Inside The Perimeter

Shaft!

Unfortunately “Shaft” has never been an apropos nickname for yours truly.

I have things to say, but as the title infers have slept too late to say them today.

One shorty, see never “Shaft”, yesterday was “Christmas in August” as I purchased my ticket for “A Christmas Carol” on December 23rd at Shakespeare Tavern. Though I missed out on the group ticket sale that Deposit Slit does annually, I purchased a single ticket and hope to sit with them; I should be welcome as I always share the bottle of wine that I purchase…

With that I bid you “Auf Wiedersehen!”. Hmm maybe I should try to create a new German phrase — “Auf Wiederbloggen!”

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

This morning I woke up to see a charge on my other credit card that I can’t validate. This time around it’s a $24.99 charge for a “digital purchase” from Amazon. It’s complicated.

1. The cancellation of my first credit card has automatically bumped this second credit card to being the default payment method on some of my accounts.
2. I made a Kindle eBook purchase from Amazon the on Sunday, but it wasn’t for $24.99, it was for $1.99. Additionally, this purchase was made using credit that I have in my Amazon account.
3. I see no order for $24.99 in my order Amazon list.
4. I did make a $24.99 purchase yesterday, but that was with Apple, and that purchase was made using credit on my iTunes account so there should be no charge to this credit card for this purchase.

The charge is currently “pending” so I’ve put a request in to be notified when the charge is officially posted to my account so that I can review it then. If I cannot verify the charge I’ll have to file a fraud claim for this credit card as well. And if it comes to this I’ll have to time the claim carefully so as not to put myself in a state of possessing no valid credit cards.

It looks as if I’ll have to return to my strict credit card policy, having one card dedicated to online purchase, in order to stop these incidents (if possible). I simply cannot spend the time and effort tracking down these unknown purchases any longer.

Laundry, Work, German
All the while trying to figure out how to ensure the hip/leg pain is minimized.

Going to be a busy day…

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Another late post due to sleeping late and being slowed down due to what is now becoming chronic pain in my left hip/leg.

ABC – Alec Baldwin Created
The famous line “ABC – Always Be Closing” does not appear in the Mamet play “Glengarry Glen Ross”, it was created by Alec Baldwin for the movie.

On Friday night I ate a good dinner of a self-selected charcuterie board of pickles, pickled beets, deviled eggs, and bread and then a fried chicken sandwich with a salad, before seeing the play. Of course I also had beer. As I always do when I realize that I am drinking from a chipped beer glass I notified the server when I returned the pint glass to him/her. “You probably should retire this glass.” I tell them with a smile as I show them the chip. On this occasion the waitress thanked me, and notified me that my second beer was on the house because I was such a diligent customer. Cool! For her generosity I added some extra money to my already-somewhat-generous-standard tip.

My first trip to Pinch ‘n’ Ouch was interesting. The theatre is tiny, with a capacity of no more than fifty. In attendance on Friday night were a lot of really beautiful/handsome people, apparently acting students of one of the play’s actors.

With only two, very-sparsely decorated sets “Glengarry Glen Ross” is a perfect play for a theatre company of Pinch ‘n’ Ouch’s size. By and large the actors, and actress, performed their parts very well and I had a good time.

Estate Bound
With the exception of a trip to a grocery store on Saturday, lasting all of fifty minutes, and a trip to the QT on Scott Boulevard in Decatur to get gas and cash, I spent all of Saturday and Sunday at the ITP Estate. While I really wanted to do things outdoors on Saturday I couldn’t because my hip/leg refused to allow me to move about without significant pain.

The pain was lessened yesterday, but my confidence that it wouldn’t return was low, so I remained at home.

Oh well, at least I saved some money.

Compromised Position
As I was a lazy bum all day yesterday, spending the entirety of my morning and early afternoon watching Silicon Valley and YouTube videos I was alarmed to see a $10 credit card charge appear on my I assumed it was the charge from one of the (too) many services to which I subscribe, but quickly realized that I was incorrect. I looked at the notification and with a little online digging found out that the charge was for a parking lot near the office of “XYZ Corp”, a parking lot in which I do not park.

