Inside The Perimeter

Because of my bad behavior on Thursday night Friday morning was a complete bust. I woke up with a headache and dead tired. Things were so bad that instead of going to the German breakfast I was anticipating attending, I went back to sleep in order to feel better. Ninety minutes later I was forced to spring out of bed and throw all of the shit I needed for LEAF into the M6 and get on the road. I had enough time to stop at an annoying McDonalds drive-through before shooting my way up to Black Mountain, North Carolina.

A Few Days Away, No Pictures To Prove It Happened
I met up with the Raleigh Royalty at LEAF and there we spent the weekend walking around, hearing music, and eating — not necessarily in that order. With Los Lobos as the Saturday night headliner I actually stayed up late on Saturday night to see them perform; this has been on my “bucket list” since not getting to see them perform at a small club in St Petersburg, Florida in the early 1980s.

Thirty-something years later the band is still in good form, though I was neither surprised nor overly-disappointed to know that they wouldn’t be playing most of the first album with which I have listened to constantly since the 1980s. Fair enough. What probably did surprise many, myself included, was that they did not play “La Bamba” their famous cover of the Richie Valens song.

I returned home last night after a slow drive home to watch the Falcons flounder again.

In Other Sporting News
Being at LEAF spared me watching my adopted Bundesliga soccer team Werder Bremen play a 0-0 draw with the only team worse than they are this season — FC Köln.

I’ve silently quit Fantasty Football. My team lost to a team that had three positions filled by players on a BYE week. Ugh.

Today is going to be a busy one for me. I have tons of German homework to do, a lot of catching up at “XYZ Corp”, and I have to figure out how to get some exercise today.

Hope yours was a good weekend.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I’m slowing my roll today. Instead of rushing into the office I am lying in bed, under the covers to ward off the chill that has arrived inside the ITP Estate — I don’t dare even think about using the heat at this time of year — and considering breakfasting somewhere prior to blessing “XYZ Corp” with my presence. Unlike most other days I shan’t be leaving the office early either, which is why I have little concern to get in any time soon.

A Good Walk Foiled
My walk back to the M6 yesterday was glorious, even though not a single photograph was created during it. The weather couldn’t have been nicer as I strolled through Piedmont Park and down the Beltline. I even managed to go straight past The Albert without stopping this week. I had a bigger fish to fry! Well, metaphorically speaking at least.

I hoofed nearly 5k (that’s 3.1 miles) with the idea of walking past the M6 and heading for an early dinner at Fox Bros BBQ; I love Fox Bros’ food, but the parking has always been an issue for me. Most times I wind up parked far away on Elmira and having to walk back to the restaurant. I figured that if I could force myself to walk the extra quarter-mile and arrive on foot that I would have executed a perfect plan. However, in my world the perfect plan rarely gets executed; this time a revolt from my body as I marched up the final uphill before reaching the M6 ended my crusade. True, it was still early enough to find parking at Fox Bros, but by that time I decided that I probably shouldn’t gorge on a pile of barbecued meat.

Instead, I gorged on chips, salsa, and a burrito at Elmyriachi once I drove there.

ITP Flickr Pic
“I Wish I Had Editing Chops” (Atlanta, Georgia, United States)

If I had better editing skills I’d love to clone out the conduit you can see peeking through the pattern made by this lamp. This is one of the many interesting design choices that I found inside the MB Dome the other day.

Stare deeply into the photo…
Stare deeper…
And deeper…

You Are Getting Sleepy…
There were still many hours in a normal adult’s evening when I arrived at home after eating dinner. All day I was champing at the bit to get home and do some development work and German homework. I was going to be productive!

And the I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 8:30pm last night.
I nearly slept through the entire night.
I am well on my way to being a real old person.
Get off my weeds!

Have a great Thursday everyone.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I’ve become a one-way MARTA rider. Yesterday I took the train to Peachtree Center station and walked to the MB Dome from there. After the tour, and subsequent lunch, I chose not to take the train again and hoofed it back to work.

Today I somehow managed to convince myself that taking MARTA into work, so that I can walk back to my car later, was still a good idea. Considering that I made it into the office before 8:15am, after a late start, and that I also stopped at Dancing Goats coffee to pick up a cup of coffee perhaps it was a good idea. I’ll see how I feel this afternoon. One of the benefits of being an intown worker is that I have multiple options for getting back to my car these days, so if I am in pain or simply don’t feel like walking, I can choose an alternative method.

