Inside The Perimeter

Yesterday I left work early and went home to rest. Last night was a late night, resulting in a late waking today. I’ve just now arrived at the office, therefore I will get to see what late-afternoon traffic is like tonight.

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

If my sexual desire for a woman is so strong and so persistent that it is getting in the way of communication with her, then I might do her, and me, a favor by telling her so. I have done this several times in my life and each time I felt the woman appreciated if (although once the husband did not). Some surprised me by saying they felt the same way, some said they did not feel that way about me, one woman did not say. But in all the instances except the last our communication seemed much freer afterwards.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Aye Carumba!!!
Yesterday my two new Seagate 500GB SATA drives arrived. These are the drives that I plan put into my Network Attached Storage device. Of course things wouldn’t go that smoothly, nothing in this whole process has! One of the drives happily spun up when put into the NAS, but the other appeared to be dead on arrival. I took the DOA drive out and put it into another drive enclosure with little luck. Tonight I will make one more attempt to get the drive to come to life before contacting Newegg about getting a return authorization for defective merchandise. If I must return it I wonder how much it will cost me to return their defective product.

A Night Out On The Town To Forget My Woes
Last night I met up with my friend Betsy for some dinner and a concert. We hit one of my favorite spots, the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, for one of my favorite meals, a beef brisket sandwich. After consuming a few beers with dinner and finishing off the Creative Loafing’s crossword puzzle, we wandered down to Variety Playhouse for the Alejandro Escovedo show.

While at the show I found my friend Mike, who I have just found out is now the father of two sons (I knew about one, and I knew my friend Sandy was pregnant with a child but I didn’t know what it was). It was good to catch up…

The show was decent although I think that I’ve enjoyed some of the other shows that Escovedo has put on better. I considered buying his newest disc at the show, but then remembered my war on clutter through new media and decided to wait to see about buying it digitally.

ITP Flickr Pic
Proving again that I can never be too tight or too sharp

At least when it comes to photography.

I have a bunch of photos from the concert that I want to play with. I did do a lot of good work yesterday, but I have to get permission to publish them before they can be seen by others.

Much Ado About Nothing
Tonight I will be going to Little Five Points again, only this time to return to the Horizon Theatre to see the play “Hallelujah Street Blues.” I once again decided to keep the outing simple by going solo. Who knows, I just might repeat last night’s dinner as well.

It’s Birthday Time
For the next five days my good friend, and ITP reader, Barb will be one year older than me.
Happy Birthday Barb!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - god but harried, wishing there was time to run today
Current Music - watching the Tour de France
Website Of The Day - If I weren’t going to the Horizon Theatre tonight I would be going to the Taste of East Atlanta.
Exercise (b)Log - noting
Monthly Foot Mileage - 24 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 106 (106)
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]

The day after that. Because I have a fully-committed, rest-day today I forced myself out of the house again last night for another five-mile trot. This time I did the somewhat-defunct Monday Night East Atlanta Running group route in reverse. It is often said that runners, like water, always seek a route that is net-downhill and I would agree. My legs were sore from Monday’s trot and forcing them up hills really didn’t help matters.

I’ve also relearned that daily exercise is going to be a huge time sink, and no matter how good it is for me, is going to force me to make tough decisions about my hobbies and time management. Summing the time required to get ready, run, cool down, and clean up last night easily consumed an hour and a half. Even with a easily-prepared “quick” dinner there was little time to accomplish much else last night.

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

I can’t assume that this woman wants sex with me simply because I want sex with her, but I can open my eyes and see if she does and take a reasonable risk and ask her — without trying to predetermine her answer by the way I phrase the question.

If she could choose any man she wanted she would probably not choose me, but I have been strongly attracted to many women who were far from ideal and knew it. The question is not how do I compare with all men. The question is am I sexually attractive to this woman at this time. “Am I sexy as hell, or too fat?” — that can’t be answered, but “How is she experiencing me?” can be. To get the answer I have to look at her and not at me.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

A Band That You Probably Don’t Know
Yesterday in the post my (”used”) copy of the latest disc from Unicycle Loves You arrived. Unicycle Loves You is a Chicago-based band that I first heard on a WOXY podcast and started to enjoy. About a week or so ago Rich over at Cable And Tweed also highlighted the band and I decided to seek out their disc. My “used” copy turned out to be a promo-copy sold to me by a vendor on Amazon. The shipping actually cost more than the disc itself, but even still the final cost was less than $7.

