legalmoose

I know the husband must be exhausted from his latest work trip because it’s 10am and he’s still asleep. Didn’t help that his plan landed at 2am, and he seems to have a garden variety head cold on top of it. So I quietly got up, set the thermostat at sleep temps for a couple more hours, and decamped to the main floor for my morning coffee and what not. Normally I’d be in my office, but that’s across the hall from the owners’ suite, so the cats and I are lounging downstairs instead.

He missed all of the fun with the wildfire smoke from our Canadian friends this past week. That was wild, orangey light filtering into the windows all day. Glad it was temporary, and here’s hoping they get them under control soon for their own sakes.

Did start playing Diablo IV. I’ve played every game in that series (even tried the mobile one, though it’s not my jam), and this one is just as addicting. I thought the other players bipping about would be distracting, but for the most part you don’t really interact with them. I was surprised to see that since the game is “always online” they now tie the game to your Blizzard account, regardless of platform, so your characters show up on whatever machine you’re playing on. This is a big change from Diablo III, where each platform would have an entirely separate game. One of my nieces picked up D4 as well, so I suspect we’ll be playing together on that soon.

Part of the strangeness of having the husband asleep upstairs is that he’s always the first to bed and the first to rise, often hours before I do. Mornings are his quiet time in the house, and one of the reasons we have the Roku with the remote that lets you plug in headphones, if he wants to watch something (which he usually does; he’s much more a TV/movies person than I am).

I've gradually moved away from the giant lists of previous years (remember über lists?), and while I am doing a short list of things I'd like to accomplish this year, I'm more focused on small changes rather than grand announcements. Like adding an additional exercise to my morning mobility routine, or using the electric toothbrush before bed. Things that are easy to try out and see if they're worth working into my routines or not. I'm very much a creature of routines, and I like Fogg's Tiny Habits method. I'm also a sucker for a good checklist, and I love gaming, so Habitica scratches those itches well. I did take some time this past week to weed out a couple of things there that were no longer useful, and add some new ones to try out. So far so good, two days into the year. ;)

There are times in a new hobby where you practice and practice a new-to-you skill, when it just clicks, and things suddenly start going more smoothly, quickly, etc. That first time when you knit a row without thinking about how the needles and yarn go on every stitch. That first swim where your breathing is dialed in automatically. That first time you're able to write or type a whole sentence just writing and not paying attention to how you form/type the words. And that feeling when it finally clicks is so exciting, because you know all the practice is finally paying off and you're on your way to doing the things you wanted to do well. This morning was that with the basic jump during jump rope with the 1/4 lb rope.

At some point in my youth I picked up a double-jump habit. So when I'd swing the rope around and jump I'd bounce an extra time while the rope was in the air. Jump-bounce, jump-bounce. Which is apparently bad form in jumping rope, and also kind of wasted effort. So much of my time with this new jumping practice has been staying fairly mindful of that and training it out of my jumps, meaning taking it slow and concentrating on staying down between jumps. Which has been fine, and it slowly got better and the urge to bounce receded. This morning, I decided to try speeding up a little bit, just to see how it felt, and everything just clicked. I was jumping at a good pace, no bounce, going smoothly, not tripping over my feet (mostly), and getting a much more intense workout. Felt fantastic, even with the increased intensity. Realizing it in the middle of the first repeat (the beginner workouts I'm doing are a lot of "do this jump for 30-45 seconds, rest for 10-30 seconds," etc.), and not losing the rhythm, was just so much fun. Definitely took it up a notch, and I'm looking forward to the next one this weekend.

Spent the last hour at work yesterday cleaning up my email, filing a bunch of things that had been handled but where the email was still sitting in my inbox. It was nice to go from hundreds of 'unread' emails down to a dozen. The two big things I keep getting consistent 'you need to improve this' feedback on are a) getting the last step done; and b) tracking assignments. Both of those have a connection to email use, and I think I've set up the systems I need to track, and thus check in with team members to make sure things are going out the door.

Then I did the same with my email here at home this morning, deleting a couple dozen emails that were just hanging out with nothing to do. Felt good.

