I Feel Like Starting Over

I feel like I’m running on a treadmill, without getting any of the benefits of running on a treadmill. I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to figure out where July 19th’s Black Sheep Hash is going to go. So far I have a thinly-veiled idea, but many of the better aspects of the area that I’ve chosen seem to be falling by the wayside. It would also be helpful if Google Maps‘ satellite imagery would be updated; things have changed a lot in this part of Georgia over the last five or so years.

I’ve Written The First In A Series Of Blog Entries About Atlanta’s Music Venues
Tasked with writing a blog entry every Thursday for Atlanta Metblogs I’ve decided to create a serial about something about which I know a lot, Atlanta’s music venues.

This week’s entry is about one of my favorite venues — The EARL.

These entries will be short, will unlikely spur controversy or comment, will not contain extensive research about the venues, and will be written from my personal view. In the end I am attempting to accomplish my commitment to write a post once a week and hopefully expose the Metblogs readers to new venues.

An Interesting Rediscovery
Or, “Let’s talk about the other Palin.”

One thing I like about Netflix is that I can discover new videos as well as rediscover things from my past.

One such recent rediscovery was the seven-episode series Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin. I find it hard to believe that I watched these episodes when the first aired on television twenty(!) years ago.

As I finished watching the last episode last night followed by a twenty-minute interview with Palin which was obviously conducted many years later I found it interesting to peer back to a pre-iPod (Palin brought a Sony Walkman cassette player), pre-digital-camera, pre-cellphone, pre-widely-available-internet world. It was even more interesting to find that Palin embarked on this journey when he was forty-five years old. Let’s see, I’ll be forty-four years old in a few weeks; I’ve got some work to do.

ITP Flickr Pic
Chairs outside the shop Belly in Virginia-Highland.
White, Red, Blue, And White
There’s something about these chairs, or perhaps this style of chair, that says “Slow down. Have a seat and relax for a minute.” I so wish that I could heed that advice.

Had I More Time Off, I Doubt That I’d Be In The Office Today
Today would have been a great day to take off from work, lounge around the house, and watch today’s stage of the Tour de France. Today’s stage takes our valiant riders on a 224km route which ends with an elevation rise of nearly 1000m over about a 25km stretch to this year’s tour highest finish. Better them than me, that’s for sure.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – trying to achieve inner-piece
Current Music – listening to the “net@night” podcast
Website Of The DayClosr is an interesting little Web 2.0 concept. Upload an image and you can create an embeddable widget which allows the user to zoom into the image.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 203 pounds

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~4 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 7 (7)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 9
Marta Rides – 0

July Goals
– Regain interest in my life
– Not get fired from my job
– Plan and lay a successful Black Sheep hash on July 19th

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]

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32 Responses to I Feel Like Starting Over

  1. Martha says:

    RE: not in the office today.

    That is pretty much the day Jerry has planned and was trying to talk me into this morning. He crashed at my place last night so he could watch the Tour (he doesn’t have Versus) today. I really considered it, I have the time but I would have wanted to do anything else than watch tv.

    It was such a nice morning, I was a little upset that Friday is a rest day and I wasn’t running. I did hill repeats for the first time last night, thought I was going to puke at the top…I guess I was doing them right.

    What are everyone’s plans for the weekend? I want to keep it low key, the last few have been a little rough and I need a break. Thinking about heading to Decatur to say hello and happy birthday to PWD, a 13 mile run and a 6 mile pace run, maybe a little pool time but I’m still suffering from a pretty bad burn.

    Paulie, don’t fret too much about the trail, its going to be fun, I’m looking forward to it. My GPS saved my ass on the last one I did.

  2. I’m meeting with Burnt Rubber tomorrow at 8am to figure out the trail. The problem with laying Black Sheep trails these days is that so much of what was once woods have been converted into subdivisions and shopping malls.

    Two positives did occur last night
    1) I discovered a back-up plan yesterday which may save us. It will not be a brutal Black Sheep, but since my ass will freeze on the ice regardless I’m not too concerned.
    2) I photographed a free-standing hearth. I just didn’t get around to getting the photo off the camera last night.

    Other than that I think this weekend will be once on which I catch up on all of the things which have not been getting done due to my absence or indifference.

  3. Barb says:

    I think I’m going to be drinking at a bar or two this weekend, as well as biking the http://400century.com/ way too early on Sunday morning (but, in case you thing I’m an overachiever, you would be mistaken, I’m only going to ride the 35 mile route most likely).
    Anyone that wants to hear some Buffett and other deck/party music, my friends A1A are playing at Wild Wing Marietta on Saturday afternoon. And – they are also playing at O’Shaunessy’s in Roswell on Sunday afternoon. Not sure if I’m going to both, but you just never know.

  4. Barb says:

    oh yeah – gotta mention the Tour just for Martha – was it too awesome to see Thor win the stage yesterday? I hope I didn’t spoil it for anyone. I like Mark Cavendish, but I like seeing the other sprinters win.

  5. Martha says:

    I accidently watched some of the Tour last night. Not sure who or what I was watching…Jerry kept talking but I wasn’t listening πŸ˜‰

    Other things I want to do this weekend are to clean up the car and do some yard work.

    Things seem a little slow on the ‘net today, I might have to do some work.

  6. Paulie [eatl/ga] says:

    I’m sitting in a meeting. The readership/comments have been slow(ish) recently, I’m going to have to start doing things which spark interest.

  7. bob says:

    Slow? The last 3 days comment average is over 20, I thought we have been quite chatty πŸ™‚

    Are you going to come out on Sunday to shoot the riders?

