Inside The Perimeter

And I declare the past six months to be a personal FAIL, with the exception that I’ve started riding again.

Disappointment Is My Co-Pilot
All the cards fell in to place yesterday, the time, the location, the desire, until the phone call canceling my appointment destroyed the beautiful house of cards I had constructed.

I realized something strange about my life yesterday, other than how often I am disappointed when I get my hopes up and they are dashed. I realized that when presented with ninety minutes of newly-found free time in 90+º F heat that I have nothing to do that doesn’t involve eating or drinking. I was in Midtown last evening with ninety minutes to kill prior to heading over to Andrea to meet up with my weekly Hell’s Kitchen watchers. For me ninety minutes was not enough time to drive home and relax because I knew that my house would be unpleasantly warm. If the outdoor temperatures were more humane (I was dressed in jeans and sweat at the mere thought of sitting outside these days) I could have taken a personal photostroll, or even read on my iPad. With those options removed all that remained for me involved going to a bar or a restaurant, neither of which I wanted to do because I knew that I’d be getting plenty of food and alcohol during the two episodes of Hell’s Kitchen. So, I became an environment killer by driving my car around for an hour before stopping in to San Francisco Coffee where, for some reason, I ordered a hot coffee and sat in a building whose air condition struggled to overcome Atlanta’s heat wave.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’m trying to improve my eating habits by eating more fresh fruit.

And figured, “What the fuck, I need a photo today. Why not shoot the fruit?”

Hulu Plus Offers Web Television For $10/Month Plus Ads? No Thank You
Everyone seems happy to hear that Hulu is going to offer a subscription service that allows you to watch all episodes (of a current season) for some content, and all episodes of ancient television for “only” $10 a month. Oh, and their will be non-skippable commercials of course — BECAUSE THE TELEVISION INDUSTRY IS GREEDY!

“But what about cable/satellite? We pay for those and are forced to watch commercials.” Yes, but in that case you are paying for the delivery of the content and not necessarily for the content. In Hulu’s case you are paying for the delivery of the content via your broadband provider, and Hulu wants to charge you $10 a month and force you to watch their revenue-producing commercials. I’ll pass.

You May See A Familiar Face At George’s Tonight
I’m thinking of stopping in to George’s for a beer and a burger. No exercise, thank you.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – Depressed. I have physical issues which will most likely require professional help.
Current Music – Silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – Support new, free web entertainment. Watch programming from Revision3.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – did not check, no need to slink further into depression
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 14.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 173.4 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 4* (24)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 29
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 4

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Whatever…

Beaver, Bunny, Barbed Wire, Oh My!
It was a warm night, not as bad as it could’ve been. I wandered around the Perimeter Mall area laying trail last night and along the way I saw fish and a beaver in a clear-running creek and a bunny rabbit in an open field. The one thing I didn’t see, but unfortunately one hasher found, was some barbed wire.

The trail I laid was about 60% of the Pinelake Hash I laid back in January. Oddly though things were very different. The Spring rains combined with the recent heat has enabled the kudzu, poison ivy, and blackberry bushes to grow with reckless abandon (though the blackberries look as if they could use more water) making it nearly impossible for me to find the trail that I laid earlier this year.

There were roughly twenty people in attendance last night. Most of those who ran the trail seemed pleased with my trail. I ended the trail at The Derby, mostly because it is walking distance to where I started, and luckily we were able to secure the outdoor patio to ourselves and avoided the annoyingly cloying smoke inside The Derby.

ITP Flickr Pic
I have nothing today. Further I proved to myself that I’ll never be a photojournalist. This morning as I drove the street which leads to my office I saw a billow of black smoke. Apparently a car had caught on fire, and even though I had my camera in my car I decided I’d rather head in to work instead of going to take photos of the car fire.

Take Me Out To A Ball Game
While talking to a coworker this morning about baseball I came to the realization that it’s nearly the end of June and I’ve yet to go to any baseball game this year. Anyone up for a Atlanta Braves game? Gwinnett Braves game? Let’s do it!

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – concerned
Current Music – listening to yesterday’s “The Story With Dick Gordon” podcast
Website Of The Day – Because I seem unable to take photos I’ll send you to a site that has a bunch of funny photos. Check out My Food Looks Funny.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – walking, 4 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 14.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 173.4 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 3* (24)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 28
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 4

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I have made my life too complicated, and because of this I occasionally border on panic. Take today for instance. I have a full day of work ahead of me, then need to lay the Moonlight Hash, hoping that it doesn’t rain and that the bar I spoke with last week is still okay with having us there.

Because of tonight’s plan and my newly-revived desire for exercise I had an ingenious plan for yesterday. I went and had lunch at Las Tortas Locas and then did laundry at the lavanderia (made slightly more interesting because the Argentina v. Mexico game was on the tvs). From there I drove to work with the bike on my car. The plan was to do some reccying for tonight’s trail — which starts about a mile from my office, ride my bike home, and then wake up early enough to ride my bike into work this morning. My reccying was minimal and when the time came to hop on my bike the temperature was hovering around 92º F; I just couldn’t convince myself that this was a smart thing to do. I wound up driving home and then driving into work this morning.

