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

Since we got funded through mid-December it’s been relatively quiet at work (and I sincerely hope I didn’t just jinx it). Random little questions, just enough that I haven’t been able to dig into any long-term projects as yet.

Did manage to finish two books on the commutes today – Strong Ground by Brene Brown and some forgettable fantasy/sci-fi thing that was on Kindle Unlimited. Enjoyed Strong Ground a lot, but that’s not surprising since I’ve enjoyed/found useful her other books. Debating the next ‘serious’ read for the morning. I’ve been reading non-fiction on the commute in to work, and something that requires less brain power on the ride home, which has worked pretty well. I have quite a queue of books, including some started but not yet finished, so I’m going to try and get through those first.

Waiting for the husband to land at National in about an hour, then I’ll grab him from the local Metro. I picked up this week’s comics for him, and thankfully it was a light week, so it wasn’t hella expensive. Catching some Netflix before I have to go get him, and cleaning up some digital properties. I think I’m going to have to switch a bunch of accounts off of one of my email addresses because the local ISP looks like it’s going to be shutting down in the next couple of years. They sent an email saying they’d sold one of their domains; not the one my email is on, but adjacent to it. So, time to switch stuff over.

Took about a week off to work on my calves and otherwise let myself rest. I’m intrigued that while my calves were cooked from the start of running, my quads have been fine. I’m chalking it up to a combination of paying more attention to my form, and 9 months of strength training. Before this, the spot on the quads right above and to the outside of the knee (the head of the rectus femoris muscle) would always work itself into a knot that was a bear to untangle. But I’ve heard not a whisper out of it of late. And I’ll take that, even as I spew out a steady stream of curses whenever I work on the sore calves.

Work is work. As I called right after the Mad King’s UN speech, he’s issued an executive order this evening directing agencies to switch from calling it “artificial intelligence” to “super intelligence”. Po-tay-to, to-mah-to. While I’m not a fan of the super left-wing of the opposition party I do hope they wipe his party out in this fall’s election.

The husband’s birthday weekend went well. We attended Baltimore Comic Con on Saturday, ate at his favorite pizza place afterwards. Sunday was Avengers Endgame on the big screen, which was even more fun because the two of us and a friend were the only three people in the theater, so we could point things out without disturbing anyone else. The pinnacle was of course getting the new Lego Enterprise bridge set that came out earlier in the month, though the flat (no rim) serving plate that he’s been asking for for years was a close second (it’s useful if you want to decorate or cut something like a cake without hitting the rim). Oh, and I tried some non-alcoholic beer Sunday night, which I quite enjoyed as a nice option, with no hangover after.

My own birthday this weekend will be quiet because I’m kicking him out for an out-of-town work conference (for him) starting Saturday. LOL And no shut down this time, which is a pleasant surprise.

Metro extended the track work they were doing this weekend into today, meaning I got to take the long way around to get to work. I don’t subscribe to any alerts, so it was a surprise when I got to the station this morning. Just took it as more time to read my book.

It might extend into tomorrow, and Wednesday they’re single tracking part of the way, so I’m just planning on longer commutes.

The husband and I met up on Metro on the way home, mostly avoiding the rain. Got him home in time to grab some packages he needed to send out from UPS and FedEx, got those dropped off at their respective outlets, and then to Mod Pizza for dinner. That was fun – I’ve ordered delivery from them many times (they have vegan cheese), but never eaten in the actual restaurant. Was a pleasant change getting the pizza right out of the oven.

Over dinner I started a discussion with the husband about what retirement for me in three years might look like. I’d be open to moving for his work, so I planted that seed with him. All depends on finances, of course, but if we’re no longer tied to DC for my job, why not? Also had him think about that that might look like in eight years versus three. Or perhaps somewhere in between.

