Inside The Perimeter

I was very tempted to put nothing but “This Space Left Blank Intentionally” into today’s blog. But, things weren’t quite that dire. However, no matter how I slice it 2008 was far from good and will never enter my “Favorite Years” list.

2008: The Good
Me, Myself, And I
There were a few decent moments in the year. I completed two three (the number of the count shall be three!) half-marathons, neither of which under my desired time, but completed nonetheless. And while it seems like ages ago, I completed three long bike rides (Cartersville, Wilson, Beautiful Backroads). Another highlight of the year was completing Mystery Mountain, perhaps the toughest course that this body has tackled in some time.

I didn’t die, and as far as I know I haven’t contracted any terminal illnesses (although living is a terminal illness and the jury’s still out on that whole pecan thing). That’s good, right? I still have my life-remaining physical ailments and am still trying to make positive changes on the mental side of the ledger.

ITP Flickr Pic
This is perhaps my favorite self-portrait of the year.

Taken at a coffee shot in southern Colorado, Cortez to be exact.

It’s All About You
Hey you, ITP-Reader (fill in your name here) — THANKS! According to the stats, at which I glance about once a month, approximately one hundred and twenty of you read this space daily. Of those people I probably know about a third of you in real life. I’m thinking of holding a blog party sometime in 2009.

InsideThePerimeter Passed The 1000 Post Mark
Go me!!!

This space started as a journal, written for me, most likely to be read only by me. As InsideThePerimeter passed its fourth anniversary I consider this space more of an open conversation with the globe.

For those of you that enjoy this blog, take solace in the notion that I have no intention of stopping any time soon.

For those of you that have suggestions for improvements, please leave a comment.

It’s A Car! It’s A Tent! It’s A Car! It’s A Tent! It’s A Both!
This year will go down as the year I learned that I could sleep comfortably in the Jackmobile. I lurve the Jackmobile. Why? Well, for one it’s paid off and I’ve not suffered a car payment in years. For another, it now provides nearly sound-proof shelter on short camp outs.

Oh iPhone, Where Have You Been All Of My Life?
My conversion to “Mac Fan Boy” completed this year with the purchase of an iPhone. This joins the, somewhat-more-problematic refurbished last-gen MacBook that I purchased a few months ago. Look for this trend to continue in 2009.

Colorado, A Great Place To Visit…
Without doubt my vacation to Colorado was the year’s highlight (even though a rock hit my rental car’s windshield, for which miraculously I was never charged).

The trip started with a photography workshop in Fort Collins, at which I met a handful of really nice people.

From Fort Collins I wandered the state really never knowing in which city I would wind up sleeping.

And the trip ended with this year’s Colorado Invihashional in the depressed town of Walsenburg

I drank my fair share of Fat Tire, which as it turns out was not as necessary as it has been in the past. 2008 marked the year that Fat Tire started to be sold in a state near enough to Atlanta to make a beer run. “B-EE-RR-U-N! Beer Run!”

A Made Bed Makes For A Content Mind
Look at this month’s stats! No, not the running/cycling/vegetarian, the bed making! I made my bed every day in December.

Debbie? What’s your score?

My Hobby Could Be A Little Closer To Paying For Itself
Last night I created a SmugMug account, a Pro account even. My plan is to move Jalapeño Beach from its own dedicated server to this account (and you’ll be able to reach it using Jalapeño Beach’s URL). From SmugMug I can create galleries, and sell prints if I so desire.

With some help I also believe that I will be creating an actual company with an actual balance sheet for my photography. I have no intention of making this my career, but I do want to take it to another level.

It’s Great To Be A Florida Gator!
The East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads sucked ass.
The New York Jets were eliminated from the playoffs.
On January 8, 2009 the Florida Gators will be playing for the National Championship in football.

Drinkmas Was A Good Way To End The Year
This photo best summarizes the chaos that was Drinkmas.

(have I mentioned that I now own the domain www.drinkmas.com?)

And The Best Thing About 2008?
It’s almost over. Unless you don’t read this before midnight tonight in which case it is over!

