Inside The Perimeter

I must learn not to turn the alarm off and go back to sleep.

He Is Risen
Last night more of my friends (have I ever mentioned how popular I am?) decided to combine our monthy dinner gathering with a surprise birthday party for me. Bastards!

One of the gifts presented unto me was something I figured I’d never see again — The Jesus Clock. For those of you who have moved Inside The Perimeter since last Christmas, The Jesus Clock was won by yours truly as the “Grand Prize” one night at Gravity Pub Bingo. Being the giver that I am, I donated the Jesus Clock as a present at a White Elephant Christmas party thrown my friends Stacy and Phil (bloggers over in that LiveJournal world). When opened there was much rejoicing and I figured that my kindness would certainly never be returned — literally. Last night I found out how wrong I can be.

Some of the group also donned red dresses since I had to miss this year’s hash Red Dress Run due to my Vegas trip. Nice touch kids.

A Place To Lay My Head
I’ve booked travel to the Big Apple, got my second-row seat for Glenngary Glen Ross, but have yet to figure out where the hell I am going to stay in New York. In case you didn’t know, hotel rooms in New York ain’t cheap. A “decent” hotel will at least triple or quadruple the cost of my trip. The time draws near, I better figure this shit out soon. Any suggestions? I know, “Stop being so fucking cheap!” LOL

Oh For The Love Of Air Conditioning
There is nothing like rushing up to the Marta platform in order to catch the train, sit down, and then start to sweat profusely. There may have been air conditioning in the train yesterday, but my body certainly didn’t feel it for the first ten minutes of my commute home. A drive home yesterday may have taken me ninety minutes, but at least it would have been ninety minutes in a climate-controlled environment.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – busy body, but only at work until noon
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Hives — “Two-Timing Touch And Broken Bones”
Website Of The Day – Can you tell the difference between a serial programmer and a serial killer? Take The Quiz.

Off to read other blogs….

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Oversleeping and a nearly-empty tank of gas convinced me that today should be a Marta day. Sure, it would cost more (in the short term) than driving in, but it would save me the hassles of commuting, right?

Is there an official phobia name for the fear of a turnstyle not turning after coin insertion? If not there should be. I have that fear every time I encounter a Marta turnstyle.

I had hoped to be able to blog (sans WiFi) on my commute via Marta but I have realized that most of my train commute time is spent standing waiting for the train. Throw in a transfer at Five Points and the actual train time is diminished. If I started blogging on the North Springs train I’d barely have enough time to get the computer out and start typing by the time we hit Dunwoody.

Today marked the first time I was approached by a homeless person asking me for money on Marta. He no sooner posed the question when a Marta security guard boarded the train and escorted him out. My question is how did he pay for his fare? Does he get a good return on his $1.75 if he attempts this daily?

Hatfields v. McCoy’s, Bloods v. Crypts, MetroBlogging v. AtlBloggers?
Is there a new turf war to be fought here in the Atl? Just when I thought I had it all sorted out, the waters got muddy.

It seemed that everyone in the Atl was joining up to be MetroBloggers. Sure, I first heard about MetroBlogging via an invite to the “Alanta People With Blogs Who Get Together To Drink” meetup, but I didn’t see the two as separate entities really. Then, after the last meetup (attended by many-a-Metroblogger) the APWBWGTTD started their own blogrolling website, AtlBloggers. This could make the next meetup rather interesting….

A Tale Of Two Bourdains
This is the summer of Bourdain — two television shows related to Anthony Bourdain. I predict that one of the shows will be fantastic, the other notsomuch. For those who have not heard of Bourdain, he is a chef who own’s Les Halles in New York.

The first show is called “No Reservations” and is being shown on the Travel Channel. “No Reservations” is nearly identical to Bourdain’s show “A Cook’s Tour” which aired on the Food Network a few years ago. Basically, Bourdain will be travelling around the world eating and drinking the most bizarre things he can find. In the first episode, which was based in Paris, he drank Absinthe from a bottle produced in 1910. This is the Absinthe sought out by those who really want to encounter the hallucinogenic feelings brought about by the liquor.