I know the husband must be exhausted from his latest work trip because it’s 10am and he’s still asleep. Didn’t help that his plan landed at 2am, and he seems to have a garden variety head cold on top of it. So I quietly got up, set the thermostat at sleep temps for a couple more hours, and decamped to the main floor for my morning coffee and what not. Normally I’d be in my office, but that’s across the hall from the owners’ suite, so the cats and I are lounging downstairs instead.

He missed all of the fun with the wildfire smoke from our Canadian friends this past week. That was wild, orangey light filtering into the windows all day. Glad it was temporary, and here’s hoping they get them under control soon for their own sakes.

Did start playing Diablo IV. I’ve played every game in that series (even tried the mobile one, though it’s not my jam), and this one is just as addicting. I thought the other players bipping about would be distracting, but for the most part you don’t really interact with them. I was surprised to see that since the game is “always online” they now tie the game to your Blizzard account, regardless of platform, so your characters show up on whatever machine you’re playing on. This is a big change from Diablo III, where each platform would have an entirely separate game. One of my nieces picked up D4 as well, so I suspect we’ll be playing together on that soon.

Part of the strangeness of having the husband asleep upstairs is that he’s always the first to bed and the first to rise, often hours before I do. Mornings are his quiet time in the house, and one of the reasons we have the Roku with the remote that lets you plug in headphones, if he wants to watch something (which he usually does; he’s much more a TV/movies person than I am).

Hunkered down here in suburban MD as we await freezing temperatures to fly through over the course of the morning and afternoon. Managed to sneak off yesterday afternoon to fill up the car, pick up the last little thing I’d gotten the husband for Xmas, and hit the grocery store to get most of what we needed for the weekend and Xmas day, before today when it’s supposed to get icy (and just maybe a hint of snow in the afternoon), and this weekend when it’s supposed to stay in the 20s and below. Still will need to walk over to the local organic market for some bits and bobs, but don’t need to drive any more, which was what I was going for.

Things have been going okay here. The husband had two work trips, to New Orleans and then to New Zealand. He had fun jumping off things in Auckland (bungie jumping off a bridge, leaping off a building), and generally enjoyed everything other than long the plane ride. He’s still not completely back on east coast time, but he’s getting there. It was odd having him gone for almost two weeks; I think that might be one of the longest times we’ve spent apart since we got married.

Two more sleeps until Xmas. No family around this year because of leave situations (on their end), so it’s just the two of us. Trying to figure out what the husband should bake, and I’m leaning toward a gingerbread bundt cake. We’ll see how he feels about it when he gets up. Melting potatoes are definitely in the plan, and probably some zucchini in the air fryer, plus whatever veggies look tasty over at the organic market.

The cats have gotten incredibly spoiled by new heated cats beds we got them. And much like Susan’s experience, they love the smaller ones (even though Benjamin spills out of it), and won’t use the larger one. And they won’t use each other’s – I tried to move them around when we got the big one, and Ezri took one whiff of the one B had been sleeping in, hissed, and ran away. Ah well. But they definitely appreciate the heat, and it makes it easier for me to find them when I’m looking. I also don’t feel as guilty keeping the thermostat set lower.

Slowly closing out of triathlon related things. My membership in USAT won’t end for another two years, but I’m going to let the local DC Tri Club membership lapse next month. I joined that back in 2004, and it was a great experience, especially coaching the new triathletes, but I haven’t raced in over a decade, I have no plans to race in the near future, and I don’t do anything with the club, so it’s time to say farewell. Adjusted a bunch of social media sites to unfollow the club and triathlon related things, which then lead down a rabbit hole of unfollowing other stuff to trim down the time sucks and give the various companies headaches in trying to figure out what ads to serve me.

Hoping Congress hurries up and finishes up work on the latest mega-bill to fund the government so I can dig into that for work. I have some projects I want to do there that will involve spending some time now to make my life, and the lives of many fellow money law practitioners, easier going forward. Plus I’d also like to take the half day our head of agency gave us off today, but that won’t happen until I know we don’t have to shut down at midnight. At this point in my career I just sort of sigh, shake my head, and move along with my job, as Congress is stuck in this pattern now and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, so I just roll with it.