Have a safe New Year’s everyone! There will be a very entertaining blog entry tomorrow, my annual resolution post.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – good
Current Music – listening to the Mac Geek Gab podcast
Website Of The Day – Counting down until the end of the year.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 31 (31)
Vegetarian Days – 13
Carnivorous Days – 17
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

No matter how much of a “Tigger” I try to be bad things happen. Bad things happen to bad people, bad things happen to good people. So without further < insert fancy French word meaning "delay" here >

2008: The Bad
La Casa de Paulie
Let’s face it, the only ill that comes close to bothering me as much as my weight or lack of dates is my house.

In the year 2008 I had numerous problems including the yet-to-be-fixed plumbing fiasco, a tree hitting my roof and doing damage to my gutters (still haven’t investigated this), and the realization I needed a new air conditioning unit which cost be three grand.

Me, Myself, And I
The year started so promising. For the first time in countless years I was training for an event. Me. Training. Obviously I was being optimistic, expecting to break a two hour half marathon and get numerous dates — neither came true. Hope sprang eternal again in Colorado, but here one the next to last day of ‘08 neither has come to fruition.

My gimpy knee which flared up again in September really did the majority of physical and mental damage for the last half of the year. To this day it nags me, although as you will read on New Year’s Day (or whenever you read that post) there are big plans for 2009.

My driving has gotten considerably worse, even when you throw out the fiasco which occurred a few weeks ago. I’ve become more impatient, more aggressive, and more frustrated with Atlanta’s traffic. If I could rely on Marta to get me to and from work in a timely fashion (or if gas skyrockets back to $4 per gallon) I’d drive a lot less.

I invested in stocks. I picked a bad time to return to investing. I guess I’ll hold and hope.

Nut allergy? Me? This could be very bad, although the jury is still out on this one.

ITP Flickr Pic
Another from the Me, Myself, and I series from this Summer.

I promise not to complete the series tomorrow.

Concerts : I May Have Missed More Than I Saw
I love live music. There was plenty of live music to see this year. I missed the majority of it. Why? For one, my tolerance for smoke has diminished making a lot of the venues less desirable. For another, I’ve become lame (also known as “old”).

I’m not sure that I’ll ever return to my old concert-going frequency (I will be 44 next year), but I’ll probably stop beating myself for not doing so.

0 For 2008
Not dates this time, photostrolls with Stacy and Phil instead. For some reason the three of us never got our shit together to go out for one of our photostrolls (with breakfast/lunch involved). Pity. I hope this line item is repeated this time next year.

Le Web, You Can Be The Stink
I am fighting this one as we “speak.” Facebook changed its user interface — I’ve learned to like it. Flickr changed its user interface — I still hate it. Bloglines keeps throwing up on itself — I’m looking for an alternative RSS reader.

Drinkmas Was Good But It Had Its Bad Moments
Like when I tasted this beer (hated it!).

And then later when I realized that I paid $11 for it.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – bad
Current Music – listening to Leo Laporte’s “The Tech Guy” podcast
Website Of The Day – I don’t want to be a downer so today I’ll choose a funny article from McSweeney called Santa’s Bad 2008.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 30 (30)
Vegetarian Days – 13
Carnivorous Days – 16
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Welcome to my annual year-ending “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” series. For the next three days I’ll be recapping 2008. Normally I’d follow The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in that order, except this year I’m doing it in reverse. Don’t worry I’ll sprinkle a little new material in so you won’t get bored. If I had my “stuff” together I’d already have these three posts in the can, it’s not like I just didn’t have five nights to write or anything….

2008: The Ugly
Me, Myself, and I
There were a lot of “Good” moments in 2008, but in the end I have to put myself into the “Ugly” category. Any training essentially ended in September with my knee injury. I managed to lose weight in the beginning of the year but put it all (and more?) back on in the end. I missed more goals than I made, and this month canceled my 5/7ths vegetarian mission.

ITP Flickr Pic
What else did you expect today.

Love ya. Mean it. ‘kay? Bye!

0 For 2008
I did not go on a single date in 2008. None. Nada. Zip. Nil. How is this possible? Again! While I’ve not been socializing the way that I have in the past, I still should be able to meet someone. Sometimes I feel like a fucking leper… one that never gets to fuck.

