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

The week between Xmas and New Years can be an odd one. Cleaning up from Xmas, figuring out where new things need to go. Finishing off leftovers. Etc.

Two weeks on the new drugs, and also dropped a decongestant that I’ve been taking for forever (20 years?) because it can raise BP. Other than the withdrawal from the decongestant (felt like a bad head cold, especially on day three), things have settled in. Of course there’s a weird paranoia that comes with having had a TIA – is any odd sensation, which would not have raised an eyebrow prior to three weeks ago, related? They’re not, of course, but that doesn’t stop one from idly questioning each and every one. I’m more likely now to move out of a position that will give me pins-and-needles now than I was previously, if only to prove it’s not my brain misfiring (as opposed to just cutting off nerves/blood supply). Whee! Bodies are such fun.

Picked up new glasses this afternoon, which was a whole other adventure in being more active than I have been. The new Echo frames are fantastic. The other regular frames I picked out back in August seem to be cursed. Second set of lenses, second set of “this isn’t right”/headache inducing oddness. I have to go back next week for a pair of readers (prescription adjusted for close work – yay aging eyes), so I’m trying out the regular ones off and on, but I swear that VSP either did nothing with the lenses, or they just can’t get the prescription right. Especially since the Echo frames are, as stated above, fantastic – no issues seeing out of the new lenses there. *shrug* Hopefully they’ll be able to test the lenses and see what’s going on there.

The in-laws came down for Xmas and we had fun playing card/board games and what not with them. And of course the usual Xmas stuff of gifts and stockings and what not. Fare was relatively simple, no big bird or beast, but the melting potatoes were a hit again.

We have another couple coming over for New Years eve, and I need to plan out dinner. They’re mostly vegetarian, which is easy enough, but I did a risotto already for them pre-Xmas so I need to plan something else this time.

Not the shopping day I’d planned for, but hey. Started out early, with a 9am appointment at BJs to replace the front tires, because one of them has a giant bulge and a slow air leak. Get there ten minutes early, doors are closed. They finally bother to open at 9:25 (after calling the main desk twice to see where they were), get to the counter, they don’t have the tires I preordered and prepaid for. Then it was into the main club for a refund, because at that point I was done with them. Appointment made for another place Wednesday morning, and I’ll call Tuesday night to doublecheck that they have the tires.

So then it was on to get some food and planned haircuts. While eat we decided the husband needed some more shirts, so we picked the closer of the malls and headed there for wandering and shopping. I picked up grooming supplies, and he got a bunch of shirts. Ah, married life. Heh. Book shopping next, then a late lunch and gas for the car. The tire held up well, thankfully, and I didn’t have to reinflate it while we were out (I keep a pump in the car normally anyway).

Ran twice this week, very basic run/walk workouts on the treadmill, but the first such since covid last month. The fatigue is finally gone, thank heavens. Blood pressure is still higher than anyone would like, but some regular exercise should start to help with that, or at least keep it from getting worse. I’d really prefer not to go on drugs for that; I resent the allergy and reflux medications as is, so the thought of adding more just makes me grumpier. *phhhbbbbtttt*

Off to a brunch showing of Margaritaville at a local(ish) dinner theater tomorrow. Should be a hoot. I have a nice Hawaiian shirt with flamingoes on it for the occasion, and the husband has something similarly loud. We’re meeting friends for it, which will be nice as we’ll have a four-top table for the group, and no strangers to try and make awkward conversation with. Final show of this run, which is always fun to see.

We had the Mini’s windshield replaced back in June, after a particularly large pothole on Route 50 jarred the car badly enough to cause a large crack to develop. And then I kept forgetting to re-coat the new window with Rain-X. I prefer having that on the windows because I find it easier to see out of them, and you can run the wipers less; at highway speeds the water wicks off on its own, and I find wipers distracting. Personal preference, your mileage may vary. Last night we went out to dinner and it was pouring, reminding me again that I hadn’t done the windows. So this morning while coffee was brewing I ran downstairs and finally cleaned and Rain-X’d the suckers. Now watch me not need to go out during any rain any time soon. Which is fine, because I’m prepared now.

Yesterday we found out a friend of ours has been on meth for several years now, when he called about some not-so-smart decisions he’d made the past week and finally confessed that he’d been using. Ugh. I have a lot of sympathy, and a lot of wanting to smack him upside the head. Nasty stuff. Does explain some of the mood swings and workaholism. What a mess.

