Busy, Busy, Busy
It’s going to be another busy day for me today. In fact I’ll admit that I hope almost each and every day until the day I die will be busy because that should mean that I’m doing things I love to do.
Wholey Wheat! That’s Some Easy To Make Bread
I forgot to blog about this yesterday…
As has become somewhat of a tradition around the Inside The Perimeter Estate I loaded up my bread machine and had it bake a loaf of bread on Sunday. Up until this past Sunday I had only baked the traditional white bread whose recipe is given in the booklet which accompanied the bread machine. Feeling confident, okay not having all of the necessary ingredients for the white bread, I decided to try my hand at measuring the necessary ingredients — water, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, salt, yeast — for a loaf of whole wheat bread.
Because I finally figured out how to properly measure all ingredients the loaf rose beautifully and baked into a fairly good looking and darn tasty loaf of whole wheat bread.
While owning a bread machine may not be the best thing for my waistline I must say that I gain a small amount (there was another word I wished to use there but couldn’t figure out how to spell it) of pride and accomplishment with each successful loaf.
Color Me Surprised
Dear Penthouse,
I never thought this would happen to me.
Last night I attended the monthly photo critique of the Roswell Photographic Society. The theme this month was “Movement/Motion” and when I was stymied to find new and interesting takes on this theme I reluctantly submitted a shot of a girl swinging on a swing last May.
There were over thirty entries in the “digital” category last night, many of which were quiet good, and a handful of which were either just “okay” or contained such overplayed subject matters like water in a stream.
By the time the night’s critic got to mine she had already gushed over a photo titled “Spin the Bottle” which was a well-executed shot of a spinning Coca-Cola bottle; I was certain that it would take First Place in the digital category. The reviewer seemed to like my shot, praising it on its technical merit as well as commenting that it captured emotion in addition to motion.
As we all stood in the lobby waiting for the critic to make her placement decisions some people praised my shot, which understandably made me proud.
The results were then announced, each category — only “digital” and “color print” last evening — would have four Honorable Mentions and one each of Third Place, Second Place, and First Place. I was somewhat pleased to not see my photos in the Honorable Mention category as that was where I expected it to land if it were to take any place at all. Third Place was not mine either. When the Coca-Cola bottle was show as the Second Place winner, I couldn’t believe it. And then my photo was shown as the First Place winner in the digital category.
The monetary reward for this victory combined with the two quarters I keep in my car were able to get me through the GA400 toll booth (which is only $0.50 for those unfamiliar with Atlanta) but the victory sure made the long drive home a lot more fun. 
ITP Flickr Pic
Now that I’m a “First Place” winner I can post artsy-fartsy photos like this one.
Ha! I’ve made myself laugh with my own faux pretentiousness.
Sure, Now They Start Counting
Within the past four weeks I’ve spent five nights in Choice Hotels brand hotels. Today I received an email announcing a promotion that offers one a free night if you stay just two nights in any of their hotels between now and April 30th. WTF? Why weren’t any of the five I accumulated worth as much as stays between 2/22 and 4/30? Dangen!
On the bright side, I might be able to knock out two nights near the end of April as I’m planning a weekend in Nashville then.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – pretty okay
Current Music – nothing but the sound of a small desk fan
Website Of The Day – A Twitter question I posed about cities and time zones caused two people to recommend Time And Temperature. So, I’ll pay if forward and recommend it to you.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 52
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 2** (5)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 17
Marta Rides – 0
* – since I stayed in a hotel
** – because I stayed in friends’ house
February Goals
- Not get fired from my job
2010 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 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
- Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
- Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online
- Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides
The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Congrats on First Place! Capturing her face in focus must have been a difficult task. And I like today’s pic. How much “processing” did you do – especially for the colors?
And, before I forget, nice pics of Sugar and Bacchus. They have been duly added to the photo screensaver at work – and soon to be added at home.
Congrats on the 1st place!!!!
Might have to purchase a photo from you one of these days!
Congrats on First Place!!!
Was the word you were going to use for “small amount” modicum? I think I’d like a bread machine, but then I think it might be an evil influence.
So – did you get a ribbon or anything? That is awesome you won!
I had a bread machine (until it broke) – it was nice to occasionally have warm fresh bread, but I only liked it that way, day 2 & on it didn’t matter. So, I didn’t replace it. And – I’m sure it is better for the waist line this way.
Sorry for my delay replying, it seems that I’m not getting email notifications today.
Thanks all!
Getting her face in focus was difficult as I was swaying the camera at the same speed at which she was swinging.
There is a good bit of color and sharpening manipulation in today’s photo. The sky was more orange and the foreground wasn’t nearly as blue. I was just playing around with the image and decided to go crazy with it.
No ribbon, no money, just a large bucketful of pride.
Debbie: “modicum” was the word I was trying to spell. I tried many combinations of letters but neither spellchecker nor Google could help me out.
Currently I’m eating the bread for about four days, on the last of those days I make toast out of it. In the future I may cut the loaf in half and freeze one half while I nosh on the other.
Great job with the picture.
I’ve rarely been happy with any bread I’ve made with the bread machine, especially plain white bread. Now that I don’t eat much bread anymore, mine is just sort of sitting in the cupboard gathering dust.
Just want to let everyone know, my little ‘countess/count’ is now named Bode. Still not sure if I’m keeping him…
Martha, I’m sure you could Freecycle your bread machine when/if you decide that you won’t use it any longer. Also, I still want to give you that scanner. Will you be around this weekend?
Paulie – that’s AWESOME!!!!! Congratulations!!!
Seriously, that is very wicked cool… and goes to show yet again that the pieces we sometimes like least ourselves are the ones that really speak to others. Great job!!
Oh, I’ll hang on to the bread machine for awhile. I’d like to try some ‘healty’ options, experiment with some whole grains, seeds, etc. Now, I just have to find the time.
I’ll be around in the morning both days, then heading out to Stone Mountian for a CrossFit competition (you could get some interesting action shots there). Lord that’s going to be something, it seemed like a good idea when I signed up.
W I N N E R !!!! I thought it was a great shot as well. And today’s is another one.
-FP
And even better, it looks as if my webhost has corrected their email notification problem!