It Feels Like I’m Starting Over
I spent much of this weekend exploring new places and revisiting many that I’ve been to in the past. It was a weekend filled with great conversation and equally rewarding alone time.
On Saturday night I walked up to East Atlanta Village to meet up with some friends for dinner at East Atlanta Thai and Sushi (note to self: return soon). Being the early bird that I am I decided to drop into Bound To Be Read Books to have a look around and kill a few minutes. I landed in the Self Help section and walked away with an incredibly insightful book called Notes to Myself by Hugh Prather. The book, written in 1970, could not be more applicable to my current situation if it tried. Each day for a while I will be highlighting a short portion of Notes to Myself in the first section of this daily blog. It’s more for me than for you, so it’s your prerogative on whether or not to read along with me. If you’re not into this sort of prose, jump ahead to the next section. If after time you find yourself enjoying the passages, go purchase the book (of course I have an Amazon link in the daily section) because it’s still in print and pretty damn inexpensive.
Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.
If I had only…
forgotten future greatness
and looked at the green things and the buildings
and reached out to those around me
and smelled the air
and ignored the forms and the self-styled obligations
and heard the rain on the roof
and put my arms around my wife
… and it’s not too late
To all who have helped me — Thanks.
Game On!
Today starts my twelve-week training schedule for the ING Half Marathon. I will mostly be following the Intermediate Level Half Marathon Training Schedule from Hal Higdon which oddly starts out with a day of strength training and stretching. My modifications will occur on Wednesdays because I cannot stand to do track work, and Wednesday is a George’s day. Further, I will run 5k, 10k, and 15k races on the scheduled days only if I can find something local in which to participate — otherwise I will simply run those distances. You are hereby given complete permission to unload a ton of shit onto me if I fail to perform my scheduled training.
I have created a Google Calendar here with my target training assignments, some of which will have routes designated within them, and all will be updated with the exercise I performed as time progresses.
fwiw- My starting weight is 206 pounds. I will weigh myself on race day to see what has transpired over the twelve weeks of training.
ITP Flickr Pic
On Saturday morning I cruised around the current section for the Atlanta Grid Project.
I have a fascination with free-standing hearths. Some day I hope to have a collection that I can show under the title “Home Was Where The Hearth Is.”
Speaking Of Starting Over…
I’ve backed up all of my photos from 2007 and am starting a brand new Lightroom catalog for 2008. While I have yet to see the outcome of the shots that I took yesterday while strolling around downtown and Centennial Park (reshooting a lot of subjects that I have explored in the past) I had a wonderful time being out shooting. Of course no trip downtown is without its encounters with panhandlers and sketchy characters; in addition to them there was also one guy who was insistent on telling me where to go and finished his diatribe with “This is Atlanta, it’s not New York” for some reason. Perhaps he assumed that my geography skills were insufficient for Atlanta? For some reason it amused me as the New Yorker that few people do. 
Hurray For Hippiewood
Warning: Amazing Race Spoilers
I find myself watching very little television these days and because of this I nearly dropped off of the Amazing Race bandwagon. I never did get around to watching The Goths get booted last weekend and it was only because I was doing laundry last night that found me in front of the telly.
For those in the know, I still wish to see TK and Rachel win and find myself continually enamored with Jen (it’s a male “thing”, I’m sure).
Hopes were nearly dashed as TK and Rachel made a rookie gaff of booking a flight with two connections instead of one, and finished three hours after the third-place team of Gramps and Nicolas. Luckily for those of us pulling for Team Hemp this was the final non-elimination leg — although the outlook for them to regain three hours in addition to completing the Speed Bump looks grim.
One of the funnier things last night was the astonishment of Nathan and Jennifer that none of the signs in Japan were in English, or that few of the people in Osaka spoke English. Those damn Japanese, we kick their ass in WWII you’d think they respect us by conforming to our language! Which leads me to another point. How hard is it to learn “Hello” and “Thank You” in other languages? I realize that the teams don’t know exactly where they are going for each leg, but carry a damn phrase book already!
