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

I actually used the work gym, that I pay far too much money per pay period for, this evening. It wasn’t bad, even without towel service. I was a tad nervous when I got in and all but one of the treadmills were taken, but the run proceeded apace. They have the same annoying 30 minute limit on their treadmills that the ones at the YMCA down in Chesapeake had, but I suspect a Quickstart session would get around that. As it was I just did 30 minutes anyway, then got myself going and up to the grocery store.

Even though I was starving I still managed to get out of Whole Paycheck Foods for less than $50, including the lazy taxi home. While there I discovered the Tofurkey sausages, so tried some this evening with some pasta and red pepper pesto, and they weren’t bad. I shall have to try them in my favorite pot luck dish, “Sausage with Red Peppers and Pasta” soon. Now if I could just find a good sub for the chicken in “Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic,” I’d be set on the only two non-vegan dishes I really miss.

Given the experience tonight I may have to filch borrow another towel from the Y and use the work gym for my evening runs instead of going back up to the Y for them. We’ll see. It was certainly nice to just walk downstairs to run rather than bussing up to the Y, then bussing home. And post-move it’ll be even more convenient.

I’ve done my southern roots proud and had my black-eyed peas, served up in a vegan version of hoppin’ john. Alas, I did not make cornbread or collard greens, but I did make the peas, and that was the important part, according to my grandmother.

Otherwise, the new year has thus far been nice and quiet.

I did my traditional new years day run. Since recovering from mono back in 99/00, and making my first run on new year’s day 2000, I’ve made it a tradition to run on that day. No heart rate monitor, no watch, no music, just whatever clothes are needed for the weather, my shoes, and me. Was a good run this afternoon, my first outside in a while.

I apologize to those of you who’ve been so kind in your emails, calls or text messages. As you may have figured out by now, I’ve been dealing with some pretty nasty depression of late. Right now I just want to get moved to a new place, get settled there, get away from the bugs and the loud music, and see where it is I’m going from there. This has not been helped by the lovely cold sore that popped up yesterday morning with none of the usual warnings (no tingling, etc.). Woke up and there the little fucker was. Thankfully it’s progressed along just as quickly and the meds I have seem to be helping speed it along. ‘Tis past the painful stage and onto just plain annoying. But it did not help my mood any yesterday, and it just reinforced the decision to stay at home and just ruminate on stuff.

The good part of this, however, has been that I’ve been cooking up a storm. In additon to the aforementioned hoppin’ john, I’ve made roasted butternut squash, breakfast tofu scramble, barbeque baked lentils, and garlic roasted asparagus for various meals. I’ll have leftovers galore this week for lunches, which is better than buying stuff on campus any day of the week.

Still working on this year’s uberlist. Did learn some things from the past year’s list, and I want to make this thing work.

So, when last we left our hero, he had possibly discovered that the loverly little bed bugs were back.

So, of course, he went out and got drunk last night with Brian and Jhim (and Josh, whose URL I don’t know).

Ouch. Halo’s 2-for-1 drink dealie is not my friend.

Thankfully there is a lovely coffee place here in the BGA building, and so a nice little donut and full-strength coffee were enjoyed/are being enjoyed here at my desk. Otherwise I’m working through a little memo that’s been bugging me for a couple weeks now and I am determined to kill it, kill it dead, today. I want it off my desk and in someone else’s hair.

Distressingly, my iPod speakers here at work are broken – the right speaker isn’t playing any more. Wouldn’t have noticed, but California Dreaming came on, and since that has to play from both speakers, it was a little unbalanced with only the women’s voices coming through. Ah well.

Todd, whom I have I not mentioned here before, but who is someone I’ve started seeing recently, came and took care of me after teh drunk was gotten on, which was very sweet of him.

Anyway, back to the memo from hell, and the last bits of coffee here.

Even though the folks at work seem to universally have a pretty good opinion of me and my work product, I always dread performance reviews. It’s an irrational fear, but it’s there. Did the latest one today, and it was fine, as usual.

We’re experiencing the calm before the storm here in DC, literally. There’s a cold front moving through that’ll drop our temps a good 20 degrees or so this afternoon, but in the meantime it’s hot & humid here inside the Big Government Agency and that’s got a lot of people on edge. Me, I’m staying holed up in my office for as long as I can and avoiding eye contact with stressed out gubmint workers (which is pretty much everyone here).

I think I’ve decided Wednesdays will be my rest days on the tri training plan. I need at least one (other) work day evening with nothing after work, so Wednesdays it is. I’ve been trying out the schedule I want to follow and so far it’s pretty good, aside from needing more sleep time. I expect that to get a tad better as I shake things out and get into more of a routine here soon, but in the meantime I’m coasting through. Made all the more fun because I’m reducing my caffeine use with an eye to kicking it again. I’ve said I wanted to do that, and I think it’s time now. Have gotten myself down to a small decaf in the mornings and that’s it, so I think this is doable. And this is the time of year I did it last time – the normal disruptions of the holiday period were, strangely enough, conducive to dumping the stuff from my diet, so I’m trying what’s worked before. Keep your fingers crossed.

Bought Madonna’s latest but haven’t had much time to listen to it yet. So far so good, much better than the last one (may Mirwais rot in hell for that drivel – one album of it was okay, two was death).

In an odd place, as is probably normal, with Richard. We’re slowly making the transition down to roomies & friends, and I think it’ll be fine, but in the meantime it’s still a touch raw and awkward. I’m helping him with some work stuff, and we’re still chatting (still no thrown dishes or ugly words), so it’s just day by day there.

Looked at some places to rent online. I’m definitely leaning toward one particular building, with an efficiency, 600 square feet with a balcony. Still looking in SW, that’s still the best looking locale for now.

Cancer Survivors May Not Get Needed Care. The short version is that the Institute of Medicine found that cancer survivors aren’t getting the long-term follow up care they need after their initial treatments. Scary quote:

Half of all men and one-third of women in the United States will develop cancer in their lifetimes. Thanks to advances in early detection and treatment, the number who survive has more than tripled over the past three decades.

I have to say, cancer is the one health risk that just gives me the willies. My mother is a breast cancer survivor, her father and two brothers have had prostate cancer. Both of her grandmothers died of cancer, one from breast and one from ovarian cancer. My father’s mother had a cancerous tumor in her brain that killed her, and her sister, his aunt, has had melanomas removed from her face. If there’s a genetic component, I certainly have a high risk, then, given that family history. I’ve already had a talk with my doctor about it, after the latest diagnosis of an uncle. I’m going to start screenings for prostate and colon cancer about 5-10 years before the normal recommended time to start those, just in case. And otherwise I try to do the right things with diet, exercise, etc. But just the fact that it could pop up at any time scares the living daylights out of me. With other health risks (i.e., HIV, colds, broken bones, etc.) I can weigh the risks that they’ll happen or not and manage those to a point where I’m comfortable with my actions. Not so much with cancer. Scary, scary stuff.