After one listen last night I am hooked. I am trying to figure out how to make sure that I don’t miss any show that they do locally when they finally decide to venture out on a tour.

Looks Like Kindle 2.0 Might Be Out By The Time I Read Five Books
There is word on the tech blogs that Amazon is working on the next generation of their Kindle e-book reader. According to the blogs, Kindle 2.0 might be available by this Christmas.

As you might remember, I am lusting over one of these nerd-toys but have imposed a “must read five books that I already own” rule before I will allow myself to purchase one. To date I have only completed one book, and have temporarily abandoned 253 in favor of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. At the rate I am going I lust might be able to complete my task in time to reward myself with a Kindle as a Christmas gift.

And In Related News
Since starting my pledge to not buy physical media I have yet to purchase a new CD (I have purchased one used cd and multiple digital-downloads), new books, magazines, or dvds. Sure it’s only been six weeks but I am pleased how easy it has been for me to kick the habit which does nothing more than bring more clutter into my life.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ve got nothing today. Some days I wish that I was more productive, but there are only so many hours in my day.

Tonight I’ll Be Making A Long-Overdue Return To Variety Playhouse
That’s right, tonight I’ll be toting the camera to Variety Playhouse to see Alejandro Escovedo perform again. I’ll be meeting up beforehand with my friend Betsy, and if all goes to plan my friend Mike as well.

If my calendar speaks the truth this will be the first of five nights that I will be spending at Variety Playhouse in the next thirty days. I should get some sort of VIP privilege for all of the patronage that I’ve given Variety this year.

And If I Weren’t Going To Variety Playhouse Tonight…
…I’d be headed to Decatur to hear Grammar Girl read from her new book, answer all questions, and give away prizes.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
6:30 PM

DeKalb Public Library — Downtown Decatur Branch
215 Sycamore Street
Decatur, Georgia 30030

I admit it, I have a nerdy-girl crush on Grammar Girl, even though I know she’s taken.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - sore, sniffly like I’ve got a Summer cold, tired, but mentally good
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Modest mouse — “The World At Large”
Website Of The Day - In addition to running and cycling I am going to incorporate 100 Push-Ups into my workout routine.
Exercise (b)Log - running/walking 5 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 24 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 105 (105)
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]

It’s a rest day for the Tour de France. I suppose that it’s warranted since they’ve been riding every day for the past week. Hell, I’m ready for a rest day after only one day of exercise.

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

“All I want is for you to accept me as I am.”

“Yes, and all I want is for you to accept my not accepting you.”

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

The Restarting Is The Hardest Part
Hoorah for me! Last night I thought of every possible reason not to go out for a run, but managed to convince myself that it was important. It was far from the best run that I’ve performed this year, but at least it was a (re)start.

I ran/walk my standard five-mile loop from my house to Grant Park and back. I was disappointed to have to start walking sooner than I used to, but realized that I cannot just turn my running off for two months and expect to be at the same level when I restart.

Give A Man A Bottle Of Ragu And He’ll Eat For A Day. Teach A Man To Make Spaghetti Sauce And He’ll Eat Much Later
Last night the plan was to take some of the frozen meatballs that I had stored in the freezer, defrost the loaf of Italian bread that was in there too, and whip up a sauce from some of the staples in my pantry.

The meatballs were a smash, the bread beyond recovery due to freezer-burn, and the sauce incredibly tasty. However, I wound up eating at 9pm.

The sauce I made was a standard reduction including (in no particular order) red wine, beef broth, canned whole tomatoes, tomato past, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, andn thyme. I wound up incorporating the meatballs into the sauce and wound up serving it all with biscuits (because the loaf of bread was FAIL) and shave parmesan cheese.

Had it not taken so long to cook that I was completely famished, remember I started this after completing my five-mile run, I would have taken photos for all to see.

ITP Flickr Pic
I thought that I was going to take some new shots last night, but with the exercise and then late making of dinner I was in no mindset to think about photography. So, here’s the last of the Peachtree shots that I will post.

This is Mary, also known as “Hide The Salami” to many of you. During the wheelchair portion of the Peachtree I saw her dart across the course much to the dismay of the policewoman that was guarding the intersection. Naturally I had to catch this act of defiance on “film” for all to witness.