After contacting my credit card company they confirmed that the charge occurred at 2pm yesterday, when I could certainly affirm that I was not at that parking lot, and their transaction stated that the card was present for the transaction. After digging the card from my wallet I confirmed to the agent that it was impossible for the card to be present because it was in my possession.

I used this card twice on Friday, once at lunch near the office and once at dinner near the theatre in which I saw the play. I also used the card once on Saturday to purchase some groceries at a local grocery store. I shan’t name names for these businesses since I don’t know if any of them are the culprit, or if they are innocent. Of course the card could have been compromised at any time, but these were the most recent uses of this specific card.

Last night I made a list of all of the things, subscriptions, auto-pays for which I use this credit cards. Hmmm, this might be a great time to pull back and save a little more money by canceling some of these.

Hooray For Y’allywood
My commute to “XYZ Corp” was slowed today by the throng of workers getting ready to film something down the street. I have no idea what will be filmed, and frankly am not all that interested to find out. Unless of course they have a need for a middle-aged, white male who increasingly walks with a limp and a pained look upon his face to be their lead actor…

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

To my amazement my feet did not hurt last night after an entire day of wearing new shoes.

I Put The ‘I’ In Introvert
Once again I made an attempt to network with others last night. Once again I failed.

The event started off okay, I checked in with no issues and was told that my drink tickets need only be used for hard liquor drinks, and that beer and wine would be freely available for the entire two-hour event. I grabbed a beer, and migrated over to the free food. “Hey, maybe I’m getting the hang of this.” I briefly thought. The food offered was some pita chips and hummus, salad, and chicken wings. I cannot think of a worse thing to offer at a networking event than chicken wings; they are sloppy, no one looks good eating them, and at least for me inevitably get stuck between my teeth. I ate four.

After ensuring that I looked somewhat presentable I started my attempt to work the room.

I just cannot interact with strangers. I had one man come up and chat with me for awhile, but as soon as I excused myself to get another beer I wandered about the room, failing to be able to insert myself into any of the conversations that were happening, and left. And this was a business-networking event, so it wasn’t like I was the old man in the room, like I feel so many other times these days.

I can’t say that it was the best $12 I’ve ever spent, but I was told that my money was going to some sort of worthy cause.

At the elevator some young women thanked the “sir” that held the door for them. That “sir” was me. In addition to feeling old perhaps I am showing my age more these days because I am getting “sir”ed more often.

Other than my phantom (hehe, I accidentally typed “fantom” and it was autocorrected to “fan Tom”) donation the only other positive takeaway for me was getting to see the inside of the newly-opened WeWork, a co-working space. The facility looks very nice, but I’m wondering how long the co-working space business model will be able to stand up.

I drove home and made a dinner of chicken and rice, to heap upon the four chicken wings that I ate at the event.

No Whitewater For Me
I wanted to go down to Columbus tomorrow to photograph some whitewater rafting, as well as do some whitewater rafting myself, but the combination of a sketchy weather forecast along with my leg/hip pain this week has convinced me to stay near home. Dangen!

What Will I Do? What Will I Do?
For weeks I was planning to be out of town tomorrow and returning on Sunday, so I have no idea what I will be doing. I believe that there is a Black Sheep Hash but I can’t risk injury at this point — as “sirs” go I have become fragile.

I guess that if the weather is hot, or rainy, or both I will spend that time in the basement and work on my career-related skills.

Until Monday…

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

There may come a time when I am appealing to a review board at a mental institution for my release. Here is the text that you should provide to them to ensure my detainment.

Yesterday I needed to clear my head, as I have to do often these days, so I left the office on foot. It was nearing lunch time and the temperature was not high so I decided to walk north on Peachtree to see what I can find that was new to me, which of course meant that I would pass on Jimmy Johns since I ate at a different location already this week.

Keep in mind that I have also been complaining about debilitating pain in my left leg and hip.

As I found out, there is not much in the way of food along Peachtree to the north of 15th Street. There was a pizza place that looked inviting, but I wasn’t convinced. I passed by a couple of office cafes, but I could have eaten at the one in my building if that’s what I wanted.

