doubting thom

We’re back from New York, and I’ll write more about it later (or hope that Jeff publishes his entry-in-progress soon, in which case I’ll be able to link to it). Bottom line: We had a really nice time, and it was a wonderful birthday. Not generally one for marking holidays or other special occasions, I’d pretty much gotten out of the habit of even acknowledging my own birthday, but having someone to spend it with has made a big difference, and I really enjoyed marking the passage of another great year on this planet with Jeff.

What with work keeping me so busy during the day and so depleted by night, I didn’t get around to posting anything earlier this week about our activities last weekend. Fortunately, Jeff has now posted about the show we saw on Sunday night, The Last Five Years at Alexandria’s MetroStage (just a few blocks from the very first place I lived when I moved to the DC area almost 18 years ago), so I don’t have to write anything more, but can just point you to his post about it.

We’ll be on the 8:35 train to New York tomorrow morning, arriving at 11:45 to begin our quarterly three-day weekend in the city. In the past we’ve travelled up on Saturday morning, returning Monday evening, which has usually meant cramming in two shows on Saturday and one on Sunday. This time we’ll be able to spread the shows out a little, seeing one each day: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (at Circle in the Square, a Squared Circle dream come true) tomorrow night, Spamalot (the show I most want to see) Saturday night, and The Light in the Piazza (at Lincoln Center’s Beaumont Theater) Sunday afternoon before returning by train Sunday night. That should make the weekend a little more relaxing.

Rather than staying at a hotel, this time around we’re subletting from this guy, which also will make the weekend a little less stressful, since we don’t have to worry about whether our room is ready when we arrive several hours before check-in, or if our luggage will be safe in storage at the hotel between check-out Sunday morning and departure eight hours later. Plus, we’ll have access to a real kitchen, where we can keep soda and munchies, and high-speed internet access (though it’s a shame we will have missed meeting him in person, yet again).

We’re planning to do MoMA again (we have a family membership [Ed. Jeff reminds me that it’s actually a “dual” membership.]) on Saturday, and we also hope to see some Flickr and blog friends, possibly over post-theater drinks tomorrow night at the regular Friday night “Mostly Sondheim” event at the Duplex in the Village. The rest of the weekend we’ll make up as we go along.

Of course, we’ll hit some nice restaurants, as usual. All in all, it should be a fabulous birthday weekend.

Tomorrow is a vacation day for me, so today is my Friday. And just in time. It’s been such a busy week at work, and today especially, that it feels like it should have been Friday anyway. Today was the only day I didn’t work particularly late, but then again I was in meetings from 10:00 straight through until 4:00, which meant working through lunch, so in a sense I did work late anyway.

On the positive side, I accomplished a great deal, and when I left today knowing I wasn’t coming back in tomorrow, I felt like I really deserved the break and that I’d done a full week’s work regardless. I also was told by my boss that the executive director singled out for praise some work I’d done for her–at night and over the weekend–the previous week, and my boss pointed out to her that I’d even been sick at the time that I managed to pull it off. So I am appreciated, even if it’s not always made so clear.

The other night I mentioned to Jeff that I wasn’t sure how I felt about turning 43, since 42, at least, was a number that had an interesting connection to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. As I was saying that, though, I remembered that 43 is a prime number, so I became a little more enthusiastic. Then today as I was walking out to my car after work, I had the sudden realization that the month and day, 7 and 31, are prime numbers, too (ok, not a huge deal, since half the months are prime, as are one-third of the days in a month, but still cool).

There’s an excessive heat advisory in effect from noon today through 8:00 p.m. Tuesday [edit: as of Tuesday morning, this now has been extended at least through 8:00 Wednesday evening], with temperatures in the very high 90s and heat indices as high as 110°. The humidity is so high that the forecaster on NPR this evening was noting that even sweating is difficult. That’s too hot.

I sure hope New York this weekend isn’t anything like DC this week.

After work, I went ahead to Pentagon City, where I pick Jeff up at 6:30. I had a Borders coupon good for 30% off a single item, and I knew that Jasper Fforde’s most recent Thursday Next novel, Something Rotten, had just been released in paperback, and the first in his new “Nursery Crime” series, The Big Over Easy, in hardcover. So I decided to use the coupon on the new hardcover, and pay the full price on the paperback. On the way to the cashier, I passed a table full of young adult books, with a posted offer to “buy 3, get the 4th free.” So I did.