Knitting on the latest scarf is proceeding apace. I’m on color number two of four. I made the first block a few inches too long, but whatevs. I thought about just extending the others, but that would make the whole thing an extra foot long versus an extra three inches, so no thanks. And I successfully managed not to buy more yarn at the yarn store yesterday for the local men’s knitting group. I did buy another project bag, but no more yarn.

On the eve of my wedding:

“I don’t mind that you couldn’t come. I do mind that you couldn’t tell me that you couldn’t or wouldn’t come. I understand if you had previous plans that you couldn’t (or wouldn’t) cancel, but to not even be able to bother to tell me that you wouldn’t be able to come to my wedding was a real kick in the balls. I did think that we had a slightly better relationship than that, though I suppose the lack of regular interaction killed that. I wouldn’t have minded even the simple, ‘No, I’m sorry, I can’t come.’ But to just ignore me entirely, even after receiving a ‘save the date’ and an invitation in the mail and reminders over electronic media, which I know you read because the read receipt told me that you read them, was beyond rude. So, I suppose we are at an end. And I mourn that loss, even as I begin the next chapter in my life. I’ll miss you tomorrow, but it’s time to move on.”

Been fighting a head cold for the past two weeks. Been to urgent care once (my doc was closed), after my parents bullied me into going to ensure it wasn’t pneumonia (it wasn’t). I think I’m going to try to get to the regular doctor tomorrow. The fever had left before the end of the first week, but it popped back up today, which indicates to me that the thing has gotten worse. That or the second cold I was exposed to this weekend decided to hit me on top of the original cold.

Friend came to visit this weekend (long planned trip) and he had come down with something just before he left. So, this could be cold #2, or a combo of the 2, or a restrengthened cold #1. Who knows. Regardless, this is one of the worst colds I’ve had in a couple years and I’m really, truly tired of dealing with it now.

After a month break from writing, and three months off from regular exercise, it’s now time to get back to both. Monday is six months (24 weeks) from my next triathlon, and the beginning of training for the same. I’m trying to set out a manageable plan to work on getting faster (3:12 is the time to beat!), including weights for once. Gonna be an interesting season.

Also been working on the training plan for our new triathletes this year. I have the times and most of the heart rates, it’s just plugging in extra stuff like swim workouts and the like now. Plus setting out the stuff for their weight workouts. No pressure. This year should be the most difficult, once this is laid out it’ll just be a matter of tweaking it here and there.

I hosted friends at my place for Thanksgiving this year. Just a couple of us, but I did the majority of the cooking. I enjoyed that, it was fun getting everything together and timing it all out to be ready approximately at the same time. May do the same for the christmas holiday if there are folks in town.

Had one last appointment with Comcast today, and they fixed the issue. The tech who came out knew his stuff, didn’t put up with anything from the folks on the phone (specifically asked if the first person knew how to do cable cards and asked to be transferred to someone who did; also made the other person repeat back all numbers he read to them). Didn’t take him more than 10 minutes tops, and it worked fine as soon as he had them activate it.

Is nice to have the thing back and working. While I’m going to continue exploring the catalog available to watch instantly on Netflix, I did miss some of the current shows that I watch.

Otherwise the weekend was a bit off. I helped a friend who needed company Saturday evening, watching some bad movies and chatting about his worries. Had an odd trick Friday night that ended up not being quite worth the lack of sleep. My favorite part was when he said, “If I’d’ve known I was coming over I wouldn’t have had Mexican.” Indeed. I ended up not getting off because I wasn’t going to risk the results of the Mexican food.

I checked out the new Safeway. They’re still missing some of the staples of my diet (organic soy milk, for one), but it was much nicer than the old one, and though I normally don’t care for self-checkout, it worked well. It’ll be good for ‘pop in and get a few things’, but I think I’ll still be making regular trips to HT for staples. I’m hoping the quality stays up and it’ll be good for things that I need the same day or the next day.

In related news, I’ve been trying to eliminate most sources of high fructose corn syrup from my diet, and I was appalled to discover the bread I’d been eating had it in there. It actually took me about half a dozen brands of whole wheat bread before I found one without it. Yuck.

Other than the Comcast situation, things are pretty good here. Training is going apace, I have a plan for my swimming (the weakest of the three legs for me). I’m a tad apprehensive about getting up to the right volume of long rides given my volunteer duties with NTP, but I think I’ll be there for Eagleman. I’m already up to it for Columbia, and I expect that race will go fairly well, all things considered.

We’ve passed two candidates up to the next and final round of interviews for the other fiscal law position at work. Hopefully the interviews will get scheduled soon and we can get him or her on board in short order. Took us longer to get the reference checks done simply because of the nature of scheduling at work the week before last.

