Inside The Perimeter

I’m at work. If you aren’t why not do something productive like stimulating the Economy by going out and buying a mattress today; I’m sure someone is having a sale.

Home Alone
For the better part of the weekend I stayed home and puttered around the house. Before you think that I am complaining about this let me explain that this was what I chose to do as I was not in an entirely social mood and really needed to get work done at home.

So what did I do?

• Finally got a haircut in Friday night. I was going to follow that up with a meal at Little Azio, but chose not to and wound up at Holy Taco instead.
• I identified that my plumbing is still not self-healing; washing a sinkload of dishes proved that.
• I cleaned out some clothing that I know I will never wear again.
• After making an emergency run to Lowe’s to purchase a $6 screwdriver that allowed me to unscrew an incredibly tight, tiny screw, I installed RAM into my computer.
• I lost all patience with my failing, aged Windows laptop which continued to give me fits. Hello, recycle!
• I attempted to install Windows XP Pro as a virtual machine on my Mac — and failed. Why fail? Because the valid Windows XP key is only valid on the machine with which it was delivered. Hate. Microsoft!
• Twittered and Facebooked far, far too much.
• Made numerous unsuccessful attempts at writing code.
• Watched the first episode of this season’s Amazing Race (see below)
• Ate breakfast at a restaurant that I’ve never been to before — Sun In My Belly. I’ll return. Saw Romanlily and a friend of hers arriving as I was leaving. Pity, it would have been nice to have seen what she ordered.

So what didn’t I do?

• Go to Black Sheep even though the weather was perfect.
• Meet Maigh and her man on Saturday night because hunger got the best of me and I couldn’t resist going out solo.
• Neither fall in love, nor slit my wrists on Valentine’s Day.
• Install the new network cabling at home.
• Clean and organize my kitchen thoroughly. The process has started but is far from complete. (I know, the kitchen is not the target room for this month)
• Download my first e-book from Audible. I became a member last week.

See, overall it was a busy weekend. It just so happened that it was a busy weekend alone.

ITP Flickr Pic
When in doubt, Bedazzle. On Saturday night I went over a friend’s house, who conveniently lives but three blocks from me, for what was billed as a Bedazzler party.

I was not disappointed. For the record I did not Bedazzle, I was merely a Bedazzler spectator.

The Amazing Race: Who Moved My Cheese?
Don’t look now, The Amazing Race is back! W00t! That’s right kids, one of my addictions has returned.

The people who cast Amazing Race are up to their old tricks; we have cheerleaders, older couples, yokels, a mother / son team (this time the child is deaf), dating couples, and gay folk.

Last night the teams started out in California and immediately flew to Switzerland. Once there the teams met up with their first Road Block — bungee jumping. [Note to anyone who may consider me a qualified Amazing Race partner: I am deathly afraid of heights. I can guarantee you that I will not be the one leaping off a platform and torpedoing toward Earth with only a strand of rubber bands to keep me from certain death.]

Next up was what I considered to be the best part of the night — taking four, fifty pound wheels of cheese down a leaf-filled, slippery hill using holders apparently constructed from balsa wood. I don’t know if I have ever laughed so hard during an episode of TAR. The constant sight of people falling down, and wheels of cheese barreling toward the bottom of the hill cracked me up.

Once done with that challenge the teams headed to the finish line for the first stage. They had to locate yodelers in a valley. Slick move producers, enlist a team with a deaf person and them immediately require them to find something by listening. Classy! Oddly, it was the mother / deaf-son team to finish first! I nearly shed a tear.

But before I could we were back trying to figure out who would be last in this first stage. What could suck more than getting ousted first? Perhaps being an Auburn graduate and seeing the last-place team wearing an Auburn hoodie and ballcap (backward). That’s right, unfortunately for us all the fire/gas couple from South Carolina was the first team to be ousted. Pity, I was looking forward to a few more episodes of arguing between these two.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – listening to the current “This Week in Tech” podcast
Website Of The Day – Chedd’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese. How could this not be my choice after seeing all that cheese roll downhill last night?
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – a combination of sit-ups, dumbbell work, and push-ups

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 16 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 15
Marta Rides – 0

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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]

You are probably tired of hearing about me yammer on about how busy I am currently. I promise just one more blog day of whining about it (at least for a while).

