Inside The Perimeter

‘Tis the end of February and things are not good. I’ll say that I completely missed all of my exercise / weight loss goals so I won’t even belabor those points. Let’s take a look at the rest

February 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) Read two books.
I missed this big time. I am almost done with “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” but no other “book reading” was done this month.

5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
Yep, got this one done.

6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
Check! Today I even purchased a seven-day pass for Marta. Tune in tomorrow to find out why…

7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.
I succeeded here, but in the process have not been so good at keeping my “Walk In My Footsteps” section up to date, nor have I figured out how to publish my Google calendar.

Phoenix: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
One day after I’ve scheduled my flight to Phoenix there have already been issues.

The Good: I decided to bite the bullet and use my SkyMiles to “buy” my ticket (read on…). The flights I selected where labeled as “SkyChoice” and not “SkySaver” so I was prepared to spend more of the 50k SkyMiles that I had in my account than I had originally planned. I was a bit miffed to see that I’d have to spend 47.5k miles for my trip, but then immediately pleased to see that on one of the flights I am booked in First Class. Woo Hoo, this will be my first First Class flight ever.

The Bad: Yesterday I found out that Phoenix’ Sky Harbor Airport will be one of the first in the country to employee the new full-body x-ray machines. They say that it will only be used on those who fail the initial metal detector test. I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of losing my civil liberties. I “get” that 9/11 happened. I also “get” that people used to hijack planes to Cuba. I don’t “get” while so few people are concerned that we are heading down a road toward George Orwell’s “1984.”

The Ugly: At lunchtime I checked my email account and found out that United Airlines is having a “Big, Big Sale.” For as many times as I’ve received these sorts of messages I have never seen Phoenix included as a destination. Of course since I had just made a reservation on Delta this would be different. United is offering $188 roundtrip travel to Phoenix and my Delta tickets are non-refundable. Rats! Oh well, at least I’ll be flying First Class on one flight.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’m not sure why this little guy is so proud, but he certainly doesn’t mind showing off his “stuff.”

I’ll try and go out and shoot more so that I stop posting zoo pictures.

And I Repeat To Myself
“I must not put time critical paperwork in folders!”
“I must not put time critical paperwork in folders!”
“I must not put time critical paperwork in folders!”

Last night I stumbled across a DeKalb County tax document that has been in my possession for months and is supposed to be filed by March 1st. Luckily for me when I went online to see what time the Tax Collector’s office opened I found that I could file this paperwork online.

This sort of oversight has become all too common in the past few years. The last two nights I have started to reorganize my life so that this sort of snafu becomes extremely rare.

“Paulie’s Hundred”
Remember that movie Brewster’s Million where Richard Pryor had to spend thirty million dollars in thirty days? I have a similar, but far smaller task. I have one hundred Flexible Medical Spending dollars to blow by day’s end or I lose it. I already went and bought $50 worth of medication and $300 sunglasses recently. If I had a few more days I’d schedule an appointment with an eye doctor to try and figure out why my right eye has been flittering (if that’s a word) recently. How would you spend the rest?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - okay even though I throw my hands in the air because I am a failure
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Of Montreal — (some really long and utterly bizarre song title from “Hissing Fauna….”)
Website Of The Day - Ever wonder when the sun will rise and set? Sunrise, Sunset is a neat little tool to help you figure this out. Since I’ve gotten into photography knowing this information has become more important to me.
Exercise (b)Log - nada

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Wake up.
Go to work.
Drive home.
Stop for things needed for house.
Cook.
Eat.
Do dishes.
Do two loads of laundry.
Watch Amazing Race.

Even when multitasking some of the above there was still not enough time to get everything I wanted to do done. I need to figure out how to make more with less.

No Stopping This Controversy
Have you ever traveled to East Atlanta by taking a left from Moreland Avenue and gone around the “Welcome To East Atlanta” sign? You know that stop sign at Flat Shoals that was not relative to you if you turning right? You better pay more attention now.

As of yesterday the intersection of Flat Shoals and McPherson was turned into a four-way stop intersection. Ugh, the Traffic Terrorists have won again. This is my opinion of course because I travel along Flat Shoals, and not on McPherson where residents in that part of East Atlanta are pleased because they say that they were kept out traffic flow at that intersection.

