Inside The Perimeter

Nearly the entirety of my night last night was consumed by the monthly Atlanta TweetUp. Because of this I am going to do something a little different today.

What It Is, And What It Shall Be
Before dipping our toes into the TweetUp pool, I should probably describe Twitter first.

Twitter is known as a micro-blog. You create an account and post “tweets” which are no longer than 140 characters. Twitter provides you the opportunity to “follow” other Twitter users so that you can read their tweets, and conversely other Twitter users can “follow” you. Twitter also provides direct messaging capabilities to those who follow one another. Perhaps Twitters strongest lure is that tweets can be posted and read via Twitter’s website, any number of dedicated Twitter clients, or through text messaging.

But why? I don’t know other than to say that it’s fun. When you create a list of active tweeters it’s like an enormous stream of consciousness. It can be fast, furious, frustrating, and rewarding all at once. Want to guess where I first heard about yesterday’s plane crash into Hudson Bay?

I never expected to like and faithfully use Twitter, but by now you should know that I’ve finished my entire glass of Twitter’s Kool-Aid. My Twitter account is InsidePerimeter (note there is a fifteen character limit on user names, hence the shortening of my standard user name).

ITP Flickr Pic
One more from last weekend’s trip to the museum.

I’m learning that one can let the mind fill in the missing pieces. There’s something very awe inspiring about that capability of the mind.

Great, I Understand Twitter. What’s A TweetUp?
While not the first to initiate the concept, Maigh and Tessa decided it was time to put real faces to digital thoughts. What better way to do it than to involve alcohol? It was with that notion that the Atlanta TweetUp was born.

Each month a date and a bar (hopefully one with ample parking) are chosen and it is on. Consider a TweetUp a happy hour amongst nerds. What’s really odd? It’s not only eyeglass-wearing nerdy dudes that attend (I was seated next to an amazingly beautiful young lady last night). Atlanta’s TweetUps have become quite popular; I don’t know the number of attendees last night but Maigh has posted three pages worth of sign-ins into her Flickr Photostream.

The Aftermath: So It’s Just A Happy Hour?
Both yes and no.

Atlanta TweetUps are great for meeting people. Unlike other social gatherings TweetUps provide the ability to keep in touch with people after the event, without the awkwardness of other social gatherings (ie asking for email addresses or phone numbers). With the exception of Mr. Biggs (you’ll have to listen to the latest “Ask Mr. Biggs” podcast to understand that reference) Twitterers understand that they are broadcasting their lives to the world when they tweet and because of this there is an unnatural confidence, connection, and happiness between those who finally meet in real life.

Don’t Shoot The Messenger
I know a lot of you will never “get” Twitter, have no desire to create a Twitter account, and don’t need another excuse to meet up with people. It’s alright. To each his/her own. C’est la vie. Whatever.

Have an awesome weekend all. I know that I shall.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – I understand my station in the dating world and hate it
Current Music – listening to Six Organs Of Admittances CD “Shelter From The Ash”
Website Of The Day – Twitter (duuuuh)
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 16 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 3
Carnivorous Days – 12
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

There will be fewer links in today’s blog. I screwed something up this morning and am unable to get to them. I’ll throw in a few extra words today to make up for it.

I Can Almost See Clearer Now
After leaving work yesterday I made my way to midtown in order to finally pick up the eyeglasses that I purchased before Christmas. The delay was not all my fault, as the optometrist’s office was closed many days during the holidays.

The new frame style is fine, although I’m having some second thoughts about my decision. I seriously need a girlfriend with fashion sense to help me out in these situations! My eyeglass choices are limited since I have fairly wide-set eyes and the bridge of my nose is kind of large. When I left the doctor’s office I was pleased with the fit, but after wearing them and doing countless double-takes in the rear-view mirror I have decided to make a return visit for some adjustments. The fun never ends and the party’s never ending.

Pick Up One, Drop Off Another
Since I was already in midtown I went in search of E-6 Labs after the optometrist’s visit. As I mentioned yesterday I wanted to drop off a roll of 120 film for development. E-6 was fairly easy to find, and to my surprise so was Spitfire, one of my other options, as they are just at the end of the same block. Hell, I probably could have thrown my roll of film from E-6′s front door and hit Spitfire’s.

My film is due to be ready on Monday, mostly because E-6 is closed on the weekend. I also reminded the guy that Monday is MLK Day and he assured me that they’d be open. Wish me luck.

ITP FLickr Pic
Yet another photo of a statue.

It is my goal to position statues to make them appear to have expressions never intended by their sculptor.

I Kea, You Kea, We All Kea, For IKEA
I lost my IKEA virginity last night. That’s right, even with all of the hullabaloo that accompanied its opening I had yet to step foot inside, or attempt to navigate to it for that matter.

The store both annoyed and confused me often. Wait, where is that? Let me consult this map. Great, now where am I on this map? Dangen!

