Inside The Perimeter

I’m Not Gonna Make It
Meh! Let’s just say that January didn’t turn out the way I had planned. I blame no one but myself.

1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
Probably not going to happen. I feel huge right now so I don’t even want to know the numbers.

2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
I’d have run thirty miles tonight to make fifty. Guess what, it’s not going to happen. Although I will take some credit for riding my trainer twice, something that was not on the list.

3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
Nope.

4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert.
Nope.

5) Read two books.
Very, very close.

Tune in tomorrow to see February’s Goals. Expect to see most of January’s Goals repeated…

More Shooting, Less Shopping
Too often when I have time to kill between work and another commitment I swing by a Best Buy or Target, or worse go out to eat. With my camera nearly always available to me there is no reason I shouldn’t attempt to shoot pictures instead. Of course there will be days where the weather is shit and I don’t want to ruin my equipment, but those days should be few and far between.

ITP Flickr Pic
Here’s a shot I took for my photography class

What’s funny is that I didn’t think it is a very good shot, but people seem to really like it. Go figure.

On a Flickr side note, I received an email addressed to “old skool” Flickrites telling us that we need to convert our old Flickr logins to Yahoo! logins. Luckily I “own” the InsideThePerimeter user id at Yahoo! already otherwise I would be completely ticked.

Am I Printing With Gold?!?!
On Sunday I attempted to print out running routes for my friends only to find out that my printer’s ink cartridges had “run out” of ink (again). I have been planning on purchasing a new printer, you know one that works with a Mac, but haven’t found “the one” just yet. Because of this I figured it’d be best to buy some black ink for my current printer until such time as I find the printer of my dreams. One Lexmark black in cartridge at Target cost me $29.99 (plus sales tax). Holy crap! While I sort of understand why ink cartridges cost more than their older-technology counterparts, but thirty bucks for one black ink cartridge? C’mon, this stinks of price gouging. I didn’t even consider getting a replacement color cartridge for fear that the $60 spent would be so much more than the printer is worth.

If anyone out there has a good printer suggestion I’d love to hear it.

Clap Your Hands Say “Hey, Where’s My T-Shirt?”
I admit it, when I pre-ordered my Clap Your Hands Say Yeah CD I got suckered into purchasing the “limited edition” t-shirt. I know that another t-shirt is the last thing my so-called wardrobe needed, but it’s a limited edition! Just think how cool I will look when I wear the shirt when I don’t see CYHSY in concert when they come back to Atlanta because I think that they’ve “sold out.” (I am really just kidding about this)

However, at least for the moment, I have been denied this opportunity because when my CYHSY goodness package arrived yesterday no t-shirt was included. Looks like it’s time to do a little investigation…

Watching, Cleaning, Hiding
Tonight will be the only night between now and Super Bowl Sunday that I will be able to clean. In an effort to be a multi-tasking, productive tv watcher I will be spending the night indoors “cleaning” the basement for the party whilst I watch the finale of Top Chef. The basement is not dirty per se, but it does have a lot of crap strewn about that needs to be hidden (insert your own “Paulie porn joke” here).

Remember, even if you went to the spoiler link that I posted yesterday I am still not interested in knowing the outcome until I watch it tonight.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - fat
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Ween — “It’s Gonna Be A Long Night”
Website Of The Day - Most of you know that I love animation. Cartoon Brew is another great animation-centric blog that I like to read.
Exercise (b)Log - none

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert.
5) Read two books.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

After eating dinner (which was egg and sausage casserole revisited because I had the ingredients and wanted to try to make it again) last night some time around 8:30pm I reclined on the couch to watch a little television. I had started some laundry and figured after my food settled I would jump on my bicycle trainer and get some exercise. When I woke up at 11:00pm I assumed my plans were no longer valid.