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – good
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The White Stripes — “Rag & Bone” (I really like The White Stripes; I really do not like this song)
Website Of The Day – Fancy yourself a geek? Go see what type of geek you are on the 56 Geeks poster.
Exercise (b)Log – nothing because I did not hash this weekend
Monthly Foot Mileage – 0 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Monday Morning Weigh-In – 206 pounds
Mode Of Transportation To Work – Marta
Monthly Marta Rides – 1
January Goals
1) Run no fewer than 50 miles
2) Ride Marta no fewer than sixteen times (eight round-trips)
3) Read at least one book
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
I finally was smart enough to once again “record the show after the show” so I managed to watch all of Amazing Race this morning. I was so happy it was a non-elim round, too. I really want them to win and was probably a little too happy that the Bickersons once again did not finish first yet again.
Great pic from the Grid Project! When you go again, would you like company? I would love to start doing this, too (and have already been signed onto that Flickr group). I know P’Did’s interested as well.
I know it is too early in your training but…I’m running a 10K on 1/19 @ Clayton State University, it is a certified Peachtree course, if you have any interest.
I’m looking forward to seeing you running around the ‘hood. Let me know if you ever want some company.
I want TK & Rachel to win as well – hopefully the preview with them all at the airport will make up the 3 hours, and all they will have to overcome is the speedbump.
And – I know of a great hearth in the Dupont State Forest near Brevard, NC. And there is great mountain biking there as well (hint, hint). Maybe we could get a group & get Randy & Lisa to come meet us some time next summer.
Hopefully you’ll be re-tooling a few of the “Notes” to be Paulie specific???
It’s not hard at all to try MANY phrases in a foreign language and it goes a long way to getting help even if they know you are clueless… they must pick people specifically to be that stupid for these shows I sometimes think! It would make it too slick/un-funny if they didn’t I guess…. could time and lack of knowing where they are going be a limiting factor for this however?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (just to get the 2008 version in
):
For weight loss, don’t rely on exercise exclusively! Change the eating habits permanently! Less bacon*, no Chinese (Tasty China excluded; finally had that on my Bday and was AMAZED!) watch the calories! That’s it, Gentri’s self help guide for Paulie in 2008 has concluded!
*don’t really mean it, but it just had to be said!
@Stacy: group participation is always welcome!
@Martha: I will keep that run under consideration.
@Barb: I am open for all free-standing hearth information, I’ve got a collection to build! Mountain biking is a possibility although running is Job #1 until the end of March.
@Gentri: Welcome back, I was beginning to wonder if you were Key West’s newest transplant. I will reproduce the passages verbatim, altering those only in my head. As for weight loss the body is a caloric checkbook, you merely have to spend more (calories) than you take in and weight will be lost, no matter what you are eating. Healthier foods will help in other ways of course like reducing the risk of a heart attack, high blood pressure, pimples, and the like of course.
i’ve always believed that the right books find us when we’re ready–glad you found something that speaks to you.
and i’ve always believed that one should eat as much tasty china as often as possible. make that your credo for 2008 and watch the world unfold for you.
If only there was a way to make Tasty China more conveniently located, like on Buford Highway or something.
Did I mention there would be waffles? Not Tweety Bird Waffles, Waffle House Waffles but waffles none the less.
We are contemplating maybe the beginning of April for a trip to NC, if the weather cooperates, and if we decide to camp. Many of the trails in Pisgah Forest are closed to riding after April 15th. (damn those hikers that think bikes are bad!….. just sort of kidding)
As for Tasty China – any time any of y’all come up here to Marietta to eat, please let us know, it isn’t even 5 minutes from our house, and almost directly across the street from my office.
I’m looking forward to the passages. I’m a sucker for self-help books. I don’t know why. Maybe I do know why, I just don’t want to admit the reason.