Inside The Perimeter

Yesterday was a long day, one that seemingly tired me out in the afternoon. Driving home in the dark and misty rain also tired me. When I finally found the road on which Kat’s and Mango’s house stands I was feeling tired and increasingly anti-social. So when I couldn’t remember their address nor recognize their house in the dark I decided it best to quarantine myself with beer and the pumpernickel pretzels that I bought and wait for Top Chef. fwiw – The pumpernickel pretzels are “interesting” in a way that I doubt I’ll eat them straight up again, but could provide a clever twist as a “breading.”

RealiTV Update : Top Chef – Now This Is How To Cook
Top Chef is about halfway done, but if you believe the results as well as the clever editing being done the cheftestant cream is rising to the top. Two-thirds of the Atlanta cheftestants remain, but I think that Eli’s clock is ticking and about three weeks from departure (barring some catastrophic fuck up by one of the people who appear to be better than him).

Last night’s guest was Charlie Palmer who, according to one cheftestant “Invented American cooking”; funny he doesn’t appear that old.

For the elimination challenge the cheftestants go whole hog as they are required to pair a randomly selected portion of pork with a not-so-randomly selected Pinot Noir from a collection of Pinots that they tasted at Palmer’s Las Vegas restaurant. Once again Atlanta’s Kevin Gillespie takes victory. How could he not? He has a ginormous tattoo of a hog’s head on one of his forearms!

In the end Wishy Washy Ashy was told to pack up his knives. He was probably okay with this because other chefs had really incredible knives when compared to his.

Maybe I Can Be Inspired By Fellow Photogs?
Tonight is the monthly social meetup put on by Atlanta Photography Exhibit. Tonight’s meetup will be held at The Grange Public House (starting at 6pm) and is open to all. I’ll be there early, hopefully catching up with ITP-Reader Maigh as well as many others who I’ve not seen in some time. If you see me (I’ll be the one in the brown-striped Polo shirt, jeans, and sporting my hippie-like long hair and scruffy beard growth) please say hello.

I’m Becoming A Mountain Man, At Least For A Weekend
Dear Jeebus, what was I thinking when I agreed to go camping in Black Mountain, NC this weekend for LEAF? Look at the weather forecast for this weekend.

BRRRRRRR!

I guess that it will be alright once I remember where the hell I put my gloves, warm hats, and decide what jackets/hoodies I want to bring with me. I only wish that my winter beard had filled in by the time I encountered winter weather.

I am looking forward to the trip though. I’ll get to see ITP-Readers Lisa and Randy (and I assume their children) again; it’s been like nine days since I’ve seen them! With any luck I’ll run in to ITP-Reader Romanlily who is rumored to be making the trip up there. And I will have my camera gear ready for anything. My goal is to shoot one hundred photos over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday if for no other reason than to have material for this blog.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sad, need to figure a lot of shit out
Current Music – listening to a “This I Believe” podcast
Website Of The Day – Because of yesterday’s Website Of The Day I was informed about High Trek Adventure. It looks interesting too. Why the two are nine days apart I’ll never figure our though.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check, but wish that I had

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 3, Carnivorous Days – 11
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]

Okay, that’s not exactly “breaking.” How about this…

Word on the street (aka Lance Armstrong’s Twitter account) has reported that there will be no Team Time Trial in the 2010 Tour de France. You heard it hear first, unless of course you Follow Lance Armstrong on Twitter too.

Three Days Of The Cold Shoulder
For three days my Amazon account has been frozen due to a miscommunication from my credit card company. My frustration level is rising, all over a $50 charge.

I have been a loyal Amazon customer for over ten years now and in a blink of an eye they have frozen my account without a single notification prior to doing so.

Two days ago I contacted an Amazon customer representative who was as inept as one can be. In fact, this person was so inept that I started to wonder if the email I received from Amazon was actually a phishing scheme for which I fell. Yesterday I contacted a representative at my credit card company who agreed with my assessment that they screwed up and assured me that he would resolve my dispute. My account is still frozen as of this morning.

This should be really good for my bank account, but it’s really bad for my desire to do business with Amazon. My thoughts of buying a Kindle have been dashed, I’m considering purchasing all of my music from iTunes again, and I get free shipping from B&H Photo so I can make any camera-related purchases through them. How wise does immediately freezing my account over a disputed $50 charge seem now, Amazon?