My fear is that with each car coming to a complete stop, and then waiting for any other car to clear the intersection that twenty yard section of McPherson between Moreland Ave and Flat Shoals Avenue is going to become a traffic snarl.

Because I live in an old neighborhood and not a modern-day subdivision which has one entrance for a community of hundreds of houses, the net effect of this will probably lead to a change of my path of travel. As another East Atlantan has mentioned in the email fury that has occurred over the last twenty-four hours, I too will make fewer trips through the East Atlanta Village. Fewer trips through the Village will mean fewer stops at the businesses within.

ITP Flickr Pic
More zoo pictures…

I love this shot, but once again it has had little traffic over at Flickr. Huh, I will never figure people out.

Midget And Smidget Are Completely Annoying
One of the things I did manage to accomplish last night was watching Amazing Race. Holy crap the midget and her partner are the most high-strung, annoying, psychotic contestants I have ever seen. I understand the midget having the short temper but…. (Hay Ohhhh!!!) It was shown in the previous season of Amazing Race that it takes a lot to piss off Mary and Dave, and yet Midget and Smidget managed to do that as well.

I was glad to see the annoying New Yorkers (I am one too) get booted from the show. I don’t know how much of more of them I could have handled.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - bothered
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Flaming Lips — “She Don’t Use Jelly” (which is now a purchased song on my iPod as well)
Website Of The Day - Since I did nothing but make fun of Charla from Amazing Race, I will provide “fair and balanced” blogging by making today’s website The Official Website Of The Little People Of America. (ppst, Stacey you should check it out)
Exercise (b)Log - none

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Not me. For the seventy-ninth straight year I was not awarded and Oscar.

Here’s my theory about the Academy Awards. Originally actors and actresses (yes, I still used this term) were the one the only people who cared about the award show. Most of these people were also waiting tables for a living. In the past many restaurants were closed on Mondays. Therefore it made perfect sense to start the show at 8pm on a Sunday night and go into the late hours because none of the people who really gave a shit had anything to wake up for on Monday.

I was having a fun time at Terri’s house with a big group until about 10:30pm when I decided it was time to end my weekend. Besides, there was no way I was going to win the Oscar Pool. (Terri, who was the big winner?)

I Refuse To Sit In Marta’s Penalty Box!
On Friday I Marta‘d to work in order to avoid the dreaded Friday afternoon traffic jam. On my way home I walked up to a BreezeCard gate to enter the station and got some weird message about the sensor being blocked. “Okaaaaay…” I thought, so I walked over to another gate. At this gate I received an error message telling that the card had already been used and that I had to wait. I tried again at a different gate and received the same error message. At this point I got very frustrated and busted through the gate backwards when a patron exited the station. I tried three times to pay to get in so I didn’t feel guilty doing it.

Karma came back to smack me in the face later in the trip however. Along the southbound trip we experienced mechanical issues (what a shock) and then at Peachtree Center station we waited at least ten minutes for the train to resume its travel.

ITP Flickr Pic
Yesterday I woke up feeling lousy and Atlanta was being pelted by rain. When I finally rolled out of bed the skies had cleared and after much internal debating I decided to go to the Atlanta Zoo.

I think that the $19 admission fee is too high, and that we might want to start thinking about closing down zoos and saving these animals’ natural environs instead.

Call For Help Updates
- It looks like the Phoenix trip is definitely on and that I’ll be using SkyMiles instead of buying a $300 ticket. I found out that Delta doesn’t fly from Seattle to Edmonton (for a later planned trip) and while Alaska Air, one of their codeshares, does it doesn’t appear that I can use SkyMiles for their service.

- I’ve purchased a new tripod. I went with a Manfrotto 3021B Pro with at Bogen 486RC2 ball head (Head? Who said head?).

Thank you all for giving me input on these matters. I really appreciate it.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - I have wanderlust, as well as many other lusts
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Klaxons — “Atlantis To Interzone” (It’s fucking house music! Please don’t tell me that house music is the next in line to be called “indie/college rock”
Website Of The Day - Did you also pack it in too early to see all of the Academy Award winners? Head over to Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences to see what you missed.
Exercise (b)Log - None. Sadly, I don’t think that my knee is healing.

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Seminarrific
Last night I attended a Wildflower / Macro Photography seminar at The Showcase School.

