I managed to ignore the news all day yesterday. The husband was not as disciplined, and shared results just before we went to bed last night, likely contributing to my restless sleep. Now we'll see if the Democrats can keep it in their noggins that this was not so much an endorsement of their crazier policies, but rather a repudiation of the Mad King's ... everything, very much including his useless enablers in the Congress. Wasn't there supposedly a position in ancient Rome that would whisper to rulers, "Remember, thou art mortal"? We need to bring that back, or make it a job requirement for political consultants.

Our local Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) really missed out on a money-making opportunity by not standing outside the polls and selling sweets and drinks (coffee/soda). The lines were not long when I went around lunchtime, but there was plenty of opportunity to sell me something (and I even brought cash, just in case!). The husband said the same thing about his experience in the 7-8am window when he walked over before work. The volunteers also lamented the lack of snack opportunities. Oh well.

I got in another run mid-morning. Knee is still working as it should. Muscles are doing okay - a little tightness in the calf on one walking break, but nothing last night or this morning. The cardiovascular engine is still way behind, which is to be expected, and is a little frustrating. But I did remind myself when I was almost done with the run and I was feeling down about that aspect that I'm still less than a year and a half our of knee surgery, I'm stronger than I've been in decades (thank you, strength and conditioning program), and I'm running. So even if I'm not where I'd like to be, I'm kicking ass.

Today's plan is a long overdue veterinary appointment for the beasts, and going back to ignoring most of the news.

As he likes to do, the husband wanted to escape to the movies this afternoon, so we went to see Digger. I really enjoyed it, I don't want to spoil anything about it yet, but I will note that I particularly enjoyed how any scene with a politician in it was completely washed out, color-wise - pale, drab, dull. Thought that was a fun note.

Grocery shopping afterwards, which was good for him to pick up some stuff for work. I normally do the shopping solo, so he doesn't get to grab stuff he needs unless he specifically asks me to get it.

Wet day today as the remnants of the hurricane work through the area. Living room is a tad warm without the AC running, but I'm not about to let all the humidity in. Just running fans in the meantime, and waiting for the HVAC appointment, which is now confirmed for first thing tomorrow morning.

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.

Friday, while still full in my rundown at work feels, I wandered into my supervisor's office after lunch and asked if he minded if I went home early, "because I really just don't want to be here." Heh. He understood, we chatted a little about the current craziness, and I took off for home. Laid on the couch for a bit with cats (the husband was working from home, but between his regular job and his various side teaching and writing gigs he's swamped at the moment), and generally just vegged for a bit.

Saturday we had plans - the city had one of their occasional bulk trash drop off days that we wanted to take advantage of. Hauled out a ton of old, broken deck furniture, as well as our old bed frame (finally!) and a bunch of paint. Felt very cathartic to get rid of it all. The top deck is now half furnished (an outdoor couch, two chairs, and a coffee table over a rug), but in better stuff that we're taking better care of (it's all covered when we're not using it). Took our friend who helped us haul the stuff to lunch, then the three of us walked over to an arts festival just south of where we live. It was a lot larger than what we were expecting, which was a pleasant surprise. It was also populated with local folks, so not just the same vendors you see every week at the permanent weekend markets in DC. Picked up a drop bowl for the husband, for keys and what not for his dresser, and just enjoyed running into neighbors.

This morning I met up with the local running group, in the same general area as the arts festival. Before we ran they asked us to introduce ourselves and what we were looking forward to later in the day. Favorite answer was the poor parent saying they were going to go home and watch K-Pop Demon Hunters with their small children, as they had been doing since the movie came out. Heh. I said I was looking forward to my knitting group, which led another guy to come up afterwards and give me his email so I can have the other organizer add him to our group. Sweet. The run was a little shorter for me than I have been doing (2.27mi), but given all the rain we got this morning (so. much. rain.) that was fine. Got cleaned up, bought some vegetables for the week, then off to knitting where I made some progress on a scarf for the husband that I had put down several months ago. Back home to make fried rice, start watching Monarch with the husband (I'm intrigued after the first episode), clean up the kitchen, and shortly to crash.

No word back from the financial advisors yet, but it's also the middle of several jewish holidays so I expect they're busy and I'll hear back after those wind down. Which is just fine.

Sharing some photos of the finished dancing droplets scarf in color way Gloria (as opposed to the previous one in color way Sunfish).

