Switching back to running in cooler weather always necessitates an adjustment period. I tend to forget which items of clothing are best at which temperatures, though I did remember not to even attempt gloves. I warm up enough after 8-10 minutes of running that gloves become too warm in all but the coldest weather (in which case I'd probably go running inside anyway). I could've used a wind vest this morning, but the tights were exactly the right weight. Is good when I guess correctly at the beginning of the change in seasons.

On the other hand, it's time to get new running shoes this weekend. The toebox has been an issue with the new orthoses, and this morning it came to a head in the form of a blister or other sore on one toe, with the result of some blood in the sock when I got home. So, new shoe time, perhaps going up half a size if that'll help give a bit more room for my toes.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

Got caught by a "gotcha" today at work that never should have become a gotcha, but did because of other, more pressing concerns. The joys of too much work, too little time. I think we're now caught up on it, but I don't like being in that position, nor do I particularly enjoy putting my boss in that position. Yuck.

Slept poorly last night, a result of a bit over overtraining soreness and late eating caused by needing to run to the grocery store right after running and cleaning up (rather than being able to eat first and then get to the store). Slept in a little, but I suspect I'll sleep better tonight. Which is good, since tomorrow is my long run of the week.

I got a new pod(people) coffee maker for work, and it's working out well thus far. Won't get one for home, I still prefer the French press and grinding my own beans, but it's a good, and cheaper solution for feeding the addiction at work. It was a freebie via a credit card I hold with otherwise relatively worthless "points" so the sole cost is the coffee itself, which is cheaper then buying it brewed from any of the local vendors. Not bad, though it does cut down on the need to walk out of my office, which is perhaps not the best side effect. I'll have to take more chances to get up and walk.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

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.

I'm currently sitting in my parents' motor home, listening to the remnants of Hurricane Ida blowing past. Every now and again a particularly strong blast of wind manages to shake the coach back and forth. Reminds me of a camping trip we took when I was little and we had to flee into the vehicle we'd driven up in because the tent was literally about to be blown over by the wind that night. That's not a concern here, obviously, but it is a bit disconcerting when your "home" rocks with the wind.

Completely forgot to bring any snacks, or Adult Tang, so I think I'll be shopping tomorrow rather than this weekend. While I'm out in the wilds of Virginia I find it a good opportunity to hit stores I wouldn't normally get to, or get things that it's easier to haul home in the car rather than attempt to carry home via the Metro. If I can get out, that is. There's more than a bit of flooding going on here, which made the drive down interesting once the sun set.

I got to spend the past two weekends with Mike - I went up for Halloween in Salem with him, and then he came down this past weekend for Code and a visit. We continue to talk nightly, and haven't managed to run out of things to talk about. I head back up in early December to see him next, and visit Provincetown for the first time.

I'm thinking of taking a CPR course in late December. It would be good to know just in general, and also for my continuing work with our New Triathlete Program with my tri club. I'm trying to get myself back into "triathlon" mode, picking up literature I need to go over both for NTP and for my own training, and reinvesting myself back into a training mode that I've been out of since September's race.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

Link courtesy amnewsboy.

Via faeshale, today's post of the day.

No pictures yet, but I finished sock #1 of the set I'm doing from the Braun's Woods colorway. Fairly pleased with how it came out - the fit is really good. The way the colorway came out was a bit odd - I get a nice spiral up the leg, but the foot alternates between some light striping and two big chunks of pooled colors. Hmmm. I expect the 2nd sock (which has been cast on) will come out about the same.

Dug through stash to see what I might have for some quick hats for the two younger nieces for giftmas. Given my brother's job situation they'll get a check from me as the main gift, but something tangible for the little ones is good to do, too. Hopefully the bits of stash I've identified will be enough for two hats for them. Oh, and may I say that I am very, very glad I got a ball winder, as that's making re-packaging yarn to carry with me much, much easier.

Nice weekend here. One of my body electric brothers was in town and crashed here, so got in lots of walking around, playing tourist. I need to go ahead and join the Smithsonian as a supporter of the American Art Museum - I always end up taking people up there rather than the Mall! I especially love some of the crazy folk art stuff on the first floor; we 'Mericans have managed to come up with some batshitcrazy stuff (as well as some seriously good art, but the batshitcrazy tends to catch the eye). 'Twas good to catch up with him and reconnect, and I always enjoy playing tour guide in my little city.

