CafeChatNoir

But I can relax a tiny bit. Things are coming together at the townhouse, everything that MUST be in the storage container is now in it - is the best little brother on the planet. Tonight & tomorrow will just consist of getting as many boxes in it as humanly possible… And frankly, tomorrow night may just be “Fuck it, there is hockey on” and I may found down at the bar. But things really are coming together and I can actually see a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not an oncoming freight train.

Have to remember to get up early tomorrow and get my butt out of here as I’ve got a hair appointment at 8:30 - I’m only about 4 months overdue for a haircut.

So, just have to get as much as I can into the storage container as I can tonight/tomorrow… The vast majority of the rest of the boxes need to be out by the 14th… Absolute drop dead point is Christmas. This is all doable.

OK, off to work - I really need to quit my job, it’s such a time waster…

I have the best little brother ever.

I’ve been going at this since about 10 AM this morning, and frankly, I’m starting to develop some focus issues… It may be time for a beer & dinner break here soon.

All I have to contend with this week is getting the stuff in the storage container that MUST go in there, ie, things to big to transport any other way, plus whatever else I can get in there that I don’t have an immediate need for. (Frankly, if I haven’t needed it in 6 months…yeah, there’s gonna be a lot of stuff at the curb when it gets moved over to the new place.) The rest can be boxed up and tossed in cars, and for that, I’ve got til the 14th.

Have until Christmas to get the lighting issues taken care of, shouldn’t be more than an afternoon of work.

So, it’s coming together. Talked to the fence people today - they were ready to start work tomorrow - yeah, that has to wait for the ACC, but at least it seems that they’ll be able to get right on it once I get approval for that.

Definitely feeling better about things, it’s all gonna come together, and I am NOT going to lose what is left of my mind in the process.

But YAY FOR MOVING!!!

I found my class ring. I really thought it was gone forever. Seems the cleaning ladies must have come across it at some point and put it in one of the catchall baskets I had on my dresser.

WOOT. It feels good to have it back on.

Of course, there is now the matter of what to do with the silver Celtic knot ring that I had been wearing on my right hand. Guess I could put it on the left and not have to worry about the weirdos at the bar anymore… (Which is where it is for the time being, cause I am not taking it off and losing that one.)

Storage container has arrived… Have gotten more boxes and already gone through one roll of packing tape. Gouged my wrist up quite nicely at some point this morning. Have gotten lots of stuff boxed up, however, most of it is in the category of “not going in the storage container”…

If you ever hear me talking about moving again, and do not hear me use the words “professional moving service”, please smack me.

But, I am here, I’ve got my iPod with the little speakers cranked up all to hell, and I am packing like a woman possessed…

OK, storage container isn’t showing up until sometime between 10 and 1, which is fine with me, gives me time for coffee before I have to get over there. I have realized that I don’t have enough boxes, so it’s another trip over to the storage place down the street today at some point. Upside - they’ll buy back any boxes you don’t use.

Have checked work email, nothing has blown up yet. “Yet” being the operative word…

Alrighty, time to go pack a house…

Went and beat the crap out of myself at the gym. Feeling MUCH better now. Off to bed. To sleep, perchance to dream…

I am 10 feet tall & bulletproof…I am 10 feet tall & bulletproof…I am 10 feet tall & bulletproof…I am 10 feet tall & bulletproof…

Just need to keep telling myself that. OK, so grandma is arriving a day earlier than I’d been planning on, and I’m losing a weekend day for it. We’ll get around it. So what if I have no clue what time the damn storage box is supposed to arrive tomorrow? Gives me time to continue putting crap in boxes, right? And continue to come back over here so I can check my work email every few hours and try to keep the fires to a minimum there. (Yeah, quite the “day off”, isn’t it? Actually, I’ll take my laptop with me, maybe I can find an unsecured hotspot in the neighborhood so I can check from there.)

Then two days I can continue to chuck crap into the storage box in the mornings before heading off to work. Need to find allen wrenches to disassemble some of the dressers to get them downstairs. (They were assembled *in* the bedroom. Ever build a boat in the basement?) Gotta craigslist the dining room table and the coffee & end tables. They’re too nice to chuck and it would be so much better if someone could take them off my hands instead of having to drag them out to goodwill.

Thursday morning is all about me, dammit, going in to get my haircut before work - only about 4 months overdue for that. Training looks to get mashed in after work or exceptionally early in the morning this week somehow… Monday off, timed run Tuesday, XT Wednesday, timed run Thursday, weight training Friday, swapping out the distance run from Saturday to Sunday afternoon, since I am getting the hell out of dodge for a while.