J-E-T-S = Just End The Season
Yesterday my beloved NY Jets finished their 2008 collapse with a loss to the Miami Dolphins; the same Dolphins who:

• Were 1-15 last season
• Are quarterbacked by the Jets’ former QB — who was left for dead
• Beat them in “New York” (the Jets actually play their home games in New Jersey

The Jets’ collapse also mildly tainted the Hall of Fame career of this year’s Jets quarterback Brett Favre.

In fantasy football my East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads won more games than the Detroit Lions, but not by much. Of course the Detroit Lions didn’t win any games this season, talk about ugly.

On Four And Holding
In June I read one of the books that I required myself to read in order to buy a Kindle. I’ve been stuck on four since then. I’ve actually come to the conclusion that I shouldn’t buy a Kindle since I’m not reading. Having said that, 2009 will be a big reading year, but my reading will be done with previously-owned books, or on my iPhone (yeah, you read that right).

It Was An Unusual Drinkmas
Drinkmas was good, bad, and ugly this year. Since I didn’t sum it up on Friday I’ll spread the summary over three days.

There are a few constants on Drinkmas

• Alcohol (duh!)
• Bacon
• Tweety Bird Waffles

The day had an ominous start when Betsy’s Tweety Bird Waffle maker died after making one waffle. Don’t worry, she managed to find another on Craiglist and we gave the dead one a proper burial.

Later in the morning Reese decided that Nibbles would be a tasty snack, and appeared to want to tear her apart like a stuffed animal. Oddly we believe that it was Nibbles’ Mrs. Claus outfit that saved her from harm.

We watched the obligatory YouTube videos and I drank a lot of beer. I drank so much beer that I managed to spill half a cup in my lap late in the evening.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – ugly
Current Music – listening to the “This Week In Tech” podcast
Website Of The Day – Turn your pretty photos into ugly Polaroids by using Poladroid.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 29 (29)
Vegetarian Days – 13
Carnivorous Days – 15
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

There will be no blog today. Suffice to say that I am tired and extremely busy with matters which need tending. There will be a posting on Monday, so please return then.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Holiday Season!

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

My gift of a self portrait wearing a Santa hat never materialized so I present to you this…

ITP Flickr Pic
Merry Drinkmas everyone!

Hopefully your day is as full of as much joy as this one was for a Wee Little Paulie.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – merry
Current Music – listening to the “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” podcast
Website Of The Day – Another Santa Claus website.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – no work, it’s Drinkmas!
Exercise (b)Log – none

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 25 (25)
Vegetarian Days – 11
Carnivorous Days – 13
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

It should be a relatively short day ’round these parts today. I’ve but one chore to accomplish today, purchase Prosecco for tomorrow’s Drinkmas Day activities. I feared fighting traffic to get to a liquor store until I remember that Christmas came a little early this year when Total Wine And More opened across the fence from my office. Certainly they carry Prosecco, right? I’ll just have to make sure to get over there before work lets out in an attempt to avoid long lines.

Do I Know It’s Christmas?
It’s hard for me. There is no tree in my house (which turns out may make me less of a break in target) and there are no wrapped gifts, because I buy myself toys all year long. The only things that make me realize it’s Christmastime are the cards which arrive in the mail (and if you’ve not received one from me it’s either because I didn’t have your address or I’m late mailing it), the sounds of Christmas songs blaring from speakers, or the sight of Rankin/Bass Christmas specials on my telly.

Last night after taking care of a little business I lit all of the candles in my fireplace and snuggled under covers while I watched my favorite, the Rankin Bass spectacular The Year Without A Santa Claus. All I needed was a cup of cocoa with marshmallows to complete the evening.

Tonight will be time for Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town, A Christmas Story, and It’s A Wonderful Life. Who knows, time permitting I may even crank up some of my other Christmas favorites…

Tell Me About Your Favorite Christmas (Or Hanukkah) Gift
For me there is but one gift that, to this day, remains in my possession. If you’ve been to one of my parties (which means you’ve known me for at least ten months since I’ve not had one since the last Super Bowl) then you’ve probably seen it.