Literally. The husband took off for the day to hang out with friends, and had made some noises about how “crowded” he felt the main level was getting, so I dug into a few things down there to straighten them up before he had a chance to put things “away” in places I’d never find them later.

Then I culled T-shirts and other clothes in our dressers. Removed each drawer and tightened the screws on the rails. Moved on to my office, tossing papers that we no longer need, like old bills that we needed to prove residency when we first moved in, and filing away tax stuff. Found the cats’ file just in time for their next vet appointment in two weeks. Between the stuff I couldn’t donate from the bedroom, and the papers from the office I filled a small garbage bag.

Did other things in between, like eat, and do my daily run at Animal Crossing, but mostly I’ve been organizing and cleaning all day. The dust hasn’t been fun, but making sure the drawers in the bedroom can open without jamming, either from being overstuffed with clothes or loose rails, was worth it.

Other than that life has been busy at work for both of us. After two days of gross we’ve both recovered well from the vaccinations, though I still have a fairly prominent red spot from the monkeypox shot. The husband got a new tattoo from an old tattooer. We discovered the guy who did most of his left arm has a studio within walking distance of our townhouse. I’ve given him an idea for another one for myself as well, and we’ll see what he comes back with, design-wise.

Life can be such an interesting experiment. After putting off seeing a specialist for ages, I finally got tired of a consistent belching that I had going on. Turns out the reflux that my mother and her father have/had was passed to me. Yay! Long story short the excess acid production was/is causing me to swallow too much air, so that’s what was/is causing the belching.

Had samples of a prescription drug, got it under control, then the samples ran out. Tried the over the counter (OTC) version, which didn’t give the same results (the samples I had were a newer form of the drug, and 4x as high a dose as the OTC stuff). So, saw the doc for a follow up today, got a prescription for the fancier stuff, and now we start the food experimentation portion of the treatment. I already know that coffee sets it off, so I gave that up a couple of weeks ago (the boy’s expression wasn’t quite one of horror when I told him I’d been off coffee for two days when I first started, but it was close – I had trained him well that coffee was the first thing I needed in the morning). Tea eased the withdrawal, but I’m mostly off that now, too. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been caffeine free – did that once before from ’00-’01, but then we had that little airplane event in the fall and I went back to regular coffee drinking.

I already know that pizza is out, as is falafel, sodas, and beer. Spicy foods seem to be a no-no as well. But the experiment will continue as I figure out what does and doesn’t work. It’s a fun process, actually, and I get to eat a lot of different things as I figure this out.

In other catching up, the anniversary trip to the shore with the boy went well. Didn’t get burned at the shore, had a good time relaxing and reading, and just catching up with each other outside the norm. We walked all over the place, which upped the numbers for both of us on the step count on our vivofits. I think it’s been fun to have those together and to have something of a competition going with them. He wins outright on pure walking, but I tend to go over when you factor in my running. And we both beat his sister regularly (got her one for xmas), which is what really counts.

I’m training now for the marine corps marathon this fall. I got in last year, developed runner’s knee, and postponed the race to this year. While not quite where I’d have liked to be in terms of a base, the training is going well. Related to that, I’m going to take a break from the tri club. There’s been a bit of drama with regard to the newbie program I’ve help run for the last decade, and I’m just not willing to put up with it at this point. I’ve never been one that enjoyed training with a large group (I like the meditative aspects of training), and I’m not really drinking at all (see the reflux discussion above) so I don’t get out and see club folks very often, and I think the club has just moved on, as have I. I’ll maintain my membership, but I don’t see myself doing a lot with them in the immediate future.

Doing laundry is so much easier when the load is cut in half. Without the boy here there was a decided lack of stuff to clean, nonetheless, it’s done.