I was there for two specific items — candles and frames (not of the eyeglass variety).
I left there with two specific items — candles and a wooden lazy susan (this after winding my way through the store for at least an hour). Well, actually I also paid $0.59 for a bag which might work well as a laundry carrier.

It’s not that I didn’t find the prints and frames section, it was that I was not pleased with the selection. Oh well.

And did I eat at the cafeteria? Not on your life.

No, Thank You Shitty Atlanta Traffic
It should come as little surprise to all of the Atlanta-residing ITP-readers that traffic in this town blows. Every once in a while this can be a good thing.

Coming out of IKEA I was greeted with a slowly-moving stream of Atlanta commuters. My original plan was to work my way over to former Top Chef cheftestant Richard Blais’ new restaurant venture Flip, but it was still rather early and I wasn’t hungry. As I crept along at a snail’s place I decided to seek an opportunity to get out of traffic for a while. My savior was the Junior League’s thrift store.

I have shopped in the Junior League’s thrift store before and have found such gems as a brand new Linda Ronstadt 8-track tape (for $1) that I presented to ITP-Reader Steve for his birthday a few weeks ago. Last night I scored something for the home team.

In one of the cases eye spied an old Nikon camera (turned out to be a Nikon FE) with a 50mm f/1.4 lens attached to it. Beside the camera sat another fixed-focal lens and a lens case for some sort of telephoto lens. I asked to see the lot and decided I was going to take the gamble.

The camera appears to be in working order, although the proof won’t be in the pudding until I load it with some film and shoot with it. The 50mm lens appeared very clean (and even had a starlight filter attached), whether or not it can be used with my fancy-pants Nikon D300 is in question (actually I tried and it worked, but I’m not certain I was supposed to try). The cost for the camera and lens? $15.

The fixed-focal lens turned out to be a manual-focus 28mm. At first I assumed it too was a Nikkor lens, but after looking again I realized that it is not. It’s a clean lens as well and was fitted with a UV filter. The cost for this lens was $6.

The telephoto lens case contained a manual-focus Quantaray 75-200mm (I think this is the correct range) f/4 macro lens. This lens was also clean and while Quantaray lenses are not going to knock anyone’s socks off, the $10 price tag seemed reasonable.

So, for $31 (plus sales tax) I was able to bring home some new toys. Hopefully I’ll be able to get at least $31′s worth of fun out of them.

Top Chef: What, What?
I joined a handful of Tweeters at Holy Taco for a few beers last night. I was pleased when I returned home to see that I hadn’t missed the beginning of Top Chef.

You may remember that last week Top Chef did a chop-chop and removed two of the slower wildebeest from the heard. What would happen last night?

The night started off with the traditional bringing back of past Top Chef winners, this time was Season 3′s winner Hung. Hung was best know for his frantic knife skills, and perhaps for not lacking self-confidence. Oh noes, they are going to make them work fast!!! The cheftestants thought that the Linens-n-Things Top Chef table cover hid fresh fish, but instead it hid all sorts of pre-packaged goods from companies who have no desire to grease the palms of Bravo in order to keep the company names on their cans from being taped over. Not only were the cheftestants going to have to learn how to use can openers, they would have only fifteen minutes to produce their masterpiece. Most of the concoctions looked disgusting (to me), and in the end another person not lacking in self-confidence, Stefan, was named the winner.

With the No-Longer-Named-Diet-Dr-Pepper-QuickFire-Challenge completed it was time to get to real business. The cheftestants drew knives which this time the read “pig,” “lamb,” and “chicken.” All I can think is “Holy shit, they are going to have to slaughter their protein tonight!” I was wrong. Instead they cheftestants were driven out to the country in some gas-guzzling beast known as a Sequoia. During the trip we see a scene where Ariane is holding the craptastic Danger Sidekick II from T-Mobile, which I mention here because it seems to be the indicator that the holder is going to be eliminated. Money well spent, T-Mobile / Danger; your products are now synonymous with disaster!

Unlike the NLNDDP QuickFire Challenge the cheftestants are to use local and in-season ingredients for the [This Space For Rent] Elimination Challenge and they are going to be provided with pre-slaughtered meat. The teams scurry about picking up ingredients in the farm as they whine that they are not pushing shopping carts through Whole Paycheck. Each team seems to have its high and low points in the meal

• Team Chicken: Making chicken soup in the heat? Heat? Wait, why is it hot? Didn’t we just celebrate Christmas on the show? I thoughtta thees wassa Toppa Cheffa New York, anda notta Toppa Cheffa Australia. Good thing Carla’s pastry saved their bacon, or is that chicken wing in this case?
• Team Lamb: Look at the butchering on that lamb? Holy Jeebus, is this farm located in Amityville, New York? Wait, what was the good thing they produced?
• Team Pig: Porkka, Porkka, Porkka. Let it be known that you never let a boy from Miami butcher your pork. They are far too health conscious there and take off the tastiest part, the fat. Good thing Pretty Boy Jeff has a bit-o-Southern in him and can turn green tomatoes found on the ground into delicious fried green tomatoes.