And that, interestingly enough, fed into this month's "Take This" challenge over on Habitica, which is about 'organizing your inventory'. I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I really, really love the Habitica site. I'm a great believe in checklists, because I feel like they're an ounce of prevention in keeping things on track (I've been introducing a lot of checklists for my team at work). You don't have to scramble to think, 'hey, do I have everything I needed' if you have a list to check off, which you hopefully developed in a calmer period when you weren't stressed out about an assignment, or shopping, or whatever. I definitely credit it with keeping me going with things like flossing my teeth every night, getting through a multi-year backlog of comics (read at least one a day!), keeping the one plant we have in the house alive (scheduled watering), and keeping the cat's water dish from getting disgusting (weekly scrub out).

Switching between the medications for reflux ain’t all that fun. My body seems to want about a two week adjustment period before it evens out. Given that I’m in the third adjustment period (prescription samples, over-the-counter, now back to the prescription), it seems to be a regular thing. The first week has some unintended side effects (consistent across the three), and then it all kicks in at two weeks. Given that I’m in the middle of week one, life in ye olde gut is interesting.

At work, before we went on vacation I cleaned a large part of my office. My desk is clear for the first time in years (no piles of files/paper/books), and a good chunk of the bookshelf got cleared out and organized. The credenza behind me has the books I use most, and no more excess paper. It’s been illuminating, both in terms of my own work processes, and in terms of the reactions from my office. Everyone has commented on it. I’m loving having space to spread a project out to work on it, then put it all away when it’s done or I have to switch gears. Only drawback to date is there’s no place to hide something easily if someone comes in and they don’t need to see what I was working on (no files to flip over the paper, etc.). But I’ll take the calmer work environment.

That combined with the lack of caffeine (and hence the lack of energy spikes and lows) has, I think, meant a more even-keeled Moose at work. Gut issues aside. I had forgotten about how early I need to get to bed when not depending on a steady caffeine source during the day. Probably better on the whole, but it’s another adjustment.

Training is interesting. I’m trying more things like hill work, tempo runs, etc. this time around. Still too early to tell the effect, but I am looking forward to workouts more when they have more of a purpose, and more of a structure. Still need to lay out strength training in a more organized fashion, but I know where I’m going with that.

We’re headed off to see the boy’s family in another week, and in anticipation of the drive up, and to take care of the check engine light that popped on just before vacation, I dropped the Mini off at the shop to get it all adjusted. A couple thousand later it drove more smoothly on the way home after I picked it up this afternoon. Not exactly what I wanted to drop that amount of money on, but it’s worth keeping the car going. After driving the newer model loner car, I have to say I’m happy with my 12 year old car, so I’m glad I can keep it running well.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men

I’m fat (by which I mean I’m well overweight, not that I’m fatally obese).

I don’t like what my body looks like, naked.

The state of my body and health embarrasses me.

Being overweight affects my self-confidence in all aspects of my life.

I do not have self-control over ~~junk~~ food.

My body is not forgiving, so my diet needs to be exemplary.

I’m an emotional eater.

When I don’t plan my eating, I don’t eat well.

I spend too much energy trying to find a perfect, total solution to these problems, rather than focusing on small, incremental changes.

I get angry when small setbacks occur.

I give in to the negative talk in my head.

I obsess over my flaws.

These things hold me back from being the person I want to be.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men
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I decided I’m not going to do an uberlist this year. I didn’t want to deal with coming up with 112 things to do over the course of the year, when my track record is getting only around half of them done. The list doesn’t change, but circumstances do, and I no longer find it a useful or fun tool. Instead I popped over onto Wunderlist and did up a number of lists in different areas (finances, health, “us” stuff, etc.) with some immediate goals, and a mind to checking in on them and updating them as life moves on. Goals are important, and reasonable, achievable ones even more so. We preach specificity of goals in coaching, so here I go. Won’t be posting them, but will be using them.

No clue what I’m going to do race-wise this year. I was signed up for one race, but we now have another event that weekend out of town, so no can do. Ugh. And I’m not thrilled with the local choices, mainly because I’ll be coaching folks through them. Might still do them (especially if I can get a comped entry or two), but at the moment I’d rather focus on my newbies.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men

The dishwasher works well. The boy is still around. I’m running again. I’m almost done with my coaching exam. Work is boring at the moment, but that’s not a bad thing.

That’s the short version.

My newbies finished their first race this past weekend. Got out there, took a bunch of pictures, wore down the battery (discovered the power saving settings a bit late), and generally had a good time seeing them finish their first race. Sad that I’ll be missing the party this weekend for them, but family duty calls – instead I’ll be down at the parental units’ place for a family reunion. Whee. I’m sure I’ll be happy to see them all once I’m down there, but in the meantime I’m just annoyed at the timing. First world problems. But the race was a good bit of enthusiasm to finish up the coaching exam, too. Almost there, just a couple more questions. Then comes to fun part of working on a new plan for next year’s newbies.

