Inside The Perimeter

Every once in a while I have to admit that my life borders on boring. Today is one of those days.

Other Night OTP
Last night I once again headed to Roswell for the semi-monthly meeting of the Roswell Photographic Society. As is customary for the third-Monday meeting last night was photo critique night. Last night’s theme was “Old Building Detail” and unfortunately I was once again too lazy to prepare a shot for critique.

Prior to the meeting a small group of us met at Chick-fil-A to eat dinner. I had a chilled “spicy” chicken wrap and continue to wonder why people like to eat at Chick-fil-A. Is it just a better place to get breakfast? I hear people rave about their biscuit sandwiches.

ITP Flickr Pic
From Sunday’s Gwinnett Braves game.

I was not ready for this shot, hence the reason the men’s heads are not pictured. However, I really like the shot because it conveys just about all the information you need to know about this play.

Concert? Yes. Camera? Probably Not
Tonight I’ll be at The EARL to see the Meat Puppets show. Depending on my feelings at the time (read “How much I feel like ‘working’ and fighting the crowd”) I will probably not be dragging my camera along tonight. Anyone else planning on attending?

And Many Mooooooore
Happy birthday to East Atlanta neighbor, friend, and ITP-Reader Jenka. If you’d like to read about the fun that she’s having on her very special day then surf on over to her blog at Total Eclipse of the Heart.

May you live long enough to once again witness the Boston Red Sox lose the World Series to the New York Mets.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – listening to last week’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” podcast
Website Of The Day – Say you have a long URL to post but a limited amount of space in which to post it…. What to do? bit.ly to the rescue!
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) – 16 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 15
Marta Rides – 0

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple (not going to happen)

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]

Saturday and Sunday started with different concepts, but oddly turned into somewhat mirror images of each other. On Saturday I set out to find potential hashing land and stumbled upon a photographic opportunity. On Sunday I set out for a photographic opportunity and stumbled upon some potential hashing land.

But First, An Unexpected Pleasure
Over the past ten hashing years I have met a lot of great friends. I still keep in contact with many of them. even though some have achieved Atlanta’s escape velocity. When it was seemingly all-the-rage to leave Georgia for North Carolina my friend Suzanna (aka “On My Knees”) went and got married, and then moved to Raleigh.

In the “olden days” (read “2000″), and in a very small window of time, Suzanna and I did a lot together — we both ran the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, later that year we went to Manhattan together for a weekend to visit her friend Erin, and then we — along with über-runner Little Easy — went to Hell, Michigan and “ran” the Dances With Dirt 50k (for the records, I believe we were the first Atlanta hashers to participate in that event).

In fact, here we are at the finish line–

–note the beers in our hands.

I even drove the (then unnamed) Jackmobile for its first long-distance trip to Orlando for her wedding (at which I had a good chuckle when one of her bridesmaids asked me if I was in love with the bride — my answer was of course “No, we are just good friends”).

On Saturday morning I received a Facebook note from Suzanna that she, her husband Mark, as well as as our friend Mindy, husband Scott, and very-little-one were headed to the Silver Skillet and that she’d like for me to join. Because I am a notoriously early riser I was more than happy to make the journey to midtown.

It was great to catch up with someone who, even though you haven’t seen each other in years, makes you feel as if you had just hung out together the other day.

ITP Flickr Pic
For today’s photo I thank either ITP-Reader Debbie or ITP-Reader Michelle, and I apologize for not remembering who.

After breakfast I headed out to a patch of Georgia that I identified as “potential hashing territory” using Google Maps — which is not a really good method for finding locations because Google’s satellite images are woefully out of date.

Driving around, driving around, driving around, WAIT, a free-standing hearth, SCORE!. Because I had camera in tow I stopped and took the above photo. I was stoked that I happened across a free-standing hearth while driving around.

When I got home I uploaded the photo and went to place a pointer on my Free-Standing Hearth Google Map — only to find that this hearth had been identified for me months ago and I had obviously not gotten around to go shoot it.

