7 January, 2008

Mr. Exciting

Category: Friends,Geek,Law,Relationships,Stuff — Moose @ 11:43 pm

When you have a second person spending a considerable amount of time at your house, it’s amazing how much faster you run through personal grooming products.

Received a book from a friend today, a textbook on Queensland criminal law which I’d helped him read and edit. He thoughtfully included me in the dedications, a first for me. Strange to see my name there in print, but also kind of cool.

On the same line as the grooming products note, I got a new iron today in the mail. I hardly ever use my iron (I’m lazy), but BC uses one almost daily, so my old, leaky iron was not going to cut it. Especially after it leaked all over my desk. So, claiming my title as “Mr. Exciting” I ordered a new one. Very fancy, I’ll try it tomorrow morning before work. And shock my coworkers by not looking completely wrinkled. Maybe.

6 January, 2008

Cleaning Fumes

Category: Biking,Exercise,Home,Sleep,Stuff — Moose @ 7:05 pm

Feeling a little light-headed from paint remover fumes. I’ve been cleaning off the brass (it turns out) knobs on my kitchen cabinets this afternoon. Along with the dreadful paint color (“winter garden”), whatever idiot painted the kitchen also painted over all of the knobs with the same dreadful paint. Which is odd, because they had to them screw the knobs back on after at least a single coat of paint because the screws in the back were not painted over. Oy. So, 6 of ten are done. I thought perhaps from the way the paint was peeling off the knobs that they’d be more a dark nickel color, but brass they are.

Mostly done, but decided to break from it when the fumes got to be a bit much, even with the fan(s) going. This was after breathing in a plethora of other cleaning products as the place got scrubbed down, vacuumed, swiffered, etc. this morning and afternoon. Much needed cleaning, but never completely fun stuff.

I’ve started the process to purchase the new stove, first step being to find out what’s needed in terms of wiring, etc. to handle it. Given that the current one is original to the apartment (i.e., from 1963) it was better to ask first and see what kind of conversion box might be needed., if any. I have to call tomorrow to have them come check it out this week and give me an estimate on the work (conversion box, if needed, removal and installation of the new unit, etc.).

BC and I popped out to a party last night. I stuck to water, so slept fairly well and got in a bike this morning on the trainer before beginning to clean. Probably balanced out the not drinking by eating too many cookies today, but so be it.

3 January, 2008

Quiet Beginning

BC and I had a nice, low-key NYE, over at a friend’s house with a few other folks. Much fun was had playing Godzilla Unleashed on his Wii, and aside from a single glass of champagne at midnight I didn’t touch a drop (I drove up there so we didn’t have to deal with taxis or Metro). Driving home was the most challenging part – drunken people popping out in the road at random intervals, all trying to flag down any taxi they could. What. A. Mess.

No new year’s day run this year – we got up too late, and then had to zip off to another get-together at Richard’s place in the afternoon. No matter, we got in a nice 4 miles today which, while cold, wasn’t bad. The cold symptoms are calming somewhat finally, but aren’t completely gone quite yet. Rest, relaxation, lots of water, and no drinking. Am going to begin exercising again, though. I just can’t wait any longer.

Speaking of which, signed up for my third and final triathlon for this year, the Nation’s Triathlon here in DC. So I’m doing Columbia in May (Olympic distance), Nation’s Tri in September (Olympic again), and Ironman Arizona (aka IMZ) in November. And a couple of other running events, I’m sure, sprinkled in between (Lawyers Have Heart 10k in June, the National Press Club 5k in September, etc.). Aside from IMZ, they’re all local things, so not a ton of travel for races this year, which should be a bit easier, especially if I’m transitioning jobs later this year.

We did a little shopping today, and I picked up some extra controllers for the two gaming systems, as well as recharging stations for both – no more disposable batteries.

So, a nice quiet beginning to the year, which I hope bodes well for the rest of it.