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

Well, so much for my doctor’s appointment this morning (the entire reason I took today off from work, truth be told). They just called, emergency came up, blah, blah, can you reschedule to tomorrow? Um, no, I had taken today off just to have this appointment, and I really don’t want to waste more annual leave take more time off from work, it’s not an emergency, so I’ll just see him in February when I come in for my physical. (insert ugly mutterings under breath)

Well, not quite true, I have other errands I need to address today while off from work, like laundry and getting my bike checked/fit adjusted so I don’t get IT band problems Every Time I Ride It More Than 20 Minutes, but hey, those weren’t the reason I took today off. Oh well.

In other news, after the fight CT & I did talk & resolve the issue(s). Still wasn’t fun to experience that, but into each life, rain, &c.

Anyway, time to get started with cleaning before I head down to the bike shop. At least I can get some of that done in lieu of the appointment, though I made pretty good progress on the main room last night.

CT and I had our first real fight tonight. I walked away from him in the middle of it. He was not pleased, I was not happy, we both had ugly words to say to each other over it. We were both slightly intoxicated, in the L’Enfant Metro station, and neither of us was going to back down, which made it really ugly. But you know, I’m not one to get into something in front of Metro police, so when they walked over in the middle of it and started making a big deal about something dumb, I walked away.

I’m particularly proud of the way I acted, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to get arrested over something stupid. We’ll talk tomorrow and we’ll get things straightened out, but tonight, I’m glad we’re not sleeping together.

As Richard mentioned this morning, our building decided to call/stop by this morning just before he was leaving for work, well after I’d left to go swim, to let us know they were coming in to replace our windows and oh, as part of that, you have to move all the furniture out of the way and lock up the cats.

Also as he said, when I got the message after my swim, I hit the roof.

No notice (the excuse: the building employee and the contractor who was supposed to send out the “48 hour notices” were both out sick this week), no warning, just show up right as someone is leaving for work and expect them to drop everything and rearrange their entire apartment. Yeah, right. By the time I got the news and got up to the building it was too late to stop them from coming in, they were already halfway done with the work on the windows in the dining room and my bedroom (the other windows will be done in two weeks when they turn that corner of the building). I’ll have to check more thoroughly tonight, but nothing looked like it was damaged in the process.

Then I got to sit and cool my heels for two hours while waiting to yell at the building manager in person. I finally got in when I asked who he reported to in New York and what that person’s phone number was. Then I had to pointedly ask the window contract manager to leave the room when I finally got in there after he popped his head in (“But the other leaseholder gave his permission…” Well, yeah, of course he did when you hit him trying to get out the door to go to work with a window in your hand and not much choice in the matter, you jackass!). And what would they have done if no one had been there? I’ll bet you they’d have gone right in, moved the stuff themselves, and done the work anyway, even without giving notice (forget about damaging anything or losing my cats). The only good thing there was they were done by that time, so I was able to let the cats back out into the unit.

Another taxi ride later, I’m back at work. Told my team leader I put in an extra hour of leave and I was going to go run this afternoon at the gym to work off some steam. Fully intend to do that, too, once lunch settles. Not exactly how I pictured my Thursday going.

I actually used the work gym, that I pay far too much money per pay period for, this evening. It wasn’t bad, even without towel service. I was a tad nervous when I got in and all but one of the treadmills were taken, but the run proceeded apace. They have the same annoying 30 minute limit on their treadmills that the ones at the YMCA down in Chesapeake had, but I suspect a Quickstart session would get around that. As it was I just did 30 minutes anyway, then got myself going and up to the grocery store.

Even though I was starving I still managed to get out of Whole Paycheck Foods for less than $50, including the lazy taxi home. While there I discovered the Tofurkey sausages, so tried some this evening with some pasta and red pepper pesto, and they weren’t bad. I shall have to try them in my favorite pot luck dish, “Sausage with Red Peppers and Pasta” soon. Now if I could just find a good sub for the chicken in “Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic,” I’d be set on the only two non-vegan dishes I really miss.

Given the experience tonight I may have to filch borrow another towel from the Y and use the work gym for my evening runs instead of going back up to the Y for them. We’ll see. It was certainly nice to just walk downstairs to run rather than bussing up to the Y, then bussing home. And post-move it’ll be even more convenient.

Da Boss came in and told me I was going to be losing a wall on which to hang my office decorations, because she’s moving me to one of the two vacant window offices in two weeks, after it gets painted and the phones move.

And, best of all, it’s the one with the couch in it. I’ll gladly take the couch and lose the privacy (it’s also the office that’s right off our main suite, as opposed to the other one, which is waaaay at the end of the hallway and shares a wall with the Deputy Grand Boss’ office).

Huzzah!

Okay, I take it back, resolutioners can go suck my metal-enhanced cock.

Got to the gym tonight and all 6 treadmills were full. Including with one of my favorite gym goers, the treadmill walker. Yes, I know there are reasons why someone would just want to walk, but honestly, go hop on an eliptical and let someone who wants to actually use the treadmill for what it was designed for, running, use it.

Grrr.

Ah, early January. That time when every Tom, Dick and Sally comes out to the gym with hopes of shaping up for the new year. That time when these ‘resolutioners’ take up space in the pool, cardio and weight rooms, trying (and failing miserably) not to look clueless about how to use the equipment, all the while making the space and the process more confusing than it ever needs to be.

I think I’ve finally mellowed in my approach to them. I used to not-quite-snarl at them, and inside I’m still disdainful, but mainly I ignore them now, or politely ask them to move (and just as politely answer questions if asked), and just general try to stay out of their way until this burst of energy dissipates and they go back into their soda, sweets and (pseudo) Atkins/South Beach/faddish-diet induced comas.