Apprenticide, Part 4 [And My Last]
I watched Sunday night’s The Apprentice and after an hour of listening to these putzes acting like their creation of a new chicken bowl at El Pollo Loco was akin to saving the world I decided I was done with the show. The Apprentice is officially Dead To Me, and I have deleted my recording timer from my DVR. Thanks to the Super Bowl next Sunday I will have two weeks in which to change my mind, but I really don’t see that happening.

btw- Who is this Andrea Bocelli, “Greatest Singer In The World”, who I have never hear of? I admit that I have my head up the collective asses of the indie / college music scene, but if this guy was so huge shouldn’t I have heard of him?

ITP Flickr Pic

From my visit to Oakland Cemetery last week.

Want To Know The Top Chef Winner Before It Ends?
Supposedly there was a leak of information and according to Angela Gunn of the USA Today the winner of this season’s Top Chef can be found here.

btw- I don’t want to know. I want to find out the old fashion way — by watching the show.

CD Pick Of The Week
When I tell you that today is the official release date for Clap You Hands Say Yeah’s CD “Some Loud Thunder” it should come as no surprise that I am picking it for the CD Pick Of The Week.

I (legally) download the entire disc two weeks ago, but have yet to listen to it completely — something about me being a control freak over my music collection and wanting files to ripped at certain bit rates and conforming to my naming convention or something like that.

I Also Hear That There Is A New Operating System Dropping Today
Microsoft’s Vista releases today. Frankly, I don’t give a rat’s ass.. unless the cost of Windows XP has now dropped.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - well rested
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing !!! — “Hello? Is This Thing On?” (hmmm, that title sounds familiar…)
Website Of The Day - I like girls, someday I hope to get another date with one. In the meantime I’ll go stare at pictures of the women painted on WWII airplanes over at Save The Girls.
Exercise (b)Log - none

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down, one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Drinking Like I’m 199.9 Pounds
For as much as I gripe about my weight you’d think that I’d stop using my piehole as a catch-all for any food or beer that is near it. Sadly this is not true and I am paying for it dearly at least mentally if not also physically.

I understand that I am the gatekeeper of my own piehole which what confuses me most when I wake up on mornings like today and don’t even consider stepping on my scale, and let out a sigh loud enough to fill my entire house because the pants which I put on are far more uncomfortable than they were the previous time I wore them.

ITP Flickr Pic
This is one of the paintings on the side of the building that used to house Lenny’s

I Got Me Some Culturing This Weekend
Watch me as I gloss over the fact that I was at the Islanders/Thrashers hockey game on Friday night and watched my favorite team lose in overtime. Rats! Oh well, I’ll be back on Thursday night to cheer on my boys from the island.

On Saturday I went to see some of that Billy Shakespeare stuff at his theater near the adult video store on Peachtree. Them actors have an awful load of talent. If they’d only learn to speak English so that normal-folk like me can understand them it’d be mostly appreciated. While there I saw the play “The Merry Wives of Windsor” which seemed like a poor title. The wives didn’t act merry at all, they were mostly devious. I guess “The Devious Wives of Windsor” must have been used by another writer by the time Billy penned his play.

After the play a few of us were going to go into this bar called Djanos for a drink. Once I arrived at the door and saw that they were frisking people for weapons I knew that it was not the bar for me.

I Had A Dream, It Was An Awful Dream
Last night I had a vividly-real dream that someone had broken into my house and was holding me at gunpoint. Lovely, eh? I don’t know what triggered the dream (sorry about that pun) but it was so realistic that I had to get out of bed and check around a bit.

I rarely remember my dreams when I awake. I really wish that this had been another of those that I knew nothing about…

What I Am Supposed To Do
I have a ticket for the sold out Jeff Tweedy show at The Tabernacle tonight but am not sure I will be using it. I am so worn out from this weekend, and when combined with my hatred of cold weather I just might bundle up and go to sleep when I get home. Skipping concerts is not something I want to do, but sometimes you need to do the things you have to do when there are competing things that you want to do.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - worn out
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Shins — “Sleeping Lessons”
Website Of The Day - I admit that I have a food addiction. At least by just looking at food photos at Tastespotting I shouldn’t get any fatter.
Exercise (b)Log - none; none; running/walking, 4 miles

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down, one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Welcome to my house. I was going to take Marta to work this morning. I then changed my mind and decided that I was going to drive to work this morning. And then finally I decided that I wasn’t going to work this morning. The only downside of my decision is that it is cold in here. As I sit here drinking black coffee in bed I am singing Squeeze’s song of the same name in my head.

