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

BC: I’m blaming this all on you!
Moi: What, the hangover?
BC: I have a 9:00 am call with my admissions counselor to talk about the web interface I have to use to take my classes.
Moi: It’s college; hangovers are expected.

I am at the point with Zelda: Twilight Princess where I just want the game to fucking well be over and done with. I’m not even really trying to play it any more, I’m just following a game guide to get through it. Nowhere near as fun as Bioshock or Mass Effect (both of which I was able to follow, without the need for a guide, to a successful end). This game has made me cranky from the first, and I will glad when it is done and over with.

And no, stopping is not an option, I want to see the bloody ending at this point. But there better not be any more fucking fishing. If I have to fish in this game one more time I shall kill someone.

Well, that was a pleasant way to spend a weekend. Most of it was, thankfully, spent with BC. Quiet night in on Friday. He went home for a good chunk of Saturday, then came back that evening for an outing.

We headed out with friends for drinks, dinner and Cloverfield Saturday evening. The camera work did not make me sick, though I suspect it was a one-time watch for me (big screen – good; small screen – meh; at least that was my impression of it). I do also have to echo another bloggers comment that “I wanted to see more monster, and less people.” The relationship drama stuff could have been cut down in order to see more of the actual attack, and I suspect any military folks watching (as was the premise at the beginning) would have edited out all that extraneous stuff in favor of “more monster.”

We were very nearly late to dinner because, well, in the spirit of MAL (which we did not attend) I attacked him in some of my Nasty Pig gear when he came in the door about an hour before we had to head out. That was quite fun.

Sunday was langorous. We finally bestirred ourselves from some gaming in the morning after sleeping in (Mass Effect on the Xbox for me, Bioshock on his laptop for him), got a nice big late lunch at Thai Tanic, then picked up stuff at Whole Paycheck for a mushroom & sun-dried tomato risotto that evening. Yum!! Fantastic recipe out of Vegan with a Vengeance, though I modified it slightly (more rice, mainly). We were glad to spend most of the day indoors, since the temps never really made it out of the 20s. Poor BC forgot to bring gloves, so when we hauled the groceries back to the car (two bags total) I handed him one of mine for his bag. He laughed, but still took it gratefully as we wandered back, one gloved hand with groceries out, one hand firmly ensconced in a pocket.

Unfortunately he had to work today, but we have date plans tomorrow – another nice night in with movie and some soup (a curried split pea soup, to be precise). For most of the day I was a bum. Did hop on the bicycle trainer to spin out a few miles for a little over an hour, but mostly played more Mass Effect. Beat the game late this evening playing on “casual” mode, so I’ll have to play it through later on a more difficult level. For now it’s back to one or more of the games on the Wii, I suspect, so I can finish those and perhaps lend them to BC.

Back to the salt mines tomorrow, though even with all the other stuff I was doing this weekend I think I came up with a solution to a sticky wicket one of our programs has gotten into by mis-reading some of my office’s advice. Clarification (to the program; not here) shall be forthcoming tomorrow.

I did a flexibility and core strength assessment tonight as part of beginning my tri training season. One word: Ouch. Mostly flexible, except for the lower back, but not strong at all when it comes to the core strength (which I suppose matches with the not-so-flexible part). Ouch, ouch, ouch. At least I know where a major weakness is, which I was expecting to be the case, and can address it now.

Ended up stuck at work until 7ish tonight on a couple of phone calls and negotiations. I feel like a horse trader with all the back and forth stuff I’ve been doing these past couple of weeks. I am, evidently, the guy with the answers, or so it feels like. Regardless, I took some time to put together a presentation for my colleagues on this year’s budget and what changed for our BGA. Hopefully da boss lady will like it and I can get this thing done soon because I think it’ll help a lot of the other attorneys who’ve never looked in at our appropriation.

So, back into the routine, but with some twists this year. Should be interesting.

Retail therapy was in order today. I was almost out of body wash anyway, and I was feeling a tad bummed (more on that in a bit), so I zipped out to pick up BC and headed out to Tyson’s for therapy. I lucked out again with suit separates (Mr. Klein loves me), and picked up a nice black suit, which I needed.

Was feeling bummed because I decided not to apply for the job with the other not-so-BGA. Ultimately they dropped the position to a GS-scale one, so it would be a lateral switch over. In the end it would mean a longer commute, longer hours, and a much more politicized atmosphere, with no more money. So, phooey on it. I was kind of excited at the possibility of moving, but thankfully I’m quite happy where I am, so staying isn’t a bad thing (unlike leaving the previous job), but it was still a bit blah making. It had me up late last night thinking about it (stressing over it?), which I’m sure contributed to the funk.