For Those Of You Who Have Monday (Presidents’ Day) Off From Work
Congratulations. Not only will I be working on Monday, I will be working tomorrow as I push to complete a project which has fallen behind schedule. Tomorrow will mark the twentieth consecutive day that I’ve come to the office (admittedly weekend days have not been eight-hour affairs, however some of the weekday affairs have grown to twelve). Fortunately(?) for me the office will be undergoing electrical maintenance on Sunday so I can’t come into work even if I wanted to do so.

I’m not looking for a medal or sympathy, I’m just stating a fact — this is my blog after all.

If You Don’t Fancy This Friday The 13th, You Can Try Again Next Month
Today is a day full of significant numbers. As you should know by not today is Friday the 13th. Thanks to February’s uniqueness it turns out that March will also have a Friday the 13th.

Today also marks a much nerdier event. I am a computer geek (duh!) who loves UNIX and the operating systems which were derived from UNIX. In the programming world we refer to Epoch Time, which is the number of seconds which have transpired since the start of the UNIX universe, namely January 1, 1970. As of 6:31:30 PM EST, 1234567890 seconds will have passed since 00:00:00 1970-01-01. W00t!

Of course, as a dyed-in-the-wool C programmer I realize that the real monumental occasion occurred at 0123456789 seconds passed Epoch (which happened on November 30, 1973).

ITP Flickr Pic
Roads to nowhere intrigue me. I am fascinated by them; enamored, if you will. This road to nowhere is on Memorial Drive near Avondale. I have passed it in my car many times. Since it fell within February’s Grid Project grid I just had to shoot it.

This is not exactly the shot I had envisioned. The shade obscures the subject, and as I stood in the middle of the street to take this a car pulled up behind me. I didn’t reshoot later because I was pleased to have a shot in which a person was walking through my frame in order to give the shot a sense of scale.

I need to upload photos, my stream is starting to bore me.

Oh Hell’s (Kitchen) No!
Last night I gathered with others to watch another exciting episode of Hell’s Kitchen. Wings and wine (don’t judge!), and snacks were provided and I filled my face with anticipation. At two minutes until nine the tv was turned to Fox only to see Seal (ladies, I’m still not sure why you find him sexy) singing. “Oh dear Jeebus, it’s an awards show that is running long.” I thought.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – good, even though tomorrow is what it is
Current Music – (going bankrupt and stupid) Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Walkmen — “Donde Esta La Playa” (that’s Spanish for those of you who aren’t as clued in to the languages of the world)
Website Of The Day – Just because you have to buy someone a Valentine’s gift doesn’t mean you have to destroy the planet. By an eco-friendly gift from Organic Bouquet instead.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 13 (13)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 11
Marta Rides – 0

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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]

As we near the half-way point of February it’s dawned on me that there is a good possibility that I will not accomplish anything I desire to accomplish this month.

Have You Heard This? The Economy Sucks!
I know that this comes as shocking news to most of you, but the economy officially sucks.

On my drive in this morning I noticed that the wine bar The Grape on Highland has closed. I am a bit bummed because there was a photo opportunity I wanted to shoot there, but never made the time to do so. If a place selling wine can’t stay in business in this economy, what hope have we?

$167? Man, That’s Cold.
So much for “setting the thermostat low, bundling up, and using a small electric space heater” in order to keep my natural gas bill down. The bad news arrived in the electronic post this morning, my bill for January was $167. Dammit!

I suppose it could have been much worse, but I really thought that all of my suffering in January was going to pay dividends.

ITP Flickr Pick
The sight of a Turtle’s logo still present on a sign on the campus of Avondale High School humored me greatly.

How many of you remember Turtle’s? How many of you pasted those S&H Green Stamp like Turtle’s stamps into booklets? Hell, how many of you remember S&H Green Stamps?

Top Chef: And The Winner And Loser Are zzzzzzzz
I really don’t know how this continues to happen to me. Last night I got home in time to watch the 11pm airing of Top Chef. With laptop in lap I intently watched the first fifty-five minutes of the episode (except for what seemed to be forty minutes of commercials and other Bravo promo spots) and then it happened. I fell asleep. I fell asleep for about seven minutes, because when I awoke Bravo was running Top Chef again from the start. I completely missed the part where a winner was declared and the loser was asked to pack his/her knives and go.