There is so much that I want to do today. Unfortunately I know that I will be unable to accomplish it all.

Have My Rats Grown Furry Tails?
When I got home from work yesterday it sounded like there was a party going on in my attic. Given the time of day and the amount of noise I think that I have misdiagnosed my rodent issue. I now think that I have squirrels instead of rats, but let’s be honest, squirrels are nothing more than rats with a furry tail and a better agent.

I Want To See Gumby Dammit!
And I may today. A few weeks ago I found out that the Center for Puppetry Arts has a Gumby exhibit through March. I want to see it. I want to photograph it.

ITP Flickr Pic
It’s 7:00am (well, it was when I started writing this) and I am hungry. So why am I taunting myself with a photo of food?

Because I can…

Top Cheffing
Last night I watched part one of the two-part Top Chef finale. Unfortunately I sort of knew some of what was going to happen.

I went out to lunch yesterday and couldn’t believe my ears when I heard a table of guys next to me discussing the show. WTF! I seriously couldn’t believe what I was hearing and actually plugged my ears in case they revealed the winner (I thought Wednesday’s show was the finale).

For those in the know the show was down to four — Marcel, Elia, Elan, and Sam. Thankfully (for anal people like myself) in this episode they said that there was a two-month hiatus between the last episode in California and their trip to Hawaii. The four had to prepare Hawaiian dishes that infused their own personalities for some big-name Hawaiian chef’s birthday party. From the reviews you knew that Marcel was in, and Elia was out. However, as Elia, Elan, and Sam sat around after the competition there was hinting that Marcel cheated. Huh, this was never brought up before, wtf? At the judges’ table this cheating was insinuated and dismissed (correctly in my opinion). Marcel received the great news that he would remain, and Elia (who I swore was French, but then there was all this talk about her being a near-Olympic swimmer for Mexico) was asked to pack her knives. The tension was down to Sam and Elan at which point Sam received the heave-ho, much to his surprise.

The final finale could be fantastic because Marcel and Elan really seem to get on each others’ nerves. I hope that the last show will be one big knock-down, drag-out affair.

Oops, I Did It Again
What to do when you have almost all of the components for a lasagne but don’t feel like running out to the store? Concoct a strange, baked ziti style dish of course.

ingredients
1 box penne pasta
1 26oz jar pasta sauce (of course I had one available, mine was Prego w/sausage)
half of a container of ricotta cheese
1 egg
half a package of sliced ham
sundried tomatoes
parmesan cheese
2 cups other cheese (all I had was a package of “casserole mix” cheese)

method
preheat oven to 375F
prepare pasta according to box directions, however cook for two fewer minutes than specified
beat eggs, incorporate sundried tomatoes, ricotta and half of the parmesan and “casserole mix”
layer tomato sauce, ham, prepared egg/cheese mixture as if you were making lasagne
top casserole dish with remaining cheeses

bake covered for 50 minutes
bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes or until browned
remove from oven, let sit for a few minutes to cool

Eat to your heart’s delight
I ate mine with a Sam Adams Light, but a bottle of red wine would have worked as well.

I would have taken pictures of this, but I kinda expected it to be a trainwreck so I wasn’t prepared.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - getting better by the minute
Current Music - listening to Adam Curry’s “Daily Source Code” podcast
Website Of The Day - Remember the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game? Mr Bacon has now associated himself with a community collecting monies for charities over at Six Degrees.
Exercise (b)Log - none

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down, one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

It Never Fails
When I walk into a bar with a beer in mind more-times-than-not the bar does have any of said beer on hand.

