Inside The Perimeter

If you are gay….. not that there’s anything wrong with that!

A Room Full Of Women, None Of Which Wanted Me
In the late 1990′s I briefly dated a young lady named Deborah. Deborah was an Emory Public Health student, who used to refer to the parties which she attended as “clam bakes” which is the opposite of “sausage fests.”

One Friday night Deborah invited me to join a group of her Emory friends to go to Eddie’s Attic. Who was I to turn down an opportunity to hang out with a group of women? The band that night was called “Halcyon.”

Immediately upon entering the room (which may have been my introduction to Eddie’s) I noticed something very strange — a lack of men. The band, consisting of two women, played and then mentioned how happy they were to be at Eddie’s on the Friday night of Gay Pride Weekend. It all made sense….. I knew Deborah wasn’t a lesbian but the majority of women in Eddie’s that night were.

However for me it was just like any night in Buckhead bar where most of the women inside had no desire to sleep with me.

Signs Of Things To Come
Last night I decided to add two more beers to my growing (hmm, just like my belly) list of beers consumed at Taco Mac. Because I left work a little later than my normal time traffic wasn’t too much of an issue so I decided to hit a Mac closer to home. I chose Decatur.

Unlike the Perimeter location the Decatur Taco Mac was not well-staffed with cute young ladies, but that all went by the wayside when my waiter erroneously brought out my beer in a twenty-ounce mug instead of the sixteen-ounce variety. WooHoo! Four FREE ounces, forty-seven beers ahead of schedule!

I ordered up some chips and salsa, and then upon ordering my second beer I also asked for a chicken taco.

The taco never arrived, but much like the first beer the second also arrived in a twenty-ounce mug! Toward the end of my beer the waiter admitted that he had forgotten to put my taco order in and asked if I’d like for him to do so at that moment. Having finished a basket of chips and salsa and forty ounces of beer I figured that I had consumed enough calories for one sitting so I declined.

I can’t wait until I reach beer #125 and I actually earn the privilege of drinking from a twenty-ounce mug.

ITP Flickr Pic
Well look at that, five days of blogging and five days of photos. Even more amazing is the fact that this one was taken just yesterday.

My coworker ITP-Reader Rich and I went onto the roof of our office to take a few shots. The time of day wasn’t ideal, but the clouds were so I decided to shoot a silhouette of the Concourse (King and Queen) buildings. Sure, I pumped the effects up a bit in post-processing, but I like the way this turned out.

Christmas Will Come Early For Me
I received an unusually pleasant surprise the other day.

If you’ve known me for some time you may have seen me in a dark green t-shirt emblazoned with the words “Emmet Swimming.” Unlike the story I once told someone in New Orleans “Emmet Swimming” was band and not the swim team from a small college in Nebraska. Now I can say, even if briefly, that Emmet Swimming is a band again.

I first heard Emmet Swimming play in 1996 at the Dark Horse Tavern in Atlanta; they were the opening band for Dayroom that night. The guy at the door convinced me to go in early and catch their show because he thought they sounded good. I agreed.

I followed Emmet Swimming’s career and may have had the opportunity to see them once more (although I cannot remember) as being a band from Virginia they didn’t make the trip to Atlanta often. Sometime in the early 2000′s it seemed as if Emmet Swimming had called it quits.

Bring us to present-day…

For some reason I’ve been singing some Emmet Swimming tunes lately. The other morning I jokingly went to Emmet Swimming‘s website and lo and behold found out that they will be playing some shows in December! They are playing shows in North Carolina (Raleigh on Dec 18th / Charlotte on Dec 19th), so me thinks that I’m going to be spending a lovely Saturday night in Charlotte this December. Hell, if Raleigh weren’t so much of a drive for a day-trip I’d take in both shows.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – still trying to figure things out with my life
Current Music – listening to the latest Wolfmother release “Cosmic Egg” for a project on Monday (that’s called a “teaser”)
Website Of The Day – I want to be the mayor of Beer Town. I probably have as much chance of that as I do meeting the girls of the Bike and Brew Tour. Is forty-five too old to relive your twenties?
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 24
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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]

Today is going to be mega-brief. I’m running real late this morning because I couldn’t get my ass out of bed.