Take Me Out To (Half) A Ballgame
On Sunday I checked the weather report and decided to take my camera to the afternoon Gwinnett Braves game. It’s a bit of a drive for this reporter (exit 115 on I-85 to be exact) but I figured that it would be worth it for some minor league baseball photo opportunities.

Once again I left the house early, so early in fact that I was able to eat breakfast at an IHOP, do a little Goodwill shopping, and drive around Gwinnett looking for hashing territory before the game.

For $3 parking and $15 I scored a great seat inline with first base and about ten rows up. With the sun (supposedly) out all day I purchased some sunscreen and a Gwinnett Braves baseball cap (neither of which were ultimately necessary — read on). As is turned out, my seat was pretty much under cover and the weather was not going to be as nearly as sunny as I was led to believe.

Through four innings I snapped many photos, some of which will be highlighted here, before checking the weather radar. What?! A huge rain storm headed our way? I decided that it might be in my best interest to start the commute home.

For the record, it never rained. The storm system broke up before hitting the area.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – behind even though it’s Monday
Current Music – listening to the “Daily Giz Wiz” podcast
Website Of The Day – As once-prolific podcasts seemingly peter out I find myself looking for new entertainment. This weekend I found one that’s a resurrection of 1950′s radio called This I Believe.
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) – 15 (15)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 14
Marta Rides – 0

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple (not going to happen)

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]

Here is the posting I placed on the EAV Buzz message board this morning.

Backstory
I was held-up by two “kids” (teenagers?) with guns five years ago in my driveway on Milton Place. They apparently had gotten out of a truck that followed me down Milton and took the opportunity to walk up my driveway and rob me while I was unlocking my door. Since then I’ve been keenly aware of the actions of those who drive down the street.

Today
I exited my house around 6:30am and heard a vehicle driving down Milton Place toward Stokeswood. As I was standing there locking my door the black pickup truck stopped just past my driveway, put the vehicle in reverse, and started to back into my driveway.

With both hands full and not willing to get victimized again I pressed the “panic” button on my keyfob in order to have my car make a lot of noise. Upon doing so the truck stopped backing into my driveway and drove off toward Flat Shoals where it made a right to head south.

The truck was a newer model black pickup truck, very clean and shiny. Sorry, I wasn’t able to get the make, model or tag because I was too concerned about identifying an escape route if the car horn didn’t deter the guy. The driver was an African American male and appeared to be alone.

Was the driver merely using my driveway to make a u-turn? Perhaps, but the timing of his actions made me believe otherwise.

Did I overreact? Perhaps, but having been a victim once and knowing how bad things are I wasn’t about to take any chances.

I drove around the immediate area but didn’t see the truck. Pay attention. Stay safe.

After this little incident my adrenaline was pumping. I. Do. Not. Like. Any. More….

Happy Digital TV Transition Day!!!
It’s finally happened! Or has it? Who will know?

Today, June 12th is the day that America’s television stations, except those broadcasting with low signal, are to turn off their analog television transmitters and start only broadcasting digital signals. Surely you’ve heard about this, right?

The analog/digital transition was supposed to happen years ago, then was supposed to happen in February, and is supposed to happen today. For the past few years people have been warned and allowed to get a $40 coupon good toward an analog-to-digital converter. And yet, I’ve heard that approximately 2.8 million households will not be ready.

How long until someone files a lawsuit because of their loss of television?

ITP Flickr Pic
I have nothing new and I failed to upload anything last night. So instead, I’ll unhide one of the portraits I took last weekend.

This is a fair portrait. Had I control of the lighting I would have gotten a much better photo.

One Year Of Digital Media
It’s been a year (not exactly) since I launched my “Buy Only Digital” campaign. How have I done? Really well, actually. In the past year I may have purchased three physical cds and about a dozen books.

I plan to continue my goal to purchase only digital media unless the media is not available digitally, or if the digital nature of the media seriously hampers the media’s appearance (“think photography books”).