The second show is called “Kitchen Confidentinal” and is being shown on Fox. This show is based on Bourdain’s book by the same name. In the series Jack Bourdain (because calling him “Anthony” would be too real for Fox) is a chef in New York. I believe the show will be a comedy. I also believe the show will be a trainwreck.

I Will Call Them Threezer
Because I was sent an internet presale code for the Weezer / Foo Fighters show in September I just *had* to buy a ticket. The free Weezer show a few weeks ago left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. This show will be held in Gwinnett (*gasp*), let’s see what going OTP to see this concert does to my sensibilities.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – not bad
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Granddaddy — “Now It’s On”
Website Of The Day – You deserve some Happy News. Go Get You Some!

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Welcome to my first blog post using Safari on my now-obsolete iBook. Yes, Apple has already updated the iBook line since I purchased a few weeks ago. Shame on me for being impatient.

Why? You Say?
Well, it seems as if “old age” is attacking me much more quickly than anticipated. Panic set in last night when I feared that I left my PDA at Johnny’s Pizza on Monday night. I was appeased by the notion that I had recently password-protected it a few days ago, but it bothered me that I could be so irresponsible. Assuming that I would have to wait until 11am to go to Johnny’s to recover it, I have taken a half-day off from work. With time to spare I started a load of laundry, replaced the burned out tail light bulb on my car, and tore my car apart looking for the PDA. I am glad to say that I found the PDA! Unshowered and laundry underway I decided not to swing up the coffee shop for breakfast and blogging, and am blogging from home.

This would be a good time to remind myself (and you) to

• Backup all data on my PDA
• Backup all data on my computers
• Backup all data on my cellphone

Are you seeing a pattern here?

Poker, Po Po Po Po Poker
My ass was handed to me again last night; it was as if I never left Vegas. Well, it was like being in Vegas without the free drinks and beautifully dressed women walking around.

Bob Mould’s “Body Of Song” Safely In Hand
I swung by Ella Guru before heading to play poker and picked up “Body Of Song”. They even had the limited deluxe-boxed edtion, so Mr. Big Spender parted with extra $9 for it. “Why not go big? I’ll be winning it all back at poker anyway.” I thought — so much for being a man of supreme confidence.

Man I am hungry, I need to go find food and start taking notes for tomorrow’s entry….

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – I was lost, but now I have been found
Current Music – Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code Podcast #212
Website Of The Day – What do you call a cold, dark, carbonated beverage? The Great Pop v. Soda Debate.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Can I Get A Chiller In Here?
One of the few benefits I expected moving to hell was functioning air conditioning (there’s a concept to chew on). The air conditioning at the old location was great on some days, non-functioning on others. It seems like the AC plague has followed me. Apparently the chiller in this building went kaput over the weekend and the AC only works to a certain extent. I am sure that there are other circumstances as well, like maybe they shut the AC down overnight and it hasn’t had time to get things sufficiently chilled yet. Either way I sweating over here!

From The Department Of Redundancy
Meet The Hashers were back in action at Johnny’s Pizza last night. My team was nice enough to purchase me a birthday cake. Here I am doing my best Price Is Right modelling with a piece of cake.

Since it was one of those Big Birthdays the cake came with the requisite candle

We won, much to the growing dismay of The Trivia Factory’s trivia host. We didn’t even have our ‘A’ game last night. We missed a question about Dumb and Dumber (the name of the character played by Cam Neely), and one about Tommy Boy (the name of the company saved).

Man, I Need Photography Lessons
A lot of my pictures from Las Vegas are shit. It’s as if I never read the manual for my camera. Oh wait, I never did! Oddly, I thought most looked good in the lcd screen when snapped, but now they are all pretty damn dark. Looks like it’s time for me to learn photoshopping…

Here is one of the better pictures I took while out there. It’s a shot of the Luxor and the Vegas Strip taken from balcony of the Lounge at Mix.

