Inside The Perimeter

That means I can just surf the internet all day, right?

It Was A Good, But Tiring Weekend
I spent the majority of the extended weekend hanging with ITP-Readers Randy and Lisa, along with their extended families.

On Saturday I spent the day having lunch at Doc Chey’s Noodle House (The one on Highland because the one near Emory was closed for the Thanksgiving weekend. WTF?) From there we all hung out having some fun before heading out for some afternoon bowling. That’s right, afternoon bowling. The evening was spent making the night a very Star Wars birthday for Randy’s and Lisa’s son Cooper. I’m a little shocked that 1970′s science fiction is still adored by the children of today.

I Shall Not Be Ignored!
Unless I pull next to ITP-Reader Terri driving on GA400, stick my tongue out at her as we drive, and never have her look my way!

ITP Flickr Pic
I wandered around Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown yesterday looking for interesting things to photograph.

What, a cat sitting high up in a tree is not interesting enough for you? I only wish that I had a longer lens with me so that I could have taken a “closer” shot.

RealiTV Update: The Amazing Race — You Been Here Four Hours!
When we last left our Final Four The Amazing Race teams I was cursing their producers for allowing Team Zebra to remain in the race by staying their elimination. If you remember, they were my pick to get eliminated, thus dashing my hopes of assigning ITP-Readers Stacy and Terri a song which they must purchase, and allow me first pick for the final episode.

Even though I’ve only correctly picked once and you could rightly refer to this season as “The Amazing Cab Ride” I’ve enjoyed it.

For this episode Phil tells use that the teams will start in “Prahgh” (spelled as I hear hear him pronounce it). I’m fully expecting a “Ye Olde TAR FU” where all teams are brought together thanks to a single flight, or business that doesn’t open for hours, but I am wrong!

Instead all teams cab around Prahgh answering telephones, spelling “F-R-A-N-Z” (well, almost all teams did this), standing in a deep-freeze locker for two minutes (Shrinkage? Did you say “Shrinkage?”), and then packing mud onto a boring statue before finding Phil standing on a bridge with a woman with huge tracks of Prahgh.

I think it’s safe to say that “Big Easy” never listened to much Franz Ferdinand back in the summer of 2004. It may be safe to say that this Trash Talkin’ Trotter never won a spelling contest, or will be joining ITP-Reader Betsy to do some crossword puzzles in the near future.

When will Karma come back to bite Team Brotherly Lovers in the ass? Last week they stole a cab from Team Zebra. Last night they, well one of them, agreed to work with “Big Easy” and then reneged on the deal.

The one thing that has really disappointed me this season are the Speed Humps. Back in the Olden Days of The Amazing Race when teams were spared elimination they were stripped of all possessions except the clothes on their body. In this season we’ve seen one team have to “suffer” by taking a five-minute sauna, and last night Team Zebra had to “learn hose to make a proper” Absinthe and drink it. Mind you, there could have been some consternation if one of Team Zebra was a Straight Edge follower, and even though Jeff had never had any alcohol in his life before (and he went to college???) I dare say they were not “drunk” after one shot of Absinthe.

The three teams who will be heading to Las Vegas to try and win a million dollars are (in order)

1. Team Aryan
2. Team Brotherly Lovers
3. Team Zebra

That’s right kids, Team Trash Talkin’ Trotters never spelled “FRANZ” and chose to take a FOUR hour penalty thus costing them a chance to win one million dollars.

Expect that the first flight to leave for Las Vegas won’t leave until the Final Three have all arrived at the airport. It’s The Amazing Race way…

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – confused about life, but this is neither new nor unusual
Current Music – listening to last week’s “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – As we near the end of the year people will start to publish lists. I’ll throw out a website that does that all year long… Alltop.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 3 (10)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 25
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]

For the first time in ten years I’ve been granted the Friday following Thanksgiving (aka “Black Friday”) off from work, paid, without having to take a vacation day. I’ve already used this morning to make some coffee, read a few pages from one of the books I am currently reading, and order myself a new monitor from Newegg.