In the end it is deemed that Team Chicken was the winner and that all three cheftestants should share the night’s prize — one big fucking bucket of pride. All is not well for Team Pig and Team Lamb as the are both led to the proverbial slaughter house. Because Pretty Boy Jeff wowed them with his fried green tomatoes, nothing says “seasonal” to me like tomatoes picked up off the ground, Team Piggy gets to go all the way home back to Manhattan unscathed. Team Lamb on the other hand…

I am reminded from a poem from my youth:

Ariane had a little lamb
She butchered with a butter knife
And because Hosea and Leah have a little shomance
The Top Chef producers refused to spare her life

Yeah, I think that’s how that went. Who knew that a little ditty from my youth would be even more accurate than the Phone Of Death Sidekick? You guessed it. Ariane was told to pack up her knives and get back onto the Jersey Turnpike. Her fifteen minutes of fame are up, but at least she can now return to the tanning bed.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – dumb
Current Music – Sirius/XM satellite radio, channel 26, playing Archers of Loaf — “Web In Front” (whoa, take me back!)
Website Of The Day – For providing me with a little scavenger hunt fun and perhaps a good bargain, today I want to highlight the Junior League of Atlanta.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – none

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 15 (15)
Vegetarian Days – 3
Carnivorous Days – 11
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

While I didn’t get the chores completed that I wanted to get done, last night was a good night for me. I got home, started to do some things, then kicked on the tv for a night of mindless viewership.

Why La Casita? Why?
For the second day in a row I attempted to eat vegetarian. It was very easy at lunch because I had a can of vegetarian beans and some vegetarian hot dogs readily available for consumption. For dinner I contemplated my options while driving home.

After much consideration I determined I was going to support East Atlanta Village (which has just lost another restaurant — Kasan Red) by eating at Cantina La Casita. I had my mind set for some veggie empanadas and a basket of chips with their green and red salsas.

You may remember some months ago when I blogged about going into La Casita and being dumbfounded that they had changed their menu, eliminating one of their (then three) salsas. I had a strange feeling last night and wondered what I would do if something like this were to happen again. Little did I know how right I would be.

Paulie : “I’d like chips and salsa with both salsa please.”
Waitress : “Oh, we no longer have the green salsa. We are in the process of changing our menu.”
Paulie : “UGH!” *drops head toward table*
Paulie : “Okay, I’ll take chips and salsa and an order of vegetarian empanadas.”

I want to support La Casita. I want to love La Casita. However, unless I order nightly specials or a restaurant is known for seasonal menus I need to know that I am going to be able to order certain things every time I go to a restaurant otherwise I can do neither.

Catching Up With The Drapers
I’ve slowly been working my way through season one of Mad Men. I had started watching some months ago, but was interrupted. Surprisingly, much like with exercise one I stopped watching, it was hard to start again.

I absolutely love this show and can’t wait until season two becomes available on either iTunes or preferably Netflix.

Oh and if you consider yourself a friend, please don’t post any Mad Men spoilers here. ‘kthanks!

ITP Flickr Pic
I like the fact that I can bring my camera into the High Museum and shoot their permanent collection.

This statue against that wall color just floored me.

Just When I Thought It Was Safe To Develop Film Again
As I mentioned the other day I haven’t shot film in years. Even when I had it was shitty 35mm so I never developed anything myself and I’d drop my film off at places like Costco for processing.

With the purchase of my Diana, admittedly a “toy” camera whose results are a crap shoot, I had to get 120 film. There aren’t many places in town who process 120 film so I had to seek advice from those around me. Apparently there are three places people commonly take their 120 film, one of which is not really an option.

The two remaining film processing options are Spitfire and E-6, and I was told that Spitfire was the place that I should go. That was until yesterday when I heard news from John (aka HamWithCam on Flickr) that Spitfire’s machinery has gone on the fritz. Dangen! Today I will be swinging by E-6 to talk about having them develop my film. Wish me luck…

4 Chefs + 3 Courses + 1 TV Hour = Recipe For Success?
Last night I watched the premiere episode of Food Network’s Chopped. I was under the assumption that Chopped was going to be Food Network’s answer to Top Chef. I was wrong, it is much more like a game show than a reality show.

The premise of Chopped is this : Take four chefs, and three rounds of cooking — appetizer, entree, dessert — with mystery ingredients, and eliminate (chop) one chef after each course. At the end one chef is named the winner and gets $10,000 (not bad for a few hours work).

For each course the chefs are presented with (four?) mystery ingredients and have to incorporate those ingredients into a meal produced in thirty minutes. At the end of each course there is judgment performed by three judges and one of the chefs is eliminated from the competition.

