For me riding my bicycle is an ordeal. I have to pack a bag of clothes/accessories, get my bike from the basement, lock it onto the roof rack of the car, find at least two hours to ride, and hope for good weather to do so; whereas running needs only a bags of clothes/accessories to be prepared and requires at most half of the time commitment.
Needless to say, I’ll probably accomplish neither today.
Streamlining
Yesterday I took possession of a new 1TB SATA hard drive and fancy-pants external enclosure. The plan is to consolidate my two 320GB IDE data drives (which were kindly left by the motherfuckers who robbed my house). The reason for the consolidation is multi-fold
- The computer which now acts as “Central” only has one FireWire port, and while I could daisy-chain my two older FireWire disk enclosures I’d rather not.
- Running one external drive will certainly be more energy efficient than two.
- One external drive will be easier to manage and back up.
- One external drive will exhibit less clutter on my desk.
- Parallel IDE drives are becoming harder to purchase, especially in larger capacities.
Why am I telling you this? Well, because of my desire to streamline and declutter I will be getting rid of the old drives with enclosures, along with a couple of other smaller-capacity drives with enclosures. Since I see no reason to throw out these items, I want to offer them up gratis to any one who will give them a good home before doing something drastic like giving them to Goodwill. First come, first served. No guarantees implied. User assumes all responsibilities. Unless otherwise mutually agreed upon, transfer of goods at a local bar or restaurant preferred. Your mileage may vary.
I will reduce the clutter in my house.
I will reduce the clutter in my house.
I WILL reduce the clutter in my house.
Wow, I feel better now.
ITP Flickr Pic
Another from my New York excursion a couple of weekends ago.
Beyond that bridge is the neighborhood in which Little Paulie was reared.
Ugh, There’s No “Air” In The Office
I Arrived at work today to discover that the air conditioning system is struggling — on a day that I decide to wear jeans. Bugger.
Feeling Rutted
I can’t help but feel as if I am in a rut. Good news is that a new season of Top Chef, containing three chefs from Atlanta, starts tonight. Bad news is that it’s probably going to be the same-old same-old (but to much higher standards than) Hell’s Kitchen.
I need a game-changer (since the $5 I pissed away on last night’s lottery didn’t pan out), or a tipping-point (which is the title of the Malcolm Gladwell book that I’m currently “reading” audiobook-style) to get me motivated again. I’ve decided that today I will (re)start constructing what I am calling my “Money Do” list — a list of actions necessary for me to sell my house some time in the near(ish) future. Wish me luck.
What do you do in order to get yourself out of ruts?
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – disgruntled
Current Music – listening to yesterday’s TWO hour “MacBreak Weekly” podcast
Website Of The Day – I’ve been a fan of the NY Times since living in New York, and now I’ve discovered the NY Times Lens Blog — their photoblog.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check, didn’t want to know
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~8.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 83 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 7 (7)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 18
Marta Rides – 0
August Goals
– Not get fired from my job
– Restart work on house, actually making progress this time
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]
How do you get out of a rut? Do something completely different. How about joining a kickball league? Crochet? Bocce tournament? Just shake it up some.
What kind of rut do you think you are in? You seem to be incredibly busy doing tons of different things.
Perhaps I’m really just whining about my life rather than being in a true rut.
I tried kickball once (as an adult) and was underwhelmed and injured my hammie. In general leagues would be bad for me at the moment because it’s be another scheduled item in my life.
Crochet? Um, no. 😉
Bocce? Hmmmm.
Actually I’m still considering signing up for a sign language (see what I did there?!?) course.
I’d love to ride my bike more, but this job thing keeps getting in the way.
If you don’t mind giving them to a total stranger, I’d be more than happy to take those drives off your hands.
I would like to learn sign language too.
You missed a good ride last night, in a car, to the beer barrel, followed by growlers and wings at Wild Wing. Yum!
@hank : If you want the two 320GBs then they are yours. I’ll contact you via email once I’ve taken my data off and have it backed up; that’ll probably be next week. We can discuss how I can get them to you then.
@bob : RATS! 😉 I did have a good night meeting people at Thinking Man (near Decatur), although I ordered the wrong food. I then headed to ITP-Reader Betsy’s house to watch Hell’s Kitchen with she and ITP-Martha.
well – it had rained, and the people in Marietta aren’t as good as the Roswell folks about bikes on the road, so we decided instead of possibly getting hit by a car, we should be smart & just go drinking instead. And – our new buddy Mason was there @ Beer Barrel, trying to sell Bob a new scooter/motorcycle.
We finally remembered to bring our Abita growler to Wild Wing – only 2 choices – Jockamo & Purple Haze – but according to the boys – those were both good choices. And – my friend Jeff Pike was playing, nice to hear him just play some rock, and not all Buffett.
so – I’m guessing by your post – you aren’t going to come meet us at Silver Comet tonight?
I should have been more aggressive about finding out more about Georgia Perimeter College’s sign language program.