ITP Flickr Pic
Getting a photo of good friends finishing a marathon…

… is almost as rewarding as running myself.

Have A Great Weekend
I’m taking the rest of the morning to learn some CSS. Have a great weekend.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – overweight (but starting the rectification of this today)
Current Music – listening to yesterday’s “Daily Giz Wiz” podcast
Website Of The Day – Find your “Black Friday” deals at BF Ads — assuming you are not out making purchases already.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – not at work. W00t!
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (10)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 22
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

2009 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalapeño Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

While I seriously can’t wait to put 2009 behind me I do find it somewhat surreal to realize that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. What happened to September, October, and most of November? Did I happen to spend them all sitting in traffic?

Note To Self: Sitting In Shitty Traffic >> Eating Shitty Fast Food
After deciding to abort “Laundry Night” because there was more red on the traffic map than I’ve seen in some time I decided to try and wait it out at the office. I had considered hoofing it over to Taco Mac for a few beers, and should’ve followed up on that.

Sometime around 7:30pm I ventured to my car for the commute home. Since THE Rain of ’09 Peachtree Dunwoody Road has been closed at the Nancy Creek bridge, so my only real surface street option is Ashford Dunwoody Road south. Apparently that is the only option for many commuters. Traffic was nearly non-existent…. until I made it to Marist when things came to a virtual standstill. After estimating that it would be now fewer than thirty minutes to migrate toward my destination I pulled a fast one and pulled off to get dinner.

My first choice was Mexican. Apparently that was the first choice of many as the place was jam packed. Not wanting to wait a long time to get dinner, I decided for plan “B”. I should have picked Plan “C” which was to walk across the street and one block to better restaurants, but no, I decided to eat at one of the fast food establishments in the shopping center in which I was parked.

• McDonald’s? Not bloody likely!
• China Wok? More like China Yuck!
• Jersey Mike’s Subs? How bad could it be?

Answer: Very.

I reminded myself why I avoid fast food. No, Jersey Mike’s Subs reminded me why I avoid fast food.

ITP Flickr Pic
This is another shot taken the other night.

Last night I did a little reading and discovered what I had misconfigured. I’m hoping to get a little time this long weekend to make new attempts at product shots.

The Monitor I Want Dropped $10! How’d That Happen?
Remember my lament that I’d have to pay $10 to ship the monitor I wanted to buy? I just went on to Newegg and noticed that the sales price has dropped $10. W00t! I think “Santa” may be “bringing” Paulie a new monitor this Christmas. I’ve been a very good boy who has had a lot of shit dropped on him this year, I think I “deserve” it.

Another Birthday Wish? How’d That Happen?
I figure that if I can meet 366 people there is a chance that each day I write this blog I can wish someone a happy birthday.

Today’s birthday greetings go out to one of my newest friends, John, better known in many circles as “Ham With Cam.” While I don’t understand his fascinations with ham radios, I do get his love for photography.

Hope yours is a great one, Ham.

Good Luck My Running Friends
While I won’t be toiling along the 13.1 mile course of the Atlanta Half Marathon with you this year I do plan on being out at the end drinking beers and taking photos. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be seasonably cold, but clear. This is better weather for running than spectating, but I’ll be out there nonetheless.

I urge any of you ITP-Readers to come out, say hello, and have some fun. I’ll be the guy with the NY Mets wool cap and blue with red trim jacket on. Oh, I’ll also be holding a Nikon camera…. and probably a beer.

I Don’t Have To Work Friday? How’d That Happen?
For the first time in ten years I have Friday off as an official paid holiday. Sure, I’ll write a blog. Come back and join me, won’t you?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – chubby, wish I had been training for tomorrow’s half-marathon though I’m sure my knees are happy that I haven’t been.
Current Music – listening to a “CBC Radio 3 – Dan Mangan In Session” podcast
Website Of The Day – I found a website called When Did It Happen? How’d that happen? All kidding aside that site contains some really interesting information/trivia about brands and brand names.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 10 (10)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 20
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]

Some memories are good. Some memories are bad.