A Different Kind Of “Network”
Still without air conditioning last night I went into my bedroom — where I could open a window, suck in the cooling night air (which was brilliant last night), and turn on a ceiling fan in order to stay sufficiently cool — early and watched a movie. The movie of choice last night was Network. Made in the mid-1970’s it was somewhat eerie to see how the subject matter discussed was still relevant. If not for the fact that the fashion was dated, all phones were corded, and instead of computers people were using typewriters, much of the plot could be used today. The plot was based around a second-tier television network’s attempt to make money by creating reality-based programming.

This movie has been on my “I should watch” list for at least twenty years and I am glad that I’ve finally gotten around to seeing it. In fact, it probably has had more impact at this point in my life than it would have twenty years ago.

I Need An Etiquette Judgment
I’ve committed to going to a wedding soon that I really don’t want to attend. I really should have respectfully declined the invitation, but I like the couple and initially wanted to attend. The crux of my change of heart is the fact that it is a night wedding and I don’t think that I will be able to fit into any of my suits. If this was a family wedding I’d suck it up and wedge myself into go out and buy a suit, but this wedding is not for family.

Is there a respectful way to decline the invitation now that I’ve already accepted? Should I lie and pretend that something “came up?” Or should I just shut the hell up and go?

Digital Download Of The Week
This one is fairly easy for me. Even though I am sure that this The Hold Steady disc is going to sound like all of the other The Hold Steady discs, I am still going to buy it today.

The Hold Steady concert is the one at Athens’ 40 Watt Club for which I am having trouble buying a ticket. Because I was unable to travel to Athens last weekend I don’t know how I am going to get a ticket. Hmm, would that be a valid excuse for skipping the wedding?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - okay, but feel like I have so much to do
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Band Of Horses — “No One’s Gonna Love You”
Website Of The Day - I confess to being one of those Moleskine-carrying hipsters. I only wish that I had the artistic skills to pull off some of the stuff I see on Moleskine Art.
Exercise (b)Log - running/walking 5 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 19 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car (I really should start riding Marta again)
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 104 (104)
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]

As I mentioned on Friday I wanted to take a trip to Athens on Saturday but had to scrap those plans because the a/c guy was coming to the house. With the weather forecast surprisingly not calling for rain I considered doing a late-day trip. That idea went by the wayside when I was swarmed by yellow jackets in my backyard and suffered about five stings (one on my right-hand ring-finger, one above my left eye, and three on my legs — through the jeans I was wearing). While I am thankfully not allergic, as I found out Saturday, the Benadryl I consumed in order to reduce the swelling took away all of my energy and I wound up sleeping forever Saturday night. Even worse, the results from the a/c inspection were as bad as they could have been.

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

If we do not exist as individuals then our relationship does not exist.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Hello Taco Mac. How Have You Been?
I really like Taco Mac, not so much for their food, but more for their beer selection and the attractiveness of their clientele and wait staff. Therefore I am always surprised when I realize the amount of time that passes between my visits.

On Friday night I joined some of my coworkers for happy hour at the Taco Mac Perimeter and was not disappointed. Later today you will see the three newest additions to my Taco Mac consumption list — Abita Jockamo, Bar Harbor Real Ale, Red Hook Summer Rye.

Never A Dull Moment In My Life
Last night I was working on an old computer which needs to find its way to the next electronics recycling day (more stuff out of the house, w00t!). I had to get up and go into my utility room in order to get one of those tiny screwdrivers needed to extract a hard drive from its casing, and there it was — water on the floor.

At first I feared the absolute worse. I feared that the massive amount of rain we had in East Atlanta had seeped through the foundation into the basement. My fears were quickly removed however when I saw that one of my emergency five-gallon water jugs had somehow managed to spring a leak and slowly drip water. While frustrating and confusing at least I knew the source of the water and could clean it up. Thankfully nothing of value was damaged by the water spill, and in the process I wound up having to throw out a few things which should have been tossed ages ago.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ve effectively made a successful data backup!!! This is another from July 4th’s Peachtree Road Race. I have plenty more from that day but have little desire to process them — their time has passed.

Now I need to make time for taking new photographs.

RealiTV Update: The Next Food Network Star
The Next Food Network Star was down to the Final Four — Aaron, Adam, Kelsey, and Lisa. The competition for some reason moved from New York City to Las Vegas.

