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

Today… sucked. There’s no two ways about it. It just sucked.

From the moment I walked in the door I was in meetings or running crazy trying to pin things down for the budget office and didn’t get a break until 3:30-ish, at which point I ate a Clif Bar, and then got back to the craziness. Now, understand, I always eat lunch. Without fail. I have never skipped lunch in the three plus years I’ve worked at the Big Government Agency. I missed lunch today. Which sucked. Sucked Elephant Butte (aka a lake full of radioactive waste, as opposed to Elephant Butt, which is merely annoying).

So tonight I chatted online, I drank wine, and I still ate pretty much next to nothing. I couldn’t eat anything, I just wasn’t hungry. Stress + break-up diet (aka more stress) = no eating. Ugh.

Tomorrow better not be as bad. If it is, well, I’ll deal. And I know it’s temporary since we’re just now dealing with this year’s budget, a third of the way through the fiscal year, but it’s still annoying as all hell.

Nothing quite like a false fire alarm at 9:30 p.m. to get the blood flowing. At least, since the last one, they managed to turn the volume up on the alarm (last time I could barely hear the thing in my bedroom – this time it was clear). Got all dressed, but neighbors were coming back up the staircase to let us know it was a false alarm by the time I popped out to say hello to folks. And thankfully it was while I was still awake and not in bed like the last one.

As yet no word on whether we’ll be out or not tomorrow because of the sleet/freezing rain/snow/whatever the heck it’s doing out there now. They let us off early today, something of which I was happy to take advantage. Traffic, even leaving almost an hour after the dismissal, was insane. I was on a bus, but it took us an eternity to get home. Had it not been ugly out I’d have just walked and gotten home faster, but as it was I enjoyed the warm bus far more than I would have enjoyed getting away more quickly.

Been helping an Australian law professor whose acquaintance I’ve made online do some research this afternoon before MG came over. Was fun to do some basic research that was law related, but not work related. Also, the Australia constitution is an odd affair. Not that the US constitution is a perfect work, but there are marked differences between the two documents. Was interesting to compare the two on the subject of (sovereign) immunity.

Got tired of picking up certain chocolate stapes of my diet piecemeal, so ordered a bunch online tonight. Is good to have regular snacks that are also good for you. And storable.

Ran through a bunch of ethics reports at work today. I don’t normally do ethics work, but it’s the sole rating factor for our office, so we’re all pitching in. Thankfully they weren’t onerous, I got a good batch, so all but one are done, out of about two dozen or so. Hopefully tomorrow the Senate will take up and pass their version of the year-long budget bill so we can get our funding by the time it runs out on Thursday under the current structure. I’d also kind of like to get the pay raise I’ve been approved to receive, too, which is dependent on the final appropriation. Wretched congressmonsters, do your freakin’ job.

Leg is still sore, so still no running/biking. This is getting more than a little irritating, especially since I have races in two months. Still have plenty of time to get prepped, but I get irritable when I can’t exercise, so there I am.

Somehow I doubt the huge winter storm they keep predicting is going to actually materialize. We’ll see, but regardless I’ll be at work.

Damned screw top wine. I cut myself opening the bottle tonight. Poor thumb.

The stomach woes continued today, to the point where I’m taking tomorrow off to deal with them at home rather than at the office. Felt like I spent half the day in the bathroom (not quite that bad, but it wasn’t pleasant). Brought some work home, so I won’t be a total slouch, but I hope it’ll be better after tomorrow. And not having to venture out in the snow until evening isn’t a bad thing, either.

Good dinner this evening with Richard and another gay librarian here in town to whom I’d wanted to introduce him. Had fun watching them library-geek out, and they seemed to get along well. A good professional intro for both.

The newbie triathlete program is progressing well. Had our weekly conference call and everything seems to be on schedule. We’re definitely communicating better this year than last year, which helps tremendously. If you’re in DC and want to do a tri, let me know, we’ll be happy to help train ya.

Okay, and no one told me I could stream bossa nova jazz through my WiFi and TiVo, why? So loving this tonight as I clean and straighten and putz. So mellow, so perfect. Love bossa nova.

And now for a not-loving TMI moment:

If I never see another lentil cooked in the middle eastern style again, it will be too soon. All damned day I’ve been farting onions and mujadara spices from last night’s dinner. Ugh.

So anyway, mixed love today. Loving the streaming music, loving the laptop on the couch again. Not loving the cold, not loving the gas. Loving the cleaner apartment, not loving reviewing ethics reports (long story – it’s not even my area of law, but we’ve all been roped into it in our section).

I wish I could figure out for certain what my triggers are for depressive incidents. Injury is certainly one, as is feeling unwell/sick. But one does so tire of dealing with that crap. Nothing like wanting to just sit around and mope for days. And eat. Let’s not forget eating. Which of course adds to the depression, while feeling fat, fat, fat, and unable to control the desire to eat. Being currently at the highest weight I’ve been at in a number of years isn’t helping, either. Ugh. Thankfully the incidents don’t usually last for all that long, but it’d be nice to short-circuit them entirely. Or find a way to let it sweep over me and be done with it.

In happier news, ran into a friend while walking home tonight. She’s (finally) gotten a new job and is now working literally right around the corner from me at another BGA (fellow fed lifer there). Will have to get lunch with her and catch up.

But not any time soon. The CR has heated up, with passage in the House, and with it a lot of demands on my time at work. This has beeen such an unusual year, what with the former Congress totally punting on their one major responsibility in their final year – funding the Federal government’s operations. Unfortunately the Senate’s not going to take up the CR until a week from Tuesday, a little over a week after the next year’s budget request comes out this Monday. What a mess. I’m sure that hasn’t helped much, either.

