As The Disk Spins…

I know that you have been pouring over the tech blogs and waiting with baited breath for an update. (btw- The grammar mistakes are intentional; they are an homage to a thread on Twitter yesterday.)

When we last checked in with our hero he was banging his head on his desk in anger. Today, things are getting better, and with any luck his data backup strategy will be implemented completely by this time tomorrow.

Currently I have all of my data, in fact more than I’d like, backed up to the network attached storage drive. Today I will let the network attached storage synchronize itself. Tonight I will clear out the folders which should not have made it to the network attached storage and then make a compete copy of that data to an external drive which can be taken offsite. “Why have an offsite backup?” you may ask? Because you can never predict fires, floods, tornadoes, or more likely in my neighborhood, break-ins.

Next up on the Paulie Computer Task List is learning how to use TrueCrypt in order to encrypt some of my “sensitive” data.

Ain’t technology talk riveting!?!?!

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

I can get along with people a lot better if I realize that no one ever feels exactly the same about me or anyone else from one moment to the next. And, likewise, it is self-destructive to believe / must love anyone all of the time.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Catching Up With Apple
AppleTV
Because of the way that I have restructured my media life I am absolutely loving the AppleTV. I’ve been watching a lot of my video podcasts lately and plan to start watching movies using it as well. I only wish that there were more video podcasts out there that piqued my interest. While searching the iTunes store it appeared that a lot of people started doing video podcasts and then stopped, most likely because they either ran out of ideas or money. I shouldn’t be too shocked by this because I see the same thing happen all the time with audio podcasts and blogs.

Death Of An Old Friend
My first iPod, a 20GB, Fourth(?) Generation iPod seems to have gone belly-up. Truth be told, I haven’t used the 20GB extensively since my music/podcast collection grew beyond its capacity, thus encouraging me to purchase a 60GB iPod about two years ago. With the purchase of the Chumby I had re-purposed the 20GB as the ChumbyPod so that I could listen to my music through the Chumby. The other day I went to update the content on the 20GB and received numerous nasty messages about being unable to read/write from/to its disk. I tried everything including restoring the factory settings and running its internal diagnostics but nothing has fixed the problems. Dangen!

Rumor Has It That Apple Is Releasing A Phone?
Seriously? This can’t be true, can it?

Good Night AJC. Good Night.
When the time comes that the lead article on the “news” tab of the AJC‘s website is about how the University of Georgia’s football team has a good chance of playing for the National Championship and providing a travel guide for those wishing to follow the team, then it’s time for me to stop reading the AJC.

That time arrived this morning. AJC, you are dead to me.

ITP Flickr Pic
Remnants of the Peachtree Pub Crawl Team
Peachtree Pub Crawl 2008
By this time they’d finish five of the six beer stops.

(best viewed at a larger size)

I May Be Wearing The Wrong Pants… At Least I Hope I Am
I grabbed a pair of jeans off my stack today and put them on for work. They are a bit more snug than those I’ve been wearing which means one of two things:

  1. I have grabbed one of my “older” (“read slimmer”) pairs incorrectly
  2. I have put on enough weight again to the point where my “correct” jeans are snug

For the sake of my sanity I am so hoping that it is #1, but fear checking until I get home so that I don’t ruin my day in case it is #2.

Tis Your Time Cyclists
Every July my heartbeat increases as I follow the Tour de France. While the tour has been plagued with drug scandals and many of the sport’s biggest names no longer ride the tour I am still a huge fan. Today marks the sixth stage of this year’s tour; today the riders get their first taste of hill climbing (real mountain climbing comes later in the tour).

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – fat, hot, disgusted with my lack of “me” time and exercise. But all in all… not bad
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Arcade Fire — “Cold Wind” (that sounds refreshing right about now)
Website Of The Day – You know what I truly love about Teh Internets? The fact that it is so completely random. Where else would you find a list of swimming holes in the United States?
Exercise (b)Log – more nothing. 🙁
Monthly Foot Mileage – 6 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work – My car
Monthly Marta Rides – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 99 (99)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

July Goals
1) Run/Walk no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 150 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than twenty times (ten round-trips)
4) Read at least two books
5) Make my bed every day
6) Relaunch www.JalapenoBeach.com
7) Keep track of how many days I use stairs over elevators

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

This entry was posted in My Daily Life. Bookmark the permalink.

