Inside The Perimeter

After today two-thirds of 2007 will be in the books. I’ve lost zero of the twenty-odd pounds I’ve desired to lose. I logged perhaps fifty of the three-hundred miles that I should have by this point. I’ve not been on a single date. I’ve written no Ruby on Rails applications. It’s time to restart. Happy New Year, everyone!

On September 5th I will be considering buying a new “toy.” Is it coincidental that this will occur on the same day as an Apple announcement which is rumored to be about new iPods? Yes, actually because that’s not what I am contemplating. If I make the purchase I will certainly talk about it next week.

Look for a relaunch, and finally a dedication to my photoblog Jalapeno Beach. I hopefully will also be able to correct the directory structure so you can just surf to (or link to) the main top level domain. I plan to upload a new photo each Monday. As time and subject matters progress I will upload new shots on a more-frequent basis.

Perhaps there will be a new look to this space as well? Likely.

Behind the scenes I will be installing all software on my trust iBook and installing new software (iLife ‘08, iWork ‘08, Photoshop CS3) on my iMac.

Time of course will be my limiting factor. Beer will also swing a big hammer on my weekend’s productivity as well.

Phrases That Pay
They say that “Time is money”

The three rules of real estate are “1) Location 2) Location 3) Location”

I guess that’s why it’s so important to be in the right place at the right time.

Last night I learned all about time and location. Last night I made a meatloaf and selected a poor place for my food thermometer. As the temperature neared its final destination I prepared some mashed potatoes and green beans. However, when I finally realized how quickly the meatloaf had reached its “final temperature” I knew there was something amiss. Apparently I inserted the probe a bit too far (something that I am used to doing, heh, heh, heh) and missed the center of the loaf.

The first course of potatoes with green beans was delicious.
The second course of meatloaf, served at least a half hour later, was also delicious.
Dessert was a frosty adult beverage.

Phrases That Don’t Pay As Much As They Used To
Money had a different value when these terms were coined (pun intended)
“Penny for your thoughts”
“A penny saved is a penny earned”
“Dime a dozen”
“Don’t accept any wooden nickels”

Where I May And May Not Be Found
Tonight I may be headed out to Lenny’s to catch Gringo Star (nee A Fir-Ju Well).

Don’t expect to see me down at Turner Field this weekend even though my beloved Mets are in town. After seeing them drop four straight to Philadelphia I just can’t be bothered to spend my money to watch this team.

It’s Somebody’s Birthday Time
Not mine of course because that occurred in July. However this is the time of year that my friend Martha Screw-It (umm, Laura) celebrates hers. Happy birthday yo. I’m looking forward to help putting a dent in that keg tomorrow night.

Laboriously Yours
I may have an entry on Monday. If I do most US Americans won’t read it until until Tuesday because we will be celebrating Labor Day and therefore not surfing the Internets.

Have a great (long) weekend everyone!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - resisting looking back and not forward
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Fields — “Song For The Fields”
Website Of The Day - Looking for a meatloaf recipe? Try Tasty Meatloaf Recipes. The one (actually a variation of one) that I made last night was quite good.
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Mileage - 17 miles (pathetic)
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Shitty Drive
Shitty Run
I’m not having
Any fun.

Last night I jumped out of my car after a ninety-minute commute from Perimeter Mall to the Virginia-Highlands and it felt like I hopped into a bowl of tepid soup. Two minutes late for the 6 o’clock running group departure and full of road rage I took off running. My anger fueled me for four whole blocks. My lungs, then deprived of oxygen, started to fight back. My respiratory system has not been great for some time and I wondered last night if I would have been better off with gills instead of lungs.

I may have misread my watch at the end, but I think that my nearly five-mile run/walk took around seven hours and sixteen minutes to complete. Okay, I’m just kidding about that. It just felt like it took that long.

ITP Flickr Pic
Yesterday I ate lunch at Sushi Yoko, which of course meant that I would also visit Tomato, the attached grocery store, for a can of coffee.

I’m sure that the lettering translates to “Yummy flavor to pour into a happy belly!” or something along those lines.

I May Have Packed My Knives Regarding Top Chef
Last night Bravo saw fit to drop in another filler episode into this season of Top Chef. You may remember that a few weeks ago they dropped in a “Where are they now? Question and Answer.” episode. Last night’s episode was even worse because it was a repeat of this season’s prequel! Were they up against some killer programming on another channel of which I was unaware?