It’s So Hot CDs Must Be Dropping Today
I can’t lie to you, this day has been circled on my calendar for some time. It’s an obvious choice for my CD selection of the Day. And the winner is Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill Accoustic” Bob Mould’s “Body Of Song”.

I’ve mentioned before that I have followed Mould’s career since the early 80′s. Those of you who are interested in seeing him perform live (once again with a full band) at the Variety Playhouse can now purchase tickets. I bought mine yesterday.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – early bird looking for some worms
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Of Montreal — “I Was Never Young”
Website Of The Day – Need a new diet? See what Weight Watchers was telling people to eat thirty-one years ago (link).

Off to read other blogs….

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Sorry for the delays, consider this a Monday ‘nooner’. While I did manage to find internet cafes in Las Vegas who’s got the time?

Sooooo much to write. Given the fact that I am late, I’ll trickle it out throughout the week. Pictures will be up this week too.

Vegas, The Hard Way (Part 1)

But first let’s play a game of “Name That Van Zandt” (the guy on the left).

If you guessed Lynard Skynard‘s “Ronnie”, you are sooo wrong. If you guessed .38 Special‘s “Donnie”, give yourself a point.

Why this nonsense you ask? Well, in our ninety minute delay to fly to Vegas on Thursday night, my friend Stacey and I saw Mr. Van Zandt at the airport. Initially I saw some people getting there picture made with him and I asked Stacey if she knew who he was. She didn’t, and I said that I thought it was a Van Zandt, but I didn’t know which one. So, when the girls who took the picture walked by us Stacey asked them who it was (in hopes that they would know). The girl’s response was “That’s a Van Zandt”. No shit, Sheila! What a great way to start the trip…

A Dinner To Die For AND THEY HAD FAT TIRE
The aforementioned Stacey lied to me when she said that my birthday restaurant was not owned by a famous chef. The restaurant was Mix owned my World Renown Chef Alain Ducasse

Normally this alone would have made me a happy man. Then we went to the lounge for a pre-dinner drink.

Do you know me? Did you know my favorite beer is Fat Tire? It’s the only beer I have ever brought back from Denver when I go out there on business.

When the incredibly hot bartender told me that they served Fat Tire at the bar I nearly shit myself with joy! I would have jumped over the bar an kissed her if I knew that it wouldn’t immediately get me kicked out of the bar. Okay, I would have jumped over the bar and kissed her even if she said that all they served was Budweiser, but that’s another story.

One of the rules in my life is when you go out to celebrate, celebrate! When the waiter mentioned the Chef’s Selection menu consisting of more courses than I have ever eaten in my life, I was ALL IN; fortunately so were Stacey, Andy, and Daniel. We feasted on the finest food I have ever eaten — lobster salad with cavier, shrimp with a horseradish creme freche, bison tenderloin encrusted with pepper, desserts to die for including this homemade candy bar with coconut ice cream

And Fat Tire, all night long!!!

THANK YOU
To all who wished me a Happy Birthday on Friday, Thanks!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – readjusting to Eastern Time
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing World Leader Pretend — “Bang Theory”
Website Of The Day – The makers of Fat Tire, New Belgium Brewery

Off to read other blogs….

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I know what you are thinking after reading Andisheh Nouree’s article in this week’s Creative Loafing (thanks Betsy for the head’s up — how is Reese?) “Oh no, Paulie likes Hello Kitty? He must have gotten The Gay”. Fear not my friends, for I have not.

Hello Kitty makes me laugh! And when I see Hello Kitty I think of two of my favorite things

• Women – I know many beautiful women who adore Hello Kitty.
• Money – Think about the number of items which have Hello Kitty on them. Hell, I’ve even heard that there is a “female personal massager” that bears Kitty’s image.

I am not the only one intrigued by Hello Kitty’s success, even NPR featured an article about Hello Kitty. Wonder why Hello Kitty has no mouth? Check out this website.

