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

Not been wanting to write much of late. Had a lot of things going on, personally, and no real desire to share them with the world at large.

Running’s been going pretty well. Did not quite 15 miles on Sunday. Ironic sight of the day while out running: Woman sitting on her back porch in a “Race for the Cure” T-shirt, smoking a cigarette.

I can tell I’ve been a little stressed, though – eating like there’s no tomorrow. Makes one yearn for the days before 14 year old anorexics started having strokes and you could still get real dexatrim over the counter. The new stuff just isn’t the same, and who needs a dressed up caffeine pill, really? If I wanted to get jittery I’d just drink more coffee. Not there’s been a lack of that in my diet, either.

Anyway. Writing more out of a sense of obligation than any real desire to post, so I’ll end this here and save us all trouble of more inane writing.

Was up at 5 this morning to go do a training triathlon with the Club down at Hains Point. I had been wavering yesterday, feeling totally unprepared (which I pretty much was), but popped a benadryl at 8:30, got into bed and was crashed by 9:30.

Got up before the sun, at 5ish. Made coffee (that I am just now sipping). Got a small b’fast, gathered my gear and got out the door to bike over to the point.

Registered, got marked up on the arm and leg and moved over to set up transition. I had everything laid out nicely, a pleasant change from the last time I did one of these (and no rain!). We wandered over to the pool and I actually got warmed up in the pool for once; I usually just stretch and get going – felt better having done 100 meters before hand.

Swim went well. Was cold to start (65?), but not unbearable once we got into the water. Did my race trick of breathing to one side instead of my normal two sided breathing. Should have seeded myself further up, I ran into the guy in front of me and didn’t get to pass him until the last 50 meters. He creamed me on the bike and run, but I had him on the swim. Swim time: 8:43.

Transition 1: 3:01:09 (including running back from the pool, so not bad).

Bike went okay. I could tell I had not been training. That said, I passed a couple of folks and was only passed by the folks who were way ahead of me in terms of loops (3 loop course). Dried out relatively quickly so it wasn’t too cold, post-swim. Oh, and I saw Tod out with his AIDS Marathon training folks, which was fun, even if I didn’t have more time to do more than yell out his name and wave as I zipped by on the bike. Bike time: 55:12

Transition 2: 1:42 (would be faster if I wore the same socks or didn’t wear socks, but that’s not happening, nor is dumping the damned orthotics. Yet).

Run went very well, I was quite pleased, except that I could have kicked it up sooner than I did. With a mile or less to go I picked up the pace and the leg turnover and did really well with it. Run time: 32:39 (meaning just at 10 minute miles average – course was 3.2 miles).

Total time: 1:41:09, a good 1/2 an hour faster than my last sprint race. So yes, quite pleased with the results.

For next time, I need to actually train, picking up the bike and the swim portions more (since I’m already running enough at the moment), and more speed work in all three sports. I think I can get it down more, especially on the bike, and get closer to an hour.

Okay, the oven works, the cake came out very well. It does seem to run hot for the setting it was on (i.e., 375 setting was reading 425 or so when I pulled the cake out), but that’s why I got an oven thermometer, to be able to tell these things. Never trust the dial on your stove, always double check it.

Inspired by a co-worker (and bored with not cooking enough stuff), I’m baking a chocolate ‘cake’ at the moment. It’s more brownie like than cake like, and it’s only in an 8×8 pan, but man is it good stuff. Easy recipe, baking soda and vinegar to make it rise. Tons of sugar and a good gob of oil. Ain’t nothin’ healthy or low-fat about this thing, but, as I said, man is it good stuff. Provided it comes out okay.

You see, I’ve not really tested how well the electric oven works. I’ve used it once for some hash browns, but not for real baking yet, so this is the acid test.

Wish me luck.

In a surprisingly good mood this evening. The quickie recap of the post-work scene:

Biked to my hair cut. On the way nearly got run over by an SUV who cut over with no turn signal into the bike lane, right into my path. I let him, and most of the block, know how displeased I was at him, yelling louder when he opened his window to apologize. I was not in the mood to be gracious and my heart rate was still too high.

Was early for the haircut, so went over to the vegan bakery close by, got some sweets, biked back over to actually get the haircut. Changed into a new shirt, out of the damp bike jersey. While leaving the place my back tire popped. Was meeting a young gentleman for dinner, but had time, so I went ahead and replaced the tube. But it wasn’t blowing up, and the time had come, so I walked it over to the corner, flagged him down (a fellow cyclist), and we went to dinner across the street.

Dinner was nice, good conversation, cute guy. Stopped by the liquor store to get some bourbon finally (been out since the 4th! the horror!). Walked to the U Street Metro (from 17th and R), metroed home, then discovered that the replacement tube (my last one) also had a hole in it, right across from the stem. Went to unpack my bag, felt something damp, had a mini panic attack thinking I’d crushed the liquor, but was relieved to discover it was only the damp bike jersey.

So, munching on a pecan cookie, chatting online, not drinking any of the bourbon (I want to run tomorrow), and generally enjoying the evening, despite the biking stuff.

Today was a wet one. I started it with a shower, then an open water swim out on the Chesapeake Bay with the club sometime around 8:30, another shower after that, then some more swimming at the cult co-op pool, then, of course, another shower. Very, very wet.

Came home from the first swim, hung up the wet suit, finally replaced my shower head (soooo nice to have a real shower head now), did cold wash (so no biking today – all my jerseys were dirty, and currently are drying on the rack).