27 Responses to As The Disk Spins…

  1. Barb says:

    Did you see the video that Versus put together on 7/7 for Bob Roll’s birthday? It was pretty funny. And , both American teams are doing okay so far, getting lots of press if nothing else for their new sponsors. Allan’s brother got left behind in Girona to run the warehouse, he is not too happy about not being there with the team, he was hired on to be the lead mechanic originally.

  2. No, I missed the video. I wonder if it’s on the net somewhere.

    Does anyone like the new commentator Craig Hummer? I miss Al Trautwig. Today Hummer pronounced George Hincapie’s name as “hin’-ci-pee”.

    That’s a real bummer for Allan’s brother, I would be pissed.

  3. Barb says:

    I haven’t looked it up, buty I’m guessing Al Trautwig is going to be doing Olympic coverage. I think he graduated to the big leagues. Craig is okay, he & Bob Roll are okay together. And, it isn’t like Paul and Phil don’t butcher many, many names, or just say the wrong one. I’ve started watching the 8PM coverage.
    And yes, Kevin is very pissed, if he didn’t care so much about the team, he might have packed up the family and come back home to America.

  4. I guess I was astonished that he would mispronounce Hincapie. It’s not like George is some unknown, and he is an American so you think that Hummer would have heard of him before.

    Word on The Net says that Trautwig will be doing Olympic coverage. I’ve been following Trautwig’s career since my family first got cable tv in the early 1980’s.

    Every time I watch The Tour, which I am doing at work right now 😛 , I just want to drop everything in my life and ride.

  5. Gentri says:

    Sad that we have to back up all our data ’cause we are afraid to have our computers stolen! I do the same thing with two drives, one is always at work, then I swap them out occasionally! Thieves have hit my neighbor across the street and the new neighbors on the corner… after their flat panels mostly, but in one incident they took the time to look under the mattress* and had put ALL the items from a medicine cabinet in a pillow case….. it’s frickin’ ludicrous…

    That would suck for Kevin, but how cool is the overall experience? I’d switch with him and watch the warehouse if I could do it in Europe!

    G

    *they had cut themselves breaking in and bled all over everything they searched, then got spooked and left a bunch of stuff piled by the door… brazen is the only word to use………

  6. And for those following The Tour…

    What do you think of this “Brand New Start” tv commercial campaign that they keep showing?

  7. Barb says:

    They have been living in Spain for most of the year for 3 years. They do really like it overall, you really get totally different perspective of the world this way. If Kevin hadn’t been with the team since the very beginning, the whole thing wouldn’t have been such a big deal. But there are so many politics, spoiled riders who want “their” people, etc. Oh well…… and we still haven’t been able to swing a trip to Spain to visit either.

  8. Gentri says:

    3 years in Spain! Go woman, go! Heck, if Allen can’t make it, I’ll go! I love Spain! Nothing like having a local connection for having the best vacations.

    Team politics would suck, no denying or way around it…. ah well. He’s still doing an awesome thing… I’d give a lot right now to not be “here” on a daily basis…….

  9. Gentri says:

    I just had “Hannah” walk me through the Apple TV devices abilities… she reminds me of some kind of creepy Elvish waif…. the AppleTV is pretty cool on a few levels, that is for sure. Has it helped or hindered the flickr/picture organization? Um, don’t you get movies for free already??

  10. It has neither helped nor hindered photo organization because I just view my photos using the AppleTV.

    Of course I get movies for free right now (although I do need to repair my Dish setup so that I can get access to them all). And, I have a Netflix subscription as well (and I *might* have a way to temporarily copy said discs so that they can be viewed on the AppleTV).

    The AppleTV allows me the flexibility to watch and listen to all of the media in my iTunes library on my home theater. I watched a video podcast about Yosemite Falls last night that was stunning.

    Consider the AppleTV as “future proofing” my life for that day when I may not be employed by a satellite dish provide, nor living in Atlanta.

  11. Gentri says:

    Ah, your nefarious plan for world domination via the Apple TV is become clearer…. and how it might be convenient to do it that way!

