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

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.

With five seasons under my belt, I think this is the most prepared I’ve been this early. Packet pick up is done, the bike has been dropped off in transition. I’ve put my folding chair, the floor pump and the cookbooks I’m lending to my friend John in the car. My tri suit, chip and heart rate monitor strap are laid out with body glide for the morning. Transition towels, bike shoes, socks, nutrition, helmet and gloves are in the bag, as are my running shoes and socks, race number, run nutrition, and hat. Wet suit is hanging at the ready. Water bottles have been cleaned and are drying for the morning. A change of clothes for cleaning up at John’s place after the race is good to go. Coffee’s brewing so it’ll be there tomorrow morning to be zapped (takes too long otherwise). All that’s left is setting the alarms tonight and crashing later. Then in the morning it’s up, pack the car, get up to the race site, set up transition and get going. My wave starts at 7:16, should be done somewhere before 10:50, heaven willing. Fun day ahead, and I’m looking forward to it.

It’s been spring cleaning season here at Maison du Moose. I’ve been collecting things that need to be donated, and tossing those things which aren’t donation worthy. Several boxes were untouched in almost 4 years, and while there were a few things which were saved from one or two, most of them were summarily dumped. It’s amazing how much space you can clear up when you do stuff like this. I keep surprising myself in the linen closet/hall closet/extended medicine cabinet with all the empty space on the shelves. I’m sure I’ll figure out things to rearrange, but for now it’s nice to see empty shelf.

Have to figure out how to completely delete my old PC and then recycle the parts. I think I shall enlist the help of a friend who does forensic computer stuff for a living and see what he recommends. I haven’t turned it on in almost two years, it needs to stop taking up space and get outta here, along with its cart.

Post brunch I hauled it back here to keep sorting and cleaning. Eventually a friend found his way down and had some fun looking through the archeological finds in some of the boxes with me, but we eventually made our way down to the local watering hole and had a nice dinner. A quick trip to the grocery store afterward to pick up needed supplies (note to self, don’t go again when you’re feeling a craving for sweets), and now it’s crash time to get the week going.

Took a personal day today to get the annual eye exam done, and drop off the mini for needed maintenance. While I was out and about I decided to run by the local hardware store over on Capitol Hill and check out some paint colors. Picked up three samples for the bedroom and one for the bathroom. The bathroom one is going to work, I think, and it’s a shame that the sample is the wrong kind of paint for a ‘wet’ room because that little pot would cover the whole kit & kaboodle. The three in the bedroom will need to be observed over several days in different lights to see which of them I am going to want. They’re all in a grey-blue tone, of varying bits of blue and varying degrees of light/dark. I suspect the lightest is going to be the one to go with, but I need to see them in different light first.

And yes, it has taken me four years to get paint. Hush.

I also picked up a little razor/knife thingey to enable me to cut several light switch covers and electrical covers off the walls where the idjits who painted the apartment before I moved in painted over them. If I ever catch a contractor I’ve hired doing the same, I’ll skin ’em alive. I’ve now replaced the covers in the kitchen, front hall and bathroom. Forgot (or didn’t look) to get three other light switches, but I can get those when I go back for the paint. Gotta say, I am SOOOO glad I got rid of that stupid blue ceramic cover in the bathroom. Ugh. That thing drove me nuts. Replaced them all with pewter-tone steel, which matches the aluminium ‘theme’ of the cult co-op. Next step will be replacing the actual switches and plugs in the walls, as they’re all disgustingly dirty and mostly painted over in varying hues. But that’s for another day when I feel like sitting down and (not) playing with electricity.

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.

I can already tell that rather than spending this snowy weekend playing video games and knitting I’m going to be cleaning, sorting, fixing and purging my apartment. I’ve already managed to do some laundry (cleaning pants which I rediscovered in the closet, some to wear again, some to donate); scrub down parts of the bathroom; clean and fix the small bookcase in the front hall, as well resorting the stuff on it; and vacuum several areas of the apartment. All of these are things I need to do, but not exactly how I expected to spend this weekend. Not that I had a lot of expectations for a weekend where we’re expecting the snowfall to be measured in feet, but hey.

My new mortgage servicing company has made a fine festuche of the escrow statement on my PMI as I moved over to them. Sent them a doc on 12/10/09 to have them correct the error (they somehow assumed I wasn’t going to pay the PMI that was on the bill for December and January, despite never being late with a payment?!?!). Called today because the February bill shows an increase (which was threatened in the incorrect escrow statement) to collect the “missing” PMI. They did indeed get my letter via fax on the 10th, but no one ever bothered to send it to the escrow department to have the thing fixed. Oy. So, step one was having that happen today, and I’ll call to bug them in a week. In the meantime I have to pay the bill with the extra $17 and change on it and then deal later with getting that somehow credited to a future bill or to principle. Right. It’s not a ton of money, but frankly I don’t want to pay them a penny more than I owe them. I have little faith in this new company so far, though the reps I’ve spoken to in the two months I’ve had them have been fairly pleasant to deal with.

