Been fighting a head cold for the past two weeks. Been to urgent care once (my doc was closed), after my parents bullied me into going to ensure it wasn’t pneumonia (it wasn’t). I think I’m going to try to get to the regular doctor tomorrow. The fever had left before the end of the first week, but it popped back up today, which indicates to me that the thing has gotten worse. That or the second cold I was exposed to this weekend decided to hit me on top of the original cold.

Friend came to visit this weekend (long planned trip) and he had come down with something just before he left. So, this could be cold #2, or a combo of the 2, or a restrengthened cold #1. Who knows. Regardless, this is one of the worst colds I’ve had in a couple years and I’m really, truly tired of dealing with it now.

Had one last appointment with Comcast today, and they fixed the issue. The tech who came out knew his stuff, didn’t put up with anything from the folks on the phone (specifically asked if the first person knew how to do cable cards and asked to be transferred to someone who did; also made the other person repeat back all numbers he read to them). Didn’t take him more than 10 minutes tops, and it worked fine as soon as he had them activate it.

Is nice to have the thing back and working. While I’m going to continue exploring the catalog available to watch instantly on Netflix, I did miss some of the current shows that I watch.

Otherwise the weekend was a bit off. I helped a friend who needed company Saturday evening, watching some bad movies and chatting about his worries. Had an odd trick Friday night that ended up not being quite worth the lack of sleep. My favorite part was when he said, “If I’d've known I was coming over I wouldn’t have had Mexican.” Indeed. I ended up not getting off because I wasn’t going to risk the results of the Mexican food.

I checked out the new Safeway. They’re still missing some of the staples of my diet (organic soy milk, for one), but it was much nicer than the old one, and though I normally don’t care for self-checkout, it worked well. It’ll be good for ‘pop in and get a few things’, but I think I’ll still be making regular trips to HT for staples. I’m hoping the quality stays up and it’ll be good for things that I need the same day or the next day.

In related news, I’ve been trying to eliminate most sources of high fructose corn syrup from my diet, and I was appalled to discover the bread I’d been eating had it in there. It actually took me about half a dozen brands of whole wheat bread before I found one without it. Yuck.

Biked up for errands this morning (dentist, picking up glasses, etc.), and there was a serious amount of stupid on the trail in Rock Creek. No helmet, helmet on but unbuckled (doesn’t do much good if it flies off your head when you fly off the bike…), people running on the left side of the trail, etc. Most annoying. Kinda makes you want to get “Trail Rules” signs like they have on other trails in the area.

Why is it that you say “I’m a triathlete” and suddenly you become all intimidating to some people?

I really, really wanted aero bars on my single speed bike this morning while down around East Potomac Park. File under “you know you’re a triathlete if…” you want aero bars on all your bikes. The instinct to get down on the bars while on a straight, flat stretch was pretty strong. Good sign that training on the tri bike is going well. Or at least has become second nature.

No A/C yet in the building, so while I wait for the cable guy to come by and slap a cablecard into the new TiVo it’s kinda warm. We’ll have it in two weeks once they transition the system over from heat, and I’m semi-okay with this because the new general manager here at the cult co-op is having his guys come by and do a comprehensive sweep and check of all the convectors in each individual unit to ensure they’re working, clean, lubed, etc. First time it’s been described that way (past just the usual “we’re changing the filters”), so I’m okay with delaying to ensure all the equipment is working at peak efficiency, or at least at a better clip than the norm. Having vacuumed off my own units, I have seen how nasty they can get, so I can only imagine what some of them look like. It’s nice to have a proactive manager for once; he’s been big on getting in to do preventative maintenance, which is much appreciated here.

Had plans with a friend to do some gaming, but he got called in to do more on a research project he’s leading at school, so no go there. A nap sounds like a good alternative. With the lack of A/C and temps in the 90s the past few days sleep has been elusive. Lots of tossing and turning and odd dreams, including some disturbingly vivid erotic ones. Waking up at 2 am with an almost painfully raging hard-on from one of those is not conducive to a lot of rest.

I’ve been indulging a crush, which has been fun. I feel like I can begin dating again, that I’m ready for that, with the result that I’ve been keeping my eyes open and my flirt meter at “medium high”. But I also feel like I’m looking more with an eye to finding something more than just casual. As always, nothing is set in stone, but we’ll see where the path leads.

The first weekend of spring was absolutely glorious here in DC. Despite my normal thing that Sundays are supposed to be my one, true “rest” day from exercise during the week I managed to bike across town and back twice, and over to the Hill once. Grabbed brunch with friends this morning up in Dupont, stretched it to an almost two hour affair, until the sun came round the building and started to hit us. The Hill trip was to pick up new tires for the tri bike, which is off the trainer, hopefully for the season, and needed new ones to make up for the wear from using the trainer all winter. I’ll keep the old tires for next winter.

Five gazillion people were on and around the Mall both trips up to Dupont, and in the afternoon coming back from brunch. “When marches/causes collide” could have been the caption. One of the many reasons I love living here, you never know what stuff folks are going to be in town protesting or praising.

Biked back up to Dupont for a last minute dinner/drinks (club soda for moi) thing with my friend M who is vaguely trying to hook me up with another cute friend of his, P. This was the second time we’d met, and P seems a little bit shy, but was generous with a hug both when I got there and when he left, so we’ll see.

In between bike trips I managed to take care of bills, update the financial software, sort mail, and vacuum, but not a lot else. Gotta say, I’m quite happy I picked up a little Dyson 24 from Woot last month, it’s been a peach, and has cleaned a hell of a lot better than my old vacuum did. I’m trying to keep the dust population down this year, hoping that will help with ye olde allergies, and this sucker has been very good for that. The sole complaints I had with it are that there’s no place on the unit to store the extra little non-carpeted-floor attachment that came with it (no biggie, I just toss it in a bucket I keep in the same hall closet), and that the cord is too short to get the entire apartment from one plug (it’s a small apartment), which has been remedied by use of an extension cord I had lying around. It gets under the bed easily with the little floor attachment, and it’s small enough to carry around when I’m using said attachment around the hardwood floors. Definitely a good purchase.

Goal for the week is to complete recovery from the race and prep the schedule for the next two to three races. Really happy with how the season has started, and hope it continues in the same vein.