Another Successful “Meatless Monday”
I was able to avoid meat again yesterday. It seems as if it should be a very simple task, but I do enjoy eating meat.

Last night I fought Atlanta rush-”hour” traffic to make it to Batteries Plus so I could purchase a new battery for one of my UPSes (which cost $30, almost the two-thirds of the price as buying a brand-new UPS!)

Batteries Plus is on the “east side” of “Atlanta” which allowed me to head to one of Atlanta’s concentration of Indian restaurants. I wound up at Madras Grill where I had a delicious cauliflower curry dish whose name I cannot recall, and some “bullet” naan. The cauliflower dish was prepared “Northern style” which meant that it wasn’t incredibly spicy, but was tasty enough that I didn’t miss the meat.

While the meal was not exactly cheap ($12.50 before tip), but was so tasty that I can see myself returning to Madras Grill in the future.

The Coincidence Is Nearly Coincidental
Today I realized that I am wearing the t-shirt I earned nearly ten years ago. (Bonus: I still fit into t-shirts that I received ten years ago!)

Ten years (on Thanksgiving) ago I ran my first half-marathon. I was ten years younger (duh!) and twenty pounds lighter than I am today. I finished that half-marathon in fewer than two hours and felt great. I felt so great in fact that I made the mistake of signing up for the 2000 Grandma’s Marathon, during which I injured my IT-band sending my running career into a downward spiral.

ITP Flickr Pic
Last night I finally carved out some time to do some studio work. I’m not pleased with much of what I produced, but I saved this one to a point that I am willing to show it.

I have a lot of research and practice in order to get the results I seek.

But more about the subject…

I LOVE old school manufacturing and packaging!!! I found this old number stamp, and a larger version of this one, at a thrift store some time ago. I purchased these specifically for the purpose of photographing them.

Seven Years Of Bad Luck Over?
Last Saturday (thereabouts) marked the seven year anniversary (?) of the last time I had a girlfriend. Where does the time go? Those of you who have known me a long time know of whom I speak.

Even I find it remarkable that this much time has passed since I was able to find someone with whom I share mutual admiration to the point that I could consider her to be a “girlfriend.” I feel like the Cal Ripken Jr. of single living.

Happeh Birthdeh, Eh!
I am not a man of the world, but I do have one great friend who lives north of the American border. I have known her for about fifteen years (which means she’s older than sixteen). She is special to me. If I could only remember her name…

Happy Birthday, (ITP-Reader?) Tamara! I hope that you can dig your way through the Edmontonian snow in order to make it to the bars tonight.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sad because I’ve lost all of my Lightroom Export Presets and I don’t know how this happened
Current Music – listening to the “This Week In Tech” podcast
Website Of The Day – Looking for deals this shopping season? Try the newly-launched Woot! Deals.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 9 (9)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 19
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]

“Exercise The Mind, Then Exercise The Rest Of The Body” is one of my many new mantras. I’ve decided that each morning I will read for a little while (I’m working my way through two “easy reads” which will be disclosed in the future) before getting out of bed. The next step in the process is to figure out a way to get exercise each day. Actually I very much know how, but now I need to do it.

One Thumb’s Up For “Up”
On Saturday I watch the movie Up. While I really enjoyed the animation and story line I do have one large nit to pick.

I am completely over the arrogance of Disney, less specifically the Movie industry, and the Music industry for that matter. It’s bad enough that we have to deal with Digital Rights “Management” that has been thrust upon us, more and more Internet Service Providers seem to be bending over backward to kiss their own ass to please these Industries. Additionally, “Up,” a Disney production, contains a litany of “Previews” (read “Commercials for Disney movies”) which cannot be skipped, although I was able to fast-forward through them. ENOUGH ALREADY! Please, can’t there be at least one outlet that doesn’t have advertisements?

No Holey? Holy Moley!
I knew with this weekend’s weather forecast that the window of opportunity for outdoor activities (other than hashing) was narrow. When Saturday morning turned out to be a wonderfully pleasant morning I had no other choice to conquer one of my “To Do” list items — plug two holes in my roof line in an attempt to keep rodents out this Winter.