While I enjoyed Chopped the lack of time getting to know the chefs seems to make the show a bit awkward. Unlike long-running competitions like Top Chef I have no emotional investment in these people, so why should I care whether they win or lose?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – cold
Current Music – listing to Paul Giguere’s “Thoughts On Photography” podcast
Website Of The Day – If you have fast download speeds you must check out boxee. In fact I love this so much that I am going to write about it tomorrow.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – none

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 14 (14)
Vegetarian Days – 3
Carnivorous Days – 10
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Critical Mass
Last night’s trip OTP was an interesting one. The sky at sunset was brilliant, but I didn’t have the proper photography equipment to capture it. I ate vegetarian at Chick-fil-A, not to be assumed that I ate a healthy meal. And finally I attended another highly-attended meeting of the Roswell Photographic Society, this time for Critique Night.

Having no idea what to expect I did not enter a shot for critiquing. Now that I have seen one round I will definitely be ready to enter something in the future. I may not have the best photo of the night, but I will definitely learn something from the critique.

Oddly last night I saw two people, and was even introduced to one, that I know from former “lives.” One person I used to volunteer with occasionally during my days of Trees Atlanta volunteering. And as best as I can remember, the other one used to work out at Jeanne’s Body Tech back in the days when I used to work out. Small town, this is.

One Book Done!
Okay, so it turned out that How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness was an extremely quick read. I don’t want to discount the message provided by the book, however. It was a quick, rewarding read. I want to thank ITP-Reader Betsy for hoisting it upon me / lending it to me on Drinkmas.

ITP Flickr Pic
My second trip into Java Lords (who is as timely with website redesigns as I am — snark!) on Sunday yielded this

I never saw the Elvis statuette earlier in the day, so I’m quite glad that I entered for another coffee later in the day.

iPhone Users : Help A Brother Out!!!
I’m seeking a killer app for my iPhone. This app is attainable, but after spending $3 for one that I thought accomplished my task but hasn’t, I turn to you.

This is what I want exactly. I want a re-usable shopping list:

• I should be able to create multiple, independent lists
• All lists should be synchronized to a server/computer so that I can either make changes on my Mac or iPhone and have the changes transmitted to the other
• For each list I should be able to create a master list of items and check off those which I need
• I should be able to uncheck each item as it’s acquired, but not lose the item from the list

Here’s a sample list before heading to the store
List: Grocery
Apples
X Bacon
X Biscuits (frozen)
X Eggs
Pasta
Tomato sauce
X Wine (red)
Wine (white)

Here’s the list after not being able to purchase alcohol on Sunday
List: Grocery
Apples
Bacon
Biscuits (frozen)
Eggs
Pasta
Tomato sauce
X Wine (red)
Wine (white)

Had I the time and skill to write it I would. Anyone know of such a beast? I’d even settle for the ability to set up these lists without synchronizing, but synchronization would be much nicer.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – listening to the “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – Pure Mac may not provide my shopping list solution, but it is a good resource for Mac software.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 13 (13)
Vegetarian Days – 2
Carnivorous Days – 10
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Also remember that this blog is provided at no charge.
And you shan’t be disappointed.

Shocking!
Friday night wound up being the only one to go as planned…

As planned I made it to the Wine and Gift-Again party hosted by good friends and ITP-Readers Stacy and Phil. And as usual the party was a smashing success. What did I get as a re-gift you ask?

Shocking, no? I actually stole this from someone (which should give you an indication of the crap brought and I’m as guilty as the rest). This will go quite well with my “Fight the Power” statue already in my house.

From the party I joined ITP-Reader Betsy at The EARL for The Long Ryders show. I had planned for this to be the first of two shows of theirs that I’d see this weekend. Friday’s show was amazing! Betsy and I showed up in time to catch the set done by The Skylarks, who were the second band on the bill. The Long Ryders took the stage at some time around 11:30pm and rocked. With multiple glasses of wine and a couple of 16-ounce PBRs in me I was transported to the 1980′s and had a blast. For Friday’s show the room was never more than half-full, mostly of old-timers, which made for a pleasurable nearly-smoke-free experience at The EARL. I returned home some time near 2:30am, needless to say I was not awake early on Saturday.

Saturday, I Hardly Knew Ye
Woke up late. When I finally got my arse in gear it was to go out and grab some lunch and run a few chores. I had kinda forgotten that I thought about attending a hash on Saturday, but by the time I got out of bed I was already focused on other things.

My first stop was at Urban Outfitters where I was going to purchase a “toy” camera (a Diana+ to be exact). Unfortunately the local Urban Outfitters didn’t honor the sales price listed on their own website, so I passed. After eating a bit of lunch I decided to give purchasing a Diana+ another shot, this time at The Camera Doctor in Decatur where I was pretty sure that I knew what the price would be. I was right, so I purchased the camera.