ITP Flickr Pic
This has gotten sad.

RealiTV Update: Hell’s Kitchen Has Shut Down
Last night was the whirlwind two-hour finale of this version of Hell’s Kitchen. I can’t say that I am all that sad to see the season wind up as I didn’t feel that the best of cooks on Hell’s Kitchen could last more than a week on Top Chef.

I can say that I was wrong about the series’ winner, however. Until the showing of the final hour I was certain that Kevin (aka Mistaaaaaaah Clean) was the hands-down favorite. I was also fairly certain that one-handed Dave was going to finish in third, even though he has been surprising me all season long.

Wham! Bam! Thank you, Ma’am. The three finalists cook up country-inspired dishes (Mexican, Indian, Chinese) for three “top chefs” in those cuisines. Dave, whose country is India, nearly cooks beef and still manages to insult by choosing pork (psssst – Have you heard of the Muslims?) Some how Dave’s protein faux pas is not large enough to gain him victory however. Dave, his incredibly pretty fiancé, and some other person (his sister) pig out (pig — see what I did there!?!) on meals prepared by the three judges whilst Kevin and Ariel had to clean and polish all of the silverware to be used for the night’s dinner.

Dinner service on this night is the standard “Run the pass and look out for sabotage” as the cooks try to impress Ramsay one last time. In the end Ariel is ousted; we’re down to two.

Enter the cooks who have been kicked out in recent weeks! (Including the cute Amanda). And choose teams! Hurry, we have less than an hour remaining! Unlike in year’s past there’s no “This is your restaurant, create a menu and decorate your space.” it’s cooking, cooking, cooking time. And before we know it Kevin and Dave are standing in front of doors. Who. Will. Win? Dave.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – blah
Current Music – listening to the “Coverville” (episode 616) podcast
Website Of The Day – I admit that at first I read Go Urban‘s URL as “Gourban” and wondered what the heck ITP-Ready Kay was sending me to last night. Now that I realize that “Go Urban” is a urban adventure race I am interested — Atlanta’s race will be held on March 20th.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check, but wish that I had

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 3, Carnivorous Days – 10
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 have disliked Miami my whole life. I was disappointed that my beloved New York Jets lost a game I thought that they’d win against the Miami Dolphins but was glad that I didn’t stay up late to watch them lose in the final seconds of the game. Even worse, lasts night’s game did nothing to help my East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads so it added insult on top of insult.

I Suppose My Idea Was Not Unique
For the first time since I started doing laundry at the laundromat neighboring Lee’s Bakery on Buford Highway the place was packed. Normally one of the benefits of doing laundry at this particular laundromat, in addition to reasonable pricing, cleanliness, wacky Hispanic television, and location, is the fact that I usually get all of the machines that I need.

Since returning to laundromats earlier this year I’ve noticed what I call “Laundromat Economics.” Let me explain using this laundromat as an example:

This laundromat has washing machines of three sizes:

1. Small – seven quarters ($1.75) per load
2. Medium – eleven quarters ($2.75) per load
3. Large – twenty quarters ($5.00) per load

Oftentimes if you separate your laundry correctly you can save money. Because of my recent travels I had an abnormally large amount of laundry to do last night. I had planned to use four small washing machines even though I knew that I could get by using three medium washing machines, or probably one large and one medium washing machine. Due to the crowded conditions at the laundromat last night I was forced to use three medium washing machines.

Let’s do some math:
4 small machines * $1.75 per load = $7.00
3 medium machines * $2.75 per load = $8.25
(1 large machine * $5.00 per load) + (1 medium machine * $2.75 per load) = $7.75

So we can see that last night’s forced combination cost me the most amount of money. Dangen!

I wasn’t in the mood to read last night so for the first time I wandered about the small shopping center in which the laundromat is located. I may have located a convenient source of Hispanic groceries, now I just have to brush up on my Spanish so that I know exactly what I will be buying. Stay tuned! Or should I say “¡Estancia afinó!”?

ITP Flickr Pic
My camera was in the car. I wish that there had been something so intriguing to force me to get it while doing laundry last night. There wasn’t, so I didn’t. Hence, there is nothing to see here.

