office, asked to swap out my pedestrian fob for one of the car gate radio fobs. Had to fill out a piece of paper, but they gave it to me, no charge. Was quite nice to be able to bike onto the property this evening without stopping. Go squeeky wheel.

Rest of the afternoon was slightly crazy, work-wise, but bearable. Got my monthly haircut (she went even shorter than usual, looks good), then biked back downtown to swim for an hour. Did not have to time to make soup as I’d hoped, but the ingredients will keep until tomorrow, post-gym (with no haircut to take up the extra time). Or perhaps until the weekend when I can take an afternoon to simmer it down nicely. Hmm…

Managed to forget my wallet this morning (d’oh!), which wouldn’t be a big deal, but my monthly haircut is this evening, so I kind of needed it. So, told my team leader I was headed out for lunch today (I normally work through lunch at my desk), and biked back home. Much nicer than doing a veggie burger at work, and it’s nice to come back and check email on a real computer (as opposed to my cell phone). Hopefully the pasta will be done shortly and then it’s back up the hill to try and fix a (hopefully not too) big goof by one of our program offices with regards to their budget. Fun, fun. One of those times when I actually have to put to paper all of the ‘truths’ that folks ‘know’ about how the federal budget gets executed, which means some folks are not going to be happy…

I’m a tad worried about Mom’s memory.

She’s been paranoid for years now about getting alzheimer’s, which I think unlikely, but she has been showing signs of “chemo brain” as she calls it (a diminishment of mental capacities after chemo). The most notable thing is that she repeats anecdotes a couple of times within the same conversation. It’s not every conversation, but it’s enough that I’ve started noticing it. Now, I’m not one to talk but so much about repeating the same story to someone, but I at least separate my tellings by a day or so. Doing it in the same conversation is a bit different, like she’s losing short term memory. Will have to discretely mention it to Dad and see if he’s noticed it as well.

Hated, hated, hated driving. It’s loud, it’s boring, and I do not see how people do it on a regular basis. I am so glad I moved a mile and a quarter from work so I can walk or bike. Multi-hour commutes just blow my mind. That’s inhumane, IMNSHO. Didn’t help that the nimrod who rented the car before me smoked in it, using the center console as the ash tray (which the rental car place missed). The only good thing there was it allowed me to ID the sweet smell that occasionally comes out of my air units – I suspect now that the previous owner might have smoked. Not a biggie, it’s not come out in a while, but it was there when I first moved in and had to run the air units.

Speaking of the air units, I’ve asked the building operations guy if there would be issues with installing some programmable thermostats in my apartment. Tired of trying to remember to adjust the heat (which means it usually stays just a trifle cool).

Picked up oodles of veggies this evening to make soup tomorrow. And oatmeal. And other stuff. This after I was too lazy to change out of the shirt I biked home in this evening (I did switch out of the tights in favor of jeans). In this weather I don’t even break a sweat biking home (it’s <10 minutes to home – downhill), and this shirt’s comfortable, so what the heck. Did sit down and pay bills, which was needed, as well as arranging for some other errands I needed to get done. Productive evening, if not the most exciting.

With lows in the mid to high thirties this week, and as I get ready to start running and biking regularly again, it got to be time to haul out the winter running gear. The collection’s slowly grown over the years as I’ve needed items for particular weather conditions, or as I’ve found good sales in the spring. I remembered the collection as I was preparing for a short run this morning, and hauled out a top that was perfect for the temps (mid-40s).

In the same storage container was the bulk of my long-sleeve t-shirt collection, which was also a pleasant find. I’d left a couple out in my drawers to tide me over for the change in seasons, but I definitely needed shirts, even for just hanging around the house.

In he meantime, I’ve misplaced two DVDs that I use for indoor bike workouts. Found the short one (which I’d misplaced when I moved), but now I can’t find the two longer ones. I’m sure they’re around somewhere, but heaven only knows where.

It did feel good to run this morning in the cold. As usual, I needed the gloves to begin, but by the halfway mark they were too warm. The hat covering my ears lasted a little bit longer, but not much. I look forward to more cold runs this winter as I do base training for next year, and should be well prepped for the two spring races I want to do.

I voted right after 9 this morning, was a breeze – most notable moment was being asked
if I wanted paper or electronic, when my response was, “Paper, paper, paper! None of that electronic crap for me, thanks.”

Biked over to the gym in the rain, worked out for a little over an hour (light weights, high reps – trying not to be too sore tomorrow). Biked home in the rain (wet, wet, wet out there!), stripped down inside, dried the bike chain, showered, started laundry, ran to the pharmacy and grocery store, back to switch laundry, have a salad and now I’m watching the news.

I have to say, I have mixed feelings about the Democratic gains they’re projecting. If the Dems pick up even one house, my professional life will get much, much busier because the Dems actually exercise oversight over the agencies, which means a ton of official letters coming in with requests for information. Whee. It’s a good thing that the Congress exercises their Constitutional prerogatives, but it’s been relatively quiet these first three years at my current Big Government Agency, which isn’t such a bad thing, personally (not not such a good thing, as a citizen).

Anyway, back to watch the elections and get the laundry out of the driers.

… you get to work and you have a faux-hawk, not because that’s how you styled it when you left home, but because that’s how your hair gets squished down inside the helmet.

The new shoes have helped the knees. Biking up to get the shoes has also helped get me out of my “I’m walking to work” groove and back on the bike. I do like that it’s quicker, it’s the whole changing clothes at either end part that’s not particularly fun.

But it definitely felt better to bike in and back today.

Work’s still crazy busy. Wish I could talk about some of it, but alas, the cone of silence continues as I do like keeping my mostly-comfortable job. Two more weeks and we get to move on to the next set of craziness, also known as the continuing resolution period until after the election. It’ll go at least until then, and possibly later depending on which way the electoral pendulum swings. One house gets lost, they’ll likely ram the budgets through ASAP. If the current majority stays in power or gains, they may just punt the decisions to January. Either way it’s bad budgeting. Too bad the typical voter doesn’t care about whether they put a budget in place or not.

Otherwise there’s not much to report. I’ve become even more boring than I was, but most days that’s just fine by me.