For the QuickFire Challenge the cheftestants were required to do some breakfast molecular gastronomy because the guest chef was Wylie Dufresne (note to self: Get your ass to NYC and go spend a lot of money at wd-50). Oddly, the only cheftestant not to do molecular gastronomy, that would be Carla, won the event with her take on green eggs and ham.

Have you read the book “My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals / Portraits, Interviews, and Recipes”? Last night’s Elimination Challenge was based on this. Each cheftestant had to recreate the “last supper” for some of the living heaviest hitters in the culinary world. During the challenge we see that Fabio breaks a finger. Holy crap, I’d be off the show in a heartbeat if that happened to me. There were some clear likes and dislikes in the challenge. Even with the broken finger Fabio rose to the top along with Carla, who seems to be getting stronger with each episode. Leah, Hosea, and surprise surprise Stefan were at the bottom of the pile.

As I’ve come to find out Fabio won the night and Leah was asked to pack up her fucking knives and go.]

btw – If you are a big Top Chef fan like me you might enjoy Television Without Pity’s “Top Chef Season 5 Misfires”.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – feeling a bit empty today
Current Music – Spoon — (soon to be bankrupt) Sirius/XM channel 26, playing “I Summon You”
Website Of The Day – Could it be true? This Is Why You’re Fat
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

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

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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]

Last night I ate two slices of pizza at Grant Central Pizza in East Atlanta Village and I actually thought it tasted good.

I Am Nervous About The Print I’m Going To Donate
One week from today is the Atlanta Photo Exposure‘s fund raising auction at Eclipse di Luna (Miami Circle) from 7:00pm – 9:00pm.

I’ve received my print and am quite pleased with it. However, I don’t know if I’ve printed it correctly? I had it mounted on matt-board, should I have? Did I print it large enough? Should I invest in a matt for a photo I have no intention of keeping? So many uncertainties.

I will be attending the event (at least for a little while because I am also going to see Jason Isbell at The EARL later that evening) to see how my work stands up to others’ and to learn what I did wrong and right with my printing decisions. I’m so nervous about this. It’s the first time I’ve ever attempted to “sell” one of my photos.

Cookies: They’re What’s For Breakfast
Sure, I knew buying cookies at Costco yesterday was a bad idea. But they looked so damn good!

Yesterday I tagged along with a coworker (who is a Costco member) for lunch where we each picked up whole, cooked chickens and I added a box of cookies. While I’ve not gone an eating binge I can already tell that I will not be keeping these cookies nearby for very long. I know just how horrible they are for my waistline, so I think it’s high time I share the wealth with my coworkers.

ITP Flickr Pic
I like to call this shot “We’re Not Dumb, We’re Pleasantly Plump”

(alternatively titled “Stupid Americans”)

Investing In Myself
It is often said that in “troubled economic times” the best thing one can do is invest in themselves, where “investing” in this case relates as much to knowledge as it does to money. I am proud to say that I am doing just that.

The other day I checked out continuing education at Southern Poly Tech in an effort to percolate my brain’s juices. Unfortunately it appears that their program is centered around Java which, while being a fine programming language, is currently not the one on which I want to invest the majority of my time.

Alternatively I’ve decided to take the ground-up approach of reading books, reading websites, and struggling by writing code in order to learn both Ruby on Rails as well as iPhone development. Anyone need a coding apprentice?

One Night Of Freedom
I’m going ca-razy tonight! Yeah. Boy…. I’m only going to work until 7pm and then I’ll be joining a group for dinner and drinks at Six Feet Under. I know! Crazy! Here’s to another productive eleven-hour workday (not including lunch, of course).

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – don’t know, waiting for the stupid settop box to reboot
Website Of The Day – Due to common sense and other financial obligations I’m holding of on a Kindle 2 purchase. Until then I’ll rely on LexCycle’s “Stanza” application for ebook reading on my MacBook/iPhone.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing (hmmm, I guess my “100 Days of Exercise” is completely shot)

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 11 (11)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 9
Marta Rides – 0

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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]

I don’t have much to blog about because today’s title is all I did yesterday and about all I conceive of doing for the remainder of the week. I’ve even been forced to once again give up on the idea of going to the Alliance Theatre to see their performance of “Smart Cookie” tonight. Poop.