Slow Snow Migration
This past weekend I finally installed Mac OS X v10.6 (aka “Snow Leopard”) onto my MacBook. I’d purchased the operating system upon release about a month ago but had been hesitant to deploy it based on reports of incompatible software.

In the two days of use I’m still somewhat reticent to say that I’m pleased. All of the “improvements” in disk-space saving and snappier applications have not appeared to my eyes. Further, things have been changed or tweaked by Apple causing me some consternation.

For example in QuickTime I had changed its default behavior to immediately start playing any video I drop on to its application icon. This morning I dragged a video in top of QuickTime 10′s icon and no playing occurred. Undaunted I thought “Oh yeah, I had to change that preference setting in QuickTime 7 let me change it in QuickTime 10.” Except, I was daunted when I discovered that there are no preferences in QuickTime 10? WTF? Upon Googling for an answer to the problem I’ve found that one can use a terminal command in order to force QuickTime 10 to auto-play. A terminal command? Really? Is this Mac OS X or Linux?

RealiTV Pre-Update (Sorta)
Tonight is the two-hour finale of Hell’s Kitchen. That’s right, another season of donkeys in ending up in the history books (probably filed under “What were we thinking?”). Tonight I hope to be spending the time with ITP-Reader Betsy (and Reese of course) with some Burger Win chicken wings and wine. Look, if the cooks on Hell’s Kitchen can create culinary abominations why can’t I?

There is no doubt in my mind that Kevin (“Mistaaaaah Clean”) will win it all tonight.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – confused by everything
Current Music – listening to last week’s “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – If you get some free time today you must Some E-cards. That is some of the funniest shit I’ve seen in some time.
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 – 3, Carnivorous Days – 9
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]

Thanks to the early morning downpour today’s commute in to work may have been the most stressful I have ever encountered. The rain didn’t slow people down much and lane changes were treacherous at best.

Things didn’t get much better upon arrival as I received an email from Amazon telling me that my account has been frozen due to a botched credit card fraud investigation. A few weeks ago when I confirmed a disputed purchase at Wal*Mart.com the credit card company also incorrectly reported an Amazon purchase as fraud and in turn Amazon has frozen my account. My attempt to clear things up by calling Amazon ended in complete frustration. My attempt to clear things up by calling my credit card company ended in a voice mail to the person responsible for investigating my case. Maybe Dave Ramsay has it right, dump credit and buy everything with cash?

Friday Night Was Right For Theatre
On Friday evening I drove down to Little Five Points to have some dinner (El Myr) before heading to Horizon Theatre for the performance of “Third.” The play was very entertaining and well acted, if not for the fact that the play’s run ended yesterday I’d recommend that you go see it.

Two funny things happened before the play.

As I was walking from Criminal Records (I purchased a magazine that I had intended to read during the hour wait I knew I’d have prior to the play’s start) I was seen by ITP-Reader Harold who was driving down the road. We exchanged pleasantries and kept it short because I thought that I’d see him at yesterday’s Black Sheep Hash. Such was not the case however. I sure hope that he went up to Fort Mountain to run the Mystery Mountain Marathon instead, because if he didn’t then I don’t know who he is any more.

I made in to the building which houses Horizon Theatre to find that they weren’t planning on opening the theatre until thirty minutes prior to the play’s start. With magazine in hand I wasn’t miffed and walked down one of the old school building’s hallways to find a comfortable seat. There’s a not-so-funny fact about old school buildings — their air conditioning left a lot to be desired. As I sat attempting to read I started to sweat, a feat that I pull off easily, but dislike immensely because I usually look like crap when I do (see also: “One of the many reasons I don’t dance”). I tweeted about my discomfort and was amused when I was subsequently followed by Horizon Theatre’s Twitter account and was assured that there would be sufficient air conditioning inside the theater.

ITP Flickr Pic
I did not put myself into situations conducive to photography this weekend.

Saturday Night Was Right For Music
On Saturday evening I decided to try a new (to me) restaurant before heading to meet ITP-Reader Randy’s brother Kevin at Masquerade for the Lucero show.

Dinner was had at DBA Barbecue where I had a two meat / two side plate consisting of three smoked chicken wings, two slices of beef brisket, four onion rings, and a cup of red beans and rice for $15. Even with a solid BBQ joint of Fox Brothers BBQ in my back pocket I wanted to branch out to see if DBA Barbecue was a competitor. Fox Brothers is still number one on my list. After dinner I immediately headed to SF Coffee for a coffee and dessert (tiramisu), and was also treated to a room full of pretty nerdy girls.