Overall I’d say the two-hour seminar was good, even if it wound up being a pumped up slide show put on by the instructor. What worked best for me was that all of this guy’s slides were done in pairs to show the dramatic difference when you take the shot “normally” or when you do it “more correctly”. The course wound up costing me an additional $25 because upon arriving home I ordered a set of collapsible reflectors. I also have a feeling a new tripod is in my future. Suggestions anyone?

Now I must keep repeating to myself “When you have the camera take picture.”

Oops, I Did It Again
WARNING: Survivor spoiler contained within

It seems only fitting with all of the Britney Spears “news” this week that I would fuck up my Survivor Pool again this week the same way I did last week. If you remember last week’s post I lamented because I should have picked Erica again, but instead I chose Sylvia. Did I learn? Noooooooo! I strayed from Sylvia this week and pick Yau Man. And who got voted off the island? Sylvia. Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! (I am glad I didn’t mention anything about cursing in my Lent Lite entry yesterday)

The episode didn’t do a whole lot for me. I did think that it would be fun to set up a large slip-n-slide like they had in the challenge.

Now That Was Certainly An Odd Episode Of The Office
I still don’t know how I feel about last night’s episode of The Office. Last night’s episode was rather unsettling, and more than a bit over-the-top with the Dwight sub-plot, much like the second season of the BBC’s version. I guess I’ll have to keep tuning in to see what transpires.

ITP Flickr Pic
This struck me as rather odd. The other day I went onto my deck and noticed that one of the seat cushions for my outdoor lounge had been attacked. I’ll blame the squirrels.

Could it be that they were mad at me for trying to kill them for living in my attic?

If You Want To Catch A Good Show Tonight
You can join me at The EARL to see De Novo Dahl open for Sovus Radio. As a quick side note, The EARL has become my East Atlanta home away from home. Does anyone out there know the owners? I’d sure like to meet them. I certainly give them plenty of ticket and beer money as well as free advertisements here and in other blogs, I think it’s time to get some sort of perks.

Doors tonight open at 9:30pm. Unless you are a sleep-freak like me don’t plan on doing anything early tomorrow morning because I am sure that the show will end around 1:00am.

Because I Rarely Blog On Saturday
I will wish my mother a very Happy Birthday today (a day early)!!!! Mom, who knows nothing of this blog, will be turning seventy-seven this year. I’m lucky because I love my mother. She has been there for me since day one (pretty obviously, huh) and has supported me through all of my ups and downs. I love my mother a lot. Happy Birthday mom.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - good
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Amy Winehouse — “Rehab” (to finish the Week of Britney)
Website Of The Day - I can sum today’s site up with the phrase “Not Safe For Work”. So when you have some personal time go read the bizaare shit on WTF.com.
If you want a “Safe For Work” alternative go to World Taekwondo Foundation’s Official Website.
Exercise (b)Log - none

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

My home internet connection is acting up again. Remember when I said I was going to change providers? Inertia won out and I didn’t. Shame on me.

It’s going to be 69 and sunny today? Where was this weather yesterday when I was out of the office?

Let’s Call It “Lent Lite”
No being a religious type I’ve never given anything up for Lent. Sure, there was the running joke that I’d give up sex with other partners, but that joke has grown woefully old.

Instead I am starting what I intend to call Lent Lite. During Lent Lite I will be avoiding, but not completely giving up, items and will not burn in Hell if I fail. Along the way I hope to lose a little weight and save enough money on food and alcohol to blow on hookers and blow at a later date.

Here are the three (I am holier than thou for attempting three instead of one) confirmed items to be included in Lent Lite
1) I will not drink soda on Monday through Thursday and will attempt to limit my intake to one-per-day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
2) I will give up laziness as an excuse for not exercising six days of the week.
3) Okay, I lied. I cannot think of three things that I can honestly stick to. I was going give some mention of giving up alcohol some set number of days a week. But seriously, do you think that I could really pull that off? I didn’t think so.

I am not saving the world, but I may be saving the world from a depressed Paulie.

What Would You Do?
I can get a Delta SkyMiles round-trip ticket to Phoenix for “free.” Or, I could book a round-trip on AirTran for about $275. What would you do? What do you think is going to happen to Delta in the near future.

ITP Flickr Pic
None today. I’ve not taken any shots worth noting in about a week. I’ll need to reload the queue and start again ASAP.