Oh, and my favorite part of dealing with them? For the first time since about my third mortgage payment back in 2006 I’m paying my mortgage via check. Why? Because they want to charge me to make the payment online, in an amount that adds about 1% to the bill. No thanks, I’ll happily pay the USPS to deliver it instead. Dingbats.

And there’s some question why people dislike financial institutions?

Anyway. Other than that, training is going okay. My foot began to bother me a little at the end of last week, but several nights of sleeping in the brace has staved off the ever-possible plantar fasciitis. Went absolutely nuts in making soup last week, so I have gobs of the stuff in freezer bags now for easy meals later (whip up some fresh rice and heat up the soup, voila, homemade meal in no time). Curried split pea soup and African bean soup (also slightly curried, but with peanut butter in the broth – yum). Mood is much elevated thanks to regular exercise again.

Mike is looking at condos in Beantown these days. It’s been fun to watch the excitement and apprehension that goes along with that process. In a lot of ways I wish I were up there to look at places with him and watch the possibilities unfold. I did have to admit to him that I was a bit apprehensive when he first said that he was going to buy rather than rent when he moved this spring (it does make the long-distance aspect of the relationship a bit more, well, lasting for the near future), but spitting it out and talking about it with him released that anxiety. Yes, we’ll be traveling back and forth for a while to come, but I think he’s worth it.

Work has been hellacious as we move toward budget hearing time with the President’s budget coming out on Monday. Today was spent going over mind-numbing anticipatory questions and answers (the programs guessing what the Hill is going to ask us, and then answering said questions). On the one hand it’s a good picture of the overall direction of the BGA. On the other, it’s tedious and time-consuming, and one gets tired of correcting grammar and statutory reference mistakes. Eh, as long as they keep paying me. Though I do look forward to getting the ad out on the street for the other appropriations attorney position we’re supposed to be putting out. Soon. I hope. (Help!)

NTP is in full start-up mode. The newbies register on Wednesday and then the fun begins. I have two docs to edit up this week, and then we’re good to get started.

Been thinking a lot about decorating, again. Mainly paint and some minor things around the apartment. It’s been 4 years-ish since I moved in and I’ve not painted a thing. Whoops. I did come up with an idea for the color (though not the exact shade) for the bedroom this afternoon. Looked around when I got home and I think it’ll work. Not saying much past that, but I’m hopeful. Need to find someplace to do some framing for me, too (oooh, and there’s an idea for the front hall. Hmmm…). Anyway, it’s a slow process (re: 4 years, no paint), but is good to get some more concrete ideas. Oh, and cleaning out of closets will happen shortly. Lots to do, lots to do.

Not my day for stuff. First, I discovered the zipper on my coat is broken (luckily I have a backup). Then the roomba, which claimed to have a full battery, crapped out in about 10 seconds of vacuuming. Then the Xbox 360 decided to freeze up on me. Multiple times. I dread the thought of having to send that beast in. Plus I really wanted to wreak havoc with my minions tonight on Overlord.

None of these are insurmountable, or even particularly difficult, but they are annoying.

Wrestled with my poor, old, non-working dishwasher for a few hours this weekend. It no longer drains completely, perhaps the result of a blockage somewhere, perhaps a broken valve. I explored as much of the interior systems as I could, easily, but at the end of the weekend it was Dishwasher 3, Moose 0.

I did learn that I have an appliance-screw sized attachment for my electric screwdriver, however, and I also found the troubleshooting sheet that came with the DW. Unfortunately I didn’t discover the attachment until the beginning of round 2 of cleaning, and I have to say, trying to get tiny appliance screws out with pliers is not fun. Removing the baskets to get at and clean various filters went much faster after the discovery. The other discovery, the troubleshooting sheet, was a fluke caused by the poor installation of the DW by the previous owner. The area under my sink has no cabinet walls – evidently they got ripped out to install the DW, so while I was putzing around looking at where hoses went, I was able to look at the chassis on it’s right side. There, stuck into the outside of the DW, was the sheet. Who hides such a thing like that? Nonetheless, it was nice to find as it did help identify more places to check.

It’s still not draining, and I’ve done all I can without disconnecting the power and hauling the unit out from the cabinet. I suspect I’m just going to revert back to my original plan and replace the unit this next year with one that’s more energy efficient.

I did learn a lot about the care and feeding of DWs in this whole process, thus once again living out my father’s definition of maturity: Learning to become an expert at those things you never wanted to learn in the first place.

Switching back to running in cooler weather always necessitates an adjustment period. I tend to forget which items of clothing are best at which temperatures, though I did remember not to even attempt gloves. I warm up enough after 8-10 minutes of running that gloves become too warm in all but the coldest weather (in which case I’d probably go running inside anyway). I could’ve used a wind vest this morning, but the tights were exactly the right weight. Is good when I guess correctly at the beginning of the change in seasons.

On the other hand, it’s time to get new running shoes this weekend. The toebox has been an issue with the new orthoses, and this morning it came to a head in the form of a blister or other sore on one toe, with the result of some blood in the sock when I got home. So, new shoe time, perhaps going up half a size if that’ll help give a bit more room for my toes.