I consider myself to be a fairly loyal viewer, but when the networks start fucking me over by doing this sort of thing then I find it fairly easy to stray. (I’m looking at you First Season of “24″)

Let’s be honest as well. Many of this season’s episodes have been unimpressive; at their worst they’ve boiled down to not much more than a one-hour commercial — “Let’s watch the chefs cook Brand X’s products on Brand Y’s appliances, placing the food into Brand Z’s containers, so that it can all be judged by Chef Muckity-Muck who just so happens to be hawking his or her restaurant along with a new book.” Sound familiar? I thought that it might.

I’ve Been Spoiled By Free Shipping
The other day I heard about this cool dvd series being produced called the “Burn To Shine” from Trixie DVD.

The Burn To Shine “manifesto” is to film bands playing in structures which are destined to be destroyed,film the destruction, and then sell the results. Hell, they even have a disc filmed at a house along Moreland Avenue coming out later this year. Sweet Chicken! I’d buy that for a dollar! (or $15 as the case is here).

After adding the $39 three-pack of Discs 1-3 to my shopping cart and starting to check out I noticed that shipping these discs would cost me $13(!). I canceled my order. C’mon an additional one-third of the price for shipping? Whose taking economics lessons from TicketBastard?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - rough, but looking forward to the weekend
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Interpol — “Pioneer To The Falls”
Website Of The Day - Many have said that my house has no style. They are tight. To change that I think that I shall start reading Domino Magazine: The guide for living in style.
Exercise (b)Log - running/walking, almost 5 miles — I’ll take credit for 5 miles
Monthly Mileage - 17 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

This morning I made a math-related joke which then led to a Huey Lewis reference. A few seconds later I realized that the person to whom I told the joke was not even born when that song was released. I feel old. I am old.

Could I Be A Donkey?
I’ve finally committed to something that I have been talking about for years. I have signed up to take the Cooking Assistant Orientation class at The Cook’s Warehouse. The theory behind doing this is so the I can become a commis in the future and sit through the courses taught at Cook’s Warehouse for “free.”

The orientation is free, as it should be since I am being taught how to become one of their helpers. My philosophy is that if nothing else I might pick up a few food preparation tips. The orientation is on September 10th, I’ll be sure to provide an update in this space once it has occurred.

Hopefully There Will Always Be Bourdain
With the jettison of Pirate Master and Big Brother from my tv-watching rotation, along with the conclusion of Hell’s Kitchen my tv watching time has reduced drastically. Last night I sat down and watched the latest episode of No Reservations.

I’ve been a big fan of Anthony Bourdain’s since I first read Kitchen Confidential (see, I can read). Since then I’ve followed his every tv move. Normally Bourdain is traveling to places that I will most likely never visit. However, for last night’s episode Bourdain met up with his chef-buddy Micheal Ruhlman in Ruhlman’s home town of Cleveland. I’ve never considered visiting Cleveland, but the food that they showed, especially the segment about the sausages, has piqued my interest. To make the episode even more bizarre they traveled around with Harvey Pekar on for most of the show; he’s one strange dude.

In other tv-related news can you believe that Alberto Gonzales waited to resign until The Daily Show With Jon Stewart was on vacation? Was he worried that they put up a picture with the caption “Alberto’s GONEzales”? I think that they might still.

ITP Flickr Pic
Somebody bought himself a Wacom tablet. You’ll hear more about yet another of my life’s restarts on Friday. For now I will just mention that I am going to start taking things a little more seriously.

Now if I can just stop taking boring pictures such as that…

Oh, Dearthlink!
Once a darling of the internets, Atlanta-based Earthlink has announce that it has laid off nine hundred of its staff. Ouch. I know some of those affected and hope that they bounce back quickly.

Back in the Olden Days (but not as far back as Huey Lewis) I was a Mindspring customer. My first home connection to the blossoming internet was a 1200 baud modem which dialed through Mindspring’s servers. Life seemed grand. At some point Mindspring entered into a partnership with Earthlink; the company name was lost, but the Atlanta home-base was kept. Not long after I jumped ship to Telocity (R.I.P.) for a DSL connection and never looked back.

