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

‘Twas time for haircuts, which we’d (the husband and I) scheduled for first thing when they opened at 9. Up and at ’em, then to the local diner for breakfast. Eventually made it back home where I napped with my female cat for a couple of hours.

We decided to get the heck out of the house and went to see Monkey. It had good bones, and we ended up laughing a lot at the film, but it was definitely a stretch of the short story. We enjoyed it, but mostly because we needed the laugh of something silly. And in the middle of that the new came down that 47’s handler decided to send out emails telling all of us feds to justify our jobs by midnight Friday. Cue the rolling of the eyes. “Spitting nails” was the most polite way I could describe my reaction to that wanker’s horseshit. I know I can produce something (after we get guidance from our agency, which they already emailed to let us know would be forthcoming), but what happens to someone who’s on leave Monday, or who otherwise doesn’t have access to their work email to send something? Heaven forfend someone should go on vacation. What a shithead.

After work the husband and I went to see the newest Marvel film, Captain America: Brave New World. We enjoyed it, was probably a mid-tier Marvel movie (not the best, not the worst). For a couple sitting three rows back from us it was a very expensive nap – they both snored, loudly, through the vast majority of the movie. ‘Twas all we could do not to break out in giggles when it got particularly bad. Thankfully it wasn’t quite enough to drown out the movie itself.

Finally downloaded the Signal app for my personal phone. There are a lot of rumors that the new crew is installing key loggers and automatic transcription for all video meetings on our work devices, with monitoring to see if anyone is being ‘disloyal’ to 47. An incredible breach of several laws and national security requirements, if true. But after the firings of so many probationary employees this week it’s better safe than sorry.

After work the husband and I went to see Love Hurts, which was just as cheesy and fun as the trailers made it out to be. There’s a delightful unexpected romance that made us laugh out loud at several points. Definitely needed the break from current events, and glad we went.

Unscheduled telework because of weather here (the potential for ice all over the roads, and resultant school delays for those with kids). The husband was also home, though we didn’t interact much because we both had full schedules.

Been knitting a Santa hat the last couple of days. Chunky yarn and an easy pattern (1×1 ribbing for the brim, and all knit stitch for the body), so it’s been knitting up quickly. Unfortunately the pattern underestimated how much yarn I’d need, so I’ll have to run down to Dupont to get another skein of the red for the body so I can finish it. Might get three more (2 red, 1 off-white) and then I’d have the option to knit a second one if I got the bug.

We got our photos done for the Xmas cards this morning. Then home for a brief rest and off to see Wicked, Part 1. It was really, really good. They went back to the book to flesh out some more of the stories, and it felt like a movie, and not like a stage show that was badly adapted to moving pictures (like so many movie musicals do).

Restarted my Netflix dvd mailings this week. Having finally watched Milk, which sat on my entertainment center for several months, I’m watching Titus this evening, one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest plays. Saw this adaptation many years ago, and I think it still holds up well. Revenge, rape, honor, murder, revenge. One of my favorite plays, and one not often performed because of the graphic violence.

Seeing the boy later this evening after dinner plans of his. He’s been asking for things to do for me, so I’m going to set him loose on a couple of things in my apartment, starting this weekend. It’s finally time to renovate a thing or two here, and I can certainly use the help, both in choosing things, and installing the same.

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.

Now comes the difficult part – trying to get things fixed in the conference on the stimulus bill. Ugh.

Seem to have irritated my foot, not in the plantar fasciitis sense, but a sprain on the top of it. Yay for overdoing it. Guess the swim last night was a tad too much.

Because it was so irritated, tonight was a night off from things, watching a couple of bad movies (“The Seeker,” and “The Apple”), with some more progress made on my co-worker K’s hat:

It’s about halfway done now, with most of the repetitive cabling done – 1.25 repeats left of the main repeat, then I start the decreases to the top. Might get it done this weekend so I can get it off to her.

Well, despite my irritation over the non-work the cult co-op maintenance folks did on my unit today, I actually had a pretty good evening. Ordered in Thai with a friend, did laundry, and we watched Stardust, which I’d picked up this past weekend. I’d seen it in the movie theater with BC, but I’m glad I picked up a copy as it’s a very fun and cute little film. Not my usual “bad movie” type of thing, but I do like a little sappiness and silliness on occasion.

Get to see Richard tomorrow for dinner and a good look at the living room and some possibilities I’m considering. I value his opinion, and I think it’ll be useful to have someone like him look at what I’m considering before I go nuts.

Just checked the TSP web site and it’s showing that the loan I took out to get rid of my remaining credit card debt is now paid off in full. Sweet! One less payment each month, even if it was an automatic deduction. More money in the pocket is a good thing, even if it’s just going to go to more student loan reduction. Bit by bit it disappears.

Hopefully I’m going to get out of town for Labor Day. Leave is approved, waiting to hear on accommodations, then I’ll purchase the tickets tomorrow evening if all goes well.

Just as I was wondering how my other friends who knit find time to do it, I discovered the secret to getting myself to sit down and do it: have a really busy, stressful day at work.

Came home from work, sort of ate. Loaded up the Resident Evil movies on the TiVo, and proceeded to add several inches to the scarf, I’m guessing at little over a third of what’s on it now was added over the past couple of hours tonight. And it was quite soothing, with the movies, the rain and hail, and the repetitive nature of this particular project (31 stitches, RS: k1, *k1b, p1, repeat and k1 at end; WS: *k1, p1, repeat). Precisely what I needed to get law, and work, off the brain.

Going to be interesting soon – I’m almost done with the first skein, so I’m going to have to switch off shortly. Shouldn’t be difficult, but it’s another new step to take. Not tonight, too tired for that, but soon.

• Went dancing last night. First time in years (literally). Had a friend ask BC if he had known I could dance. His response: “Oh course; I’ve slept with him.”
• Saw Rambo this past week. The highlight: a trailer for Midnight Meat Train. The trailer was all serious, looked good, Wes Craven, etc., then they announced the title in this deep, serious voice. I about spit out the water I was drinking. So going to see it when it’s out.
• Brunch sometime around 3 this afternoon, after recovering from last night. Dragged Brian out for it, and was good to see him.
• Busy, busy at work. Not sure that there’s an end in sight for any of it, but I’ll just keep slogging through it.
• Did a sample swatch of stockinette stitch (finally taught myself to purl yesterday), and learned how to bind off the swatches. I need to go get a needle so I can weave in the ends. That and drag BC to Stitch to pick out some thread for a scarf. Which will be a good excuse to pick up more needles, too, since the pattern calls for a circular needle (I know, it’s not strictly necessary, but hey, why not?).
• And with that, it’s crash time