Last night’s letdown was the 5 Seasons Glenkevin “Wee Heavy” Scotch Ale recommended by Susan. Upon returning with the bad news I was startled when the waiter suggested a Terrapin Wake & Bake in its place, to which I quickly told him that even though I enjoy Terrapin’s beer, when at 5 Seasons I want to drink 5 Seasons’ beer. While there I consumed one of 5 Seasons’ Delerium Dubbel and one of their Seven Sisters Munchner.

In the end I enjoyed the beers I consumed and the company of the many Flickrites who showed up for the event.

Good-Bye Grinnell
It was inevitable. On that formerly-deserted and recently-gentrified stretch of Highland Avenue that separates Inman Park from the Old Fourth Ward stood.

While passing the shell of the old building the other morning I noticed that the name plate (there must be a architectural term for this portion of a building) had been removed, thus altering the face of my landscape forever. Too bad for me. There was something about this old remnant that really struck a chord with me.

Farewell LiveJournal
My LiveJournal membership is up on Sunday and I’ve decided to not renew. I used to syndicate this blog over to LJ so that people over there could read, but when my move to Wordpress occurred I decided to stop that syndication. Will I miss LJ? Perhaps, but probably not.

ITP Flickr Pic
Another from the Shadowbox Collection.

I have mixed opinions about this shot. What says you? You can be very critical, I can handle it.

Hello MyDomainNameAddiction.com
Yesterday I added a new domain name to my stable of domains. In addition to

• www.InsideThePerimeter.com
• www.InsideThePerimeter.net
• www.nuesslein.us
• www.eatlga.com

I have added www.StopDropAndPoop.com to the fold. Currently it doesn’t point anywhere, but soon it will take you here.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - meh
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Jesus & Mary Chain — “Just Like Honey”
Website Of The Day - About regrets I have a few…. Actually this Regrets is a cool public artwork and study about the limits of human remorse and regret.
Exercise (b)Log - none, again

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down, one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Carbo Loading For A Cause
Last night I met up with a couple of my hashing friends who have offered to help with food preparation for my annual Super Bowl party.

When I started haring the Black Sheep hash which occurs on Super Bowl Sunday three years ago (stupid, stupid, stuuuuupid! — this will be my last!) I realized that trying to conduct the party solo was a really bad idea. Last year my buddy Craig (hashname: Little Sister) worked for a catering company that I hired and my friend Laura (hashname: Martha Screw-It) also came by to help out. This year Craig is no longer in the catering biz so Stacy (hashname: Pumpt’kin) is moving into his place as a sucker volunteer.

For their kindness I took Laura and Stacy out to Figo pasta in the Edgewood Retail District. After a pretty decent meal an a shared bottle of red wine we worked out the food details and I am really confident that the day will go off without a hitch. Well, at least the party portion of the day….

Non-hashing readers, if you are interested in coming to the party let me know. This year’s event will once again be an ALS fund raiser with all proceeds going to the ALS Center at Emory [link takes you to the About page on the ALSride.org site] so I will be asking for a $5 per person donation.

Any Season Is The Right Season For 5 Seasons
Tonight I will be meeting up with thirty-odd Flickerites for happy hour at the 5 Seasons Brewing. Rarely can I say that I am happy to be headed to the Roswell Road / I285 area, but tonight I am.

I think the last time I was at that micro-brewery about eight or nine years ago it was called Cherokee(?) and I was there to meet up with the Atlanta Singles Running Club (or Group). Needless to say neither the “singles” nor “running” part of the group attracted me so I never returned to one of their meetups.

ITP Flickr Pic
This is the glass I received for free a few weeks ago at Taco Mac because Bass was the Beer of the Month there.

I doubt that the beer at 5 Seasons will be served in anything this fancy.

The Number Of The Count Shall Be Three
Three CDs were added to my collection yesterday. With time to kill before meeting the ladies at Figo I swung by Decatur CD to see what they had in stock. While there I was able to find “Born In The UK” by Badly Drawn Boy in the used bin, and “Kill Gordon” by Atlanta’s Kill Gordon in the new section for only $10. I later picked up The Shins’ new disc “Wincing The Night Away” while puttering around Target; it was on sale for $10 as well.