Walking out of Borders with my heavy bag of six new books, I stopped in Best Buy to discover a four-foot high box of new computer games offered at two for $40. So I bought two.

So now I certainly have enough to keep me busy… at least for this weekend. Good timing, too, since I’ve been feeling a void after having finished the new Harry Potter book so quickly last weekend.

Oh, and when I got home, there was an early birthday card from my mom, with a note that she wanted me to have my presents–checks from her and from my grandmother–early enough to cash before our trip to New York next weekend, so I’d have some extra mad money while there. Turns out, though, that the birthday cash almost exactly covered today’s purchases, so thanks, Mom and Mammaw, for the cool new books and games you bought me!

When we got home this evening, the phone’s voicemail indicator was flashing; Jeff looked at the call log, and I recognized the name he read off as my doctor’s practice. I didn’t expect the results of the lab work to be done so quickly, but also I had a brief moment of alarm, as she had said that she would only call me if there were something that concerned her; if I didn’t hear from her, she had said, I was to assume everything was fine.

So I listened to the message. The results of the PSA, to check for the possibility of prostate cancer, were negative, and my testosterone levels checked out fine. My blood work overall was fine as well, but here was the “but” that was reason for the call: my cholesterol and triglycerides were slightly high, and the doctor wants me to work on lowering it on my own over the next three months, at which time I’m to come back to be tested again. On the one hand, I know I don’t get enough–ok, that’s an understatement–exercise and that certain parts of my diet could be healthier, specifically, I should eat more fiber and more fresh fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, I’m pretty careful–as I have been for years–about my fat and cholesterol intake. I rarely eat fast food, I certainly don’t eat out anywhere near as often as the national average, and I buy low-fat and low-cholesterol foods.

In fact, sometimes it really bewilders me that the times in my life I’ve eaten whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, I was thin and my cholesterol levels were amazingly low. Once I started watching my caloric and fat intake, however, my weight shot up, my belly began to grow, and so my cholesterol levels apparently don’t want to be left behind.

As far as the seemingly good news about the other test results, I have mixed feelings. I guess it should be reassuring to hear that there’s no indication that anything is wrong, but there are times when a physician’s “I can’t find anything wrong” is, in fact, the least reassuring response. If the symptoms that brought you there in the first place haven’t changed or vanished, if you still feel sick, it’s a little disheartening to hear that there’s no obvious etiology.

Last week I successfully updated my resume, tailoring it more effectively to point out my strengths vis a vis a couple of specific positions in the Bay Area, but my first attempt at a cover letter was much too long and, as was honestly and helpfully pointed out by someone I asked to review it, “a bit too unfocused and anecdotal.” So tonight I take another stab at tightening the prose.

I don’t want to say too much more about these jobs right now, or even specify the company at this point, but I’m feeling at least a little optimistic. I recently met someone who currently works there, and who has been extremely helpful in terms of helping me understand the corporate structure and how and where I might best fit. Even if I don’t end up employed there, I know that I’ve made a great new friend who’ll be out there when we finally do move to the Bay Area.

Originally I had started applying to Bay Area jobs this early–we’d been talking about a second- or third-quarter 2006 move, although at one point we had discussed the possibility of third- or fourth-quarter 2005–primarily because the news that tech-centric jobs are still in relatively short supply in Silicon Valley; I wanted to start feeling out the market and get my name and resume out early, in case it took a year or the better part thereof to land a job. However, submitting applications now means that there’s a better-than-zero possibility that something might turn up sooner than I expected, possibly even much sooner. Jeff and I have begun talking about what that might mean, discussing whether I should hold off a few months, or prepare to move forward. I decided that I need to strike while the iron is hot, and my applications for these jobs are completely serious and honestly intended; I’m prepared to move up the timetable for the move west if necessary.

So, wish me luck. Any of these jobs would be a dream opportunity for me, more perfectly suited, and so incredibly interesting and creative, than I had expected would turn up.

Last night was the GLBT Center’s second “Screen on Stead” event for the summer, an outdoor screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was well-attended, though for next month’s offering–the actual film yet to be determined, though you can cast your vote online from among The Women, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, 9 to 5, Grease and But I’m a Cheerleader–I think that we ought to try to have a strong DC gay bloggers presence. I saw a couple of familiar faces last night, though no one I know well, unlike last month when I ran into my old friend and former dot-com colleage, George, and his partner, Brian.