A little further, and a little more consistent on the one minute on, one minute off. 1.3 miles was a natural turn around unless I wanted to wait for a crossing light and run across and intersection for a hot minute before turning around at 1.5 miles. Still feeling okay, knee is still good.

Knitted a lot this afternoon. Getting down to the last few repeats on the dancing droplets scarf, but took a break with the husband for dinner and catching up on yesterday's Lanterns. Still kind of annoyed at the changes hey've made to the personalities of Hal and John in the show. I get that it's a new story, new universe, but the personalities are just grating. And just when you think they might be likable, they go and do something irritating.

I managed two miles today, mostly one minute running, one walking. Out to the trolley trail that runs on the far eastern side of our development, down to the local courthouse, and back again. A route chosen because it would be easy to bail and walk home if anything happened. Nothing did, I just ran (and walked). Hal-le-lu-jah.

Now I want to build up to 3 miles, and then up the running time to make that whole. Step-by-step. I've also incorporated a lot more warm up into my runs. No more making the first part of the run the warmup. No, now it's a ten minute walk plus five minutes of rope flow (which thoroughly moves the shoulders, spine, and torso), and maybe some couch stretch, too, to avoid the back thing I did when I first tried running a couple weeks ago. Then I go run.

The husband was feeling restless and cooped up, with a heavy dose of all work and no play from both his full-time job and some side writing projects he has going, so I dragged him out to go comics back issue hunting. He found a bunch, including thirty in the dollar bins at one place, so he was much better after that. We both came back and plopped down on separate couches to read after that. I finished Howl's Moving Castle, a favorite of my librarian Mother and my nieces. I've seen the anime movie several times, but hadn't read the book, since it came out while I was in high school. Next up is There Is No Antimemetics Division from the local library.

Got another run done this past weekend. One mile this time, still doing repeats of run up the block, walk back. But still no knee pain during or after. Huzzah. Plenty of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) this week, though, between the run and my regular workouts M/Tu. Whee.

I am working from home this week and next as my office building is reinstalling network cable all throughout our floor. The floor that was the first one occupied back in May. So while the last cohort of everyone else doing the whole Return To Office thing came in on Monday, half of the first folks back are once again at home because they didn't have the cable done before we moved in. *snert* Whatever. I will say that I am terribly out of practice for working from home, and it definitely doesn't give me enough other movement (aka steps) versus going into the office. I don't miss the time for the commute (I do appreciate the uninterrupted reading time on the train), and the cats have enjoyed being able to bug me 24/7 again, but I think I'd rather have a mix of in-office and at-home.

Had my first crown done a couple of weeks ago. Aside from the gums feeling a little roughed up for a couple of days it's gone smoothly. It helps that the doc has the printer for the things right in the office, so no more having to wait weeks with a temporary one - they fit it 20-odd minutes after he got done drilling. And while I'm not thrilled with the location of the office (Foggy Bottom), he's a whiz at the anesthesia shots, so it's worth it.

Starting to catch up on comics finally. I think I'm two months behind at this point? But I'm dedicating more time to get caught up, which isn't easy when there's a new batch every week. Plus trying to keep up with other reading.

Up way too early this morning. Been a rough week for my gut, which has not helped my sleep. FODMAPs hate me, and I haven't been able to eat at home where I can better control the food as much as I should.

I make it a habit to flip off the statute of the 40th President of the US every time I pass National Airport on the Metro (twice daily on work days). While I've found most presidents are a mixed bag, I have a particular dislike of that one because of his inaction on HIV and what it did to wipe out the generations of gay men right before mine.

The husband thanked me this week for insisting that we not look at any properties which were anywhere near a flood zone of any kind on the FEMA flood insurance maps, after one of his coworkers complained he was going to have to completely redo his finished basement in the house he'd just moved into 11 days prior.

Work has asked me to write up my second memo in six months on constitutional issues facing our agency for the folks at Justice to weigh in on. On the one hand, hey, they like me and like my writing. On the other hand, no pressure, it's just the future of the agency and how it operates. Eeck.

Because of the lack of sleep my personal reading has been light - rereading the Cradle series by Will Wight, which is fun, but by no means a heavy intellectual lift. Thank you, Kindle unlimited.

The husband and his sister are bungee jumping off a bridge this afternoon. Her daughter and I will watch and make fun of the screaming. All good.