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

Caught up on bills today, and worked through a backlog of mail and magazines (mostly by just tossing the unread magazines since it was highly unlikely I’d actually read the back issues now). Cleaned some in the process, clearing off the couch and the dining table for the first time in a while. Unboxed the new oven and microwave, in hopes the maintenance folks will be able to get to them this week or next (and in any case they look better without the huge boxes around them now), provided we can connect on the phone soon. And actually did some work (for the BGA) today as well.

Otherwise the day was pretty blue for me. Today was the Nation’s Triathlon, which was to be my last race this season, and what I hoped would be the capping race to what started out as a pretty good darned season. As it was, I couldn’t even bring myself to go down to watch it, or do any of the club events surrounding the event. The fact that I can’t run has weighed very heavily on me this year, and it’s not been pretty, nor very easy to deal with. I miss it, a lot. I didn’t realize how much it affected my entire being to be able to get out and just run. The fact that the lack of running has been the fault of fairly consistent pain in my right foot (which just brings the fact to the fore on a daily basis) contributes to this, I’m sure.

The foot’s actually been more sore, which the aftercare guidelines says is normal for the first couple of weeks after the zapping. Hopefully it’ll get better as I get closer to the follow-up appointment on the 3rd, I’m really getting tired of having pain when I get up in the morning and take that first step (or if I end up walking a bit too much during the day, which is pretty much every day for me).

Anyway, what will happen will happen, and I’ll keep working with the podiatrist until the foot’s back to normal, but in the meantime I’m not much motivated for tri stuff.

Oh, and I finally withdrew formally from the IM race in November, too, so I can get the minimal refund they’ll send for it. Much sadness there, I really wanted to finally do one of those and I thought this was going to be the year for it. Guess not.

Well, the foot is doing better. The ankle finally went down, and stopped being sore. The bottom of the foot hasn’t really been sore, though I had a twinge this morning after not wearing the night brace last night.

Work has started to pick up now that we’re fully into the last month of the federal fiscal year. It’s going to be nuts until early to mid-October, but that’s the norm for me. We’re doing drafting assistance like crazy for the CR that’s coming up in October. Still not sure how long the thing will be for, probably at least 3 months, but it depends on when and if Congress wants to come back for a lame duck session to pass real appropriation bills or just fund the gubmint through to after the inauguration. This is no way to run a government, but it’s what we’ve got.

I’ll write up the last bit of the trip to SF this weekend, promise, but first a foot update.

Got myself zapped yesterday afternoon at my podiatrist’s office. The worst part of the whole procedure was getting anesthetized by the doc, since he had to jab a needle in either side of my ankle to get to the nerves there and numb the bottom of the foot completely without affecting the rest of the foot. The inside took a while, where he found the outside right as he stuck the needle in. Regardless, I was pretty sore today from the jabbing around inside. I was especially annoyed at the “this should last for about an hour” when I was still mostly numb at midnight when I finally went to bed. Was back to normal this morning, aside from being very, very sore around the ankle.

The zapping itself was easy, I just sat there (and knitted) while the machine send sound waves into my foot, and the technician made sure my foot stayed in place for it. Not exactly exciting, which was fine by me.

Was slow going this morning, and I actually ended up leaving work a bit early today as well. Got a little nauseous, and had a nasty headache. Couldn’t take anything for the headache because the aftercare says no anti-inflammatories for the next month if they can be avoided. Part of the ESWT is to induce inflammation so the body will heal the foot, so negating that would be bad. So I left early and came home to do laundry. Well, came home after I got a replacement iPhone for the one I dropped while in SF and cracked the screen on. But that’s for the next update.

Arrived at SFO with no hiccups. We did have one weird wing dip & over-correction coming in over the Bay, but otherwise the flight was quite nice. Got an exit row seat on the aisle, and managed to get 2/3 of the way through another hat (navy this time) before we touched down.

It’s somewhere in the low 90s here in Oakland where I’m staying with Dean, which actually means it’s warmer here than it has been in DC for pretty much the entire month of August. Hanging out shirtless on the deck has been nice, as was the much-needed post-lunch nap.

We’re debating options for this evening, but I expect to see my friend Mark tomorrow for breakfast, then catch Ray to hang out some as well. Rice is out of town, but there are certain other people whom I shall have to take more aggressive measures to bug soon if I’m to catch them. Not to mention someone else who is here visiting. And of course my lone family member who’s on this side of the planet. I think a good night out at a bar or two tomorrow is in order!

Chatted briefly with my parents. I forgot to tell them I was going out of town. Whoops. Was fun to chat with them about the job search stuff and catch them up on how that’s going.

Until then, we’re going to hunt down some food, and perhaps a bar later this evening.

Got myself packed, just about ready to head out the door for SF this weekend. As usual I packed, unpacked, packed more, unpacked more, etc. Did remember to bring a light jacket this time, so hopefully I won’t need to buy the usual tourist sweatshirt.