The boy. What to say there? I’m smitten. Really, really enjoying dating him. Makes me a bit frustrated that I own my apartment in a building that doesn’t allow dogs, as there’s no way to get out of here easily, and no way to move him in (were his job able to allow him to). Yeah, that smitten that we’ve talked moving in already. And I’d do it in a heartbeat, were I able to. I had a five year plan that I was developing before I met him to fix things here (kitchen!) and give myself some more options. That’s still here, but there’s more of a sense that it’s truly a five year plan with a more definite outcome than just ‘options’. Funny how that works.

In the meantime I’m spending a lot of time up at his university home (walking the dog). We’re running together in the mornings (he asked me to help him get started on running). Cooking more up there (I missed cooking for someone else – it tends to focus me more on doing something more than just convenience foods or last minute stuff). I’ve seen more movies in a theater in the last 2 months than I have in the last 3 years (when I can look at listings and think, ‘damn, seen all those already’ you know it’s bad). I actually miss sleeping next to him when I stay down here at home (he’s spoiling me there). So, yeah, smitten.

Didn’t run this morning, so I ran this evening after picking up the dry cleaning. Am reminded why I don’t run in the evenings on a normal basis – it makes me far, far too hungry for dinner/late night food (he said, as he began devouring a 2nd helping of steamed dumplings). At least I’m getting back to training, which is the important part. Now if it would just warm up enough to bike outside. Phhhbbbttt! Not where I thought I would be at this point in the season, but I’ll get through the first race.

Have a couple more inches to knit on the sweater, then I get to attach the two sides of the shoulders, then it’s cutting the steeks and knitting the trim. Sooooo close. Would have been good to have done this week as it’s been a trifle chilly, but I’m just happy that I’m close now.

Trying to readjust the sleep schedule to a consistent 5:30 wake up. I’m close, but not quite there. Another reason to just stay on “summer time” (as the Brits call it) all year round – none of this stupid adjusting things 2x a year. Hoping the adjustment to a consistent sleep schedule will aid with the workout schedule. It should. In theory.

In the meantime I’ve been reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes; it’s a slightly appalling, very well written, very dense account of the history of scientific research on diet and metabolism in this country. The politics and misinformation involved are more than a bit scary. Food politics just seem to be some of the worst, mostly because of the crazy lobbying by food lobbies.

So, ran Cupid’s Undies Run this afternoon. Fun event, saw lots of friends in the club, had a good time. But man, after the head cold from hell and just generally not training well of late (still haven’t started regular training again), it kicked my ass. Now, there were environmental factors (mid-40s, no clothing to speak of, etc.), but still, I’m just not at any sort of level of fitness now, which irks the hell out of me. Hoping this was the wake-up call I needed to get back to it.

CPR class tomorrow, last thing I need to do before the training class to get the coaching certification. Watched the little videos, read the book, I think I’m ready.

Finished the sock on Monday and wore ‘em to work on Tuesday:

Very comfy – tiny stitches seem to be much better for comfort over long time periods/distances than the bigger ones. Go fig. I’ve cast on a cowl I got from one of my Unique Sheep sock clubs, finally (a men’s accessories club I got last year – this’ll be the first project I’m doing from it!). Finally re-read the pattern and seem to make sense of it, so I’m going for it. Unfortunately it’s not a travel or transit friendly project (very involved pattern), so I hauled out the sock yarn last night and am trying to decide on some patterning to do this time around on the top of the sock & the leg. Plus I am signed up for a men’s sweater class at Stitch DC next month, and of the three choices for patterns chose the Alberta striped vest. Figure it was worth the investment to learn at least two new skills – two yarn knitting and sweater shaping.

Housekeeper came Wednesday. Pleased with the cleaning job, amused at playing “where did this get put in the kitchen”. She moved everything, of course, to clean under and around, and didn’t seem to note where things had been. Similarly on the dining room table where I had far too much junk out to begin with. So, my take away is to reduce the amount of stuff out on surfaces so she doesn’t have to move as much. The cleaner look will be more pleasant anyway, and having the discipline of her coming in every other week should help with that.