ITP Flickr Pic
I was intrigued by the color on the top of this paint can

And then when I got closer and could read that the color was called “Bazooka Joe” I just had to take a photo of it.

RealiTV Update : Top Chef – I Should’ve Eaten At Woodfire Grill While I Had The Chance
Actually I have eaten at Woodfire Grill; I took Jeannie there on a date. That means it’s been a little more than seven years since I’ve eaten there. Wow.

Anyway, Woodfire Grill’s co-owner and chef Kevin Gillespie has continued to kick some major ass on this season’s Top Chef. He is doing so well that I predict that it will be very hard to get reservations at Woodfire Grill in the future, it not so already.

Not only did Gillespie win the QuickFire Challenge, which at this point seems silly since it earned him absolutely nothing, he also wooed Natalie Portman and won the elimination challenge. With Gillespie’s previous wins neither of these came as a surprise. What did come as a surprise was the ouster of SPOILER Mike I instead of Robin. Go figure!

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – late
Current Music – nothing, I’m too rushed to even get my headphones out
Website Of The Day – Yesterday a friend of mine posted a facebook update that his “Beer of the Month Club” package from MicroBeerClub had arrived. A few years ago I would’ve killed to be in such a club, but now there is such variety in the stores that I don’t find it necessary. It’s a cool concept nonetheless.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 23
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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]

Yesterday was a roller coaster ride of emotion for me.

Will I Get The HD Or Won’t I
Over the weekend I made a $99 online purchase of a Roku media player. The Roku box, which has been around for a few years, most notably allows one to stream movies from his/her Netflix account to a television. Recently Roku has been adding other content providers making their device more intriguing to me as a companion to my AppleTV.

Out of nowhere Roku announced a $20 price drop to their current set top box, as well as the addition two new offers to their product catalog, including a HD version at the $99 price level — yesterday! You’ve got to be kidding me!!!

I have been informed by Roku that I will be receiving the HD model for the $99 order I placed, but I’m currently skeptical. Roku provides a “30-day money-back guarantee” which I may have to exercise if I receive the SD version instead.

Dude I’m NOT Getting A Dell!
Well, so much for getting a Dell (monitor/keyboard/mouse). I received the following in email yesterday, the day after placing my order.

Dear Paul,

This is to notify you that, regrettably, we need to cancel your recent order for a “Dell ST2310 23” Monitor with Dell Wireless Keyboard and Mouse”. This item is no longer available in our website.

We truly value our relationship and reputation with our customers, and we realize the negative impact from these types of cases. Please be assured that we are working hard to try and prevent this situation going forward. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

We will like you visit our web site where you can replace your orders and configure new model systems you can also take advantage of our new promotions.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Thank you for being a Dell Customer

Even more frustrating to me is that I went back to Dell‘s website yesterday afternoon and the offer was still there.

ITP Flickr Pic
I saw these lamps made of fibers and I knew that I must take a photo of one.

I am not disappointed with the results.

Amazon “Called” And Wants To Make Up
Also in yesterday’s electronic mail was a note from Amazon telling me that they’ve received my notification to charge the credit card which has been causing me all this difficulty and agreed to reopen my Amazon account.

HURRAH!

I feel as if I’ve received a call from an old girlfriend telling me that she wants to get back together and it feels so good.

Back To My Mac
Taco Mac that is.

With the weather being completely shitty yesterday afternoon and a quick glance at the traffic stand-stills that populated the highways last night I decided to wait out traffic at Taco Mac.

At first I was slightly disappointed because I was being served by a dude instead of one of the many cute female staff, and saw on my Passport list that I had achieved the 75-beer milestone (for which a $10 credit is awarded) but there was no mention of receiving this reward.

