The Legal Moose’s Glen

I’m fighting off a head cold at the moment. Stayed over at MG’s place on Saturday and he had a fan going to keep the air circulating, and I temporarily forgot that fan blowing across Moose’s face = dry nose = head cold susceptibility. You’d think with the AC drama over the summer I’d remember that, but no. My own fault, but still annoying. Lotsa vitamin C & B being consumed (yay for Emergen-C) at the moment.

Tonight was a non-food night of shopping at the grocery store. Needed those lovely home staples of bleach, toilet paper, etc., so grabbed the requisite coupons and dragged myself up for it. Didn’t get home early enough to do whites (for which I needed the aforementioned bleach), but I can do that later this week. Did get in a swim after work, drill work this time, and felt good doing it and after. The bike ride home tends to feel a tad chilly, even after I dry off thoroughly, but it’s short enough not to be a hassle.

Oh, and I managed to lose my work badge. Which isn’t such a big deal, except that the policy of the security people is to drive you batty by punishing you for being a dork make you wait ten working days to get a new badge, even though the technology exists to print out a new one on the spot (as well as cancelling the old one). So, metal detector city for me for the next two weeks.  Thankfully that’s pretty easy when I bike in since everything but my keys (metal-wise) is already in my bag from the commute in. So once I come back from visiting my family over the weekend of the 8th I’ll be re-badged.

Did a massage exchange yesterday with a gentleman whom I’ve exchanged massages with before (for those unfamiliar, it’s simply a “you massage me, I massage you” arrangement). He could use some technique pointers, but overall is pretty good. Haven’t done one of those in ages, so was nice to get a little body work done.

And now, time to crash to help sleep off the cold.

I want to write, but I’m drawing a blank.

Got a nice compliment from a lovely fella the other day. Just wrote him back to thank him this morning, my usual tardy self when it comes to follow up. Also been missing on emails to a few other folks.

Even though I rearranged the bedroom I’m still, somehow, getting air blowing past my face. I’m just going to have to crank the AC to get the temps really low and then turn it off to sleep. Or perhaps redirect the air at the windows or something. I just can’t take the dry sinuses any more, and I really, really want to breathe without chemical help again. Grrr. Major design flaw of the unit, as far as I’m concerned.

Did a massage exchange last night, which was nice. Very chatty guy, which was sometimes fun, sometimes distracting. But overall it was a good experience.

Have a visitor coming in for the weekend, getting here late tomorrow evening. Going to do some touristy things, which is always fun with folks who don’t live here. I enjoy playing tour guide in my chosen city, so this’ll be a nice break from the norm.

Much goings on since the last post, and yet it feels like I don’t have a ton to report, either.

I did indeed wipe out my credit card debt, and the installments have started on the small loan I took out to pay them all off. I’m waiting until the statements cycle in the next week or two to make the final interest payments, and then that part of the debt is retired. Yes, it’s just a restructuring of the debt, but one that will reduce the time and overall cost considerably, so I’m pleased.

I also took out enough to purchase the tri bike I wanted to get. Two pictures, one from the official web site, one from my camera phone:

Am most pleased with the purchase thus far. I also picked up an indoor trainer the following day, a fluid trainer, so I can ride the beastie inside when I’m too lazy to take my ass outdoors it’s too nasty outside to ride there. The aero bars will definitely take some getting used to - the ride home from the shop, even using the Metro, was spent entirely on the outer bars where the brakes were, but then again, I was riding on city streets, not out on open road with no cars. Glad I got it now, though, so I have time to practice on it well before the race in June.

Training otherwise is going well. I’m making most of the planned training sessions, with the exception of the bike ones last week (for obvious reasons - no bike yet!). The double training days on Tu/Th are going pretty well, as is the planned day off on Wednesday. I’m glad to have that rest built into the middle of the week, it definitely helps break up the routine and give me time to remember that I used to have a life outside of training, as well as letting me do errands like, oh, getting my hair cut.

In not so happy news, I broke up with K. It’s a complicated story, and I don’t want to go into a lot of details here, but I’m not seeing him any more.

Work is getting busier by the day, and I’m not keeping up with it, much to my annoyance. I almost suspect we’re getting enough other stuff going on in my area to justify another 1/2 a body (with the other 1/2 to be other “general law” stuff), or even a full body to handle the loan stuff I’m learning now. What a mess that is. Sat through some training today on it and I have to say, I’m almost wishing I’d done the joint JD/MBA degree rather than the JD/MA - the financing stuff would be very useful right about now.

Tired a lot of late from the training. A good tired, but still tired. Oh, and I gave up caffeine the week of Thanksgiving again. Had a decaf that weekend, and some sips of tea one lunch, but otherwise have steered clear of it. Honestly, it’s been a lot easier to dump this time than the original trip back in 2000-2001. Haven’t really felt the need for the stuff, despite the tiredness from the training, and my continuing trips down to the cafeteria in the morning before work (a ritual I do with one of the other new attorneys - used to get coffee together, now she gets coffee and I occasionally get a bagel). Glad I did it, and I look forward to having it completely out of my system again in another couple of months.

No more bites to report, though I find myself increasingly irritated at the management of the building for their (to my mind) poor business decisions in who they’re renting to. They’ve done nothing about the guys next door, only spraying when I fuss about the bugs returning. I had to pound on the wall on Sunday when I got home to get them to turn their music down (like I want to hear their music loudly and clearly through a concrete wall), and while they had the good sense to turn it down (had they not, security would have been called), it was still an incredible annoyance on an otherwise okay day. I so look forward to getting away from them and their unwanted little guests (both the two- and multi-legged varieties).

I need to arrange for a good full body massage sometime soon. It’s funny, I have so many friends who are professional massage therapists now that my problem is deciding which therapist to use for any given issue. But some work on the back/shoulders and legs is needed and soon.

Better run this morning than Monday. Heart rate stayed more in line with the norm (though that’s too high, thank you sudafed, by which I mean thank you cats for causing such allergies that I need to take sudafed all the time now), and it felt better than Monday’s inaugural run.

Crazy days at work, with crazy questions left and right. Mostly staying above water now, but will be very happy to see the fiscal year close and the new one begin, even if Congress hasn’t gotten off their collective asses and given us a real budget yet. Off tomorrow for a dental appointment, one that was originally scheduled for last week but which had to be put off because I had to be at a meeting Thursday morning that was absolute BS and at which I really was not needed.

Saw K tonight, watched the OC and he was a good sport about me making fun of the characters (”C’mon, Marissa, eat a fucking sandwich!”). Gave him a massage afterward, which was fun for both of us. Was relaxing all around.

Richard arrived home from NYC this evening as well and he liked the new living room arrangement that Mike and I foisted off on the room over the weekend. We moved a couch around to the outside wall to open up the inner space, and cocked everything at a slight angle. It helps. And I also let Richard know this evening that despite my earlier considerations I did not want to get a new couch - I see little point in spending almost $900 on a new couch when we can spend much, much less to simply replace the mattress on the one futon frame that’s still in excellent shape (it just has a mattress that sucks gorilla butt).

Which I think was inspired by my current choice of reading, Affluenza (2nd edition). Definitely making me reconsider some of my choices, and some of my habits. Hopefully for the better.