Friday Night Started Things Right, Though
After work on Friday I drove up to Marietta to ride, thankfully not in the rain/lightning through which I drove to get there. I met ITP-Readers Barb, Bob, Steve and Allan for a ride from Rocco’s up to the top of Kennesaw Mountain and back. The ride was hot, but I was pleased with my effort. The last time I rode up Kennesaw Mountain I had to stop twice to catch my breath, and this time I made it up without stopping. I guess my commuting to work is helping.

Perhaps the only downside of the evening was that I am sure I consumed more calories in beer and food than I burned off riding.

ITP Flickr Pic
I didn’t shoot anything this weekend. Ugh.

This is the final shot from my Arabia Mountain shoot that I’ll post.

A Long Day Of Seminaring
On Saturday morning I joined a handful of Flickrites for breakfast and then we headed to the Roswell Photographic Society Summer Seminar. The information provided throughout the day was useful, but probably would have been more useful to me if the arrangement in the room did not consist of rows of uncomfortable chairs. My body doesn’t react well to many hours of sitting in uncomfortable chairs, so by day’s end I was ready to bolt.

The funniest thing to happen on Saturday was related to the door prizes which were given out. At each break two or more door prizes were given out, the first usually being something cool (like a point-and-shoot camera) and the rest for that break being 8GB USB thumb drives. After the first two drawings during the second break the guy pulled out a number and I joked with my friends “Dont’ be me. Don’t be me.” and wouldn’t you know, it was me. That’s right! I was a winner, of an $18 USB thumb drive…. Oh, it sure is better than winning nothing, but when compared to the other items being given away as door prizes it wasn’t much better than winning nothing.

Of the four speakers at the day’s event I, unsurprisingly, enjoyed Craig Tanner’s presentation the most. Tanner was the guy whose weekend-long seminar I took up in Nashville a few months ago. And his parting wisdom was as true Saturday as it was then — “You are not shooting enough.” I am not, and I am hoping to change that soon.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – silence as things download in the background.
Website Of The Day – If you are a Twitter user and are looking for a laugh you need to go to IS Parade and entire your Twitter ID. Oh, you probably want to do this with headphones on; it’s safe for work but loud.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Friday: cycling, 17.5 miles
Morning Weigh-In – 204 pounds (STILL! fuck. me.)
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 10.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 173.4 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 2 (24)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 27
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 4

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

To say yesterday didn’t go to “plan” is an understatement.

After much ado about iPhone I decided to race home at 3pm on my bicycle (17 miles in 1:12:xx) and then drive back to the office (after showering of course) so that I could go to Perimeter Mall to get my phone. To my dismay there was a line at 6:20pm nearly as long as the one I left around 9:00am. Even worse, I saw the cute, but married, girl that I commented on yesterday walking through the mall as I got back in line; she said she finally made it through the line a little before 6:00pm. Oh noes….

My quest for iPhone 4 ended a little after 10:30pm when I exited the store and got into the Jackmobile, which happened to be the only car remaining in my section of the parking lot. Although yesterday was not the best planning day I’ve ever had in my life, I at least identified the possibility that I would be getting out of the store extremely late (oh, and when I left there may have been up to one hundred people still in line). For my return trip to Perimeter Mall I packed a change of clothes, and with little difficulty, slept in my cubicle last night. What a great commute this morning!!! Oh, did I mention the office shuts off the air conditioning? Did I mention my cubicle was about 85º F last night? Luckily, I have a small fan in my cubicle, which I used all night long. Unluckily, I won’t be surprised if I somehow manage to get sick because I slept with a fan blowing on me all night long.

Would I do it again? Not a chance…

And yes, I brought my bike back with me so if the weather permits I’ll be riding again tonight.

ITP Flickr Pic
I should have packed my camera for my long wait at the mall (hell, I might have been able to take a photo of the cute girl with her new iPhone 4).

Instead, I post this shot of a rocks sitting in a puddle. Somehow I think this will characterize my energy and enthusiasm today.

Spending A Saturday OTP
Tomorrow is the Roswell Photographic Society Summer Seminar. I’ll be joining some of my Flickr/RPS buddies for a full day of lectures provided by four professional photographers. The Summer Seminar is the RPS’ only fund raising event, and although it’ll mean that I’ll be OTP for the better portion of tomorrow, I think it will be a worthwhile event.

What’s on your agenda for the weekend?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – tired, worn out, and fat (it’s going to be a long haul to return to being fit)
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – I am at work today, but I have a feeling that my mind will be wandering and wondering what it would be like to be at the Hostel In The Forest instead.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car (last night)
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – can’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 10.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 155.9 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0* (24)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 24
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 4

* – I didn’t sleep in my bed last night.

