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

Was on the way to the not-so-local comic shop that the boy has adopted when the back passenger tire decided to start making Very Loud Noises. Seems the thing had finally decided enough was enough and it was time for tire replacements. Visited a couple of places, everywhere had to order tires for the poor mini (none had them in stock), so we limped to the comic shop (thankfully I have a car-lighter-powered air pump in the car, so we were able to inflate the tires a couple of times), then to BJs where we ordered tires to be done some time this week. Had a bit of fun there trying to get a coupon printed off their web site ($70 off the set, so was worth the aggravation), ended up having to track down the boy’s zip code from three-plus living places ago to get into the site, but eventually got in and got the coupon. Shopped some at regular BJs, though not as much as we might have otherwise, then off to an auto parts store for some fix-a-flat. That seemed to work pretty well for the ride home, and I picked up an extra can to keep with the other emergency stuff in the back. But definitely the most expensive car trip I’ve taken in a while.

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.

The first weekend of spring was absolutely glorious here in DC. Despite my normal thing that Sundays are supposed to be my one, true “rest” day from exercise during the week I managed to bike across town and back twice, and over to the Hill once. Grabbed brunch with friends this morning up in Dupont, stretched it to an almost two hour affair, until the sun came round the building and started to hit us. The Hill trip was to pick up new tires for the tri bike, which is off the trainer, hopefully for the season, and needed new ones to make up for the wear from using the trainer all winter. I’ll keep the old tires for next winter.

Five gazillion people were on and around the Mall both trips up to Dupont, and in the afternoon coming back from brunch. “When marches/causes collide” could have been the caption. One of the many reasons I love living here, you never know what stuff folks are going to be in town protesting or praising.

Biked back up to Dupont for a last minute dinner/drinks (club soda for moi) thing with my friend M who is vaguely trying to hook me up with another cute friend of his, P. This was the second time we’d met, and P seems a little bit shy, but was generous with a hug both when I got there and when he left, so we’ll see.

In between bike trips I managed to take care of bills, update the financial software, sort mail, and vacuum, but not a lot else. Gotta say, I’m quite happy I picked up a little Dyson 24 from Woot last month, it’s been a peach, and has cleaned a hell of a lot better than my old vacuum did. I’m trying to keep the dust population down this year, hoping that will help with ye olde allergies, and this sucker has been very good for that. The sole complaints I had with it are that there’s no place on the unit to store the extra little non-carpeted-floor attachment that came with it (no biggie, I just toss it in a bucket I keep in the same hall closet), and that the cord is too short to get the entire apartment from one plug (it’s a small apartment), which has been remedied by use of an extension cord I had lying around. It gets under the bed easily with the little floor attachment, and it’s small enough to carry around when I’m using said attachment around the hardwood floors. Definitely a good purchase.

Goal for the week is to complete recovery from the race and prep the schedule for the next two to three races. Really happy with how the season has started, and hope it continues in the same vein.

In considering yesterday’s race results I realized that I’ve done enough races that I really should put the results down in one place where I can check them against one another – hunting across the web or through my archives wasn’t cutting it in my 6th season of doing tris and my eleventh year doing running races. So I started collecting race results in a spreadsheet for myself, and in doing so realized that yesterday’s result was a personal record for me at that distance. By all of 4 seconds. Which sounds much more impressive after it’s revealed that the previous PR (Dismal Swamp Stomp, 2007) was on a completely flat course, which yesterday most certainly was not, making yesterday the harder effort of the two. Is good to have data, and better to see that I’m still improving.

The family visit was a good one, despite the circumstances. All of my cousins were there, even if all their spouses & children were not, so we had all of the grandchildren present, something that hasn’t happened in decades. Really enjoyed seeing them all.

We’d known granddaddy wasn’t in very good health for a while, so this was hardly a shock. It was a little quick based on how the nursing home had presented it on Thursday (3 weeks) versus what happened (he passed on Friday morning with his wife and youngest son present).