Also need to make sure I keep stuff I actually *need* out of storage. Like winter clothing & my books… Hoping to have it all loaded up by the end of the week so that the storage people can come and take it away…I really should be able to accomplish a lot tomorrow, so I truly believe that is reasonable. Not even going to contemplate bringing it over here until after 1/7 - I can live without bedroom furniture for a month. (The old bedroom furniture gets hauled off on the 10th.)

Then a week of attempting to get this place ready for Grandma…reserving Friday the 9th for hockey and beer. Lots of beer. The Caps had damn well put out one hell of a game, or at least provide me with some spectacular fights.

Two weeks to be ready for Christmas once she gets here. And find a couple days to play electrician back at my place and replace a ceiling fan and some light fixtures… , interested? (If nothing else, I need someone to hold the ladder.) And trying to come up with 4 weeks worth of conversations I can have with her - not easy given that there is more I can’t talk about than there is I can talk about. I love her, but there is so much that has just become completely off limits over the years…

28 days until my renter moves in. (The carpets will be done on the 17th, the fence - probably not in time. Have estimate, do not have ACC approval yet.) I have to have everything out before the carpets go in.

I can do this. It WILL all come together. Come hell or high water, it WILL all get done.

Off to the gym to lift weights and swim. Please god, bring on the endorphins, I need them.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for I am the biggest, baddest motherfucker in the valley…

I registered. First class starts 1/2/06. 8 week version. Depending on what I can comp out on, undergrad could go quickly, or take a very long time. Sure, I could go straight for grad, but I want more intel foundations first, and this will accomplish it.

Who knows if anything will come of it, but it’s good to learn again.

Apparently my grandmother is arriving on the 10th and not the 11th as she had originally told me.

This was also the same day of my 5K that was cancelled, which suddenly is turning out to be a good thing, since the Caps are playing the night before and I am going to have to go out and drink heavily I think.

Yes, it’s just one days difference, but it’s a weekend day and we kinda needed that.

*twitch*

So, I pop over to the AMU website to see what it’s all about.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

I’d have to redo my bachelors, but the masters programs, oh my god. Homeland Security, 13 Military Studies options, National Security, Strategic Intelligence… All with concentrations in Middle Eastern studies.

If I comped out of everything elective/humanities wise, I could have undergrad done in two years and then the masters two years after that.

Seriously, this place actually has things I am INTERESTED in.

I’ve actually been to the movie theatre twice in less than a month. Tried to go see Walk the Line - sold out. So, saw Zorro instead. Fun escapist entertainment, and good company for the evening.

Sofa, loveseat and a variety of other crap has been removed from the townhouse. Tomorrow is packing and packing and packing some more.

Hit Murphy’s last night, ran into some Marines decked out in full dress, apparently coming back from Arlington Cemetery… We bought them a round of drinks and said thank you - they’d all done at least one Middle East tour. This lead to a discussion with my date on the fact that I feel like I’m not doing enough/the right things/whatever with my life right now. That plus conversations with this evening’s date on the general state of the universe have left me with quite a bit to think about. I know that as much as I love the job I have now, I will burn out on it eventually (and probably sooner vs later with the conditions of late), and the time has come to start at least thinking about what’s next, so yes, lots to contemplate on top of everything else.

OK, I should have gone to bed hours ago, but too much on my mind.

Peace out, kids.

Dinner was fantastic, frankly, the turkey was even better than Mom’s. Had all our favorites, and skipped the veggies, unless you count pickles.

pointed out that we can add a #12 to the “signs you’re having Thanksgiving Dinner w/ a geek” - The diner to laptop ratio is 1 to 1. Yes, we sat around the living room after dinner with our laptops surfing the web and playing games and watching football, and I got my training plan for the March race put together.

All in all, a good day.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

The obligatory last minute run to the market has been done, the turkey is brining, and actually, there isn’t a whole lot else to do until gets here anyway, so I’ll be spending the next couple hours goofing off.

It’s snowing.

And I’m on my way to the gym.

In my Tevas.

And I went up there, I said, “Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL.” And I started jumpin up and down yelling, “KILL, KILL,” and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, “KILL, KILL.” And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, “You’re our boy.”

Yeah, it’s been that kind of a week… Still feeling a bit like death, heading to the gym straightaway after work, maybe I can sweat this crap out of my system. If nothing else, I need to go burn off work. It’s making me positively insane right now, and I am going to be working at least part of my “day off” on Monday cause there is just so much going on.

Tomorrow, drinking and cooking. The fire extinguisher will be at the ready.