Saw another play at Arena Stage this evening. It’s the local theater here in my neighborhood, about 3 blocks from my apartment, and they specialize in American theater. They completely redid the space, gutting the buildings and building a large shell over the whole of it, even adding a third theater. Took ‘em a couple of years and this year is the first season back in the new/old space. The renovation also seems to have influenced the quality of the work at the theater, which is much better than it used to be. Previously things were hit or miss (I walked out of one at intermission when the “crimson carpet” they rolled out was day-glo pink; seriously, high school productions do better than that), but I’ve enjoyed each of the productions they’ve done so far this season. I’m glad I bought season tickets, and bought two of them so I can take a guest, it’s been a good investment, and one I’ll repeat next season.

I’m debating a Body Electric retreat in August at Wildwood. They have a price break on the class price through the end of the month, just need to check the budget and the leave situation. Been feeling a craving for some BE work, and it would be nice to get back out to SF for a bit before and after again.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men

The drugs do seem to be helping. They’re opening up all the little inflamed passages and all sorts of fun snot is breaking loose. Which I’m sure you were just dying to know. Sleeping should be fun this week, too, since several of these are stimulants.

It was good to get back to work, get out of the apartment, see real people again, etc. I did spend most of the day with my door closed so as minimize the risk to co-workers, but it was still nice to get out of the house. A couple weeks delayed haircut and dinner out topped off the evening away from the apartment, and now I’m settling in with knitting and the boss’ speech. I’d ignore the thing, but I’m long past the point where I need to be attuned to what the big boss is saying, even in broad terms, about what my BGA is supposed to be doing for him, so I tune in and listen. A shame I can’t drink my way through the speech this year, but at least I have knitting to keep my hands busy. And the sweater has been neglected for over a month now, so it’s time to put in a few more rows.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men

I seem to be on the ‘once a month update schedule’ these days. Working on the Uberlist for 2011, a bit over halfway there. Managed to get over half the stuff on 2010′s list done, which I consider to be a successful list year. Way too many books ordered in the past week, and they all seem to have shown up at the same time. Along with a new living room rug (which I’d been eyeing for months and which I’m really glad I ordered the moment they put it on sale – I can’t find the thing on their site any more), which is currently sitting, rolled up, in the front hall because I don’t have the energy to move all the furniture tonight to get it in place. Plenty of time this weekend, and maybe even tomorrow night.

The aforementioned planning has gone slightly more slowly than I expected, but I’m not terribly worried about it. I will be writing this weekend to try & get stuff done and out for review by the other co-leaders next week. For my own training, I’m delaying the formal start of my stuff in order to do some weight loss related stuff first. I’m a lot heavier than I need to be to race well, and that’s gotta change. The 10 lbs (and 3-4 percentage points of body fat) I gained post-IM haven’t helped, either. Yuck. So yes, I’m going to be a resolutioner this year, but if I want to gain speed this year, I need to help improve the ‘infrastructure’ needed for that.

2010 hasn’t been a bad year for me, and 2011 is shaping up to continue in the same vein.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men

After a month break from writing, and three months off from regular exercise, it’s now time to get back to both. Monday is six months (24 weeks) from my next triathlon, and the beginning of training for the same. I’m trying to set out a manageable plan to work on getting faster (3:12 is the time to beat!), including weights for once. Gonna be an interesting season.

Also been working on the training plan for our new triathletes this year. I have the times and most of the heart rates, it’s just plugging in extra stuff like swim workouts and the like now. Plus setting out the stuff for their weight workouts. No pressure. This year should be the most difficult, once this is laid out it’ll just be a matter of tweaking it here and there.

I hosted friends at my place for Thanksgiving this year. Just a couple of us, but I did the majority of the cooking. I enjoyed that, it was fun getting everything together and timing it all out to be ready approximately at the same time. May do the same for the christmas holiday if there are folks in town.

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.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men

February just sucked gorilla butt.

Since I haven’t posted since mid-February here, there have been a number of changes, with the usual ‘things in threes’ as well. On top of the death of my grandfather, Mike and I broke things off, and I finally discovered what the third casualty was. In the mess in the middle of the month my office and I completely lost the invite to the GAO annual one-day update on the state of appropriations law over the past year. On Friday I found out it had happened the day before. Understand, this is the one bit of professional development I get to do each year which is actually relevant to what I do at work (as opposed to the annual CLE requirements & courses for the bar, which are a complete waste of my time), and I haven’t missed one since they started doing them until this year. So, yeah, February sucked gorilla butt.