Look Ma! New Kindle!
Amazon announced a new Kindle. Even though I’ve proven that I don’t read often enough to warrant one, I still want one.

I think for the time being I’ll hold off on plunking down $359 for a new Kindle and treat myself by lining Amazon’s pockets by subscribing to a year’s worth of Audible instead. I think that I should be able to listen to a book a month.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ve not had time to look at Sunday’s photos, so here’s another from Saturday.

This is an aging satellite dish found at Avondale High School. Or it’s yard art, I can’t decide which.

Taking Care Of (Only) Business
I have so much to do. The following has been put on the back burner as I attempt to finish a work project.

• get plumbing in house fixed
• schedule car maintenance
• schedule appointment with tax preparer
• get new eyeglasses adjusted
• schedule appointment with dermatologist
• schedule appointment with doctor for knee
• work on bedroom
• upgrade networking in my house
• learning Ruby on Rails
• learning iPhone development
• getting a haircut
• order a shitload of stuff for me (okay, this isn’t necessary but it’s fun)

Well, at least with all of these tasks on my plate I shouldn’t care about the fact that this Saturday is Valentine’s Day and I am dateless yet again.

Okay, I’m off to the salt mines…

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – harried
Current Music – listening to Leo Laporte’s “The Tech Guy” podcast
Website Of The Day – I don’t know what The Cow Survey is all about, but it seems to have as much content as my bog post today.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 10 (10)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 8
Marta Rides – 0

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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]

On future Fridays I think that I will stop listing all of the weekend activities I plan on doing. For instance, Gringo Star didn’t play last Friday; instead they play Friday, March 6th and I had the wrong date on my calendar. I spent a lot of time shooting photos and working this weekend, so I skipped the Patton Oswalt show on Saturday night — I was in no mood for humor anyway. And finally, instead of running yesterdays Red Top Rumble I drove up to the park and did some photography. Hey, I did get my laundry done yesterday — I got that going for me.

Run Through The Hills
Congratulations to all who participated in the Red Top Rumble yesterday.

I have to admit, I wanted to run yesterday but fear and common sense won out. So instead I got up before the buttcrack of dawn and drove all the way to Red Top Mountain all for hanging with some friends and taking photos of runners (which turn out to be much more frustrating than I imagined).

For the record I did get my race packet including the shirt. So if you ever see me wearing it out fee free to call me out as a poser (Lisa, I will not wear it in your presence). Also for the record, I am bummed that I wasn’t able to get time with the race director or her father, because both were busy, in an attempt to find out cool things about Winnipeg.

ITP Flickr Pic
On Saturday morning I met up with a few guys to do a photostroll around this month’s Atlanta Grid Project in Avondale.

This is a portion of the half-dome in one of the city parks within the grid.

I Went Back To My Goodwill And My Goodwill Was Gone
On my drive home yesterday I decided to visit a Goodwill on Cobb Parkway that I haven’t visited in some time. I’ve started making the thrift store rounds looking for some camera gear on the cheap. Driving down I75 I made the cut over to Cobb Parkway, headed south on Cobb Parkway, turned just past the Sam’s Club, and was dumbfounded. In the parking lot was a new Wal*Mart, but no Goodwill. This is the second time in the past few years that Goodwill has closed a retail store and moved it. Frustrating. I at least hope that they’ve made some good money on the real estate.

I Have Seen A Hypocrite And That Hypocrite Is Me
Long-time friends know my disdain toward Chick-fil-A because they let their religious beliefs keep me from eating their food on Sundays. I’ve never thought that they should not be allowed to follow their beliefs and close on Sundays, but I’ve avoided eating their because I didn’t want to support their actions.

Recently I realized that I am a hypocrite. I routinely shop at B&H Photo even though I know that they close their online store to observe the Sabbath as well as during Jewish holy periods.

What’s the difference between the practices of Chick-fil-A and B&H Photo? None. I guess this means it’s okay for me to start eating at Chick-fil-A now. Who wants waffle-cut fries???

