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

Got the new tires on the car with no issue. Hadn’t realized how rough the old ones had gotten. Nicest part was just popping in and having it done, and not having to worry about the cost because they’d already been paid for.

Past that, getting back to swimming, and trying consciously to improve my swim stroke and speed this year. Taormina’s Swim Speed Secrets has been pretty good thus far, and I’m seeing a bit of improvement, which is nice after years of steady state mediocrity. But swimming’s been it thus far this season, mostly because of how cold and gross it’s been. I’m unmotivated to sit on the bike in the trainer in the living room, and it’s been just plain ugly outside between snow and cold (and a head cold) so I haven’t wanted to go outside to run in the morning, either. Hopefully today was the last of the cold snaps this spring, and the last of the snow as well, so I can get back to running & biking.

This week is the first set of evaluations for my minions. They’re all doing well, so it’s thankfully been an easy process. New minion #1 started this week (my first hire!), and new minion #2 starts in a week and a half. Haven’t scared off the first guy yet, so I suppose I’m doing okay there. The hardest part of this management thing is learning what to let loose from my own portfolio and give to one of the minions to handle. And after almost 15 years of handling ever more matters, I’m not yet in the comfort spot when it comes to handing things off. But I’m getting there.

It’s been hard for me to stay motivated with triathlon stuff. Commuting between my place and the boy’s place had put a definite damper on it, as has his work schedule (he has to go to meetings for work that are well after what I would consider my optimum ‘go to bed’ time). College students suck – if you want to participate in things on campus, do them at normal hours like a real adult, not at 10+ at night, ‘you hosers’. I’d happily smack the lot of them upside the head and welcome them to real life. And naps.

Nonetheless, I need to do more, after straining my mid-back TWICE this past week. Ugh. So there’s been a lot of soul searching re: what do I want to do with my training. And, you know, making my body worth more in the sack. Getting married and all that. Wanting to perform better. Yeah. ‘Nuff said.

Not quite done with the uberlist for 2012. Working on it. Overall, the year was not so bad. I didn’t race, but I did get engaged. And I’m now a certified coach. So, not so bad.

Not yet November here, but it’s been snowing off and on today in DC. Interesting. Let’s hope it’s not a precursor for the rest of the winter season, especially since I drive so much more now.

Spoke with my realtor this afternoon, looking to see where the market is in comparison to my own apartment and mortgage, as at some point I’d like to live with the boy (my cult co-op doesn’t allow dogs, and the beagle is part of the package). He’s going to pull some listings, but it doesn’t sound like I can yet afford to sell. Annoying, but I’ll deal. I had originally planned on the selling being part of a ‘five year plan’ rather than more immediately, so it simply looks like it will remain on the five year plan track. Did also chat about some punch list items that will need to be done in any case, but now I have more time to get them done. Yay economic depression.

The best part about the day after your birthday is that you get to have cake for breakfast.

Went to see the family this past weekend. And I do mean the whole family – it was my one surviving grandmother’s 90th birthday, and most of the cousins and all the aunts & uncles were there. Was good to see people, but getting stuck in traffic set off a lot of resentment I’ve been holding in with regard to dealing with my family. It boils down to the fact that I always go see them, they never come up here to visit. Big huge city full of free museums, great restaurants, and a successful attorney willing to buy a lot of good meals, and my parents have been up exactly once, when I made them come get me and drag me to a triathlon back in 2006. Ugh. So, yeah, I was screaming at traffic and family and generally getting a lot of that out of my system while in the car.

So of course I’m dragging the boy down to meet them this upcoming weekend. Ha. At least, I think I am. We’re making tentative plans to go down and visit the beach, since the parentals make for a convenient free place to stay down near Va Beach. And since I’d like them to meet him, and he couldn’t come down this past weekend (trial by fire, that would’ve been!) because he was up visiting his own family in another long planned trip. Final details to be planned out, but it’s been cleared with the parentals, so it’s more likely than not.

Wrestled with my poor, old, non-working dishwasher for a few hours this weekend. It no longer drains completely, perhaps the result of a blockage somewhere, perhaps a broken valve. I explored as much of the interior systems as I could, easily, but at the end of the weekend it was Dishwasher 3, Moose 0.

I did learn that I have an appliance-screw sized attachment for my electric screwdriver, however, and I also found the troubleshooting sheet that came with the DW. Unfortunately I didn’t discover the attachment until the beginning of round 2 of cleaning, and I have to say, trying to get tiny appliance screws out with pliers is not fun. Removing the baskets to get at and clean various filters went much faster after the discovery. The other discovery, the troubleshooting sheet, was a fluke caused by the poor installation of the DW by the previous owner. The area under my sink has no cabinet walls – evidently they got ripped out to install the DW, so while I was putzing around looking at where hoses went, I was able to look at the chassis on it’s right side. There, stuck into the outside of the DW, was the sheet. Who hides such a thing like that? Nonetheless, it was nice to find as it did help identify more places to check.

It’s still not draining, and I’ve done all I can without disconnecting the power and hauling the unit out from the cabinet. I suspect I’m just going to revert back to my original plan and replace the unit this next year with one that’s more energy efficient.

I did learn a lot about the care and feeding of DWs in this whole process, thus once again living out my father’s definition of maturity: Learning to become an expert at those things you never wanted to learn in the first place.