I had purchased steel wool and Great Stuff from Home Depot last week so with those and my trusty sixteen-foot ladder I ventured to the back yard.

• Have I ever mentioned that my backyard is not exactly level?
• Have I ever mentioned that the back portion of my house is two-stories high, approximately eighteen feet at its tallest?
• Have I ever mentioned that I am afraid of heights?

All three of these factors made this task a little less than fun and more daunting than it probably should have been.

However, I prevailed (well, sort of). I manage to stuff each hole with steel wool and I managed to spray a liberal amount of Great Stuff into each hole to fill the remaining gaps. However, Great Stuff expands over the hour or so after spraying it out of its can (that’s sort of its beauty) so I’ll have to scale the ladder again sometime in the future to clean up the job.

ITP Flickr Pic
I have no excuse other than “photography” dropped near the bottom of the priority list. Believe it or not it was still ahead of “haircut” however.

Can You Believe That Alabama Played Such A Weak Opponent This Week?
Chattanooga? Come On!…..

Related: My beloved University of Florida beat the Thanksgiving stuffing out of Florida International University by the score of 62-3.

Communications Breakdown
If my brother reads my blog today…..

I’ll call you tonight.

RealiTV Update: The Amazlingly Drawn-Out Race
You bet your sweet ass there are SPOILERS BELOW

The The Amazing Race is down to the Final Four. That meant that the end is near because once the show reaches the Final Three it’s an all-out race to the finish. Oh bother.

More importantly the final episode of the season will mark the one-and-only time that ITP-Readers Terri and Stacy (and myself) will have to pick the night’s winner instead of the team being eliminated.

But first, let’s discuss last night.

After Terri’s remarkable third win of the season she picked the Team Brotherly Lovers (aka the Bromancers). Stacy was on her game and quickly followed with the selection of Team Trash Talking Trotters. That left me with the option of Team Aryan (who I predict will win it all and use the money to start a blond-hair, blue-eye society) or Team Jungle Fever Zebra.

On a side note: How did Ericka win Miss America? She has wide-set eyes (a feature not exactly worshiped — trust me, I know) which don’t apparently look completely in the same direction (another feature not exactly worshiped — trust me, I know about this too). Not to mention she spells Ericka with both a ‘c’ and a ‘k’. Oh wait, I see — she’s a complete bitch. Read this passage from their bio:

Ericka and Brian met at a leadership seminar at the University of Central Florida nine years ago, and it was love at first sight for Brian. Ericka, on the other hand, played hard to get for the next five years….but Brian’s persistence finally paid off as the couple shared wedding vows over two years ago.

She played “hard to get” for five years? Fuck. That.

And now back to our regularly-scheduled programming…

The Final Four leave lovely Estonia headed for Prague. For this leg of The Race the teams were given no money, hey there was still a recession in effect when this was filmed. Normally this sort of tidbit means that at least one of the teams will mismanage their funds and have to sell their souls to the Devil in order to pay for their taxi ride. Sadly this did not happen last night.

Once in Prague they have to find a perve in a Praga in order to get their next clue. With many hours at the airport doing nothing buy waiting for the ticket office to open you’d assume that all teams would figure out what a Praga is, they are searching for it afterall, but nooooo. Only Teams Aryan and Trash Talkin’ Trotters are that bright. Teams Brotherly Lovers and Zebra, content to literally ride the coattails of these teams do not. All four teams arrive in Prague, three take a taxi to the city center while Team Zebra who got some sweet insider information attempt to take a shuttle bus and then a subway because it’s going to be “faster.” Yes my pretties, two modes of transportation is always faster than one…

But what do I care I want them to be eliminated!