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – unsure
Current Music – Sirius/XM channel 26, playing A.C. Newman — “The Palace At 4 AM”
Website Of The Day – A day at a state park always makes me think of the United States Forest Service.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monday Morning Weigh-In – 200 pounds

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

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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]

How is it that the Red Top Rumble is this Sunday? Since January 1st I have run a grand total of three miles. My participation in the run (I shan’t call it a “race” as I never had a chance of winning) is in question. My attendance at the event is not however. Even though there is a film photostroll in East Atlanta Sunday morning I want to go up and meet the race’s director because she hails from Winnipeg. That’s right, I’m going to meet a real Winnipeggan, Winnipegger?

All Those Photogs, So Few Shutter Presses
As I mentioned yesterday I blew off going to see “Tough Smart Cookie” (thanks for the correction Holly) at the Hertz Stage (and have successfully exchanged my ticket for one next week) and went to the meetup for Atlanta Photography Exposure instead.

The meetup was held at Marlow’s Tavern (Northlake). I had never been to a Marlow’s Tavern, in fact I admit I had no idea they existed. This installment of their tavern is attached to the Double Tree hotel just inside the perimeter on Lavista Road. The bar itself was nice (nothing to write home about), the beer was okay (I drank Yeungling), and their appetizers were quite tasty (it didn’t hurt that I was very hungry and that they were free).

It was a really fun time. I believe that over forty people were in attendance, including many people whose company I enjoy but don’t see often enough. Lest you think that all we do is discuss aperture and shutter speeds, this funny bit of video was one of the topics of conversation Don Draper’s Guide To Picking Up Women (Thanks to Romanlily for the linkage)

ITP Flickr Pic
No photos taken forces me to scrape the bottom of my barrel.

Debating An Internet Switch
Well, it’s that time again. I am paying too much for my internet access at home and am contemplating switching providers again. It would be a convenient time to switch because I still can’t remember my password for my current provider and have not had the chance to contact them.
Every time I go through this I wind up staying put. I have a huge fear of switching to one of the Big Guys (AT&T or Comcast) and having my downloads monitored and throttled. Further, anytime you ever ask a customer of AT&T or Comcast they tell you how much they hate their service.

Hell’s Kitchen
I am buffering up Hell’s Kitchen via Hulu so that I can listen to it as I work today. How cool is that?

So Much Going On This Weekend
Tonight I am going to try and make it to The EARL to see Gringo Star perform. It’s been some time since I’ve seen the lads on stage and am looking forward to hearing them perform their new tunes and possibly taking some shots. No I am not. Gringo Star plays at The EARL March 6th, not February 6th. This is what happens when a non-leap year February starts on a Sunday and I don’t pay attention to my calendar entering. Thanks Mindy for setting me straight.

Tomorrow will be an extremely busy day. Photography will be involved. Work will be involved. Home organization will be involved. And I will definitely end the night at The EARL because I possess a ticket for one of Patton Oswalt’s sets.

Sunday, well you already know all about that.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – good
Current Music – none, it’s eerily silent as I write this
Website Of The Day – Some people seek inspiration from the Good Book, I do it through food blogs. Today I’ve chosen Still With Life.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 6 (6)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 4
Marta Rides – 0

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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 Mind, He’s No Good At Remembering Things
I have a lot of passwords. I mean a lot. Recently two things have happened which have changed my life.

Last night I realized that I have no idea about the password I use to connect to my DSL provider. This is normally not problematic, unless of course you are changing routers, which I will be doing in the near future. I made every effort to remember the password and never did. Today I’ll be calling technical support to have them reset my password.

Once I’ve successfully changed my password I will be storing it in a way that will help me never forget it. I’ve started using 1Password and loving it. 1Password allows me to remember one password (hence the product’s name) and store all of my other passwords encrypted within it. If you are a Mac user (1Password is Mac only) I suggest you check it out.

Making Tough Decisions, Part 1
I have a ticket for tonight’s performance of “Smart Cookie” at the Hertz Stage of the Alliance Theatre. I will not be using it. For weeks I’ve known that my ticket conflicted with the monthly social gathering of the Atlanta Photography Exposure and have been too distracted to exchange the ticket.

