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

I managed to run for the first time in 3ish weeks today. No pain in the calf, it did fine, albeit at a slow pace. My knees, now, three plus hours afterword, on the other hand, are not so happy with me. Oh well, the knees will get over it. Thankfully the calf seems to be over it, which was a royal pain in the ass.

I also got the docs I needed to review for the cult co-op. Not reading them right at the moment because, well, I’m tired of reading legal docs today. Had to read far too many for work, the mood’s just not there for this. Will read them tomorrow while I do laundry.

Work has been absolutely crazy of late, which is cutting into my social time. Silly employer (yay for Uncle Sugar, but damn he’s demanding).

Sunday’s little incident seems far too long ago. *sigh*

Oh internets, how I missed thee. Long story short, RCN incorrectly disconnected our cable internet service during a service audit. After much hissy-fitting with the company (they cancelled a service call that was supposed to come yesterday, no explanation, no call, no checking to see if the service was actually working or not and, hence, if the visit was actually needed…), it has now (four days later) been reconnected and I/we can join the world of the living again. Stoopid lack of access.

The cult co-op/seller’s agent is supposed to get the docs to my agent tomorrow, so I should have those in my hot little hands tomorrow evening. I hope.

I hope to be able to run on Tuesday. In the meantime, had a good bike ride today, and great weight workout Friday. Backed off on the calf exercises which may have caused the original pull, so keep your fingers crossed there.

That’s life right now, real estate stuff, reading, work, and triathlon.

Woke up at 5 this morning and knew I wasn’t going back to bed, so I putzed for a bit, then got the gym to swim at 7. It was very quiet there, and I was able to get into a lane, shared at first with one other gentleman, then alone for the last half. This was about an hour before I normally get in there, but it was just as un-crowded at 8 when I was getting out as it was at 7 when I got in.

The resolutioners seem to have resolutioned out, finally. Thank heavens.

I think I freaked out my office by getting in at 8:30. Not early for most people, I know, but since I normally get in at 9:30-9:45, it was a tad strange for the rest of the folks here. I’ll use the extra time today to take less time off tomorrow when I go to fill out paperwork with my agent for the offer on the apartment.

(OMG, NPR is talking about the case of Marshall v. Marshall, aka the “Anna Nicole Smith” case, and I have to say, I knew she was a train wreck, but the description by Nina Totenberg is just Too Fraking Funny)

Will be slightly crazy here at work, even without the home buying stuff (my mortgage broker called when I was in the gym this morning). Whee.

I’m in the process of putting an offer in on a co-op apartment down in southwest DC, near the Waterfront Metro station. Nothing quite like contemplating more than doubling my debt load (after student loans) in one fell swoop. Thank heavens for the tax benefits that come along with mortgage interest payments in this country.

I’ve otherwise been busy, helping with the club’s new triathlete program, working out myself, and just generally living. My calf is still out of commission; tried running last Thursday, a week and some after the initial injury, but ten minutes in at a moderate pace I could tell it was not ready yet. I’ll take this entire week off and try to be patient. Thankfully swimming and biking have not been affected by the calf’s little injury, so I’ve been able to stay up with those in the meantime.

For reasons I’ll not go into here I broke things off with CT last week. For the first time since the Clinton administration I’m single. And you know, I’m okay with that; I’m looking forward to having some “down time” from dating, to be honest. I want to get the new apartment arranged, do my race, get the new triathletes through their first race(s), and simply take things day by day otherwise. Heaven knows I need to take some of the down time and retool my eating habits; I’ve been eating for stress, not for hunger and fueling my body, and the scale’s been showing it this year. Not that buying the apartment and breaking up are doing wonders for my stress levels, but this has been just plain silly. There’s no reason my eating should have been that out of whack. Ah well, live, learn, and move on.

Got a starter Prince’s Wand (link not safe for work) last week. The starter version was nice, after a ton of cleaning (it was obvious they hadn’t cleaned it before they shipped it), but if I were to continue with one I think I’d have to go and get a custom one done by Steel Werks Extreme (again, link not safe for work). The starter one fits okay, but a more customized version would be needed for more than just hanging out in it, if you will.

(how sad, I just realized I didn’t have a “sex” category for that last bit of text; shows how little I’ve been doing anything in that department lately)

Anyway, brought some work home tonight so I need to go read that and get prepped for a semi-big meeting with my chief deputy poo-bah tomorrow.

