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

Brr! It got cold again for this morning’s ride. Claimed it had dropped to 43 when I got home. Yuck. But, the cherry blossoms are just coming out, and are gorgeous. Also, saw a fox on the Potomac side of the Point. Big sucker, too. Very red, huge tail. Bet he loves the golfers.

Finally ordered myself a digital camera that arrived today. I’ve had a hand-me down one for a few years, but it’s been dropping pixels, so it was time to upgrade. Got one that’s relatively hardy, water and shock proof so I can drag it out biking. Still learning how to get it to work, of course, but so far so good. Need more memory for it so I can take more than 10 pics at the high resolution, but I have time for that. Looking forward to snapping photos.

Work’s starting to pick up some more of late, but so far I’m staying afloat. Several small things have popped up and I’m hoping those will get resolved in short order so I can get back to some larger projects, but one never knows at the BGA.

Managed to get up for the club bike ride again this morning, despite being up a touch too late the night before, and having a wee bit to drink while out with friends. The ride went well, despite being a tad cooler than Tuesday, and definitely more windy. The wind was coming up river, so each time we crossed down toward the Awakening it was like hitting a wall of wind when we came out of the trees down near the parking lot.

Long day today. Did finish up, I hope, a project which has been haunting us for several months now. Now I can move on to several other projects that have been on the back burner for far too long. At least they’re interesting ones that I feel like I can dig my legal teeth into. Payment for services we provide to the public (and the rates therefor), and the funds we receive for work we do for other federal and state entities and how that’s accounted for. We suspect some of our field offices have been playing fast and loose, so my accounting folks and I are digging down into the authorities there.

Boring to some (most), stock in trade for me.

Crashing early here tonight, up tomorrow for a run. Still on track for the races coming up, but watching it to make sure I’m careful about injuries. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Spent a good chunck of this morning with a splitting headache, both from physical sources (lack of sleep, the sore), and work itself (another Big Government Agency is proposing something that I can’t find any legal basis for doing). An overly heavy lunch and some advil helped somewhat, but not completely. Was very happy to leave, though it was a tad late.

The newbie program proceeds apace. Having a weekly conference call is helping tremendously this year to keep us focused and going (and to spread the work). I think we’re doing much better than last year at this.

I rearranged the living room furniture in anticipation of the new couch. Yeah, I have several weeks yet, but I wanted to experiment before the thing was actually here. I’m not entirely convinced this set up works, but we’ll see. The books from the one bookshelf are still all over the floor, so it’s hard to tell how it’ll look when it’s all together.

It’s March, so no more snow effect on the glen. Perhaps wishful thinking, but I’m downright tired of the stuff now.

None of the days these past two weeks were as bad as last Thursday, but they were pretty darned busy. Today was the epitome of it all, with several meetings with folks, the outcomes of which were almost pre-ordained, and all of which required I wear a suit, so suited I went. It always gets comments, since most days: a) I don’t wear a white shirt (white drains me of what little color I have); and b) I don’t wear a tie or jacket. I look good in the suit, and occasionally I toy with the idea of jazzing up the wardrobe with a couple more, but the idea of wearing one to work, or of dragging it to work on the bicycle in warmer weather, is not exactly appealing.

Running’s almost back on track and it appears I’m actually going to be able to run the Cherry Blossom on the way to the half-marathon I have in mid-April. (*knock wood*) Do need to creep back into the gym for some stablization, but the running’s going okay. When I have run, it’s certainly been a good sleep aid. It’s only a little after 8 as I write this and I feel like I could crash right now.

The newbie triathletes get started tomorrow with a meeting and a short run. Looking forward to this year’s program, if we can just tamp down the “and you need to do this, and this, and…” nature of one of last year’s leaders. I appreciate the help, but chill! We can do this, trust us.

Attracted some sort of bizarre anonymous stalker over at LJ on my last post there. Left the comment there for the heck of it, though did freeze the thread for posterity. It and another comment on someone else’s LJ (since screened) were directed at comments I made about not revealing which Big Government Agency (BGA) I work for in my writings online. I discuss work only in the most oblique manner, and it’s not like folks couldn’t find out where I work if they tried, but I prefer not to let my BGA be searchable through my writings, since there are folks who go out and look for news about the BGA (any BGA does, actually), and I’d rather not compromise my employment.

And as to the offer of sexual aid in the comment, don’t do me any favors.

Full triathlon weekend, after the newbie meeting tomorrow, we have the club’s postponed annual meeting on Sunday, plus my long run for the week, 8 miles or so. Will be cool again in the morning, so out come the tights once more (this morning was in shorts and a long-sleeve T, and that was a bit warm at the end).

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.