Theaterus Interruptus
Or, “All Dressed Up And Almost Nowhere To Go…”
Or, “Damn You Responsible Parents!”
Or, “When You Start Drinking At Home Why Drive To Drink Elsewhere?”

Last night I was supposed to accompany my friend Stacey to see “Almost, Maine” at Horizon Theatre. Unfortunately, as I got dressed to go out Stacey called me to let me know that she had to bail. Her husband got stuck at work and our friend who could help out by babysitting was sick, so she had no other option. I suggested that she let the child stay home alone. In my opinion parents today are so overprotective. And besides, the child is nearly one, sooner or later going to have to learn to fend for herself; why not in the first year? I offered up the advice — “What would Britney do?” Stacey stuck to her guns; I stayed home.

An alternative plan could have been to meet up with the Atlanta Bloggers at Manuel’s Tavern for the monthly Atlanta Bloggers Who Get Together To Drink, but by the time this was mentioned to me I had started drinking at home and didn’t think that it would be a great idea for me to drive somewhere else.

I could have used the opportunity to start to learn Lightroom, or catch up on some of that reading I needed to do, but instead I fucked around all night long.

Living Under Cover(s)
Once I made the determination that going out wasn’t in my plans I got in to bed and started catching up on some internet shows and podcasts (my internet was working last night at least). I had no intention of spending the entire night in bed, but did nonetheless.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - meh
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Badly Drawn Boy — “Once Around The Block”
Website Of The Day - One of the channels I’ve discovered thanks to Joost is called Lime. On the Lime channel they have a lot of programming about environment and spiritual issues. One of the programs is done by the people behind today’s pick, The Lazy Environmentalist. (which sounds like an apt description of someone I know really well — me)
Exercise (b)Log - none

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Because I am not. I am traveling to Macon, GA today to work a career fair at Mercer University. Unfortunately there is a 60% chance of thundershowers in Macon so I’ve left the camera at home. Feel free to leave comments, but don’t expect me to respond today. I will tonight if I get the opportunity.

Another Night Of Heavy Napping
Sometimes I wish that I could gather my sleep up and use it in one continuous sleep. If I could I wouldn’t have slept for at least ninety minutes last night from around 8:00pm - 9:30pm and then have been wide awake long after midnight (which wouldn’t be too bad if not for the fact that I needed to wake up by 5:30am so I could head to Macon). It’s odd to think about living my life differently than I do today, and wonder how I will adapt to living with someone else if that ever occurs again.

Let There Be Lightroom
I am now starting to get serious about photography. The other day I purchased the initial release of Lightroom from Adobe. Lightroom is software targeted at photographers to aide them in tweaking their work and managing their collections. I was going to wait and spring for the next release of Photoshop, however this might provide all the capabilities I need — at least for the meantime. If you are interested in joining the Lightroom world now would be a great time. Adobe is offering Lightroom for a price of $199 for a limited time, and then they will be selling it for $299. If you also act real quickly you may be able to use the Promotion Code of MACWORLD07 and save and additionally $30 like I did.

This has been an unpaid advertisement (not an endorsement because I’ve yet to use the software extensively).

ITP Flick Pic
Seeing this misspelling of the abbreviation for Wednesday on the sign of the Star Bar in L5P always makes me chuckle.

What do you want from a person reading a book about punctuation?

I’m Feeling Joost
A few weeks ago I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and was able to become a beta tester for Joost. Until yesterday I didn’t think that most people would know what Joost was so I’ve not mentioned it here. Then Viacom (you know, that huge media conglomerate that owns things like MTV and Comedy Central) signed a deal to distribute their video via Joost.

In case you still don’t know what Joost is, it’s the “next wave” of Internet television. Joost provides channels and programs to be streamed over the internet and watched on your computer (Windows or Intel Mac). Joost was created by the guys who created Kazaa and Skype so the chances of it becoming at least marginally popular were good and increased ten-fold by the deal with Viacom.

My impression of Joost has been favorable. The number of programs being “aired” are limited so I haven’t spent a lot of time playing with the software. I assume that too will change with yesterday’s news. My only fear is that once the service hits the mainstream it won’t be able to handle the traffic. Until I see otherwise I guess I’ll try to be optimistic, it’s not like Joost’s founders are newcomers to the internet space.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - fat, because I am
Current Music - nothing
Website Of The Day - Ever want to drink your beer faster? Try buying the Shotgunator to help you out.
Exercise (b)Log - none

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I never realized that Dead Presidents’ Day was that popular. All of the internet was rather quiet yesterday.