Better this evening, but still have to tell da boss lady tomorrow. She’ll be greatly relieved, and it’s always nice to be the bearer of good news for the listener. Even if one is disappointed at the cause.

Dear Employer,

Please do not attempt to make me stay late when I have a haircut appointment right after work, as it makes me exceedingly cranky.

Yours Shaggily,

Moose

I finally hauled out my knitting stuff this evening and sat down with it to learn basic knitting. Practiced the casting on method a couple of times. Ultimately cast too many stitches, but so be it. Done several rows, with the expected dropped stitches. The first few were nice and even, the last two were a tad too loose. It’s a start, and we’ll see how the rest of it goes another night.

I would, however, recommend to others considering starting knitting that they not start with a very dark thread, as it makes seeing the thread a tad difficult when you’re getting started (I have a dark brown thread).

The repetitive motions were a nice balm for the end of an otherwise hectic day at work. Tomorrow promises to be more of the same, I’m sure. Haircut planned after work, but then it’s likely home to chill some more. BC’s also got a busy week at work, though his busy weeks usually mean later hours for him, so no seeing him until the weekend.

When you have a second person spending a considerable amount of time at your house, it’s amazing how much faster you run through personal grooming products.

Received a book from a friend today, a textbook on Queensland criminal law which I’d helped him read and edit. He thoughtfully included me in the dedications, a first for me. Strange to see my name there in print, but also kind of cool.

On the same line as the grooming products note, I got a new iron today in the mail. I hardly ever use my iron (I’m lazy), but BC uses one almost daily, so my old, leaky iron was not going to cut it. Especially after it leaked all over my desk. So, claiming my title as “Mr. Exciting” I ordered a new one. Very fancy, I’ll try it tomorrow morning before work. And shock my coworkers by not looking completely wrinkled. Maybe.

Feeling a little light-headed from paint remover fumes. I’ve been cleaning off the brass (it turns out) knobs on my kitchen cabinets this afternoon. Along with the dreadful paint color (“winter garden”), whatever idiot painted the kitchen also painted over all of the knobs with the same dreadful paint. Which is odd, because they had to them screw the knobs back on after at least a single coat of paint because the screws in the back were not painted over. Oy. So, 6 of ten are done. I thought perhaps from the way the paint was peeling off the knobs that they’d be more a dark nickel color, but brass they are.

Mostly done, but decided to break from it when the fumes got to be a bit much, even with the fan(s) going. This was after breathing in a plethora of other cleaning products as the place got scrubbed down, vacuumed, swiffered, etc. this morning and afternoon. Much needed cleaning, but never completely fun stuff.

I’ve started the process to purchase the new stove, first step being to find out what’s needed in terms of wiring, etc. to handle it. Given that the current one is original to the apartment (i.e., from 1963) it was better to ask first and see what kind of conversion box might be needed., if any. I have to call tomorrow to have them come check it out this week and give me an estimate on the work (conversion box, if needed, removal and installation of the new unit, etc.).

BC and I popped out to a party last night. I stuck to water, so slept fairly well and got in a bike this morning on the trainer before beginning to clean. Probably balanced out the not drinking by eating too many cookies today, but so be it.

BC and I had a nice, low-key NYE, over at a friend’s house with a few other folks. Much fun was had playing Godzilla Unleashed on his Wii, and aside from a single glass of champagne at midnight I didn’t touch a drop (I drove up there so we didn’t have to deal with taxis or Metro). Driving home was the most challenging part – drunken people popping out in the road at random intervals, all trying to flag down any taxi they could. What. A. Mess.

No new year’s day run this year – we got up too late, and then had to zip off to another get-together at Richard’s place in the afternoon. No matter, we got in a nice 4 miles today which, while cold, wasn’t bad. The cold symptoms are calming somewhat finally, but aren’t completely gone quite yet. Rest, relaxation, lots of water, and no drinking. Am going to begin exercising again, though. I just can’t wait any longer.

Speaking of which, signed up for my third and final triathlon for this year, the Nation’s Triathlon here in DC. So I’m doing Columbia in May (Olympic distance), Nation’s Tri in September (Olympic again), and Ironman Arizona (aka IMZ) in November. And a couple of other running events, I’m sure, sprinkled in between (Lawyers Have Heart 10k in June, the National Press Club 5k in September, etc.). Aside from IMZ, they’re all local things, so not a ton of travel for races this year, which should be a bit easier, especially if I’m transitioning jobs later this year.

We did a little shopping today, and I picked up some extra controllers for the two gaming systems, as well as recharging stations for both – no more disposable batteries.

So, a nice quiet beginning to the year, which I hope bodes well for the rest of it.