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

Spent a most pleasant weekend just hanging out, doing not much of anything. I stayed out of the house (which is odd for me – I’m normally Mr. Homebody). Wandered some in town, did dinner in Georgetown (which is very odd – I hate wandering around G’town more than once a quarter or so – the sidewalks are too narrow and the other f*cking suburbanite shoppers are too f*cking clueless to know to do things like, oh, walk on the right, or get the hell out of the way rather than stop right in front of someone who’d like to mow them down keep walking down the sidewalk), found some triathlon books I had been looking for, and generally had a pleasant time. One forgets how nice this city can be to live and play in.

Earlier I asked for some advice about an iPod Shuffle versus an iPod Nano for using in the gym. Don’t want to drag the full iPod in there and risk breaking it, so wanted to get something smaller/less valuable for the place. Decided on the Shuffle, and picked one up last night at the Apple Store over at Pentagay City. Using it tonight, after getting some time to play with the settings and such on the iBook and I have to say, I like it, and I’m glad I chose that over the Nano. Smaller form factor, and honestly, I don’t usually look at the screen anyway, so that aspect isn’t an issue. The screen issues the Nano’s having was a factor, too. I can actually see using it more for wandering around on weekends, too, as it’ll fit in a pocket pretty easily. Fun.

Culled the book collection this evening, dumping about four grocery bags worth into said bags and getting them ready to donate. Richard and I are doing a Goodwill/library run to get rid of a ton of stuff tomorrow, so that much less junk lying around to deal with. Will feel good to get rid of more, too.

I still have to find a charity to take my stuffed animal moose. I don’t think I’ll be able to give them to an AIDS or a cancer charity because they’re not new (infection risk), but perhaps a shelter will take them. I’d rather they get used/given to kids for free than have them get sold. Have time to search, but should get on that before the end of the year (taxes, donchaknow?).

Took long lunches out of the office from Wednesday on – just couldn’t take sitting at my desk over the lunch hour for some reason. Was nice out, and so was great to get out for the meal. Did have a beer for lunch Thursday, and, much to the delight of my soon-to-retire coworker, I got carded. Always a nice thing, that.

Anyway, off to bed, then up for a long day of getting rid of stuff!

Richard and I had a long conversation about our relationship this evening, and how it’s changed. We were both calm, and both treated each other well in the talking. Currently it looks like we’ll move separately in the Spring. Now is not a very good time to move, and we get along and live with each other fine, so that can be postponed. It gives both of us time to look for new places, consider options on what’s going on career-wise, etc.

It’s never an unemotional moment when these things happen, so forgive me if I’m not as post-y as I normally am.

It’s been almost three weeks since Orkin was last here, and no bites so far. Very, very good news. I was getting tired of constantly being on the watch for new bumps on my skin (aside from the ever-present and should-be-oh-so-illegal-after-you-turn-30 acne). Keep your fingers crossed that the good luck continues to hold.

Work’s been busy, life’s been busy. I’m starting to get into a regular training grove again, in time to get myself up to the baseline for the program I want to do come December. Plans for next year are, so far, the 1/2-ironman race in June, and a fall marathon. Not having done a full marathon yet, I figure it’d be a good idea to do one by itself before doing one at the end of a triathlon. And it’s a good goal for the fall, give me some good running time in to improve those skills.

I’m temporarily back on sudafed at the moment. The building switched over to heat on Friday and I think it’s awakened all of the nice nasty things that live on the radiators and that normally hibernate in the summer with the ac on. So I’m a little bit sniffly, and a little bit sudafed-y. Led to some whacked out dreams last night, and a dragging Moose today. Crashing a tad earlier than the norm (and about when I should be crashing) to get a full 8 hours if I can. Plan is to bike on the stationary trainer tomorrow, and a run Wednesday. Swimming should start up again next week as I ease back into things (and after the nose/sinuses should be back to normal). Had a good 5 mile run Saturday and an hour and a half on the bike Sunday, so I’m pleased with where I’m getting to now. I’ve been doing well while not on the sudafed, my heart rates are staying back down in more normal ranges, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes while back on it for the next day or so.