I met Kevin outside of Masquerade and when we entered one of the employees stopped me for a second and said “Normally we make people wearing STAFF shirts turn them inside-out, but yours is white so it should be okay.” I offered to turn my East Atlanta Beer Festival STAFF shirt (from a few years ago) shirt inside-out, but since he saw no need for me to do so I saw no need to get shirtless inside Masquerade. All night long I got weird looks from actual Masquerade staff members, but the funniest thing happened when one kid came up to me and asked if was okay for him to take his beer outside to go smoke. We all laughed when I admitted I didn’t know because I was not actually a member of the Masquerade’s staff.

Did you pick up on my subtle hint that Masquerade has banned smoking?!?! Woo Hoo! At one point one girl was smoking a cigarette and was asked by a real member of staff to put it out; I considered doing that but figured she’d never fall for my faux STAFF t-shirt.

As an added bonus the really wild, attractive, but highly tattooed (I think I counted only sixteen girls inside Masquerade who didn’t have tattoos — but they probably did under their clothing) and drunk bartender took off her bra and then flashed Kevin and me.

Yeah, I’ll say it was a fun night.

Sunday Night Was Right For TV
After thoroughly beating myself up hashing with the Black Sheep Hash I headed over to ITP-Readers Terri and Pat’s house where we were joined by ITP-Reader Tony for an incredibly delcious dinner and some The Amazing Race watching.

Last week I had to purchase a song as prescribed by ITP-Reader Stacy for her correct prediction about who would get eliminated. This week I was certain that the task would be repeated when my choice of Lance and Keri finished ahead of Terri’s selection (Mika/Canaan) as well as Stacy’s selection (Maria/Tiffany). I was only saved by Zev’s and Justin’s The Amazing Blunder of losing Zev’s passport. How one manages to lose a passport during The Amazing Race is beyond me. Even worse for Zev and Justin was that they had actually finished the leg of the race first, but the time spent searching for Zev’s passport sent them from first to last and eliminated them.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – frustrates and it’s only 8:30am on Monday
Current Music – listening to a Coverville podcast
Website Of The Day – I’m not saying that I’m starting a diet today, but if I were then I’d be referencing Spark People.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday: hashing, maybe 5 miles
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 – 3, Carnivorous Days – 8
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]

Did anyone notice yesterday afternoon’s (albeit short) post? Some blog turned five yesterday. I’ll give you one guess as to which one it was.

Raleigh Wrap Up
Yesterday my morning was consumed with getting back to Atlanta. We had booked at 9:40am flight which by the time I awoke, ate breakfast, and got to the gate left little time to write a blog. Believe me, the one thing I wanted to do yesterday was celebrate five years of blogging.

I guess that terrorists board planes early? When boarding my flight yesterday there were TSA agents at our gate checking ID of passengers. For some reason they seemed satisfied after the passengers holding boarding passes for zones one-to-three, and just before zone four — the one that I was in — was called to board they held a meeting and walked away. Strange.

I learned on my visit to Raleigh that North Carolina will ban indoor smoking in bars/restaurants that are not “Private” clubs starting in January. Can someone explain to me how a tobacco-producing state can implement this before Georgia? Seriously, we can’t buy alcohol in stores on Sunday and we still allow smoking indoors at bars/restaurants (I know, we have the “no children or no smoking” law, but this would be much better for non-smokers like myself).

On my final night in Raleigh I ate at a hip little downtown restaurant called Humble Pie. Because I was on an expense account I ordered a Bibb lettuce salad, and a plate of grilled andouille sausage. Humble Pie’s portions are “tapas”-style so the two orders did a good job of filling, but not overfilling, me.

Perhaps one of the best benefits of choosing the Clarion hotel in downtown Raleigh was that I was a mere two blocks away from Flying Saucer. Not only does Flying Saucer have a great beer selection, it employees beautiful and witty young ladies as servers.