March has been better. I’m on track to do okay in the half marathon next weekend, and by extension the 10 miler next month. I’m getting a good base built for the IM, setting the stage for that little challenge at the end of August. To keep myself on track there I’ve actually stopped drinking. I’ve found that when I do drink, even just a single drink, I tend to drag badly the next day, which prevents me from training (and puts me in a foul mood). The IM is too important to me to let a preventable thing stand in the way, so I’m not letting it. I’ve gone out a time or two to bars with friends now, and it’s actually not been bad not drinking.

Works’ been crazier this month than last, and we’re starting to run against political pressures on spending. Thankfully my office advertised for another fiscal law specialist, which closed Friday, so we’ll start setting up interviews for the next week or two. I hope the process goes quickly, I definitely need the help, and soon.

Originally posted at Of Moose and Men.

I am most decidedly not a fan of cold weather, not that this is a revelation for anyone who's known me or read what I've written online over the past decade. Being stuck inside, not being able to run or bike outdoors, all makes for a grumpy Moose. This weekend ended up being a wash as far as most activities go, though I did manage to get on the bike in the trainer both days an get some decent exercise in. For the most part I just vegetated and didn't seem to do a lot past playing a lot on my DS. It's weekends like this that make me question the decision to live on SW; it's so much more socially isolated down here, despite the convenience to work and training. Though when I sit down and think it over I honestly wonder if I'd be any better at getting out if I lived any closer to folks. Certainly I'd have less of an excuse not to venture out, but would that be enough to motivate me to do so? I'd like to think I would, but I can't know that at the moment.

That said, I'm getting the hell out now because I can't take the apartment and the lack of human contact any more. So, off to JR's for me thus evening and meeting a friend or friends for dinner. I may not like going outside in cold weather, but I can't ignore the need to get out of my little shell, so wrestle with winter I will.

My gut decided it didn't want to behave for the past week. A combination of allergies, lack of exercise & water (traveled home in the midst of the remnants of hurricane Ida), change in diet (see last parenthetical), &c. just left ye olde gut very, very unhappy with me. Finally managed to calm it down yesterday morning in time to get out and enjoy the gorgeous weather with a good 20 mile ride. Also got over to the Hill and fixed the fixie, which was a relief. It's a shame there's not a closer hardware store, but it's all good now so I can ride to work again without problems.

Seven months until the half iron, six until the Olympic, and nine until the IM. Time to get out of off-season mode and back to training, hence the desire to get back onto the road yesterday. I also want/need to lose a few pounds as this season progresses so working out now is as important for that as it is for base building. While I've done some half-assed calorie counting I haven't gotten really serious about it yet. Need to knuckle down on all fronts and get back to being serious about being a triathlete.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

Starting to get back into a routine now after a couple of weeks of head cold, travel, complete abandonment of exercise, etc. Ran Monday and this morning (much to the chagrin of my legs), went to the men's knitting group tonight and got another inch or so done on the leg of the latest sock, cooked a good meal last night, getting into the groove of the new fiscal year at work, etc. A return to semi-normalcy, which is very welcome.

Part of cooking last night was using my microwave convection oven for the first time as an oven and not just a microwave. I knew they didn't take as long to cook, but didn't expect quite how much faster it would be. The little 3 lb turkey breast that the label said should take 2.5-3 hours in the oven took 45-60 minutes in the microwave convection oven, and came out quite nicely. Color me impressed. Add to that the butternut squash, roasted in the normal oven, and some asparagus to go with and it was a nice little meal, with some good leftovers. I need to cook more, and this was partly an experiment to see how easily I could cook up something like the turkey breast for taking into work instead of buying the deli meat sandwiches and all the filler they have in them.

Before heading out to the knitting group I raided my stash and managed to find the yarn I was going to make into a scarf last spring (improvised design, didn't work). I have found a better pattern which is almost exactly what I was envisioning for myself, so was good to find existing stash for it. I should catalog the stash again, and add in all the new sock yarn from the summer, but meh. Also managed to find some stash for a couple of other gift projects. Score.

Spending time with Mike this past weekend was wonderful. Still very much smitten there, and looking forward to seeing how it grows. We just fit together well, and he makes me want to be better.

Running's getting going again because I have a race in two months, and I will be prepared for this thing and its hills, come hell or high water. Fridays are going to start being hill workout days - heading up toward the Mall via L'Enfant Promenade (that dreadful monstrosity of I.M. Pei's), and if I can get far enough, up around the 'hill' around the Washington Monument. This is the problem with having moved down to the river - it's relatively flat here, and thus harder to train on hills without traveling. We'll see how this Friday goes.

