Back At Work, Probably Shouldn’t Be

This morning’s decision was much harder than yesterday’s. Do I use the third of my five paid sick days for a day in which I don’t feel horrible but don’t feel great? Do I suck it up and go into the office? Would it behoove me to sleep all day knowing that I’ll be hitting the road tonight? Tough, tough, choice. If you’ve read today’s title then you know which I’ve selected.

Somebody Put A Kindle In My iPhone!
I thought I was delirious from cold medication when I kept seeing the news reports that Amazon released Kindle eBook reading software for the iPhone and iPod Touch, for free no less! After shaking the cobwebs and pinching myself a few times I went to the iTunes App Store and confirmed this to be true. Pretty cool.

Before you go stating the obvious, I know I don’t read (in fact just making that statement reminds me that I left a book at home that I wanted to take with me today. Dangen!). However, I consider this download a win for me. It’s a $359 savings for me and if it acts like a drug to get me to start reading to the point that I buy a Kindle2 then it’s a win for Amazon as well.

ITP Flickr Pic
Oh Geez, Paulie just keeps taking food photos! (sorry, not!)
Bow-Tie Pasta With A Home-Made Sauce
This was last night’s dinner (and tonight’s lunch). To continue with this week’s Seven Day Project it’s 100% vegetarian. The sauce is home-made from onion, garlic, tomato, cabbage (yes, cabbage), oregano, parsley, basil, salt, brown sugar, lemon juice, and water. It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself.

Somebody’s Watching Digital Television
As an experiment I’ve hooked up one of the Dish Network digital-to-analog converter boxes to my living room television. You know what, it works really well!

I know, the grand Digital TV Transition got pushed back to June but that’s not stopping television stations from transitioning based on the “original” February date. Therefore I decided not to wait.

With any understanding of audio/video connections (I consider myself well-versed in the subject) the box is extremely simple to install. You connect an antenna to its input, and connect either its composite (red/white/yellow) or RF (looks like a cable-tv cable) to the television, or dvr/vcr).

Upon turning the television and converter on for the first time the user is asked for a zip code so that channel range can be scanned and the appropriate television guide information can be downloaded.

That’s it. From there it’s all a matter of grabbing beer and watching the telly.

Top Chef: I’m Reminded Why I Avoid “Reunion” Shows
One thing I won’t be able to watch using the digital-to-analog converter is Top Chef. That’s okay, I still have satellite television on which to fall back.

Last night I covered up and watched the Top Chef Reunion Show. Last week we watched Hosea amazingly pull off the upset of the season by winning, this week we got to watch the fake smiles and adulation that always follow. We also got to see the embarrassing video and expected questions about Leah and Hosea’s showmance. Bladdy, bladdy, blah. All in all it was an hour of my life I’d like back. If not for the fact that I was flat on my back under a blanket nursing a cold and waiting for laundry to dry I should have been productive instead.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh, both mentally and physically
Current Music – listening to NPR’s “All Songs Considered” podcast
Website Of The Day – Newspapers around the country are dropping like banks. However, the New York Times seems (relatively) stable and has introduced an interview site called NY Times Conversations.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – breathing

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 2.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 5 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 3, Carnivorous Days – 1
Marta Rides – 0

March Goals
– Complete all necessary work on my kitchen
– 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
РEarn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalape̱o 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 entry was posted in My Daily Life. Bookmark the permalink.

9 Responses to Back At Work, Probably Shouldn’t Be

  1. Barb says:

    Under a blanket? You don’t have a Snuggie? Neither do I, but I couldn’t resist typing that.

  2. Ha! That’s funny Barb.

    btw- Didn’t get to visit your mechanic. May try next week, although highest priority is making to my tax accountant on Tuesday.

  3. Barb says:

    If Allan would ever get me his work expenses, I’m going to attempt doing the taxes myself this year. Ours can’t be that tough. I just can’t pay $250 like I did last year, I think that was a ridiculous charge.

  4. I forget what I paid last year, but it was well worth it. For me 2007 was an incredibly strange year financially, and when I was informed that I owed *even more than I the INCREDIBLE amount of money that I paid* she drew up an argument which caused the Federal Government to reverse their charge. I would have never been able to do this on my own.

  5. Martha says:

    Paulie, if/when you see Lam, let me know. His shop is only a mile from my office, we could do lunch or I could give you a ride to MARTA if you need one.

  6. Thanks Martha, I will let you know.

    Hey, how’d your electrician experience go?

  7. Martha says:

    Oh, well…the guy missed the first appointment to come out, when he did show up he was nice and gave me what I felt was a fair estimate, I tried to set up a time to get the work done but I haven’t heard from him since.

    I’m always surprised how hard it can be sometimes to give folks money. I know it isn’t a big job but I have more stuff that will need to be done, down the road.

  8. Yeah, I am really surprised… especially in this economy.

  9. Barb says:

    Allan said he heard that that IPhondle (yes, I read your “what am I doing” box) might read the book outloud to you too. Then you don’t actually have to read – you will be set! Maybe it will have Jill’s voice as an option, that way she will be with you everywhere.

Comments are closed.