Barb, that’s funny that Mason was there and pushing scooter sales again. 🙂
I haven’t been to Wild Wings in thirteen years. Yes Virginia, I once went to that Wild Wing, with a girl named Domnique, who was — believe it or not — my girlfriend, and she did the macarena; the year was 1996.
I’m not a big fan of Purple Haze (I don’t care for fruitier beers) but very much like the Jockamo.
we have 2 growlers……. 1 for each flavor of beer. (I miss the TurboDog, Jockamo is too damn hoppy for me, but I do like Purple Haze). And it was buy 12, get 12 free wings – Allan & Bob ate all 24 each – I think they can be on Man Vs. Food someday soon.
Oh, I would have jumped on the 12+12 challenge. It probably wouldn’t have been more calories than the “mound of rounds” covered with cheese that I consumed last night.
I have very bad memories of Turbo Dog from a night of drinking with my buddy Bill at the Tip Top Cafe during a Webb Wilder show in Huntsville, AL some time around 1993. Come to think of it, that’s the last time I ate at Krystal as well — which was a conversation Betsy, Martha, and I had last night.
Oh yeah — you’re right Barb, I’ll be unable to join you ladies for the Silver Comet ride tonight.
Betsy… that’s a name from the past. What planet did she move to?
I managed a short reckie run last night. Not exactly hampster land, but had lots of dodging opportunities. I didn’t bleed much, and didn’t get too muddy, so that’s a big plus.
Georges tonight anyone?
-FP
Betsy has been spending time on planet New Car. She’s followed the lead of many-a-hasher and is tooling around in a Honda Fit.
You’ve reminded me that I still need to wash my tights before Saturday. I’m still not worried about bleeding (my body is scarred so much that a few more won’t matter) but poison ivy still frightens me.
If I weren’t so fat I’d definitely be up for George’s, so I’ll be a “maybe.” Oh…. you mean to “run,” don’t you… 🙂
Look, if all you can muster is showing up at Georges, at least that’s a start. As for the PI index on the first half of the trail, I’d give it about a 3.5. I saw some, but it was fairly easy to avoid.
I’m not sure why planet New Car has prevented Betsy from showing up. Would seem like it would make things easier and maybe even have opportunities to show off the new ride.
-FP
Well, since I’m no spokesman for Betsy she’ll have to answer for herself.
I’m still going to have to wear tights otherwise I’ll be (more) miserable for weeks.
I’m cycling with the ladies tonight, once the tri is over I hope to be back at George’s from time to time, training for Chicago, also Jerry is going to start running from Peachtree Battle wednesdays so I will be free.
Last time I was in a rut, I did a month of bootcamp, of course that was just an exercise rut. Accepting a date with Jerry was a rut buster as well. Right now I’m in a food/nutrition rut…feel like I’ve been eating the same things for a year now. I just need a little extra time to figure out some new stuff, I may even look into some cooking classes.
I have a question for the Help Desk…is there anyway to be notified of new replies, other then just checking back all the time?
Well I can’t date Jerry, you already are. 🙂
Perhaps I should get my plumbing fixed — that’ll get me out of my non-cooking rut.
Related: This Sunday I am going to attempt to (sorry for the language) douche my kitchen. I’m going to clean off all of the counters and remove as much as I can, scrub the hell out of everything, and only allow the things that I know that I’ll still need to reenter.
Damn, there is a way but I don’t know if my template allows for comment updates. I’ll check into that today.
Cleaning can be very theraputic, I re-organized my pantry, now I know what I actually have and don’t have to cook with … it just makes me ‘feel’ better when i walk in there now, much less stressful.
I really need the time to do the same thing with the laundry, sports locker, storage area.
PS if you want to date Jerry, I’ll share…he’s a lot of work sometimes 😉
Steve – any hamster land is bad for my back – so you give me even more reason to bimbo!
Well – looks like Puff is bailing on haring this weekend, but hopefully that won’t interfer with my idea of traveling south to see y’all on Saturday. May have to be an impromptu hare with Check My Bag & Service.
Organizing the pantry & finding out what is in it – now that is a heck of an idea!
Paulie–I thought we agreed that you are my designated spokesperson and you were doing just fine!
If I’m not at george’s tonight, I’ll be on the Silver Comet with Aimee/G*sshole. I have to learn how to clip in and out. Seriously.
George’s is in my future again. And I’ll tell everyone about my journeys to Planet New Car
Betsy, we will be at the Comet tonight as well, what time do you think you will be there?
Betsy – learning to clip in & out is easy, it’s the actual remembering to do it when you are stopping that can be hard 😉
Hopefully we can run into you tonight out at SCT!!!
and then leaning to the right side after you clip out…not that I’ve ever done that
Barb- it isn’t hamsterland per se, it’s just “scrub pine thicket”.
Betsy- good to see you have decent internet service on the planet New Car. As far as clipping in and out, even those of us who have been riding since BEFORE clipless sometimes forget to clip out… like last Saturday!! 🙂 Hope to see you soon.
-FP
Cool, thanks man! I’ll buy you a drink or a meal when we meet up.