Up a bit too late to run this morning, so will do so this evening instead. Will have the advantage of being warmer then, too. Made plans with Mike to head up there the first weekend of December. He'll be down the weekend after next, so I'll get to see him soon! There's a game day that weekend, too, so I get to show him off as well. The holidays will be a little bit crazy, and we briefly toyed with the idea of a visit "home" to his parentals, but it's a bit soon for that yet. We talk a lot, more than I normally ever like to talk on the phone (friends will confirm I'm more of a texter than a talker), but it's not felt forced or anything. Still smitten, obviously.

It's about time for me to go through the Uberlist for this year, catalog what's been done, what's yet to be done and is still doable, and what's completely out. Not quite sure how I've done - I haven't kept up with the list that well this year (in terms of looking it over), but I suspect I've done a bit more than I thought I might, realistically. But that's another post.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

The club held a seminar on IM training and what not this evening. It was well attended (that it was at a bar, with a private room, helped I'm sure), and was very useful. Little reminders of things I've read, confirmation of other things, and some new info. I know I'm going to be doing a lot more posting to our web site with questions this next year as things come up, but it was good to be reminded that I have this incredible resource there, with a great community to turn to when I need 'em.

Was going to bike up there, but decided I didn't want to deal with Porter Street on my fixie, so I took Metro instead and got in a bunch more knitting on this latest sock. It's funny, it was pooling pretty randomly when I was doing the little bit of stockinette stitch at the ankle, but since I started a k2p1 rib after a couple inches it's now doing a very wide spiral up the leg. I guess that little bit of extra yarn made the difference in pooling versus spiraling. The toe, sole increases and the heel all striped up nicely, but I think I'm just slightly off when I'm at the mid-foot and ankle diameters. Weird. Next batch with this particular brand of yarn (Blue Moon's Socks that Rock) will probably need to be smaller or larger needles (more likely smaller). Not that the pooling didn't look good, but it's not as nice as the natural stripes that are supposed to come out of it.

Got to talk to a couple of girls on the way home who were curious about the knitting. That was fun.

Chatted with Mike when I got home. Going to plot out tomorrow morning's run, lay out my gear, and get my butt to bed now.

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.

Random bits:

Fuzzy, cute, bitter, adorable. Yes?

Met once, perhaps not noticed, but, hmmm...

So young, so analytical, so not amurricun.

So young, so passionate, so not CONUS. LOL

So inked, so hot, so not in my time zone.

Met ya, liked ya, not near enough to ya.

So close, so far, have you had your shots to visit?

I might miss being veggie for you.

Troublemaker. Me likey.

Knitta, please.

Dear heavens, how many years since you posted here? Must be hot to have kept you on the fiends list this long (yeah, actually, you are, wretch; now post something!).

Cultural references, yes; queer, yes; fashion, yes. So...?

Holy shit. Met in person once, and I'm so not your type, but, well, may I melt now?

Would that I could adore you as you deserve.

I'm so happy you have a man you deserve. Be that as it may. ;)

I wish I saw you in person more often, given that you live so close.

You're so uber-serious. It's cute. Yet I somehow have more contact with your other half than I do with you?

What the hell is going on with you?

Um, metal? Yes? Please?

So close, yet so far...

I wish I could be closer to help you.

Got the results in from last week's annual physical this morning. Cholesterol is a little higher than last year, but not yet "high". Getting toward the "should watch it, perhaps" range. Vitamin D was on the low end of normal (meaning I need to be more consistent in taking my multivitamin, since it has D, and I don't otherwise drink D-fortified cow's milk). Everything else was perfectly normal, as expected. The annual dermatologist appointment is tomorrow morning, to do the skin check for odd spots. Gotta love getting older.