The cooking I started this weekend continued through today. Made a big batch of homemade soy chai (caffeine free) and a similarly large batch of hummus. A touch too much olive oil taste in it right now, but I think that’ll be mellowed out somewhat once I let it sit and meld together. Added cumin this time, and I liked the effect it had. Will have to remember that for the next batch.

Otherwise I did cold wash (yay for having clean exercise gear for the week) and took out the big stack of empty boxes that was in the living room from all the holiday packages. Is nice to have a clean area. Now if I could just get rid of the extra futon mattress (anyone need a full-size futon mattress?) it’d be really and truly empty. Still have some boxes of financial records I need to shred, but those can wait for now.

Drained the batteries on both iPods completely and recharged them. Rode my bike for 40 minutes (still a tad gun shy there as the last ride caused some IT band pain – had a few tinges there today, which seemed to be helped when I rode more forward in the saddle than I normally do – might have to get the seat adjusted forward again when I go in for the first checkup). May do a few more things this evening, but for now, it’s zone out in front of the TV/Nintendo DS time.

I’ve done my southern roots proud and had my black-eyed peas, served up in a vegan version of hoppin’ john. Alas, I did not make cornbread or collard greens, but I did make the peas, and that was the important part, according to my grandmother.

Otherwise, the new year has thus far been nice and quiet.

I did my traditional new years day run. Since recovering from mono back in 99/00, and making my first run on new year’s day 2000, I’ve made it a tradition to run on that day. No heart rate monitor, no watch, no music, just whatever clothes are needed for the weather, my shoes, and me. Was a good run this afternoon, my first outside in a while.

I apologize to those of you who’ve been so kind in your emails, calls or text messages. As you may have figured out by now, I’ve been dealing with some pretty nasty depression of late. Right now I just want to get moved to a new place, get settled there, get away from the bugs and the loud music, and see where it is I’m going from there. This has not been helped by the lovely cold sore that popped up yesterday morning with none of the usual warnings (no tingling, etc.). Woke up and there the little fucker was. Thankfully it’s progressed along just as quickly and the meds I have seem to be helping speed it along. ‘Tis past the painful stage and onto just plain annoying. But it did not help my mood any yesterday, and it just reinforced the decision to stay at home and just ruminate on stuff.

The good part of this, however, has been that I’ve been cooking up a storm. In additon to the aforementioned hoppin’ john, I’ve made roasted butternut squash, breakfast tofu scramble, barbeque baked lentils, and garlic roasted asparagus for various meals. I’ll have leftovers galore this week for lunches, which is better than buying stuff on campus any day of the week.

Still working on this year’s uberlist. Did learn some things from the past year’s list, and I want to make this thing work.

So, looked over this past year’s Uberlist 2005, and listed below is what I accomplished off the list (not bad, at 63 items done out of 105). Some of these were rather nebulous goals, but I felt like I met the ones listed below (there were some others that, while partially successful, did not make this list). Overall, I think I did okay at it. Working on the upcoming year’s list, and will post that after the new year begins. Some of the unfinished goals will carry over, some will be modified. In any case, this is as close to a year-end wrap-up as you’re going to get out of me.

Uberlist 2005

1. Drink more wine.
2. Vacuum the apartment once a week.
3. Donate more things to charity.
4. Clean out more storage space.
5. Add a regular weight workout to my fitness routine.
6. Get a triathlon bike.
7. Get a new platform for the bed.
8. Get my Palm to successfully interface with my iBook
9. Pay off another credit card in its entirety.
10. Clean my bathroom more often.
11. Lower the threshold at which I reach “critical mass” for cleaning or decluttering a space.
12. Consolidate down to one bag to carry back and forth to work (versus the three current ones).
13. Get some Nasty Pig gear to wear to the Eagle
14. Manage my GI system better.
15. Get back down to a 30” waist.
16. Get a filing storage system.
17. Trash old, unneeded financial records, safely.
18. Cull the book collection.
19. Put more money into my TSP retirement account
20. Squirrel away more money in savings.
21. Get a real trashcan for my room
22. Replace the trashcan and recycling can in the kitchen.
23. Bug the building to do more about the pest issue in the kitchen. (called 2/14/05, caulking done 2/16/05)
24. Eat fewer cookies.
25. Eat more fruit.
26. Cull my clothing collection.
27. Buy more dress shirts and ties.
28. Go shopping more often.
29. Get to the grocery store more often.
30. Solve the sagging problem on my large bookcase.
31. Practice more Yoga.
32. Buy Dreamweaver.
33. Redo the countfour.org website.
34. Redo the diary section of the site.
35. Clean out the linen closet.
36. Dump all the old products I have around the house that are never used.
37. Throw out old, unusable shoes.
38. Get rid of the extra kitchen door.
39. Watch more porn.
40. Get an iSight camera.
41. Take more pictures.
42. Get out of DC for the inauguration
43. Reduce the amount of “stuff” in the apartment.
44. Dust more often.
45. Get more exercise clothing.
46. Get a wireless mouse for the iBook.
47. Play Diablo II with friends.
48. Look into the value of my comic collection.
49. Attend CBE in May.
50. Eat less, more frequently.
51. Take the cats to the vet for a checkup and shots.
52. Write more on countfour.org.
53. Write more on the diary site.
54. Chill on the constant use of emoticons while writing.
55. Call my parents more often.
56. Text my friends more often.
57. Do lunch with the other young attorneys in my office.
58. Expand my collection of sex toys.
59. Continue to ignore my crazy grandparents.
60. Do my best to not involve myself in the commission now that I’m not on it.
61. Go up a gauge on the PA.
62. Get the tools to exchange body jewelry.
63. Find more healthy snacks to eat at work.