The Legal Moose’s Glen

Children should not be allowed out without adult supervision. Case in point, the kids running down the wrong way on the escalator to make the train in the Metro. At least they didn’t stop the thing like the last group of urchins I encountered on their way home from school.

And yes, this does make me a grumpy old man. Which makes the fact that BC’s mom keeps hinting at wanting us to have kids all the more amusing (amusing to me, not so much to him, but then again she’s not my biological mother - my own mother has said nothing of the sort and seemed kind of surprised when I mentioned children).

Heading back to the office after getting a sty looked at. Nothing big, and thank heavens Metro is reliable most days, allowing me to zip out & back without too much delay.

[side note - did we not outlaw mullets yet? Why would someone wear something so bad looking on their head?]

Tourists are out in force today. I’d have expected more of them next weekend rather than this weekend, given the holiday.

Heading to the cooking expo this weekend with BC to drool over ovens & cooktops I can’t yet afford or fit into my kitchen. I enjoyed it last year, and am looking forward to checking out the gadgets. I’d like to find a place that offers a knife skills class that’s both convenient and that won’t try to make me do something like de-bone a duck. I’m not holding my breath on that, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

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 don’t think it’s a portent for the day, but when I got into my office this morning and went to change out of bicycling clothes and into work drag, I managed to step right on top of a purple jelly bean. Good thing I keep extra napkins in the office.

Got in a long ride this weekend, but no long run, so went out and did 7ish miles this morning before work. Was well behaved and kept my heart rate down in a semi-decent zone, rather than my usual overdoing it. I suspect I’m going to have a couple things I want to focus on after mid-september’s races, including some fat loss, weight work, and practice staying down in heart rate zones one and two. Might go for broke and get myself one of the new garmin heart rate monitor/gps units, too. BC just got one, and I was pleasantly surprised at how multi-sport friendly it was, unlike my nice, but kludgey, polar unit - it’s good for single sport training, and will give you great info for each sport, but you can’t do multi-sport workouts or races and keep the data in one file, which is a major weakness in my opinion. Perhaps a birthday present for myself this year. Probably better for me in the long run than, say, a Wii, too.

Not that a Wii wouldn’t be fun, as seen Saturday night when we were out at a friend’s house and played Wii bowling. Good job, Nintendo, even if it is still easier to get crack in DC than it is to find a Wii on the shelves in the area. Cheaper, too.

Earlier today I finally posted one of the three race reports that I need to do. Still have this past weekend’s 10k and the 1/2 marathon from April yet to write up.

Work’s gotten a tad better. I spent a good bit of time cleaning off my desk, recycling or filing things. Part of that was finally having passed a draft to management of a long-term project, so while I waited for feedback I took some time to make some more work space available. Did get the needed feedback later in the afternoon so I now have more direction on which way to go, which is a very good thing, and I feel a lot better about the project. I suspect I’d have been better off chatting with da boss for a bit on this thing rather than operating in quite the vacuum I was working in, but so be it. A lesson for next time. In the meantime, I’m good to go and feeling better.

The crush continues apace. We spent most of pride weekend together, a lovely bit of time with friends and hanging out and wandering around seeing tons of folks whom I never see because either I or they never go out (or never go out to the same places). A tad too much alcohol was consumed Saturday, but these things happen. At least a couple people met the crush and I got approvals back from those who did.

Back to serious training this week. Cycled this morning, will run and swim tomorrow. 88 more days until the half-ironman, aka “Ironman 70.3″ race as they’re calling them these days (if you total up the swim, bike and run miles it comes to 70.3 miles: 1.2, 56, and 13.1; a full Ironman is twice that). I can do it, and I’m pretty sure I’ll actually enjoy it, too, but it’ll certainly be a challenge. Looking forward to it.

Left work early this evening to bike home ahead of a line of thunderstorms that rolled through downtown around 5:35 or so. Just managed to get in before the rain started, so glad I left when I did. Wasn’t very long, but was very intense, and was right at closing time for me. Did up a batch of steamed dumplings for dinner. I’m trying out various pre-made ones and so far this manufacturer is winning hands down. Interesting taste, spiced just right, cooked easily, stayed together, but didn’t stick to one another. The first batch was okay, the second (boiled) batch turned into one giant mass-of-dumpling-dough-and-filling.

