Inside The Perimeter

Well, this month won’t soon be forgotten by those of us who have lived through it.

I managed to get outside for a while last night as Bonnie and I went for a walk constantly separated by a safe distance. We were each armed with machetes in order to slice through the pollen.

As a sign of the times and perhaps because it was Monday, not many places in East Atlanta Village were open. Bonnie and I ordered takeout from Flatiron. We each ate an Impossible burger with spicy fried cauliflower. My meal was delicious, but by the end I was feeling a bit like a 🐷; ironic since there was no meat in the meal.

Speaking of meat… had I not been submissive and selected the only vegetable sandwich instead of eating a meat sandwich during my March 6th lunchtime meeting, March 2020 would have been completely^* vegetarian. I put an asterisk there since we all know that certain things may contain animal products, and their inclusion is out of my control.

I have virtual German class tonight. One thing that hasn’t changed in my life is that I am completely unprepared.

This weekend I put my toe into the proper Minimalism Movement waters, well, not really. I did spend a lot of time going through drawers, getting rid of duplicates of things and old papers that I know I shall never reference again. I still have a stack of user manuals for which I need to see if PDFs exist so that I can rid my house of them as well. I am giving the recycling truck a lot to take away today. Apparently I am not the only one spending time ridding their houses of goods, last night the City of Atlanta sent out a voice mail saying that all trash must be in bags, and that bulk trash will only be picked up by appointment. I’m still struggling with how to get rid of things that are either still functional, or for which I have a modicum of sentimentality.

I heard yesterday that my favorite Irish bar, RiRa, has closed permanently. What I was told is that it was planning on shuttering in May because their landlord wanted a year’s rent paid upfront, and that COVID-19 accelerated the closure. Dangen!

Hope you had a decent weekend.

I failed to get anything done last night because all I wanted to do was lay down and watch TV after making dinner, and that’s what I did. For dinner I made an improvised Instant Pot lo mein noodle with vegetables dish and topped it with a few meatless chicken nuggets that I bought at Aldi the last time I was there. It was good, but I added one too many ingredients. 😐

Today I am going to try and do a solid day of work and then give myself the freedom to do absolutely nothing, or more accurately, anything I want to do, without guilt.

Here are a few week-ending tidbits:

– This week I dug through a bag that I used to keep in my car’s trunk prior to the asshats breaking into it last year. The bag was my “emergency” bag and contained two first aid kits (purchased at different times). With the exception of things like bandages, all of the items in each were long expired. This makes me happy since I never needed them, but sad that I had to toss them.

Oh wow, I just crashed Safari on my old iPad Air 2.

– I think that I am going to put together an Amazon order (of non-food items things they will deliver) today. I’ll do a Kroger/Aldi run next week when I start to run out of things I need to make meals.

– Atlanta’s pollen count is crazy again. 🤧

– As I have gone through old Apple boxes I am discovering many cables that I had no idea that I had. Of course, the next generation of products will probably use USB-C and these cables will become fodder for donation and/or recycling.

– As a person who has lived alone for 99.5% 97.2% (I actually did the math this time) of the past 21 years, I’m acing this self-quarantine thing! 💪🏼

Okay, that’s all I have. Until we virtually meet each other later, make it a great day.

Yesterday was better for me.

Though I did not get all of my professional nor personal tasks done yesterday I did get in a good workout (note to self: repeat) and had a virtual dinner with Betsy as we each streamed “Top Chef”.

I thought my day today was going to be interrupted by a scheduled lunchtime all-hands meeting, but alas, it has been postponed. In preparation for this I ate an early breakfast, convinced myself to eat leftovers instead of trying to make my lunch, and postponed my workout until later (hey, maybe I can go outside for a walk today?). I guess that now I can go head’s down after submitting this blog post.

In Goofing Off News:

– I have been binge watching an animated series on Netflix called ”Total Drama” which completely spoofs “Survivor”. The show is a few years old, but I am finding it enjoyable. If you are old enough to remember “Wacky Races” it kind of compares to that, or perhaps the show ”Drawn Together” that was on Comedy Central many years ago?

– I am trying to learn how to make a faux ground beef from vegetables, in part to reduce my dependence on commercially-produced fake meat, and in part because my creative juices have been going crazy since I am not spending time commuting to/from an office. I won’t be able to make this yet however as I lack the vegetables needed to construct it. Perhaps I’ll make a grocery run next week?

– Speaking of the M6, I should probably give it a start today since I haven’t driven anywhere since Saturday, or was it Sunday, morning.

– I have yet to hear back from the roofing company with an estimate.

– I should figure out how to make yard cleanup my daily “workout” during these days when it is not raining nor is it 90°F. It’s the time, poison ivy, and amount dirty clothes produced which make this difficult for me to manage.

Okay, 0730, time for me to move along. Happy Social Distancing all!