Now That It’s Not 100 Degrees…
It will probably rain. But if does not rain then you can count on me to be running/walking/wheezing tonight at George’s. I’ve got some weight to lose you know, or have I never mentioned that in the blog?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - good
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing They Might Be Giants — “I’m Impressed” (actually, I wasn’t all that impressed)
Website Of The Day - Some websites are so Web2.0 it hurts. I present as evidence Sullr — a reverse phone number lookup engine. Can’t I do this using Google?
Exercise (b)Log - none
Monthly Mileage - 12 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

And not the good part of the Seventies.

Lately I’ve noticed that my favorite Sirius channel (26 - “Left Of Center” in case you never looked at the bottom of this blog) has been playing more dance music. This bothers me greatly since I am old enough to remember disco and wished it never to return. Earlier they played a song called “D.A.N.C.E.” by some “band” called Justice. It’s sad to say but if this trend continues I will start moving away from 26.

Sometimes I’m Amazed How Easy It Is To Make Great Food
Last night I decided stop by Kroger on my way home to pick up some grub. While driving I kicked around some ideas — beer-butt chicken?, burgers with grilled potatoes?, Cuban sandwich with black beans? Yes, that would be the winner.

I picked up a slew of things that I could throw together. Failing to buy all of the proper ingredients for a real Cuban sandwich (Damn my Irish/German heritage! I guess I wasn’t thinking inside Kroger.) I decided to make this “Cuban-inspired” “ham and cheese” sandwich

- two slices of Canadian bacon
- one slice of Provolone cheese
- a few bread-and-butter pickles chips
- yellow mustard
- a fresh roll

I heated a cast iron pan and a cast iron skillet and used the two to make my own Cuban press. The result was an amazing sandwich. Oh, I decided that I didn’t need the black beans. The sandwich was that good.

ITP Flickr Pic
Could it be possible that I have gone 769 entries without posting a picture of Reese?

Who is Reese you ask? Well, let me tell you… Reese is a dog who lets my friend Betsy take care of her. Reese likes to dig while laying on her side — she’s industrious and somewhat lazy all at once. Reese has two cobra-like swirlies on her butt (not pictured). Last Winter Reese proved to me that dogs have the ability to chew through bungy cords.

What this photo cannot convey was how many attempts it took Reese to sit in this Adirondack chair “comfortably.” Why go through so much trouble you ask? Because Betsy was sitting in the Adirondack chair next to her. Doggie loyalty — I hear that it cannot be beaten. I am of course skeptical.

You Have To Spend Money To Save Money, Right?
If I was the type who believed in government conspiracies then I’d swear that the internet-tubes were tapped.

The day after I swear that I will not purchase Adobe’s Photoshop CS3 and instead download the free The Gimp I received an email from Adobe offering me a chance to upgrade my old Photoshop Elements to CS3 for $300. Considering the retail price of Photoshop CS3 is $649 (which is why I was choosing not to buy it), you can understand why I was downloading The Gimp instead.

Why would I spend $300 for software? Because Photoshop is The Gold Standard for digital manipulation. There are many resources for learning Photoshop techniques, and not so many for the rest of the packages out there.

CD Pick Of The Week
Okay, I admit that I led you a bit astray last week. That Rilo Kiley disc stinks (its got rather a 1970’s Fleetwood Mac vibe to it). However if you also picked up that New Pornographers disc you as still batting .500 which would make you tens of millions of dollars in Major League Baseball.

This week the pickings are back to being somewhat slim.

If you like the musical stylings of Stockbridge’s Collective Soul and you like shopping at Target you can pick up their new disc which is only being sold at that retailer. Don’t bother waiting for me. I like shopping at Target. The other, notsomuch.

If you are into buying your music digitally, or on Old Skool vinyl, then you can get the release of “Hey Venus!” by Super Furry Animals. Want it on CD? You’ll have to wait until January 22, 2008. You think I am joking, don’t you? Nope. Somebody at their record company really has his/her head screwed up his/hers own ass.

However, if you want to buy a CD copy from any retailer then you should turn to “Bring On The Comets” from the band VHS Or Beta. (Seriously, I couldn’t make up this scenario. It fell right into my hands.)