The cooktestants meet up with Bobby Flay in his restaurant Mesa Grill Las Vegas for a little noshing with Paula Dean. I fully expect this show to use the same trick that Hell’s Kitchen did and force the cooktestants to recreate the dish they are eating, but no such challenge occurs.

Instead the cooktestants play Bobby Flay “Showdown” in which they have seventy-five minutes to make two dishes — one being their signature dish “Las Vegased”, and the other being the signature dish of their opponent. Adam, whose signature dish is sadly macaroni and cheese, gets puts against Lisa, whose signature dish is unsurprisingly cassoulet. Each successfully defends their signature dish, and the competition is a draw. Aaron, whose signature dish is stuffed pork, takes on Kelsey, whose signature dish is chicken parmesan. In somewhat of an upset both of Aaron’s dishes are declared winners over Kelsey’s.

In the end it came down to cooking and camera presence. Kelsey, who mentioned her culinary school training yet again, was deemed to be the worst and booted from the show.

As I look at the Final Three I realize that I won’t watch any show staring them.

The Spam Keeps Flowing In
If you make a comment from any of the following 67 IP addresses expect it to be dumped into the trash and never see the light of day

64.191.93.101
64.202.161.130
64.202.165.131
64.202.165.132
64.202.165.133
64.202.165.201
65.254.224.34
65.254.224.36
66.36.231.229
66.79.162.102
66.79.166.27
66.90.77.2
66.90.103.37
66.90.104.22
66.90.118.87
66.197.220.230
66.197.241.54
66.197.250.213
66.232.107.104
67.159.44.139
69.10.44.67
69.80.224.68
69.197.132.98
71.18.216.17
72.232.177.42
72.232.222.218
72.232.250.50
74.52.109.18
74.54.131.130
74.62.155.45
74.63.64.94
74.208.14.63
74.208.14.215
75.175.243.195
77.100.73.81
81.88.49.18
85.234.150.197
91.186.21.78
189.2.189.129
195.210.39.230
200.65.127.161
202.28.27.3
203.144.144.164
205.234.163.22
206.212.245.12
207.44.147.170
207.58.143.17
207.58.168.86
208.53.137.178
208.53.157.26
208.110.82.74
208.113.135.113
208.113.155.28
208.113.161.33
208.113.192.20
209.17.190.78
209.67.210.206
209.249.65.144
211.138.198.6
212.27.63.204
212.227.114.150
213.189.20.167
213.251.189.203
216.104.34.250
216.130.161.111
216.195.55.84
216.219.94.114

Each of these addresses has posted at least one spam comment, mostly about pharmaceuticals, and has been blacklisted.

Let’s Face It, I Am Not Making This Month’s Goals
Today is July 14th. I am nowhere near where I should be in order to complete my July goals and know that I am not going to pick up the pace in order to make them. While this irritates me I am just going to have to learn to deal with this month’s failure.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - all things considered, not as bad as I should
Current Music - Watching The Tour de France
Website Of The Day - There is an interesting groundswell of anger toward those who have tainted the legacy of The Tour de France, Take Back The The Tour may be the best example of that anger.
Exercise (b)Log - running/walking 8 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 14 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 103 (103)
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]

Dear Optimist Club:

Upon receiving the application to your Society that I sent last week please shred and discard it. This week has proven to me that what ever can go wrong will and I believe that I am not capable of living within your Society.

Respectfully yours,
Paulie

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

Ester may dislike me from time to time and I want to respect that by not trying to quickly change her feelings as if they were wrong.

The Backup That Would Not Die!
Why I thought that I’d be bringing in a hard drive full of backed-up data today, I do not know.

Issue #1
I discovered last night that one of the mirrored drives within my network attached storage device has failed. Therefore a new task for today is to go out and buy a new 500GB drive to replace the failed one and figure out how to sync it with the remaining “good” drive. I might even wind up buying two drives today so that I can have a spare nearby for future failures.

Issue #2
After discovering the drive failure I was able to reboot the network attached storage device and remove some of the anomalies that I was seeing on the device; this also allowed me to remove some of the redundant data from the device. Some time around 8pm last night I kicked off a ChronoSync job to copy all of the data from the “good” drive remaining in the network attached storage to one of the drives that I was planning to bring in to work as an offsite backup. However, as of 6am this morning it appeared that the job was less than halfway complete! WTF? I cannot believe that it is taking so long to transfer the data, even though the two devices are connected via ethernet cables.