Ayieeee! Welcome To Fat Tuesday!
Finally a holiday that I can understand and sink my teeth into (pun intended)!

Today marks the traditional end of the good times in New Orleans (some would say Katrina ended them…) because tomorrow people decide to ruin their lives for forty days by giving up something for Lent. Not me, I suffer enough the other 325 days of the year.

Today I’ll be serving up some of my non-famous Jambalaya to my co-workers in order to celebrate the holiday.

Making A Spectacle Of Myself
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A man walks into an optometrist’s office…

With Flexible Medical Spending account money to blow by March 1st I decided to do the practical thing and purchase a new pair of eyeglasses. I wanted to buy something nerdy, and something that screamed “indie music freak”. Unfortunately none of the frames which would be hip with the indie crowd flattered my facial features. So instead, I did the impractical thing; I purchased the most expensive kick-ass pair of prescription sunglasses that I have ever owned (or will own once they are in my possession).

I’ve kind of taken a new attitude on life recently — You better live now motherfucker because this is going to be the only chance that you’ll get.

ITP Flickr Pic
Here is a snapshot of my t-shirt collection…

The formula for building a t-shirt collection like this is

t_shirt_stack = (run_races * 10 years) + (hash * 8 years) + (see_concerts * lifetime) + n

where n = shirts acquired by methods such as gifts, trade shows, and purchases out of need (such as being on vacation and packing the wrong things)

Think I own enough t-shirts? Imaging the size of my stack if I hadn’t purged a few times over the past few years and lost countless number of shirts to ex-girlfriends…

Do You Hear That Ringing?
Perhaps I should have waited until seeing Dick Dale in concert before spending all of that Flexible Medical Account money because my ears are still ringing from last night’s concert. Seriously, this is the only time I wished that I had worn earplugs at a concert. The music was loud, intense, and incredible. For a man who will turn seventy on May 4th, this geezer can still rock!

Don’t think that you are familiar with Dick Dale’s music? Ever hear that guitar riff in Pulp Fiction? You’ve heard Dick Dale’s music then.

The opening band, called The Booze, wasn’t too bad either. I was really glad to run into my hashing friends Portuguese Water Dog and Will You Suck? so that I have someone to confirm that the lead singer for The Booze could have easly passed for the hasher Surly Temple’s brother.

Before going up the The EARL I watched Lords of Dogtown about the surfing / skateboard scene in the 1970’s / 1980’s. Overall I thought that the movie was pretty decent and I laughed out loud at the cameo appearance done by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. In the movie Hawk appears as an astronaut (not sure if he was wearing diapers) who asks to try out one of the skateboards and falls on his ass immediately. The kid says something about it being harder than it looks, to which Hack responds “It must be the moon boots.”

CD Pick Of The Week
With the big Valentine’s / Presidents’ Day season behind us the new CD racks are jammed with CDs dropping today. Unfortunately I don’t know who the hell most of these artists are…

• Aqueduct
• The Besnard Lakes (I misread this as The Barenaked Ladies)
• Calla
• Bobby Conn
• Jill Cunniff [of Luscious Jackson]
• Dolorean (I remember the car)
• Explosions In The Sky
• Field Music
• The Frames
• k-os
• Pop Levi
• PG Six
• Richard Swift
• Trans Am (it’s a double-car day)

Of the artists listed I have heard tracks from Aqueduct, The Frames, and Trans Am. It looks like I need to spend more time listening to Sirius and less time listening to podcasts.

I’ll pick the Trans Am CD for no other reason than I saw that they are playing The EARL in April. Bully for them!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - fat
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing k-os — “Sunday Morning” (one of the bands with a new release today; I didn’t like it.
Website Of The Day - I really dig the handing chairs made by SKY Chairs. If I had a good place to put one in my house I’d be all over buying one right now.
Exercise (b)Log - none

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Or is it Merry Dead Presidents’ Day? I can never remember.

The cold weather this weekend really screwed with my plans to do things. I wound up spending nearly the entire weekend in the house — no running, no hashing, and no photography. I did plenty of cooking, television watching, and podcast listening, with a smattering of reading instead. Somehow I also managed to spend a shitload of money this weekend. You’ll read the details of my purchases over the next few months.