I did not sleep at all last night. I think I finally crashed around 5 this morning.

About mid-afternoon yesterday, while sitting in a meeting, my arm began to itch. “Oh, fuck,” was my first thought, “not again,” being the second. Checked when I got back to my office, and it did appear to be a bug bite of some sort (they take a while to develop when it’s only one, versus being covered in them). So of course I’m thinking it’s the bed bugs again. Frak. Me.

So what happened was that every time I tried to lie down to sleep last night, I would freak out at any little movement, with the result that sleep was nigh impossible, until exhaustion forced it upon me. No new bites this morning, that I can tell, but the little shits next door were playing the most cliche of early 90s dance music this afternoon, loudly, which does nothing to help endear them to me any more than they already are.

Needless to say, I’ve stayed home today. I need to go make myself a little coffee here shortly, but I’m suffering from a decided lack of energy. Go fig. Nap time soon, but coffee first.

Well, as threatened promised, I cleaned my closets for most of the weekend. Not the most thrilling thing to do, but it feels much, much better having gotten rid of so much junk. Still have to inventory the computer junk I found, but that can happen another day.

I also managed to strike something off my uberlist – item 48, “Fix the sagging problem on my large bookcase.” It finally hit me early this morning, after months of trying to figure out how I’d wedge something underneath to even out the bottom (it’s on legs and the middle was sagging rather badly), that I could just take the legs off and set the whole thing on the floor. D’oh! So today it got unloaded, the legs came off and it’s now resting nicely on the floor. It’ll take a while for the bottom to completely un-bow, but it’s looking better than it did. And I can get the bottom doors open without having to wrench them open, a big plus.

Upped the gauge on my earrings as well this weekend, from 18s to 14s. Yes, a two gauge jump, but it works. I wanted something a tad less “delicate” looking, and I’m pleased with the results. Popped the one in without a hitch but the left ear didn’t want to work, so I had to go back down and have it professionally inserted. Yay for piercers’ tools, specifically wedges. In it is, and in it’s staying for a long while. I never take the things out, anyway, so it’s no problem.

Ran this evening. Was pleasantly cool, but not so cool I wanted a long sleeve T. I think I may have to consider dumping the constant use of sudafed, regardless of my allergies. I just can’t get my heart rate down low enough when I’m on the stuff, and it’s annoying to be running at 170-odd beats a minute. So, an experiment – I’ll stop and see what happens. I can always carry it with just in case, but I’d like to see a tad more progress made on my running and it’s not happening with the sudafed in my system. Wish me luck.

I’ve spent all afternoon, post lunch, cleaning up my two closets. There’s a pile of empty boxes in the living room, and several full ones on and around my bed, needing sorting. Among the carnage:

• two printers
• a keyboard (“Windows 95 compatible!”)
• an old wool scarf in the family tartan
• tons of old financial records (bills, receipts, etc.)
• a fish-shaped bathroom radio
• a couple old blankets
• two full boxes of computer parts
• etc.

I’m still boggling over how and why I accumulated so much junk. And that was just one closet, really – the next one isn’t as bad with stuff, just empty boxes. I wonder if I should try to sell some of the porcelain moose figurines or just donate them. I’m sure someone out there wants some moosey knick-knacks…

Started culling my belongings this evening. A small bit, just going through books that I want to get rid of, but it’s a start. Since reading Affluenza I’ve been feeling the burden of having so much stuff around the house. I don’t use so much of it, so why am I keeping it all? Ugh. So, started the process of getting rid of some of it this evening. I’ll likely donate the books to the library for their use or sale, but if anyone wants any of them, let me know. Lots of my sci-fi paperbacks are gonna go bye-bye shortly.

Next step is the stuffed animal collection – I’ve wanted to cut that down for a while and donate the bulk of it to a charity that could have kids actually using these things rather than having them take up closet space that could use better used. If anyone has a charity suggestion for ’em, here in the DC area, let me know.