I decided to make the best of it by bringing out my MacBook and doing a little surfing using Taco Mac’s free WiFi. A sports bar with a great beer selection, pretty staff, and free WiFi is the trifecta for this nerd.

Things (inside) started to look brighter as I was informed by a cute waitress named Ellen that my server had gone home ill (dude, serving food and drink while sick is completely uncool!) and that she would taking care of me. Ellen was attentive and efficient, and at night’s end made sure that $10 was taken off my total because I had surpassed the 75-beer milestone.

Oh, and by the time I left traffic was not an issue.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat, slow
Current Music – listening to an NPR music podcast
Website Of The Day – I heard that “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” was on last night. When I was a kid all Peanuts shows were “brought to us” by Dolly Madison. To this day I thank Dolly Madison Bakery for doing so.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 22
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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]

Yesterday was laundry day, which of late also means that it was “crazy-cheap” sandwich day from Lee’s Bakery. However, it turned out not to be…

For lunch my lunch mates wanted to get “crazy-cheap” sandwiches from another Vietnamese restaurant. Not one to rock the lunch boat I chose to go along as well as order sandwiches for lunch (the place — whose name I cannot remember — offers more than sandwiches, but that’s what I wanted). So when dinner time rolled around I was not only not hungry for more Vietnamese sandwiches (Lee’s also provides more than Vietnamese sandwiches), I was not hungry at all! I wound up buying a roll and a couple of sweets for “dinner” as I did my laundry.

What Is It About VW?
Those who have known me for some time know that when it comes to women I have a definite “type.”

• neatly-cut short hair
• “girl-next-door” cuteness
• petite
• tattoo-free

One of the other strange coincidences that comes along with my stereotype seems to be “VW driver.” Last night as I walked around the shopping center parking lot I noticed someone who fit my description to a ‘t’ and wouldn’t you know, she wound up getting into a VW Rabbit and driving away.

Maybe I should become a VW salesman to increase the likelihood of meeting women that I find attractive.

ITP Flickr Pic
Putting my best foot forward.

I don’t know why I find shots like this intriguing (just look at my photostream on Flickr and you’ll see many of this ilk), but I do.

Dude, I’m Getting A Dell!
WHAT??? Mr. Mac-using, Apple-shareholder is buying a Dell computer? Weeeeeell, not exactly.

Yesterday I ordered just about everything but a computer from Dell. Using my company-supplied employee discount I ordered a new monitor, which also happens to come along with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

I need a bigger monitor than that supplied by my 13.3″ MacBook for photo editing. With Apple‘s announcement of new hardware last week I nearly broke down and bought a new iMac to replace the one which was stolen from my house in July. However, I couldn’t bring myself to invest that much in something “nice” at the moment while living in East Atlanta so I went with the cheaper monitor option instead.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – listening to this week’s “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – You want to watch a movie, but not sure which. Use Nanocrowd – the movie search engine – to help you out.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 21
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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]

Today you will see a photo in the blog. In fact, I have enough photos to post one each and every day this week!

Unfortunately, this weekend also saw me skipping two concerts (including a much-anticipated return of the Dirty Projectors) as well as yesterday’s Black Sheep Hash.

Four More Beers
The reason Friday night’s Sea Wolf concert at The EARL was skipped was because I found myself drinking beer at Taco Mac after work with coworkers. At night’s end I had added four more beers to my Passport collection (if my list has not been updated by the time you read this, check back later).

I attempted to return to Taco Mac on Saturday afternoon, but the NCAA football crowd had the place packed to the gills and I was in no mood to wait around for a chair.

Oh Gourd, What Could Keep Me From The Dirty Projectors?
If you think back to July I proclaimed the Dirty Projectors’ show The EARL to be an incredible show. When I heard that they were going to return to Atlanta there was no doubt in my mind that I’d be at Masquerade on Saturday night to see them again (Google for “Amber Coffman” and you’ll see another reason why I enjoy seeing them in concert).