Britney Shears
How could I not start with what was the obviously the biggest news story from the weekend (forget that people are dying all over the world, because that is old news)?

To further prove that I am a little more than left-of-center when compared to the rest of society I have a different slant on the Britney Spears story.

Everyone seems to be stunned that Britney has shaved her head. I have admitted that I am attracted to women with short hair, although this is a bit extreme even by my standards, so I am not too flipped out by this. People seem to forget that her hair will eventually grow back, or she can adorn a wig whenever she desires. What no one else seems to mind was that she followed this action by going to a tattoo parlor and permanently embedding ink into her body.

So what I gather from the publics’ reaction is that temporary bodily disfigurement bad, permanent bodily disfigurement good. No sir, I just can’t agree.

And The List Keeps Growing
Over the weekend I read yet another post from a blogger who is hanging up the digital bits. I have decided to start tracking the deaths of my favorite blogs over in a new section called “Blog Dead Pool.”

To balance the news I went to my domain registrars and re-upped my domain names. I’m not going away any time soon.

There’s A New Nuke In Town
On Saturday morning I quickly figured out that outdoor activities were not in my future. I decided to use the time to go out and purchase a new microwave. I did some research on the microwaves offered by Sears, Best Buy, and Lowe’s. Before trekking out to Northlake Mall I headed to Edgewood Retail District to compare the in-store offerings of Best Buy and Lowe’s. I arrived at ERD around 9:50am to find Best Buy closed (they open at 10:00am), so I headed directly to Lowe’s. When I left Lowe’s I had a microwave in hand. The moral of this story? Stores should open early on Saturdays if they want the early-bird business.

ITP Flickr Pic
I did a lot of cooking this weekend

This was a chicken curry dish from Real Simple magazine. It was good, but could use a little more oomph!

It’s On Like Donkey Kong
Oh CBS, you tried hard to fuck things up but I was too clever for you this time. Now that we are out of football season I saw no reason to believe that the Amazing Race would start late, but for some reason it did.

With but one episode in the books I am hooked! Because I was a late adopter of the Amazing Race (season seven I believe) I am not familiar with all of the All Stars. I was a little startled to see that Eric and Danielle have hooked up. I remember their flirtatious ways, but figured it was nothing more than a showmance.

Look Who’s Going Out Tonight
Tonight I’ll be braving whatever cold exists to head up to The EARL to see guitar legend Dick Dale. I am hopeful that this will be the great display of guitar playing that I imagine that it will.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - fair
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Shins — “New Slang”
Website Of The Day - Urban Curators is a pretty neat movement. These people are going into areas of urban decay and making makeshift art galleries with them.
Exercise (b)Log - nothing

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I’ve been back ITP for one day and am contemplating taking off again for the weekend. One complication is that I have a ticket for a play called “False Creeds” at the Hertz Theater for tonight. Other than that my schedule is free and clear, however, and the thought of driving to a warmer climate even if only for two days intrigues me.

Oh Columbia
Yesterday’s career fair at the University of South Carolina was mildly successful. For my co-worker who struck up a conversation with an attractive employee of the company situated next to ours it was probably a little more that mildly successful.

Without time and a camera the only thing that excites me about trips like these is the hope that I get decent meals. Yesterday I was not disappointed. I skipped the career fair’s deli spread because I was promised a delicious sandwich from a Columbia institution called Groucho’s. We barely made it through the door before their 4pm closing time but were rewarded for our timing. The sandwich I had there, called the STP Dipper (three meats, cheese and a dipping sauce), was delicious, I drank Pepsi from a fountain (yum!) and was served by a beautiful young lady who had a smashing British accent and looked a lot like a young Olivia Newton John. All of this for $7.

On the way out of Columbia we also stopped at a place called Lizard’s Thicket for some meat-and-three take-out “for later.” After eating the STP Dipper it was hard to think about getting another meal even if it was meant to be eaten hours later, but I did anywhere. Somewhere along the drive back to Atlanta I remembered that I had no microwave and the no way to reheat the meal quickly. It now sits in my refrigerator at home awaiting my return when I can heat it up in my toaster oven.

ITP Flickr Pic
Taken with the camera on my phone through a slightly tinted window.

