Snot Cat Is Not Amused

Whoopsie.

Distinguished myself with not one, but two airhead moments this morning. Decided to work out in the evening because I had to finish a project for work by 9 a.m., and a two hour and 45 minute biking/swimming workout just wasn't going to fit.

Airhead Moment No. 1 occurred when I went downstairs to wake up John. For whatever reason, his dog -- Cleo, a 100-pound Great Pyr that looks like a smallish polar bear -- insists upon sleeping with him. Poked my head in the door and saw Cleo taking up most of the bed and figured John was in the bathroom.

He was not, and I didn't discover this until it was time to leave. So I had to drive them to school. It's about a 20-minute drive either way. Not bad, but a pain in the butt.

Airhead Moment No. 2 happened shortly thereafter when I let my Gray Kitten outside. I usually don't let her out, since we've got an unfortunate history of losing animals around the house to coyotes, bears, foxes, weasels, etc. Need I mention it's always the good ones that get nabbed? I'd like to lose a few animals that I'm boarding that aren't mine, but nothing that good ever happens.

Anyway, Gray Kitten is my favorite and only cat these days. We call her Gray Kitten because, well, we never got around to giving her a full name. She was one of eight kittens that her slutty mom presented us with one morning in New York, and she's the last of the litter. At present, her nickname is Snot Cat because she has a cold. And I let her outside. In -10 degree weather. With a cold. And forgot about her for the next 30 minutes.

Somewhere, the Cat Welfare Division is preparing an assault on the house. Snot Cat was not amused when she returned inside. I expect significant social unrest on the feline front.

Tolerable day at work. Tolerable workout. Biked 13.5 miles, 65 minutes, 375 calories while re-reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. Moral of the first part: We're all No. 2 corn and oil. Swam 1/4 mile, 15 minutes, 125 calories. Add 'em up, and it amounts to an Arby's strawberry shake's worth of exercise.

Blech.

Abominable dinner -- started scratch red beans and rice in the crockpot. Didn't use enough water, apparently. Either that, or my crockpot runs a little too hot. Anyway, there were some dry beans and some semi-burned sausage in the pot. Damn. Anyway, it's calories. Only 400 per serving, 21g protein, 76g carbs, and 2.5g fat. None too shabby.

Made three command decisions today:

• I'm eating too damn many calories. So the menu consisted of granola and blueberries with skim for breakfast; one-pot pasta and green beans for lunch; banana for an afternoon/workout recovery snack; and red beans and rice with a tiny bit of grated cheese for dinner. We'll see how long I last on 1,500 calories/day.

• I'm trying to settle on one, two or three marathons for the year. I don't think I'll be ready for Burlington, which is in late May. But I could be ready for Equinox (Fairbanks) on Sept. 15; Demar (Keene) on Sept. 30; or Mount Desert (Bar Harbor) on Oct. 14. Three marathons in one month ain't happening. But it might be good training to do two. I'm thinking Equinox and Mount Desert. Any recommendations, pass 'em along.

• In a semi-related vein, I need to iron out some kinks in my training schedule. I figured out I'm working out seven days and want to cut it down to six, using the last day for cross-training or hiking (or, more likely, sleeping late). And that'll have to be a weekend. Which means I'll have to do two of my long-day exercises during the week. Which will kind of suck. I'm guessing I should swim during the weekend since it will take me more time and I really suck at swimming. The long bike ride, which could take a few hours, probably ought to be done on a weekend, too, since it'll take a few hours. Running, eh. I've gotten used to running long on weekends, and it's never more than a three-hour trot, so that's not a problem for me.

Today's outrage:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030900539.html?sub=AR

Today's web link that I'm adding because it makes me feel better:

www.terrapass.com

It's a nifty site that lets you calculate your carbon consumption for home, plane and car. You don't have to pay to use it unless you want to get rid of your enviro-guilt and add to your moral superiority complex. And I've got a bit of a problem with it, since gas and electric are the only home variables (what about all my trees? I live on 10 acres of heavy forest, but don't get any credit?). But it's a nice illustration of why -- as my dad's been saying for, oh, 35 years -- we need a carbon tax for any number of reasons.

Check it out.