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

We are expecting 4-8″ (10-20cm) of snow here in the Boston area overnight. We thought about leaving today, but then we would have been driving through the snow in the middle of the route, whereas it’s all supposed to be done by the morning, so hopefully the highways will have been well treated by then. Of course we managed to leave our ice scraper/snow brush at home, so I made a last minute trip to Walmart for that, some waterproof gloves, and some snack for tonight/tomorrow. And I spotted a relatively inexpensive gas station so I filled up as well.

Good last day visiting with the in-laws. We went candlepin bowling in the afternoon, which I had not tried before and quite enjoyed, then an early dinner before the snow started. Now we’re settled into the hotel for the night, packing what needs to be packed, and glad I remembered to pull the wipers out from the windows. Here’s hoping it’s a relatively easy drive tomorrow.

We will not be doing a late night tonight. The husband and I both expressed that we’d prefer to sleep at the normal time, so after finishing this past season of Only Murders in the Building (so good!) we both retired to our offices to wind down on daily tasks. I got my bullet journals for work and home set up for the new month (kept separate for work records reasons), and did a little reminiscing and planning in both. There are fireworks going off somewhere in the distance, little pops as the show goes on.

We also had a summer-like thunderstorm right around dinner time that set off a tornado warning south of us, and had hail to the east of us in Annapolis. The thunder and heavy rain was more than enough; glad we missed the more exciting stuff.

Got outside to walk today instead of the treadmill. Post-lunch walk with a stop into the local organic grocer at the end to pick up some sundries. Felt good to get out – high 50s, and the sun was nice. We’re about to get pummeled with cold by the end of this week, so I’m enjoying the pleasant outdoors time while I can.

So farewell to 2024, and here’s hoping 2025 is good for all of us.

We went out for the last haircuts of the year this morning, then hit the mother ship of our local comic store for stocking stuffers. On the way there the road was blocked so we decided to hit a Barnes & Noble and let the blockage situation work itself out. We were forcibly reminded of why we don’t hit physical stores the weekend before Xmas. It actually wasn’t that bad, and I’m glad they were busy as I hope that helps keep them afloat, but it reminds me of how devout church goers must feel when the CEOs (Christmas-Easter-Onlys) show up at the holidays. It also reminded me of working at a mall in graduate school, when they made us park off-site and shuttled us over, which I was initially annoyed at, but then grateful for when we could get out of the satellite parking a lot faster, even with the bus, than one could leave the garage.

Stocking stuff picked up. Finished the brim on an elf hat for the husband and started on the body. The green yarn pull ball for the body is behaving a lot better than the brim; the white brim yarn kept catching and was just a nightmare to pull out until I finally managed to pull the bit that was catching out of the middle and undo it.

The in-laws arrive tomorrow afternoon, so the husband was baking up a storm. Ginger cupcakes with gingerbread men and vanilla frosting. Sandwich cookies (chocolate with vanilla frosting inside). And I think he has more planed, but that’s all that got done over the last two days. Good stuff, but I’m finding that I have less of an appetite for a ton of sweets. I’m trying to steer him toward snacking size cakes when it’s just us (aka a single layer in an 8×8 pan) so we don’t have, say, an entire 9″ two-layer cake with frosting staring us down.

Two last things to wrap, and one last thing that’s to arrive Monday, then done.

On Sunday I’m taking off for the middle of Virginia for two weeks of training for work. Haven’t started a packing list yet, but I know I’ll be doing a lot of laundry (and perhaps some ironing) in preparation. Business casual attire. It’s also finally going to get cold in this part of the world, so perhaps sweaters will be in order. Not that I own many of those; they tend to be too warm for me in most indoor environments.

Hit the grocery store relatively early this morning, where it was busy but not overwhelmed. No wait at the deli counter, and a normal wait at the checkout line. Might have to do one more trip before I leave to stock the husband up on non-perishable foodstuffs.

We decorated the interior of the townhouse for Xmas. Three trees up (two in the living room, one on the top floor), lego villages, etc. We’ll hang the exterior lights tomorrow or Friday. Tomorrow we’re continuing a new Thanksgiving tradition and spending the day building a big lego set (Barad Dür, to go with the Rivendell set we built last year), though it’ll likely take us more than the day to build, depending on how dedicated we are. Simple fare is planned, nothing fancy, lots of carbs. Talked him into a snacking cake sized dessert (8×8 inch pan, single layer) rather than something huge; should fit in the toaster oven while I make melting potatoes in the regular oven.

Yarn store didn’t have the color I needed to complete the hat, but they’ve ordered some for me (it’s one they carry regularly). The husband picked out a green for a version of the same hat, and while I’ve wound the yarn I haven’t started it yet. Will take the yarn with me to Virginia, along with a Woobles advent calendar I purchased earlier this year. No lack of projects at this point.

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.