Ben Harper also has a new release today (”Lifelines”), but I’ve never heard any of Ben Harper’s music so I can provide no help here. However, I may give it a listen today because AOL’s Full CD Listen has that as well as the new Collective Soul (not such an exclusive after all!) available for streaming from their site.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - pretty good
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Manchester Orchestra — “Wolves At Night” (In case you hadn’t noticed Atlanta rock is starting to blow up, specifically Manchester Orchestra and Deerhunter)
Website Of The Day - My sandwich proved that things do not have to be elaborate in order to be incredible. This To That does the same. If you ever wanted to know the proper glue to use in order to glue “this” to “that” (get the name now?) then that’s the website to consult.
Exercise (b)Log - nada
Monthly Mileage - 12 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I get a lot of spam email. Some of the two-bit schemes which wind up in my spam folders amaze me.
“Dude, I know that’s you in the video…. Go to this link….”
“Where did you hide the camera?”

Fortunately I am savvy enough to see this crap for what it is. By following their URLs you are headed for websites that install spyware/malware on your computer. It saddens me that there are people out there who click through these only to get their computers infected by spyware/malware.

Alarmed And Dangerous
Friday’s false alarm wound up being a(nother) dead backup battery for my security system. With the number of power outages my hood experiences I am not all that surprised that my batteries expire. After chatting with my security company the woman on the phone told me that I had a service plan with them and for only a $25 service call, plus the price of a replacement battery (she guessed $40) that they’d send someone out. Now I am not the most handy person put on this Earth, but $25 to replace a battery? Nonsense! Thanks to Barb’s comment I headed over to Batteries Plus and picked up a replacement battery for around $27 (I think that’s the right price).

The worst part of the story is that I wound up spending one of my precious few remaining paid-days-off in order to take care of this. Rats.

I am now in possession of sharp kitchen knives again. Watch out! I took two of my overworked utensils to The Cook’s Warehouse where they sharpen knives (really they farm out the work, but I’m okay with that too). While I’ve yet to have an opportunity to test out the new blades I was pleased that the work only cost $4.50 per knife. Considering I cannot re-hone a knife and decent knives are not cheap this is money well spent. Remember, the most dangerous tool in the kitchen is a dull knife.

If You Order The Airline Chicken You Should Expect It To Be Delayed
Saturday night I participated in a supper club which met at a restaurant in Monroe, Georgia. (yes, I was aware that I was headed OTP.) My original plan was to take a long, winding drive out there and then walk about taking photos. In case you’ve not been paying attention to Georgia’s recent temperatures, it was really fucking hot on Saturday. I had to cut my photostroll very short so that wasn’t all sweaty when I sat down for dinner.

The restaurant, Twisted Oak Woodfire Grill, is owned by the parents of the young woman who was seated across from me (foreshadowing!); her husband was sitting next to her — just so you don’t think that my Life Venn Diagram has changed. The place was packed, we had a table of twelve, and things were going really well despite the fact there was live music (I swear if I hear “Brown Eyed Girl” one more time…) and people dancing about.

For appetizers my end of the table shared P.E.I. mussels in a Thai-inspired sauce — this was tasty; some lamb lollipops — very delicious but slightly overcooked; and a spicy fried seafood dish — I liked it, but some thought it was too spicy.

That’s when things went to Hell(’s Kitchen) in a hand-basket. First, one of the staff accidentally knocked over a water glass, spilling its contents all over my friend’s wife. The glass also broke which made matters more interesting. Then the entrees started arriving — mine not included. For some reason my appetizer was also the last one to be delivered so I sat patiently. Then the waitress told me that my order was “lost in translation” and they were in the process of making it. Donkeys! However she also told me that the meal would be “comp”ed, so I continued to sit patiently. Then I saw another table receive food — that’s when my patience ran out. I tracked down the young lady and told her to “86″ my food, that I was not interested in eating it at any price. Five minutes later my meal arrived. I turned it away without hesitation because my table mates had already finished their entrees and had their plates cleared. After more apologizing the restaurant offered me a free dessert. I chose a slice of Snickers cheesecake — it was okay, it had obviously been sitting out because it was starting to wilt and the whipped cream dollop had disintegrated.

I doubt that I shall be returning.

ITP Flickr Pic
I did no photo processing this weekend so I have nothing to show.