After spending a partial day at work I headed over to ITP-Reader Tony’s house for a night of chili-eating / football watching / pumpkin carving with a bunch of folks. Well, one beer led to another, and the Gators game was running late, and then there was more beer to consume, and I think you can figure out why I never made it to Masquerade.

You can probably also figure out why my head hurt slightly on Sunday morning.

ITP Flickr Pic
Yes Virginia, Paulie still knows how to press the shutter.

We met for breakfast at The Majestic, shot for awhile including at IKEA, before completing the day at Fox Bros BBQ. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning.

And It Started With So Much Promise
My East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads are now 3-4, this after starting 2-0, which means they’ve gone 1-4 during the past five weeks. How depressing. Even worse is that there seems to be little hope that I can right the ship. If the Double D’s were a baseball team they’d be a collection of light-hitting shortstops with one player having a great day each week. This is not the strategy on which championships are built.

RealiTV Update: Those Water Wings Made Me Feel Like A Pedophile
A Sunday night miracle occurred last night, The Amazing Race started on time!

Somehow the field has already been whittled to eight teams. All eight are still meddling around the Middle East living the lifestyle of the rich and famous with expensive watches, playing with gold bars, and sliding down awesome water slides. Who wouldn’t enjoy doing that? Oh, I guess her name would be Mika.

A quick aside… Folks can we please stop with the ridiculous spelling of your child’s name? “Mika,” “Canaan,” “Cheyne?” When have you ever seen a mini-license plate or keychain with these names? NEVER!

Okay back to pedophilia. So at the end of what was a rather mundane episode, although I was surprised that the Globetrotters were the only team to have difficulty translating the time on the watch to the briefcase’s combination, things got interesting. Teams had to slide down a large waterslide into what appeared to be a shark tank before Baywatching their way to Phil at the Pit Stop. However, It seemed that the lovely Mika (btw- What was with that bandage on her back? Is that some new-fangled birth control?) didn’t like the water so she was sporting some fashionable Water Wings. An already-young looking Mika looked like a little child in those Water Wings; her pouting like a small child didn’t help the image either. Evil Canaan, supposedly the man who loves her, was all-but-ready to ride her down the slide, but that’s probably against Amazing Race rules, so he made several futile attempts to push her talk her into going down the slide. And then Globetrotters showed up (insert Globetrotter whistling here). The Trotters’ arrival gave Mika two minutes before she and Canaan had to relinquish their position for the challenge. The Trotters talked much smack, Mika froze like a popsicle (which is odd given that they were in the desert), and had to back off. This FAIL allowed the Globetrotters to finish ahead of Mika and Canaan, who were then eliminated.

UPDATED: After reading my account of what I witnessed last night you should read the bio for Mika and Canaan; it’s rather amusing given the context.

Mika’s and Canaan’s elimination is also going to force me to purchase another iTunes song as they were the pick-of-the-week by ITP-Reader Terri.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – frustrated on so many levels
Current Music – listening to a CBC Radio 3 podcast
Website Of The Day – By name alone The Full Pint is worthy of mention. Oh, they also have some interesting beer-related information on their site as well.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 20
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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’ve been doing a lot of things, most of which seem to distract my vision on what I want out of life. I want, in fact need, to refocus.

On my agenda:

• Become a successful programmer (again).
• Photograph, photograph, photograph — creatively.
• Get Jalapeño Beach running
• Set up my email and Google Voice for my nuesslein.us domain and create personal calling cards with that information on it (think “business card” without business implications)

And I’ll do it all with or without having an Amazon account… (yep, my account has yet to be reinstated)

Eclipse de Luna(tic)
I had dinner and drinks with friends and coworkers at Eclipse de Luna last night. Eclipse de Luna is a “tapas” restaurant which means you pay near-full prices for small portions of food (you may get my feeling for this concept from the tone of that last statement.) I was glad that I wasn’t all that hungry, although the group outing wound up costing me $25 regardless because we (sanely) decided to divide the bill by the number of people sitting at our table.