My chores lasted longer than expected. I sat at home a bit worn out and debated whether to attend the second show put on by The Long Ryders. I feared that Friday’s show was so perfect that I might be let down by Saturday’s and didn’t want that to happen. With the weather being crappy combined with the fact that I’d not heard a peep from the people I was expecting to meet at the show I decided to bag it. At 10pm I closed my eyes “for a minute” — a minute that lasted about three hours. I missed the show, but heard the next day that lead-singer Sid Griffin had lost his singing voice, so maybe my decision was justified.

ITP Flickr (Digital) Pic
You can run but you cannot hide.

On our photostroll through Little 5 Points yesterday I stumbled upon the SOB hash trail. Luckily for them I don’t keep flour handy…

It Could Have Been Called A Coldostroll
Let’s just say that yesterday’s weather was lousy, but not lousy enough to deter a hardy bunch to go out and shoot photos, with film no less. That’s right, I shot film yesterday. I have not shot a roll of film in over six years. How’d my shots turn out? I have no idea as I’ve yet to take the film in for processing. I have a feeling I might be reminded why I love digital so much.

After walking around cold, damp streets of Little 5 Points a brisket sandwich was in order for lunch.

(this photo is not as sharp as I would have liked it, but it was really dark in the Yacht Club and even bumping my ISO to 2000 didn’t help that much.)

From Little 5 Points ITP-Reader Maigh and I went over to the High Museum where I was finally able to use my membership again and we strolled around the permanent exhibitions shooting our digital cameras.

The rest of the evening was spent at home, watching a little football, cooking up some bizarre concoction of — frozen peas, frozen carrots, chicken broth, some crazy small pasta, and spices — and reading.

Terri, my apologies for missing your Hog Mountain trail yesterday.

Back Atcha Roswell
While MLK Day set for next Monday the monthly third-Monday meeting of the Roswell Photographic Society is set for tonight. So, in an attempt to keep my photography-related fun going I shall be in attendance.

Did Someone Say Forty?
Welcome to the club ITP-Reader Bob. Happy 40th birthday buddy! Just remember, it only means that you are one year closer to retirement. Has your hearing returned from the Monster Truck Jam on Saturday night?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – not bad
Current Music – Sirius/XM Channel 26 playing Oasis — “Falling Down”
Website Of The Day – Did you know that there is an organization known as Major League Eating? Amazing…
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monday Morning Weigh-In – not taken

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 12 (12)
Vegetarian Days – 1
Carnivorous Days – 10
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Ah, I could get used to this. The Gators’ success last night washed away the disappointment laid upon me by the East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads and the New York Jets. I’d be lying if I also didn’t add that this victory is a smidgen more pleasing because everyone lauded the Georgia Bulldogs as the “Greatest Team Of All-Time, Guaranteed To Be #1″ at the beginning of this season.

Oh Yes It’s Laundry Night, Oh What A Night
I’m once again getting good at the economics of laundromats. Last night I returned to the laundromat across from Manuel’s Tavern where I discovered the “Triple Load” machines; previously I’d been using a combination of the “Single” and “Double” machines. My dirty laundry required only two of these machines so my cost of washing last night was only $6, which is at least $2 less than previous trips.

I was in an out of the laundromat in fourty-five minutes. Of course it still took four hours for me to dry and fold all of my laundry at home. I think that at some time in the coming week, perhaps this weekend, I’ll drag some other items like my sofa covers to the laundromat and see how their machines handle those.

My So-Called Web2.0 Life
In the past few months my life has changed. I’ve discovered Dropbox which is a privately-shared public folder on the internet and Evernote which is a note-taking/storage service on the net. In addition I’ve been attempting to reacquaint with Remember The Milk a To-Do list organizer that I blogged about back in ’06. Of course I have access to all of these services via my iPhone.

There is still one battle underway, the struggle to figure out which tool I will use to safely encrypt and store my account information. Back in the “olden days” when I carried a Palm Pilot or an HP iPaq I had applications which stored passwords in a proprietary database. When these items finally croaked I went to a solution using an encrypted file accessed by a program called TrueCrypt. The TrueCrypt solution is working, but there seem to be better solutions.

The two combatants are 1Password and KeePassX each of which have their pros and cons.

1Password is a pay-for solution that is a Mac/OS X only. I received a license for 1Password in a software bundle that I purchased a while ago. Since I’m moving to an all-Mac life this doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal, but since I still access the web from Windows and Linux machines it would be nice to have access to the 1Password database. Where 1Password shines is in its integration with all Mac-capable browsers, including the iPhone. 1Password has the ability to generate strong passwords and then auto-fill user/password information on websites stored within its database.

KeePassX is an free, open-source solution which is cross-platform, except there is no client for the iPhone. Unlike 1Password KeePassX doesn’t seem to have any auto-fill capabilities which is important for me as I start to generate stronger passwords.

Do any of you have input on this quandary?

ITP Flickr Pic
Another view of yesterday’s hearth.