Better Food Was Had On Sunday
What’s better to do after a grueling five mile run/walk than to drink four beers, eat all sorts of delicious foods for breakfast, and follow that with lunch at the Chinese Food Court. And I wonder why I have difficulty losing weight? I played virtual-third-wheel by inviting myself to lunch but I didn’t care because I knew that the food was worth being an asshat. We were a threesome of Caucasians in a sea of Asians — I love being a minority in restaurants because it means that I am probably getting authentic food. I ordered Lamb Schezuan Style (”O-72″ if you are playing along at home), Tony ordered the pork version of this, and Betsy order a braised fish (served whole on a plate — not for the squeamish).

And I Thought The Drought Would Last Forever
With the rain this past weekend along with the prediction of more this week I thought it was the appropriate time to get out and mow my lawns on Saturday. The last time I had to perform this task was July 14th, the day I left for Seattle. Admittedly I didn’t have to wait this long, but I don’t enjoy the task and even though the grass wasn’t pretty I figured there was no sense to mowing it if was never going to rain.

My neighbor must have had the same thought because he started mowing his lawn at 7:30am(!) Sunday morning. I understand that he leaves the house at 5:30am most mornings (because I hear it occur some days) so to him 7:30am must feel late, but on a Sunday? Give us all a break! Luckily for me I am an early riser so I was long-awake by that time myself.

I am curious to know what the earliest time you feel is appropriate to start mowing a lawn? btw- I started my work at about 9:30am Saturday morning, which is about as early as I will start.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - mildly disturbed optimistic
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah — “Love Song No. 7″
Website Of The Day - (for Geeks only) The DigiBarn Computer Museum has probably the most awesome display of personal computer history. If you go “way back” (I first started messing with computers around 1981) then you will enjoy perusing their site.
Exercise (b)Log - run/walk, 5 miles
Monthly Mileage - 12 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Suffice to say that MTV won’t be tracking me down to record the week’s events in my life for “Best Week Ever”. A typical day this week went as follows
1. Wake up
2. Get ready for work
3. Work
4. Return home
5. Watch tv/internet or Surf internet
6. Fall asleep

Thrilling!

I’m Falling In Love With Google Calendar
I am an organization freak. I Love, Love, Love feeling organized and Hate, Hate, Hate feeling disorganized.

I am slowly incorporating Google Calendar into my daily life. I must say that at first I had issues with it, but now I am learning to use it like a Ginsu knife. Once I figure out how to sync my Google Calendars to items used offline (such as a BlackJack phone) I will be completely hooked.

Someday I will also update the template for this blog so that I can incorporate a Google Calendar widget.

Look Ma! No More Corned Beef Missing Sundays!
I received an email yesterday from the New York Corned Beef Society Of Atlanta stating that freshly-made corned beef will be served at Twain’s each and every Sunday. Sweet Chicken! Um, I mean, Sweet Beef!

There is a good possibility that I will end up at Twain’s this Sunday, that is of course if I don’t end up at Zocalo in Grant Park instead.

ITP Flickr Pic
Two for the price of one!

You just saw the only photo I took this week. So sad.

The Leftovers
- When I think of the made-up term “lesbionic” strange thoughts of Lindsay Wagner run through my head.

- I listened to twenty-year-old R.E.M. (”Reckoning” and “Life’s Rich Pageant”) on my commute home yesterday. I sang as many of the lyrics that I knew and I didn’t give a shit what the drivers around me thought.

- If my current life was a Venn Diagram there would be two non-intersecting circles — one labeled “Paulie” the other labeled “Women”. It’s been that long since I’ve been on a date.

- I bought a book “1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die.” I will probably die before I finish reading the book, never mind actually seeing the paintings.

- I have been suffering with poison ivy for the entire month of August. It’s bad enough that I get it hashing, I think that I also picked some up going into my own back yard.

- In my world dogfish would chase catfish. And for that matter, since cats like to eat fish why don’t catfish chase each other around?

- Would anyone go see a photo-blog called “ShutterFUG: A Repository of Portraits of Fucking Ugly People”?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - odd, which for me is normal
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Morrissey — “You Have Killed Me”
Website Of The Day - I love bacon. I love salt. Why wouldn’t I love Bacon Salt? Here’s the real kicker, it’s Kosher!
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Mileage - 7 miles (my odometer seems to be stuck)
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

The title is a running joke from last night’s adventures at George’s. Predictably the crowd of runners was small. Also predictably, I did not run. The fact that it was at least 102 degrees at 6pm might have something to do with my decision. I can’t wait until I die and go to Hell… oh wait, I think that I already have.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Is getting larger by the day.