Gents, if it’s a place to find beautiful women you seek then take your game to Eclipse de Luna. I was (perhaps not) stunned by the number of stunning young ladies in the Dunwoody location, presumably the stay so slender by not eating gargantuan portions of food. I have no “game” so I sat on the sidelines and watched the activity swarm around me.

ITP Flickr Pic
I didn’t get any shots from Stone Mountain that thrilled me. In my opinion this one falls into the “barely acceptable” bin.

Hey at least it’s a photo, right?

I’m Now Riding The Google Wave
But don’t ask me how to use it, or even what my ID is, for I have no idea yet.

UPDATE: I am most likely “InsideThePerimeter@googlewave.com” Rats, another account to which I’ve tied myself to the identity “InsideThePerimeter.” When I assumed that identity I figured I’d be here forever. Forever is started to seem like it will come to an end someday in the not-to-distant future.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – unfocused
Current Music – listening to last night’s Survivor
Website Of The Day – ITP-Reader Randy sent me a link to a really neat company called Eco Font. Eco Fon’t goal is to help us use less ink when printing. Seems like a good idea to me.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 17
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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]

WC Fields was quoted as saying “Never work with animals or children.” He probably should have added “weather” to that statement.

I Went To The Top Of The Mountain…
…and all I got was a $35 parking pass.

Upon getting to Stone Mountain last night I found that they now charge $10 to enter the park. An alternative to the one-day pass is to purchase an annual parking pass for $35. My inner cheapskate went for the annual pass not knowing that that meant getting a sticker that I’d have to affix to my window. I assumed that the pass would be a rear-view mirror hangar like those issued by Georgia’s state parks (and why Stone Mountain is not one of those still perplexes me) and I really didn’t want to place this sticker in my window (it’s roughly the size of a state inspection sticker for those who know what that is). But I had no choice in the matter once I had purchased it. What happens if I sell the Jackmobile before this time next year? Do I have to purchase another sticker? I’m not pleased.

After parking my car I loaded up my gear for what appeared would be a perfect night to photograph the sun setting behind downtown Atlanta. Unfortunately, as the group of us sat there waiting for the sun to set the clouds moved in and removed any hope of getting a quality shot.

That’s Fine But It Really Cost That Much?
After descending from Stone Mountain a group of us headed to eat at a Frontera Mex-Mex Grill (btw don’t confuse this for Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill because they are not the same).

When eating at Mexican restaurants my bellweather meal is carnitas, fried chunks of pork usually served with rice and beans. When I saw carnitas on Frontera Mex-Mex Grill’s menu I decided to give it a shot. Sadly FMMG’s carnitas were shredded pork, and the onions, green pepper, and cheese that I was convinced to add piled another $4 to the cost of the meal (which I didn’t realize ahead of time).

The meal, including the one Negra Modelo cost over $19, so when I added tax and tip my meal cost a whopping $24. The meal was good but no where near $24-good.

I Have To Learn To Stay Away From The Social Networks
I returned home shortly after ten o’clock last night. Feeling whooped I decided to go in to bed and surf the internet for a while instead of trying to catch up with Top Chef before going to sleep. One of the things that I should know by now is to never go onto Twitter and/or Facebook on RealiTV nights. Before going to sleep last night I knew who won last night’s Top Chef QuickFire Challenge, but luckily I was quick enough to log off before having the entire outcome spoiled.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat, but otherwise alright
Current Music – listening to yesterday’s “Daily Giz Wiz” podcast
Website Of The Day – I was contacted by someone who wanted to use yesterday’s photo for his Leonard Cohen blog One Heck Of A Guy. Of course I let him use it.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – hiking up and down Stone Mountain
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 16
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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]

Good Lord! Leonard Cohen, who is seventy-five, put on a two-and-a-half-hour show last night. Okay, the band took about a twenty-minute intermission, but the man is seventy-five! I thought that the show was phenomenal! I had entertained the thought of hitting The EARL afterward but it was so late when this show ended (11:15pm) that I thought it best to go home and sleep.

