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

This week was supposed to be a relatively quiet one, or so I thought. Then a cousin called, is in town, and we’re having dinner tomorrow, which means my hair appointment (for the 3rd of 4th time in a row?) gets rescheduled, hopefully to Wednesday, when I have a date with BC (dinner after haircut, I suppose). Thursday turns out to be election night for my cult co-op, so I’ll be getting some knitting in then. Busy, busy, busy.

The legs are a bit sore from yesterday’s short run, which is expected. Treated myself by making a nice curry tonight, though it reminded me why I don’t keep cashews in the house in a regular basis (*nom, nom, nom!*). This curry’s best with a light topping of cilantro & chopped cashews, so I went all out after a brief stop at the grocery store for the fresh stuff.

One of my larger projects is going to be picking up steam here in short order, so work’s going to get very busy with lots of the more tedious aspects of being an attorney. I think we know where we’re going with it, though, so hopefully it won’t be too painful.

I’m deliberately not commenting on all of the political posts I see all over the ‘net these days (well, except to share satire), mainly because I happen to like my friends and would rather not unduly antagonize those relationships.

Well, that was a pleasant way to spend a weekend. Most of it was, thankfully, spent with BC. Quiet night in on Friday. He went home for a good chunk of Saturday, then came back that evening for an outing.

We headed out with friends for drinks, dinner and Cloverfield Saturday evening. The camera work did not make me sick, though I suspect it was a one-time watch for me (big screen – good; small screen – meh; at least that was my impression of it). I do also have to echo another bloggers comment that “I wanted to see more monster, and less people.” The relationship drama stuff could have been cut down in order to see more of the actual attack, and I suspect any military folks watching (as was the premise at the beginning) would have edited out all that extraneous stuff in favor of “more monster.”

We were very nearly late to dinner because, well, in the spirit of MAL (which we did not attend) I attacked him in some of my Nasty Pig gear when he came in the door about an hour before we had to head out. That was quite fun.

Sunday was langorous. We finally bestirred ourselves from some gaming in the morning after sleeping in (Mass Effect on the Xbox for me, Bioshock on his laptop for him), got a nice big late lunch at Thai Tanic, then picked up stuff at Whole Paycheck for a mushroom & sun-dried tomato risotto that evening. Yum!! Fantastic recipe out of Vegan with a Vengeance, though I modified it slightly (more rice, mainly). We were glad to spend most of the day indoors, since the temps never really made it out of the 20s. Poor BC forgot to bring gloves, so when we hauled the groceries back to the car (two bags total) I handed him one of mine for his bag. He laughed, but still took it gratefully as we wandered back, one gloved hand with groceries out, one hand firmly ensconced in a pocket.

Unfortunately he had to work today, but we have date plans tomorrow – another nice night in with movie and some soup (a curried split pea soup, to be precise). For most of the day I was a bum. Did hop on the bicycle trainer to spin out a few miles for a little over an hour, but mostly played more Mass Effect. Beat the game late this evening playing on “casual” mode, so I’ll have to play it through later on a more difficult level. For now it’s back to one or more of the games on the Wii, I suspect, so I can finish those and perhaps lend them to BC.

Back to the salt mines tomorrow, though even with all the other stuff I was doing this weekend I think I came up with a solution to a sticky wicket one of our programs has gotten into by mis-reading some of my office’s advice. Clarification (to the program; not here) shall be forthcoming tomorrow.

I finally hauled out my knitting stuff this evening and sat down with it to learn basic knitting. Practiced the casting on method a couple of times. Ultimately cast too many stitches, but so be it. Done several rows, with the expected dropped stitches. The first few were nice and even, the last two were a tad too loose. It’s a start, and we’ll see how the rest of it goes another night.

I would, however, recommend to others considering starting knitting that they not start with a very dark thread, as it makes seeing the thread a tad difficult when you’re getting started (I have a dark brown thread).

