Dear weather, it’s April, I shouldn’t need to turn my heat on. Stop it.
Dear sinuses, I don’t have time for a cold. Stop it.
Dear allergy meds, you’re not supposed to fail me in the middle of allergy season. Stop it.
Dear work, I don’t have time to get to all the things you keep throwing my way. Stop it.
Dear upcoming race, I’m not ready for you and you’re approaching too quickly. Stop it.
Dear life in general, the whole minor annoyances thing? It’s not working for me. Stop it.
Had an impromptu hill workout on a run this evening since the wind was coming in steady, fast, and directly in my face for half the run. Even lost my visor at one point to a good gust. But it was still a good run, and I’m glad I skipped the swim this evening to do it. I think I’m going to be able to build up to Columbia by the time it rolls around, which is a good thing.
Work was nuts again, though we did get a chance to be helpful on something late this afternoon that’ll have a big impact on our stimulus spending next week. Not that the head of the BGA will appreciate it, but it’s there. At least the initial screwup wasn’t ours.
I was released from some of my previously planned volunteer activities this weekend, so am heading out tonight and may do so again tomorrow, depending on folks’ other plans. That and I must go clothes shopping, since last weekend didn’t pan out. In the meantime, though, it’s time to get out of the house.
How bad is it when you’re grooving out to the jazz in your taxi, headed home from another night of confusing bar boy bingo, and realize that the song is “Someday My Prince Will Come”? Miles Davis, so it was good jazz, but it was surprising to hear that particular tune at that particular time.
Good run today, following on the nice bike ride yesterday. Need the rain that’s coming in Tuesday to wash away all the road chemicals from last week’s snow storm, but the warmer temps are definitely a plus. Still have to haul out cold weather gear to ride or run in the mornings once my body adjusts to the time change, but it felt good to have a good, warm day again.
The snow was a huge disappointment; DC has even canceled the declared snow emergency. Drat. Going to be nasty icy out tomorrow, though.
Finished another baby sock tonight, this one from Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways for Sock Knitters:
Same yarn as the last baby sock, but a different method this time – two circulars instead of double pointed needles. I’ll actually do a mate to this one for practice next, and then try the toe-up ones next. I even took some measurements of my foot for some Moose-sized socks after that.
The two circulars method of knitting them was much more pleasant than using double pointed needles. Nothing was in danger of falling off the needles as I moved the piece around, and seeing the whole thing flexibly in the round was much nicer. I look forward to trying this with toe-up socks and being able to try the things on while knitting them up. Also, Judy’s Magic Cast-on? Once you get the hang of it, pretty darned cool.
Because it’s positively gorgeous outside here in DC (officially it’s 67 – my balcony temp gauge says 72), I went for a run. Outside. Figured if I ended up having to walk, at least I wouldn’t freeze out there.
It went okay. Heart rate was okay until about 1/2 way in, then it was up and wanted to stay there. Ran the entire thing, slowly, save for a period right at the end when I had to walk to bring my heart rate down to a reasonable level. I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow (yay delayed onset soreness), but at the moment the light muscular soreness feels like heaven. Foot’s doing okay, and I made sure to take the yoga strap and stretch it thoroughly at the end of my stretching routine (which, courtesy the pilates/core class I took last week, now includes a lovely deep stretch for the IT band as well). So far so good. Again, will sleep in the brace as a just in case, but this is definitely heartening.
It was so nice to be able to run outside, too. I really do dislike treadmills. Did do one thing which was not normal for me – I took the new shuffle out for a spin and ran with music on (though turned down fairly low). It wasn’t bad, but I did find that my brain tended to disengage more than I’m used to doing on a run. Running was active meditation time for me, letting my mind wander as it would. Mainly I got the shuffle for use in the gym, and when I have to run on a treadmill, and I think perhaps that’s where it needs to stay. I’ll need to create a more customized playlist, too – while I had it load the thing with 4 & 5 star rated songs, I need to be pickier about putting on more up-tempo stuff if it’s going to be on while exercising.
Got the boys on their way just now. A quick, but fun visit with them.
When they were on their way here yesterday I asked Kelrick which cuisine he’d like, and got back an enthusiastic “Indian!” in response. Dragged them up to Adams Morgan and one of my favorite restaurants, Jyoti, where we all managed to quickly inhale a good appetizer sampler and the three dishes we ordered. Kel couldn’t stop raving about how much he loved the food – seems it’s difficult a) to find good Indian food in Houston and b) to get suthunuhs to go eat it when you can find it. So that was a lot of fun.
Next we wandered through Dupont and past the 17th St strip to Halo where we were confronted with the frou-frou drink menu from heck, compounded by the bar tender from heck (there was a modicum of attitude there, which his cheekbones, while impressive, did not warrant). Kenny and I ended up getting the blueberry lemonade, which was something of a production (they crush the lemon and blueberries in the glass in front of you), but which was very tasty and sweet. Kel had a blueberry vodka and 7. Thankfully for all involved there was couch space, which we grabbed, and as the alcohol took hold we slowly started commenting to each other on the crowd (I so love being gay just for that little bit of gay cattiness among friends). Brian and Fredo showed up after a bit, with a couple friends, and a little more talking was done, but the three of us were starting to feel a bit worn out by that point, so we got our 2-4-1 special refills and once those were done relinquished the couch to the other boys and caught a cab back to my place.