I’m going to need to ramp up my running, getting up early enough to get in decent miles to build up to the two April races, and ramp down some of the other cross training stuff I’m doing. I don’t have any tris coming up until the fall, so it’s not crucial to maintain the swimming and biking quite as much as the running. The endorphins from running are more helpful, too. Of course, the cold weather out there isn’t much fun, but I’ve got enough clothes to stay warm enough out there. And regular exercise does help the mood. A lot.

The wind is literally howling outside my windows. Every few minutes it picks up and sounds like animals screaming outside. Spooky.

Was a triathlon weekend. The regional meeting for our region of USAT was held on Saturday. They hand out prize money based on the highest attendance, so went to help bolster the club’s chances (we won). Last year we plowed that back into the newbie program, and there’s a good chance it’ll happen this year as well. Yay for that. Then today I edited docs for the program and sent some along to the other leaders. Hopefully we’ll be all set for next Saturday’s info meeting for this year’s program. Also picked up some more winter/cooler weather gear (hooray for sales).

This past week was absolute hell at work. We had drafting assistance requests for hill staffers out the wazoo, and they’re still not done on action to complete our funding. I think the plan is that the House takes it up on Wednesday, then the Senate does next week. Which is a mess because the President’s budget for the following year gets released a week from tomorrow. Oh, and we were still negotiating bits of that as well. Oy! I look forward to the moment when next year’s is out and this year’s finally gets finalized. Of course, then we’ll start the hearings on next year’s but that’ll be a change of pace from where we’ve been.

Made a mess ‘o chili tonight so I have lunches this week. My usual cheap haunt on site has closed down for the next 2.5 months for renovations, and the other places just give you too darned much food, so looks like it’s time to get on the ball and carry stuff in again. Was good chili, so should be great tomorrow.

When I left work today, I felt like someone had taken a large stick and beaten me, repeatedly.

To say that we were busy today would be an understatement. I don’t know that I’ve ever been this involved with the process, and trying to set up both the 07 budget (with the Hill, and internally), and also negotiate stuff for the 08 budget (with the OMB) is not a wrestling match I’d recommend to anyone. Heck. On. Earth.

Thankfully I had workout gear, so went for a nice weight workout (first one in ages, grr). Felt much better afterward, while taking a lot of time to zone out, zen out, and just generally release the cares of the day. Definitely a big help then. Then out to dinner with a friend and into the Metro to come home. Spotted a fellow cult member and caught him up on the latest cult gossip from Monday’s meeting.

Praying tomorrow isn’t anywhere near as bad as today was. I’ve got calls to make to some other offices to answer some questions we’ve been asked, but it shouldn’t be quite so bad. I hope.

Up early this morning to run and get to work early for a meeting (I was in the office at 8:30, which is unheard of for me). Forgot, as usual, to body glide my thighs before the run; I always seem to remember that about 5-6 minutes into a run… Anyway, was irritating, but not fatal to the run. Did discover that my usual running path is very well lit, even before the sun comes up.

Inside scoop on the budget is that we should have our full-year CR the last week or January, or by February 1st. Which is good, since the executive budget proposal comes out on February 5th.

Swam after work. Also expressed a bit of irritation with some of the leadership of my tri club. I volunteered with our new triathlete program this past year, was in fact one of the co-leaders. Had attempted to get in touch with the other co-leaders in early December, was not quite blown off, and now suddenly a couple dates have been set for things for this year already, without any attempt to involve me. I let them know I was disappointed. I’m still going to help out, and hopefully I’ll still be a co-leader this year as I really do believe in the program, but was not pleased at how that was handled.

That said, if you’re in the DC area and you want to try your hand at triathlons, drop me a note.

Nice dinner just up the street tonight with MG. He’s currently off at the grocery store picking up snack stuffs. I’m trying to cool the apartment down – it’s in the low-to-mid-60s outside, but in the middle 70s in here. Too. Freakin’. Hot. This is supposed to be January, not April, ferheavenssake. At least it’ll be nice to get out on the bike tomorrow morning.

Not quite done with the Uberlist for this year, have about a third of the way to go yet, but have ideas to go do file. This weekend I should be able to post it, I hope.

I alternate between really bored and really excited about projects at work. There are two long-term things on the desk that I absolutely dread working on because they’re just terribly dull, complicated, and seemingly never-ending. Then there are some more fun projects that I keep trying to get to, that are equally important as the other two dull ones, but which never seem to be able to come to the top of the stack, despite ongoing talks with various folks about the status thereof. I need to just knuckle down and kill off the dreaded tasks, but they always manage to sap my will to live.

And they wonder why I don’t want to be a manager.

Did finally manage to motivate myself to hit the grocery store and pick up a few foodstuffs on the way home. Had meant to yesterday, but came directly home, had something simple from the cupboard, and crashed semi-early after doing a couple of things around the house. Slept really, really well, and really, really late (for me), but needed the catch-up from the weekend and the return to work.

Haven’t touched the uberlist yet for this upcoming year. I’ve thought about it some, but not put thought to file just yet. Soon. Oh, and I’m debating a change in my normal new year’s day routine. Normally I go on a run, commemorating my return to running from 2000 after having mono. Just me, no electronic devices, no watch, nada. Just a run. But this year my club is having a ride that morning at 10, and I think I want to go do that. I joined the club so I’d have folks to train with, and part of moving down to Southwest was to get over to Hains Point and practice with them, but I’ve not really taken advantage of the proximity like I had intended to, so I’m thinking it’s time to get out and practice with them. Still could run, but I suspect a slightly more social beginning to the year should be in order.