This procedure has consumed almost all hours that I have been at home this week, and will probably suck up a good portion of this weekend.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’d have more photos to display if my fucking backups would ever get done!

And Sometimes I Should Leave Well-Enough Alone
Last night I updated my AppleTV to the new version of software offered up by Apple. This is the same AppleTV that I praised in yesterday’s blog.

After the software download the AppleTV seems a bit sluggish. The first video I attempted to play froze, and those that did manage to play seemed to drag. Perhaps it’s my ten years working with video devices that make me discriminating, but regardless of the reason I am not pleased.

Hey, Let’s Take A Day Trip Tomorrow!
The plan was to go to Athens, Georgia for a little escape from reality and much needed “Paulie Alone Time.”

The plan was to ask you all where I should eat in Athens, as well as what things I should photograph.

The plan fell apart when I talked to the guy who is going to come over to my house to look at my air conditioner. The only time that he has available is tomorrow morning.

I guess I’ll have plenty of time to dick around with my backup scheme.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - Honestly? I am angry with Life right now.
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Dears — “Lost In The Plot”
Website Of The Day - .
Exercise (b)Log - Who has time? I’m busy spending all free time backing up data!
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) - 100 (100)
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]

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

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]

I have what I believe is a solid plan, now if the technology would only cooperate. Just to piggyback onto yesterday’s whining, here is my data backup solution.

1. Under daily use I save data to one of three drives
   #1 (250GB internal) = my home directory for miscellaneous data
   #2 (320GB external FireWire) = music and videos
   #3 (320GB external FireWire) = photos and photo related items
2. Each night I plan to run three ChronoSync jobs in order to backup these drives incrementally to a 500GB network attached storage drive. (For now assume that the cumulative amount of data on the three drives listed above is less than 500GB.)
3. Each week I plan to copy the 500GB network attached storage to one of two 750GB USB drives which get rotated and taken off site.

Once the system is in place and running I am sure that I will be satisfied. However, it is taking forever for the initial setup and first backup to complete. Each day I go without a proper data backup I worry that a drive will fail. Further, I feel constrained to not add more data to the drives for fear that this will only exasperate to process.

In some ways this virtual data is a great metaphor for the physical items which I have been attempting to get under control for over a year now.

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

Our marriage used to suffer from arguments that were too short. Now we argue long enough to find out what the argument is about.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Somebody Is Obviously Not Reading The Blog
Yesterday in the mail I received a magazine offer; this is not unusual. However the fact that this offer was for Rachael Ray’s magazine made the offering strange. Have they not read the blog? Do they not know how much disdain I possess for Ray and her cooking?

The offer went directly into the trash.

Realtors, Inventing New Terminology For The Future
On my drive in to work I saw a For Sale sign which contained a phrase that I had never heard before. That phrase was “Pre Foreclosure.” I’m sorry? Pre Foreclosure? I guess this means that the house can be bought before the people currently owning it finally give up? Is this like getting in on the ground floor of a great investment? Why must the Real Estate industry keep inventing new terminology?

ITP Flickr Pic
Another in the Peachtree Road Race wheelchair series

When my data backup solution is under control I can start processing the rest of the photos I shot on July 4th.

RealitTV Update : Hell’s Kitchen — We Have A Winner!
Last night I returned to Betsy’s abode, this time to watch the Final Finale of Hell’s Kitchen.

While the focus on the show was supposed to be the battle twix Christina and Petrozza it really turned into a show about the incompetence of Matt and the delusional behavior of Jen. Jen really believed that she should have been in the Final Two and she really believed that being picked next to last was a sign of her strength! And what the hell was up with her asking Ramsay to write a letter of recommendation for her, especially during the final competition — what a lack of dedication. She will probably find a job in the restaurant industry, but I know that if I was hiring for a chef’s position she would never receive an offer from me.

When the two menus were highlighted I really wanted to eat Petrozza’s food and did not have the same craving for Christina’s. Petrozza’s menu looked sophisticated to me; Christina’s did not.

However, in the end I was wrong and Christina won. What a twenty-five year-old Executive Chef will do for Ramsay is a mystery to me, but he obviously saw something special in her.