4 a.m. will come all too soon, but that’s needed to get to Dulles on time tomorrow (7 a.m. flight). Looking forward to the escape, and catching those folks I can catch while I’m there. Most of all I’m looking forward to completely unstructured time away from home, without my parental units, and without worrying about a race. Pure vacation, something I’ve not done in far too long (years?).

Should be fun.

Windy morning for a bike ride. Lots of clouds, definitely needed the lights on the front & back of the bike to keep myself visible (you’d think the big red, white & blue jersey would do it, but no…). The wind was actually a nice challenge – enough of a tail wind on the one side to help a bit, and enough of a head wind on the other to challenge me to keep my cadence up and moving forward. I think it was a NE wind, so it was never directly in my face or behind me, but just enough to make the ride more challenging than normal. Got up to 26.8 mph (compared with a high of 23 mph Sunday), so the tailwind was definitely a factor.

Otherwise this morning was scrambled. I forgot to turn on the hot water for coffee, and didn’t get ready in time to prep the veggie chili fixin’s and get them into the crock pot, so it looks like I’ll be making it the old fashioned way over the stove this evening.

Well, I now have the dubious distinction of being the only person in my immediate family who has not had cancer. My brother had a spot removed from his back last week and got the news that it’s a melanoma. So he’s off to a surgeon soon to make sure they carved it all out. Luckily my father and his aunt have both had it and both survived (and are still alive now), so there’s a better than normal chance that my brother will also.

So I finally made a much-needed appointment to get a spot checked out on my face, as well as doing a full body check for spots on myself. Debating going back down home to my old (i.e., high school era) dermatologist, though – I really don’t care much for the guy I have here in DC, and none of the other choices I’ve seen/heard of sound much better. The guy from home was odd, but personable and accessible. And my brother tells me he takes my insurance, so it wouldn’t be a particular hardship to head down there (aside from the drive).

In other, better news, I spoke with one of my colleagues at work about post-employment ethics restrictions, and it sounds like I’m actually pretty well off vis-a-vis the post-employment restrictions, should I choose to leave the BGA. Have lunch tomorrow with a co-worker to chat about her experiences working on the Hill and in the private sector. Started updating my resume this afternoon (yuck!). This promises to be an interesting few months.

I’m bored shitless at my job. There, I’ve said it. I’m not sure what to do about it, either. If I want to stay with the Feds I could jump over to OMB, but frankly I think that would simply be more of the same, with more work, the same pay, more stress and a longer commute. Not exactly an appetizing picture, ya know? The one saving grace of doing what I do where I do now is that there are some boutique sections in several firms in town who might be interested in me. Provided I can get the proper ethics clearance to do that.

But would I want to move to the private sector? I’d certainly be much more mobile there, not necessarily tied to a particular firm, or even to DC itself if I wished to move. There’s something to be said for that.

I actually took a mental health day today. Couldn’t rouse myself this morning, and the thought of going into work was absolutely demotivating. I’m nowhere near where I was in terms of dislike as I was at the last BGA, but I just did not want to go in today, so I didn’t.

I think it’s time to start exploring my options, talking with friends who know a bit more about the market & what various options might entail. Can’t go forward if I don’t know which paths are open to me now. I’m worried that my particular specialty will limit those options, but hopefully there are more creative uses for it than I’m coming up with off the top of my head.

Until then, it’s going to be a challenge to push forward at the current BGA unless I can disengage a bit from it all. Which bugs the fuck out of me – I don’t like thinking that I’m not giving it my all. It’s anathema to working for me. But I’m unclear as to how to proceed.

Well, despite my irritation over the non-work the cult co-op maintenance folks did on my unit today, I actually had a pretty good evening. Ordered in Thai with a friend, did laundry, and we watched Stardust, which I’d picked up this past weekend. I’d seen it in the movie theater with BC, but I’m glad I picked up a copy as it’s a very fun and cute little film. Not my usual “bad movie” type of thing, but I do like a little sappiness and silliness on occasion.

Get to see Richard tomorrow for dinner and a good look at the living room and some possibilities I’m considering. I value his opinion, and I think it’ll be useful to have someone like him look at what I’m considering before I go nuts.

Just checked the TSP web site and it’s showing that the loan I took out to get rid of my remaining credit card debt is now paid off in full. Sweet! One less payment each month, even if it was an automatic deduction. More money in the pocket is a good thing, even if it’s just going to go to more student loan reduction. Bit by bit it disappears.

Hopefully I’m going to get out of town for Labor Day. Leave is approved, waiting to hear on accommodations, then I’ll purchase the tickets tomorrow evening if all goes well.

Dear Cult Co-op Management Office,

I don’t mind moving all my living room furniture around to make room so you can repair my balcony door. I understand that you need space to lay the thing down so you can fix the rollers. However, I do mind being told to have it ready on Monday and then getting home Monday evening to discover no one has bothered to come into my unit to do any work. Get your act together, get the fucking door fixed and stop wasting my time.

No Love,

Moose