  12. Martha says:

    well since I have no optinion about de Tour or new and improved ways to watch tv, I guess I’ll stick with the AJC and/or weight loss.

    I rarely ever read a hard copy of the AJC anymore, even online the stories are out of date before they post. And they ask some of the stupidest question in their “research polls”… I wish I could be as finally as you are but something I just can’t let go of…

    weight loss… new study showed that folks who keep a food diary lost twice as much weight as those that didn’t keep one. I’ve been keeping one for going on 3 months now and it does help, I can show you the pile of clothes I’m donating. 😉

    When I get back, you can join me for one of the Sunday workout… not Bootcamp, I swear!!! Just some of us doing a more laid back weight/abs routine.

    BTW didn’t you start the month keeping count of stair vs. elevator usage?

  13. Yeah, I started but forgot to add it to the template. The results are not good, so far I’ve only used the stairs three days. The other day I *tried* to use them but couldn’t because the stairwells were locked!

  14. Martha says:

    You should appricate this rant…

    I had to go over to another building yesterday to pick up a laptop for my trip. Just another building in the same office block. So of course I just walked over, I’m not going to drive 4 buildings over. Almost got myself killed. I had two choices, to walk on the grassy shoulder in heals or walk in the road. HOW can they build an office park with no sidewalks?? I can’t walk from one building to the other without walking into the street or through the landscaping…so much for the CDC* supporting ‘healthy lifestyles’.

    *I will admit the Clifton Campus is pretty nice to walk through.

  15. Steve says:

    That must be where they do research on unhealthy lifestyles? When do you leave on your trip to the GWN (great white north)?

    -FP

  16. Martha says:

    I’m leaving Monday…I’m so not ready!

    I’m sure a run and a beer (or three) on Sunday will help to calm my nerves.

  17. Be prepared, the beers on planes are very expensive. Therefore you should do your best to make sure and drink enough on Sunday so that you are prepared to go the entire flight without needed another.

    Of course you might spend more time in the airplane lavatory than you had previously expected. 😉

  18. Barb says:

    Martha – you can get with Debbie & I and have an opinion on the cutest rider in the Tour. I haven’t decided yet this year, since my favorite Tom Boonen got kicked out for testing positive for cocaine after some weekend partying. I don’t think coke would have helped his riding, but it is still a banned substance.

  19. Silly women, the riders are equally ugly since they are all men. Now the Podium Babes…. that’s something to judge!

    (just ask George Hincipee)

  20. Steve says:

    I think it was yesterdays’ podium, the rider kissed the girls, then she handed him the trophy and he kissed her again, and grinned. Clearly he was enjoying himself.

    -FP

  21. Martha says:

    I have to admit the whole guys in spandx is growing on me…

    You ladies should have seen how hot Paulie looked the day we rode out to Stone Mountain.

  22. Gentri says:

    Just read the title from yesterday and can’t stop myself:

    Don’t take your data away from me
    Don’t you leave my hard drive in misery
    If you go then I’ll be Microsoft blue
    ‘Cause backing up his hard to do….”

    I’m so making this our hare song… unless you have better one?

  23. debbie says:

    Fabian Cancellaro is my favorite TdF eye candy! Grrrr… 🙂

    Paulie, Congrats on 99 days of bed making! I’m still in the game, although I can report that about day 76 or so is when appreciation gave way to critiques of my bed making. How quickly these things become taken for granted. 😉

    Martha, will you have access to the internets on your trip? Can we expect regular I-didn’t-get-eaten-by-a-bear-yet updates?

  24. @Gentri: Hash song is in your court. I’ll plan out the trail.

    @Martha: Of course I looked hot, it was like 98 degrees that morning!

    @Debbie: Thanks! I have to admit that it’s been easy to make the bed lately since due to the heat I’ve been sleeping on top of the bedding rather than underneath it.

  25. debbie says:

    How’s the AC repair plan coming along? Wait a little longer and you can hold off till next year! 🙂

  26. Martha says:

    I will have internet access during the evening so don’t be surprised by my late night postings…just remember to check the day before! And no one be mad if I don’t return phone calls…my cell won’t work where I’m going.

  27. A guy is coming out on Saturday. I will mention more about this tomorrow.

Comments are closed.