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

I feel today like I’m back in 2nd grade. That was the year we discovered that the mysterious headaches I was getting, severe enough that I went home several days that spring, were seasonal allergies. I suspect today that it’s a combo of the newly horny plants and the lovely storm front that’s been passing over all day, but right now I just want to take something that’ll knock me out and let me sleep this off. I know it’s not a migraine, I blessedly do not get those, but man does this hurt.

I wonder if any of it is fighting off Richard’s current cold, too. Or stress from the move. Or all of the above.

Speaking of other pains, the movers have been arranged. I went with Tod & Doug’s folks over Starving Students (both were recommended to me) mainly because with Metropolitan I was talking to the local guy, not a national number, and he was much, much friendlier. Not to say that SS wasn’t friendly, but they were damned pushy when I was making it clear (I thought) that I was merely calling for a quote. I’ve already gotten 2 calls and an email from them (and called to ‘cancel’ the move I hadn’t yet signed up for). No thanks, don’t need the hard sell, guys.

So that’s set for the 13th. Also arranged to reserve the elevators, etc.

In shopping for trash cans I’m now thinking an 8 gallon or smaller trash can for the kitchen will be plenty. I’m reltively close to the trash chute and stuff doesn’t need to sit in my apartment for that long. Plus the kitchen’s not as large as I’m used to currently, so smaller would be better from that dimension, too. Still want it to be pretty (duh), but don’t think I need large unless it’s difficult to find medium bags at the local grocery store.

Have my first co-op meeting this evening, voting on officers for the “members’ council,” something separate and apart from the board, evidently. We’ll see how that goes, but if what I’m hearing from folks is any indication it promises to be fairly painful entertaining.

And one last pain, this one in the nipples, for the usual reasons. Not quite to the level of the bruised ribs I had from the tickling scene I did back in 1999, but riding the bus this morning was still a chance to be reminded that they’d been worked over pretty well the previous evening.

I think the enormity of buying shares property has finally caught up with me. I’ve been totally unfocused on work all day, and very much feeling like I have too much (personal stuff) to do and too little (personal) time in which to do it, none of which is conducive to concentrating on obscure references to old statutes. [insert loud sigh here]

Right now I think my schedule is going to be: April 7, close, spend that weekend shopping, picking up some things for the new place (mattress, trash can, shower curtain, etc.); April 15, packing get-together; April 20, get movers in to relocate me; April 21, attempt not to hyperventilate and get the apartment set up. I have the leave approved for the 7th, 20th & 21st, now I just have to find movers and close.

The Little Piggy Who Stayed Home is a trifle sore, and I can tell the nail is a tad darker than usual, but oddly enough it was completely pain-free on my run this afternoon. The dress shoes are another story, but those are never large enough for my toes, even at 2E width (I wear 4E width in running shoes). Doesn’t help to have odd feet.

Am definitely addicted to Super Princess Peach now. It took a bit to figure out that the water wheels had to be cried upon to get them to move, and the windmill had to be cycloned to get it to move, but now that I’ve learned their tricks I was able to move up two levels tonight. Such fun.

Tried to swim tonight, but the Y, as usual, never updates their web site so they had a class in there when I wanted to go in, so I got some Thai food, then groceries, then home to goof off.

I’m excited about the move, but honestly, I just want it over and done with. I want the end result, but not the process (unlike, say, triathlon, where the process is more the point). And I’m worried about window treatments, of all the odd things. I don’t need any in the living room yet, but I will need some in the bedroom so I can sleep (which means I want it as dark as possible at night). And I have no clue what’s out there, or what I want. I only know that whatever faces the outside of the building has to be white, per the cult rules (so, a liner or sheers on the inside/outside?). Ugh.

Headed home this weekend to see my parents, my brother, his wife, my 9 year old niece and my three week old niece. Should be fun, and I’ll get to try out the bed I’ll be sleeping on in the parents’ RV in June when we go up for my triathlon.

I might lose a toenail. I’m not sure yet, but the Little Piggy Who Stayed Home on my right foot got rather testy in the last 5 minutes of my 2 hour run today. Hasn’t turned black or anything, but it’s definitely not happy with me.

After the run I dragged Richard with me to City Lights for some much needed protein (mmm, tofu…). Was pleasant, both the meal and the company, and I enjoyed both immensely.