Introducing the 1500 Square Foot Project
And now, here is my newest plan…
Starting this weekend I am going to identify 1500 square feet of my house and start to limit my belongings to it. Why? To get accustomed to a smaller living space of course.

I no longer have exact measurements and I will admit that I will have to cheat somewhat (read “I can’t relocate my projector”) but here is a tentative list of the planned spaces.

• kitchen
• master bedroom
• den
• my bathroom
• living room and/or dining room

I’ll update this list when I take some measurements this weekend.

Over time I will start to clean out the spaces not listed. This will finally get me to reduce my possessions and will prepare me for the time when I decide it’s time to change living arrangements.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – ugh
Current Music – listening to today’s “Daily Giz Wiz” podcast
Website Of The Day – Along with typography I am a big fan of logos. That’s why Your Logo Makes Me Barf laugh so much.
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 – 0, Carnivorous Days – 11
Marta Rides – 0

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple (not going to happen)

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]

All I wanted yesterday was a day away from all of my concerns, the things that having been causing me stress. Things were going okay, until about 11:00pm when I received the estimate for all of the non-plumbing exterior work that I am trying to have done to my house — $3600 — ugh, I was hoping for something closer to $2000. Yeah, I’ll be getting at least one more estimate, but I am completely over it.

I am seriously contemplating aborting the Chicago/Milwaukee trip for which I’ve already purchased plane fare. I really need to be concerned about my financial future and I’m not sure that sinking $1500 for a second long vacation is the best way to go. Winnipeg? Fuck yeah, I’m still going! It’s a good thing that I know how cold it gets in Canada, otherwise I’d consider never returning.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game Nope
Did you see the rain yesterday? Did you see the line of storms that was following it? I was certain that the Braves game was going to be wet, or at least hot and humid, so I decided not to go.

Was I ever wrong! Last night might have been one of the most pleasant evenings we’ve had in weeks. Too bad I didn’t go to the ballgame.

ITP Flickr Pic
Yep, the Baconnaise has arrived.

It’s not great, but it is edible. Baconnaise has more of a smokey bacon flavor than I would have imagined. I should go to the store today so that I can make a BLT (that would be a Baconnaise, Lettuce, and Tomato) sandwich.

And why did I buy three jars? Because that’s the way Amazon was selling it.

This City Just Keeps On Losing Points
I just read a Twitter update from someone who purchased a house last year and now lives on the west side. She was wondering why her air conditioning wasn’t working very well and she’s just found out that someone has stolen her copper lines.

Crime has gotten completely out of hand. Seriously. I’m sure that this sort of activity happens throughout the country, but Atlanta has just been ranked as the “second most dangerous” city in the country and I keep hearing about innocent people’s lives being impacted by asshats who have no regard for what is right. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take and I’ve lost most of my confidence in the human race. Becoming a self-sufficient, loner hobo seems like a great plan more and more each day.

RealiTV Update: Top Chef Masters
Last night kicked off Top Chef Masters. Woo Hoo!

The premise of Top Chef Masters is similar, but far from identical to Top Chef. In this version of the “reality” show established chefs are competing against one another Top Chef Style in an effort to win money for their charity of choice.

Another change this time around is the competition format. Sure, they still have Quick Fire Challenges and Elimination Challenges, however this time four chefs will compete head-to-head (to-head-to-head?) with each week’s winner moving on to the “Championship Round.” Last night’s competitors were Hubert Keller, Tim Love, Christopher Lee, and Michael Schlow.

For the Quick Fire Challenges the show’s organizers are bringing back the “best of” the Quick Fire Challenges from the first five seasons of Top Chef. In last night’s episode the four chefs had to prepare dessert for a table of four Girl Scouts. Desserts have long been the bane of cheftestants and this would be no different for the mastercheftestants. The Elimination Challenges have been virtually unchanged. Last night the mastercheftestants had to prepare a three-course meal from $150′s worth of ingredients, using only a toaster oven, microwave, and hot plate — oh, and the meal had to be prepared in a college dorm room.