(btw – if you need to know about the fannypack reference check out Maigh’s blog archives from last week.)

Things I Have Already Learned Today
It’s not even 8:30am, and I have already learned the following

• Even if you are listening to my favorite song, please turn your volume down on the train.
• Never, ever sing on Marta, not even in the stations.
• My new coffee maker at work is not great and easily overflows. Luckily we purchased butt-ugly dark carpet so you can’t see the spillage. I guess I will invest in a spill tray for the future.
• My antiperspirant is not.

Perimeter Mall’s Food Court Does Not Thrill Me
I needed to make a mall run for lunch yesterday, so that dictated a food court lunch. After giving up waiting for chinese I landed at a “wrap joint”. The gyro was fine, but on the whole I’ll be passing on Perimeter Mall’s food court.

Vegas Baby!
I’ll be packing new iBook and camera on the trip, so if I can find WiFi (hmm, I should us the website I pimped the other day) I’ll be posting “on schedule” tomorrow. Keep in mind that Vegas is three hours behind Atlanta, so if you are an early morning reader, check in the afternoon. The best things that happen in Vegas will stay in Vegas, but I see no reason not to share some of the fun.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – Oh no, my last day in my 30′s!!!!!
Current Music – None, I’m on OLN for the Tour (you should know which one by now)
Website Of The Day – You should have seen this one coming…. Sanrio.

Off to read other blogs….

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

We’ll See How ‘Smarta’ Marta Really Is
I’ve only been to this office twice and the drive home on each day was brutal, over an hour on each day. Yuck!

Today, I did the Urban Commuter thing and rode Marta into work. Right now I am even more happy that I did so since I just heard that all lanes of I285 on the North side will be closed “briefly” while some blasting for the dreaded Perimeter Center Parkway overpass project occurs.

6:53a – leave driveway
7:00a – arrive at Candler Park Marta station, miss first train but luckily second arrives soon
7:16a – arrive at Five Points Marta station for transfer, North Springs train
7:43a – arrive at Dunwoody Marta station
7:53a – sit at desk

This took longer than I hoped, but I am sure that I will be rewarded on my trip home.

I Say 40 Ounces, You Say…
Peanut Butter?

That’s right. I am currently eating my breakfast straight out the jar. The label on the 40 ounce jar of Jif says that it is best when purchased by June 29, 2007. I think that I might be done with it around that time.

On a slight tanget, shouldn’t Jif change its tag line of “Choosy moms choose Jif” to read “Choosy parents choose Jif” since in this day and age dads are likely to be buying the food at the grocery store?

The Patio, Pizza, Salad, Beer
Back in January I made a trip to The Patio in Inman Park. All you can eat pizza and salad for $10, and $2 pints of Sweetwater 420. Good times, good times.

Last night I returned. I am glad to say that the pizza and salad offer still exists (and is quite good I might add), but sadly the beer selection has changed dramatically. The only beer on draft (or is that draught) was Pabst Blue Ribbon, and the selection of bottled beer was less than desirable for my taste buds. The only beer that sounded good to me was one of my old standbys Whitbread Ale. But $6 a bottle!?! That seems more than a bit steep to me.

TOUR DE FRANCE SPOILER WARNING: Damn, My #3 Has Abandoned
I had picked the Win/Place/Show for this year’s Tour de France to be

• Lance Armstrong (Discovery)
• Ivan Basso (CSC)
• Andres Kloden (T-Mobile)

Kloden abandoned due to a broken wrist (pussy).

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – I can almost smell Vegas!
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio via Dish Network, Channel 6026 playing The Faint — “Agenda Suicide”
Website Of The Day – I love random shit, I am sure that That Was Random will occupy my time.

Off to read other blogs….

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Look out, I’m coming at you in every direction.

Dear Free Concert Promoters
Um, if you book bands as large as Weezer, how about finding an area that can handle the size of the crowd? Please also keep in mind the number of people who show up just because the concert is free.