Before I knew it I had reached the Brookwood interchange. Of course the sidewalk on my side of Peachtree was closed, I was informed of this about two blocks from the nearest intersection, so I played fast and furious with my life and crossed the overpass in the street. At this point my destination was Perimeter Pointe Brookwood Place (because I’m not Forrest Gump), the lackluster shopping center that replaced an Atlanta institution known as The Beer Mug.

Fun Fact: I was named at a Monday Night Hash that ended at The Beer Mug.

Trivia to Which I Don’t Know the Answer: Wasn’t there a Kroger in Brookwood Place when it first opened? [the answer is “Yes”, thanks to ITP-Reader ITP Lurker for answering my question]

In Brookwood Place there is a Chipotle, no thanks, and some sort of Thai food restaurant on the upper level and for which I couldn’t see a convenient way enter.

Ahead sat Mellow Mushroom and El Azteca, since I had already passed one pizza place I opted for the latter. Google Maps tells me that I walked 1.3 miles to lunch, which meant that unless I chickened out and called a Lyft, I had a 1.3-mile uphill walk ahead of me.

Keep in mind that I have also been complaining about debilitating pain in my left leg and hip.

When I got up from my booth at El Azteca my hip and leg hurt, and I feared that I had written a check that my body would be unable to cash. I thought that I night have no choice but to call for a Lyft.

You probably guessed that I am too cheap and stubborn to have called a Lyft, so I marched onward.

Did you know that the humidity at this time yesterday was hovering near 99%?

I am a sweater. No, not the comfortable article of clothing that you want hugging your body when the temperature drops, rather a human being that sweats at the drop of a hat (and subsequent bending over to pick up said hat). So, even though the temperature was comfortable, the humidity combined with exercise meant that I returned to the office rather moist. I was so nasty that I considered showering in the workout room, but I had no dry non-workout clothes into which I could change. So, I did what anyone in my position would do, I took my laptop home and worked from there.

By the time I had awaken from my unexpected nap and then did a few hours of work, I was in no condition to go down into the basement and do any of the chores down there that I had intended on completing last night.

Tonight I am attending a social mix-up networking event (can I string together any more useless adjectives?) at Colony Square right after work. So, what is one of the most insane things to do when planning to be on your feet after a day of work? Wear a brand new pair of shoes of course! Want to guess what’s on my feet currently?

And there it is, your ticket for keeping me in good hands at some point in my future. Left to my own devices I clearly will only manage to hurt myself.

Make it a crazy day folks.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Perhaps it was the two beers I had after German class. Or perhaps it was the incredibly comfortable temperature in which to sleep. Regardless, I managed to unwittingly turn off my alarm clock at 5:15am and fall back to sleep, waking again at 6:30am.

For many 6:30am is super early, but for me it is late. I popped out of bed, showered, and jumped into the M6 to fight traffic.

Welcome To Joe’s
As I was waiting for the light at Glenwood / Flat Shoals to change in my favor I noticed that there was only one car in the three parking spaces outside of Joe’s Coffee in East Atlanta. A decision to delay my arrival at work was made and I stopped into to grab of cup of coffee to go.

If I were a real Millenial wannabe I would have gotten my coffee in a ceramic mug and pulled out my laptop to work for a few hours in the coffee shop.

Opportunities Abound
Given that my exercise routine has been upset by my latest bouts with hip/leg pain I am taking this opportunity to reevaluate my eating habits. On a scale of 0-9 (I am a C programmer at heart), where zero is “really bad” and nine is “really good”, my eating habits fall in the neighborhood of -32. It’s why Paulie remains fat. In this case recognition is the first step toward redemption.

With a rare open evening tonight I will be spending time in the basement of the ITP Estate making some changes to the living arrangements down there in preparation for what could be some real life-altering changes coming this Fall. I will also be spending a good portion of the evening coding, because if there is one thing I don’t have enough of it is confidence that I can land a new job quickly in the swiftly-changing environment that is mobile software development. Someone please do me a favor in twenty years, assuming we are all still alive, to remind me to re-read that last sentence so that I may have a good belly laugh when I am 72.