The scoring system for Top Chef Masters has also been altered. For each round mastercheftestants are scored on a cumulative 1-5 Star rating with a possible 25 star maximum. At the end of each round three mastercheftestants are told to pack their knives and leave. The winning mastercheftestants gets $10,000 for his/her charity of choice and a slot in the “Championship Round.”

Spoiler
Hubert Keller was nearly flawless last night and won the round. The most interesting bit of drama occurred when Tim Love realized that he had stored all of his groceries, including vegetables, overnight in a freezer and not a refrigerator. To his credit he managed to salvage a meal that the judges enjoyed.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – defeated
Current Music – listening to “The Image Doctors” podcast
Website Of The Day – What are you doing on the mornin of July 18th? I’ll most likely be panicking about the Black Sheep Hash trail that I’ll be haring on July 19th, but I may try to attend the Worldwide Photowalk as well.
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) – 11 (11)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 10
Marta Rides – 0

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple

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]

Life has been too stressful, too “real,” for me lately. I’ve been concentrating on retooling my work skills, plumbing, downed limbs, the fact that the contractor to whom I’ve spoken has not gotten back with an estimate in over a month, last night my air conditioning worked really hard to cool the house — Is it not sufficient? Will I have a ginormous electric bill?, so much to handle.

Last night I left work early (after putting in 8.5 hours thankyouverymuch) so that I could head down to Turner Field and take in the Braves game. After nearly blowing a blood vessel because the people around me were driving so annoyingly slow and with the ass that tried to turn right on red from I-85 onto North Druid Hills even though my car was passing through the intersection in the lane into which he would turn I decided that being around more people last night would be a bad thing. So instead I had a lovely bacon blue burger, fries, and a beer at The EARL. Surprisingly, dinner concluded by 5:45pm which provided ample time for me to attend the game — however the feeling had passed.

Today I want it all to stop. Today I want to have fun.

To Be “Loyal” Or Not To Be “Loyal,” That Is The Question
(amongst others)
Somehow my trip to Winnipeg is only fifteen days away! Yikes! I’m now starting to make my “Plan” and in doing so am trying to locate the hotel in which I want to stay — or do I want to remain mobile and not stay in Winnipeg for the entire trip? I’m so conflicted.

Normally I look to stay in Choice Hotels in order to increase my “Frequent Guest” points. However, Choice doesn’t have any hotels located in downtown Winnipeg. I’ve found a really nice non-Choice hotel downtown in which to stay, but it’s $15 more/night and they also charge $15/day to park and I’d have to book a non-refundable reservation in order to get this price. Or maybe I do a combination of each…

ITP Flickr Pic
Changing it up a bit today. This is an abstract of a piece of art that hung in one of the hallways of the Sheraton hotel in downtown Atlanta.

I don’t always upload photos to please the masses, sometimes I upload photos to please one person — me.

I’m Not Young, But That’s Okay
How have I not found out about The Sound of Young America until now? Broadcast on Public Radio (and podcast!) “The Sound of Young America,” hosted by Jesse Thorn, is a wonderful interview show which interviews many of the people in whom I have interest — Ira Glass, John Hodgman, Ze Frank, Jonathan Coulton, Nick Hornby, Marty Krofft to name a few.

Get Ready For The Great Facebook User Name Land Rush!
Log on to Facebook and you’ll see the following message

“Starting on Saturday, June 13th, at 12:01am, you’ll be able to choose a username for your Facebook account to easily direct friends, family, and coworkers to your profile.”

Really? Now? This seems like a strange feature to implement after all this time, especially for a service which required you to enter a last name in order to create an account.

Expect a great user name land rush on Saturday! If I decide to add a user name I have no idea what I’ll try to grab.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – listening to the “MacBreak Weekly” podcast
Website Of The Day – Maximum Fun is the home to “The Sound of Young America” as well as many other interesting tidbits.
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 – 0, Carnivorous Days – 9
Marta Rides – 0

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple (not going to happen)

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]

Where the ‘s’ stands for “shoddy.”