Bulla For You, Never Again For Me
After German class last night, don’t ask it wasn’t good for me, my classmate Mike and I decided to try the newest hipster joint in Midtown — Bulla Gastrobar. Mistake.

The bar/restaurant has just opened, so I’ll give them a bye for not having their beer taps working yet. Then, as if on cue the bartender replied with “That’s the only beer we don’t have in stock at the moment” when I ordered a $6 bottle of Lagunitas IPA. Mike had ordered a Cigar City Jai-Alai, so I did the same. When my bill arrived and I saw that Bulla charges $9 for a can of Cigar City I nearly fell off the barstool.

Fool me once,
Shame on you
Fool me twice,
Won’t get fooled again

And to think that I thought GW Bush was an idiot a president. Trump makes him look like a goddamn Rhodes Scholar!

I have so much more to say, but not enough time to say anything else.

Make it a good Wednesday.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

In addition to my normal(ish) Tuesday routine of work and then German class I have added “eating breakfast out”, which was accomplished by going to the new Caribou/Einstein’s on 14th Street, and “tour Mercedes Benz Dome”, which I will be doing later today.

Busy.
Busy.

It might of helped if I had accomplished half of the tasks on my To Do list last night. I did finish reading “Beartown” however and will be ready to discuss the book when I make it up to LEAF on Friday.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Say it with me “Gunter glieben glauten globen”
Thanks, Def Leppard!

Last Monday when I announced that it was the day after the anniversary of this blog I nearly also announced that it was the last day of it as well. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been very busy accomplishing little.

Time has become more of a premium item in my life, and I am trying to maximize the amount that I have left.

Shouldn’t we all? Yes.

Therefore last week I started devoting less time to this space and more time to other things.

What could be more important?

• I am reading the book “Beartown”.
• I am trying to exercise.
• I am devoting more time to learning German. (Not like that nonsense that opened this post, however.)
• I am trying to build a software portfolio that will help me find a job that pleases me, pays my living wage, and doesn’t require me to live in any particular place.
• I am trying to stimulate my creative juices. Like with this photo I took while out walking last Thursday evening.

  

In short, I am trying to make myself happy.

Will I abandon this space? No, not yet.

Will I ignore this space? I will try not to.

Do I still love you? Of course, but naturally only in a platonic way.

Hope you had a pride-filled, enjoyable Green Egg food eating, productive Highland Games planning, or most importantly, wonderful weekend. Mine was okay, though every possible sports team for whom I rooted — Gators, Werder Bremen, Jets, Falcons, whoever is playing UGA, Packers, my fantasy football team, and Islanders — lost. Oh well, like Aaron Rogers’s collarbone, them’s the breaks.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

This isn’t working for me any longer.

Have a good weekend.

Paulie [eatl/ga]

Yet another short one.

I picked a bad day to leave the bag of walking clothes on my bed, instead of bringing it into work as I had planned. The walk back to the M6 was a hot one in jeans. At least I had sneakers in the car into which I could change prior to walking three miles.

Today will be short and long at the same time. I know, makes no sense, but I don’t have the time to explain.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

No time for this today.

[insert static sound file here]

Tschüss,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

In the past twelve hours I have experienced life’s highs and lows. I was pleased as punch this morning, until I did something stupid.

I am running late this morning, with way to much to do by day’s end, and in my haste I fucked up.

ITP Flickr Pic
“Momentary Approval” (Atlanta, Georgia, United States)

Apparently my tweet touched a positive nerve because I have never had a tweet retweeted and favored as much. For about an hour notifications of approval the likes I have never heard before came streaming to my iPhone in the form of notifications. I can’t imagine having real popularity.

And Then There Is This Morning
I am already furious with myself this morning because at the laundromat I did something incredibly stupid. It was not until I started the washer, which I have since found out cannot be stopped once it has started (talk about design failure, or lack of empathy from the person who told me so), that I included my cardboard box of fabric softener in the load of whites that I am currently washing. I know that the box and all of its contents will be ruined, I’m curious to find out how many pieces of clothing they take with it. I also can’t wait to have to fish out small pieces of cardboard from the load. There’s a part of me that would love to just throw out everything in that load and say “Fuck it!”