The repetitive motions were a nice balm for the end of an otherwise hectic day at work. Tomorrow promises to be more of the same, I’m sure. Haircut planned after work, but then it’s likely home to chill some more. BC’s also got a busy week at work, though his busy weeks usually mean later hours for him, so no seeing him until the weekend.

Feeling a little light-headed from paint remover fumes. I’ve been cleaning off the brass (it turns out) knobs on my kitchen cabinets this afternoon. Along with the dreadful paint color (“winter garden”), whatever idiot painted the kitchen also painted over all of the knobs with the same dreadful paint. Which is odd, because they had to them screw the knobs back on after at least a single coat of paint because the screws in the back were not painted over. Oy. So, 6 of ten are done. I thought perhaps from the way the paint was peeling off the knobs that they’d be more a dark nickel color, but brass they are.

Mostly done, but decided to break from it when the fumes got to be a bit much, even with the fan(s) going. This was after breathing in a plethora of other cleaning products as the place got scrubbed down, vacuumed, swiffered, etc. this morning and afternoon. Much needed cleaning, but never completely fun stuff.

I’ve started the process to purchase the new stove, first step being to find out what’s needed in terms of wiring, etc. to handle it. Given that the current one is original to the apartment (i.e., from 1963) it was better to ask first and see what kind of conversion box might be needed., if any. I have to call tomorrow to have them come check it out this week and give me an estimate on the work (conversion box, if needed, removal and installation of the new unit, etc.).

BC and I popped out to a party last night. I stuck to water, so slept fairly well and got in a bike this morning on the trainer before beginning to clean. Probably balanced out the not drinking by eating too many cookies today, but so be it.

Mind-numbingly boring work today. We’re reviewing emails in response to a Congressional inquiry, and actually what we’re doing is reviewing the work of the summer interns, and while I’m sure the member was expecting to find something smoking, what we’re finding instead is that people are really, really dull over email. If I have to read one more argument about where to go for dinner, or an announcement of another new baby, I may scream. Unfortunately the torture continues tomorrow.

Oh, and a manager (not in the counsel’s office) at the not-so-BGA called me today unsolicited to let me know there were attorney openings coming up there, and offered to answer any questions I had. I’m going to take her up on it tomorrow, since finding the actual structure of the counsel’s office there has proven to be a futile task. Again, nice to have folks with whom I’ve worked think of me for such things.

So, after the doc review, as a treat I stopped off at Jenny’s and picked up Chinese take-out (mmm, Fiery Tofu…). Ate at home, cleaned stuff up in the living room (pre-gaming chore), then set myself to setting up the Xbox. I actually crawled under the “entertainment center” (aka my desk) and unhooked all the cables from the PC that’s not worked in months now due to lack of a fan, and got that cleaned up and put away. Then the Xbox itself was relatively easy to set up and get into. Used the same old same old user name on there, ‘legalmoose,’ because my first choice was already taken and I didn’t feel like trying to come up with something else. Got hooked in, got the free month of Xbox Live Gold membership, and then popped in Bioshock.

Wow. Blown away. Absolutely loving this game, as evidenced by the posting here at 11:30ish. I had actually set an alarm on my phone (appropriately enough with the old horn “ah-OOOga” sound) for 9:30. That got snoozed a couple of times. I just played the thing on Easy mode, but am really enjoying it.

This is actually the first time I’ve played with a controller of this type. I know, scrape yourself off the ground, but up to the DS purchase, all my gaming had been on the PC. Now I’ve the DS, a Wii and an Xbox, and I love all three for the different types of experiences they give. Still having problems with the camera (for some reason I want to push down to move the camera up, and vice-versa – holdover from some other, older game on the PC maybe?), so occasionally I miss stuff, but the plasmids are quite fun. I’m playing the nice guy, rescuing the little sisters instead of killing them, ’cause for this one I wanted to see how that played out. Next time, slaughter.