And I like it a lot more than many of the shots I take with my Nikon D50.

What The Fuck Are You All Talking About?
Yakitty, yakitty, yakitty, yakitty, yakitty. I see it every day on my commute whether it be by car or train. It seems like everybody is on their motherfucking cellphone at all times!

I realize I am far from the Poster Boy for the cellphone industry. If not for my addiction to the internets and email I’d have the most basic phone with a camera and the lowest-price plan I could get. Shit, I’d probably be on one of those pre-paid deals. Seriously, I have never spent more than 120 minutes on my cellphone for any given month in the seven years that I’ve been a cellphone carrier.

I just don’t get it. Are people really that bored? Could you not turn on the radio, put in a CD, listen to books or podcasts? Am I really that much of a loner?

Oh and to those of you who wear the Buck Rogers / Lieutenant Uhura bluetooth headsets jammed into the side of your head… you look like idiots. Seriously, you do.

I Should Learn To Stick To My Guns
WARNING: Survivor spoiler included
I returned home early enough to watch Survivor. Actually, I was lucky enough to return home to find out that my timer to record Survivor was not set properly. I am sure there will be future weeks when I cannot watch the show “live”, and will want to watch it recorded.

In picking third for my “Who Is Going To Be Booted On Survivor Contest” I chose Erica and her Sideshow Bob moptop. I was wrong. This week I was Certain that Sylvia had no chance in hell to not get voted off, so I chose her. Who gets booted? Erica. Argh!

I’m not feeling much for this cast of castaways yet. I know that it’s only week two, but I need to buy into them and there persona for me to really enjoy the show. Unlike The Apprentice I won’t give up on the show mid-season, but I make no guarantees for the future.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - shitty
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Youth Group — “Catching & Killing”
Website Of The Day - You know that I like the animation and cartoons, right? Well, I’ve found another goldmine for this sort of material at AniBoom.
Exercise (b)Log - none

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Greetings from a ComfortSuites room with incredibly slow, and increasingly frustrating, internets. Expect very few links in today’s post because I am all but unable to verify the validity of the URLs.

Days like today that remind my why it’s a bad thing to store all of your important information on the net. It seems like quality internet access is available everywhere, like in a newly-renovated hotel, but it really isn’t.

210 Miles Of Open Road
Today I am playing the college recruiting game at the University of South Carolina. After the large quantity of beer and late-night meal I am hoping that the pants I bought the other day still fit.

Columbia was hopping last night, apparently one Billy Joel was bringing his music stylings into town. Combine Joel’s concert with the fact that it was Valentine’s Day and you wind up with a crowded social scene.

Yesterday I realized that with the exception of Augusta and the Savannah River, there is almost nothing but open land and housing along I20 between Atlanta and Columbia.

ITP Flickr Pic
This was taken in L5P a few weekends ago. It’s part of the building-long mural that is near the Variety Playhouse.

What I like about this shot are the colors and the angle I too to make it look like he is moving away from me.

One And Done
The trip I am on today is a one-day affair (hmm, sounds a lot like that thing I used to do called “dating”; I digress). Because I am not the master of my timetable here I didn’t bring my main camera with me (I always pack the point-and-shoot). I am finding more and more that I wish for multi-day trips alone so that I don’t have to adhere to anyone else’s whims and go out and play on my own.

I Am Missing My Weapon Of Mass Destruction
In this terrorist-aware, afraid of blinking signs, day I have forgotten that I have taken my nail clippers out of my travel bag. Fortunately I am not your typical caveman-like male who completely neglects personal hygiene. However, it’s reassuring to me to know that they are there in case of emergency and it now solves the mystery of why I have two at home in my bathroom. With that puzzle solved I can finally move on to curing cancer…

Okay this slow internet has gotten the best of me so I am quitting for the day. I’ll be back ITP tomorrow…

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - out of sync
Current Music - silence rings throughout my hotel room
Website Of The Day - If you are going to travel you might as well have a smart-looking briefcase. Go find something cool to carry at Timbuk2.
Exercise (b)Log - none, unless you consider sitting in a car for three hours an exercise in patience

February 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) Read two books.
5) Go to the Center For Puppetry Arts.
6) Use Marta for commuting at least one day per week.
7) Get all 2007 information into Google Calendar.

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]