With the perve found the teams now head to either do some rope work or some kayaking (not sponsored by Kayak because TAR is bed with Travelocity). Teams Aryan and Trash Talkin’ Trotters (aka “The Smart Ones”) choose the rope work while Team Brotherly Lovers choose the kayaking because they work so well as a team. Riiiiiiiiiiight. Team Zebra is has just hailed a cab, finally made it to the city center, and is looking for a Praga. Team Aryan struggles and finishes before any other team, but not before Team Trash Talkin’ Trotters’ “Flight Time” who upon being confronted for being slow by Cheyne decides to show him what slow really means. Meanwhile Team Brotherly Lovers finally figure out they’ll never get the kayaking right and switch tasks as Team Zebra arrives and smartly tells their cabbie to wait.

When is the best time to steal someone’s cab? When a million dollars is on the line and you will never have to confront the people from who you’ve stolen it because they will be eliminated!

All teams make it to some oddly-named Opera house in Prague. Once inside the teams have to find a miniature instrument and present it to some guy who sings his heart out. Later we see Team Zebra take so long at this task that there is even a cut-away to the guy eating a hamburger! This is another time I wish that a real-time clock was present on the screen.

Team Aryan is the first to find the minstrument (see what I did there?) and finish first. Ho hum.

Team Brotherly Lovers find one just before Team Trash Talkin’ Trotters do and the teams finish a close second / third again, this time sans elbowing.

Team Zebra finishes last. WOO HOO! I WIN!!!!! Huh, another non-elimination week? WTF? Dangen!

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat, mildly pleased
Current Music – last weekend’s “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – Did you notice my misuse of the apostrophe in the “Team Trash Talkin’ Trotters’” name? Want to learn the correct way to use apostrophes? Check out Apostrophe Me.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing of note
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 8 (8)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 18
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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 reached tipping points in many aspects of my life. Time is limited and becoming more so each year. I need to start making some critical decisions…

I need to keep this really short today. Colder weather meant more time under the covers, which meant that traffic was exponentially slower, which meant that I am later than I need to be and have a ton of work to accomplish.

I’ll catch up with everyone on Monday when I hope provide some photographs and a recap on Saturday night’s Mountain Goats concert at Variety Playhouse (no link because TextExpander doesn’t seem to be responding. DANGEN! In the mean time, let me know what you are up to this weekend.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat, lazy, rushed
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – It’s Friday. Kill some time today by playing the Tipping Point Adventure Game.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 5 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 15
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]

Like when I forget to give the day’s post a title.

Another Failed Trivia Night. Hey At Least I Won A Hockey Ticket
Last night I joined the crowd for trivia at Decatur’s Zucca Pizzeria. (side note: It’s wise to order pizza/calzone as such an establishment. Ordering the hamburger, even if it’s called an “Italian” hamburger with mozzarella and tomato sauce is not a great idea. Trust me.)

Another side note. Do you know the only word in the English language which has three consecutive repeating letters? I’ve put the answer at the end of this post.

Our team was charging along through the first half of the event. However in round three we hit a virtual brick wall — question after question stumped us.

At one point the night’s host asked a question, outside of the competition, whose prize was free Atlanta Thrashers tickets. Our team answered the question closely enough to score two tickets, one of which I claimed (I did provide the answer we submitted.)

Unfortunately my good luck did not signal a turn-around for our team as we failed to finish in the money.

When In Need Of Something Special, Avoid Decatur’s Kroger
I’ve resided in this part of the world long enough to remember when the little Kroger was once a Harris Teeter. After trivia I decided to pay the little Kroger a visit in order to pick up the items I needed for today’s potluck lunch at work and in the process avoid the ridiculously annoying Kroger in Edgewood Retail District.

Of course because this is a “little” Kroger it didn’t have a wide selection of items, including larger bags of frozen meatballs. It was off to the ERD to fight the shelf-stockers and and annoying patrons. At least I got the things I needed.

ITP Flickr Pic
This section is kept in the blog to remind me that I need to shoot.

RealiTV Update : Top Chef — The Fix Is In
SPOILER ALERT
For many weeks I’ve contended that the Final Four for this season’s Top Chef was going to be the Volt brothers, Kevin, and Jennifer. These four seemed to have skill at a level one or more notches higher than the rest.

I didn’t think that Robin’s dish was the worst one last week (although I was not upset to see her leave); It was just her turn to go. I didn’t think that Eli’s dish was the worst one last night; it was just his turn to go.