Went and saw “The Devil Wears Prada” this evening with friends. Was quite cute, I enjoyed it. “That’s all.” Fun.

I’ve been reading a new cookbook I bought on Friday and it’s not helping my urges to add more things to the pantry and the kitchen gadget collection. There are items I need to add to the pantry, and will do so this week, but I don’t need (yet) a cast iron skillet. Nor do I need silicone oven mitts. Le sigh. But it’s been fun reading the cookbook. It’s a vegan one, and all the recipes look very accessible. The author is on my LJ friends list, and I remember hearing her trials of testing and what not, so it’s nice to read the actual book (finally) and see how well put together it is.

Off to crash soon, up for a bike ride, possibly, or more cookbook reading. Meeting of the members’ organization at the cult co-op tomorrow, and a bit of drama with that as a board member has caused a bit of a stir by perhaps getting our general manager to walk out on Friday. Moron.

The cold is progressing in the normal manner. Which is to say last night was my usual sleepless night (I always have one when I get a cold, like clockwork, on day 3 or 4). Thankfully it was over the weekend so I didn’t have to take time off.

Other than killing monsters (yay for Diablo II), it was a very uneventful weekend. Missed two handsome gents who were in town, and the aforementioned parties and dinner. Did run out to the grocery store this evening, just in time for the bottom to drop out right before I checked out. Brought a golf umbrella, but everything from the knees down was soaked right through (and is currently on a drying rack). Used some of the time yesterday to finally get some crap off the kitchen floor and put away, as well as rearranging some of the cabinets so they work better for cooking and eating. I have floor space again in the kitchen, which is a very good thing.

A very good thing because I will be cooking at home more. I looked over ye olde finances and I need to trim some stuff, and dining out/take out is an easy and obvious target. Hence the grocery shopping trip for some stuff to make for lunch this week. Will be healthier anyway, and allow me to stick some more money toward paying down the student loan with the highest interest rate. The cards are gone, so the next target’s in sight. Wish me luck.

The typical DC spring thunderstorm just blew through, making a mess of the early to mid afternoon commute. Saw many folks caught unawares, lots running for shelter, and tons of lightning coming down. Thankfully it was a fast moving storm, and it’s pretty much gone now, and should be nice and pleasant by the time I have to ride home.

‘Twas a pleasant weekend. Did some shopping Sunday, including a massive Whole Paycheck Foods trip to pick up much needed sundries. Indulged my inner fag and finally broke down and bought some Garland and Callas for the music collection. Has been most pleasant listening to them at work today.

Well, that and Julie Brown’s, “The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun.” My tastes are nothing if not eclectic.

Joe was kind enough to take some pictures yesterday and I’ll get some of those uploaded later this evening.

Going to make a batch of pesto this evening and kill some time with the TiVo. The ST:DS9 episodes are starting to pile up and I’d like to get through a couple more so I don’t overwhelm the poor machine. Nice and low-key, perhaps with some Big House Pink as well.

Finally got a chance to taste/use the little Cliff Shot Bloks I’d picked up at the Cherry Blossom expo, and I’m hooked. It was so much easier on the bike to fish one of those puppies out and have something to actually chew on, rather than having to tear open a container of goo one handed and then worry about where to put the little container when you’re done. Definitely going to be the calories of choice for the bike portion of my upcoming race (since I don’t seem to do well with sports drinks when exercising). Used them on a nice 2o-ish mile ride this morning.

Then this afternoon I swam, did 3 500 yard repeats after a long warm up. It went well, so I’m feeling okay about the swim portion of the race. The bike will be tough, but definitely doable, and the run, if this calf doesn’t get better this week, will be torture itself, but overall I think I’ll survive it.

Managed to get up to Dupont for lunch with a friend, and back down to the Y for the swim and then home again before the rain really hit. It’s going nicely now, a good, steady, relatively light rain. Enough to keep the kids indoors, not so nasty that I have to close the balcony doors. Is a nice, quiet counterpoint to my tapping on the keyboard. Should take the nice, quiet time to do some more cleaning, but I’m feeling cleaned out after yesterday’s straightening and getting the chairs unpacked and set up.

It looked as if I had killed the Scarecrow in my living room.

My dining room chairs arrived today, and inside the boxes they were padded with this paper wrapping that included some sort of straw stuffing that, no matter how careful I was, got all over everything. Whenever you moved the padding, it fell everywhere, along with the twine that I had to cut off the outside. Even tried to clog up the vacuum cleaner when I went after it that way. But in the end, I have dining room chairs, and can finally sit somewhere other than the couch to eat.

Otherwise it was a calm day. I got rid of the last of the donatables from the old apartment, got hissed at by Boris after I clipped his claws, claimed my flours & other baking sundries, forgot to get my mail, and had a nice time seeing Richard. Took the cart to the grocery store, hauled back some sundries for making some fun things (marinara, anyone?) and some more staples. I’m gradually rebuilding a kitchen, now I just need to cook some more. Tempeh gets made tomorrow – I’ve been craving a good rice dish, and since the rice cooker was among the things reclaimed from the old place, I can make some again. Without picking up the phone, even.

Long bike ride planned for tomorrow, then off to whatever Arena stage is playing at the moment. Might have to talk Lawrence into Jenny’s for dinner, stick down here in the ‘hood.