Tomorrow I have the unenviable task of telling work folks that if we screw up on a new provision in our appropriation this year (when it ever passes and gets signed, that is) we get to report that fact to everyone and his brother because it'll constitute a violation of the Anti-deficiency Act. Woo-hoo! As if the contracting folks weren't nervous enough about this. Lawdy. Well, it'll give 'em some incentive not to screw this one up, at least.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

I'm glad I attended the National Equality March (NEM). It's hard to come up with excuses not to go to an event held in your back yard, though heaven knows I've begged out of other things. The last "march" in DC for GLBT rights was the Millennium March (MM), and that one felt more like an extended version of DC pride than an actual "march" (in contrast, the MM had a vendor area much like DC's pride festival, down to the location). This one, at least for the march itself and the rally afterward at the Capitol, felt more purposeful than the generic feel-good atmosphere of the MM. Perhaps because this one was actually called for something, and didn't feel like a corporate-abused bit of PR for HRC.

And yes, in case you couldn't tell, I have an exceedingly low opinion of HRC. They got a lovely new building from all their fundraising, and the rest of us got saddled with DADT and DOMA. Not exactly a wonderful trade-off for paying for all their supposed "expertise" on lobbying.

Got down to the Capitol grounds as the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington was in the middle of their performance. I definitely could have done without the religious BS right after the Chorus sang, but I understand that it's a necessary evil in our society. Popped out after a bit of the rally to go grab food, a very late lunch, but wandered back afterward to meet a Twitter buddy who'd come down from Pittsburgh, and managed to catch Kate Clinton, Urvashi Vaid, Cleve Jones and the cast of Hair (I left again as Lance Black was talking). Kate was funny, Urvashi was strident and allowed to go on for too long. Cleve was good, and the cast of Hair was amazing (Lance was good as well, but I wanted to get home before it got dark).

Hopefully some progress will come out of this, legislatively, and hopefully Cleve will get his (unspoken) wish - a better organized actually grassroots organization to counter HRC and company's ineffective money pit, and actually get some work done. Were it not for the specter of how much worse a majority Republican Congress would be now (in the modern, nutso-driven version of that party), I'd like to believe we could do something like withhold donations until we got some progress on our issues, but I suspect that's not practical. Not that I personally give to anyone other than my local politicos anyway, since I have no vote for Congressional representation as a citizen of the District of Columbia, but that's a rant for another day. In any case, it would be nice to think that at least some of the folks here will go back and start talking to their representatives, Federal, State and local, and put more pressure on those same representatives to protect all of us.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

Let me spell out why I'm upset at my field office, the one balking at following the directions from headquarters.

When a contracting officer of the U.S. federal government signs a contract, on behalf of the government, he or she assumes personal liability for any screw-ups he makes in the course of letting that contract. If he orders a contractor to do something, without the funds or authority to compel the contractor to take that action, he can be personally liable for the debt owed by the government to the contractor. That's a Big Deal, no matter how you look at it, given that a great deal of my Big Gubm'nt Agency's (BGA's) contracts are worth multiple-millions of dollars, well in excess of the typical federal government employee's salary.

In my role as legal counsel, looking at the fiscal responsibilities of the federal government and its accountable officers, my professional opinion rendered in the course of my employment can relieve a contracting officer of personal liability. If I tell an employee to take a certain action and that action is later found to be incorrect by a competent tribunal, the employee who followed my advice will not be held liable for following that advice. He or she sought the advice of counsel, and followed it, for better or worse. That's a big deal, because we're dealing with the public's money, and if someone truly defrauds the taxpayers, they should be held liable for that fraud. So letting someone off that hook is not something to be done lightly.

Obviously I have no desire to defraud the government of funds; this money is my tax money as well as the usual federal taxpayer's, and I don't want to see it misspent when I can avoid it. So it's distressing to me, personally, when a field office of my BGA questions my integrity, implicitly, by continuing to question the opinion my office has rendered in a particular case. The idea that I would casually hang a fellow federal employee out to dry, or that I would place the finances of my BGA in jeopardy, is personally abhorrent to me, and it causes me a great deal of distress when our field personnel assume that I would be so cavalier with their and the taxpayer's finances. I think that's what stressing me out about this latest brouhaha with the field, that implicitly they are questioning whether I am acting properly in my role as counsel to protect them and the head of my BGA. And the idea that they think I'm acting against their and the taxpayer's interests, whether overtly or subtly, is a smirch on my professional integrity, and not something I take lightly. Thus, I'm distressed over the situation, as much as they are likely distressed as they contemplate taking an action which might cause them a great deal of personal debt. I don't want that for them, nor do I want something to go wrong for the taxpayer or the administration (regardless of party), so I'm stuck in a very difficult situation until I can convince them that we're not going to subject them to personal liability, something they're not quite ready to accept.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

So, I fagged out this morning and bought the super-duper-mega-deluxe-expensive version of Our Lady Of Pop's latest collection of music I mostly already own. I must say, I'm kinda enjoying having the vids on ye olde AppleTV thingey (since the TV is the best set of speakers in the apartment, this is a good thing).

