11 June, 2023

Never early

Category: Cats,Family,Games,Habits,Relationships,Weather — Moose @ 10:11 am

I know the husband must be exhausted from his latest work trip because it’s 10am and he’s still asleep. Didn’t help that his plan landed at 2am, and he seems to have a garden variety head cold on top of it. So I quietly got up, set the thermostat at sleep temps for a couple more hours, and decamped to the main floor for my morning coffee and what not. Normally I’d be in my office, but that’s across the hall from the owners’ suite, so the cats and I are lounging downstairs instead.

He missed all of the fun with the wildfire smoke from our Canadian friends this past week. That was wild, orangey light filtering into the windows all day. Glad it was temporary, and here’s hoping they get them under control soon for their own sakes.

Did start playing Diablo IV. I’ve played every game in that series (even tried the mobile one, though it’s not my jam), and this one is just as addicting. I thought the other players bipping about would be distracting, but for the most part you don’t really interact with them. I was surprised to see that since the game is “always online” they now tie the game to your Blizzard account, regardless of platform, so your characters show up on whatever machine you’re playing on. This is a big change from Diablo III, where each platform would have an entirely separate game. One of my nieces picked up D4 as well, so I suspect we’ll be playing together on that soon.

Part of the strangeness of having the husband asleep upstairs is that he’s always the first to bed and the first to rise, often hours before I do. Mornings are his quiet time in the house, and one of the reasons we have the Roku with the remote that lets you plug in headphones, if he wants to watch something (which he usually does; he’s much more a TV/movies person than I am).

23 December, 2022

Holidays and Others

Category: Cats,Driving,Family,Food,Government,Relationships,Weather,Work — Moose @ 9:20 am

Hunkered down here in suburban MD as we await freezing temperatures to fly through over the course of the morning and afternoon. Managed to sneak off yesterday afternoon to fill up the car, pick up the last little thing I’d gotten the husband for Xmas, and hit the grocery store to get most of what we needed for the weekend and Xmas day, before today when it’s supposed to get icy (and just maybe a hint of snow in the afternoon), and this weekend when it’s supposed to stay in the 20s and below. Still will need to walk over to the local organic market for some bits and bobs, but don’t need to drive any more, which was what I was going for.

Things have been going okay here. The husband had two work trips, to New Orleans and then to New Zealand. He had fun jumping off things in Auckland (bungie jumping off a bridge, leaping off a building), and generally enjoyed everything other than long the plane ride. He’s still not completely back on east coast time, but he’s getting there. It was odd having him gone for almost two weeks; I think that might be one of the longest times we’ve spent apart since we got married.

Two more sleeps until Xmas. No family around this year because of leave situations (on their end), so it’s just the two of us. Trying to figure out what the husband should bake, and I’m leaning toward a gingerbread bundt cake. We’ll see how he feels about it when he gets up. Melting potatoes are definitely in the plan, and probably some zucchini in the air fryer, plus whatever veggies look tasty over at the organic market.

The cats have gotten incredibly spoiled by new heated cats beds we got them. And much like Susan’s experience, they love the smaller ones (even though Benjamin spills out of it), and won’t use the larger one. And they won’t use each other’s – I tried to move them around when we got the big one, and Ezri took one whiff of the one B had been sleeping in, hissed, and ran away. Ah well. But they definitely appreciate the heat, and it makes it easier for me to find them when I’m looking. I also don’t feel as guilty keeping the thermostat set lower.

Slowly closing out of triathlon related things. My membership in USAT won’t end for another two years, but I’m going to let the local DC Tri Club membership lapse next month. I joined that back in 2004, and it was a great experience, especially coaching the new triathletes, but I haven’t raced in over a decade, I have no plans to race in the near future, and I don’t do anything with the club, so it’s time to say farewell. Adjusted a bunch of social media sites to unfollow the club and triathlon related things, which then lead down a rabbit hole of unfollowing other stuff to trim down the time sucks and give the various companies headaches in trying to figure out what ads to serve me.

Hoping Congress hurries up and finishes up work on the latest mega-bill to fund the government so I can dig into that for work. I have some projects I want to do there that will involve spending some time now to make my life, and the lives of many fellow money law practitioners, easier going forward. Plus I’d also like to take the half day our head of agency gave us off today, but that won’t happen until I know we don’t have to shut down at midnight. At this point in my career I just sort of sigh, shake my head, and move along with my job, as Congress is stuck in this pattern now and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, so I just roll with it.

26 March, 2014

Tires/Swimming/Minions

Category: Adult,Exercise,Swimming,Weather,Work — Moose @ 9:34 pm

Got the new tires on the car with no issue. Hadn’t realized how rough the old ones had gotten. Nicest part was just popping in and having it done, and not having to worry about the cost because they’d already been paid for.