One Night Of Joy
Last night I met up with ITP-Reader Michelle and her hubby Drew (better known as “Little Easy”) for some beverages prior to the Leonard Cohen show. Trying to make the meetup as convenient as possible we agreed to meet up a Engine 11, the really old fire station which has been repurposed as a bar. I got to the bar first and (for some reason) chose an outdoor table. I would have changed before Michelle’s and Drew’s arrival if not for the fact that I was being served by one of the prettiest servers I’ve had in some time (go ahead, say it, I’m a dirty old man).

The structure, which was renovated to be a bar by a previous owner, is stellar. The only drawback that I see for this building is that in order to go to the bathroom you must go to the back corner of the first floor, climb the stairs to the second flood, and the wind your way back to the rear of the building to get to them. I guess it’s all about the planning.

We three decided that we’d order some appetizers with our beers; I chose the homemade potato chips topped with bacon and bleu cheese (note to self: this does not constitute a “smart” dinner) and they chose the hummus which is served with (inexplicably) fried pita wedges. For drinks I had initially planned to order a Fat Tire, but was informed that they had *just* ran out. Fortunately they were replacing it with New Belgium’s 1554 which for a cold evening was a better choice for me.

(Shitty) ITP Flickr Pic
My iPhone is not a great camera and turns into a fairly poor camera when used in low-light situations.

This was taken from my seat before last night’s Leonard Cohen show.

This view cost me $69.50, before you toss in the exorbitant Ticketmaster charges of $13.65.

Hasher, Hashers, Everywhere
As I sat and awaited the start of the show a couple sat next to me. The guy looked vaguely familiar and when he started to speak I was fairly certain that I knew who it was.

When he stopped speaking to a friend of his who had come over I turned and asked “Can I ask you an odd question? Are you “Dead Root?” “Yeah.” he said surprised since he obviously had no idea who I was. “Hey, I’m “Wee Little Bit” we used to hash together.” We chatted for a few minutes and then the show started.

So in section DLA, row K, of the Fabulous Fox Thatre there were four hashers:

If you fancy doing the same we will meet near the restrooms near the base of the mountain at 5:30pm. If you want more info about our outing check out our Flickr discussion about this.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – old, sad
Current Music – listening to a Destroyer concert recorded recently.
Website Of The Day – I used to want a Kindle, now I’d rather a Nook. Go ahead and keep my account frozen, Amazon.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 15
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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 am constantly being reminded that I am the only one who controls my happiness. I don’t believe that to be true for there are too many external influences driving my mood southward. I figure that those who are happy either lead charmed lives, deal with shit much better than I do, or hide your sadness really well.

One Curt Critic
Last night I headed up to Roswell for the monthly critique night for the Roswell Photographic Society. Last night’s critic was a local photographer who admitted that he was a bit tired. His tiredness really showed as he raced through many of the photos ranting mostly about misguided composition and common subject matters.

I suppose that there were about thirty or so photos shown last night, most of which I thought were “okay” and very few which “wowed” me. I guess I can’t be too critical however since I didn’t even manage to submit a photo for review.

ITP Flickr Pic
Working on it. I decided yesterday that I’m going to buy a monitor to aid with my photo editing. This is proving to be a much harder task than I had anticipated.

One Guy Eating At Five Guys
Last night I had my first burger and fries experience at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I have to say that it was rather decent, but kind of on the expensive side. For eleven dollars I received a bacon burger (topped with some of their free toppings), french fries, and a Coke.

One of the selling points for Five Guys is that their single hamburger is actually a double burger and is made-to-order from never-frozen beef. Five Guys offers a staggering array of free toppings for their burgers as well.

Five Guys’ fries are also cooked (almost) to-order and cooked in peanut oil. I guess as a marketing ploy to remind you that their fries are cooked in peanut oil Five Guys also offers up free roasted peanuts on which to snack while waiting for your burger to be prepared. I guess at this point some lawyer-type should chime in with the warning “CAUTION: Restaurant contains peanut parts.”