I’m also thinking that it makes sense to go through my casette tape collection, write down the albums I’d like to duplicate, and get rid of those, too. I don’t have a tape player and I’m not inclined to go get one, so those can go away as well. It’s a big box. Anyone with a desire to take some Taiwanese pop music off my hands? 😉

I also need to get myself on eBay or Craig’s List and get rid of some more valuable things (vacuum cleaners, antique mixer, Tungsten|C, etc.). Inertia demands that I simply continue to store these things, but why keep them around, especially if I can make a buck or two off of them.

Doesn’t help that I’m a natural hoarder, from a family of natural hoarders. I don’t know how much parents cleaned out their house when they moved. Well, not true, I ended up with several things to “hold” for them when they moved, but there was So Much Stuff in that house that it just boggles the mind when I think about trying to clean it all out. I don’t want to get to that point. Or, rather, I want to draw back from that point, because I certainly have a ton of stuff here that isn’t needed. I’d hate to think what anyone having to clean the place out for me would think of all the crap I’ve kept over the years.

Part of the book culling is being able to get rid of two older, cheap wooden bookshelves that are in the bedroom and therefore are a potential egg laying spot for the bed bugs. Once the books are removed and thoroughly shaken out, the shelves will go down and go into the trash, thrown far enough in that they can’t be salvaged and possibly transmit any bugs. Plus that’ll help unclutter the bedroom a lot. And if I have less space to store books, perhaps I won’t buy as many (yeah, right – they’ll just stack up like they do beside my reading chair now).

Yup, it all comes back to the bugs.

So far, so good from the latest round of treatments; no bites since Wednesday. Well, none since Saturday/Sunday, actually, but none in the bedroom since I’ve been sleeping in there again since Wednesday. I have my fingers crossed, but I’m definitely not holding my breath at this point.

Work’s been busy as all hell, but so far it’s mainly been manageable. I went over my to-do list with da boss today and she seemed okay with my ordering of the priorities, so I’m plugging away at the list now. Should get through a good part of it soon, I hope, which leaves me time to get to some of my more long-term projects. Provided the usual emergencies don’t keep popping up as they always do.

No real plans for the weekend. Earrings I ordered waaaaaaay back a month or two ago came in, so I’ll be stretching my ears up a gauge or two on Sunday when my piercer’s back in the shop. Shouldn’t be too noticeable, it’s going from an 18ga to a 14ga, which isn’t that extreme. But I’d decided I wanted something a tad less delicate than I have in now.

Run planned for the morning (in the rain!), and perhaps a swim on Sunday. Been ages since I’ve been in the pool, but it should be dead Sunday morning, which is always a good thing – no lane sharing needed. The exercise habit’s slowly getting back to normal, which is a very, very good thing. I always feel better when I’m in the exercise groove, and heaven knows my mood’s needed a lift of late.

New York faces bed bug problem. Schadenfreude, anyone?

My bedroom is set up once again (mostly), after the last round of treatment for the bed bugs. I’ll keep my fingers crossed, but I’m certainly not holding my breath.

The latest round was a supposed fogger. The guy sprayed stuff all over and we retreated from the room for the day. Presumably this stuff then gasssed up the place and got into all the nooks and crannies and killed things. Whee. The frustrating thing is that nothing has yet been done about the source of the infestation, the boys next door. Normally I’m all for evictions taking a certain amount of due process, but like the famous joke that a Republican is merely a Democrat who’s been mugged, I’m not feeling terribly generous towards them at the moment.

The birthday itself on Monday was… eh. Was very busy at work, and then Richard and I went to Mama Ayesha’s Calvert Cafe for dinner (free entree coupon, can’t turn that down), then home to crash out and the like. Yesterday was similarly low key. Dinner and drinks with Brian and some TiVO watching of bad comedy shows. And cleaning, of course, to prep the apartment (which ended up being a waste since we only did the bedroom) for today’s “fogging.”

The cats have handled most of these “close off this room,” and “shut us up in that room” things pretty well, which is a good thing. Natasha’s been recovering from the out of the norm stuff much more quickly than she did right after her vet experience.

Been running, though I had to skip that this morning for bug prep. Will see about a swim tomorrow, but not holding my breath on getting up rested enough. I have some time to take it easy and recover, but damn these bugs better go bye-bye so I can get back into my full, normal routine again.