Each morning when I leave my house to go to work I note the position of a spider’s cobweb. Like a salesman determined to find the best “spot” for selling goods, this spider constructs a new web each night in a different location all within a four-foot area. Each evening when I return home the web has disappeared. I wonder if the movement of the web helps it catch more bugs. I also wonder if it has taken note of me and my routine. I’d hate to have to pull it down just so I could make it to my car.

ITP Flickr Pic
This is what can happen when the spiders start building webs more aggressively.

Luckily I don’t think that my situation will get this bad.

iDisappointed
I did a little bit of Kool-Aid drinking last week and convinced myself that it would be a good idea to buy Apple’s new iWork ‘08 suite of software. At $99 (for a five-install “Family Edition”) the cost seemed reasonable. [Truth be told, I purchased it online for $82 using my company's professional discount.] I have yet to install it, but am looking forward to the experience.

Even though I have heard mixed reviews I decided that it would also be a good idea to upgrade to iLife ‘08. For “only another $99″ [$82] I could get better application integration. Rather than wait for it to be delivered via mail I stopped into the Apple store inside of Lenox Mall on my way home. Unfortunately the employee with whom I interacted had little understanding of the store policies regarding discounts. After waiting for a few minutes only to have him return and tell me that I’d have to wait and talk with another employee. I bailed.

Not Seeing Blue Kept Me From Being Blue
Before heading to George’s I dropped some blue toilet pucks into my “cans.” Thankfully when I returned home none of the toilets had blue water, and as of this morning each still appeared okay. One of the bowls, the sea-foam green one — which makes it hard to see a blue tinge, may have had the slowest of leaks but discoloration was really indiscernible.

Next up…. taking on the outdoor spigots.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - unhappy, but not miserable
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Stars Of Track And Field — “Movies Of Antarctica”
Website Of The Day - Sometimes websites are only fluff. Sometimes websites are more informative. Bob The Plumber is not the prettiest of sites, but it does have some very useful plumbing information. You might know why I sought this information.
Exercise (b)Log - nothing. IT WAS 102 DEGREES!!!
Monthly Mileage - 7 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Today I am wearing a shirt that I earned seven years ago. The shirt is from the 2000 Blue Ridge Adventure Race. Those that knew me back then knew a Paulie who went to the gym five days a week, which included doing Spinning and step aerobics, in addition to running. 2000 was the year I also ran my one-and-only road marathon during which I injured my right knee (IT Band). I have not been the same person since. I still manage to fit into the shirt, but it doesn’t look nearly as good as it did all those years ago.

I Want Revenge
WTF Ticket Alternative? The day that She Wants Revenge tickets went on sale for their show at The Loft I jumped to your site to buy a ticket. Because I want you to be the TicketMaster slayer I use your service as much as I can. However, when I went to check out I noticed that there was a $3.90 “convenience fee” added to my $18.00 order. That’s 22% of the ticket price! Have you been taking lessons from the TicketOverlord? In the past I have never had a “convenience fee” which exceeded $2.00. I promptly canceled my order.

Yesterday I made a trip to Decatur CD to pick up the pre-ordered releases from Rilo Kiley and The New Pornographers (I also managed to find used copies of the “Wait” EP from The Polyphonic Spree and the new Grinderman disc). Knowing that Decatur CD is now a Ticket Alternative outlet I decided to test those waters for ticket purchasing. The result was a ticket that cost $19.50 ($18.00 + $1.50).

Listen to me and listen to me good. I want to support you. I want you to succeed. Please do not continue to fuck over the consumer because I am sure that I am not the only one who will call you out for doing so.

ITP Flickr Pic
Yesterday I met up with some friends at the “Chinese Food Court” for lunch. If you’ve been to this food court then you no doubt recognize their garden.

Four of us shared dishes. Our meal left no farm animal uneaten; we ate pork, beef, lamb, and chicken. I left sweating, full-bellied, and almost amazed how much food can be purchased for so little money. Dinner last night was a slice of red bean bread (purchased at the bakery in the same shopping center) and a beer.