Somebody Contact Sherlock Holmes, Columbo, Or Monk. I Don’t Care Who, Just Call Someone!
I need someone to solve the “Case Of The Clobbered Contacts.” Seems that since I got my iPhone I’ve been losing contact information. The initial culprit is syncing software. I believe that in the syncing process the “new” contact is being viewed as a “deleted” contact on another machine and being wiped from my iPhone. If I ask you for your number I am most likely neither hitting on your nor have I deleted your information on purpose, so please don’t smack me.

It’s Beginning To Look Like A Busy Weekend
Tonight I am double-booked. I’ll be attending the annual “Whine and Cheese Gift-Again” party and then hustling to The EARL to see the first of two shows put on by The Long Ryders this weekend.

Tomorrow I’ll be taking care of some business around the house, and depending on the weather might even go to the Atlanta Hash in an attempt to get one closer to my one hundredth Atlanta hash. Of course regardless of what I do in the afternoon I’ll be back at The EARL tomorrow night.

Sunday is a Paulie Day! I am on a temporary self-imposed hiatus from the Sunday Runners Group (One, I don’t need to drink that much. Two, I’m not running much right now) However, I am planning on heading somewhere for photo shooting. I’m considering a free-standing hearth seeking mission, but may wind up shooting (in the bloody cold) at one of my “secret locations”.

What’s on your weekend radar?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat and happy
Current Music – listening to Leo Laporte’s “The Tech Guy” podcast
Website Of The Day – Indulge me as I suggest you check out the homepage for the Bowl Championship Series (aka BCS)
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 9 (9)
Vegetarian Days – 1
Carnivorous Days – 7
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Sadly, this has nothing to do with running nor vegetarianism. Happily, it has everything to do with writing for Atlanta MetBlogs. Last night I posted an article to MetBlogs about the upcoming The Long Ryders shows at The EARL. (WOW! I just realized that it has been two years since I’ve posted to MetBlogs.)

Thanks to Christmas and New Year’s Day this is the first Thursday that I’ve worked in three weeks; I like Thursdays better when they are paid holidays.

Speaking Of The MetBlogs
Last night was the monthly meetup of Atlanta MetBlogs authors. Once again we met up at Joe’s Coffee Shop in East Atlanta which gave me the ability to have dinner in the ‘hood beforehand. Last night I chose Holy Taco as my food provider of choice. While not the best meal that I’ve had there, it was somewhat tasty and filling.

The group meeting went as planned and inspired my to spend the hour I had intended on using for reading as blogging time instead.

ITP Flickr Pic
I knew there were free-standing hearths down near Moreland, Georgia. I remember seeing some while bicycle riding down there. Before attending Steve’s party on last Sunday I was fortunate to find this one near Turin, Georgia.

I’ve added to my virtual collection Home Was Where The Hearth Is.

It’s Called Cartography Even Though Cars Were Not Invented When It Was
I’m a map addict, perhaps not as much of an addict as ITP-Reader Stacy, but an addict nonetheless. When Google announced Google Maps, including the ability to mark up their maps and save it as your own, I was excited.

Yesterday I created a map for my free-standing hearths project the
Home Is Where The Hearth map. This map is open to the public, and I believe that I’ve set it up so that you can drop a pin onto any location possessing a free-standing hearth. When I take a photo of a free-standing hearth I will convert the pinpoint icon to a camera icon. Some day I also plan to figure out how to tie my photos to the map so that when you click on the camera icon a photo, initially my photo, will appear.

Here’s the pretty embedded version of the map

View Larger Map

[Update @ 9:53am]
Oh yeah, after getting a text message from ITP-Reader Stacy the other night letting me know that Georgia Public Broadcasting was airing a show containing content about free-standing hearths I did a Google search and came up with this article from The Gainesville (GA) Times).
[End Update @ 9:53am]

Top Chef : Aaaaaand We’re Back!
Because of Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve Bravo held back new episodes of Top Chef. And strangely last night they played back episodes leading up to the new episode out of order.

If we hearken back to 2008 we remember that no one had been told to pack up their fucking knives and leave before Christmas, so this meant that last night two cheftestants would be on the chopping block.

The night started with the cheftestants making a dessert sans sucre (I threw that out in French in honor of the French d-bag chef who would be the night’s guest judge). Almost immediately the cheftestants talked about making a dessert using some shitty diet soda as the base; my BULLSHIT monitor went to eleven!!! Lo and behold that same shitty diet soda company was advertising on Bravo. I wished that I had my iPhone, which is much better than the shitty cellphone manufacturer and cell provider also pimping their shit on Top Chef, so that I could call someone and tell them to piss off with their over-the-top product placement/pushing. The cheftestants whipped up their best efforts and the word “interesting” was tossed out often at tasting. Radical won contest with some sort of bread pudding; I was bummed because she is not one of my favorites. To my surprise no one was eliminated immediately.

