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

Ken gets a makeover, still refuses to come out of the closet, despite new “metrosexual” look.

Boy toy still claiming he loves Barbie, wants to get back with her, says that any and all likeness to John Paulk are purely coincidental.

I should update those things I’ve already done on the Uberlist, but I’ll save that for later.

Richard came back in the apartment yesterday morning to tell me the wonderful news that they were painting the bed bug boys’ apartment and that the boys were now gone. Hooray! Keep your fingers crossed that the next person/bunch is better than this previous group was.

I’m still vascillating on the whole buying real estate thing, though am leaning more heavily toward buying. The listings aren’t bad, and reading more on the subject makes me more hopeful. Chatted with my bank about some short-term investment options as well, and the rates don’t seem terribly useful for that at the moment. Of course, the flip side of that is that borrowing rates for mortgages aren’t too terrible, either.

Today was the last day of physical therapy left from the car accident last month. Loved the therapist, she was very helpful, and we (finally) went over more stretches for my IT bands that should help with that little problem. Overall she seemed pleased with the stretching I’m doing now after we went over it, which was good to see.

Otherwise I’m staying busy between training and gearing up for the new triathlete program (sign-ups begin next week!).

Household

1. Move.
2. Get another bedside table.
3. Get a new dining room table.
4. Get more plants for inside the apartment.
5. Replace the food processor.
6. Get a new carrier for the cats.
7. See about getting a cat tree for the beasties.
8. Cull my belongings before I move, not after.
9. Get a television.
10. Donate/sell extra stuffed animals.
11. Sell the Kirby vacuum cleaner.
12. Organize & put my CDs away.
13. Replace bookshelves.
14. Find and get a better storage option for my DVDs.
15. Take the cats in for their annual physical/shots.
16. Get rid of old computer equipment.
17. Give GLAA their materials back.
18. Sell my old Palm.
19. Repair or dispose of my old bedside lamp.
20. Get new dining room chairs.
21. Organize my book collection.
22. Get an ice cream maker.
23. Get new sheets.
24. Replace old towels.

Exercise

25. Run the Cherry Blossom ten-miler in under 2 hours.
26. Run a 5k in under half an hour.
27. Run a 10k in under an hour.
28. Race two triathlons.
29. Complete a fall marathon.
30. Practice more Yoga.
31. Bike more when running errands.
32. Work on my core strength.
33. Try Pilates.
34. Get a wetsuit.
35. Get a professional massage after races.
36. Get comfortable riding in the aero position on my bike.
37. Decide whether I’m doing an Ironman race next year & if so, sign up for it.
38. Weights, weights, weights.
39. Get more exercise clothes.
40. Get speed and cadence sensors for the new bike.

Health

41. Cook at home more.
42. Get back to a flat stomach.
43. Get to bed earlier.
44. Eat less processed food.
45. Attend another body electric seminar.
46. Eat less, more frequently.
47. Refrain from drinking to excess.
48. Get below 155lbs…
49. …and stay there.
50. Develop and follow a stretching program.
51. Get a body fat scale.
52. Get a physical.
53. Lay off the spicy foods.
54. Try meditating.
55. Minimize my consumption of sodas.
56. Get an eye exam.
57. Get new glasses.
58. Cook more tempeh.
59. Price out tooth whitening with my dentist.
60. Find a good recipe for home made miso soup.
61. Use my cookbooks more.

Social

62. Have friends over for dinner.
63. Go to the Eagle.
64. Get out of the apartment more.
65. Go dancing.
66. Host some Bad Movies parties (2 or more).
67. Do more massage exchanges (6 this year).
68. Go visit friends in another time zone.
69. Dinner party.
70. Host a soup night potluck.
71. Send some more snail mail cards to friends & family.
72. Go see my new niece when she pops out.
73. Remember my brother’s birthday.
74. Go see my family over Xmas.
75. Take someone to CBE in the fall.

Money

76. Set up a filing system for financial records.
77. Squirrel away more money in savings.
78. Set a plan to save funds up for a down payment.
79. Make a plan & start the process to buy property.
80. Confirm with the credit agencies that my credit reports are now mine and only mine.
81. Close another credit card account.
82. Get a paper shredder.

Web/Computer

83. Post reviews of all the lube I’ve been buying.
84. Post reviews of my cookbooks.
85. Get a backup drive for the Mac.
86. Beat Kirby’s Canvas Curse.
87. Play a game with my niece on the DS.
88. Write more on my web site(s).

Work

89. Get some plants for the office.
90. Join the professional bar for my BGA.
91. Update my resume.
92. Figure out some lunches to bring in from home.
93. Find a source of Scharffenberger chocolate for work.

Misc.

