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

I need a second drawer for my underwear. Not because I have so many that they can’t fit into one (almost, but not quite), but because I need to sort them. The categories: 1. Comfortable; 2. Not Comfortable.

After Jockey decided to do away with size small underwear (curse their oversized hearts), my underwear buying mantra has been, “Is it cute? Is it on sale?” If one or the other (preferably both), it’s in. This has lead to a great variety of undies, with few sets repeated in the collection. Contrast this to the days when I bought jockey boxer-briefs and the only difference between pairs was the color.

So, with a great plethora of underwear I tend to just throw them all in the drawer and then root around until I find something I think I might like that day. It’s mostly boxer-briefs, but the occasional plain boxer or brief or something else is mixed in with the collection. There are, of course, pairs mixed in which are, how to say, less comfortable than others. Either too tight, too loose, too high across the ass, too low a waist, too high a waist, the seam irritates my piercings, whatever. For some reason, they’re just not comfortable for wearing. And I tend to forget which pairs those are. Hence the need for a second drawer. Because heaven forfend I should throw out a pair. Then I might forget how bad they were and buy them again. Instead I just forget how bad they are and wear them again.

Which brings us to yesterday’s pair. A nice pair of black 2Xist cotton boxer-briefs. They fit well when I put them on. Not too snug, waist hit the right place, etc. Then they got worn for a while. Sometime around, oh, noon, the cotton in this pair had stretched out to the point where they might as well have been boxers. No support, no clinging to the legs/crotch, just limp cotton hanging around. But not like the nice thin cotton that boxers are, no, this was slightly thicker, with ribbing in all the wrong places. I couldn’t get out of them fast enough when I got home.

And since I did laundry last night, I know they’ll be dry tonight (cold wash, drip dry), and will go right back in the drawer, where they’ll sit unloved, until the next time I’m at a loss for what to wear and drag them out again, only to remember that I hate them. But by then it will be too late.

I don’t often remember my dreams, but last night was particularly bad.

The setting was a Stardust-like universe. Was in the company of some witches. Anyway, they were friendly, and I had shared bread and butter & jam with them earlier, but then as a result of some mishap someone bought the farm. The witches were quite pleased, and went about taking the body to boil it down into the self-same spread that I had thought was butter. I mildly protested, at which point the one looked at me, genuinely puzzled, and said, “But why else did you think we called it Squelches?” as she squished yet another part of the body down in the cooking pot. I had thought they were talking about the jam.

Yes, even in my dreams I make awful puns. Not even good puns, just awful ones.

Let’s see. Today. Bullets:

• Left work “late” (aka on time) because I got caught up in fixing something. Not a bad thing, it gives me something to write tomorrow. (I say “late” because it’s summer and I typically am the last one in the office, with an official quit time of 6pm, and it’s been dead after 5pm)
• Got home to a new obsession in the mail. It’s all BC’s fault for mentioning it. And Amazon’s for offering the full set for less than $10.
• Played said obsession until just now. Hadn’t evven checked email this evening, that’s how bad it was.
• Despite that, managed to get laundry done for this weekend’s trip and race.
• Ran briefly this morning (as in, less than 2 miles). Went okay.
• Discovered while doing laundry that my favorite big running shorts have a hole in the crotch. Thank heavens I have multiple pairs to choose from.
• Still recovering from the head cold, but getting better.

And that’s about it today.

Was up until 4am. Sleep was not to be found. Then, I was rudely awakened at 8am by the sound of a chipper/shredder taking out the limb that came down Saturday night outside my window. Called work, went back to bed. Just getting up now, and only up because I got hungry. Well, that and the half-awake dreams got really, really fucked up and I couldn’t take them any more.

I even hauled out my neti pot to help clear out my nose. I haven’t used that thing in years. It did do a good job of clearing some stuff out, so I’ll probably see about doing it as a regular practice. I think I got the head position better last night than I have (chin and forehead level – previously I’d had the chin too far down I think) after a lot of insominac reading last night. And hey, if it helps, water and salt are cheap, certainly cheaper than sudafed.

I sense much monster killing today, around napping. And a little bit of work, since I have a meeting with a political appointee tomorrow about his project and how to fund it in a way that doesn’t kill the thing.

Another week, another head cold. Wouldn’t mind so much if I could just sleep. And maintain a stable temperature. And breathe. Aside from that, it’s all good. Ha.

Left work a bit early to come home and nap. We’ll see if I go in tomorrow. I brought some stuff home to read over for a meeting Wednesday, so I can be missed if need be. It was important to get in today because an investigator was coming in for my latest background check and I had to confirm this, that and the other with him, as well as sicking him on all my friends for their confirmation that I’m a crack-smoking communist spy an upstanding citizen.

And yes, they still ask if you are or have ever been a member of an organization which has plotted the violent overthrow of the US government (though they do not name the communist party specifically any more, at least they didn’t today). A new addition was questions about membership in terrorist organizations. All of it was pretty bland, truth be told, but glad that round’s over with.