Friends visiting over the next three weekends, including Mike in early November. Busy times, and good stuff to do - will help get me out of the apartment, and back into a social groove. While I am doing the IM in August, I need to better balance a social life of sorts, no matter how limited, and settle back into a better pattern of living.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

Well, I made it through the triathlon season. I think this is the first time in my five years of doing tris that I've done all the races I was signed up for, and didn't get a major (or minor) injury. No broken wrist, no broken ankle, no sprains, no plantar fasciitis, none of the usual maladies. Not bad.

The last race, the Nation's Triathlon, which I haven't written up, was my fastest to date - 3:17:21, or about 15 minutes faster than my previous fastest Olympic distance race. I attribute most of that to the bike. This was a relatively flat course compared to the other races I've done, and it showed. However, that said, while the swim went really well at North East (in that I swam the whole thing), I managed to swim, bike, AND run the entire distance with no pauses for rest, which I have to say I'm particularly tickled about. I've always had to take walking breaks on the run, and it was soooo nice not having that happen this time. Getting there, albeit slowly.

It does bode well for a good season next year, with a bit more thought going into preparation now. As I mentioned last month, I'm signed up for three races, an Olympic, a Half and a full IM, and I'm starting to do some off-season stuff to help get going for next year, planning out the general tone of workouts, getting in some yoga, etc. I want this next year to work, racing-wise, and to do well at the IM.

In other news™, I find myself smitten. A friend I've known very casually online popped down to DC from Boston over Labor Day weekend, and let me know he was coming in. We planned and then met up for bear happy hour at Motley on Friday night, and well, I finally slept in my own bed again Monday night after putting him on a train back to BWI to fly home. To say that we hit it off well would be an understatement. I've very much been enjoying chatting with him, flirting via SMS, etc. Mike's a good guy, and I look forward to getting to know him better. Longer readers will know that I rarely travel on my own (when not for races), so the fact that I have plane tickets to Boston next month should be a sign of how this is going. We know it'll be a challenge living in two very different cities, but since when have I done anything normally? And I think he's worth it.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

For some reason the reintegration back into real life has been a bit difficult. There was the inevitable backup of work at the BGA ("vacation is its own punishment"), breaking things off with someone I'd been dating, adjustment back to east coast time (which means I have to try and fight my normal nature to be a night owl), and just doing the little things like unpacking everything and putting it all away, sorting mail, grocery shopping, etc. Still haven't done the grocery shopping, so I've been subsisting on ever-shrinking supplies of staples from the freezer and cabinet. Not a bad thing, it's good to clear those out every now and again, but not perhaps the healthiest meals I could be eating.

One thing I've been doing to integrate some of our practices from DLOC has been to post "appreciations" over on FaceBook. Just little things to acknowledge those things I'm appreciative of for whatever reason. It does help to make one more mindful of what's going on in your life, which has made it a useful tool for me.

Past that I'm trying to find my motivation to get back to tri training for my last two races this season, and finish up my commitment with the club's volunteer work this month. "The Pile" of books has grown since coming back, including some re-reading of classics I feel the need to reexamine in light of the DLOC and SF experiences (The Ethical Slut, the Tao Te Ching/Dao De Jing). I'm about 1/2 an inch from finishing sock #2 on pair #2, and I have another pull ball ready to go on the next set, but the one sock's been sitting here unloved as I try to work myself back into life.

Picked up another bike yesterday. I wanted something a bit better for zipping around town than my mountain bike (which is a good bike, but not the best for commuting). I went in a slightly different direction, a single gear, and put "campus pedals" on it (clipless on one side, regular pedal platform on the other), so I don't have to throw on bike shoes just to zip somewhere if I wish to bike out. My goal there is to bike about more to things in town, and sweat be damned. It even came with a kickstand! I feel so retro with a kickstand on a bike - I don't think I've had one of those since high school. With the bike, though, comes the last big purchase for the year, I think. Need to back off and pay off the remnants of vacation and the bike and plan for the end of the year and Giftmas. And to plan for the next body electric workshop next year, of course.

It's hard to fully describe the changes wrought by DLOC, but I'll be working on them this year.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

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Of Moose And Men

June 2025

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Entries tagged with habits

Never early

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Winter Has Sapped My Will To Update

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