Me: Can you tell me why some of the plates are covered by black cloth?
Server: Well, there was a group of golfers who were all Ring of Honor members that died in a plane crash. Those are there plates.
Me: Really?
Server: *big smile* No. *laugh* Those are the plates of people who have just joined the Ring of Honor but have not been in for their unveiling yet.
Me: Um, oh. I feel stupid now…

Whoa, I just found out that Flying Saucer is actually a pretty big chain with locations in Tennessee and Texas as well. ROAD TRIP!!!

A Brilliant Plan, Spoiled
I find myself purchasing all of my gas at QuikTrip these days. It’s not that I love QuikTrip’s gas so much, but inside each QuikTrip resides a Wachovia ATM at which I can get cash.

Last night after gassing up (and amazingly all twelve/fourteen pumps were in use when I arrived) I drove up to the store only to find the ATM temporarily out of service. DANGEN! My perfect gas/cash one/two punch was spoiled. Stupid technology.

ITP Flickr Pic
None today. I know, this blows my whole “a photo a day” theme for October, but I just wasn’t able to pull anything off.

Back To The Theatre
Tonight I’ll be headed to Horizon Theatre to see the play “Third.” The play only runs through Sunday so I had to make sure to get a ticket for tonight so that I didn’t miss this run. I’m really looking forward to the show if for no reason other than to do something that feels “different” tonight.

Here Comes The Weekend, Here Comes The Rain
Darn it, I return back to Atlanta only to be greeted with rain. It seems like such a long time since I rode my bicycle. As you may imagine, this does not make me happy.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, but want to get my shit together
Current Music – (re)listening to this week’s “This Week In Tech” podcast
Website Of The Day – I listen to a lot of photography podcasts. I really like Pro Photography Show because it’s not about gear, but rather about technique and the business aspect of photography.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 3, Carnivorous Days – 5
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]

Yep, it’s that time of year again kids! Today marks the

year anniversary of this here blog. I wanted to write a big, celebratory blog today but a 9:40am flight out of Raleigh and having to come straight into my office put the nix on that.

About that photo? I’ve had that in my digital back pocket since traveling to Winnipeg. That candle was hanging on the peg of a Target-like department store in Winnipeg and I knew that with my fifth anniversary coming up that it would be the perfect photo for today.

Wish I had more time for today’s blog but I really don’t. Look for a Raleigh recap and a mention of things to come in tomorrow’s blog.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Blog post will be posted this afternoon.

I’m not sure what is going on with me. After returning to my hotel room last night I crashed early, like 8:30pm early, and slept on-and-off for the remainder of the night. I’m not a subscriber to the “early to bed, early to rise” mentality so I find it bothersome that I slept so much — and still feel as if I could go right back to sleep. Sleeping makes for a boring blog as well.

Holy Fucking Hell, I Never Want To Be In Demand
Yesterday we were that company; that company that has so many people waiting to talk to them that a line stretched down the aisle. I guess word had gotten out that we actually had at least one job opening (although not many more than that) and that we sponsored international students. I shook so many hands and “close talked” to so many students I was almost glad that I’ve just recovered from the flu in hopes that my antibodies are still fighting hard.

I don’t like being that company. Sure, it’s a lot better being busy than being bored, but other than a twenty-minute lunch I never had more than a minute to rest the entire day and I fear that my voice is going to be completely wrecked today. The day couldn’t end quickly enough for me.

The NC State career fair is different from others in that it is open to anyone. Normally schools limit the participation to current students and alumni of the university. Yesterday I talked to people from Tennessee, Texas, New Jersey, as well as people from the schools which my company has already visited this year — including a couple of people who I spoke to at those schools too! (Hello people, get the hint — If you were not contacted by us the first time around, it’s extremely unlikely to hear from us a few weeks later.) It might be time for NC State to reconsider its admission policy; it doesn’t seem to benefit the students that attend their university.

The Pit Was Not The Pits
After a really long day of college recruiting I convinced my coworker Joe to join me at one of my favorite Raleigh haunts — The Flying Saucer. The Flying Saucer has almost everything I desire, a great beer selection served up by beautiful young women. Once smoking is no longer permitted indoors The Flying Saucer will be the perfect place for me to consume beverages when visiting Raleigh.

With beer consumed it was time for me to get some food in my belly. Since I didn’t do my research on local restaurants I asked the bartenders for a suggestion. The bartenders highly recommended a barbecue restaurant called The Pit, so my coworker Joe and I walked there for dinner.