Last night was all about the proteins and the fancy presentations. For the QuickFire Challenge the cheftestants had to create a dish that was a protein, inside a protein, inside a protein. Jennifer took the contest and with it gained an extra thirty minutes for the night’s Elimination Challenge.

For the Elimination Challenge the cheftestants had to prepare their version of some fancy-pants “Olympics of French Cooking” competition of which I’ve never heard. Atlanta’s Kevin Gillespie decided to keep his food less complex than his fellow cheftestants and produces well-prepared food instead (it is still about the taste, right?). For his decision he received much derision. However, when push came to shove Kevin’s superb preparation over fancy presentation won the night. With his victory Gillespie also won $30,000 (hopefully to be invested, at least in part, in Woodfire Grill) and the chance to become a team member of the next US team to perform in the fancy-pants olympics.

The four remaining cheftestants will now compete in Napa Valley where we’ve been teased with new hairstyles, a potentially “showing” Padma, and some high-fallutin’ chefery. I know that I can’t wait!

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – listening to the “net@night” podcast
Website Of The Day – I can’t believe that I’ve never recommended PriceGrabber in this space. PriceGrabber is a great site for seeing what many sites are charging for a given item.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 4 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 14
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]

TRIVIA ANSWER: “Bookkeeper” Technically variants of this such as “bookkeeping” are also valid English words, so I guess it’s not really the only one.

Many of you may know that I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Such was the case again last night. Most times this is an incredible benefit, unless of course you lit a candle while you were working in bed. I awoke around 4am with the candle still burning neatly, no hint of any danger — except for the fact that there was a fire in my bedroom as I slept! Note to self: DON’T DO THIS AGAIN!

Snooze You Lose, And Sometimes You Save Money
I am notorious for delaying purchase for days (or more). Many times in the past I’ve dwelled on a purchase for so long that I’ve either decided that I didn’t need the product after which I’ve lusted (hmmm, this might be the crux of my lack of love life) or the price of the object is lowered (because most of which that for which I lust is technology).

This week something else happened. For the past few days I’ve been trying to pull the trigger on a new monitor; I’ve had one in a virtual shopping cart since Sunday. Today I went to finally buy it, but just as I was ready to click the purchase button I found that the three-day free shipping offered was gone and I’d have to pay ten dollars for shipping. It doesn’t take much to make me change my mind when it’s taken a long time for me to make a purchasing decision, and this simple $10 charge has done just that.

I’m now still considering whether I need a monitor or not. Decisions. Decisions.

Snooze You Lose, And Sometimes You Make Money
Yesterday I received a letter informing me that I was entitled to a small amount of money based on the three shares of Intergraph stock that I apparently still own. Intergraph is the Huntsville, Alabama company for which I worked back in the early 1990s. When I left the company it was struggling and I (thought I had) liquidated all of my stock. Apparently I was wrong. I have received a few annual reports and such from Intergraph over the years, but I assumed that was an error.

The letter yesterday stated that Intergraph had been purchased, and from what I can gather has gone “private” and I need to turn over my three shares before they become worthless in December. Now it’s time to see if I still have the stock certificates. If not I can claim they are lost and still receive compensation minus a small fee per share because they are lost shares.

Pretty cool, eh?

ITP Flickr Pic
This might be a good time to exercise your imagination. Picture a new lcd monitor on a desk where once stood a 20″ iMac.

Stick To The Plan
This morning I did something that I don’t get to do nearly enough — I stopped into Joe’s Coffee Shop for a cup o’ joe. Long gone are the days when the lovely Ellen worked at Joe’s, but I still like their coffee and the feeling I get supporting a neighborhood I once loved implicitly.

Today as I stood waiting for my cup of java I made the mistake of eying the plate of pumpkin bread sitting under a clear dome. I’ve not had the chance to get my fill of pumpkin pancakes at Java Jive, so I decided to get a piece of pumpkin “bread.” Ugh! (read “Delicious!”)

In the future I must remind myself to enter, buy coffee, and leave. No sweets as a meal for me until I lose the weight I want to lose!