  8. Barb says:

    I hear naked pictures always work……. just ask TMZ.

  9. Barb says:

    and – here’s some free food – though only good thru monday
    http://www.arbys.com/coupon/

  10. Paulie [eatl/ga] says:

    But half of those are my replies, Bob. :^)

    Naked pictures of me would result in everyone’s departure (just trust me on this one).

  11. Martha says:

    You never know Paulie, could be worth a shot πŸ˜‰ or you could introduce a cute, young ‘cousin’ to the blog…it seems to be a common gimmic for sitcoms.

    Okay I just finished reading the Wikipedia article on the Tour…I still don’t think I know anything more than I did this morning, but hey I tried.

    I think I’ll pass on the free food, I’m sure I would be paying for it one way or the other.

  12. Barb says:

    Bob writes: “Are you going to come out on Sunday to shoot the riders?”

    my first thought to reading that was…. don’t do it, the police will catch you and you will go to jail for murder!
    second thought was…. I hope he runs out of bullets before I get there.

  13. HAHA! If Atlanta Police gets my there is a chance I can sneak away.

    I’m not sure what I’m doing on Sunday morning yet. It all boils down to weather and how reccying goes tomorrow.

  14. Steve says:

    C’mon Martha, you really need to get your “Tour” on. Todays stage was amazing… like a heavyweight prize fight.

    And for those who are really bike freaks, there is a good chance the Tour of Missouri won’t happen. The govenor has but on a budget freeze which affects the states contribution of 1.5 mil. Overall revenue for the ToM is estimated at 65 mil… a good investment? You betcha!

    Comment through here:

    http://www.tourofmissouri.com/save-the-tour-of-missouri.html

    -FP

  15. Debbie says:

    Duck Barb!

    I watched the tour without Steve even being in town last night, so there’s hope Martha. πŸ˜‰ Saw some of the highlights from today’s stage at lunch — I love it when they get to the mountains and start to separate out the GC riders.

    If anyone is looking for something fun to do tomorrow afternoon, there’s racing at the velodrome in East Point. Our favorite official will be on duty. I may even go, since I’ve never seen a track race and I bet it’s fun to watch.

  16. Huh. That’s too bad.

    I’ve just returned from lunch and have the Tour on to listen to the rerun.

    Have you all heard that (one of) Lance Armstrong’s houses is for sale? I had a link but can’t find it at the moment.

  17. What time are the races Debbie? Steve, what’s the chances of good spaces for photography? As a matter of fact, yes, it is all about photography for me. πŸ˜›

  18. Debbie says:

    I actually posted it because I bet it’s a great opportunity for photos… but not ever having been I can’t be sure. πŸ™‚

    Looks like they go from 3 – 11 and also on Sunday. http://www.dicklanevelodrome.com/calendar

  19. Steve says:

    I have an “in” with the chief official and can get you where ever you’d like. The feature starts at 6.

    http://www.dicklanevelodrome.com/

    It really is a lot of fun… bring a hash chair/something soft in case the bleachers get full.

    -FP

  20. Well thanks to you both! I’ll pretty much guarantee that I’ll be there Saturday. I carry something soft with me at all times, it’s called my arse.

  21. Barb says:

    You are all making me want to go to see who won today’s stage.

    Allan’s dad has worked at at least one if not two of the last Tour of Missouri’s. I’ve even got a tshirt….. like I needed another tshirt in my life.
    I’ll be sure to comment.

    Steve – you and a few others will get a kick out of this – Allan’s dad now is going to Adelaide (s?) Austrailia for BMX world championships, leaving from Colorado when we are supposedly having the family reunion with those pretend Spaniards. Mary is not happy…… but the head of USA Cycling asked him, and said he was the ONLY one that could so it.

  22. Good stage today, I recommend that you watch it when you get home. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it here.

  23. Barb says:

    And, I don’t get track racing, I watched it on the Olympics, I don’t get it at all. I thad Allan & TJ explain it, and they did & did, and I still don’t get it.

  24. Barb, truth be told I don’t understand it either. All I know is that there will be people on bikes riding in circles — which makes for interesting photo opportunities for me.

  25. Steve says:

    Lots of different races on the track. Tomorrow’s feature is something they are calling the “Wheelrace”. Riders are staggered around the track, based on abilities and every goes at the same time. In theory, if you’ve done the seeding right, everyone gets to the finish line at the same time! Great to be an official at one of those.

    One of these big race days, I’ll come down and we’ll all watch and I’ll explain what’s going on. I’ve always said if we could only get people to watch and understand it, we could be as big as NASCAR. But maybe I’m biased.

    And Gentry, since it’s in the neighborhood, you should show up too.

    -FP

  26. Barb says:

    Steve – don’t forget the personal invite to Michelle & Drew too….. it isn’t like they don’t know where it is, since we rode past it on that Wheelhopper they laid.

  27. Steve says:

    True, but I wasn’t sure they read the blog as religiously as we all do.

    -FP

  28. Barb says:

    and – since I’m too lazy to send you (Steve) an email – someday I need to get you that Park bike stand…… TJ keeps asking me when we are going to get it to you. My answer is…… someday.

  29. bob says:

    I really need to get to the Velodrome, racing is racing! I’ll watch just about any kind of racing, except NASCAR. Bad timing this week though.
    When is the next race down there?

  30. Steve says:

    Barb, why don’t you throw it in the truck when you come to the DLV tomorrow. Or is this something that needs to go in the truck?? I don’t know how far it breaks down.

    -FP

  31. Barb says:

    It WOULD fit in my car, but I highly doubt I’ll make it to the DLV tomorrow. I’ll be drinking at Wild Wing.

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