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

Got some much needed cleaning done today, after giving an impromptu tour of the apartment & complex to a co-worker who is looking in the area. She and I had chatted Friday about the neighborhood, and then I ran into her on the street this afternoon while heading home from brunch so I invited her in to see the place. Was a tad embarrassing that I’d let it get so dirty, but hell, I’ve been sick for three weeks, I think I get a pass there.

Does mean I’ll try & call the cleaning person my neighbor recommended, though. I just don’t keep up with this enough, and I have to say I miss having someone else clean up every other week.

Brunch was fun. No mimosas, of course – still have antibiotics in my system and am not going to mess with that. Next week maybe? Very, very tired of being sick now. It’s just a minor lingering thing now, but still, enough already. Plus, would be nice to have it gone before I go see the ENT a week from tomorrow. Not that inflammation isn’t expected, but just the normal stuff, please, and not the cold on top of it.

Set up the exercise bike in the living room again, hoping to get in a ride, no matter how short, in the morning. Several weeks of inactivity have taken their toll and I’m ready to try and start up again.

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.

The drugs do seem to be helping. They’re opening up all the little inflamed passages and all sorts of fun snot is breaking loose. Which I’m sure you were just dying to know. Sleeping should be fun this week, too, since several of these are stimulants.

It was good to get back to work, get out of the apartment, see real people again, etc. I did spend most of the day with my door closed so as minimize the risk to co-workers, but it was still nice to get out of the house. A couple weeks delayed haircut and dinner out topped off the evening away from the apartment, and now I’m settling in with knitting and the boss’ speech. I’d ignore the thing, but I’m long past the point where I need to be attuned to what the big boss is saying, even in broad terms, about what my BGA is supposed to be doing for him, so I tune in and listen. A shame I can’t drink my way through the speech this year, but at least I have knitting to keep my hands busy. And the sweater has been neglected for over a month now, so it’s time to put in a few more rows.

Physician’s Assistant, in this case, though I like the other, more permanently attached PA as well. I think today was the first time in a couple of years that I’ve been to see my doc outside of my annual physical. The PA was sympathetic, and said they’d been seeing a lot of crud like this in the past couple of weeks (which is consistent with what I’ve been hearing/seeing from friends as well). So I got some prescriptions to help with various bits of the mess, and a (painful!) shot to help things along before some of the pills kick in tomorrow.

He was also shocked to hear I’d been taking a decongestant/expectorant combo to help with my allergies for the past several years, and suggested I might want to go see an ENT after this is all cleared up to see if there’s some other cause of my recurrent nasal congestion. Not a bad idea, and since I have an ENT thanks to the vertigo a few years back, I think I’ll make an appointment once this cold is done and gone.

Been fighting a head cold for the past two weeks. Been to urgent care once (my doc was closed), after my parents bullied me into going to ensure it wasn’t pneumonia (it wasn’t). I think I’m going to try to get to the regular doctor tomorrow. The fever had left before the end of the first week, but it popped back up today, which indicates to me that the thing has gotten worse. That or the second cold I was exposed to this weekend decided to hit me on top of the original cold.

Friend came to visit this weekend (long planned trip) and he had come down with something just before he left. So, this could be cold #2, or a combo of the 2, or a restrengthened cold #1. Who knows. Regardless, this is one of the worst colds I’ve had in a couple years and I’m really, truly tired of dealing with it now.

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.

1. Columbia Triathlon
2. DC Triathlon
3. Rockett’s Landing
4. Nation’s Triathlon
5. Cupid’s Undies Run
6. Get a PR at the Olympic distance
7. Start a weight training routine
8. Replace the dishwasher
9. Replace the disposer
10. Frame my graduate school diplomas
11. Clean behind the fridge
12. Host a bad movies party
13. Host a game day
14. Take a knife skills class
15. Come up with a display for my race medals
16. Frame my finished cross stitch projects
17. Art for the bathroom
18. Go to the Holocaust museum
19. Donate more books
20. Clean out my desk at work
21. Dispose of the roomba batteries
22. Replace the roomba battery
23. Get a better tool box
24. Integrate a regular yoga practice
25. Go dancing
26. Take a CPR class
27. Get coaching certification
28. End the year with smaller credit card balances
29. Get replacement shades for the lamps
30. Prepare 2012’s tracking sheet
31. Prepare 2012’s Uberlist before 2012 begins
32. VO2 Max test
33. Clean out the file cabinet
34. Set out NTP lessons learned for co-leaders
35. Get a new TV
36. Go out more
37. Rescreen the balcony
38. Get blinds for the living room
39. Remove the black bookshelf from the living room
40. Paint the living room
41. Price countertops
42. Price painting the kitchen cabinets & walls
43. Clean out the dressers
44. Rearrange the closets
45. Donate unused jackets
46. Begin a meditation practice
47. Join WABA
48. Hire a cleaner for the apartment
49. Fix up the planters
50. Cut HFCS out of my diet
51. Get network cables for the various machines
52. Participate in more group workouts with the Club
53. Get a mat(s) for the kitchen
54. Get demineralization cartridges for the humidifiers
55. Inventory and toss the cassette tapes
56. Recycle the old PCs
57. Get a new backup drive
58. Visit New York
59. Visit SF
60. Get a travel laptop
61. Replace two messenger bags
62. Get my teeth whitened
63. Read one of the books on Rhetoric
64. Buy something at the fish market
65. Donate clothes
66. Visit the local library
67. Check out other brunch sites for Sundays
68. Update my resume
69. Pick up items from Les
70. Replace a jacket
71. Fix the kitchen sink aerator
72. Annual physical
73. Two dental visits
74. Knit myself gloves
75. Get new earbuds
76. Buy someone jewelry
77. Go somewhere random
78. Stock the wine rack
79. Bake cookies
80. Bake a new cupcake recipe
81. Try a new vegan recipe
82. Try a new omnivore recipe
83. Learn a new cooking skill
84. Go to bear happy hour
85. Go to dinner with friends
86. Knit a hat for myself
87. Knit a scarf
88. Teach someone to knit
89. Cook with my niece
90. Continue brunching
91. Finish more of the physical books in The Book Pile
92. Get a new plant for the living room
93. Buy flowers
94. Get another piece of ink
95. Get another piercing
96. Fix the fu dog book end
97. Finish a cross stitch pattern
98. Reorganize the living room bookshelves
99. Renew my theater subscription
100. Grow basil
101. Make pesto
102. Replace the gimpy tire on the Mini
103. Go to a Body Electric workshop
104. Buy someone a snuggie
105. Go see a movie in the theater
106. Write a poem
107. Have dinner on the balcony with a friend
108. Play Gloom
109. Buy a new board game/expansion
110. Go to Canada
111. Put hooks for my pride flag on the balcony