I supposedly have a closing date now: April 7th. So in not-quite-three weeks I’ll be signing lots of paperwork to send myself into lots of debt (but with the reward of a place to live). I’m looking forward to it (the place to live, not the debt). I will likely hire movers this time, but I think I’m also going to have a “packing party” to get stuff into boxes beforehand. So if you’ve evern wanted to see what bad taste I have/had in clothes, or what my sex toy collection looks like, I’ll welcome any assistance.

Other than that, the cold I had last week is pretty much gone, replaced by the lovely spector of DC allergies. Now I remember why I keep the sudafed around. As I mentioned above, the run went well. Hopefully I’ll be knuckling down a bit more on the training as I’m a little over 2 months out from the race (eeck!). Have to arrange for leave and all that fun stuff soon, too, but I think not until after I get moved.

I think I may have short circuited my usual “can’t sleep, the sudafed’ll get me” sleepless night when I catch a cold. Zonked myself out at 9 last night with some melatonin, slept really well until about midnight, then was up, off and on, until around 2ish, then back to some (fitful) sleep until 6 when I got up and hopped on the bike trainer for 45 minutes. Hopefully that was the extent of my sleeplessness and I’ll be able to rest better until this thing is gone. I usually have this one night where I’m too jittery from the sudafed to sleep well, but when the choice is don’t sleep because a) I can’t breathe; or b) I have a stimulant in my system but can breathe, I’ll take B for the block.

The ride on the trainer went well, and I felt better for sweating some (the box of tissues was within arm’s reach, but remained unused, thankfully). Remember, if it’s above the neck, you can exercise moderately.

Work is nuts, as expected. I swear, the sky falls every time I leave. It’s nice to know I’m needed and integral to the team, but you know, a certain degree of anonymity would be nice every now and again.

Home today with an entirely self-inflicted head cold. Work is, I’m sure, going nuts as they always do when I’m out, but so be it. And I wish the meds (sudafed) that get rid of the more obnoxious symptoms weren’t so damned taxing themselves. That and I wish that I didn’t turn into a 4 year old when I get sick.

Partially fortuitous, actually, as I was home when the USPS dropped off a very important and much-anticipated package (gift check from ye olde parental units for ye olde apartment purchase).

Finished reading two books (the last two of the “Death Gate Cycle” by Weiss & Hickman) today. Not like those are tough reads, but they kept me entertained and off the computer (mmm, monster killing…).

Hopefuly sleep tonight won’t be bad – I actually slept pretty darned well last night, just woke up with a head stuffed with snot and without a will to move.

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.

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!).

Saw my new physical therapy person this morning. The verdict: more strength training, more strength training, more strength training. Whee.

Did I mention that I find strength training incredibly dull? Thought so. I guess I have to get over that, and fast. She’s given me a whole regimen of things to get my butt back in the gym to accomplish. <insert grunting noise here>

Oh, and she ultrasounded the knee just to check it and make sure all was good (so I escaped getting X-rayed last week, but got ultrasounded this week), and to give her a comparison to make sure it was healing properly when she checks it next week. The knee had developed a lovely bruise where I got tapped, but is otherwise still fine. She also switched the schedule (which had been 2x/week for 4 weeks) to today, this time next week, and then in 2 weeks after that, which is, I think, more reasonable than the original schedule, and more useful for what I need now, which is to measure progress.

Was still nice to come into work late today, though.

I think, now that more residents have moved into the area around my gym, that we’re going to have to put some pressure on them to keep the gym open on holidays rather than closing for the federal holidays like they do now. That made some sense when most of their business was from federal workers in the, at the time, mostly office complex area they inhabited, but with more residents moving in, it doesn’t make any sense to have the gym closed on holidays, seeing as how those are prime times to be able to get to the gym. I can understand closing for Christmas and Easter (it is the YWCA after all), but not for the other federal holidays.

Otherwise things continue to percolate along as normal. No real rants, no real shout outs.

The knee’s fine, other than a touch of soreness when I press on the side of it. I’m still going to see my orthopedist tomorrow morning before work (and since it’s a “motor vehicle accident” I have to pay up front and submit the paperwork to my insurance company myself – grrr) just to make sure it’s okay, but it’s fine otherwise.

No further calls on the cell from the shysters this morning, though.