I kept shaking my head in disbelief at every person who yesterday announced the upcoming release of the “iPhone 3Gs — where the ‘s’ stands for ‘speed’!” Aye Carumba! It felt like it was a day of hearing Rachel Ray say “EVOO – extra virgin olive oil” over, and over again.

Doing The Limb(o)
As I mentioned yesterday, one of my neighbor’s tree lost a large limb which took out several smaller limbs on its descent to the ground. Seeing as there was no “We’re sorry about that neighbor, we’ll clean up our tree’s mess” note this time I decided that I should jump on it after mowing the lawns last evening. With my Fisher-Price “My First Chainsaw” in hand I wandered into the mess and started cutting, and cutting, and cutting, and when I made a pile that I could carry to the curb I’d stop and do so.

I wasn’t counting, but I’d guess that I made somewhere between fifteen and twenty trips to the curb. In total I spent about 2.5 hours working in the yard. And still there is more to cut.

Of course now that I’m cleaning up this mess I’ll be compelled to clean up the trees which were growing in my yard and were damaged by the limb.

The upside of this whole mess is that for all intents and purposes I skipped dinner. By the time I go back inside and cleaned up I was way too tired to “prepare” a meal and instead wound up treating myself to one beer and a granola bar.

Homeownership: It’s more than just a job — it’s a career.

I Think That I’m Going To Break Down And Make A Six-Month Optometrist Appointment
I’m not sure if it’s age or the fact that I’m staring at my computer monitor more (which I’m really not so it’s probably my age) but I’m having a harder time focusing, literally focusing, these days.

For the past few years I’ve been making a trek to my optometrist once a year for an examination and the purchase of new glasses. These trips have never been mandatory, just routine maintenance. However, I’m starting to get a bit scared about my fading visual sharpness (and here I thought it was just my photography!) so I think I’m going to schedule something soon to see what’s going on. To say that I do not like this is an understatement. With all of the other physical maladies that I deal with I think that I should at least be blessed with fair-to-midland vision.

ITP Flickr Pic
Sometimes the outtakes aren’t all that bad…

This shot was taken before the model shoot officially began. I shot this from my hip in an attempt to see how the lighting in the room was going to behave. Sure, I decapitated this attractive young lady, but I really like this shot because it’s sharp (at least to my degenerating eyes) and has interesting details.

If The Music Industry Were Smart, All New Digital Downloads Would Be $5
I’d buy soooooo much more music if digital downloads cost $5 instead of the $9-$10 price point which has now been deemed to be “fair.” With so much free, and legal, content floating around on the web music needs to be an impulse buy, and for me that constitutes about a $5 price point.

If new digital releases were $5 each I would have added the following releases to my collection.

• Jason Lytle – “Yours Truly, The Commuter”
• Dirty Projectors – “Bitte Orca” (which was released today)
• Hopewell – “Good Good Desperation”
• Gomez – “A New Tide”
• Immaculate Machine – “High On Jackson Hill”

Don’t get me wrong, I think that all of the titles listed above are quality releases but with so much music already in my collection I don’t feel compelled to own them.

Do the math… At $5/release I would have spent $25 on this music. At $9-$10/release I have spent $0 on this music.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – listening to today’s “Daily Giz Wiz” podcast
Website Of The Day – Have a city-scene photo that you’d like to make look like you took using a tilt/shift lens? Go to Tilt Shift Maker and play around with your photo.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – yard work

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 9 (9)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 8
Marta Rides – 0

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple

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]

A spent a large portion of this weekend in downtown Atlanta. On Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday I was at the downtown Sheraton hotel for a photography workshop. Like most Atlantans who don’t work in downtown, I don’t go there very often. However, I used to work downtown back in 1996 so I remember what it used to be — it is not that any longer. Gone are the days Macy’s, Woolworth’s, Mick’s and most recently Dailey’s. Here are the days of panhandlers who swarm like mosquitoes if you stand still for too long. After spending a weekend in downtown Denver and now one in downtown Atlanta I realize that one is fun and has great potential while the other is mired in crap. Pity.