Binging Is For Video Only
I’ve plowed through the last season of “The Great British Baking Show”, the one that stars the four musketeers of TGBBS — Mary, Mel, Sue, and Paul. As usual I loved series, even if the repetition is starting to wear the concept thin. That’s the problem with creativity really, it’s so goddamn good when it’s original, but you have to keep improving in order to keep reaching the high — see also: heroin addiction. (LOL, I initially typed “heroine addiction”. I’ll admit to being addicted to some heroines in my life.)

With the completion of TGBBS I’ve put on my Completist’s Hat and started re-watching Silcon Valley from season 1 in preparation to watch Season 4, which I have purchased from iTunes. Sure, I remember most of the plot lines that occurred in Seasons 1-3, but why not have them fresh in mind when going into the new season?

Okay, it’s “late” and I have many opportunities to confront. Make it a wonderful day, my friends.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

All I need now is to shed sixty pounds, lost twenty-five years, grow a long beard, and start drinking PBR.

Last night I stopped into the Home Depot on Ponce, bagging the idea of eating at Eats because I was nowhere near hungry enough to do so. I went to Home Depot to look at replacement lawnmower wheels, which are expensive, as well as getting a backup lawn mowing plan. I bought a hipster lawnmower, a $200 push mower (I always buy the top of the line if I can afford it, and in this case I can afford it).

Why?

Because:
1. I have no confidence in my ability to replace the pull cord on my current 17-year-old mower.
2. It will cost me almost $35 to replace the two front wheels on my current mower, because it is front-wheel driven. Of course I could by cheaper wheels that don’t engage with the drivetrain, but why would I?
3. I need to mow the lawn before I go to Raleigh at the end of next week and I due to my schedule am doubtful that I will get the gas powered mower running again before then. As we near the end of mowing season I can push the new mower around the lawn and take my sweet time to repair the other one. If the timetable goes like all of my other fix-it projects the gas-powered mower will return to action in 2027 +/ 5 years.
4. I will no longer have to wait for a “respectable hour” before I mow my lawn. If I want to get out there at 7:00am I can now do so without worrying about pissing off neighbors.
5. The added exercise of pushing a mower will be good for me, right?

ITP Flickr Pic
“Literally Literature” (Atlanta, Georgia, United States)

These were left on a break room table at the office. Is someone trying to tell us something?

The Sound Of Silence
I love silence, maybe that’s another reason I am not in a relationship? Well, at my age I get a close approximation of silence due to the years of allowing extremely loud music to enter into my ear drums. My love of silence is why I am no fan of the “open floor plan” workspace. Hello headphones and noise generating app. Goodbye annoying conversations about everything under the sun, and my neighbor’s music that sounds like mosquitos are encircling his head.

So it’s odd that I am not enjoying silence in one aspect of my life — watching Bundesliga 2 soccer matches. It’s weird, but there has been no audio broadcast for either of the two Bundesliga 2 games that I have streamed through the Fox Soccer Match Pass app. Is this intended? Is this how Fox can stream games without concern of advertising (not that any commercial breaks exist in soccer)? I don’t know. I think the most frustrating thing about the silence is that I was hoping to start getting used to the pace of Germans speaking German, even if I didn’t understand most of what they were saying by watching these matches.

Getting On My Nerves
I rode the trainer in the basement last night for about forty minutes, giving up when my left knee, which has been injured for years, started bothering me. I showered and then sat around doing some coding, and when I got up my hip started bothering me.

This is the second workout in a row where I’ve had pain in my left hip area, I know that you know I injured this hip four months ago, after working out. Thankfully the pain this time around is nowhere near as bad as it was last Thursday/Friday. I’m hoping this stays true all day. Because somebody has German homework to do today for his class tonight, and he’s obviously not going to be able to study by watching soccer matches…

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

If you are reading this early on Monday morning there is a good possibility that I am still sitting at Hennessy Mazda awaiting the completion of an oil change for the M6. Of course it is also possibile that I am sitting at the Waffle House across the road from Hennessy eating breakfast, or driving from Jonesboro to Midtown to go to work.