Past that, getting back to swimming, and trying consciously to improve my swim stroke and speed this year. Taormina’s Swim Speed Secrets has been pretty good thus far, and I’m seeing a bit of improvement, which is nice after years of steady state mediocrity. But swimming’s been it thus far this season, mostly because of how cold and gross it’s been. I’m unmotivated to sit on the bike in the trainer in the living room, and it’s been just plain ugly outside between snow and cold (and a head cold) so I haven’t wanted to go outside to run in the morning, either. Hopefully today was the last of the cold snaps this spring, and the last of the snow as well, so I can get back to running & biking.

This week is the first set of evaluations for my minions. They’re all doing well, so it’s thankfully been an easy process. New minion #1 started this week (my first hire!), and new minion #2 starts in a week and a half. Haven’t scared off the first guy yet, so I suppose I’m doing okay there. The hardest part of this management thing is learning what to let loose from my own portfolio and give to one of the minions to handle. And after almost 15 years of handling ever more matters, I’m not yet in the comfort spot when it comes to handing things off. But I’m getting there.

7 April, 2013

Typical DC Weather

Category: DC,Weather — Moose @ 7:06 pm

We were in the low 50s two days ago, had 70 today, and will be in the mid-80s by Tuesday. I forget where the comic was that showed DC weather being winter-winter-winter then 12-hours-of-spring then blazing-summer-heat, but it’s definitely the case this year. Not that I’m complaining about warmer weather, but it’s so typical that we don’t get a spring before we go to summer. Love it.

31 October, 2012

All’s Quiet

Category: Home,Relationships,Stuff,Weather,Work — Moose @ 7:10 am

Made it back to my own apartment this morning, after weathering the storm at the boy’s place. No damage here, thankfully, and the soil in the planters with the rosemary on the balcony is nicely damp. There was a little pooling on the balcony, but that was swept off easily.

At the boy’s place, the cheap seals around the windows and his outer door (a large glass affair) didn’t stand up to the sustained winds, so we had a good bit of leakage, mostly at the bottom of the walls, directly into the carpet. Unfortunately the only solution for said leakage is to wait until everything dries and then re-caulk the exterior, which isn’t helpful in the middle of a storm. So we laid down towels and (in the one place it was dripping from the top) a stock pot, and picked up what water we could. Rented a rug doctor to pick up a lot of it yesterday once the rain stopped, but I’m afraid he’s going to be dealing with smelly carpet for a while, until the university’s own folks come in and do a deeper cleaning.

I was exceedingly glad that there was a covered parking option at the boy’s school, so I didn’t have to worry about the car at all during the storm. If I’d been at home it wouldn’t have been a major worry (my parking spot isn’t near any of the trees on our property), but it would have been a slight background thing. As it was the only thing with the car was a lot of tree stuff that splashed up on it from puddles on the way to/from the grocery store to get the rug doctor, which mostly washed off last night when I left it out to get rained on.

So it’s back to work today to see what messes we’ll have to respond to. Hopefully our facilities in the NE are okay, and any hazardous materials were adequately locked down.

28 October, 2012

Anticipation

Category: Books,Cooking,Relationships,Shopping,Stuff,Weather,Work — Moose @ 5:07 pm

Waiting for Hurricane Sandy to hit the DC area is a mess. Haven’t seen a thing here yet, except empty grocery stores. Am very, very glad I made the boy go shopping last night rather than waiting until today – facebook and the like have been full of pictures of empty shelves.

Dragged in the boy’s chair from his balcony, and I took a few things off my own balcony yesterday before coming over to dog-sit today while the boy was at work. Past that there’s not a lot else to do but wait and see what hits tonight and whether I’ll be going to work tomorrow. Luckily I have the option of covered parking at the boy’s place, so the car should be fine when the first wind (and related tree debris) hits. It’s highly unlikely that either of our places will lose power – the boy’s school has “backups for their backups” and my place is close enough to the capitol that all the power lines are buried.

So far I’ve read two comics that were in “the pile” (of reading material waiting for attention), futzed around in the kitchen (butternut squash soup in the crock pot), walked the dog twice as much as he normally goes out, and tried not to pay attention to the work documents that I brought home in case the office is closed tomorrow (that, at least, was successful; I’ve given the taxpayers no free work today). I wish my bike and trainer were here at the boy’s, then I could’ve at least ridden for a bit. But the waiting is the worst.

29 October, 2011

Snow/Plans

Category: Adult,Dating,Home,Weather — Moose @ 5:44 pm

Not yet November here, but it’s been snowing off and on today in DC. Interesting. Let’s hope it’s not a precursor for the rest of the winter season, especially since I drive so much more now.

Spoke with my realtor this afternoon, looking to see where the market is in comparison to my own apartment and mortgage, as at some point I’d like to live with the boy (my cult co-op doesn’t allow dogs, and the beagle is part of the package). He’s going to pull some listings, but it doesn’t sound like I can yet afford to sell. Annoying, but I’ll deal. I had originally planned on the selling being part of a ‘five year plan’ rather than more immediately, so it simply looks like it will remain on the five year plan track. Did also chat about some punch list items that will need to be done in any case, but now I have more time to get them done. Yay economic depression.