When I was a lad growing up in Queens, New York I quickly grew to be a Mets, Jets, Islanders, and Nets (who at that time played as the NY Nets — my allegiance switched to the Knicks when the Nets became the NJ Nets) fan. In the early 1970’s the Mets were good winning the World Series in 1969 and losing the World Series in 1973. However, back then fandom was seasonal, once baseball season ended it was time to root for a Winter sport. So at Christmastime in the early 1970’s there was only one man in New York — Joe Namath

On Christmas of 1972 (or perhaps 1973) my parents bought me a replica NY Jets uniform with plastic helmet. Yes, that helmet! for those of you who have been in my basement. Granted I’ve not worn either much in the past thirty-odd years, but the jersey sans pants and helmet are still in my possession and my favorite Christmas gift of all time.

Humor me as well as all of the other ITP Readers today with a comment letting us know what one Christmas/Hanukkah gift was your favorite and you will never forget receiving.

ITP Flickr Pic
My three wise men

More to put me into the Christmas spirit than anything else.

Yes Virginia, There Will Be A Christmas Blog
Given my sleep patterns I am sure that I will be wide awake at 5:30am tomorrow. Since I shan’t have any gifts to open, nor anyone with whom to share a little Christmas nookie I’ll have ample time to knock out a blog post. Come back tomorrow after you’ve gotten your fill of the fam and look for a few unexpected “gifts” from your buddy Paulie.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – good, sad, lonely, relieved, nervous, and many, many more
Current Music Video – watching Frosty the Snowman (the Rankin/Bass cartoon version)
Website Of The Day – This may be the first time I’ve repeated a website, but how can I not choose North Pole again?
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 24 (24)
Vegetarian Days – 11
Carnivorous Days – 12
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Yesterday wasn’t one of the better days in my life. First off I seemed to have an allergic reaction at lunch time, then shortly after I was informed that one of my across-the-street neighbors had been broken into and had their hours ransacked on Sunday evening.

The Case Of The Swelling Mouth
Lunch yesterday didn’t seem as if it would be any different than any lunch which had taken place in the past. How wrong I was.

A few coworkers and I went to the Mellow Mushroom where I ordered a jerk chicken sandwich with water. With the exception of feeling a bit rundown and then sitting in a restaurant which must have been 60˚F (I kept my coat on the entire time) this lunch still seemed like all others. I started sneezing as we headed back to work, I assumed a cold was on its way.

Once back at work I brewed a pot of Starbucks coffee and ate a piece of a Christmas snack that was brought in by a coworker. The snack consisted of graham cracker, pecans, and some praline syrup. I walked back to my office with coffee in hand and got mentally prepared to restart my working. And then it hit…

All of a sudden the inside of my mouth started to swell. I thought that I was imagining this so I got up and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. My fear was confirmed, my face was a little red and noticeably puffed. I asked another coworker if he knew anything about the local hospitals. Of course he assumed I was joking, until he saw my face. He suggested that I get some Benadryl.

Heeding his advice I went back to my desk — none. I went down to my car where I have two nearly-unused first aid kits — neither of which had Benadryl in them! Starting to panic I decided I should rush to buy some Benadryl so I jumped into the car and drove through shitty Perimeter Mall traffic to the nearby Target where I found Benadryl, opened the package and swallowed two, and then paid for the drugs.

Things seem to be back to near-normal, but you might correctly suspect that I’ve been a bit shaken by this experience.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ve been in possession of this whimsical snowman statue since last year. I’ve been trying to figure out how I wanted to shoot it.

Then it dawned on me that my comforter kind of looked like snow.

Shutting My Social Life Down Until Christmas
Last night I stayed in. Tonight I’ll stay in. Tomorrow night I will be staying in.

My life has become too hectic and I need to spend a few more nights at home. I plan to do a lot of television, more specifically dvd, watching consisting of Christmas specials.

They Say The Mind Is The First To Go, I Guess That I’m Gone
The other day I was pleased when Netflix sent me the first disc for season one of Mad Men.

I had decided that I was going to watch the entirety of season one, I had previously watched about half on my AppleTV, so I put the entire first season into my Netflix queue.

