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

Spent a good chunk of the evening going over resumes one last time so I could rank them for our Board of Directors here at the cult co-op. I’ve been serving on the committee that’s reviewing new property managers’ resumes for the Board before they get their own chance at them, hoping to weed out some of the chaff before they get them. As is the way with these things, some where obviously outstanding, and some were obviously not suited to the position, but the majority were somewhere in the middle. I had a hard time classifying some of them, but I think I put the right ones in the right categories.

I had planned to go to the gym this evening after work (I ran this morning), but was feeling a tad too, er, gassy (damn that veggie burger), to make the gym a comfortable experience either for myself or my fellow weight lifters, so came home and went grocery shopping instead. Did need the groceries, so wasn’t a waste, but had been looking forward to the weight workout. I’m trying to stave off further injury in my chosen three sports (swim, bike, run), and need the help, but when it’s not in the cards, it’s not in the cards.

My parental units found an old personal page from 1999 that was still up for some reason. I thought the ISP had deleted the page, but evidently not. Thankfully I still use the email address from them, so was able to log in, archive the site, and delete it from the ‘net. It would be relatively easy for them to find this particular blog, I’m guessing, but one hopes they know better than to read it. If they do, oh well, they’ll certainly get an eyeful.

Had a Deputy Grand Lawyer come in and dump an assignment in my lap at 5:45 or so this evening, which was interesting. All of the stuff he wants is stuff we can pop out pretty quickly, thankfully, but I zapped an email off to the Assistant Grand Lawyer anyway to let her know so she knows why I’m writing all this stuff for the deputy tomorrow. It’s sometimes good to be the sole source, and sometimes not.

I’ve been dealing a lot the last couple of weeks with a serious budget shortfall that we’re dealing with in one of our accounts under the current Continuing Resolution. For non-DC types, a CR is a stop-gap measure that Congress passes to keep funding flowing, in a limited capacity, until they get off their asses and pass our regular spending bills. The last time the entire Federal government didn’t have a CR was somewhere around 1997 or 1998. Before that it was the mid-80s. It’s a regular occurrence that they don’t bother funding the government until sometime in November, or even as late as March. With the current switch in leadership we’re probably looking at a real bill closer to March.

But that wasn’t what I wanted to write about. What these discussions have entailed has been a series of conversations in which I’ve discovered for the first time just how old the workforce is at my Big Government Agency (BGA). Now, the figure that some exorbitant percentage of the Federal workforce is eligible to retire either right now or within the next five years or so has always been somewhat abstract. What I’m seeing now is that we’re going to be facing some serious leadership issues among the career staff pretty quickly here.

In the CFO’s shop they rattled off the names of several top managers who will be going either next year or the following year (typically people leave in January because of how the pay raises work in the federal government, and how that affects their retirement). By January of 2008 we will be missing all of our current top managers in that office, and I’m not sure how we’re going to replace them. In my own office, the General Counsel’s office, something like 60% of our workforce can retire right now. No waiting, they can just go out the door. At least three of our top managers are doing just that in January, and we’re not in a position to replace them right now with the current budget posture.

We’re in a precarious spot in the Federal government, and I’m not sure where we’re going to get the folks we need to do all of these jobs. I don’t know that we’ve ever been in a position where so much of the civil service was ready to head out the door en masse. And never before was it brought home so vividly as it has been under the current budget cycle. It’s worrisome to contemplate. I’m sure we’ll muddle through somehow, but as the Congress continues to (properly) put more requirements to be accountable with the responsibilities we carry out, it’s going to be more and more difficult unless we can replace folks who are already gone, and start to train replacements for the management that will be leaving soon.

Low-rise briefs take some getting used to.

But I think the effect might be worth it. (possibly NSFW link, underwear pics)

I voted right after 9 this morning, was a breeze – most notable moment was being asked
if I wanted paper or electronic, when my response was, “Paper, paper, paper! None of that electronic crap for me, thanks.”

Biked over to the gym in the rain, worked out for a little over an hour (light weights, high reps – trying not to be too sore tomorrow). Biked home in the rain (wet, wet, wet out there!), stripped down inside, dried the bike chain, showered, started laundry, ran to the pharmacy and grocery store, back to switch laundry, have a salad and now I’m watching the news.