Tessa, if you are reading this I apologize for not making an effort to make it to Criminal as well. I will sometime soon and hopefully you’ll be there.

I listened to the Kill Gordon and The Shins CDs before going to sleep last night and must say that enjoyed each very much. Not everyone will like Kill Gordon’s “Nirvana-esque” stylings (imho) but I was a huge fan of the Seattle movement so I found it to be rather satisfying.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - fair
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Beck — “Beer can”
Website Of The Day - I have a lot of lists to make out in order to make sure that Super Bowl Sunday goes off without a hitch. I think that I’ll used the new list-making site Gubb to accomplish this.
Exercise (b)Log - none

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down, one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I managed to survive “Blue Monday” although it was another one of those “boring nights.” I ate a delicious dinner (alone) at a restaurant whose name I never remember, but always have just called Chi/Thai because it serves both Chinese and Thai food (I can be so clever sometimes). It’s the joint that is right near Southern Nights if that helps anyone. After my photography class I went straight home and curled up in bed with a good internet and went to sleep.

Speaking Of Beds
I read that the fancy-schmancy B.E.D. restaurant in downtown Atlanta is closing. Funny that people don’t want to dress up and then go eat dinner in bed. Boy, we all must be stupid or something.

ITP Flickr Pic
This was one of the shots I took into my Composition class last night.

The concept behind it was “fill the frame”, I seemed to like the shot more than most of the other people. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Tell Me That’s It’s Not Only Tuesday
It is isn’t it. Damn this is going to be a long week.

Jumping Back Onto The Magazine Bandwagon?
Last year I made an effort to let all of my magazine subscriptions expire. It wasn’t like I was reading any of them, so I figured why not. The other day I received a free copy of Cuisine At Home and I thought that it looked pretty good. I am going to make a handful of the recipes contained within and make a decision about whether or not I will subscribe.

See, It’s Not Just Me
Remember a few months ago when I incorrectly called the Anaheim Ducks by their former name of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks? Well, I am not the only one…

This is a screen shot of a Mac OS X widget which has also not been updated. I feel a little better now.

CD Pick Of The Week
For weeks I have groaned about the lack of new CDs hitting the shelves. Open the flood gates. Today Metacritic lists sixteen, yes sixteen, new releases.

Of those sixteen new discs I am torn between two, so I will just go ahead and suggest both. The two CDs in question are Of Montreal’s “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?” and The Shins’ “Wincing The Night Away”. Admittedly I have only heard one or two cuts from each of these so my suggestion of these goes almost sound unheard.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - bothered
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Menomena — “Wet & Rusting”
Website Of The Day - You say you like your new iPod but haven’t found enough books for it? Have you tried PodioBooks?
Exercise (b)Log - none

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down, one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

This weekend I should have been scouting for my Super Bowl trail in two weeks, but my co-hare and I never connected so it never happened. This could go down as the world’s worst trail but at this point I do not care. Next weekend, mostly Saturday, I will go out and define my trail even if I have to do it alone.

Speaking Of The Super Bowl
It’s the Indianapolis Colts v. the Chicago Bears, just like I predicted last week. Or maybe not… Oops! Now you know why I am not a professional prognosticator, and why I don’t bet on sporting events.

What Is Going On With The Price Of Beer?
On Saturday I went to the grocery store to buy the necessary ingredients for the jambalaya I took to the big Cajun shindig Saturday night. In addition I had determined that I would take a six-pack of beer (it wasn’t like I was bringing sand to the beach, parties need beer). WTF is going on with the price of beer? For example, a six-pack of Sweetwater’s 420 was priced at $8.29(!). This is beer brewed no more than seven miles from the Publix in which I was shopping! All of Sweetwater’s offerings were similarly priced. Sam Adams products were about $8 per six-pack as well. While I realized that this is much cheaper than the $4-$5 per pint charged at bars and restaurants I still feel like we are getting hosed.