I ripped the three episodes from the disc so that I could watch them on my computer or AppleTV. And then I remembered… I had been watching the episodes on my AppleTV because I had already purchased the entire first season from Apple and had them downloaded to my AppleTV! Yikes! How could I forget this?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – meh, as if I didn’t have enough weighing on my (weakening) mind
Current Music – listening to the “News From Lake Wobegon”
Website Of The Day – xkcd is a great site for web comics.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 23 (23)
Vegetarian Days – 11
Carnivorous Days – 11
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Today’s title is a variant of an old joke.

Holy Crap, It’s Christmas Week
And I’ve already been blessed three times.

1. I’m now an official iLemming — I now own an iPhone. I even purchased a case for it this weekend, one which appears to have an affinity for collecting lint.
2. I did something really stupid in my car Saturday night. I don’t wish to reveal any real details, let’s just say that I hadn’t been drinking, I’m ashamed of myself, and no one got injured. There happened to be an officer there who gave me a sufficient scolding and let me off with a warning.
3. Yesterday I was reintroduced to an old friend — a camping chair that I lost at least two years ago at the end of a hash. I remember posting to a hash forum that I forgot the chair in the back of a pickup truck, but no one ever mentioned finding it. It wouldn’t have been hard to identify the chair since I had written my hash name on the back, but for some reason no one ever read the back. And what did I do yesterday? I left it at the ending of the hash.

I will attempt to keep my good will going all week long.

The Night Was Jambandelicious
So my traffic-boneheaded maneuver occurred while I was on my way to Variety Playhouse to see the Dead Confederate / Manchester Orchestra show. I was running late and as it turned out the show was extremely well-attended so I had no hope of getting down front to get a superior shooting location. My camera stayed in the bag the entire show. Getting stopped by the police really put a disturbing spin on the night, which unfortunately removed some of my fun.

However, the night of music was fantastic. There were four, count’em, four bands on the bill. I arrived after the first band had taken the stage, so I grabbed a beer and a chair and made myself comfortable.

The second band to take the stage was Kevin Devine, a musician from Brooklyn (how in-the-moment). Devine is really into his music, which is always nice to see, and he put on a really entertaining set. During a few of his band’s songs members of other bands joined in; the theme for the night was set.

Next up was Athens’ band Dead Confederate. I’ve seen Dead Confederate before so I knew that I would be enjoying their set. What I didn’t expect was for their set to be so short. Unless I am completely wrong they only played five songs.

The headlining band was Atlanta’s Manchester Orchestra. (side note: There was a “Right Away, Great Captain!” disc for sale at the merch table and I did purchase one). I’ve seen and blogged about Manchester Orchestra shows in the past. Although I’ve enjoyed their show each time, this was by far the best performance I’ve seen from them. Lead singer Andy Hull was in fine form and interacted often with the crowd, including making a joke about seeing Death Cab For Cutie at Variety Playhouse when he was sixteen (Andy, if for some reason you read this review note that I didn’t give away the story). As was the norm for the night members of other bands joined Manchester Orchestra on stage, including one ginormous jam-band rendition of the theme song from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” to end the evening.

ITP Flickr Pic
One of my favorite bars in Atlanta

The Euclid Avenue Yacht Club. Say it with me, “Brisket…”

I Found One Reason My Energy Bills Are High
Cold air was lightly-streaming through the window frames in my bedroom. No wonder why the room is so cold (in addition to the cold heart of the lone sole who occasionally sleeps within the room). Yeah I know, I should consider replacing the windows in this old house. Guess what, I’ve got a lot higher priority problems to rectify first.

Seriously, You People Need To Learn How To Drink Black Coffee
This morning I stopped into Einstein Bagels to grab a fattening bagel and a cup of coffee for breakfast. With no line at the counter I figured to be in and out in a matter of moments. I was partially correct. With bagel in hand I moved toward the coffee station where I encountered people hovering around perfecting the coffee/milk/sugar ratio, as slowly as humanly possible! Even worse, some of these people would drink some of their coffee and then refill! Seriously, either learn to fix your coffee quickly and leave, or learn to drink it black. Denying others from their morning fix of caffeine might be one of the best way to get whacked.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – good, even considering all of my problems.
Current Music – listening to the LightSource Photography podcast
Website Of The Day – Jonesing for some Christmas video? Fanpop’s list of Christmas videos which can be watched online might be of some help.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday = hashing, 3.5 miles

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 22 (22)
Vegetarian Days – 11
Carnivorous Days – 10
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

And I declare pancakes with honey (orange blossom) a success!