I walked around a bit and did a lot of reminiscing about the “olden days” — walking through Peachtree Center Mall; looking into buildings which were something else, or at least open, back in 1996; thinking of what was and what might have been.

The workshop was good. Per my commitment I plan to write a full critique on Atlanta Metblogs this week.

ITP Flickr Pic
This is a shot from the weekend’s workshop. It’s okay, but not really up to my desired standards.

Unfortunately I thought that we’d be shooting with strobes, so I didn’t bring a “fast lens” with me. Even worse though was the fact that with sixty or more people in the class the scene around the four models was frantic — and as I’ve mentioned in the past, that’s not an environment in which I wish to photograph.

Dinner + Play + Friend_Who_Fought_Traffic_To_Make_It_On_Time = Good
On Friday evening I met up with friend and ITP-Reader Stacy for dinner at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club followed by viewing the play “End Days” at Horizon Theatre. Coming in from Kennesaw (Woodstock? Tennessee?) on a Friday night on which there is a Braves game is never fun, but Stacy managed to weave her way to Little Five Points with ample time for us to have some brisket sandwiches (damn those things are good!) and beer prior to the play.

“End Days” is about a family, and one neighbor boy, in the mid-2000s who are questioning life. The father, is suffering from massive depression as he was the only one in his office to survive the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. The once-practicing-Jewish mother has found Christianity and is hell-bent (can I use that term here?) on ridding the world of sinners. The daughter is rebelling against everything that her mother represents. The neighbor boy is madly in love with the daughter and wears a much-ridiculed Elvis costume for most of the play. Believe it or not, this is a comedy. Have I mentioned that there is also an actor who plays Jesus and Stephen Hawking?

Throughout the play we see the neighbor boy, who happens to be Jewish and preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, struggle to gain the love of the daughter, work on gaining acceptance with the Bible-thumping mother, as well as work on getting the father to break through his depressive nature. He recognizes the daughter’s love for knowledge and forces her to relent to reading Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History In Time” and begins to “see and talk” to Hawking when she is stoned. It turns out that the book is what finally brings the two together (ed: And here I went donated my copy to Goodwill).

Toward the end of the play the mother is convinced that the Rapture is coming on Wednesday (or as I like to joke “Jesus is coming, look busy!”) and forces all to remain with her so that they can all be saved. When the Rapture doesn’t occur she winds up questioning her faith, but has regained the love and respect of her family.

The play runs through June 28th so if you are the kind that keeps saying “I really should go see some local theater.” then this might be the play for you.

If A Tree (Limb) Falls In The Forest, Does It Make A Sound?
That I do not know. I do know that it makes a hella fucking racket when it happens in my backyard, however.

A little after 11pm on Saturday night I heard an incredible crash from just outside my opened bedroom window. Living in East Atlanta for the past ten years has conditioned me to think “Holy hell, I think that someone is breaking in!” so I lept out of my bed and started to figure out what the hell was going on.

I raced to the back door where I opened the blinds and turned on a light… nothing there. I looked out the bedroom window… nothing there. And then I stopped to think.

I heard a crash which sound liked it hit the deck.
I heard leaves.
I remembered that last year a large tree limb fell of my neighbor’s tree last year.
I searched toward the fence and saw some new debris.

When the sun rose on Sunday morning I went outside to confirm my suspicion that the neighbor’s tree lost another large limb. Luckily the limb spared the house, when I finally get around to chopping up the downed limbs I’ll figure out whether it spared my fence as well.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, but really need to start stepping things up.
Current Music – nothing at the moment
Website Of The Day – Even though it’s called Atlanta Music Guide you can get a wide range of Atlanta event news there.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing notable

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

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple

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 far from the worst week of work that I’ve had in my career, this week has been a hectic one and I still have a “To Do” list as long as a yardstick.