What to do? There is not enough time in the night to do both, so I’ve chosen to skip the play. Sure, I’ll wind up eating the cost of the ticket and will probably wind up purchasing a ticket to a future performance, but I’ve decided that I’d rather spend the night amongst photogs instead of non-interacting theater goers.

ITP Flickr Pic
Yep, another shot from last Sunday’s Chinese New Year.

I haven’t shot since. Such is the life I lead these days.

Top Chef : Another Dream Shattered
At the beginning of the past few Top Chef chefs seasons a bunch of EAV Buzz users have randomly been assigned Top Chef cheftestants. This season I am Jamie.

For this week’s episode we are treated to an hour of Eric Ripert, which the female bloggeratti seem to think is the bee’s knees. Ripert is a real Top Chef (and one of the best moments of the night was seeing Padma call him so).

For the QuickFire Challenge the cheftestants have to show their knife chops be filleting fish. They are first challenged with sardines where a few of the cheftestants do a fine job while others bludgeoned them. Next up was a fish whose name I cannot remember. It’s a much larger fish than the sardine, but has enough pin bones to cause grief. At the end of two rounds the competition was up to the hairless — Hosea and Stefan. For those who’ve not been watching this season let me tell you a few things about Stefan

• he’s skilled
• he’s German
• he’s arrogant (is that redundant?)
• with the exception of last week’s Elimination Challenge he’s been kicking everyone’s ass six ways to Sunday

The third round is all about eel. Guess what Stefan has been doing since he was a young lad? Preparing eel. It doesn’t help Hosea’s case that he’s also never seen an Iron Chef where ell was the secret ingredient because his doesn’t have a clue how to skin an eel. As if I need to tell you, Stefan was declared the winner.

Here’s a helpful tip if you’ve attended the Top Chef tryouts in Atlanta and get chosen for the show. Watch the past seasons, People! They repeat contests constantly!

Case and point: The cheftestants are taken to one of Ripert’s restaurant and served a six-course meal. Hmmm… Six cheftestants; six courses. Coincidence?

For the night’s Elimination Challenge the cheftestants have to recreate one of the courses, randomly assigned with the exception of Stefan, they have just eaten. It’s time to find out who’s been paying attention to their meal. Fortunately for them they are supplied with all of the raw materials, but they still have to figure out how to use them. Much to my surprise most of the cheftestants do a good job. One of the worst however was my girl Jamie, who gets unceremoniously asked to pack up her knives and leave. Oh, and guess who won the Elimination Challenge…. Stefan. I’m thinking we already know who is going to win this competition.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – listening to Leo Laporte’s “The Tech Guy” podcast
Website Of The Day – I have an assignment for you today. Figure out what Atlanta’s Half Off Depot sells, and let me know if it’s worth investigating.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 5 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 3
Marta Rides – 0

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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]

Hmmm, all this time I’ve been bitching about how fat I’ve become. Guess who was warm this morning? (of course a coat would have been a better plan as it would be easier to shed when the weather warms up again)

A Print In Time
This morning I put an order in for a print which will probably be the one I donate for the photography auction. After mulling all of the suggestions provided a few weeks ago I chose “March of the Honey Bear Soldiers”. I chose this print because it’s one of my favorites, and this way if no one bids on it I can keep it.

I also plan to work on and print some of the other suggestions for my own home’s benefit.

Farewell, Bon Voyage, Auf Wiedersehen
Last night I joined a bunch of Flickrites at the El Azteca in Sandy Springs for a farewell dinner for one of our own, Russell Reno. Russell is one of the first Flickrites I met in real life when I attended my first photostroll at the Oakland Cemetery back in the Good Old Days of Flickr. In the next few weeks Russell will be moving back to California and last night’s meal was a good chance to see him off as well as see many of my Flickr friends that I don’t see often enough.

ITP Flickr Pic
After the Chinese New Year celebration a group of us went to eat some dim sum at Royal China

I thank my eating companions for allowing me to shoot some of the plates before they were devoured. I only wish I liked more of the shots I took.