I’d like to say that I will not watch the next iteration of Hell’s Kitchen, but we all know that’s a lie. But until then I say, bring on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - okay, but will be better when I start exercising again and get my data backup plan executed successfully
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Bright Eyes — “Bowl Of Oranges”
Website Of The Day - You want to see what gas pain others are suffering? Check out Gass Buddy’s intriguing Gas Temperature Map. On a side note: Since Georgia no longer can boast about having cheap gas I’d like to have my ad valorem taxes back please.
Exercise (b)Log - 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) - 98 (98)
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]

I spent nearly an entire night moving data around to different hard drives in the name of “organization.” Am I done? Nope. Am I getting there? Yep. It amazed me how many times the same file had been store in different directories thanks to programs such as iTunes and iPhoto. It’s no wonder why I run out of hard drive space so quickly.

Unfortunately another recurring issue that I encountered was the inability of OS X’s Copy command to have any common sense. After moving shit around I decided to get one good, albeit temporary, backup by performing a mass copy to one massive hard drive. Of course when I awoke I was greeted with mysterious error numbers and partially copied directories and not the hard drive containing the complete backup as I hoped.

If you are going to write a copy command please do one of the following
1. Make it so rock-solid it can’t fail.
2. If you cannot accomplish #1 then at least provide a detailed error log and don’t cancel the copy based on the inability to copy one file.
Is that too much to ask? I don’t think so.

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

I get angry at Gayle when she asks me to do something if I sense that in refusing to do what she asks I will demonstrate that I am not the way I like to thing of myself.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Mother Nature Fooled Me Yet Again
When I got home last night I intended to go on a short jog in order to get the pendulum swinging back toward the side of exercise. However as I looked at the radar I saw a large and powerful thunderstorm heading toward East Atlanta. Even though this meant that I wouldn’t be going out to run I was excited at the anticipation of rain and cooler temperatures. As time passed I came to the conclusion that Mother Nature was nothing but a big tease as the storm cell broke up and produced nothing in East Atlanta.

Have I mentioned that I’ve yet to get my air conditioning fixed? (note to self: start that process today)

ITP Flickr Pic
Processing more of the shots taken at the Peachtree Road Race.

Told you that I had a good vantage point for shooting…

One Hard Ticket To Buy
The Hold Steady is playing the 40 Watt Club in Athens on August 9th. Seeing how my friend Mike and I have seen them the last three times they’ve rolled through Atlanta we have decided to go four-for-four by attending the show in Athens.

Buying a ticket to this show has been somewhat of a problematic experience for me. It seems that the 40 Watt Club uses some online ticket processor called “PitchATent” whose website lacks a proper security certificate. Each time I try to buy a ticket I am warned that the site to which I try to connect may actually be a site masquerading as “PitchATent” and my confidential information could be compromised. As you would expect, this concerns me greatly and I cancel the purchase.

Questions: Are there any places in Atlanta that sell tickets for the 40 Watt Club? If not, are there any record stores in Athens who sell tickets for the 40 Watt Club?

Tonight We Finally Crown A Winner
Tonight is the final finale for this season’s Hell’s Kitchen! Who will win it all (and become Gordon Ramsay’s next lackey)? My guess is that it will be Petrozza.

Digital Download Of The Week
I am starting to debate the worth of this section. Increasingly I have neither heard the releases, nor have even heard of the bands releasing them. Further, I am really starting to boycott the purchase of music due to increase costs. I still refuse to buy new, environmentally wasteful CDs, and the rising costs of digital downloads is souring me from those as well.

If I could get advanced copies of the releases so that I could at least have some idea of what to recommend then I’d have no problem continuing this. However, I feel that my lack of knowledge on the releases has increased to the point to where I might as well throw darts at a dartboard to choose.

Should it stay or should it go?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - frustrated by my technology
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Peter, Bjorn, And John — “Amsterdam”
Website Of The Day - I am a sucker for “tip” blogs. It’s no surprise then that TipNut pleases me.
Exercise (b)Log - running/walking 6 miles
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) - 97 (97)
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]

Two out the three days this weekend I was insanely productive. To counterbalance those day I did absolutely nothing on Saturday; in fact, I think I only left my house once on Saturday and that was to get my mail.