A week from Friday I will be driving up to Raleigh and want to ensure that the M6 is in tip-top shape. I also want to get the work done early enough to handle any unforeseen problems before it’s too late.

Ooops
I forgot that I was going to attempt to replace the broken pull cord of my lawnmower this weekend. Dangen! Looking at my calendar it appears as if Wednesday evening after work will be the earliest time for me to make the attempt to repair this. I need to get this done soon, or find an alternate solution, before my lawn gets too high again.

Making Progress, Slow Progress
Yesterday I spent more time getting an app written in Swift up and running. I can’t tell you how important it is for me to get on the Swift bandwagon, unless of course all of my stocks go through the roof and I cash out and retire.

My goal is to have the app written, complete with unit tests, and being built and distributed via Jenkins and Fastlane by October. I know, you all hate the technical mumbo-jumbo, but it’s kinda necessary here.

When completed I can safely add all of this to my resume juuust in case I need to be distributing that again in the near future.

Bad Luck Charm?
Last night I took a break from my coding efforts to become a soccer watcher. On Friday I mentioned buying a Fox Soccer Match Pass to watch Bundesliga, but as an added bonus I can also watch some MLS games using the service. Last night the Atlanta United played some team in Kansas City, I’m not even sure which Kansas City, and I watched the game by AirPlaying video from my iPad to my Apple TV. Unfortunately Atlanta lost, making me 0-1 as a fan. I just found out that I gave up too early, and that Atlanta tied the game! Maybe Atlanta was able to score because I turned the game off? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Mystery Solved!
A few weeks ago I noticed that my left shoe had a few scratched lines on the top, near the toe; the right shoe has no such lines. I finally figured out what is causing these lines, apparently I don’t open the M6’s driver-side door wide enough, and when swinging my left foot into the car I am scraping it against the bottom of the door. Given the number of lines, as well as the fact that I am just noticing this, my leg movement may have been altered by my bicycle wreck in April. Elementary my dear ITP-Reader, elementary.

Hope your weekend was eventful.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

This is not quite the comprehensive blog that I anticipated because I am struggling today and am well behind schedule.

Today I present a mixed bag of things about which I’ve forgotten to write this week. I’m pecking this out at RiRa as this turned out to be a Happy Hour for One tonight. It’s funny, I came here hellbent on ordering a Reuben sandwich, but wound up ordering some fried pickle chips and a shaved Brussels sprouts salad instead. The pickle chips were okay, the salad (though not very “healthy”) was outstanding.

Starting To Get My Ducks In A Row
After consuming a few Guinnesses (Guinnei?) and some dinner I drove back the the ITP Estate to do some work. I’m trying to write a simple iOS app in Swift, including adding unit tests, and configuring Jenkins and Fastlane to do continuous development and deployment. Still awake? This is what I do for a living, but have never used any of these technologies until now. fall asleep by 8:30pm.

The big news this week was the announcement of the resignation of another mobile developer at “XYZ Corp”. This developer is my boss, and is the third mobile developer to resign in a month.

There is now a distinct possibility that I will be seeking work again before the end of this year.

Moreland Avenue in Little Five Points
I was confused driving up Moreland Avenue the other day because the DOT has restriped the section from Euclid to Dekalb, and have added a bike lane on each side. Theoretically this is a good thing, but a short disconnected bike lane is a useless bike lane.

On What I Am Spening My Money
So, I’m spending money again. I may not be spending it on the things that I normally would however.

I have purchased tickets for events at the Museum Of Design Atlanta. The first event, which was supposed the held next Thursday but has been rescheduled to August 31st. The second is a conversation between Debbie Millman, who has hosted “Design Matters” for a dozen years, and Paula Scher, who is a partner at Pentagram, an influential design company in New York. To give you an idea of how much of a big shot Scher is, she was the subject of one episode of Netflix’s “Abstract”. I’m also contemplating becoming a member of MODA. The museum, which is across Peachtree from The High, is conveniently located while I remain an employee of “XYZ Corp”.