With no one eliminated at the QuickFire Challenge how would two get booted in one night? Come to find out that the cheftestants were split into two different groups, given $100 to spend at Whole Foods (what costs less than $100 at the Manhattan Whole Paycheck?), allowed to cook whatever they’d like — no restrictions, and their food would be judged “blind.” The other “twist” for the evening was that unbeknown to them the cheftestants were going to be judged in-part by their competitors. Many bizarre dishes were created, none looking especially appetizing to me, and in the end my girl Jamie won the night. Of course in true Jamie style she announced that it was “about time” that she won, overconfident much?

With a winner announced it was time to chop-chop a couple of cheftestants! This pleased me because I can’t remember the names for all of these cheftestants and it’s time to whittle down the group so that they can start hating each other. Predictably unimaginative-Melissa and self-proclaimed-risk-taker (whatev!) Gene-Gene the Tattoo Machine were correctly ousted.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, hoping tomorrow my college football team will be National Champions
Current Music – listening to the “Net @ Nite” podcast
Website Of The Day – Who’s your Splenda Daddy?
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – none

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 8 (8)
Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 7
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

This morning I read of a worker at The Standard on Memorial Drive getting shot in the head last night by some asshats who broke into the bar after closing. If it’s like the rest of the break-ins about which I read these days I bet they were trying to steal flat-panel televisions. A life taken over the greed and breakdown of society, our values are completely fucked. This is beyond sad; this is sickening. And before anyone plays the “these things happen in the city” card, consider that this will happen almost anywhere for as long as the economy continues to suck. Thugs are now using a poor economy and ease of obtaining firearms as excuses to destroy the ethical-fiber of this country.

Be advised that the rest of the blog was written prior to my hearing of the shooting at The Standard. My dilemmas will seem trivial if you keep this in mind while reading.

Learn From My Mistakes
A few years ago I wanted to learn about investing. I decided to join a small investment group. After some time I realized that I couldn’t contribute the time necessary to be a valuable asset to the group so I cashed out. At the time I licked my small wounds because I lost a few dollars on my investments, but felt the experience was worthwhile.

Last year I found out that the group failed to file proper IRS paperwork a couple of years that they were in existence, including one in which I was a member. Sadly, this error is going to provide me with the most valuable lesson — never do this again. After a year’s worth of battles with the Fed the group’s leader, for whom I have the utmost respect for fighting what must have been a tiresome battle, we have lost. It appears that I am on the hook for a sum of money that I obviously would rather spend on other things, let’s say plumbing repairs.

Ugh.

ITP Flickr Pic
There are many paths to travel in life. Some are clear, some are not.

Just remember that sometimes the path less traveled is so for a reason.

The Problem With $1 Drafts While Raining Is That It Has To Rain To Get Them
A rousing group of Twitters and Bloggers met last night at Atlanta’s Park Tavern. The idea was germinated by a single request by me to find out if Park Tavern still pours $1 drafts when it’s raining. I still don’t know if they do as the weather while drinking was not more cloudy than raining. That was to change upon our departure from the bar however.

It was an odd evening at Park Tavern. I believe that we may have been the only occupied table for nearly the entire evening. Unfortunately, as is usually case on slow nights the service was lackluster, although our waiter was able to keep separate tabs and to my knowledge got each one correct.

Get Your Gas NOW
On Saturday I paid $1.42 / gallon at a local QT. This morning I paid $1.69 / gallon at a different local QT. You have been warned.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – scared, uncertain
Current Music – watching the CommandN podcast
Website Of The Day – sorry, no time to track one down today
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 7 (7)
Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 6
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Whew, this weather is exhausting.

There Must Have Been A Lot Of Film Shooters In The Room
Last night I attended my first Roswell Photographic Society meeting. The group, which meets on the first and third Monday’s of every month (except for this month due to MLK Day occuring on the third Monday which is forcing them to meet next Monday instead), was nothing like I had expected. The average age of the group skewed much higher than I would have guessed. Suffice to say that it will not be an outlet for meeting “Miss Right.” That being said, I will return.

The meeting last night was headlined by local well-known photographer Craig Tanner. Tanner used to produce podcasts through his website The Radiant Vista, however with the parting of his business partner Mark Johnson has started a new venture called The Mindful Eye. Tanner is both a talented photographer and presenter, so the overflowing room of people was treated to about ninety minutes of entertaining material.

Wendy’s, Oh Wendy’s
One mistake I made last night was not getting food prior to the Roswell Photographic Society meeting. The meeting, which takes place in a hard-to-get-to location in Roswell, officially starts at 7pm and runs until 9pm. Considering that I needed to drive all the way back to East Atlanta I figured it best to get some food on the way home. Sadly due to the late hour and my desire to get home before 10:30pm so that I could get some sleep, fast food was my only option.

One of my dirty little secrets is that I used to live on Roswell Road near Northridge Drive hen I first moved to Atlanta in the mid-1990′s. My knowledge of the area meant that I knew most of the places to eat quickly, and none of them sounded good. I also knew that Moe’s had opened up in the neighborhood so that was my destination — it was closed by the time I got there. Dangen! I pushed on.