(oh, and the champagne flutes she uses in the Music video? That's my crystal pattern)

I'm also suddenly feeling the urge to knit a sweater. I think I must be getting feverish from the head cold. So instead tonight I'm going to work on the long-neglected sock I'm supposed to be knitting. I have to admit, I'm a little afraid of knitting a sweater. I'm not a fan of wearing them, and I'd be trying to make this to be at least partially fitted (as opposed to looking like a big lumpy sack cloth, like many sweaters do), with a really pretty pattern, but man, that's a lot of yarn to buy and work with. I'm hoping the feeling will pass, but I suspect it won't. Hmph.

I did get up and run this morning, so am obviously feeling better than I was this weekend. May bike in the morning if I wake up for it. It's perfect running weather out there now - 50s in the morning. Not so perfect biking weather, but it'll do. Better than using the trainer, which I'm not ready to do yet.

(okay, watching older Madonna vids, it's sooooo obvious that she got serious dance training over the years, because the newer ones are so muh more technically competent than her early ones - I mean, watching Lucky Star makes me feel kinda embarrassed for her it's so amateurish)

Managed to get through the last day of the fiscal year without major drama, mainly because I completely ignored one of our program offices. They can't manage their own field offices, and I refused to play referee today. Made the day go much better than it might have otherwise. Of course, they're trying to drag me in tomorrow, but I think I'm going to ask my management to intervene, both with the program people and with the field personnel who are a piecemealing their objections to what we've (HQ) told them to do. Tomorrow will be another day, and another year, and another set of messes. Gotta love it.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

One more day left in the fiscal year. Thank heavens. With the impending doom coming (not, though it seems like impending doom from their attitudes), our program offices are increasingly nuts. And we're pushing back just as hard. See, this is where attorney arrogance comes from - dealing with clients who insist on doing things which are, to legal minds, incredibly stupid.

Ugh.

The head cold stuck around through the weekend and my grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary party. It's still here, not quite going away yet. I suspect the driving Saturday and Monday and the resultant dehydration didn't help any. It was great to see lots of family, cousins I haven't seen in years, but was also good to get back to my routine today. I've been trying to look at my eating habits, and I counted it as a net gain that I didn't gain any weight while eating out with the parents. Because eating this weekend was a mess, including far too much cake.

Still having fun flirting with Mike. This cold better be well done and gone by the time I get up there, as this is not how I would like to spend the limited time I get with him, with a sore throat and a drippy nose. In the meantime, I need to go shopping this weekend for more clothes before I head up (and in general).

And now I'm babbling, so it's time for me to crash.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

Ah, the end of the fiscal year, when otherwise reasonable adults turn into rabid nutcases regarding money.

I got a lot of cursing out of my system on the walk to work. Mainly stuff around the lines of, "I can't get your fucking work done if you keep fucking well summoning me to useless fucking meetings that waste my fucking time." It was very therapeutic. And much better than yelling at the clients, if perhaps a bit less satisfying.

Needless to say, I still got dragged to meetings today. Wretches.

Otherwise things skate along. This too shall pass in time. Though I think I'm going to limit our program offices to one impossible legal task at a time. One of them has three going at the moment, and that's just too damned many. One is actually too many, but three is just out of this world. And leads to more cursing on my part, which I'm sure isn't good for my blood pressure.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.

If you're a fan of 80s-esque music and use iTunes, they're offering a free download this week of the single "Bulletproof" by La Roux. I had purchased it a while back and really like the single, so would recommend it.

Here's the vid for it on Youtube, too.

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.

The new gay.com looks like a Smurf threw up on it. And, to top it off, it's literally headache-inducing due to the bad conflict between the colors. Looks like they reduced the size of the font, too. Dreadful choices all around.

Originally published at Of Moose And Men.