Inside The Perimeter

IT has implemented a new proxy keeping us all from the evils of the Internets. I will be much more quiet and non-responsive to emails for a while. And now for your regular programming…

Sixth Week Of Digital 102 On June 6th, 2006
Tonight marks the final week of my Digital 102 class at Showcase. I wish I could be more upbeat about this session, but I don’t feel like I got the same amount of knowledge and enjoyment this time around. Tonight we showcase (pardon the pun) some of the shots that we’ve taken over the last six weeks, and frankly I don’t have a whole heck of a lot to show.
I thought about taking a People Photography class next, but that filled up in no-time, so I am taking the summer off from photog classes.

640 The Hard Way
Yesterday I received what I thought would be my quarterly notice from State Farm informing me that I owe them money due on my birthday. Instead, what I had been sent was a cancellation notice! Yes, this letter was to inform me, a customer for twenty-three consecutive years, that my policy was to be cancelled due to non-payment. It seems that the payment I thought that I had made on May 3rd via their website was never completely transacted, and I was too forgetful to check to make sure that the transaction had occurred.

In order to save my policy, which happens to be much needed considering I am about to renew my auto registration (which still costs me over $250 for the Jackmobile!) this week, I called them up and paid the balance due for a half-year of auto insurance, $640 (those of you with strong math backgrounds will figure out that I pay $1280 in insurance annually for the pleasure of sitting in Atlanta’s traffic). Ouch, that hurt nearly as much as the “routine physical” I endured earlier in the year, and put the kibosh on a purchase I was ready to make.

I vow never to trust State Farm’s online payments again (this is not the first time I’ve had difficulties but it is the first time I’ve received any such notice) and will mail in all payments from here on out. For some reason I trust the US Postal Service more than I trust State Farm’s transaction servers.

Paulie, Paulie, Pumpkin Drinker
After the scare of the State Farm near-cancellation, at least I hope it’s still a near cancellation, I needed a beer.

On Sunday I scored some Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road Pumpkin Ale which was at the hostess’ house. She didn’t care for the beer, so I gladly liberated the final three from her cooler.

With the idea of running the Monday Night Moonlite hash fleeing from my mind I decided to drink some beer and make some dinner. By night’s end I manage to consume all three bottles along with a healthy portion of the sausage, pepper, onion, rice dish that I whipped up.

You’re Hired, Now Get Into That Pontiac And Drive
Was there ever a doubt? I didn’t think so.

La Casita Becomes N/A Casita
I heard through the East Atlanta grapevine that Cantina La Casita had its liquor license revoked last night. I assume that this will have a fairly significant impact upon a restaurant with “Cantina” in its name. I only hope that this can be rectified quickly (much like I believe my State Farm fiasco has been) and the restaurant doesn’t suffer too greatly. I need my local chips & salsa / burro with carne asada / budin de tacos joint, dammit!

CD Pick Of The Week
Once again I look at the list of releases today and none of them click. I’ve at least heard of some of these bands, such as Be Your Own Pet and Camera Obscura, but that’s about all I know about them. I think that I need to spend more time listening to Sirius 26 in order to catch up on the indie / college scene.
Since I have nothing, I’ll suggest running out and purchasing anything from the Iron Maiden catalog. It seems like a fitting suggestion for today.
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - miffed
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Supergrass — “Sun Hits The Sky”
Website Of The Day - Surf Control — the software that will keep us apart.

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I’ve picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as “blogged.”

Exercise (b)Log - nothing

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

My first blog using the Wordpress interface. I must admit that it feels a bit strange, like starting a new job, or dating a new person. I am sure that by week’s end it will feel “normal”, but until then let’s all just grin and bear it.
Okay, I already hate the Wordpress editor! Take your WYSIWYG editor and shove it up your ass! I moved here for control, and I want complete control dammit! Not only that, I’ve already lost part of a post when a save failed, but that’s probably more of an issue with Dreamhost than Wordpress.

They Had Both Kinds Of Music: Country & Western
I spent the better part of Friday evening at The EARL which for one evening assumed the name East Atlanta Redneck Lounge as it played host to the trio of bands The Blue Jays, Amy Pike And The Last Cold Beer, and National Grain.

Had I remembered that “doors at 9:30pm” means “first band on at 10:30pm, last band on at 12:30am” I probably wouldn’t have started drinking at 8:00pm. For the most part I enjoyed each of the bands, which is amazing since I rarely listen to the genre. My apologies go out to National Grain, the band I went to The EARL to see that evening, for leaving early; I was tired and drunk and have no other excuses to provide.