After making it all the way down Roswell Road to I-285 without finding a suitable food option my hunger grew. As I winged my way around the perimeter I settled on Wendy’s. I wish that I hadn’t.

How bad can a hamburger named “The Baconnator” be? I found out. Certainly the french fries can’t be bad? They weren’t if you like cold, stale fries. And the only thing they couldn’t fuck up, the soda, I didn’t consume because I am still trying to avoid drinking soda.

ITP Flickr Pic
One of the things that Craig Tanner preaches is that good photography happens everywhere, not just in majestic places. I present to you a coffee mug.

See, he’s correct!

Man v. Food
I received two odd emails this morning, both of which were marketing efforts. The stranger of the two was sent to me from the Travel Channel and opened like this:

Hi,

I work with the Travel Channel’s online community team and noticed that you live in Atlanta. I thought you might be interested to know that Travel Channel’s Man V. Food will be featuring your city in this week’s episode, which airs Wednesday, January 7th, at 10pm ET.

Considering that I’ve never heard of Man v Food, and am now contemplating watching it I think of this as clever marketing. However, it airs at the same time as Top Chef so I might have to see if it’s available for viewing online.

It’s Macworld Keynote Day!
Sure, Steve Jobs is not going to be giving the keynote but that won’t hamper my enthusiasm. Besides, being an Apple shareholder I need to be excited about the products.

What could possibly be announced? Rumor has it that a smaller (physical) version of the iPhone will be announced. I’m still okay with the one I bought last month.

Rumors of a revamped Mac Mini are out there. I still don’t need one since I own an AppleTV.

And now I hear that the iTunes store will offer non-DRM media at a jacked-up price. Interesting, especially since I am planning for the majority of the media that I’ll consume to be free (or gotten through a subscription service like Netflix).

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – confused
Current Music – listening to the “News From Lake Wobegon” podcast
Website Of The Day – One of the books I plan to (re-)read in 2009 is “Confederacy Of Dunces.” Recently I found out to a new blog dedicated to this piece of literature called Ignatius’ Ghost
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 6 (6)
Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 5
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

The holidays are officially over, and for me that means I don’t get another paid vacation day until Memorial Day. Well I guess in these troubled times I shan’t complain about that.

North Of The Border Perimeter
On Saturday night a group of us headed to the magical land known as Tasty China. We wer headed for the food as well as the show that is the owner/waitress who will let you know when she’s not happy with your selection.

The seven of us, including three vegetarians aka “those people”, ordered meals which were shared amongst the table. The carnivores won the night as we were able to sample from all platters. Of course one of us who shall rename nameless chose sesame chicken so which pretty much guaranteed that he would be the only one consuming it. Why ITP-reader Bob did that I’ll never figure out. After some confusion I wound up ordering some green bean dish.

What I should have done was what a guy at one of the nearby tables did, bring a camera a take photos of the food. Even if the shots didn’t come out as blog-worthy material I’d might have a chance of reordering the food I liked.

A Day Down In Day Spa Land
The Moreland Day Spa held a birthday celebration yesterday. Because I hadn’t been out shooting in some time I decided to pack the camera and head south early in the day. Not surprisingly breakfast was consumed at the Waffle House. However somewhat surprisingly it was the Waffle House on exit 51, the exit formally taken on my trips to Hedon.

Post breakfast I drove around for hours looking for free-standing hearths (note: look for a Google Map announcement in the near future). After finally locating one I headed to the Day Spa for a excellent afternoon of drinking, eating, and domino playing.

ITP Flickr Pic
One last “holiday” shot until we put those thoughts until Christmas merchandise returns to the stores in August.

This was taken in Senoia, GA; the sleepy little town in which portions of Steel Magnolias and Driving Miss Daisy were filmed.

Was It Really Four Pounds Of Fun?
I stepped onto the scale today. I wish that I hadn’t. The last time I had stepped onto my scale was New Year’s Day. On that day it read 199.5 pounds. This morning it read 203 pounds. Ugh.

I’m not announcing crazy diets, exercise plans, or anything like that. However, today will start the beginning of a common-sense lifestyle.

Tonight Will Be More OTP For Me
One of the unpublished “resolutions” I’ve made is to attend meetings of the Roswell Photographic Society. Consider it my attempt to break through my current photography stagnation and hopefully a launching pad for getting my “professional” site up.

My First Birthday Callout Of The Year
Today marks a big day for ITP-Reader and Day Spa Proprietor Steve. It seems that a half-century ago he entered the world. Thanks again for the fun time down south.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, but moving slowly
Current Music – listening to the TWiT podcast
Website Of The Day – Did you get and iPhone during the holidays? Check out application reviews at AppVee
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monday Morning Weigh-In – 203 pounds

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 5 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 4
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
- Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
- Lose no fewer than two pounds
- Run no fewer than 50 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (January 1st weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]