Just pulled my right calf while running on the treadmill here at work. Ow, ow, ow. And CT’s going to think I did it intentionally to get out of seeing him on Black Tuesday. *sigh* Right now I just want to head home, prop it up with some ice on it and go to bed (though not with the ice still on it as that would be pretty uncomfortable and/or wet when I woke up).

Dear runner with the not-quite-tight-enough-tights, next time, please either put on some undies that hold your junk in tighter, or get better tights, because while it was kind of interesting to see you prove that you were definitely male, it was also mightily odd to see your gonads flopping back and forth while you ran.

Dear walkers, I appreciate that you have to get out and exercise as well, but please get a clue about the rules of the trail, stay to the right, and try not to jump to the left when someone tells you they’re passing you on that side.

Dear cyclists, thank you for behaving for once. I suppose the bad weather meant only the hardiest and smartest of you were out. Bravo.

Behold, the power of garlic. Nothing quite like doubling the amount of garlic to go into your favorite hummus recipe. Yum!

Nice run this morning while out in the rain. Was trying to get done with it before the snow, which was predicted to start between 8 and 10 this morning, started. Of course, the snow didn’t actually start until 2:30, 2:45 or so here in town, but it’s coming down to beat the band now. The rain wasn’t bad at all, and I’m glad I got this weekend’s long run done before we get “snowed in.” Can easily do the bike indoors tomorrow, and we’ll see if the gym is open tomorrow for a swim.

Oh good, I see snow sticking down in the park now.

My brother’s being a twit, drinking on his antidepressant meds, scaring his about-to-pop-out-a-child wife and our parents. ‘Twas his “cry for help” (his words) and it certainly worked. Little idiot. Heaven forfend he should just ask for some help, no, instead he has to make a big dramatic scene. And here I thought the gay children were supposed to be the dramatic ones.

I should update those things I’ve already done on the Uberlist, but I’ll save that for later.

Richard came back in the apartment yesterday morning to tell me the wonderful news that they were painting the bed bug boys’ apartment and that the boys were now gone. Hooray! Keep your fingers crossed that the next person/bunch is better than this previous group was.

I’m still vascillating on the whole buying real estate thing, though am leaning more heavily toward buying. The listings aren’t bad, and reading more on the subject makes me more hopeful. Chatted with my bank about some short-term investment options as well, and the rates don’t seem terribly useful for that at the moment. Of course, the flip side of that is that borrowing rates for mortgages aren’t too terrible, either.

Today was the last day of physical therapy left from the car accident last month. Loved the therapist, she was very helpful, and we (finally) went over more stretches for my IT bands that should help with that little problem. Overall she seemed pleased with the stretching I’m doing now after we went over it, which was good to see.

Otherwise I’m staying busy between training and gearing up for the new triathlete program (sign-ups begin next week!).

Got hit with a big nasty right before I left work. Won’t go into details (not that I ever do, with work), but I actually brought work home tonight.

Yes, I’m as shocked as you are, gentle reader.

Thankfully this isn’t the norm for my job or I’d have to kill someone seriously consider other employment.

I see the physical therapist tomorrow. Have to have her run off a new copy of the exercises I’m to do as the original three sheets (6 per sheet) were a casualty of the exploding shampoo bottle (and did I mention that my gym bag smells of orange candy now? It does. The joys of using kids shampoo to get the chlorine out of my hair). Also checking on the progress of all the gut-sucking transverse ab work she’s had me doing.

Been having too much caffeine of late, which has left me somewhat restless & anxious. The fire alarm here in the building (something was going on, fire trucks showed up, though we did not evacuate) right at 10 p.m. was not a help, either. Stayed up a bit longer to make sure we didn’t need to herd the cats into carriers and head out, hence the writing, but it appears we’re in the clear. In the meantime I’m listening to my “mellow” song list in iTunes and trying to put myself in the mood to sleep.

The Uberlist is down to the last 20 or so items, which is always the most difficult part to me. The big stuff is on there, now it’s little things that might or might not need to go on a list. I think the uberlist idea might need to cut back by half or so or I’m not going to be able to get anywhere near finishing most items on it. While I love the concept, the sheer volume of things is a tad much to come up with.

Got up, went to pack my gym bag, and discovered that at some point in the night one of the “slimer” ghosts from the Ghostbusters movies had visited the bottom of my bag. Thankfully there wasn’t much in there for the shampoo that leaked to get all over, so it was just a matter of cleaning a few things (though the toiletry kit bag is ruined) and getting the majority of the gunk out, with the major cleaning to come this evening, post-gym.

How prescient that I’d added “get a new toiletry kit bag” to the uberlist last night…