I have to admit that this week, including today, has been incredibly stressful for me. Weirdly, very little of this stress is caused by COVID-19. This morning we received an email telling us that an employee of one of the other building tenants has tested positively for COVID-19, but the likelihood that I crossed paths with him/her is low, and I’ve not had any symptoms in the past two weeks.

Because most of the stress inducers are out of my control I fear that things are going to get worse for me before they get better, but I’m trying to keep a calm, collected mindset.

My workout yesterday got postponed, so this morning I went downstairs first thing and pushed myself hard on the trainer for 45 minutes; it felt good.

Hope all is going well in your world.

Wish I had something witty to say today, but I don’t. During these difficult days I may have another situation with which I must deal; fear not, it’s not related to my health.

I looked at my proofing dough this morning and it doesn’t seem to be rising well, even with my use of newly-purchased yeast. Poop.

Hope things are going well in your world.

Oh wait, I do have one thing… Miraculously my scale read 211.0 pounds this morning, the lowest it’s read in many months. I wonder if this means that I am such a bad cook that I am losing weight?

Ah the new (temporary?) normal. For me it hasn’t been too bad, but the cancellation of all hashes until at least April 26 is a bit jarring. I’m returning to the life that I had prior to meeting Bonnie and returning to a life of hashing.

Speaking of Bonnie, we did a little walkabout on Saturday, and yesterday ate some to-go veggie corn dogs and beer in my newly-leafblown carport.

I didn’t accomplish much else this weekend because I was a very sleepy lad for some reason; could be the pollen (or as I’ve started calling it “POLLONA-20”), or it could be that sitting on your ass watching tv isn’t conducive to being active.

Supposedly at 10am I will have someone come out to look at my roofing/fascia problem with the intent on providing me with an estimate to fix it. I hope that it’s not too expensive, given the financial outlook of the world and all, but know that I have to get this done regardless.

With no hash tonight I think that I will try to reverse my lazy trend by getting on my trainer.

We made it to Friday! Wait, it is Friday right?

As I type this I am eating breakfast (a roll) in my car doing the best to social distance myself while doing laundry at the Waschsalon. I may be popping into Target and/or Kroger after this. Anyone need anything? 🙂

Last night I figured out how to salvage my sugarless pumpkin bread. All hail maple syrup!

My goal today is to do enough work to keep my job, and find a way to exercise that doesn’t involve my trainer; after three consecutive days I need something else.

As Ham would say, “Make it a great day”.

Stayed at home all day yet again. Hardest part of yesterday was waiting for my dough to proof (prove?). I’ll find out today how well it did.

I got in another trainer workout, and finished watching the Trans North Georgia series.

I planned for today to be an “out” day, with the thought of perhaps doing laundry (that’ll happen tomorrow morning instead, assuming the Waschsalon is open), and making Kroger and Target runs.

Target sent out an email stating that the first hour they are open hour for business should be for those who are elderly / susceptible to illness, because I don’t qualify (completely) for either category I’ll honor their request and go later.

The other day (yesterday?) Kroger sent out an email of amended store hours in some locations, Georgia was not mentioned. When I awoke at 6:15am I thought I could do the “socially responsible” thing and shop while few people are in the store. Driving through the thick fog added another layer to the feel of the End Days. Nope! When I walked up to the door I saw a paper sign informing me that the Glenwood Kroger is currently only open from 8:00am-9:00pm. I get it, but couldn’t they have put this change in the goddamn email? Perhaps I will try again later. Also, there were many cars in the parking lot leading me to believe the store was open. These couldn’t all be employee cars, could they? And if so, why are they all parked closest to the store? When I worked for Toys R Us we always had to park in the spots furthest away! Harumph!

Oh well, enough ranting for today…

Hello from the ITP Estate! I am proving my theory that I do not function at my best when working from home, no matter how much I love not wasting time of my life commuting.

Yesterday I puttered along and after work I put in a good 45 minutes on the trainer, appropriately attired in my Ireland jersey.

Last night, thanks to ITP-Reader Bonnie, I streamed the Dropkick Murphys’ audience-less concert from Boston.

Here’s my dinner from last night.

It was a riff on pasta with pesto, roasted red peppers, green beans, and almonds, to which I also added garlic and capers. Bonnie, I know that I joked on Instagram about not having a recipe, but I did take notes so I can possibly recreate this in the future. (FYI – the Red Hook bottle is placed there intentionally because its label mirrors the colors in the food, and it’s what I drank with my dinner. 😉)

After the concert I was looking to see if the documentary about the Adventure Race that “General Erectdick” and “Dumbfuck” did last year was available on Amazon Prime, and found Ride to Extraordinary: The Trans North Georgia Race, instead. Apparently this race has been around for awhile and I have never heard of it. Inconceivable! I watched two of the seven episodes and am hooked.

How are you all doing today?