I have to say, I have mixed feelings about the Democratic gains they’re projecting. If the Dems pick up even one house, my professional life will get much, much busier because the Dems actually exercise oversight over the agencies, which means a ton of official letters coming in with requests for information. Whee. It’s a good thing that the Congress exercises their Constitutional prerogatives, but it’s been relatively quiet these first three years at my current Big Government Agency, which isn’t such a bad thing, personally (not not such a good thing, as a citizen).

Anyway, back to watch the elections and get the laundry out of the driers.

… you get to work and you have a faux-hawk, not because that’s how you styled it when you left home, but because that’s how your hair gets squished down inside the helmet.

Been swimming a lot the past week. My skin has been exuding chlorine like mad, even after a post-swim shower. Up to today it’s been random stuff, just doing the occasional 100 repeat or a skill drill or the like. Tonight I hauled out my “Swim Workouts ina Binder” and did an actual form drills workout. Was nice to have some order, and I think I definitely benefitted from doing more organized drill work.

I wanted to note this article from the Washington Post this week – it’s about teens who go vegetarian, so as a veggie it caught my eye, but the opening paragraph was what really caught my eye:

When Leslie Calman’s 16-year-old son, Ben, came home from school one day last year and announced he was going vegetarian, Calman and her partner, Jane Gruenebaum, did what few families do when a child decides to stop eating animals: They immediately supported his decision.

Now, this was just a run of the mill article about families dealing with a teen going veggie, but I had to stop and re-read the paragraph a couple times to make sure I didn’t miss that they had just named this woman and her partner in such a matter of fact, normal presentation. How Freakin’ Cool. It’ll be better once it’s “Calman and her wife,” if they choose to get married, but I was just so happy to see an article in the paper that just presented this type of family portrait without any real fanfare, and as exactly what it is – normal.

Did a short run this morning, less than 2 miles, and no knee pain. The stretching and what not has helped. Have to figure out my gym schedule for weights now, to strengthen the joints and what not, but I’m confident that it’ll work out (no pun intended).
I’m hearing now that the half iron race I was looking at for next fall puts the run on gravel and not pavement, and I’m thinking 13.1 miles on gravel isn’t such a fun idea for me. So I’m back to looking for another one. I’ve also managed to get a bunch of the attorneys at work all psyched about running the Lawyers Have Heart 10k race in June. Should be fun, and I’m hoping we’ll get some of the non-runners hooked on it, too.

Had to take a break from the more serious stuff I’ve been reading lately, and picked up a fantasy novel I’d picked up at some point to use to fill time, and even to my mostly-non-critical eye the author is beating us over the head with the central story – Camelot. Ugh. Subtlety seems to be lost on this guy, and his Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot characters are exactly playing to type. It’s a bit disappointing, I prefer if someone’s going to tell a story over that they do it a tad less obviously, or at least with a better or more interesting retelling. Might have to dump it in favor of some more modern Chinese fiction in translation if this keeps up.

And there goes “tattoo” at the Fort, so it’s time to shut down for bed.

It’s hard not to feel bitter this morning since I’m not out there racing the Marine Corps Marathon. The knee did not improve sufficiently over the week to feel comfortable doing a race of this length, and discretion is the better part of valor, or however that goes, and so I’m skipping the thing this year. There will be other races, and my ego was not so invested that this is a crippling event psychologically, but it’s still disappointing after all the training.

Not helping the mood is that I just paid out the ass so I can not listen to/watch a bunch of useless Continuing Legal Education courses so I can keep my law license. One does like to stay employed, but one wishes it weren’t so expensive, nor such a waste of time (there are no CLEs in my practice area).
Did sit down this week and look at next season’s races. I’ve picked several that I think I can do. Unsure as to whether I’ll sign up for another marathon (did put a half marathon in the mix, early in the season), but picked out a couple of triathlons, and I’m seriously considering doing a half ironman toward the end of the season (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run).  Added into the mix this year has to be more serious weight and core training. The IT band troubles I’ve had this past week are the proof of that, and I’d really rather avoid this sort of thing again if at all possible. The weights and core work will help stabilize stuff, and I’ve known that (intellectually), but not really felt the need for it (emotionally). Well, now I can’t afford to neglect it, so back to the weight room I go.