The Cost Of A Good Smile Makes Me Frown
The good news from yesterday was that I had no cavities form since my last check up and that my gums look really good. I was chided for not flossing well near my wisdom teeth (yes, I still have my wisdom teeth).

All was completely honky dory until I went to pay for my visit — $171. Aye Carumba! The cost of decent dental service is going through the roof! I have to keep in that I don’t have dental insurance so I pay for everything out-of-pocket.

Oh Wait! Great news! I just saw that I was charged for x-rays that I did not have done yesterday so I should be able to reduce the charge by $53. That’ll make me smile again!

I really should learn to check all bills before paying them….

JCT Kitchen And Bar FT(decent)W
Last night I joined up with the Atlanta Photography Exhibit folks at JCT Kitchen And Bar on the west side. (fwiw – if you’ve not driven down to Howell Mill Rd in some time you should, things are really happening there).

It was a good night of drinking (I stuck with the Bison Brewing IPA) and free appetizers (bacon-wrapped dates and deviled eggs) with many people who I haven’t seen in a while. With the rain coming down heavily we hung out undercover just outside the bar — in part because the space is loud so it’s hard to hold a conversation — especially when there is someone playing guitar and singing as there was last night. From everyone’s account the food served by JCT Kitchen is rather good. I admit that I rather enjoyed the dates and eggs.

ITP Flickr Pic
Last Sunday I ventured into the Krog Street tunnel for a little photography. Having been in the tunnel numerous times to shoot, along with the fact that I am incredibly bored with graffiti, I didn’t think that there would be anything in there for me to really appreciate.

There was one art installation (keep reading) that made me stop and say “Now that’s clever.” It’s very hard to see in this photo so I’ll give you some explanation. Against the far wall is the word “kudzu” written in script, hanging on the wall. What’s clever about this is that the word is comprised of kudzu vines which have been braided into a rope.

Dinner And A Movie Play
Tonight I’ll be eating dinner at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club and seeing the play “End Days” at Horizon Theatre with friend and ITP-Reader Stacy.

And Stacy if you read today’s blog, the odds are good that tonight’s play will not get rained out like the Braves game did last night.

A Weekend Full Of Photography
On Saturday and Sunday I’ll be attending the photography workshop offered by Digital Days Photography. I’m excited because I am getting free admission because I’m a writer for the Atlanta Metblogs and will be publishing a critique of the workshop in that space next week.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – listening to the “Daily Giz Wiz” podcast
Website Of The Day – Okay Tree Huggers, this one’s for you TreeHugger.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – stair climbing, six flights of stairs

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

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple

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]

My plate is full today, which for someone who desires to lose weight can either be a really good, or really bad thing.

It Didn’t Deserve An Oscar, But It Wasn’t As Bad As I Was Led To Bee-lieve
I spent the majority of last night in my basement finishing up my laundry. During the warmer months my basement is quite a blessing because it is constantly five degrees cooler than the main floor of my house.
To pass the time I decided that I would watch a movie instead of watching the Braves’ game or reading. The movie I wound up watching was Bee Movie. Bee-ing a long-time fan of Jerry Seinfeld’s work I have been more than intrigued with this movie since its release a few years ago. However, like most movies it has taken me some time to get around to watching it.

What can I say, I liked the movie. I thought it was cute and that the animation was fairly well done. Would I recommend it to others? No, not unless you are as big a fan of Seinfeld and animated movies as I am.

ITP Flickr Pic
On Sunday afternoon I joined my friend Maigh for breakfast and camera tutoring to one her friends and his daughter.

One of the techniques we tried to teach them was panning. This was my best effort at panning in a swinging motion to follow the little girl as she swung on the swing.