Ah, the Good Life.

Space: The Final Frontier
I am now in possession of a 1 TB network-attached storage device for my home network. Not having nearly that much content (yet) I have decided to split into two 500 MB mirrored volumes. Cool, no?

In case you haven’t noticed, hard drive prices have been dropping faster than dead leaves from water-starved Atlanta trees. If you have been waiting for the right time to buy an external drive so that you can do an extensive data backup (We’ve had this discussion previously. You are backing up, right?) get thyself to your favorite computer-device selling retailer and purchase something soon.

You can thank me by leaving a comment.

Goodwill A Go-Go
Remember me getting all happy and shit about cleaning out my house? Well, my dirty little secret has been that all of the shit that I had culled had only made it into boxes and bags inside the house. That all ends today as I take the crap, which is currently in my car, to Goodwill at lunch. I smell a tax deduction!

Having the first wave cleared will help me start Round Two. By the time I am done culling I will be ready to move into a studio loft that has no water problems, a working air conditioner, and a blank canvas on which I can enjoy my digital lifestyle. Dreaming, at least that’s free.

George’s? Yes. Running? I’m Not Sure Yet.
The brave souls that make it to George’s on Wednesday nights will see me darkening the bar’s doorway. Whether I also sweat all over its floors has yet to be determined. Oh, I know that I should run/walk, but you know me…

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - frustrated
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Brian Jonestown Massacre — “Going To Hell” (For the sixth straight year I won’t be going to Hell, Michigan that is, to run Dances With Dirt. I miss the days when I did stuff like that.)
Website Of The Day - Photographer Bill Wadman has been posting a portrait each day this year. If seeing great photography interests you then you should go to 365 Portraits.
Exercise (b)Log - none
Monthly Mileage - 7 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

There are days, make that many days, that I dread being a homeowner. If the air conditioner wasn’t enough of a pain in the ass, yesterday I was delivered another kick in the nuts — a $145 water/sewer bill. This bill is $120 more than last month’s and I though that last month’s was higher than it should have been. Now I need to figure out why my “Sewer Usage” for the month was $99 (a $75 increase) and my consumption was 10 CCF than the previous reading.

I can tell you that it’s not because I’ve been watering my lawn. If you’ve been to my house you’d already know that.

Hello Jambalaya My Old Friend
With a withering green pepper and some thawed chicken in the refrigerator and an aging onion hanging from my vegetable basket I thought it would be a good idea to drop by Kroger on my way home for some sausage. (note: I did not say andouille sausage because Kroger’s andouille is crap. I could have stopped at the Publix on Ponce but feared that I might have seen my friend Betsy out on a 10, 15, 20 mile run and that would have made me feel like the sloth that I have become.) Even though my recipe is a derivative of King Emeril’s no one will accuse me of being cajun. Having said that I must admit that my jambalaya makes me one motherfucking happy camper.

For a brief period it even helped me forget that I have been delivered a $145 water bill.

I also picked up another amazing loaf of bread (a rosemary, olive oil round) while I was in Kroger, and it was even on clearance for $1.79 (originally $3.49)! Carbs are evil and I am on a crusade to rid the world of them by consuming as much as I can.

ITP Flickr Pic
I wish that I had Photoshop (and the necessary skills) to take a picture of my wallet and the money which is flying from it. Instead I will show a picture of a beer keg.

I could use a stiff drink.

Mondays Feel Funny Without Gordon
For the first time in a few months I was without Hell’s Kitchen. Why did you let the season end before the start of “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares?” You Donkey! What’s a person to do? Turn to the internets of course. Too frustrated and depressed from the water bill I chose not to read and/or learn but instead to try to catch up on the many podcasts which are occupying space on my hard drives. More and more I find myself turning to the internet for my entertainment, and this is all legal stuff as well.