From BBSpot, via fark.com

11. Dark meat is separated from white meat using a light probe.
10. Everyone mentions broadband, Linux or dual-core processors in their “I am thankful for…” speech.
9. A round of Counter-Strike: Source determines who gets to carve the turkey.
8. House decorated with plush microbes to celebrate the pilgrims bringing diseases to the new world.
7. Someone constantly keeps saying “The pilgrims had coffee, didn’t they?”
6. Plates have a heatsink attached to them so you don’t burn your mouth.
5. The cranberries are caffeinated.
4. Whipped cream for the pumpkin pie made with Dremel.
3. Three words: Lego gravy boat.
2. Pilgrim decorations have red hats instead of black ones.
1. The turkey is given the opportunity for a saving throw before being butchered.

Cause I am trying my damndest to get sick. And I know exactly why, cause things are coming together and my body is going “oh thank god I can fall apart now…”

Turkey has been acquired for Thursday, carpet install at the TH is scheduled for the 17th and I don’t even have to be there, and the fence estimate is done.

Problem is I really can’t fall apart just yet, cause remaining is the junk haulers arriving Saturday to cart off the old sofa/loveseat and a handful of other crap from the TH, storage box arriving Monday for the rest of my stuff, break next weekend, 5K race, junk haulers coming to the main house to get more furniture, grandma arrives, 4 day weekend to get Christmas stuff done, Christmas, New Years, storage box to the main house at some point so I can have my bedroom furniture again, get approval from the ACC on the fence and then have that installed, and then grandma heads back to Phoenix…

Oh and work and training tossed in there, too.

But things *are* coming together. They always do, but damn, I need to get better at spreading this stuff out.

WHY aren’t my clients all on the way out of town for Thanksgiving??????????

And WHY does it seem that at least half of my coworkers are already on holiday?!!!!!!!!!!??????????

I realized today, that in the past 3 and a half months, I have basically had one day where I wasn’t dealing with short staffing at work, estate junk, townhouse junk, moving, upcoming holidays, upcoming visits from relatives, and any other number of annoyances that come along with not having a million dollars in my bank account and a staff of 5 to handle everything…

No wonder I’m a tad twitchy…

54:55 is the official time. 32 out of 43 for the “desperately attempting to recapture lost youth and 19 year old body” age group and 343 out of 475 overall. Very happy I didn’t DFL for my age group.

Much to do today…work, pickup contacts, more work, pick out carpet for the TH, attempt to find one last critical T-day dinner component, packing, and then the gym. I should sleep well tonight.

THREE DAY WEEK!! 5 DAY WEEKEND!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! (OK, so most of it will be spent packing at the house, but it’s still a long weekend.)

I am still totally flying high off this morning. I mean, I knew I could finish, but not in a million years would I have said “take over 4 minutes off previous best time for 5 miles, and oh yeah, have a great conversation with running partner the entire time.”

I am still grinning absolutely ear to ear, and now I am going to go treat myself to a bacon cheeseburger, a Guinness and some hockey. I’d say I earned it. :-D

(And then I will likely not only crash, but crash hard and sleep like the dead. I so wish I didn’t actually have to be up and out first thing in the morning)

Links to BT.com cause I’m too lazy to copy it over… You shouldn’t need a login

No official chip time yet, will edit when they’re posted.

I never thought I’d be saying the words, “I puked and it was awesome!” but there you go - unofficial time 52m54s, 10 MINUTE 35 SEC MILES! Race report to follow soon.

OK, I may suck at fantasy hockey, but I’m not a complete idiot - why would I want to trade a 52nd ranked left wing in exchange for a 93rd ranked LW?

So, yes, next week is Thanksgiving. Our office is closed on the Friday after, but we keep the call center open and a very, very light crew - just one person off our queue. I’ve gotten stuck with this in the past, but not this year. You see, basketcase coworker volunteered for it. Hey, whatever blows your skirt up I guess. However, it seems she didn’t quite realize what she was getting herself into, given the conversation we had before the end of the day today…

Coworker: Yeah, I figure I’ll get paid to sit & study all day.
Me: Yeah, there usually aren’t a whole lot of calls.
Coworker: Well, how do the calls come in if the call center is closed?
Me: [suppressing laughter] Um, the call center is open. Support is open. The calls will come in like any other day, it’s just usually pretty light, that’s why we only have 1 person on.
Coworker: *blink*
Me: …
Coworker: Oh. I thought we were closed. I couldn’t figure out why we had to have someone here…

Her problem, not mine. At least I get to sleep in this year for a change.

In other news, talked w/the gal I’m running with tomorrow, she’s just as displeased with the weather forecast as I am - we’re gonna freeze our asses off. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be at the projected high of 52 degrees by 9 AM tomorrow. I’m just trying to figure out what to wear so that I don’t freeze or leave a 5 mile trail of clothing in my wake as I get warm… It’s just especially annoying since I was running in shorts on Wednesday morning.

OK, time to crash - morning is just around the corner.