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

The training went really well, aside from a cold (or maybe covid?) that someone brought with them, post-Thanksgiving. No closed-circuit TV to the rooms at the facility like there is at my first agency’s training center, so it was show up or miss out. Lots of masking, but the second week drug on with the cold.

But, the whole experience was really, really good. First week was like ‘federal manager boot camp’, with lots of exercises designed to break down emotional/vulnerability barriers with a small team, then the second went into shorter, more applied courses. I took the negotiating class and the difficult conversations workshop. The latter was repetitive of much of the rest of the material, so I could’ve done something else, but it was still good reinforcement of the other materials.

Two more weeks in late February/early March. Difficult part will be keeping up with the reading in the interim, and keeping some momentum to change things at work, both personally and for the office.

I was semi-hopeful that they had a deal to extend funds, but that apparently blew up when some of the majority party balked at doing their basic constitutional duty to fund the government. A shame, because the original date was beyond my training dates, so I could’ve booked the travel and not had to worry about rescheduling if there’s a lapse at that point. Meh.

Got a wild hair this morning so I cleared off some shelves in our owner’s suite closet to try and neaten them up and make room for things. Rearranged shoes so they all fit. Tried on pants and shorts, donating a bunch that no longer fit, and better sorting the remainder. Did laundry, including some of the shorts which had accumulated dust. The husband usually does the laundry, but I offered to take care of mine this week because his schedule is nuts and I’d be home today. Still need to sort some shoes and determine which should stay and which should go, but that’ll involve a consultation with the husband (he’s more a shoe person than I am).

Prepped training I’m giving tomorrow. Two classes – one to other attorneys, and one to our budget folks. Cleaned up work emails. Mailed off a package to a niece and filled the car with gas. Have discovered that the second-closest post office is the way to go. They’re friendly and quite helpful, unlike the closest one, where the folks have universally been surly and brusque (which is a shame because the closest one is walking distance).

I’m taking off for training for two weeks down in the middle of Virginia at the beginning of December and need to start preparing lists of what to pack.

Otherwise I just continue working. There’s zero I can do about the incoming administration’s plans, so I refuse to engage in stressing over said plans. Instead I’ve been spending time at work spreading what my best man refers to as my “calming Moose rays” – talking people off of ledges, listening to their worries, and trying to redirect them away from doom scrolling and obsessive news consumption.

I think I’ve broken my yarn pull-ball winder. I suspect it’s fallen out of the closet one too many times and knocked something out of whack because last night the second ball of yarn in a row just thoroughly fucked up and did not wind correctly. Thankfully this time I managed to ‘wind’ it completely so I was able to then convert it to a regular round yarn ball without any tangles, but I’m definitely not a fan of those.

Finished the husband’s fingerless gloves last night, wound up fresh yarn, and cast on my first shawl. The shawl had an interesting garter tab cast on that had you knit up several rows, then turn the work to pick up stitches on the edge, then turn again to pick up along the cast-on edge (so it stretches out/bends the original few rows). I’m at the point in my knitting where I like to switch back and forth between “let’s learn something new” (the brioche hat, this new shawl) and “let’s do something easy” (the fingerless gloves).

Oh, and I finished the latest Wooble amigurumi this week, JoJo the Bunny. He’s so fat. LOL Next up is a fox, and hopefully I’ll get better at more consistent stitches with the practice.

In the meantime I turned 52 last week. I was thinking about that and about my work anniversary and realized that come December 1st this year I will have worked for half my life as a Federal employee. And don’t think for a moment that I won’t pull that out in meetings. LOL

I have become that stereotype of the overweight male who has to wear too much work clothing so wants the temperature set to a reasonable 70-72. Which is what the temp has mostly been. But apparently last week they moved a new co-worker to the office next to mine because hers was too cold and she cranked the (shared between our offices) thermostat to 76, where it was when I came in today and boiled in my office (until I went and adjusted it down, because she wasn’t in the office). Apologized to our office manager that I was going to add another variable to her space allocation work, but let her know that long term this was going to be an issue. I think perhaps we could switch her with yet another coworker who, like me, wants it on the cooler side, and then she’d be in an office with a shared thermostat with another woman who wants it warmer. Why they shared the thermostats in the first place is beyond me, but there are many things about this office that escape me.

That’s about what I estimate I have left to go on the endless brioche scarf. I can definitely say I have brioche stitch down now, at 60 inches/152 cm or so of scarf done. About 2.5″ left to go and I can bind it off, weave in ends, and enjoy the softness of it all.

Did I mention it hit almost 100F/37C here today? Perfect scarf knitting weather. Ha.