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

Many people think they are acting the way they feel when they tell someone off. Someone is critical of me and I answer by calling him an S.O.B. My feeling is not that he is and S.O.B.; my feeling is that he has hurt me: “You have hurt my feelings and not I want to hurt yours.” Launching a verbal attack covers up my feeling of being hurt with an appearance of strength. I get angry when I think someone has hurt me in a way I am helpless to do anything about.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

There Comes A Time In Every Man’s Life Where He Must Face His Demons (Part 1)
On Friday morning I parked myself at the corner of 10th and Juniper for the running of the Peachtree Road Race. My vantage point was incredible and had my camera skills matched my location sighting skills I would have the most incredible shots taken by these hands.

After watching the wheelchairs and then the real runners pass me by it was time to get up and wander the course so I could capture those things which could not be captured at my station.

Deep inside I thought how close I would be to the Black Sheep Hash’s beer stop for the Peachtree Pub Crawl. Demons! This what got me in to trouble last year! As I wandered the race course I had an encounter with Harold (BWanA) and Bill (High Dicker) and I knew that I must face my demons yet again. “One beer. You can do it Paulie, just one beer. This is the year that you stay sober and see fireworks.”

I made a point to make sure that I didn’t race to the beer stop, after all there would be time before the Peachtree Pub Crawl team would arrive and I knew that I could only nurse one beer and fend off any others for so long.

I DID IT! I only had one beer. I waited for the Peachtree Pub Crawl Team to arrive. I walked with them along the race course, just ahead of the police motorcycles sweeping the course. When we hit 10th and Juniper again the Peachtree Pub Crawl team took a right, I continued on straight back to my car.

I Saw One Place Where Budgets Must Have Been Cut — Fireworks
As you might gather from that last section it’s been some time since I’ve seen fireworks so I was anticipating the moon and starts. What I got was somewhat less. Per the timestamps on the photos I took from the balcony of Maigh’s loft Atlanta’s fireworks show didn’t even last thirty minutes. WTF?

Sadly, even with the preparatory reading I did about photographing fireworks most of my shots turned out blurry. I think I’ve learned why, and now I have an entire year to practice.

ITP Flickr Pic
I have a knack for seeing things differently…

This is one of my favorite oddball photos that I took on Friday. What can I say? It’s just me being me.

Set My Blood To Boil
Yesterday I watched Who Killed The Electric Car. Before even starting I knew that I was going to be angered and disgusted by viewing the film — and I was right.

For as much as I like to believe that I am tuned in to environmental issues, I was sadly unaware of the GM EV1 electric car that was introduced in 1996. It’s not surprising that I didn’t know about it however, as the movie paints a scenario that GM did little to hype their own future-forward vehicle, produced few of them for sale, and all but had plans in place to eliminate them as soon as they could. And eliminate them they did. Each of the EV1s was a lease vehicle and as soon as each lease expired they were collected and and sent to the crusher. Perfectly useful products destroyed. God Bless America!

GM is not the only villain in this story however, other car manufacturers did the same thing and let’s not forget the oil industry’s or our very own Federal Government’s actions to dissuade the advancement of non-polluting vehicles.

Perhaps the oddest part of watching this 2006 movie was to see that the price of gas in California at that time was $2.79 a gallon. When the movie was being filmed in 2005 they discussed how the price had gone up $1.00 a gallon in a year’s time. I wonder if a electric car seems like a better idea now that the price of gas is $4.50 a gallon? Probably not to the auto industry, after all they make a shit load of profits from sales of all those parts needed for internal-combustion engines.

There Comes A Time In Every Man’s Life Where He Must Face His Demons (Part Deux)
This being near-middle July can only mean one thing — it’s time for the annual Black Sheep Hash Bastaard Day hash. As I looked at the radar I saw massive lightning storms over Atlanta and swore that I would go to the start and make up my mind about doing the hash then. As I sat in the parking lot I was certain that I would not be running the hash, after all I have a healthy respect for lightning and with birthday upcoming in two week’s time I had no desire to die yesterday. And then I noticed how many other morons showed up to hash, so I was bowled over by the peer pressure.

To the hares credit they gave us a decent trail even though portions of their trail had to be abandoned due to the now rushing waters in the creeks. This also meant that the hash was unusually short, which was okay for most. However, this also meant that mass quantities of beer would be consumed, something which was not planned. Get this… the hash ran out of beer and rather quickly I might add.

A group of us wound up back in East Atlanta at Midway for more beer and grub.