Somebody Is Going To Try And Get An iPhone Today (Assuming AT&T Is Not Completely Fucked)
Wanna guess who?

Yes, it’s true! I am caving. However, this means that I have decided to live life for what it’s worth. As my sub-header says, “If You Are Not Living, You Are Dying.” It’s time to practice what I preach. And before you jump my case about my plumbing, let me say that things are in the planning stages. I want to purchase the iPhone before getting a quote for the plumbing so I can look cool calling 911 when I have my heart attack.

What’s That Feeling? Oh, It’s Called “Losing”
Christmas is the time to give. So naturally Meet The Hashers gave some other teams the opportunity to bask in the glory of winning at Team Trivia at Raging Burrito in Decatur. It was the least we could do.

Our wrong answers were like the oil for a Hanukkah menorah; just when we thought that we had run out of them, there were more to keep our losing efforts going.

ITP Flickr Pic
He’s got balls the size of ornaments! And my what a big lens you have there…

This was from Tuesday’s night walkabout in Little Five Points.

Something Old, Something New
In the past two days I’ve purchased the latest release from Gringo Star, as well as what I believe was their first release when they were recording under the name A Fir Ju Well.

The A Fir Ju Well purchase was made at one of my favorite haunts, Decatur CD. I was milling about Decatur CD killing time before heading to Thinking Man Tavern on Wednesday night when I lucked into the used disc.

The Gringo Star purchase was a download from Amazon. Amazon has been my go-to music store this year. Being an Apple stockholder I should check iTunes first and would if I didn’t have to make sure the purchases I make are DRM-free. Down with DRM! Down with DRM!

Happy Birthday To The Person Who Helped Start This Nonsense
Back in the day, October 2004 to be exact, there was a guy who started a little blog parked at www.InsideThePerimeter.com. While it was a charming, witty blog — then a mere Blogger blog — the regularity of its publishing was problematic. A wise, internet savvy young lady named Maigh advised this noob that publishing daily was the only way to gain readers, readers to whom I refer to as “ITP-Reader” today.

Today is the birthday of ITP-Reader Maigh. You can blame her for the minutes of your life you’ve lost by reading this blog.

The Weekend Is Full Of Opportunities
There are only two “definites” on my schedule this weekend.

I will definitely be in attendance for Sunday’s Black Sheep hash.

I have a ticket to go see Manchester Orchestra and Dead Confederate at Variety Playhouse Saturday night. It’s been some time since I’ve seen Manchester Orchestra in concert. I’m looking forward to a great show because I really enjoy the music of each band. I’ll also probably bring a little extra cash to see if Andy Hull is selling any discs for his solo project “Right Away, Great Captain!”

Other probabilities for this weekend are a birthday gathering for Maigh’s birthday, the annual Atlanta Hash XMas party, as well as Saturday’s joint Atlanta / Pine Lake holiday hash.

Unlikely, but necessary chores that should happen this weekend are laundry, house cleaning, and yard work.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – odd, maybe because it’s the Friday before Christmas, maybe because I may be committing to an iPhone today
Current Music – listening to the CBC Radio3 podcast — The 2008 Bucky Awards Show
Website Of The Day – My memory is fading. I think I’m going to adopt apps like Evernote to help me remember things.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 19 (19)
Vegetarian Days – 11
Carnivorous Days – 7
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Seventy degrees and raining? Not Christmas weather in my opinion.

I Know I’m Not Reinventing The Wheel, But I Have A Question
Have you ever seen anyone use honey on pancakes/waffles instead of syrup?

The day before yesterday I finished off the maple syrup that I use when I microwave some pancakes for breakfast. While wandering the aisles of Publix yesterday seeking syrup I saw honey. It then dawned on me… “Honey on my pancakes, it’s just crazy enough to be good!”

