Inside The Perimeter

I did skip German class last night, and except for the glacial traffic I found myself in at 5pm it was the correct decision for me. By freeing up my evening I was able to stop at Kroger to purchase the bag of salad and sweet potato that comprised my dinner, as well as put in a 45 minute workout on my trainer. Cycling season will be here before you know it!

At Kroger I also purchased an avocado that was to be the highlight of my breakfast today, that was until I sliced it open and saw how much decay had already happened inside. I swear that it didn’t feel that soft when I picked it up. ☹️

Tonight is a Betsy get-together. It is my turn to cook and have not yet decided what we will eat…

Tuesday Morning Weigh-In (because I forgot that yesterday was Tuesday) – 214.4 pounds. This is not great, but I am back on my quest.

If you are reading this I am glad to hear that you made it through a bitterly cold night. After volunteering (pulling privet, something I need to do at home!), and then having a few beers and sandwiches, I returned home to plop onto the couch and promptly take over an hour’s long nap under warm covers. Bliss!

Given my tiredness and the predicted temperature there was no hope to do Moonlite even though it had a very favorable-for-me start at the Inman Park MARTA station. Instead, I stayed at home and made a delicious faux Chinese dinner of bourbon tofu.

I keep thinking that today is Monday, which might be the only excuse I need to skip German class tonight.

Good weekend which included a lot of hashing, Friday night Southern Comfort that concluded with a Christmas tree bonfire, and Black Sheep yesterday.

On Saturday night I attended a party for which I had to make an appetizer. I put my chef toque on and concocted two fillings for pre-made phyllo cups — a pea purée for one, and caramelized onions that I paired with goat cheese for the other. Inexplicably I failed to take photos of my wonderful creations. 😢

Today I have been given the day off from work and I am choosing to freeze my ass off doing some community service down at Constitution Lake.

Ah Friday…

Last night turned into a wonderful night of relaxation. After work I put in a good 45 minutes on my trainer. Bonnie had a free evening after her long day of performing manual labor with Habitat for Humanity, so she came over and we made dinner. Dinner was a classic “what can be concocted with what’s in Paulie’s cupboard” dish — a mixed lentil curry to which I added a bag of frozen gumbo vegetables, and served with basmati rice.

Because both of us had exhausting days, we opted not to walk up to Elder Tree for bar bingo and just caught up on our weeks’ activities instead.

Tonight, SoCo in the “neighborhood”, complete with a Christmas tree bonfire. 🌲🔥🌲🔥

If I am not mistaken, and I often am about this, I once again missed the “anniversary” of my father’s passing yesterday. He has been dead for twenty-three years? Whoa.

On a brighter note: Yesterday I realized that my self-improvement time needed a catchy name; introducing “The Wee Hours” for the time each day (hopefully) that I carve out to do projects that interest me.

I have to keep in mind that footwear is an important part of staying uninjured, okay less injured. Yesterday’s four miles of walking in Chuck Taylors, perhaps just this pair of Chuck Taylors, rubbed my pinky toes in the wrong.

Dinner at Betsy’s was a delicious split pea soup. This was perhaps the first time that I have eaten split pea soup.

I’m late and have nothing to say today.

I wanted to wake early and hit the trainer before heading to work; wanted, but did not. 😢

Well, at least it’s my payday so I’ve got that going for me today…

A little Tuesday morning leftovers…

Over the weekend I learned that I could assign a charity to receive money from Kroger every time I shop there. I saw that Trees Atlanta was on the list, so I selected them. I discovered this accidentally as I was trying to figure out why a purchase I made last week did not appear in my account. Did you know this was available?

At Reclamation Reformation Brewery last Saturday I saw two, count them two, men dressed in NY Jets t-shirts! It was if they thought the Jets had done something like make the playoffs.

Over the weekend I heard that Lime and Bolt had pulled their scooters out of Atlanta. This decline makes sense due to over-saturation, but I dare say that it almost seems difficult to find a stand of scooters in Midtown now, not that I am looking.

Paulie’s Health Score: B- at best. There are still too many problems and pains, all of which are seeming to linger for too long.

Last night’s Moonlite Turkey Trail Score: D. At least there was a trail, which was shortened and made much easier due to the uncertainty of the rain. Many thanks to Bonnie for helping me lay trail.

Last night’s Eagle Trail Score: A. At least that was what we heard from the six/seven people who ran the six miles that went through some serious tunnels. I have a little sadness that I didn’t run trail, but I am not in running shape and I knew it was going to be long and hard, so I didn’t feel qualified to do it.

We ended at a new brewpub called Bold Monk Brewery, which is spitting distance from Steady Hand Brewing. There is another new brewery called Fire Maker currently under construction less than a quarter of a mile from these two. I wonder if the beer industry is going to incur a contraction just as the scooter industry has.

You know, I have never had a trail that I laid get washed away / canceled, tonight might be a first for me. I’ll have to keep an eye on the weather…

My iOS woes continue. On Saturday my new Apple Watch disconnected from the iPhone to which it is paired. I tried everything I could think to do prior to unpairing it fro the iPhone and starting again, but yesterday I made that leap. And then, that leap encountered an error! Now I am left with a watch that can’t communicate with the iPhone and an iPhone that can’t pair with the watch. Today I will attempt to reset the AppleWatch, and if that goes horribly wrong will make an appointment at the Apple Store for the next appointment after today.

Also, as if that weren’t enough, the weather and roof leak has finally gotten to a point that’ll have me hiring someone to do repairs once this rainy week has ended.

Oh.
Joy.

Happy Monday!

It was almost a very productive night last night, but the amount of preparation and cleanup involved with the two dishes I made last night, after doing a hard 45 minute workout on the trainer, did me in.

Originally I was going to make an Instant Pot’s worth of “baked” beans, and bell peppers stuffed with couscous, cheese, and sausage. The first time I made the beans it was great, last night’s rendition was not as good. When I realized how long it was going to take to cook the stuffed peppers I decided to ditch the idea of stuffing the peppers and bake an impromptu couscous casserole instead; this turned out amazingly well.

I am making today all about me, starting the day at the Waschsalon sans WiFi hence no photo of the couscous casserole. Update, here it is!

BTW- the green you see is basil.

Have a great, and most likely wet weekend friends.

A bunch of quick hits today…

I don’t understand batteries in iOS devices, or perhaps I don’t understand how iOS queries their strength. My iPad Air 2 was at 38%, I restarted it, it was at 58%, and now it is slowly losing charge, reporting at 43%. Look for changes in my iPad lineup this year, but not until I am certain that Apple is not releasing new versions in Spring.

I need to figure out how to make more time for personal projects. Changes are in the works for 2020.

On Monday night the Turkey trail will be set by me and a Mystery Hare. Go ahead, take a guess, you know you are correct.

Last night I resumed “Wednesday at Betsy’s” during which we cook and then watch reruns of “Top Chef”. It was my turn to cook; I made a curry in the Instant Pot that features potatoes, fake steak, peppers (red bell and jalapeño), onions, as well as all of the things you identify with curries such as — curry powder, garam Marsala, coconut milk, etc. The recipe is a Paulie-(highly)-modified version of an Instant Pot Curry Chicken and, if I do say so myself, was tasty.

It feels like Friday to me. At least I am not starting today by mopping water while on my knees. I was going to try to work from home tomorrow, but then remembered that I need to do laundry.

At 54 years old I finally found out from where we get sesame seeds — spoiler, it’s right there in the name.

Tonight is a “stay at home and cook night”. I have ideas as to what I will be making, and will discuss (perhaps with photos) tomorrow.