Attended my second cult co-op meeting of the week tonight. While I led the last meeting (which is less formal than most), this one I wish I had led. Oh. Em. Gee. Talk about toxic. The older committee members seem to have some sort of complex about years of perceived abuse that’s supposedly been heaped on them and they’re just a mess. I think we could have gotten all of the work done in an hour, maybe a little more, rather than the 1.5+ hour rambling session that passed for a meeting. What a cluster fuck. I may have to shoot the board member who talked me into getting on this thing.

Oh, and last but not least the little man purse extra small messenger bag I ordered to tool around town with finally arrived today (not those colors, though - I did a custom one in burgundy/steel/burgundy with a moss liner and a silver logo). Mmm, pretty… I wanted something to carry a few small things with if I bike somewhere in town that wasn’t my huge messenger bag (both to have the smaller bag and not to layer my entire back in a nice, unbreathing sweat bag). I think it’ll do the trick nicely.

The drive from DC to Chesapeake (Great Bridge, specifically), usually takes somewhere around 4 hours, give or take a bit, depending on wind speed, police presence, etc. Today it took 6 hours.

Six. Hours.

There had been some sort of accident north of Richmond, so it took me four hours to get to Richmond itself. When we passed the spot where the accident had occurred, of course there was no sign of the accident itself, we were simply experiencing the aftermath of the original slow down, which is probably still inflicting itself upon the poor fools stuck driving on I-95 this evening.

The worst was the constant signs from the Ever-helpful folks at VDOT who told us “Accident X Miles Ahead; Expect Major Delays; Consider Alternate Routes”. The alternate route I considered was an expanded and decent rail system that would actually get me all the way down into Chesapeake, but alas, that is not to be. It would have been a bit more helpful if, say, they’d had VDOT or VSP officials out waiving folks along to keep them moving past the accident site and avoided the slow down entirely, but of course, that would be useful. Or if they’d actually suggested what some alternate routes might be, instead of leaving us with no idea how to hop off and get around the mess on the highway.

(I did call my parents and asked for alternate routes, but the one would have had me incredibly out of the way and the other only intersected with the highway where the accident site was, making it not terribly useful)

Now I remember why I don’t drive. I’m sorely tempted next time, even though it will add to the overall time of the trip, to take the train down to the Peninsula and rent a car there rather than have to drive all the way down and up on 95 again. Gah.

I was a tad worried this morning about the race tomorrow, my ankle started to bother me after all the walking yesterday, but it appears to be fine this evening. The 6 hours of rest in the car helped it, no doubt. Crashed out in the motor home this time so I have a real bed on which to sleep before the race tomorrow. Phone’s set to play reveille at 5 am, we’re getting to the race site at 7. 1,500 racers are registered. It’s a flat out and back, so should be good. Looking forward to dropping back down to shorter distances for the immediate future after this, too. I’ll be back up there in September for this fall’s big race, but in the meantime I want some time down to focus on biking.

Good intro meeting for the newbies this morning. Got out and biked there and back. Nice lunch in Georgetown with some of the volunteers. Finally rearranged the cables to the TV and computer, so they don’t show or stretch. Vacuumed. Should have napped, but just didn’t.

The warmer weather was good today. I’m hopeful that in the next couple weeks I’ll be able to take the tri bike off the trainer and use it outside, though I fear it was a false start, given the forecast for the next week). That and I’d like to be able to bike to work again. It’s not quite up to the right temps in the morning to make it comortable; I’d like it to be above freezing so my toes don’t fall off. The fact that they don’t make booties to go over mountain bike shoes doesn’t help (wool socks alone don’t cut it). The bus is fine, but the bike is faster.

I also want it warm enough to do the morning rides with the club once they start up again on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Annual meeting of the club tomorrow, making up for the lost one last Sunday when it snowed and made the roads so crazy.  Should be relatively pro-forma, though thankfully we’re moving the annual meeting to the fall after this one (pending a vote to change the bylaws). Good way to round out the tri weekend, but I’ll be glad when it’s done.