While I was technically at the concert Saturday night, I really didn’t feel that I was at the concert Saturday night. And, was it my imagination or did the volume get turned down when Weezer was on stage?

Death And Taxes
Owie! Owie! Owie! My Dekalb County, City of Atlanta tax notification arrived in the mail yesterday. I was getting prepared to get reamed in the ass this year, but I thought that would be done by a medical practitioner, not the City of Atlanta.

If I Don’t Get My Shit Together, I Won’t Be In The Big Apple
I keep procrastinating. I don’t know why I can’t pull the trigger on this trip, but I can’t seem to do it. Boo me!

Meet The Hashers Sliding Safely Into Third
Damn You “Rolling Stone” for naming Janis Joplin the best blues singer of the 1960′s. Clearly our answer of Mick Jagger was better. This snafu along with a couple of others forced Meet The Hashers to settle for third place at Taco Mac last night.

The Taco Mac in the Highlands has gone non-smoking. Woo Hoo! I even witnessed my new favorite waitress Jen telling a guy that he was not allowed to smoke in the building and had to take his cigarette outside. Nice, very nice.

Working In Hell Didn’t Stop Me From Getting Coffee
I woke up later than desired this morning. Fearing getting caught in traffic I stopped into Joe’s for a cup to go and say hello to the lovely Ellen. Yippee!

Traffic was a bit heavy and a somewhat-full Connector always scares the shit out of me. Maybe I’ll be trying Marta soon to see how that goes.

Like A Sherpa, Touched For The Very First Time
The new office (which I must admit I love my new office, I just hate the location of the new office building) is on the sixth floor. While it’s too late to lose twenty pounds by my fortieth birthday, I have committed to taking the stairs rather than the elevator in an attempt to shed some weight. I might not be in as bad as shape as I have feared. This morning I managed to beat the stairs carrying my overstuffed briefcase, a gallon of water, a grocery bag full of junk, and my cup of Joe’s coffee.

Do The Have Used CD Stores OTP?
Ok, technically the new releases today are new CDs, but the question posed in the title still plagues me.

With all of the hubub about the Pixies over the last year I am not sure how Frank Black (aka Black Francis) had time to make a new CD, but he did. Today, Frank’s “Honeycomb” CD hits the streets — it’s not small, no no no.

Sure, I could have picked “Now That’s What I Call Music! 19″, but I am sure that this contains songs that I really don’t call ‘music’.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – timing is everything, why haven’t I closed my deals?
Current Music – Adam Curry’s “Daily Source Code” Podcast #210
Website Of The Day – Going on vacation in a few days, I need to find out where I can get some free wi-fi using the Free Wi-Fi Finder.

Off to read other blogs….

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

If Found, Please Return Inside The Perimeter
I must learn to like working OTP.
I must learn to like working OTP.
I must learn to like working OTP.

Day One:
Items in car, necessitating drive to work.
Wake up and finally get moving by 5:50am.
Hit road by 6:15am.
Commute through Connector is sketchy, but once past Ikea (or more accurately 17th Street bridge) things open up.
Oh Crap, need 50cent (not the artist, but rather four bits) for the toll booth, luckily I’m prepared (but then again, I am always prepared).
Cross under Perimeter, car starts shaking, I get weird feeling of deja vu from “past life”.
Get to new office partially unload trunk.
Set up computer to blog.
No satellite feeds connected, glad today is a rest day in the Tour de France.
Hoping to find something other than chain restaurant for lunch.

I am here

Game On!

More tomorrow, for today I must unload boxes and set up my new office.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – apprehensive, have chores to do too
Current Music – Accident Hash (not that type of hash) Podcast
Website Of The Day – Sure, Gmail is cool, but look at what you can do with these Gmail Tips

Off to read other blogs….

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

No update today

Mood – sad
TV is on OLN
Website – none

May post later, but more than likely will see you all Monday.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]