CD Pick Of The Week
These are the days that I wish I had more money (or at least didn’t have to send so much to the Government). Look at the list of artists I like that have material being released

Earlimart
The Flaming Lips (concert footage / dvd)
Imperial Teen
Hopewell
The New Pornographers
Rilo Kiley
Foreign Born

There are also a couple of bands whose music I don’t have much history with that also have new releases on the shelves

Caribou
Minus The Bear

I can’t pick just one of these. Certainly there must be at least one thing in that list that interests you.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - I want to run away
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing M.I.A. — “Boyz” (btw- if you trash the new Rilo Kiley don’t go telling me that M.I.A.’s stuff is good)
Website Of The Day - By Your Friend A Drink — and we all know how friendly I can be. Besides, $145 is 29 Beer Units that I can no longer purchase.
Exercise (b)Log - does questioning one’s existence count as exercise?
Monthly Mileage - 7 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I’m a sweater. No, not the garment, but rather a person who sweats easily. Because of this I am more than ready for our ridiculously hot, muggy temperature to go away.

Bison — It’s What’s For Dinner
It’s what’s for dinner unless of course you either don’t eat meat or were like me and not very hungry by the time you made it to Ted’s Montana Grill. The occasion was Stacy’s xxth birthday and we met at the Ted’s in Decatur.

Upon finishing up dinner and having a few group photos taken by the waitstaff (it’s part of Ted’s birthday celebration don’tcha know) to commemorate the occasion we headed over to one my Favorite Places On Earth — the Brick Store Pub.

There were only two problems with this plan for me however… First, I knew that I had to drive home which meant that I would have to curtail my desire to drink every beer on the menu. Then there was the sweating. We initially parked ourselves at an outdoor table which was fine initially but when any semblance of a breeze went away I started to sweat (noticeably). We headed indoors but by then it was too late for me. The bar was packed and their a/c had no hope of cooling things down (a recurring theme around me). I felt self-conscience standing around sweating so I headed home early — which at least meant that I was sober enough to drive myself home legally.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ve always noticed Panola Mountain on a map. I’ve always wondered why not many people talked about it. This is the only compelling shot I was able to take in my short journey around the state park.

Now I know why people don’t talk about Panola Mountain. And to make matters worse I also twisted my ankle by stepping on a tree root.

I Got Mugged, And I Liked It!
It finally happened yesterday. I’ve finally gone to a hash long enough to earn a mug. Yesterday was my fiftieth hash with Atlanta’s Black Sheep Hash and since they only run every other week you need to attend fifty in order to get an engraved mug.

You’d think that since I’ve been hashing for approximately 8.5 years that I’ve racked up at least one other mug by now. However, my interest in Saturday hashing has peaked and faded often, and I didn’t start running Black Sheep until about five years ago since I was leary of sitting on a block of ice in order to do a down-down.

Mind Over Fatter
Yesterday’s Black Sheep was the type of hash that had you questioning your sanity and thanking that you were alive when it was done.

We had been warned that flashlights were mandatory and that we should be running with a buddy. Given that the starting location was the old K-Mart on Cleveland Avenue and I-85 I took the instructions to heart. Had it not been my fiftieth Black Sheep, or these instructions provided by a lesser-hare I surely would have found something better to do yesterday.

Making a flashlight mandatory meant one thing — “sewer tunnels”; and sewer tunnels we got. The first set of tunnels were fun; they were tall and clean enough to jog through. The second set were something entirely different; barely tall enough to crouch through, although thankfully mostly dry (I’d hate to think how dangerous this would have been if we had rain recently).

For a while I wondered if I was fit enough to make it through. What would happen if the tunnels became more narrow? Would I get stuck like August Plump in Willy Wonka? “Keep moving.” “One foot in front of the other.” “No one is here to save your fat ass.” were statements I repeated often in my head. Being passed in the tunnels by female-machines that I knew had run twenty miles on Saturday (whilst I rested) only eroded my male ego that much more. And then finally I “racked myself” while trying to climb over a seven-foot fence at the end.

Much beer followed by another Sunday trip to the Grant Park Zocalo made the pain go away temporarily.

Is there any question why I hurt today? Is there any question why I chose not to step on a scale this morning? Is there any need to mention that I need to lose weight and start exercising?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - Puzzled
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Peter Bjorn & John — “Amsterdam”
Website Of The Day - Looking for things to do along I-20? Look no further than Treasures Along I-20. The fucking internet has everything!
Exercise (b)Log - crawling through sewer tunnels
Monthly Mileage - 7 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car

August Goals
1) Get my first Ruby / Ruby on Rails program written
3) Lose 5 pounds (if at first, second, third, fourth, you don’t succeed….)

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]