For those who know me, and especially those that know me well, I apologize. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I have been studiously avoiding social contact for the past several weeks. I haven't gone anywhere, and I haven't called anybody.

It must be returning to work. It always throws me for a few weeks, the daily grind beginning again, after 10 weeks off. Somehow, though, it seems harder this year.

This may be due to the fact that I changed offices. It took so effing long to move all my stuff between the two offices, and then it took another full day to get out all of the existing stuff that the preceding person had left in there. It was really a whole week before I was substantively and technologically "in" to my new place, and then another whole week before I had enough people's names down to make a specific plan as to what to do, and when. So, as it's been, now, two full weeks since I went back but have yet to accomplish - oh, anything, really - I really have to hit the ground with my figurative chainsaw drawn tomorrow.

And yet, I don't want to. I want to lie around my house, or go to the gym, or watch Mad Men/ Project Runway/Weather Porn/college football/CNN on the TV. I want to go back to the lake like we did today, thanks to Bill and Julie. I want to drink a bottle of cheapo Vinho Verde and giggle lazily with The Man. I want to play with the girls on the trampoline, and to stay up until 2 AM playing poker. I want to do ANYTHING but work, and by definition, to have to interact with the world.

Sadly, though, I've got nine more months to go. So, I shall steel myself, and do what needs to be done. I will also endeavor to begin calling people again, and perhaps to keep - or to make - some engagements.

Honestly, though, there's not much to report on the home front. I've been super fabulous on my "40 by 40" weight loss and fitness kick...or, I was, up until yesterday, when I broke my nearly month-long moratorium on alcohol. I tell ya, though I did not get drunk, I am not able to drink ANYTHING and lose weight. Not one damn glass of red wine can pass my lips if I want to have any success, because with ONE DRINK, I suddenly lose all inhibitions about what I will eat. I think it makes me a little sick to my stomach, so I immediately must have a cheeseburger/two slices of pizza/10 handfuls of chips to soak it up. And, of course, since I've eaten, I might as well have more to drink, no?

However, I'm committed, and really don't have any more intentions of drinking or eating beyond my limits for weight loss. That's one thing about working; I have a much easier time restricting my food intake when I'm busy than when I'm not. At work, I can really survive just fine on Egg Beaters for breakfast and a Lean Cuisine for lunch; this is just not the case during the summer.

I joined a new gym by my new office. I liked my old gym, Body Business, a lot, but proximity is a big key to my gym attendance. If I have no choice but to drive past it on my way home, I will likely go. However, if I have to drive out of my way to see it, or if it's inconvenient insofar as the "picking up of the kids" ritual goes, I will likely never attend.

So, I sadly dropped the Body Business membership in favor of this new gym, which I will hereafter refer to as "24-Year-Old Fitness." I know what I need to do, and will just get in there and do it without too much fuss, but I think I already hate this place. It's totally crowded and loud, and, as perhaps alluded to in my snarky nickname, it's just so...young. Like, UT student young. (Honestly, why do they go there? They HAVE a nice gym. They should just keep their taut little bodies away from the real people, you know?)

Anyway, for several weeks now, I've worked out, I've dieted, I've been totally sober, and I've started taking th' hormones. You'd think I'd be like 10 pounds thinner, but, sadly, it's more like four. (Maybe three, after eating and drinking yesterday. Oh, all right, today, too.)

Ah, well, the journey of a thousand steps - or "40 by 40," as it were - starts with four, no?

Oh, and yes, I've been marveling over the Sarah Palin VP choice. Some of you know that I read the right-wing websites - the super-crazy ones - a LOT. Like, way too much, honestly. I'm just fascinated by the way they think, and want to know what they're saying about us. Well, they've been loving her for MONTHS now, and were just absolutely delighted that she got chosen.

So, I honestly wasn't too surprised when McCain went for her, though I admit to being a little shocked at his brazenness, his cynicism, and his presumptuousness. I am outraged that he would be so presumptuous as to assume that I might vote for this person, whose opinions are anathema to EVERYTHING I hold dear, simply on the basis of her gender. I am repulsed by the notion that this would, or could, work on ANYONE.

This is not to slander the woman. I've seen a lot of that buzzing around teh interwebs, and I reject that wholeheartedly. I'm sure that she's not evil, and that I could have a perfectly lovely conversation with her in the lounge at work, you know? And, I think that we underestimate her at our peril.

However, this is not to say that I think that Joe Biden shouldn't mop the floors with her in the debate. If she's in this, I say, let her be IN THIS, and if she doesn't know her shit, then let the chips fall where they may.

And, if Joe falls behind in the debates, he can always bring up the fact that an anagram of "Sarah Heath Palin" is "Ha ha Alpine Trash."