A Little This, A Little That...

Our move to our new place was successful, no problems at all! And my new commute from my new place to my new job is pretty painless, I don't mind the bus nearly as much as I thought I would. We live off of the Columbia Pike, a major thoroughfare in Arlington, so there are ALWAYS buses going up and down it to the Pentagon and Pentagon City metro stations. I love my new job, although I miss my old co-workers and the fun we used to have in the office. But I really enjoy the stuff my new job is focused on. I actually feel like I'm decent at it too, which is a plus. I didn't realize how much I felt like a fish out of water at my previous jobs until I started my new one.

Anyway, back to the new place - we have so much space, I don't think we know what to do with it all yet. We have our big TV set up in the finished basement and our small one set up in our bedroom - we didn't want to have one on the main floor of the house. My friends Ryan and Christine, who I visited over the summer, don't have a TV on their main floor either, just a stereo, and there are so many less distractions. We found ourselves just hanging out and talking alot more than we probably would've had there been a TV present. So, Mark and I are doing the same thing and we don't miss the television AT ALL. We've watched it a little in the mornings and while folding laundry, but that is it. We eat dinner at the table like civilized people, and I think we talk alot more. Best decision ever.

We are still in the middle of unpacking, but the kitchen is pretty much done, as is our bedroom. We have the cable and dvd hooked up in the basement, and I have a little desk set up in the spare bedroom so I can shut myself away and write my final papers for school. The cats LOVE the stairs, they are constantly chasing each other up and down them. We couldn't be happier with the new place.

Switching gears to triathlon, I've been doing some light running post-Ironman. We are lucky enough to still live less than a block from the bike path, so I've been venturing out on that during most of my runs during daylight. This morning I was sporting my M-Dot visor when I did my easy 5 miles. I don't know if I was just imagining it, but I felt like people on the trail looked at me a little longer or gave me a second glance. I'm blaming it on my visor. Or the fact that I was shuffling kind of slow and perhaps they were wondering how such a slow person scored an M-Dot visor. I'm also trying to figure out the delicate balance between wearing no M-Dot gear and Ironman Apparel Overkill. I bought enough clothing and accessories to outfit a small army the day after Ironman - visors, shirts, socks, mugs (and I don't even drink coffee) and an awesome jacket. But I think wearing the jacket with one of the visors while sipping water out of my waterbottle might be a bit much. Brings back painful memories of being 9 years old and wearing my NKOTB (oversized) shirt, with my NKOTB hat, both covered in a variety of NKOTB buttons. Like I said, overkill. So, I may just stick to carrying the water bottle around and bringing the visor out for a run every now and again.

In other news, my final papers for school are trying to kill me. I can feel the hives of Summer 2008 coming back. Take a deep breath and repeat - it's all (hopefully) over in less than two weeks. I hate you, school.