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

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.

Its four in the morning and I just had to call security to come break up the party next door. There’s loud Tejano music (or is it Norteño? I can’t tell, and frankly I don’t know that I really care) coming through the wall, loud enough for me to understand the lyrics (if I spoke Spanish, that is), as well as drunken Spanish being spoken, over the music, loud enough for me to understand (again, if I spoke Spanish). Oh, and some of them are singing along now, too. Badly.

I may have to kill someone soon if they don’t stop. Four in the morning on a Sunday. And they wonder why I want to move?!?!

Okay, so the stuff I ordered from Amazon three days ago, and that supposedly shipped out on Wednesday hasn’t arrived yet, but the AppleCare™ agreement for my iBook that I ordered at 5:57 pm last night is here. Riddle me that one, kiddies.

Closed one card in its entirety today, lowered the interest rate on one of the remaining ones, and removed a third one from my wallet.

I called the large servicer of my two main cards to dump the low-limit ($700) bank-I’m-not-with-any-more visa I had with them. Since I no longer have an account at said bank, it’s not needed for overdraft protection, and I don’t have particularly fond memories of the bank anyway, so Die, Die, Die. It was my oldest credit card, which is supposedly worth keeping on the report, but screw it, I was simply ready (emotionally) to get rid of the thing. It had been the little credit card I started with, waaaay back under a previous bank, and it had been one of the most reasonable ones for making payments and interest rates and what not, but as soon as previous and not-with-any-more merged, not-with-any-more farmed out their card serving to the large servicer instead of handling it in-house, and the servicer promptly jacked up the interest rate on the card. Jerks.

They did get rid of the card, but in a sneaky way. The servicer merged the credit limit into the other visa I have with them (upping it by the aforementioned $700), and somehow merged the accounts so that the remaining visa now looks like it’s the old one, to keep the “cardholder since” longevity. Whatever. So long as a card died today, I’m happy. The old one is now tacked to my bulletin board, along with the other ones I’ve paid off.

Oh, and the servicer was so happy with me for completely paying off the cards that they lowered the interest rate on the remaining card to their lowest available one. One that is less than half what I had on the card a year ago, and is actually lower than the original rate I’d had waaay back when under the previous bank. Wunderbar.

DiscoverCard™, on the other hand, did not want to play when I called about an interest rate deduction. Instead of processing a rate reduction over the phone, as they’ve done the past 3-4 times I’ve talked to them., they’re sending me paperwork to fill out (!!!!!) to request a rate decrease from the current one, which is also now somehow a floating prime+ rate instead of the fixed rate I’ve always had with them. So that got the card removed from the wallet so it won’t be used. Don’t want to play nice, I don’t have to give you any business – no transaction fees for you! Meh. Not like their “cash back” rates are any good anyway, unless you’re participating in one of their specials. AmEx has better return rates (on paper, at least).

And at this point, it’s “who can give me the most for giving them the business” when it comes to cards. I’m going to try AmEx once their new card arrives and see how I like them. I’ve heard very good things about them, and I like the options available on their web site (payments can be made every 2-3 days, not every 8 [!!!], nor do you have to “schedule” payments several days in advance before they credit to the account), so we’ll see how that works. No more carry-over balances for this man, that’s for sure.

Is much happier to be in this position than the one I was in a year ago, owing out the whazoo and begging for rate reductions to get rid of balances faster, and not seeing any end in site to the debt. I still have a good chunk of debt (student loans – oy!), but there’s an end in sight, and I’m in a much better position to actually be able to plan for things like, say, buying a place of my own now, rather than simply spending all my money and psychic energy dealing with existing debt. Definitely a happier place to be.