I Zigged When I Should Have Zagged
On Saturday night I headed out to Little 5 Points for the Over The Rhine / HEM show at the Variety Playhouse. Prior to the show I decided to stop into the Yacht Club for dinner and a beer. (Did you know that you need a $20 minimum to pay with a credit card or you incur a $0.50 fee at the Yacht Club? Yeah, I think it sucks as well.)
At the Yacht Club I eavesdropped on the conversation occurring at the table next to mine. From the conversation I gathered that this was a band who was to play Saturday night. From their appearance I surmised that they were to play at the Star Bar. I found out that I was right on both accounts when I Googled Artemis Pyledriver (I found a listing for the Star Bar that night in the Creative Loafing) and went to their website. What I also found out was that Artemis Pyledriver was playing with Valient Thorr the band I saw back in November at Masquerade.

Honestly, I really should have changed my plans and gone to the Star Bar as I was really in need of headbanger music over low-key, female-voiced, soothing music. I wound up leaving after two of Over The Rhine’s songs because I was falling asleep. Oh well, as we say in the hash “You pays your money you takes your chances.”

Sunday Random Sunday
Sunday started out no differently than most non-Black-Sheep Sundays. Wake up, go to someone’s house, run a bit, drink a bit, return home to consider the remains of the day

However, over the remainder of my Sunday I would witness the following

• a call from my friend Barb letting me know that she and a group of others were up drinking at Graveyard Tavern and that I should join them; so I did
• some sort of gathering (a wake?) during which a bagpipe was played
• two people wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods over their heads walking around East Atlanta
• a rain storm roll through East Atlanta when none was predicted
• two men stuffing plastic Easter eggs with slips of paper for some World Cup raffle
• a dead bird on my deck when I returned home from Graveyard

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…

Current Mood - odd, and very frustrated
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Ted Leo And The Pharmacists — “Parallel Or Together?”
Website Of The Day - none since I don’t have the time to recreate all that I’ve lost. Welcome to the “growing pains.”

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I’ve picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as “blogged.”

Exercise (b)Log - running, somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 miles on Sunday

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

As I sit here on my deck surfing the internet (love WiFi), smelling my grill burn off bits and bobs of barbeques past I am reflecting on the day that wasn’t.

It’s now 6:00pm on Saturday and except for getting my hair cut (10:30am), eating lunch at Fellini’s (11:30am), and preparing the barbeque for a summer of home grilling (5:00pm), I’ve feel like I’ve pissed away a perfect day.

I could have read one of the many books that await my attention, but that would have required me to sit indoors. I could have hashed, but I just wasn’t in a hashing mood. I tried to go to the Virginia-Highlands Summerfest, but the parking was non-existent (as I assumed it would be) and as I drove around looking at the happy couples/groups I realized that the social aspect of going was as non-existent as the parking for someone attending alone. I had my camera with me in hopes of being inspired to take pictures, but never encountered anything better than a cliche shot of downtown. I am scheduled to go see Over The Rhine tonight at the Variety Playhouse, but that too is a solo flight and I am not sure whether or not I will attend.

Why should you care? I don’t expect you to. I just thought that today would be one of those days I would look forward to blogging about and instead I am here at home, alone, blogging about it.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - lonely
Current Music - Gomez’ “Out West”, Disc 2

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I’ve picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as “blogged.”

Exercise (b)Log - nothing

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I expect these phrases to exit my mouth often today. My brain is scattered today. I guess I should feel fortunate that it is not also covered, chunked and peppered. Mmmmm, Waffle House…

The Name You Can’t Trust
While finishing up a cup of coffee the other day I turned the cup over and saw this

Now I know that after thinking about it for a second you can understand that it says The Name You Can ‘Trust’, however when I first read it I saw The Name You Can’t Trust and it made me laugh.

Penny For Your Thoughts
I wear a pair of sneakers that routinely get pebbles lodged within their tread. The other day I extracted three pebbles from my shoes and constructed a mini rock formation. I actually dislodged four but I had lost one by the time I was setting up this picture.

My first attempts at photographing (with Ye Olde Pentax Point & Shoot camera) this made me realize that you the viewer had no idea how tiny my little rock formation was. So, I enlisted Honest Abe as a common point of reference.