94. Renew my passport.
95. Take a knife skills class.
96. Thank you notes.
97. Get a new toiletry kit bag.
98. Get more dress pants.
99. Finish watching The House of Flying Daggers.
100. Watch the other Chinese movies I bought on DVD.
101. Commission an original piece of art.
102. Get another piece or two of Nasty Pig clothes.
103. Get myself the ring I’ve been eyeing.
104. Make three recipes from Vice Cream.
105. Get new styli for the Treo.
106. Get more luggage

Okay, I admit it, I’m in over my head here with this stuff. Anyone know of any good financial planners here in DC that they’d recommend to me?

I find myself wary of crossing streets. Go fig. Actually, I find myself wanting to have a large mace or sledge hammer prominently held in hand with which to threaten errant drivers (and just think of the weight lifting benefits of hauling one around!), but I don’t suppose that’s practical in this day and age.

I also find it sad that “a good night out drinking” is having two glasses of wine before dinner and being happy I don’t have a hangover (even if my nose is a little sniffly from the lovely Steele zinfandel I was sipping).

I’m currently talking to a realtor about co-ops/condos down in the SW Waterfront area of DC. I like the concept of owning, and the tax benefits therefrom, but the whole house hunting part is just nerve wracking & stomach churning, and this after all I’ve done is skim listings online & fill out some basic loan information. Oy. This being an adult thing can be difficult.

Got hit with a big nasty right before I left work. Won’t go into details (not that I ever do, with work), but I actually brought work home tonight.

Yes, I’m as shocked as you are, gentle reader.

Thankfully this isn’t the norm for my job or I’d have to kill someone seriously consider other employment.

I see the physical therapist tomorrow. Have to have her run off a new copy of the exercises I’m to do as the original three sheets (6 per sheet) were a casualty of the exploding shampoo bottle (and did I mention that my gym bag smells of orange candy now? It does. The joys of using kids shampoo to get the chlorine out of my hair). Also checking on the progress of all the gut-sucking transverse ab work she’s had me doing.

Been having too much caffeine of late, which has left me somewhat restless & anxious. The fire alarm here in the building (something was going on, fire trucks showed up, though we did not evacuate) right at 10 p.m. was not a help, either. Stayed up a bit longer to make sure we didn’t need to herd the cats into carriers and head out, hence the writing, but it appears we’re in the clear. In the meantime I’m listening to my “mellow” song list in iTunes and trying to put myself in the mood to sleep.

The Uberlist is down to the last 20 or so items, which is always the most difficult part to me. The big stuff is on there, now it’s little things that might or might not need to go on a list. I think the uberlist idea might need to cut back by half or so or I’m not going to be able to get anywhere near finishing most items on it. While I love the concept, the sheer volume of things is a tad much to come up with.

Got up, went to pack my gym bag, and discovered that at some point in the night one of the “slimer” ghosts from the Ghostbusters movies had visited the bottom of my bag. Thankfully there wasn’t much in there for the shampoo that leaked to get all over, so it was just a matter of cleaning a few things (though the toiletry kit bag is ruined) and getting the majority of the gunk out, with the major cleaning to come this evening, post-gym.

How prescient that I’d added “get a new toiletry kit bag” to the uberlist last night…

LJ’s security flaws managed a mention on the Washington Post’s security blog today. I remember seeing at least one friend’s account get caught by these folks, but it’s interesting that the MSM has picked up on it now.

I think that there are few things more spectacular first thing in the morning than going to pour food into the cats’ bowl and having the lid of the full-to-the-brim container of cat food fall off.

Saw my new physical therapy person this morning. The verdict: more strength training, more strength training, more strength training. Whee.

Did I mention that I find strength training incredibly dull? Thought so. I guess I have to get over that, and fast. She’s given me a whole regimen of things to get my butt back in the gym to accomplish. <insert grunting noise here>

Oh, and she ultrasounded the knee just to check it and make sure all was good (so I escaped getting X-rayed last week, but got ultrasounded this week), and to give her a comparison to make sure it was healing properly when she checks it next week. The knee had developed a lovely bruise where I got tapped, but is otherwise still fine. She also switched the schedule (which had been 2x/week for 4 weeks) to today, this time next week, and then in 2 weeks after that, which is, I think, more reasonable than the original schedule, and more useful for what I need now, which is to measure progress.

Was still nice to come into work late today, though.

I think, now that more residents have moved into the area around my gym, that we’re going to have to put some pressure on them to keep the gym open on holidays rather than closing for the federal holidays like they do now. That made some sense when most of their business was from federal workers in the, at the time, mostly office complex area they inhabited, but with more residents moving in, it doesn’t make any sense to have the gym closed on holidays, seeing as how those are prime times to be able to get to the gym. I can understand closing for Christmas and Easter (it is the YWCA after all), but not for the other federal holidays.

Otherwise things continue to percolate along as normal. No real rants, no real shout outs.