Thankfully, for the runners, it’s a gorgeous morning here in DC, and it looks to stay that way through the entire race. You couldn’t ask for better conditions. Which will make going out to watch pretty nice, too.

This is not the best of Mondays.

1. I have a classic case of “runner’s knee” thanks to yesterday’s run – nice little stabby pains in the left knee. Made walking to work oh-so-much-fun (and stairs? don’t get me started on how much fun stairs are right now). Also almost guarantees no race next Sunday for moi. This after making it through the entire training season for the race with no injuries. Ugh. Looks like the post-running season gets to start early.

2. On top of the stabby pains on the walk, I realized halfway to work that while I had made a nice, fresh carafe of coffee and put it in the thermos to take with me, said thermos was in fact still sitting on my kitchen counter. Which means I am doomed to at least one cup of the substandard “Starbucks” coffee they have downstairs (at least the Starbucks branded stuff is better than the regular swill, but it’s still not anywhere close to as good as I make it at home, nor to how an actual Starbucks establishment would make it).

Blah.

Got up this morning totally Mr. Cranky Pants. Did not want to get up, did not want to go run, did not want to see anyone, did not want to do anything. Sat around, pouted, read the paper (they’ve been delivering it regularly since Tuesday), pouted some more, and was generally in a horrible mood. Was feeling like I’m tired of training for the marathon, I’m tired of feeling like I waste an entire weekend day doing the long runs, and a lot of, “Why am I doing this if it’s not fun?” Of course, I do it because it is fun, I do enjoy it, it’s just that I was feeling a total lack of motivation this morning. Was also missing MG, who’s been away for work this week. And, as I said, just feeling a big dose of the blahs. Must’ve had something physical going on as well, stress-wise, this week, because my eczema’s flared up as well.

Thankfully around mid-afternoon I snapped out of it as I did massive amounts of floor cleaning (yay swiffer wet), did laundry, even ironed (which is a measure of how blah I’d been feeling – I never iron). Feel much better now. MG’s headed back to town tonight, and will wander over. In the mean time I’ve lit a bunch of candles, popped in a movie, turned the lights off and am relaxing. It’s not quite meditation, but it’s much more restful than I’ve been of late. Hopefully the long run tomorrow will be better for excising Mr. Cranky Pants from my system.

In other news™, I had an unexpected surprise yesterday when I pulled up my leave and earnings statement. Evidently the beginning of the month was an anniversary at work because I went up a step for the paycheck that hits next week. Extra money is always nice, especially unexpected extra money. Oh, and my parents now know about the new neice/nephew, speaking of expectations, and also that my brother will be teaching sixth grade starting in the next week or so. Good news all around (which made the attack of the cranky pants all the more bizarre).

Had my monthly haircut this evening, so texted Brian and headed out to dinner with him and Jhim. Was good to see them both, and good to get out. I’ve been lying low here in SW DC, mainly because money is a tad tight right now, so eating in or eating cheap are the preferred modes for food. Simple food has also been my preference at home because of some stomach woes I’ve had on and off. My digestive system has never been the best, and every now and again it decides to really go off the deep end until I smack it down, which may be coming soon (don’t ask).

Picked up staples at Whole Paycheck on the way to the bus, which thankfully was running pretty well this evening; didn’t wait more than 10 minutes at either stop, and there’s something to be said for catching the bus that drops you right in front of your building. Had planned the trip, so was a good boy and used a cloth shopping bag from home rather than taking fresh bags from them. I wish store still gave you some discount for doing that (some used to give you a nickel or something per bag you brought in and used yourself rather than using theirs), but even without it was nicer to have a bag I knew wouldn’t rip open on the bus, and that I didn’t have to stuff more plastic bags into the recycling bin.

MG’s out of town for work, and we’ve been chatting on the phone in the evening. Sounds like he’s pretty busy there, but doing good work. Miss him, but the communication helps.

Oh, and don’t tell my parental units, but I’m to be an uncle again. My sister-in-law is about a week pregnant (confirmed with the doctor yesterday), so she’s due in June. This, mind you, while she was on the pill (and after she had her first child in March of this year). I did remind my brother that there were things he could do as well (condoms, anyone?), but was gentle in my reproach. At least he’s married to the woman this time (my older niece is the daughter of his HS girlfriend – oy). I’m happy for them, and will be happy to be an uncle again.