North Carolina is well-known for its barbecue (pork, mostly) so I was up for a decent meal. While the food was fantastic (I had the chopped pork with sides of sweet potato fries and green bean casserole) and used both the vinegar-based, as well as the sweeter version, of the house barbecue sauces.

I discovered something about myself last night however… I am not a fan of chopped pork. The chopped pork I ate last night, along with the tiny portion I ate with lunch, had been pulverized to the point where it looked like the tuna that comes from a can of tuna. I guess that I discovered that I’m more of a sliced meat person, especially when I know that the meat comes from a whole cut — chopping it up seems to masquerade either poor cuts of meat or poor culinary skills.

ITP Flickr Pic
Today is a cop-out photo. The weather in Raleigh yesterday didn’t make for photographic inspiration, and being on a work trip is not conducive

The Kids Are Alright, But Just Not Where I Remember Them
Yesterday I had to ship my display back to Atlanta using a FedEx/Kinko’s store. I mapped its location using my iPhone and remembered it being next to one of my favorite indie record store Schoolkids Records. Upon arrival I was disappointed to find the Kinko’s but not the Schoolkids.

My first conclusion was that Schoolkids had gone the way of many indie record stores, such as Ella Guru, and had bitten the dust. After some internet “research” this morning I’ve come to find that Schoolkids has simply moved to a new and cheaper location. Time permitting I’ll drop in tonight.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – off kilter. I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel out of sync today.
Current Music – listening to the “Indecent Exposure” podcast
Website Of The Day – Next time I get a portrait of myself that I really like I’m going to get a cartoon version of it made at Flip Face.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – rental car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 3, Carnivorous Days – 2
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]

Still in Raleigh.

Oh Hotels
Last night I checked into a hotel in which I’ve never stayed. Naturally I asked about wireless internet. Before reserving a room in this hotel I made sure that internet connectivity was available, and even that there was no extra charge involved. Unfortunately the one thing I couldn’t check was that the connectivity was wireless or wired.

As you might correctly assume, this hotel does not provide wireless in the room. To their credit they do have ethernet cables to lend, but unfortunately for me they are rather short. Who wants to be forced to sit at the desk and work? Not me for sure… It may be high time (or perhaps too late) for me to pack my Airport Express when I travel so that I can set up my own wireless internet access in any room in which I stay.

ITP Flickr Pic
Yesterday I got to spend some time at the Raleigh/Durham airport. Was I planning on flying? No, not yet. Instead we went to what’s known as the “General Airport” to watch planes take off and land.

I didn’t have the lens necessary to take photos of the planes taking off and landing, so I settled on taking a photo of this nice jet awaiting passengers.

RealiTV Update : The Race Has Returned And Now I Need To Buy Music
I’m pleased that The Amazing Race has returned. Three episodes in and we’ve already seen our first non-elimination leg.

As I’ve done in seasons past I’ve entered into the prediction game with ITP-Reader Stacy. This season we’ve also managed to drag ITP-Reader Terri into the game. For those unfamiliar with our prediction game, here’s how it works.

Before the beginning of each episode each person predicts which Amazing Race pair will be eliminated at the end of the show; non-elimination episodes are treated as ties. When an eliminated pair has been picked the picker gets to force his/her opponents to purchase a song from iTunes.

Stacy correctly predicted the elimination of Marcie and Ron (I incorrectly chose the poker playing girls) and thus later this week I’ll be adding another song to my collection.

I’m beginning to love the cast of characters who have been selected to run this season’s race. I think that’ll I not-so-secretly enjoy seeing each get on each other’s nerve causing strife in the race running.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay. but not great (mentally or physically)
Current Music – listening to this week’s “This Week In Tech” podcast
Website Of The Day – Sadly Gourmet Magazine announced that it’s ceasing publication after its November issue.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – company rental car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 3, Carnivorous Days – 2
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’m not going to complain about the rain following me. Thankfully the weekend’s weather was magnificent.

I’ve come to the conclusion that abiding by a daily regiment is never going to be successful for me. I never shot a photo on Friday, nor have I remembered to get my pushup and situp goals accomplished since announcing my plan on Friday.

Bringing Down The Attic
On Friday night I met up with a buddy of mine for a night of country/bluegrass (or “newgrass” as one person described it) performed by Chatham County Line at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur. It was great to finally get to attend one of the concerts on my calendar last week.