I Should Know Better
I ducked out of the party on Saturday night early enough to get home and then head to The EARL. When I got home I heard the discouraging sounds of helicopters circling (usually indicates some sort of manhunt) so I laid down on my bed to catch up on my internets. I bet you have figured out the rest of this story by now, haven’t you…

ITP Flickr Pic
I made a shadowbox this weekend.

I think that I will have a lot of fun playing with my new box.

Tell Me Where To Go
I am trying to plan a trip to take this year. Ideally I want to go to a place that I have not visited and is photogenic to some degree. Places that I will not consider

• Hell (I visit there often)
• Florida (lived there for nine years)
• New York City (love it, but been recently)
• Chicago (love it, but visited last year)

As for length of this trip I’m thinking four-five days, if that helps any.

RealiTV Update
Top Chef Is Almost Done
On Saturday I finally got around to watching last week’s episode of Top Chef. All I could think was “Wow.” For those of you who watch, can you believe that Cliff threw it all away by physically restraining Marcel? Can you believe that Elan and Elia shaved their heads?

At the end of the show I also started to wonder about the timeline of the show. The coming attractions show Elia with much more hair than I would have expected a week, or even two, after she shaved her head. I wonder if the rest of the season had similar time gaps and we just had no point of reference.

The Apprentice Is Still Boring Me
I’m not so sure that I am going to make it through this season of The Apprentice. They are trying hard to be different from the previous seasons and it is not working. And if I have to hear more lectures about “toughing it out” and “not quitting” from The Donald and his two children then I know that I am done with the show.

Fiji Me Already!
On February 8th Survivor returns to CBS with Survivor: Fiji. I’ve done a quick scan of the contestants on CBS’ website and am sad to report that I didn’t really see anyone who piques my interest immediately. Oh well…

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - pretty decent
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Guided By Voices — “Teenage FBI”
Website Of The Day - I’ve never understood why people litter. The folks at Litter, It Costs You have put together a pretty decent site letting the public know why littering is so insidious.

Training Target - Fri; Sat; Sun
Exercise (b)Log - none; none; bicycle trainer, 1 hour

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down, one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

How’s that for a title?

My BlackJack Hates Marta
It’s funny how an inanimate object can hate public transit, but it obviously does. The reason I know that it hates Marta is that it tried to commit suicide by running its battery to near death yesterday. It would have died had I not caught it in time.

I’ve been meaning to do a bit of a “Hands On” review of the BlackJack since I purchased it, but have yet to do so. This is mostly because I have yet to figure out how to use it to its maximum potential and until I do I don’t think I should review it. However, I will say this — the battery life SUCKS! I feared this when I found out that the package came with two batteries.

A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed, Part 2
Instead of freezing my tokus off last night (okay, I admit it wasn’t that cold) I chose to help my friend Betsy with a few computer tasks in exchange for a Bass Ale which still occupied her refrigerator because she is self-proclaimed Bud girl. Much to my surprise I received four Basses! (two pounds? who said anything about losing two pounds?) Along with the beer was a great dinner consisting of Publix roasted chicken (remember how I lauded over Kroger’s roasted chicken last week?) and a tasty Indian-spiced rice dish, having too many ingredients to list, prepared by Betsy. I’d go into detail on how Betsy prepared the rice dish except that I was too busy installing her printer, purchasing music on iTunes using her gift cards, and changing all of her passwords so that she is unable to get into any of her accounts. Alright, so I lied about the last two.

We ate dinner and watched My Name Is Earl and The Office, both which were excellent episodes, and with her dog Reese napping on my lap I stayed for that fourth Bass (here’s an interesting side note: The Bass glass I received at Taco Mac last week had a red triangle on the bottom. Oddly that symbol is reminiscent of Bass’ Trade Mark. Strange, huh?)