So I have Bioshock, and Mass Effect (still in the shrink wrap), and two games that came with the system (some racing game and a Marvel Comics marketing ploy, I mean game). A fun addition to the living room, I have to say.

Nothing quite like having maintenance cut all the electricity in your building to tell you it’s time to leave. They’re doing some routine work on the electrical system that required it all to be off. I’m just glad I’m not staying home today with this cold, and that I don’t regularly work from home.

Spoke with management this morning, they’re tired of the smoke, too, so it’s now getting packaged up to send off to the cult’s co-op’s attorney for action. I can say I’d not be upset if they moved, or were forced to move. That is an advantage of a co-op, if someone is truly obnoxious as a member, they can be expelled (in effect forced to sell). Given the mark-up since they purchased, and their behavior, no tears will be shed here.

My bedroom is currently airing out because the cigarette smoke from my downstairs neighbor is back. Joy!

Children should not be allowed out without adult supervision. Case in point, the kids running down the wrong way on the escalator to make the train in the Metro. At least they didn’t stop the thing like the last group of urchins I encountered on their way home from school.

And yes, this does make me a grumpy old man. Which makes the fact that BC’s mom keeps hinting at wanting us to have kids all the more amusing (amusing to me, not so much to him, but then again she’s not my biological mother – my own mother has said nothing of the sort and seemed kind of surprised when I mentioned children).

Heading back to the office after getting a sty looked at. Nothing big, and thank heavens Metro is reliable most days, allowing me to zip out & back without too much delay.

[side note – did we not outlaw mullets yet? Why would someone wear something so bad looking on their head?]

Tourists are out in force today. I’d have expected more of them next weekend rather than this weekend, given the holiday.

Heading to the cooking expo this weekend with BC to drool over ovens & cooktops I can’t yet afford or fit into my kitchen. I enjoyed it last year, and am looking forward to checking out the gadgets. I’d like to find a place that offers a knife skills class that’s both convenient and that won’t try to make me do something like de-bone a duck. I’m not holding my breath on that, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

I’m helping another staff with interviews they’re doing for a position which will have a focus on the type of law that I do, so today I wore a suit so I’d look presentable for the interview. My boss walked into the office early in the morning and asked why I was in a suit (I normally don’t even bother with a tie). “Oh, I have an interview,” I replied. Her eyes got really, really big. “You know, I’m helping [the other office] with vetting and there’s an interview today,” I continued. She was quite relieved to hear that. And then accused me of being cheeky, which I suppose I was. But one does have to have some fun with the boss on occasion, no?

Short run this morning. First morning I’ve needed to haul out cold weather gear (tights, gloves, heavier top layer). Very short run, less than two miles, about twenty minutes, focusing on keeping the heart rate down rather than pace (though I do glance at the pace thing from time to time).

Fantastic weekend with BC. Went out drinking with he and Brian and Mikey on Friday, made risotto for dinner Saturday, home fries and tofu scramble for brunch Sunday, carved pumpkins with his family on Sunday afternoon. Lots of good food, lots of fun. ‘Twas nice to spend the entirety of the weekend with him, with no real plans to have to go or be anywhere if we didn’t want to. Very good time.

I have to get to serious cleaning this week in anticipation of the weekend after next. More a matter of putting things away than anything else, but it’s a necessity if I’m to have folks in here. And laundry must be done, and done soon. Had planned on it tonight, but didn’t have the energy for it, especially after zipping up to check on the cats at Richard’s place (thank heavens I have the mini for such trips now). Tomorrow or Wednesday, then. No plans to go out on Halloween, not for lack of an invite or two, just for lack of motivation to get all dressed up. I couldn’t care less about costuming, and there won’t be trick or treaters in the high rise. All my candy is at work anyway.

Looks like my site it down, so I’m going to leave this up on the laptop and try to post it in the morning. At least the building turned the heat on three days earlier than they planned to (I hope they got the new valves in!), so it’s not frigid in here tonight.