Overall I was pleased with my choice to hash, I am sure that not dying by lightning strike had something to do with that.

Mark you calendars kiddies…. I am the hare for the next Black Sheep hash (July 20th). Can you say “Hash Shit?” I knew you could.

RealiTV Update: The Next Food Network Star
For some reason my head hurt after watching last night’s The Next Food Network Star. Oh wait, I know now… it’s because Rachael Ray was all over the episode! Oh how that woman annoys me…

The bulk of last night’s show was having each of the remaining contestants do a guest cooking segment on Ray’s show. Each contestant was also assigned a child with whom to work during the segment.

Perhaps the most surprising outcome of the show was that Shane was booted. I had Shane pegged to be Final Two with a good chance of winning it all. I thought for certain that this was Adam or Aaron’s week to fail, but Shane’s lack of life experiences as well as his somewhat cold personality did him in.

Next week the Final Four go to Las Vegas. I hope that Rachael Ray stays in New York.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - okay
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 18 playing Los Lobos — “Come On, Let’s Go” (changed the channel today, go figure!)
Website Of The Day - If I could count reading these One Sentence Stories toward my Kindle count then I’d already own one.
Exercise (b)Log - running/walking 6 miles (accumulation of weekend’s activities)
Monthly Foot Mileage - 6 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Monday Morning Weigh-In - 199 pounds (ugh!)
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My internal-combustion engine car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 96 (96)
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]

It really has been a boring week in my life this week. Admittedly my slow social life this week has been self-imposed. Last night I spent the entire evening going through stacks of paperwork making sure that I have my shit together (for the first time in 2008 — it only took me six months!)

I’ve made a decision that I am giving myself the day off from blogging tomorrow. It will make life easier for me in regards to my Independence Day activities as well as line up a super-special confluence later in the month.

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

Whether written or spoken, the more intensely personal, the more uniquely applicable to him a man’s thoughts are, the more I find that what he says has meaning to me. There is usually more meat for me in a writer’s journals than in his essays.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Circle The Receipts, We’re Trying To Get Insurance
After much research and consternation I am finally getting around to meeting my insurance agent in order to get proper coverage for my electronic/camera equipment. I spent a good portion of last night gathering receipts and logging serial numbers for the policy.

You have to love the internet. With the exception of one lens I was able to get all of my purchase history and print out receipts for all of my gear. Frustratingly, that one receipt is for the lens I purchased from Dell (I know, I didn’t realize they sold camera gear until I made that purchase either!) who apparently purge their purchase records after two years. I probably bought the lens about two years ago. Dangen!

I am sure that I put all of the actual receipts in a “safe” place, but for the life of me I have been unable to recall where that “safe” place might be. Double Dangen!

There is a fine line between “Clever” and “Stupid” and I am way on the “Stupid” side right now.

ITP Flickr Pic
My Flickr-friend Romanliliy has started a business called “Blue Chalk Studio.”

I was trying to be clever and take this shot and pretend that I was going to start a rival business called “Yellow Chalk Studio.” I know, I am no closer to that Clever/Stupid dividing line.

Off And Running
The July odometer has been stuck at zero. That all changes tonight as I intend to run the Painful Member Atlanta Hash.

For the non-Atlanta hashers in the group, and you know who you are, the Painful Member hash is held every July 3rd. This particular hash event always starts at the statue on Peachtree/15th between Colony Square and the Woodruff Arts Center. The Painful Member is special because it got its name in a bizarre manner. Normally, hash trails are marked using baking flour. As I am to understand one time a hare (the person who marks the trail) used lime instead of flour and his sweat transferred the lime into his shorts making his “member” rather painful. As we are wont to do in the hash we never let a good story die, so this hash was named for that memorable experience.

If you have a need to see me in person then tonight, and perhaps Sunday at the Black Sheep Hash will be your best opportunities. Friday and Saturday I will be guarding my time heavily as part of my Julybernation project; I see a lot of photography, house cleaning, and movie watching on those days.

Have a very happy and safe Fourth of July everyone! I look forward to having a ton of shit to share come Monday.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - okay because tomorrow I will be on a one-day vacation
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Nine Black Alps — “Cosmopolitan”
Website Of The Day - Bored with Google as a search engine? Spice up your life using Viewzi.
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage - 0 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 92 (92)
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]