Once at home I got under the covers and closed my eyes. I was asleep in minutes.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ve shot nothing this week (hmmm, sounds a lot like my exercise routine) so I’ll dig back into the recent archives and pull this one out me arse because I like it and don’t believed that I have blogged it.

I Have To Pour Two 40’s Out For My Homies Today
Today marks the fortieth birthday for two of my friends.

Andrew, known by most as “Little Easy” or just “Easy”, is the sick mofo who is responsible for my hash name of “Wee Little Bit”. Nonetheless I still think he is a great guy and will be in attendance for his annual Cajun Birthday shindig on Saturday night. Currently I am planning to bring a pot of jambalaya with me (note to self: you need to buy ingredients) and possibly leave the party a little earlier than in years past so that I can get to The EARL for the Kill Gordon / Gringo Star show.

Margot, also known as the Human Resources representative at my office, also has hashing ties. Margot is the woman who used to work with Sanitary Not, one of the people responsible for getting me into hashing.

Welcome to the Land of the Old, y’all.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - oddly satisfied although I know that I have a Shit-Ton of things to do this weekend.
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Teenage Fanclub — “Catholic Education”
Website Of The Day - Need to remind yourself of something, for example, the grocery list you need to fill before a friend’s 40th birthday party? Well, go to Stikkit and create as many post-it notes as you need.
Exercise (b)Log - none, argh!

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down,one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

And got second best. My morning commute took one hour via Marta. I feared that an auto commute today would be horrendous given the prediction of rain and ice, so Marta it was. As an interesting aside I know that the train portion of the commute took forty-two minutes because I listened to the entirety of Monday’s Penn Jillette podcast on the train.

ITP Flickr Pic
She said you ain’t ugly you can kiss me if you like…. Well, not really. Rarely do I take sneaky pictures of people but I was sitting around in a doctor’s office playing with my phone, and I thought that she was attractive, and one thing led to another…

Now if I could ever learn to talk to the women I find attractive… Well, I guess that a doctor’s office may not be the right place to strike up a conversation.

“Hi there. What are you in for?”
“Really?”
“Ew, is that contagious?”

Well, that’s how I assume the conversation would go anyway.

A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed
When a good friend puts the “call to drinking at Taco Mac” out, who am I to say no. Besides, Stacy was set to cross over the thirteen-beer threshold for the Taco Mac Passport Club and get her t-shirt. We started on the same day last year so I thought it would be fitting if I was present for her milestone.

I like the Taco Mac near Perimeter Mall. It is usually populated with attractive women, however the service can be spotty. Last week when Stacy and I consumed beer there we were treated to great service by a wonderful young lady named Sunnie, last night we were not as fortunate.

Also in attendance last night to celebrate with Stacy were some local hashers (Portuguese Water Dog and Pumpt’kin) and some out-of-town hashers (All Tongues On Deck (or is that Dick?) and Inquiring Minds Want To F*ck).

Paulie + Three Beers + Really Cold Weather = Sleepyhead
After returning home from Taco Mac I relaxed in a reclining chair and finished one of the books I’ve been reading (”The Digital Photography Book”) and then decided to watch a little tv on the couch. Tv watching started sometime around 9:30pm. I don’t know how much longer my eyes were open because the next thing I remember was waking up on the couch around 5:00am and thinking I heard rodent activity in the attic. This week real traps laced with peanut butter are going up there and I hope one day I am awakened to the sound of a loud snap. Those sonnabitches have been shitting like Playdoh Shape Factories all about my attic and I will not stand for it!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - cold, tired, hollow
Current Music - my iPod playing Bell & Sebastian — “The Blues Are Still Blue”
Website Of The Day - Say you are interested in a new gadget, I don’t know let’s pretend and say an iPhone. If you are curious to see how large this object will be compared to other items but are unable to secure one for comparison all you need to do is go to Size Easy to get a feel for relative sizes.
Training Target - don’t know
Exercise (b)Log - none, I went to Taco Mac giving up on any hopes of exercising

January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [failed]
5) Read two books. [one down, one to go]

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]