Knocked out about 2 hours of knitting this evening while watching Atlas on Netflix. Not a bad movie, fun premise, good background noise for knitting. The lumos & lumos neck lamp I grabbed last year was a great investment for couch & TV knitting. Would definitely recommend it. If you do decide to order one, in my experiences buying from them (more than once; picked up some for my nieces) they always offered a light at 50% off after I checked out the original order, so if you’re looking to get more than one keep that in mind. And there are always coupons, so never pay the full list price.

Have been dealing with some shoulder/arm issues related to posture/positioning while gaming, knitting, and computing. Strengthening stuff has helped a lot with that. And since I’m finally getting back to being able to jump rope on the knee I dislocated last year adding the strengthening has been a natural progression. Making sure I move more often while doing those activities has also been key.

Work is going. I’ve used this relatively quiet pre-holiday week to clear out some longstanding projects. Haircuts over the weekend, and visiting with one of the husband’s new coworkers and his family. Then probably being a lump. And maybe, just maybe, finishing this scarf.

We did, in fact, settle on “silent migraines” as the cause of the incidents I had from early December of last year through mid-February of this year. None of the blinding pain, but some of the side effects that mimicked stroke symptoms (dizziness, numbness). The two ocular migraines clinched it, since there was no damage present on any of the imaging we did of my brain. Bodies are such fun.

Did not make it through to interviews for the Deputy slot this go round, and after they failed the search for other reasons I chose not to re-apply when they re-issued the announcement. I think they’re at the interview stage, but I’m also not participating in that process (staff frequently helps out with resume review and/or interviewing candidates, and other attorneys are doing so). At this point I’m going to hunker down in my nice little mostly apolitical agency and see what November-January brings. Depending on which way that goes I may decide to look elsewhere or I may just settle down and decide that they pay me well enough and I can focus on other things rather than worry about supervising again.

The knee is better, but still not to running stability. I’m slowly increasing walking speed, but it still has stability issues at times when I turn corners or the like. I’ve used a set of ropeless jump ropes a few times to test the boundaries of how much I can bounce on my feet. That, in conjunction with biking and walking, is my exercise these days.

Took a knitting class on basic two-color brioche knitting and finished a hat this past week, in record time for me (a week!). Pictures over on Flickr, as well as some of the long fingering weight single-color (at-a-time) brioche scarf I’ve been working on since (checks Ravelry) February of last year. I’m on the last color block of four for the scarf, so almost done. I have another scarf on the needles for Metro knitting, and a hat and a blanket in the immediate next queue. I took a crochet class back in March to get some hands-on help and learn some of the basic steps there, but I haven’t done anything past the first project yet. Will probably try and whip out some dishcloths first.

Still haven’t figured out what to do with some of the stuff I cleared out of the trunks. Do I really need my merit badge sash? No. My Eagle Scout medal? Yes. But what to do with the stuff I’m keeping? Display it? Stick it in storage for another thirty years? I may set the husband loose on display options, that’s more up his alley than mine.

I did decide to apply for my boss’ job as Deputy GC. That application went in last Friday, and the announcement closed yesterday. It’s funny, since talking with her about it she’s definitely pulled back the curtain more on the workings of the office and the agency, especially our current hiring needs & process.

In health news, I’ve had a couple appointments, a couple events, and a new diagnosis of sorts. Saw neurology at another facility for an intake for an EEG later this month. Was not best pleased about how they handled the process (they literally just snail mailed me an appointment card with a time & date and no further information about what the appointment was for. Dorks), but the doctors were fine. Took the 30-day monitor off early (by about 6 days) because it had irritated my skin too much where the contacts were. But the neuro indicated that she had not gotten any alerts from it, so it’s fairly safe to assume there was no sign of atrial fibrillation; we’ll see for sure once they get the equipment back and send her the final report. The second neurology office apparently made noises to her about an implantable three year monitor and we nixed that. No thank you.

Had two eye incidents on the 25th and the 2nd, where I got what appeared to be an after-image in my right field of vision that gradually expanded in a crescent out and to the right until it faded completely, all in about twenty minutes. Annoyed me the first time, freaked me out the second time. Saw an ophthalmologist yesterday to check that out, and he pretty quickly diagnosed it as an ocular migraine, but examined my eyes and found no other issues with the retinas, etc. And he said that while he was no neurologist, in his experience if I’m getting ocular migraines the other TIA-like symptoms (numbness, dizziness) might just be signs of migraines rather than strokes. I’m still going through the rest of the testing to rule stuff out, but I’d certainly prefer that these were migraines over strokes. I’d actually prefer to have none of it, but if I’m stuck with one I know which I’d choose.