Nothing quite like a false fire alarm at 9:30 p.m. to get the blood flowing. At least, since the last one, they managed to turn the volume up on the alarm (last time I could barely hear the thing in my bedroom - this time it was clear). Got all dressed, but neighbors were coming back up the staircase to let us know it was a false alarm by the time I popped out to say hello to folks. And thankfully it was while I was still awake and not in bed like the last one.

As yet no word on whether we’ll be out or not tomorrow because of the sleet/freezing rain/snow/whatever the heck it’s doing out there now. They let us off early today, something of which I was happy to take advantage. Traffic, even leaving almost an hour after the dismissal, was insane. I was on a bus, but it took us an eternity to get home. Had it not been ugly out I’d have just walked and gotten home faster, but as it was I enjoyed the warm bus far more than I would have enjoyed getting away more quickly.

Been helping an Australian law professor whose acquaintance I’ve made online do some research this afternoon before MG came over. Was fun to do some basic research that was law related, but not work related. Also, the Australia constitution is an odd affair. Not that the US constitution is a perfect work, but there are marked differences between the two documents. Was interesting to compare the two on the subject of (sovereign) immunity.

I hate when recipes lie. “Simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 40 minutes.” 40 minutes my ass, how about 2 hours? Liars. And I think this happens more often than people think with cookbooks (because, really, if it said “2 hours” would most people try the recipe? no).

Finally got snow. I was debating biking to work tomorrow, then MG reminded me that no one will know how to drive tomorrow and I really didn’t want to be on the road with those fools. Point taken, I’ll walk. Did go run this afternoon and with 15 minutes to go the snow started (tiny little stuff, but snow nonetheless). That was fun, been a while since I’d run in snow.

Of course, if it sticks around, it won’t be the last time this week, either. Provided it’s not too icy.

Picked up gobs and gobs of groceries yesterday, before I realized it was going to snow. Needed tons of staples, so off I went to pack my little bag lady cart and subsequently my limited cabinets with lotsa food. Forgot coffee, though. Will have to pick up more after the pool. Was otherwise feeling a little bit of my hermit-mood for the weekend. Did go see a play with Richard, his much belated birthday gift, this evening, and MG was over last night and today, but was feeling the urge to just stay in and nest. Trying to break out of that some, but it was a particularly social week, with two happy hours, so perhaps I was just burnt out.

Despite prediction of temps above freezing there was plenty of frost out this morning when I ran. Yay for fleece tights. Knowing that it’s the beginning of getting back to regular workouts I took it a little easy, shortened the run down from my usual, and enjoyed it. Was up early enough to get it in, still get a good breakfast, and bike into work without being late. We’ll see if I can replicate that (though with a bike ride) tomorrow.

Also swam this evening, again cutting it a little short, but still getting in a good workout.

Signed up for another race, in October, and looked into two others (one of them I had to print a non-fill-out-able file to write in and mail in a check. wtf?!?! 2007 here folks!). So I think that’s now 3 races I’m confirmed for, and one more to mail off tomorrow. Busy Moose, and that’s how I want this year.

Work went well. Cleared some stuff off the desk to make room for the current two big projects (I so, so need to file things, though, and clear out a bunch of books left by my predecessor). Passed a bunch of corny puns to my team leader while asking to go in late Tuesday to get fitted for new orthotics (”thank you from the bottom of my sole!”). Will be good to get new ones - my current ones are just about to have the front part shear off from the two years of abuse I’ve given them. I’m hopeful they’ll still be okay for work, in which case I’ll leave them there and have to remember one less thing when I pack to bike in.

Oh, and I fussed at a car tonight. Jerk had the audacity to blow his horn at me with 10 seconds left on the light. I turned around, put out a full hand (not just the middle finger, though it was tempting), palm out and told him to chill. And then turned around and sat in the lane as I’m legally allowed to do. Sorry, not putting up with your impatience, car driver. If I were a car, you’d have to wait, too, so suck it up.