Today at work was a full day of “I can and should pass this work along to someone else and they can do it because I’m a manager now and that’s what I’m supposed to be doing.” And then there was the flip side of that, actually reviewing their work, giving feedback, and passing things back up and down the chain. And a lot of cleaning out old emails, mostly in the “this has been taken care of but I forgot to file it away” category. I am still somewhat annoyed that there isn’t more training for managers, or at the least some good recommendations for things to read. And not just the latest trendy bestseller but things that might actually be useful. I got the basic stuff, and there are classes about particular processes, but less than would be satisfying. So I stumble through, hopefully doing more good than not. Yay management.

Missing the boy muchly. We talk nightly, but it’s not the same as having him here.

As I approach nine months of married life, I find it treats me well. We’re mostly into our routines of living together, with the occasional bump, but for the most part we’re handling living together in a far-too-small-for-two-people-with-all-the-stuff-we-both-have apartment pretty well. Having an external storage unit has helped somewhat with the level of stuff, but there are still regular discussions about how much more we could do with, say, the kitchen if we had a larger place.

Tri training hasn’t been my largest priority, though I am starting to settle back into a routine, with two races scheduled for this summer. I do need to figure out a strength training routine, which isn’t new, but given that I’m starting over with an extra (far too many) pounds, and I’m over 40, I need the extra support and strength that a strength routine would add. It’s more a matter of finding the time to fit it into my daily/weekly routine so that I’ll do it than it is a matter of knowing what I need to do – I know how to train, it’s getting myself motivated to actually do it that’s the difficult part.

Let’s see, what else? The kittens we adopted last summer (Benjamin and Ezri) are doing well. They’re just about a year old this month and next. They’re definitely more attached to me than to the boy, much to the boy’s annoyance, since he was the one who wanted to adopt them. They tolerate him if I’m not in, but they glom onto me if I’m home. I’m the one they like to sleep on, both at night and when sitting still. They’ve grown up nicely, not as large as my previous cats (Boris and Natasha – they were HUGE for house cats), but nice and healthy. It’s been nice having cats again, and I’m glad the cult co-op changed the rules last year to allow them in legally.

Work’s okay. Settling into being a supervisor, still trying to get a handle on the new areas of law I’m in charge of now. I’m finally booked for the mandatory training they require of new supervisors, which will be mostly a repeat of training I took three years ago, but hey, the rules are the rules, and I’d prefer not to get dinged for not doing something so simple. If only learning the new legal areas were as easy. The personalities are relatively easy to deal with, I like all the folks on my team and they do good work, which helps a lot.

So, yeah, not bad for now, and drama free life doesn’t make for the best writing, hence my quiet of late on here.

I’m flattered by the number of friends who think I run fast enough to qualify for the Boston marathon. Not even close here, but I appreciate the sentiment. I’m safe, trust me.

That said, the boy’s sister was running it for charity. His family lives in the greater Boston area, and his parents were expected to be at the VIP seating near the second bomb. Thankfully they stopped, earlier, at another spot on the route where they found a better view, so none of them was hurt. My future sister-in-law was still out on the route, and got pulled before she could finish, based on the security concerns.

My first thoughts, after comforting the boy, was how we’d need to marry early, to make it official, so we could take care of his (soon ‘our’) niece. And while I’m happy we don’t have to do the legal shit earlier than the ceremony in late May, it was still scary as all hell to contemplate that his ENTIRE family would be out at something and be killed. Given his sister’s wishes we’d still have gotten his niece to raise, but the lack of legal protections scares this lawyer.

Also annoying is our utter inability to help with blood donations. Despite having a safe profile, despite testing consistently negative for communicable diseases, I can’t donate, because I’ve “had sex with another man since” the year I turned 5. Not before I was legal, but, y’know, the FDA rules don’t make rational sense, they just fuel prejudice rather than public health purposes. So, yeah, I’m gonna make this political; fuck you, FDA, and your stupid rules, and how dare you prevent me from helping my fellow citizens when they need it.