The knee has done better the past two weeks. I pushed the orthopedist to be more aggressive at our last appointment and he gave me a cortisone shot to ramp down the inflammation. I’ve been able to walk more easily, did a mile on the treadmill on Sunday (slowly), and have been able to bike again. Which is good because the knee brace was starting to irritate the skin on my leg.

We’ve been going through a bunch of personnel changes the past year at work. New General Counsel, permission to hire five new attorneys (up from 13 to 18), three of whom are on board and the last two have a start dates now. But we’re also losing four attorneys, one to retirement, and three to other agencies, including our Deputy GC. Which readers may recall was the position I applied and interviewed for back in 2021 when it last opened up. And while at the time I considered that a bullet dodged (I honestly don’t think I was ready for that), this time I’m going to do some more talking with the current incumbent about the job, and the previous GC about how the interview process went. The ad is out on the street and is open for three weeks, so I have some time to make a decision. Thankfully it’s the same requirements as last time, so with some minor polishing and updating I should be good to go for answering the questions. As of right this instant I’m on the fence. Frankly I like my current job at the small gubm’nt agency and I could be comfortable in it for the next decade or so. But do I want to just ride that out or do I want to do more? I dunno. I look forward to talking about it with the husband, after he’s done with this weekend’s festivities.

Spent the early afternoon culling books from my office. Mostly old triathlon books that I am not going to use again, and who could find a better life elsewhere. Rearranged some of the remaining books, and left some space for more which are sure to come. This shelf serves as my Zoom background when working from home, and always gets compliments, so I like to shake it up from time to time. Plus I really do need more space to fit some of the stuff (books and legos) I got for the holidays.

The husband is up in NYC for a day trip, seeing musical performances numbers 99 and 100 (he’s currently in number 99) for him for this year. He realized he was really close to 100 about a month ago and I urged him to go ahead and aim to hit it before year’s end just for the bragging rights of his “year of theater”. And it gave me a good space to clean without him getting bored and wanting me to drag him out of the house to go do something. 😉

This upcoming year is going to be a challenge. There’s the knee, and the ongoing medication adjustments from the TIA (BP was almost in the normal range this morning, which was nice to see). There were some shenanigans with pay for our top ranks at work, including me, because our former GC was a bit fast and loose with his legal work, so I will take a slight haircut on base pay for the year. Not paralyzing, but definitely annoying. And whatever else life tosses my way. Nothing unsurmountable (so far), just mostly annoying. Though I would like the knee to get back to normal sooner rather than later, since moving is important to me and I would like to do it like a normal person again, and not a semi-invalid.

Likely going to go catch up on some comics this afternoon, and maybe hit a long-delayed cross-stitch pattern that I had lost the bits for on the shelf, but which have now been found.

Saw my sister-in-law and niece off this morning, after they popped down for the holiday weekend.

Made some homemade pumpkin spice coffee additive last night (1.5 cups sugar, 1.5 cups water, bring to boil over medium heat, whisk in 4 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend and 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, lower heat to simmer for 20 more minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve (and cheesecloth, if you have it, to further reduce the solids) and add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Stores in the fridge for up to a week). Also made toddy coffee concentrate, so had homemade iced pumpkin spice lattes this morning (1/2 cup concentrate, 3/4 cup milk, 2 Tablespoons PSL mix). Was tasty. I’m normally a black coffee drinker, so anything beyond that is exotic for me, but this was a nice treat. And the SIL was impressed, which is what really counts.

PT this afternoon. I have some pitting edema going on, meaning there’s still a lot of extra fluid in the knee, so if that’s still there at the end of next week I get to ask the orthopedist about that. Flexion was about the same as last week, which may be related to the extra fluid at this point.

Short week last week (and weird because of the almost-government-shut-down), short week this week. My new attorney shadow gets here in two weeks; it’s someone I recruited from my old agency, so I know I’ll work well with him. Looking forward to training him on the new agency, and a new area of law, as well as passing off some of the stuff that I’m not as well versed in but that he has much more experience with.

Oooh, we played Uno Flip last night and really enjoyed it. The husband and I own it, but hadn’t played it, and it was quite a fun variation on the regular uno. Both sides of the cards are playable, a light side and a dark side, and every now and again people can make the deck flip from one to the other, which also flips all the cards in your hand. Kept things lively.

Got some more of the Halloween stuff put up, including the green-purple-orange light strings we bought last year but didn’t get up (maybe we bought them at the end of the season on sale? I don’t remember why they didn’t get put up). Our neighbor does a much better job with it than we do, but we outshine them at Xmas. 😉