Along the same lines, I’m trying to get a better handle on my work load so I can know what things should and can get passed along to the new person. There are several ‘what if’ projects I’d like to start laying out as well, getting reference materials together to make it easier for myself and others to find things related to our budget and the organizational structure of the BGA.

Hosted my friend Rob this weekend, up from Richmond. Mostly I let him wander on his own as I had club and cable stuff to deal with, but we did get to spend some good time together, which was fun. I’m afraid such events will become more scarce as August approaches and I become pickier about my training and recovery needs.

Signed up for a running clinic next month with the folks who established the style of running I’ve been trying to do. Should be interesting to get some feedback from them on how I’m doing with their stuff. I suspect I’m going to be told to turn my legs over faster, but that’s fine and doable. More worried that I’m just completely off on what they were aiming for, but that remains to be seen.

Started another pair of socks yesterday, and I got yarn and a pattern from a club on Friday to knit a pair of fingerless gloves (‘texting gloves’ as they were called). Fun and interesting pattern, and great yarn for it. Looking forward to making those, but want to get the socks done first, or at least well started since those can be a Metro project where the gloves are a bit too complex for traveling.

Biked up for errands this morning (dentist, picking up glasses, etc.), and there was a serious amount of stupid on the trail in Rock Creek. No helmet, helmet on but unbuckled (doesn’t do much good if it flies off your head when you fly off the bike…), people running on the left side of the trail, etc. Most annoying. Kinda makes you want to get “Trail Rules” signs like they have on other trails in the area.

Why is it that you say “I’m a triathlete” and suddenly you become all intimidating to some people?

I really, really wanted aero bars on my single speed bike this morning while down around East Potomac Park. File under “you know you’re a triathlete if…” you want aero bars on all your bikes. The instinct to get down on the bars while on a straight, flat stretch was pretty strong. Good sign that training on the tri bike is going well. Or at least has become second nature.

No A/C yet in the building, so while I wait for the cable guy to come by and slap a cablecard into the new TiVo it’s kinda warm. We’ll have it in two weeks once they transition the system over from heat, and I’m semi-okay with this because the new general manager here at the cult co-op is having his guys come by and do a comprehensive sweep and check of all the convectors in each individual unit to ensure they’re working, clean, lubed, etc. First time it’s been described that way (past just the usual “we’re changing the filters”), so I’m okay with delaying to ensure all the equipment is working at peak efficiency, or at least at a better clip than the norm. Having vacuumed off my own units, I have seen how nasty they can get, so I can only imagine what some of them look like. It’s nice to have a proactive manager for once; he’s been big on getting in to do preventative maintenance, which is much appreciated here.

Had plans with a friend to do some gaming, but he got called in to do more on a research project he’s leading at school, so no go there. A nap sounds like a good alternative. With the lack of A/C and temps in the 90s the past few days sleep has been elusive. Lots of tossing and turning and odd dreams, including some disturbingly vivid erotic ones. Waking up at 2 am with an almost painfully raging hard-on from one of those is not conducive to a lot of rest.

I’ve been indulging a crush, which has been fun. I feel like I can begin dating again, that I’m ready for that, with the result that I’ve been keeping my eyes open and my flirt meter at “medium high”. But I also feel like I’m looking more with an eye to finding something more than just casual. As always, nothing is set in stone, but we’ll see where the path leads.

It’s been spring cleaning season here at Maison du Moose. I’ve been collecting things that need to be donated, and tossing those things which aren’t donation worthy. Several boxes were untouched in almost 4 years, and while there were a few things which were saved from one or two, most of them were summarily dumped. It’s amazing how much space you can clear up when you do stuff like this. I keep surprising myself in the linen closet/hall closet/extended medicine cabinet with all the empty space on the shelves. I’m sure I’ll figure out things to rearrange, but for now it’s nice to see empty shelf.

Have to figure out how to completely delete my old PC and then recycle the parts. I think I shall enlist the help of a friend who does forensic computer stuff for a living and see what he recommends. I haven’t turned it on in almost two years, it needs to stop taking up space and get outta here, along with its cart.

Post brunch I hauled it back here to keep sorting and cleaning. Eventually a friend found his way down and had some fun looking through the archeological finds in some of the boxes with me, but we eventually made our way down to the local watering hole and had a nice dinner. A quick trip to the grocery store afterward to pick up needed supplies (note to self, don’t go again when you’re feeling a craving for sweets), and now it’s crash time to get the week going.