I never realized that Chatham County Line was so popular, nor that they had not played Atlanta since April 2008. Eddie’s was jam-packed with uproarious people who, along with the great music belted out by the foursome, made for a rather enjoyable evening. Because of Eddie’s “no talking” policy (which wasn’t obeyed as much as I’d wished during the opening act Slim Chance) and Decatur’s “no smoking” policy Eddie’s has quickly become one of my favorite places to see/hear a show.

Chatham County Line played a great set, complete with a few encores. I may have been the only one in the house happy to see the show end and that was only because I knew that I had to get home and pack a suitcase before waking up at o’dark thirty for my early morning flight.

R&R In Raleigh, NC
I’ve escaped ITP for a few days.

I grabbed an early flight out of Atlanta on Saturday morning for the short one-hour flight to Raleigh. As soon as I arrived at the Raleigh/Durham airport I was confused. It seems as if they’ve been doing a bit of construction and for a few seconds I feared as if I’d landed at that wrong airport because I was certainly not in the small, sleepy RDU of past trips.

With nothing specific on the agenda it was good to hang with ITP-Readers Lisa and Randy along with their two lads. One of my goals for the weekend was to eat vegetarian — which is harder than it should be especially when faced with the choice of getting a special lengua taco at the Mexican restaurant at which we ate lunch on Saturday.

A baby sitter had been secured for the evening so the three of us went out to a fancy-pants Italian restaurant (named Gravy) and then to a local downtown watering hole for a couple of beers.

One of the more interesting things I heard on Saturday night is that Raleigh is banning indoor smoking as of next year. So why can a city in tobacco country do this, yet Atlanta still can’t? Reason #232 to escape I suppose.

On Sunday I was able to join the family along with their friends for a C.R.O.P walk. The 5k walk was put on in an effort to raise money and awareness to stop hunger. Somebody obviously put a lot of time into planning the event but not on the mapping of the walk because it turned out that the course was mislabeled and if I had to guess, we walked somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 – 2.5 miles instead. The weather was fantastic and all people large and small seemed to enjoy the ending outside of Marbles — Raleigh’s Children’s museum of science. Okay, I think the small people enjoyed running around and climbing up and down more than the tall people, but a good time was had regardless.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ve been trying to take more photos. However I know that I am quite critical of my photography so I find myself taking few shots because I don’t think that they will meet my “standards.” That being said, you might not care for this shot but I like it.

The funny thing about this shot was that I sat there for minutes trying to envision the shot I wanted to take and by the time I did people started walking by and children started to climb on the gates. So, I had to be patient (which I am not great at) until the scene cleared again.

Too Close For Comfort
For some reason I had a temporary lapse in judgement and chose the Cincinnati Bengals to win this week in my NFL Eliminator challenge. At the start of the season there were sixteen of us trying to pick one team to win each week — pick incorrectly and you are eliminated. To make things more difficult you are never allowed to pick the same team twice.

So there I was, sizing up the week’s games and I saw that Cincinnati, coming off a big victory, was playing the hapless Browns. This might have been the only time I’d feel comfortable picking Cincinnati so I decided to take a chance. My gamble nearly blew up in my face though, With only seconds remaining in an overtime period the Bengals kicked a field goal to win the game.

What about if the teams had played to a tie? I most likely still would have been eliminated since the rules stipulate that you must pick a winner and there are no winners in ties.

Stupid Fantasy Football
The thing I might dislike most about fantasy football is having to root for teams which I’d normally ignore, or worse despise. A close second to this is that feeling that no matter how well your players seem to play your opponents can still win.

Going into last night’s late game I had a good feeling about this week’s game — after all I was only down by a little and I had Big Ben going for me at quarterback. Unfortunately for me, my opponent had Pittsburgh’s TE Heath Miller who caught two touchdown passes, including one not thrown by Big Ben.

So after two weeks of glorious victories my Deadbeat Dads are now a disappointing 2-2.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – good although I’m spending another of my scant paid days off today and it’s raining in Raleigh
Current Music – silence, okay the sound of a near-four-year old getting ready for school
Website Of The Day – Their gates were the inspiration for today’s photo so I’ll give Marbles Kids Museum a nod today.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – not working today
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday, maybe three miles of walking
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 2, Carnivorous Days – 2
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]