It’s One Of Those Days
I have a 1pm dental checkup today. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike dental visits? By and large dentists and hygienists are okay, but I am always fearful of bad news when I go to the dentist’s office.

I’m expecting no cavities, although it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary if one were found. I’ve tried to be a diligent brusher, but my flossing has been a little less than stellar — so shame on me.

But Tonight Should Be Better
After work I’ll be heading to the west side to attend the monthly social meetup of Atlanta Photography Exhibit. The meetup starts at 6pm at JCT Kitchen. Come out and watch me try to limit myself to one beer and only eat a responsible amount of free appetizers.

Did You Make It To The Big Yard Sale In Decatur?
The big yard sale at the First Baptist Church in Decatur opened at 7am this morning. I did not attend as I was in a meeting at Mimi’s Cafe near my office. Did you go? If so, what did you buy?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – tired all of a sudden must be my breakfast kicking in
Current Music – listening to the latest “Mac Geek Gab” podcast
Website Of The Day – Today I select TuttieFoodie because it’s a quality food blog and just fun to say.
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 – 0, Carnivorous Days – 3
Marta Rides – 0

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple

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]

Thanks To Georgia Power I’m Fairly Well Rested Today
Although it smacked completely in the face of my desire to lose weight I joined some coworkers at Twisted Taco for drinks and dinner last night.

Upon arriving to a warmer-than-comfortable home I turned on the air conditioning and sat at my computer to catch up on life. And then minutes later everything went black.

At 8:15pm (ish) I found my iPhone and called Georgia Power only to hear the bad news that power was out in the area and that they estimated the power to return at 10:15pm. Dangen!

My next call was to be to my alarm company to inform them of the power outage so that they didn’t send the police around. Much to my surprise and dismay I had never entered their phone number into my contacts list. All attempts to use AT&T‘s EDGE network to surf to the alarm company’s website ended in frustration; seriously, EDGE should be renamed SUCK. Luckily I was able to find an ancient bill containing the alarm company’s phone number in order to contact them.

With nothing better to do I headed to the basement (because it was at least five degrees cooler down there) and decided to enjoy the silence as best as I could.

Shortly after 10pm I was awakened by the illumination of the light I had turned on to inform me that the power had been restored. It seems that Georgia Power was quite accurate with their estimation, so accurate in fact that I’m wondering if they weren’t the source of the outage.

ITP Flickr Pic
Tired of animals at the zoo you say? Well, here’s a flower. Just consider yourself fortunate that I don’t have access to a kitten.

(I’ll have a special “new” photo up tomorrow. It would have been uploaded last night had I any electricity with which to do the uploading.)

I’m Now An Official Citizen Of Coverville
Over time you should be noticing this site change, in layout and design not necessarily in content, as I learn some more tricks of the web development trade. Oh look! There’s a new badge in the right hand galley!

Yesterday I took the Public Radio mindset for one of my favorite podcasts, Coverville. As with many media outlets Coverville is experiencing a financial crunch as fewer advertisers spend money. Since the show’s host (and proprietor) is so good at getting podcasts out regularly (usually two a week) and has to incur the cost of paying royalties for many of the cover songs he includes in his podcast I felt it was worth it for me to donate money in order to keep the podcast alive.

Coverville has started a “Coverville Citizen” campaign which consists of two levels

1. $40: Which gets you extra episodes of Coverville along with a t-shirt and at year’s end a dvd containing the entire year’s worth of Coverville episodes
2. $30: Which omits the t-shirt and dvd

Since I already own too many t-shirts and have no need for a year’s worth of Coverville on dvd because I listen to them once and move on, I chose the $30 option.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – frustrated with my lack of discipline
Current Music – listening to the latest “Tips From The Top Floor” podcast
Website Of The Day – Everyone’s talking about Microsoft’s new search engine called Bing. I need a new search engine from Microsoft about as much as I need a new operating system from Microsoft.
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 – 0, Carnivorous Days – 2
Marta Rides – 0

June Goals
- lose four pounds… plain and simple

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]