Waiting for Hurricane Sandy to hit the DC area is a mess. Haven’t seen a thing here yet, except empty grocery stores. Am very, very glad I made the boy go shopping last night rather than waiting until today – facebook and the like have been full of pictures of empty shelves.

Dragged in the boy’s chair from his balcony, and I took a few things off my own balcony yesterday before coming over to dog-sit today while the boy was at work. Past that there’s not a lot else to do but wait and see what hits tonight and whether I’ll be going to work tomorrow. Luckily I have the option of covered parking at the boy’s place, so the car should be fine when the first wind (and related tree debris) hits. It’s highly unlikely that either of our places will lose power – the boy’s school has “backups for their backups” and my place is close enough to the capitol that all the power lines are buried.

So far I’ve read two comics that were in “the pile” (of reading material waiting for attention), futzed around in the kitchen (butternut squash soup in the crock pot), walked the dog twice as much as he normally goes out, and tried not to pay attention to the work documents that I brought home in case the office is closed tomorrow (that, at least, was successful; I’ve given the taxpayers no free work today). I wish my bike and trainer were here at the boy’s, then I could’ve at least ridden for a bit. But the waiting is the worst.

Dragged the boy down to the not-quite-local outlet mall down in Virginia today. I think we were both exhausted by the end – it was a lot of walking – but it was worth the trip. I finally ordered a replacement for my dishwasher, and picked up some needed dress shirts and ties. Let him talk me into a couple sport coats that should be kinda fun. And we got a lot of time to chat and learn more about each other, which was very good. I think we complement each other well in the strengths we both have to bring to bear on things.

It’s been a little over three weeks since we met in person, and a little over five since he messaged me online. When he did I wasn’t sure about dating, if I wanted to go through that mess again. I’m glad I took the chance and replied to him, as I’ve really enjoyed the time I get to spend with him.

Had a really successful bike ride on Saturday. 101 miles, no cramping. Did get tired of eating, but no burping up with a completely full stomach, so managed to keep hydrated and thoroughly electrolyted. It was another ride where I focused on hydration with the result that I constantly had to pee. Again. Just like Total 200. Better that than cramps, but man, got tired of hunting for port-a-johns and bathrooms on the way. Keep this up and I’m going to get to know all of them on the W&OD.

Didn’t get started until 9, which is roughly when I should be starting the IM, depending on when I get into the water. It all worked, even with a rest break at the 1/2 way point and a popped tube in the middle of suburbia, so I think I should be able to get through the thing now. I used Nuun rather than a caloried sports drink this time, and I think that made the difference. I kept the aero bottle between the bars and one of my water bottles filled with water, and one water bottle filled with Nuun. I’d alternate sipping some Nuun after eating with sipping water. I think I may have found the right mix to get through the bike. Hopefully the mix that worked for the run at Eagleman will work as well at Louisville.

So far so good.

In other news™ I’ve been dating someone I’ll call The Boy here for a month now. It’s going well, and I’m enjoying it. He lives a way out in Northern Virginia, but we’ve managed to see each other at least once or twice a week since we first met back on the 1st of July. He’s off with his family to Maine for a week starting tomorrow, so won’t see him at all in the next week, though I imagine there will be much texting. Dragged him out to Nerd Brunch, my regular Sunday thing, as well as a game day party, and so far that’s worked. Am enjoying the company. He’s roughly my size, so we fit together well while cuddling on the couch.

Speaking of couches, I finally ordered a new one, one I hope will be more conducive to the aforementioned cuddling. It’ll be delivered in a couple of months, by which point I’ll have figured out what to do with the current one. It’s not a sleeper, unlike the current one, so I added an ottoman that is a sleeper in a matching fabric. Ever so slowly the living room will come together.

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.

I’m spending a lovely, if wet, weekend in Massachusetts with the bf. Flew up yesterday after work, he picked me up at Logan, and we immediately drove out to Provincetown, a place I’d not been before (so, yeah, coming to the summer resort in December? Brilliant!). Overall it’s been a nice little visit, the town is quite cute, and I can see how it would quickly get overwhelmed on weekends in the summer, even worse than Rehomo Rehoboth Beach, DE does. Most of the shops have been open for some last minute shopping, and the overall atmosphere has been fun.

He’s singing in two concerts this evening with the local gay men’s chorus. I’m going to the later one, so am catching up on web reading until then. Got in a very wet five mile run this afternoon, which despite the rain went pretty well, if a bit fast (probably because of the rain – pacing was out the window as I simply tried to pay attention to running on the side of the road with some, though not much, traffic). Heart rate was similarly a bit high, but I’m not concerned – I’ll treat it as a last race-page workout before the Celtic Solstice 5 miler in two weeks.

We head back to Boston at some point to pick up his pug and settle in for a quiet evening before I fly back Monday morning, heading into work directly from the airport. I’ll get to see him again Xmas weekend in Pennsylvania, then again the next weekend when he flies down to DC for new year’s eve. Even with the distance he makes me happy, and that’s worth a lot.