The plan this morning was for a 5:30 wake up, but a car alarm at quarter to 5 killed that, and when they heard me wander up to the bathroom shortly thereafter they went ahead and started breaking down the spare bed. Got ’em set in the moving van, and they’re off. I’m debating going back to bed, but it’s so warm outside that the apartment is a bit uncomfortable for sleep (and the downstairs neighbor must have been smoking cigarettes – had to light a candle in the bedroom this morning to try and kill the odor; yuck, but at least it wasn’t pot). Cooling the place down first with some cracked windows, then we’ll see about more sleep.
Ah, the day of the annual physical. Such fun.
First, though, the dermatologist looked me over and said he saw no signs of melanoma. Yay. But because my brother’s had one, yearly visits from here on out to get checked. Boo. Pet peeve: Once again, Dr. Hyper, while thorough, was not in the room for very long, and while there was not quite bouncing off the walls. I think he needs to switch to decaf.
On the actual physical, everything looked and tested out normal (as expected). 105/70 BP, no immediately glaring abnormalities on the EKG (which was new this year – baseline test this time), heart rate’s still low despite the lack of regular exercise, and everything else he prodded and poked seemed satisfactory.
While out & about I popped into the jeweler where I got the necklace that matches my steel ring, as the necklace itself had come out of the clasp (the rubber was pulling away). They didn’t have them in stock, so it’s been ordered in, but they did have the matching watch, so I was bad and got it. Looks quite nice, though I think is more “jewelry” and less “actual timepiece” as the face/hands are small. Like I check a watch more than I check my cell phone, anyway.
Dismal, grey, rainy day here in DC. The rain held off until after the appointments, but has been going on and off since. I came home to nap and catch up on some other things (not work, unfortunately, but I’ll skim that after dinner). Headed out again to catch up with a friend for dinner here in a bit, then it’s back out of that mess for me.
Arrived at SFO with no hiccups. We did have one weird wing dip & over-correction coming in over the Bay, but otherwise the flight was quite nice. Got an exit row seat on the aisle, and managed to get 2/3 of the way through another hat (navy this time) before we touched down.
It’s somewhere in the low 90s here in Oakland where I’m staying with Dean, which actually means it’s warmer here than it has been in DC for pretty much the entire month of August. Hanging out shirtless on the deck has been nice, as was the much-needed post-lunch nap.
We’re debating options for this evening, but I expect to see my friend Mark tomorrow for breakfast, then catch Ray to hang out some as well. Rice is out of town, but there are certain other people whom I shall have to take more aggressive measures to bug soon if I’m to catch them. Not to mention someone else who is here visiting. And of course my lone family member who’s on this side of the planet. I think a good night out at a bar or two tomorrow is in order!
Chatted briefly with my parents. I forgot to tell them I was going out of town. Whoops. Was fun to chat with them about the job search stuff and catch them up on how that’s going.
Until then, we’re going to hunt down some food, and perhaps a bar later this evening.
Windy morning for a bike ride. Lots of clouds, definitely needed the lights on the front & back of the bike to keep myself visible (you’d think the big red, white & blue jersey would do it, but no…). The wind was actually a nice challenge – enough of a tail wind on the one side to help a bit, and enough of a head wind on the other to challenge me to keep my cadence up and moving forward. I think it was a NE wind, so it was never directly in my face or behind me, but just enough to make the ride more challenging than normal. Got up to 26.8 mph (compared with a high of 23 mph Sunday), so the tailwind was definitely a factor.
Otherwise this morning was scrambled. I forgot to turn on the hot water for coffee, and didn’t get ready in time to prep the veggie chili fixin’s and get them into the crock pot, so it looks like I’ll be making it the old fashioned way over the stove this evening.
Hauled the shuffle out, got it all charged, then promptly left it at home this morning. Whoops. Watching the other guys working out proved to be a bit more entertaining today, anyway. While there were two guys in the weight room on Tuesday (one of whom was the other’s trainer), today had half a dozen other folks, making it fairly crowded, but not so bad that I couldn’t find space for lunges and push ups. Upped the weight and reps slightly today, as Tuesday was purposefully light. Still not too difficult, which is the point of this stage.
I had forgotten how often one ends up having to wash a load of cold wash clothes once real training begins (not to mention biking to work again, which I started back with last week). Doing that tonight, then some reading, then bed. Was up far too late last night with Halo 3 (addicting, even when I die, over and over and over and over and over), so I need rest before the next run in the morning. Skipped biking this morning because of the storm last night (didn’t want to risk all the limbs I knew would be down on the road this morning).
We actually lost a chunk of our fence here at the cult co-op when two big limbs came off one of our larger trees. Thankfully no one’s house or car was hit, just the brick wall.