How Many Paulie’s Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?
Apparently the answer is still “one”, however it needs to be modified to “one, motivated Paulie.” The other night one of the light bulbs in my bed room, the same bedroom which is the target of this month’s “fix it up” plan, burned out. This is not a completely unusual occurrence in my house and normally I take care of the matter immediately. However, over the past few days I’ve been so swamped by Life that the simple steps of:

1. Get stepladder
2. Determine wattage of burned out bulb
3. Get replacement bulb
4. Replace bulb
5. Return stepladder

have been too many steps to carry out.

I’d Like Some Audiobook Advice
With the realization that many of my podcasts have gone the way of the dodo bird I have decided to finally getting around to joining Audible. I plan to join at the membership level which will get me one book a month. Hey look at that! I’ll be “reading” at least one book a month!

Do any of you have recommendations? I would love to listen to things which are in the self-help / productivity category.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat
Current Music – listening to yesterday’s “C|Net’s Buzz Out Loud” podcast
Website Of The Day – Instapaper is valuable website for saving websites so they can be read on an iPhone at a later time. Best yet? It’s free (unless you go for the “Pro” iPhone app for $10)
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 4 (4)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 2
Marta Rides – 0

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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 is not one of them.

No Really, Thank You Hulu
I had no idea that there was a new episode of The Office “aired” on Sunday night, and with no dvr to magically record it for me I was feeling a bit screwed. Sure, I knew that iTunes would have it (but refuse to pay $1.99 for a television episode) and I knew that Hulu would have it… eventually. Who knew that Hulu would have it on Monday morning? Not me! But they did. And I watched it. And there was much rejoicing.

If Not For Attempting To Eat Vegetarian I Would Have Eaten A Child
I left work some time after 6pm. My main goal was to get some dinner and since I had eaten vegetarian up to that point I decided to close the day out that way. In my work neighborhood a few veghead options exist, my two favorite being Willy’s Mexicana Grill and Sweet Tomatoes. I chose the latter. I made a mistake. Don’t get me wrong, the food at Sweet Tomatoes was fine (although $10 seemed steep).

I should have turned around and exited Sweet Tomatoes the second I entered and heard the noise. It was as if I had entered a Chuck E. Cheese (what’s the modern-day equivalent? Gymboree?). Kids playing. Many kids playing. Ugh. But, I had my mind set on salad so I entered. The place was literally three-quarters filled with families, all having a good time, all with the same right as me to be in Sweet Tomatoes. I admit it was my decision to dine there, and I accept responsibility for my decisions.

ITP Flickr Pic
This is a shot from Sunday’s Chinese New Year’s celebration in Chamblee.

Knee Jerk Reaction
My knee is bugging the shit out of me. It’s still my left knee, and it’s the inside of the knee that is acting up.

The pain seemed to return last week when, in a small effort to get some exercise, I started climbing the six flights of stairs to my office instead of using the elevator. By Friday I was experiencing pain. The pain is not constant, but on occasion I twist my knee the wrong way, or do a deep knee bend, and experience pain.

I Have Identified The Enemy
And the enemy is me.
More specifically the enemy is me eating food.
More specifically the enemy is me eating too much food.
More specifically the enemy is me eating too much food all the fucking time!

I write these sentences as a reminder to myself today to stop eating so much goddamn food. I am not going to die if I don’t shove grub down my gullet, in fact I might live longer if I stop being such a glutton!

There, I feel better.

Upgrade Time
In addition to working on the house in 2009 (which reminds me, I’m in need of someone who has some electrical chops for some fairly simple work that I am going to chose not to do myself perhaps) I am upgrading a lot of things in my life.

I’ve tightened up the Stats & Goals section of the blog in order to convey the same information in a more compact format.

I am upgrading my home network in order to provide a more pleasurable media viewing experience for yours truly.

And I am again trying to upgrade my computer programming skills. This may be the toughest upgrade of the year.

Happy Birthday Bro!
My brother doesn’t read this, so I can safely announce that he turns sixty today. Six. Zero. Shit, that makes me feel old.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – strange
Current Music – listening to last week’s “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – I should probably put my money where my mouth is keystrokes are by making a pledge at Pledgehammer.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing

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

February Goals
- Complete all necessary work on my bed room
- Lose no fewer than one pound
- Run no fewer than 30 miles
- Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, and Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas

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]