Tales from the Steppes

2005-05-13

11:10 a.m.
Your love is better than ice cream, Better than anything else that I've tried

So far the day has moved along at a leisurely pace. I have moved more things downstairs and am almost completely out of my old office. A few more trips and I will be finished and just have some cleaning to do.

The job is being pretty much a job. I don't really see anyone unless I venture out of my cubicle - no one comes back here except for the phone repair guys to get into the equipment closet. I remembered my MP3 player today, so at least I have the music on that.

I spent most of the day yesterday doing fieldwork at various sites with Josh and various other coworkers. It was a beautiful day to be out and about and the fact that it was work related did not diminish the enjoyment. The only aspect that was slightly unpleasant was spending the entire day with Josh. Josh is the guy that started on the same day as me, and I certainly understand being in a strange place and really only knowing one person. So I can see why he keeps coming over to my cubicle, wants to eat lunch with me every day, and is as glued to my side as is possible at this point. Unfortunately, Josh, while being a nice person, is a bit slow and has a narrow range of interests. And babbles. It is not that he is stupid. He just isn't ...... quick. So I am hoping he will make friends fast and would point him in the right direction, if I could. But none of my friends would put up with him and likely be considerably less tolerant. That's right - there are people less tolerant than myself.

The SU and I went to the Sarah McLachlan concert last night and that was quite enjoyable. Even though I have listened to her since "Vox" grabbed me long ago, I had never been to one of her concerts. I am not fond of being near that many people, so I generally avoid large venues. But I am glad I went, as her voice is even more spectacular in person.

This Sunday is the sprint triathlon that I have spent the last month or two training for. Sort of. I was supposed to be graduating on that day, which is obviously not happening. (I just got conditional approval from the IRB today, which will be converted after I make a minor addition to one of my consent forms. Woohoo! Finally I can do my primary research.) So instead I am competing (and I use that term loosely) in this race. My preparation has been fraught by numerous complications and it is debatable whether I am actually ready for this.

The most amusing complications revolve around the swim portion. It is a short swim, which is good because I am not a swimmer, but it is outdoors. In an unheated pool. At 7am. So I have rented a wet suit so as to not freeze my ass off. My first attempt at putting it on was extremely humorous, since I put it on backwards. Who knew the zipper went in back? I guess if I watched sports on tv, I would know this important piece of information. For the second attempt, let's just say that wetsuits are not cut with curves in mind. But I managed to get it on, with assistance, only to discover that the suit is not really cut for doing breaststroke. I had decided to breaststroke most of the swim because freestyle is not my strongest stroke and I tend to suck down water when doing it. The pool will be too crowded to backstroke and my butterfly is laughter-provoking, as well as slow. Then will come removing the skintight neoprene from my wet skin and worrying about the biking and running portions.

I will figure it out one way or the other. At this point, my goal is just to finish the race and I will worry about getting my time down later. At least I should be able to finish one thing on Sunday.

Day 5 - Still no Skullmaster. Will he ever come into the office?