On August 12th I may be headed to Columbus Georgia. Why? For whitewater rafting and photography. I say “may” because I hurt my leg working out yesterday; it sucks getting older.

I am a newly-minted soccer watcher, and have invested in Fox Sports Match Pass so that I can watch Bundesliga games at home, or wherever, on Saturday mornings starting this month.

I have decided that I am probably not going to Phoenix for InterAmericas Hash. I’ve not looked into flights to Phoenix, but the hash hotels seem to be really expensive to me, and I think that I could spend that money in other (better?) ways. I should sell my registration, but I’m terrible at this sort of thing. I need to use my “unlimited” vacation while I can, however, so I’m contemplating where I want to go in lieu of Phoenix. I’d really like to return to Germany again this year, but won’t.

Good weekend to you all!

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I am blogging this morning from the Waschsalon. After what was an unsettling and rather frustrating day at the office I couldn’t convince myself to sit around doing laundry last night. Instead I went home and frustrated myself more as I attempted to write an application using the Swift programming language. I should know better than to have taken five weeks off between the last time I read about Swift and starting to use it.

Rethinking Laundry
Oh no, I’m not rushing to fix my decade-plus long laundry problems…

For years I’ve been sorting my laundry into three loads — white, color, and workout — the latter not getting an addition of fabric softener in the wash. Yesterday it dawned on my that since shifting to using Tide Laundry Pods (probably ruining my clothes and the environment at the same time) that my workout clothes were getting the fabric softener built into the pod. This led me to realize that I no longer needed to make this a separate load, and today I have two loads going — white, color. Now if I had only remembered to put the dark colored clothes that I wore yesterday into the proper bag this morning I would have executed this morning’s task to perfection. Oh well, it’s not like I won’t be back in the Waschsalon again in the near future.

Unexpected Lunch Guest
I needed to get out of the office for lunch yesterday and the weather was agreeable, so I did. At first I thought that I was going to require a beer with lunch so I wandered down to The Nook. When I had visited last week for dessert I noticed someone ordering a pile of tater tots covered in something, which looked delicious; The Nook calls them “Tatchos”.

Because of the cooler temperature I sat outside and relaxed, changing my mind about ordering beer with lunch. As soon as I placed my food order my friend Hank called me and asked me what I was doing for lunch. I told him I had just ordered at The Nook and that if he wanted to join me I could have my order delayed. And he did. It was good having lunch with Hank and having both of us fighting the urge to order a beer with lunch.

I ordered the “Mac Daddy Tatchos” meaning that my pile of tater tots were covered in mac ‘n cheese and ground beef. Unfortunately the description and appearance of the concoction were actually better than the actual taste. This disappointment is probably better for my health in the long run as I can’t see too many beneficial health benefits from eating the components of this concoction.

I’m Missing Plywood Presents
I’m not sure it ever came through loudly or clearly in this blog space, but I’ve been trying to better myself for as long as I can remember.

At this time of year, for the past three years, I’ve attended a conference called Plywood Presents. Plywood Presents is a coming together of people trying to make the world a better place, either by starting businesses or non-profit organizations. Mostly attended by the young (20s-30s), at 50+ I was an outlier (not an unusual role for me). It was at Plywood Presents that I first heard about Kind Bars, Edison Electric Bicycles , Refugee Coffee Co., and Redbeard Brand Beer Soap (which sadly closed up shop this past May).

Three years ago the conference was held in the Egyptian Ballroom at the Fox Theatre, the past two years were held at The Tabernacle. This year the event is being held at the Atlanta Symphony Hall, which meant that I could have parked at work and walked to the event!

Plywood Presents started last night and will be an all-workday-event today. The combination of not feeling comfortable with my work situation earlier in the year (and perhaps less so now?) to take a random Thursday off and the cost of the event (the ticket was somewhere in the $200 range) caused me to decide to skip the event this year. As a tease: tomorrow’s blog will divulge how I have been spending my expendable income in ways other than eating and drinking in bars.

RiRa, Take 2
After work today I will once again be loitering at RiRa. ITP-Reader Steve and I had a good time there last week, if you are up for a beverage please join me.

Happy Thursday.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]