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair, but things could be much better
Current Music – listening to an interview with the photographer Chase Jarvis
Website Of The Day – You’d think a blog titled 944 would be about Porches, but it’s not. Instead it’s a blog/magazine about fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle. [At the moment it appears to be a website/magazine that's not responding. DANGEN!]
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 3 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 13
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]

The mind is a great database. Sometimes I think mine needs to be rebooted.

From The Mediocrity Department
Last night I met up some of my Flickr friends at Chick-fil-A (where “Meatless Monday” went to die) before heading down to the Roswell Photographic Society.

On Sunday I reluctantly submitted an “abstract” photo for critique; reluctantly because the photo I submitted was not one about which I was enthusiastic. (It was a larger, more color-enhanced version of this one.) The critic last night rightfully called it out as something that “we all shoot” but at least complimented the shot for being technically correct. As I would have predicted mine was not chosen as one of the top submissions. Oh well, there’s always next year…

Just Where Is A “Better” Place?
On Saturday morning I did some work with one of my (all too many) external hard drives. Essentially I came to the conclusion that the cheap external housing I bought for this drive was less-than-stellar and decided I wanted to add it to the growing “Get This Shit To Goodwill” pile. In order to extract the drive I needed my handy-dandy tiny screwdriver that I’ve kept in a desk drawer since purchasing it.

When I was done with the chores I decided to store the screwdriver in a “better,” “more logical” place (a thought that enters my mind even more since the burglary), so I did. Of course when I needed to pack that screwdriver to take with me on Monday morning I couldn’t remember where I had placed it. Had it been where it had always been I would have had no problem finding the screwdriver, but in its “better” place I was unable to do so.

After much consternation last night I finally remember the screwdriver’s new resting place. In doing so I also located a pack of four padlocks that I had purchased a couple of months ago — I guess I can return the four-pack of the same exact style of padlock that I purchased a few weeks ago.

My mind — sharp as a dull thumbtack.

ITP Flickr Pic
Again, no photo. I haven’t forgotten, I just haven’t been inspired. I will be attempting to rectify this soon.

I Guess It Comes With Growing Old
My mother and I were talking on the phone the other night and she mentioned that she had uncovered a photo from her past in which she was the only one of the six people pictured still alive. She has one of those high-numbered “divisible by ten” birthdays coming up next year so it’s not unusual for a person of her age. As a forty-four year old I’ve encountered the passing of people I know, but thankfully it has happened rarely.

Yesterday I heard a news story about the death of Ken Ober at the age of fifty-two. Name doesn’t ring a bell? Did you watch MTV in the 1980s? Did you watch the game show “Remote Control?”

Kenny wasn’t like the other kids
TV mattered, nothing else did
Girls said “Yes,” Kenny said “No”
And now he’s got, his own game show
Remote Control

As a admitted game-show freak and MTV junky in the 1980s Remote Control was one of my “must watch” shows and Ober was its host.

While I never actually knew Ober the news of his death was shocking (he was only eight years older than me) and was another loss of something that reminds me of my past.

Queue The Latino Music, It’s Laundry Night!
Any hope of recovering from my “Meatless Monday” failure with a “Meatless Tuesday” were dashed when I recalled that tonight is laundry night, which also means that it is Lee’s Bakery dinner night. What sort of barbecue pork sandwich would I have if I eliminated the pork?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – listening to last week’s “le Show” podcast
Website Of The Day – Pigeon: Impossible is an awesome animated short that’s available to watch online. If you get six minutes free today, go watch it.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 2 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 12
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]

Except when speaking of quantity of housework, of course. I spent some quality time doing work inside the house, but what I really should have been doing this weekend was spending quality time doing work outside the house. DANGEN!

This weekend will go down as the “I told you so” weekend if/when squirrels and/or rats inhabit my attic again this winter.