Have you ever use honey on your pancakes?
Have you ever seen anyone else do this?

TweetUp + Thinking Man Tavern = Great Fun
Last night I got down to Decatur early enough to secure a decent parking space and eat dinner before the start of the Atlanta TweetUp. Eating is always a good thing…

I chose to play vegetarian for the day and went with the mango veggie burger with some potato rounds. The meal was delicious, but unfortunately for me I kept tasting it all night long.

The TweetUp was a smashing success. I’m not sure how many people came out to play, but when I last glanced at the sign in sheet there were about fifty names on it. Not bad for a rag-tag bunch of kids getting together to drink.

What surprised me greatly was the number of people who lived so close to Thinking Man Tavern. Early on it seemed as if my drive back to East Atlanta would be one of the longest! I’m sure that ratio changed throughout the evening…

And in the World’s Colliding world… early on I was discussing last week’s pub crawl and the guy next to me said, “Well, I can introduce you to some hashers.” Ha! It turns out that the people next to whom I was seated were the sister and brother-in-law of Slippery When Wet. Go figure.

ITP Flickr Pic
This is for all of the women whose minds I blew last night.

Top Chef: Throw The Book At Them
This is another incomplete recap of Top Chef because I couldn’t manage to keep my eyes open during the entire episode.

Let me start out by saying I cannot stand the amount of blatant product placement throughout Top Chef. It’s bad enough that they pimp the fuck out of Glad, GE, Toyota and Whole Foods, but now the interweave story lines in and pimp other products. Last night Hosea was finding out about the health of his father on some shitty T-Mobile Sidekick. I know this because they kept zooming in on the product name to make sure that I’d see it. Guess what cell phone provider and specific cell phone I’ll be avoiding when I switch soon…

As far as remember the QuickFire Challenge had something to do with Martha Stewart who was hold a book, most likely something she’s pimping. That’s when I fell asleep. When I awoke again nearly two hours later, Top Chef was in its second replay of the night on Bravo and I picked it up from there.

For the Elimination Challenge the cheftestants had to toil for someone’s Christmas charity party. I am constantly amazed how often this series turns into “Top Indentured Servant” or “Top Volunteer.” For last night’s episode each cheftestant had to create a hors d’oeuvres based around one of the twelve days of Christmas for the party.

As an aside: Certainly this episode was filmed months ago. How bizarre must it have been to pretend that it was Christmastime throughout the recording of this episode? Ahhh, the magic of television.

Last night we finally got a bit of (manufactured?) Top Chef drama. The cheftestants spent hours prepping their food and then storing it [redacted]-brand refrigerators. When they returned to the kitchen the next day they found out that one of the refrigerator doors was left ajar and that some of the prepped food was spoiled. In a normal restaurant the chef would probably serve it anyway, but these people are on tv so the pitch the spoiled proteins and all cheftestants kick in to help Rad and Hosea recreate their prep work. Somewhat surprisingly, these two dishes wind up being two of the top four dishes of the night.

The scoring for the Elimination Challenge was one of those popularity votes again, of course the judges had some input, but by and large the top four were chosen by people placing AIDS ribbons on placards corresponding to each cheftestant. Lame. In the end Hosea is selected a first place and is awarded a cook book from the night’s guest judge Michelle Bernstein (Bernstein on the Christmas show? Interesting choice.). His reward? Her new cookbook. And because his dish was recreated by all of the cheftestants they all got a copy of her cookbook. Maybe I should write a cookbook so that I can be on Top Chef.

Who would get ousted on this Holiday Extravaganza??? Well, Christmas came early and each chef was given a stay of execution as well as a stern warning from Daddy Tom Colicchio that their food was crap and that they need to step up their game.

Next week my girl Jamie prepares scallops… a-gain.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – can’t believe Christmas is seven days away…
Current Music – listening to Adam Curry’s “Daily Source Code” podcast
Website Of The Day – If you understand my fascination with gadgets then it should come as no surprise that I love Gizmine.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 18 (18)
Vegetarian Days – 10
Carnivorous Days – 7
Marta Rides – 0

Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]