Hey, I’ve Got A Great Idea!!!
Join me and my friends at The EARL tonight to see National Grain; doors open at 9:30pm. You should probably like country music as that’s the bulk of National Grain’s catalog, but they are really good and as I found out at the East Atlanta Notoberfest Beer Festival they are nice guys.. at least to the people that are pouring their beer.

Country is not you favorite musical styling you say? A Fir Ju Well’s guerilla marketing has informed me that they are playing at Lenny’s Bar tonight. Go see them instead then. You should see one of their shows before their advertised “Final Show” at The EARL on July 1st. Hell, from the verbage on Lenny’s website it’s going to be their final days at their current digs as well. Hurry, time’s a wasting! Leave work now and tell your boss that Paulie said it was okay. I can’t guarantee that you will still have a job come Monday, but you can deal with that next week.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - foggy, hoping my Alavert and coffee kick in soon
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Gomez — “How We Operate”
Website Of The Day - Interested in some juicy, nerd gossip? Then you should be reading Valleywag; it’s as good as anything you will find at your grocer’s check-out stand, assuming you are a nerd.

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I’ve picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as “blogged.”

Exercise (b)Log - nothing

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

That best describes my life’s experience yesterday…

No Hurry Hurry To Return For Piri Piri
Yesterday some coworkers and I decided to try something new over at the Super Target Parking Maze. With a plethora of chains from which to choose (have I mentioned that I am not a fan of chain restaurants?) including Chipotle, Shane’s Rib Shack, Tin Drum, Panera, and Doc Green’s, we chose to eat at the one none of us had ever previously tried… Boneheads.

I left the experience feeling like a bonehead for eating there. There was a line to the door when we arrived. Was this a good sign meaning that the food was so good people would queue up to get some, or a sign of incompetence? The latter was true [note to the cashier who left me standing alone as she decided to go and walk the floor: Never leave your register at lunchtime!]. The food I ate was mostly sub-standard, and even worse it was only mildy warm at 12:30pm, a time at which one would expect all food should be leaving the kitchen piping hot.

Strike one more chain of my list.

Closed? Seriously? Closed?
After Boneheads we headed to Target so that I could pick up a prescription that I dropped off last week. It was now 1:25pm and I was stunned when I turned the corner to find the pharmacy closed for lunch. Huh? Closing an entire pharmacy at Target? During the day? Around lunchtime when many people are out trying to run errands? This might be expected at Mom & Pop’s Pharmacy, but at Target? But wait, it gets better.

As I stood there obviously dumbfounded a Target employee approached me. Here is a transcript of our converstation.

Emp: Hello Sir, is there something that I can help you with?
Me: Yeah, I was coming here to pick up a prescription I dropped off last week.
Emp: Oh. Well what is your last name?
Me: I tell him my last name and spell it for him.
Emp: Well, the pharmacy is closed for lunch and will reopen at 2pm.

If he had no intention of getting my prescription, why did he even bother asking me my name? Am I the only one who finds this strange?

[UPDATE @10:40am: I just made a run to Target to get the prescription. In their defense, there is a sign which states that the pharmacy would be closed from 1:30pm-2:00pm for lunch. I still don't understand why for a store as large as Super Target, and as I stated above it was 1:25pm when I was there (this I know because I looked at my phone after I repeated the story to one of my coworkers).]

Like The WWE I’m Going RAW
There comes a time in every photographer’s life when s/he decides to make the leap to RAW. My time is coming quickly. The format itself doesn’t scare me as I have plenty of flash memory cards and the willingness to fail before I succeed. What does scare me is the increased amound of time it will take for me to get my shots through the workflow of saving, reviewing, editing, and converting to a suitable format for display. Considering my main work machine for photo processing is my G4 iBook which doesn’t have Photoshop CS2 (I do have Elements), I am not even sure of the tools which I will be using to complete my workflow.

Perhaps I should start reconsidering whether or not my time has come to make the leap…

Here’s another shot from my Milstead photostroll last weekend. It’s really too bad that this old runoff chute doesn’t dump water into a large, deep watering hole. What fun it would be to slide down it.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - good
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Ben Folds Five — “Don’t Change Your Plans” (BF two days in a row? Coincidence?)
Website Of The Day - To go along with today’s title, check out this series of photos of a tow truck trying to rescue a car from the sea.

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I’ve picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as “blogged.”

Exercise (b)Log - running and some walking, 4.8 miles

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]