26 January, 2011

Better/Snow/Club Stuff

Category: Club,Commuting,DC,Health,Home,Weather,Work — Moose @ 11:33 pm

Definitely feeling much better today. Mood improved, a tad more energy, though still not up for real exercise yet (and I feel like an absolute slug from the lack of exercise. Ugh). But it’s getting there, which is the important part.

Got kicked out of work even before the early dismissal time we got because of the storm here in DC. About half an hour before my 2 hour point da boss called and told us to get the heck outta dodge because the snow was worsening and traffic was starting to turn into a real clusterfuck. I managed to catch a bus, so rode home rather than walking (I was prepared to walk – duck boots and all – but glad for the ride). Traffic was definitely horked, but our driver was pushy and got us through without too much delay. Seeing the news reports from lots of friends without power tonight I am very, very glad I bought close to downtown where the power lines are all buried. And if I do ever buy in an area where the lines aren’t buried, the place had better have a working fireplace and room to stack some wood.

Our newbie program is coming together now, and I think it’s going to be a good one this year, certainly better than last year’s (which I think we let slip some, to be honest). Now that I’ve finally gotten more brain power back I’m putting together some of the training materials to supplement our plan, and liking how it’s coming together. Oh, and I got registered for the USAT coaching class in April, so I’ll be going out for coaching certification then. Not sure how long it’ll take once I take the course and turn in my test to get the results back, but I’m hopeful I’ll get certified and then we’ll have a coach for the newbies finally, like we’ve been adding coaches for the more “advanced” programs we’ve started.

7 January, 2011

One Week Down

Category: Exercise,Home,Motivation,Politics,Stuff,Weather,Work — Moose @ 11:46 pm

Still haven’t been able to fully motivate back into training yet. When it’s hard to tell if the heavy breathing is from being de-trained, the cold temps (and dry air) on ye olde lungs, or some odd combination of the two, it doesn’t leave me very thrilled with the idea of going out for a run. I have been continuing to bike into work, throwing on some long underwear bottoms, heavy wool socks, and old jeans, and that’s been fine to keep my legs/feet warm enough for the ride in, but the top of the hill at 10th street is kicking my ass in the cold. I end up breathing heavy until after I get into the building and decently heated air.

Give me heat and humidity any day of the week. It’s a shame I’ve forgotten so much of my Mandarin or I’d see about applying for jobs in Taiwan again. Even with the pollution I think I’d prefer the weather.

The familia seemed pleased with their Giftmas largesse. And Mom seems quite pleased with her b’day Kindle. I was a bit worried on that, because she didn’t seem to show much interest in mine when I showed it off back in November, but went ahead with it anyway. The email tonight (she got it this afternoon) was most enthusiastic. Looking forward to geeking out with her on it. Wonder how much Dad will end up trying to steal it from her.

I think I’m going to be able to shoehorn a cleaner into my budget now that we’ve gotten the first paycheck stub of the year. I got a modest increase in pay thanks to a performance increase (and no thanks to the powers that be killing off our COLA for this and next year), and between that and the tax adjustments I think I can swing it. My bathroom certainly needs it, as does the kitchen. That’s one of the things I miss most from living at the Woodner – we paid two women to come in every other week and clean. It was worth every penny. I have a couple of names from neighbors, so I think it’s time to start interviewing.

Speaking of the powers that be, the new Congresscritters are in town now and while it was mostly quiet on that front this week, I did get an email just before I left tonight alerting me to an issue and a proposed powwow with our various appropriations staffers over it. Expected, that with the divide among parties, we’d start getting some crazy, but I was enjoying the lull before the storm. It’s not going to be dull for us the next two years, that’s for sure.

20 July, 2010

Tired

Category: Biking,Exercise,Mood,Racing,Weather — Moose @ 8:34 pm

Feeling a bit worn out this week, likely still feeling after effects from the all-day ride this past Saturday. The ride went fairly well, though I pulled out after lunch (108 miles), then reinserted for the last 17 at the last aid station, putting my total mileage at exactly 125 miles. Had some heat & nutrition issues, though was never dehydrated. Far from dehydrated, in fact – every chance I got I was peeing! And while there was a twinge or two in my inner thighs, I feel like I mostly did okay with nutrition, until I started adding in too much sports drink. Stomach couldn’t handle that many calories at once, so had to stop taking stuff in, which wasn’t good, and probably contributed to the post-lunch slump. So, either diluted sports drink this weekend, or perhaps try the “nuun” stuff (fizzy, electrolytes, but no calories).

The heat was definitely a factor, with several participants from previous years saying this was the hottest the event had ever been. Not that I’d have felt bad dropping back even if it hadn’t been ungodly hot, but it does help that the external factor of the heat was known and acknowledged by the group.

It was a good learning experience, though, which was what I needed for the IM. I’d still like to be faster going up hills, but that’s for next season I think. I’m also thinking after some down time post-IM that I really, really need to do some weights this fall in the off season. Might help, and can’t hurt.

But in the meantime, I’m trying to get back into a groove, and I’m just not there yet. I’ll get there, but until then I’m just trying to rest and recuperate. Another lesson from Saturday – give yourself adequate time to be down and recuperate. But I’m feeling tired of being tired.