One Night At The Fox
Tonight I’ll be at Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theater for the Leonard Cohen show. I’m thrilled to be getting the opportunity to see/hear Cohen perform because I’m not sure how many more tours he will perform and if tonight’s show is anything like the live album he released this year it should be quite a treat.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – pissed
Current Music – nothing
Website Of The Day – You can usually tell that I’m hungry when I link to awesome food blogs such as Scanwiches.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 14
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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]

Of these three I saw two, thankfully only painted on the face of ITP-Readers Lisa’s and Randy’s son Cooper.

Rain, And Cold, And Shitty Traffic Coming Home, Oh My!
There was no blog on Friday because I took off for Black Mountain, NC where LEAF was being held. As I am wont to do I chose the path least traveled my drive up there. I was out of the house before 8am and managed to miss Atlanta rush-hour(s) traffic before I made it to the US highways which led me through Clayton, GA and in to North Carolina. While the weather was a might sketchy I managed to have a pleasurable drive which, because of my old-man driving these days, allowed me to cruise by three speed traps set up along the way. I also managed to stop at two thrift stores, but unfortunately neither had anything of interest for me.

Getting to Lake Eden, once the campus of Black Mountain College was the easy part (thanks to Jill who was called into duty because I’ve yet to unbox the new GPS). Finding the “Mountain Top” camping area proved to be much harder. You’d think that the volunteers who are positioned along the one main road within the boundaries of the festival would know how to direct someone to each camping area. But noooooooooooooooooo! I was mis-directed no fewer than two times and luckily came across one individual who could give me proper directions. In some ways it felt as if I was on The Amazing Race except for the fact that these people spoke English and were specifically placed there to help people. When I finally found the camping area I put up a tent and waited around for the Raleighites to arrive so that we could camp next to one another.

The weekend was fun but the rain and cold really put a damper on my desire to be out and about. When the weather finally cleared up yesterday I realized that, with nice weather, the festivities would be much more enjoyable. I never did manage to find ITP-Reader Romanlily, nor did I try my feet at contradancing.

For my drive home I decided to take the interstate route in order to get home “quicker.” Wouldn’t you know that I-85 South was fairly fucked about fifteen miles from the South Carolina / Georgia border. The traffic continued to be stop-and-go until I got frustrated and got off the interstate near the Mall of Georgia. Having scouted many of the roads in the area while planning my hash in July I felt fairly confident in my ability to get home via surface roads. I wound my way to Lawrenceville Highway and headed ITP from there. I finally arrived at my house around 7:30pm, more than five hours after starting my journey from Black Mountain — with my only stop being a gas refill.

Overall I think the weekend was enjoyable and something I’d like to try again — preferably with nicer weather.

ITP Flickr Pic
Rain and cloudy skies did not make for ideal shooting conditions. Additionally I’ve come to the conclusion that my 13″ MacBook screen makes for horrible editing conditions. I may have to break down and get a larger screen on which to edit. If only those fuckwads had not broken into my house and stolen my 20″ iMac.

My Amazon Account Has Frozen In Hell
Much like the weather my Amazon account is STILL frozen! Can you tell how frustrated I am by this?

I’m Losing Everywhere
Thankfully the Gators (narrowly) won this weekend because I incorrectly picked the Eagles and have been eliminated from the NFL Pick’em challenge, the NY Jets lost to Buffalo and my East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads are on the verge of losing their third game in a row.

A Return To To RPS
Tonight I’m returning to a Roswell Photographic Society for the monthly meetup. Tonight is the monthly critique night, but I’ve not had the drive to take a photo that I think is worthy of submitting.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – cold, tired, frustrated
Current Music – listening to last night’s The Amazing Race
Website Of The Day – Letters of Note is a neat blog containing interesting and historic letters.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 13
Marta Rides – 0

October Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Take at least one photo every day
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)

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]