Finally bought a backup disk for my iBook this weekend, so I went ahead and partitioned that and backed up the important files this evening. It’s not automated a la the PC version, but a simple copy and paste worked just as well. Getting all the music backed up, as well as the quicken data, addressbook, porn, and calendar on there was a good feeling. The laptop’s coming up on 3 years old, I think, with a lot of data I consider pretty important, so ’twas well past time for this.

Not much else going on. Hoping the cold’s gone enough for the next two races (the last three I couldn’t care less about), this weekend and next. In the meantime it’s rest, try not to kill myself, taper, etc. Quiet time.

So, I’m texting back and forth with BC the other day and he casually drops in a text that he’s “Chilling out, playing some diablo.”

*cue screeching halt noise*

Quick phone call to BC gets made. “Wait, did you just say that you play Diablo (II)?” Yup, he does, LOD expansion pack even. And loves it. One of my favorite games of all time, and he loves it.

*cue geek squeal*

Yup, definitely infatuated here. More and more each day.

I just saw a woman wearing black Crocs with her pants suit. It’s a shame they don’t give us honorary fashion police ticket books, or she’d have gotten one.

I need to teach my clients the concept of “admission against interest.” Just because someone has asked for information doesn’t mean you have to divulge everything, only what they asked for, narrowly tailored to fit the request. This is not an opportunity to throw on a hair shirt and get out the scourge, folks.

Saw Stardust this weekend. Marvelous film. Will enjoy getting it on DVD once it’s out – this was definitely an over-and-over-again type of film for me. And Michelle Pfeiffer was hot as the witch queen.

Rode out to BC’s place on Saturday. If that type of commute is going to become a regular thing, which it may, I’ll need to get another bike. I rode the tri bike, which meant carrying a bag on my back. Not terribly comfortable for 2 hours. I need a bike with a rack for panniers, and the mountain bike simply is not up to that kind of riding. Maybe in the spring I’ll look for a road bike. And figure out where to store a third bicycle.

Getting back into the swing of things, post head cold and pre-races. The swim is still the most nerve-inducing part, but I expect it to go more smoothly than previous races. I’m less anxious about it than I have been in the past, and I think it’ll be fine.

I’m glad I gave up the morning paper, I am making it through more in the way of other reading, but the magazine pile hasn’t really diminished. I have made it through 1.5 books, though, and the last Harry Potter is sitting out, beckoning.

I just spent a good chunk of time deleting profiles on various sites like Pl*xo, T*gged, MySp*ce, L*nked*n, etc. I don’t use those to keep up with people, I haven’t kept them updated and frankly I found them annoying (especially MySp*ce). And I was growing uncomfortable with having addresses and phone numbers scattered around so many different sites. It’s not hard to find me, with a little digging, so why put all that out if it’s just sitting there?

So don’t freak out that I’ve suddenly disappeared from one or more of those sites; I just decided that opting out of them was easier than dealing with them. if you need/want contact information, drop me a line, I’m almost always happy to share it.

Without a means to play games (without having to connect to the net or wifi, that is) the phone is encouraging more writing than the previous one. I’ve done more email checking and writing than I used to do on the Treo. The larger screen is a definite plus for that, even when it gets sucked up by the keyboard. Scrolling is easier, with a flick of the finger, though I still have trouble with zooming in and out.

Most definitely not bored today at work. Taught an hour-long seminar, been catching up on and responding to a ton of emails, and getting handed more reading for meetings later this week. Busy is good, don’t get me wrong, I far prefer it to the alternative.

SNAFU between work and the new carrier – we qualify for a discount on service, but they have to confirm where you work by sending your work email address a link to access their discount page. Fair enough. But each time it tried, the email comes through with no link. And of course it’s nigh impossible to figure out who to contact about the issue. I wouldn’t bother but money off is money off, and I’d prefer a cheaper bill if at all possible.

Busy week for BC this week, so it’s unlikely we’ll see each other until Saturday. Not a huge deal, but I do find myself missing his presence. Phone calls, texts & emails are okay, but no substitute for a good hug.

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest music geek on the planet. Mostly I use my old iPod to have some background noise at work, and the shuffle to do the same on transit, neither of which offer the highest quality sound, either out of the iHome speakers at work or the old iPod buds.

So imagine my delight at the detail I can hear in the sound from the iPhone’s buds. It’s a marked improvement over the other devices.

Of course, the fact that I’m sitting in my otherwise quiet apartment might have something to do with that, too.

Still figuring out the bluetooth headset. When I’ve managed to use it (I somehow unpaired it earlier?) it’s sounded good on my end, and haven’t had complaints from the family members who’ve called today. The form factor is nice – it’s not huge, and doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall out if I move around. And seeing the charge level for the thing on the phone’s screen is a nice touch.

Other than that today’s been boring as all get out. I still feel under the weather; it feels like I’m fighting a cold. Napping was on and off, and did some reading (finished a book from the pile! One down – five gazilion to go!). Prolly an early night, try to get some more sleep tonight, and back to work tomorrow. I can’t handle another day at home, I’ll go stir crazy.