It’s at this point I should remind myself that fame is fleeting, and the material possessions should not be that important To me.

Now I need to figure out a way to cool down to work on the German homework that I was unable to convince myself to do last night.

A better Tuesday to you,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Monday again? Bah. Humbug! It’s not even Halloween and I am pulling out the Christmas sayings!

Not Much Celebrating
As I mentioned on Friday, yesterday was the anniversary of this blog. Go me!

On Friday evening I went to Theatrical Outfit for their performance of “Boy” which is based on a true story of a boy’s circumcision gone wrong, and the failed attempt to raise him as a girl. Yeah, not exactly light theater. Regardless the play was extremely well acted, and except for the young man who left and never returned the half-filled theater saw a good play.

Saturday was mostly spent milling about the ITP Estate doing chores, and reading. Yes, I said reading. The morning started out on a sour note as I discovered that Lowe’s doesn’t carry any toilet parts that would fit any plumbing made prior to say 1975. My leaking toilet was made in December 1957. In a huff I left the mega-hardware store and headed to Ace Hardware on Scott Blvd. I was too early, so a stop a Starbucks was in order. Upon my return to Ace I was helped by a nice Ace hardware man (cue Suzanne Somers singing the 1980s jingle prior to political correctness!) and I was on my way home. My goal was to improve my attitude with breakfast only to find my initial choice for my meal didn’t open until 9am on Saturday. I don’t get it! I turned the M6 around and ate a lovely old-school breakfast at The Majestic Diner instead.

I. Fixed. The. Toilet! Sure, unscrewing one rubber ball stopper and replacing it with another, once you’ve realized that the modern-day brass rod is too short for your ancient plumbing isn’t hard, but goddammit I think that I fixed my toilet from leaking, for now.

I treated myself to a day of reading. Yes, reading! I am reading, and trying to complete by a week from Friday, “Beartown” a novel written by Frederik Backman, the same man who wrote “A Man Called ‘Ove'”. “Beartown” is about a small town in Sweden who is pinning its future on the outcome of a hockey game, well, that’s what it has been about during the first 40% of the book that I’ve read. The reason I want to finish by Friday the 20th is so that I can discuss the book with Lisa, who suggested that I read it, at LEAF.

ITP Flickr Pic
“Keep Circulating The Tapes” (Atlanta, Georgia, United States)

This weekend I parted with most of my VHS tape collection. I haven’t owned a VCR or VHS player in over a decade. Among my collection were these, recordings from Comedy Central when they used to air Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the 1990s. I discovered MST3K when I moved into my first (and only) coporate apartment; I was in Huntsville Alabama and somehow stumbled upon the show while flipping through the cable channels.

Prior to, and perhaps during its early days on Comedy Central, MST3K built a following by people distributing VHS tapes of the program to friends. At the end of the credits were the words “Keep circulating the tapes”.

No, there was no such thing as streaming video then.

Yes, that’s the same Kodak that used to make camera film, which was also a thriving business when these recordings were made.

They Say It’s Your Blog’s Birthday!
Yesterday just flew by. It must have been all of the congratulatory messages I fielded from the press about my long-running blog, or “binary log” as I like to wrongly call it. Or maybe it was due to the number of times I checked to see my fantasy football team go down in defeat. It was not a good weekend for my sports rooting, though the Jets did manage to outscore the Browns.

Last night I had dinner at Ration+Dram, I ate the Spicy Chicken sandwich, it was not spicy but it was good nonetheless, before going over to Pinch ‘n’ Ouch Theatre to see the one-man performance of “Glengarry Glen Ross”.

I was the first patron to arrive at the theatre. Surprise! No, what was the real surprise was that only seven other people came in after me.

The actor, Andy Fleming, who played all seven parts (of course he did, you said it was a “one-man” show!), did an admirable job. Unfortunately there were parts that he skipped and performed too early, obviously shaking him a few times during the play’s second act, but there is not way that I could learn ninety minutes of dialog. I shook his hand upon leaving and congratulated him for his performance.

I was home early enough to listen to some podcasts and attempt to write some code, because that’s how this old man partys these days!

Hope your weekend was equally enthralling.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]