Somebody Has Not Been Working Out. Wanna Guess Who?
On Saturday I helped move some furniture, not much, and nothing really heavy. On Sunday my biceps were sore. Huh?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve become lazy and not seen the inside of a gym in years. Hell, I’ll also be the first to admit that I’ve not done a single pushup since I vowed to do some each day. But really? A couple of hours of not-so-heavy lifting and I’m sore? Wow. Just wow.

A Quest Returns!
On Sunday I spent some time rejiggering (technical term) my electronics setup in the man-cave. Gone is the XBOX360 whose hard drive bit the dust right after the last time I rejiggered and made it nearly impossible for thieves (see, I always knew that I’d be burgled) to get out of the bread racks. In its place I installed my new Roku box which will allow me to stream Netflix movies to my tv.

Well, the Roku box will let me stream Netflix movies once I rejigger my network configuration (apparently Roku didn’t build in the capability to configure their hardware using static IP addresses — FAIL), nor does my current DSL seem to provide fast enough downloading to watch movies. This failing of my DSL will finally cause me to make a switch to faster, lower-cost internet service that I’ve been trying to make for years.

ITP Flickr Pic
A quest fails! I’ve not used any of my cameras in days.

My Brain Was As Strong As My Biceps
Yesterday I joined some friends (not sure if Bill, Kathryn, or Chris read this blog) for a team trivia tournament at the Tin Roof Cantina (the last time I was in a Tin Roof Cantina was when they were located in Buckhead ten/eleven years ago and the night ended when my friend Jason got us kicked out by playing with their order-placement computer). I was brought in for my sports knowledge, but sadly my contribution was minimal.

The tournament was strangely run. There were four rounds containing five questions, the last of each round being a “bonus” question. The final question was a “single” question containing no fewer than fifteen parts, each worth four points. Huh? Essentially the final question completely obliterated the work accomplished during the four rounds. In my opinion this format is completely ridiculous! Needless to say, we didn’t win. In fact, we didn’t even come close. Too bad too, as the money being offered would have gone nicely toward some Christmas purchases.

RealiTV Update : The Amazing Race – This Race Is Costing Me
I’ve only successfully picked the correct team to be ousted just once, while ITP-Reader Stacy has been right once, and newcomer ITP-Reader Terri has correctly picked three times.

Five teams remained:

1. Team Jungle Fever Zebra (picked by me)
2. Team Brotherly Lovers (picked by Stacy)
3. Team Pinky and the Brain (picked by Terri)
4. Team Aryan
5. Team Globetrotters

The teams get ready to head to Estonia, but wouldn’t you know that they have to do so on a ferry which only leaves once a day thus allowing all teams to catch up again? The head to Estonia with a bunch of keys to enter building to become a “member” of “secret” society (seems to me that it’s not very “secret” when you put it on national television). Before they can join the Secret Society Pinky and the Brain have to perform their “Speed Hump” by finding and sitting in a “Spabus” for five minutes. Sitting in a spa for five minutes? What sort of penalty is that? All teams seem to have no problem with finding the candelabras, except for Pinky who was looking for “candle bras;” I guess sitting next to an Estonian “Bottle Blond” scrambled his brain some. With their “candle bras” they had to find a room which contained a piece of paper possessing a “secret” message. For most teams the message was a easy to decipher as finding a “secret society” in a foreign country.

From there the teams had to find some tower, and then either play mud volleyball or radish sling-shotting at a moose sign to drop a table full of cabbages (WHAT? Those crazy Estonians!) before running down a wooden walkway before finding Phil in the middle of a swamp. The only real action in the entire episode was watching the Globetrotters battle the Brotherly Lovers for position.

Team Aryan returned to the position in which they will finish this Amazing Race — first. Team Brotherly Lovers fought hard with Team Globetrotters to come in second and third. Team Zebra pulled in at fourth. And team Pinky and the Brain brought up the rear — again. The only difference this week for Team Pinky and the Brain is that they were not spared elimination as they were last week.

Does anyone feel, based on the challenges, that this race has been a little less “Amazing” as other seasons?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – good, not great, but good
Current Music – listening to the “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – The Sartorialist is an incredible blog filled with street portrait photography.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 11
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
- Not get fired from my job
- Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]