The whole thing did end up hitting me harder than I’d expected, especially once I got home. It definitely threw me into a funk out of which I’ve not quite pulled myself. Getting out of the house last night helped, and I did a little (planned) retail therapy today to pick up a PS3 (thanks, DC tax refund!). Have it mostly set up but want to wait until a little later today to actually get into a game. I took the entire week off, which was good and allowed me time to do things like get groceries and the aforementioned retail therapy, as well as trying to process some of the mental mess that’s come out of the whole thing. Hasn’t helped the mood any that I had to cancel this past weekend’s trip to go see Mike, and I’m not sure when I’m going to be able to get back up there to see him. It’s a question of timing, more than anything, between what I’ve got going on and what he’s got going on over the next month or so.

So, that’s where I am at the moment.

Finally found a replacement program for DoubleCommand (DC) that allows one to remap the useless as all get out Right Option/Alt key on the newer mac laptops to a Function key so you can page up and down web pages with one hand. KeyRemap4MacBook. Been checking DC’s site for an upgrade (which never came) for months now, and finally gave up, searched the web again, and found a decent replacement that works. Very pleased with it.

DC worked well on the old iBooks, as it had mastered the remap of the useless “Enter” key that appeared beside the arrow keys and enabled one to then use the arrow keys as “page up” and “page down”, making web browsing on longer web sites (like LJ) much easier to do. But, they never upgraded the program to do the same for the new Right Option key that appeared for whatever odd reason in place of the Enter key on the newer mac laptops. But, KeyRemap now does the trick. Yay.

The new gay.com looks like a Smurf threw up on it. And, to top it off, it’s literally headache-inducing due to the bad conflict between the colors. Looks like they reduced the size of the font, too. Dreadful choices all around.

Is there anything better than a shower after biking home from a sushi dinner? Doesn’t seem like it right now.

First, I’m loving not having to shift gears. You just get on and start pedaling – no worrying about whether you left it in the right gear, whether it’ll be too loose or too tight to get going, you just go. If there’s a hill, it’s harder to pedal, if it’s downhill, it’s easier. Simple.

Second, it has a kick stand. I cannot express how awesome that is. For years now the “cool” bikes did not come with kick stands (and probably still don’t). And certainly, if you were using your bike for racing (which I’ve done on each of my other bikes), you didn’t want a kick stand, for practical as well as “cool” reasons. But being able to prop the bike up on its own while I fumble with getting the lock and cable out and in place? Priceless.

The brakes are still a little noisy, especially on a quick stop, but I’m sure that’ll work out as they get worn in.

The other bike store I tried also did not have shoes in my size (grrr!), so it looks like I may have to order some from online. Not my favorite choice, as my feet seem are odd enough that I pretty much always want to try shoes on right in the store to ensure proper fit, without endless back and forth shipping of shoes. Blah. But not having clips on the pedals, while not fatal, was kind of annoying. I wanted the increased power of being able to do the full rotation of the pedal and not just mash down on them; I’m definitely far more comfortable being clipped in as it gives one a better control over pedaling and balance.

Anyway, so far so good. Won’t be able to bike to work tomorrow as I have a long night planned with my friend Drew beginning right after work, but I do look forward to trying it out on the morning and evening commutes.

Okay, thank you Netflix for partnering with everyone under the sun. Here I was thinking I’d need to buy another computer or HD TiVo or some sort of device to play the “watch instantly” movies (while still being able to chat on the laptop, mind you), and while playing with the Xbox this morning I discovered I could watch them via a free download on that device. It’s nice to not have to spend more money for entertainment, and also good since the Xbox is the only thing plugged into the TV with HDMI at this point, so the picture quality is pretty good, even for downloaded content.

The week was an odd one, with the swings in weather and going out to be social and work oddities. Now that we’re past the initial stages of stimulus work, it’s getting down to crunch times for many offices – implementation and distribution of funds. Which means a lot of serious work, as well as the occasional eyebrow-raising inquiry (seriously, you think that a contract to maintain and develop a web site for aid recipients to report their progress doesn’t fall squarely within the definition of “management and oversight” of your program? please).

Finally running time machine this morning with my backup drive. A bit late, I know, but will be good to have it done at last. Cold wash got done, dinner plans with Richard and his new beau this evening. Need to get to the grocery store soon (tonight? tomorrow? not completely out of food but it’s getting there). Date planned for Monday. At some point I should get in a long bike ride this weekend. Need to finish up a sock I’m working on so I can get started on its mate. All these little necessities of life which catch up if you don’t keep up with them.