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Since you all have started multiple (more interesting) threads of conversation I’ll just update here to say that I gave up on waiting in line. Even though the young lady in whom I had much interest was still there like a carrot at the end of a stick I figured I should try again later. Besides, one of my goals is to not get fired from my job…

Happy Thursday, folks!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Another Two-Hour Extravaganza!
Last night I hosted the weekly Hell’s Kitchen meetup. To my surprise Gary offered to bring some Tasty China to the meetup, so all I had to do was supply alcohol and some appetizers. I swung by Kroger on my way home from work and picked up some cheese, sausage, crackers, salsa, plus some beer and wine.

I didn’t know that last night’s Hell’s Kitchen was going to be another two-hour event and since we (me, Gary, Nancy, Andrea, ITP-Reader Betsy, and Reese) were all content consuming food an beverage we watched it all.

Honestly, I don’t remember much of last night’s Hell’s Kitchen. Since I wasn’t driving anywhere I figured that I didn’t have to worry about my alcohol consumption, and worry I did not. (This also explains why this blog is a little later than normal.) I certainly had an enjoyable time, and I believe the others did as well.

Have I Mentioned How Much I Love My Crockpot?
I believe I’ve mentioned Gardenfork TV before in this blog. Last week Gardenfork TV showed how to make “caramelized” onions using a crockpot. On Monday I decided that I was going to make an InsideThePerimeter Improvisational Meal.

I bought a pack of uncooked Italian sausages and placed them into the bottom of the crockpot. I then peeled and sliced (into about 1/2″ half-rounds) four large Vidalia onions and scattered them on top of the sausages. To this I spread two healthy pinches of salt and drizzled on a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (it’s best to have some liquid in a crockpot, next time I may try water or stock). I turned the crockpot to Low and let this cook for about fourteen hours (You could probably eat this sooner, say twelve hours, but make sure your sausages have cooked to at least 160ºF in the center to avoid making yourself sick.)

Not satisfied with that, I slathered some whole-grain Dijon mustard onto a roll and ate one sausage smothered with delicious, “caramelized” onions.

Would I make this again? Oh, hell yeah!

ITP Flickr Pic
Hey look! Another flower photo!

Well, at least it’s something. Note to self: Start carrying your camera everywhere you go again.

Settop Box Senility
It seems as if my seven-year-old settop box is becoming senile. At least twice in recent months it has decided to delete all of my DVR timers without any explanation. I was confused last night when the settop box decided not to record Hell’s Kitchen, and then luckily decided that I should check to make sure that the timer for Top Chef was still present; it was not.

I’m not sure what I plan to do about this problem. On the one hand, it’s a major inconvenience. On the other hand, I don’t watch all that much tv and not recording things will only help me watch less.

A Different Kind Of Nerdfest
I believe that I’ve mentioned my use of Evernote to help organize my life. I’ve come to rely on it so much that at the beginning of June I paid to become a “Premium” member.

Tonight, there is an Evernote Meetup that I plan on attending. I figure that it might be a good way for me to network and learn a tip or two about Evernote from the other guys in attendance (seriously, unfortunately for me most of these events are sausagefests). Unlike with the iPhone Developers meetups I think that should be able to hold my own with this crowd. I guess that I’ll find out tonight.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though some of last night’s Tasty China peppers are punishing me for eating them.
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – In my perfect world I would shop more at places like the Sweet Auburn Curb Market.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 204 pounds (ugh)
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 10.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 122.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 23 (23)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 22
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 3

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I seriously don’t know what has happened to my motivation. I’ve known for a week that I’d be hosting the weekly viewing of Hell’s Kitchen yet I could still not conjure up the motivation to clean the house and purchase all of the food necessary for the evening. So now I’m going to be a half-assed host (there will be food and alcohol, though nothing extravagant) who is embarrassed by the state of his home.

I Love To Ride My Bike
As I commuted home yesterday I realized how much I love to ride my bike. This revelation came to me even though I was struggling mightily in the 94º F heat and swear that I was nearly side-swiped by cars three times on my commute home.

Even with my revelation it’s going to be rather difficult for me to find the opportunity to ride as often as I desire. I have evening commitments and laundry one night a week (don’t start with the “If you’d fix your plumbing…” you’re wasting your typing), and that’s in a “perfect” world in which the weather cooperates. So, I’ll have to be content and sieze what opportunities arise.

For those who like to plan:
One of the reasons that I am getting my lard ass back on the bike, other than to lose weight, is to be fully prepared for Fall rides such as the Wilson 100 and the Beautiful Back Roads rides. When I sign up for these you’ll read about it here. I have a day-long schedule conflict for this Saturday (at least it’s something I want to do, otherwise I might’ve gone nuts and signed up to ride this weekend’s Cartersville Century — not the entire century mind you, just the metric century.

ITP Flickr Pic
When one wakes up at an ungodly hour to get sunrise photos one tends to post at least one of the photos taken even if one doesn’t believe it’s the most compelling, nor technically perfect, sunrise photo one’s taken.

See, I told you.

A Tale Of Two Operating System Upgrades
If you are an Apple Fanboy like me, or at least an iPhone owner, you probably know that Apple’s fourth generation operating system for the iPhone, iOS4, was released yesterday. The internet was abuzz woes of upgrading taking hours to complete. Since I’m expecting to pick up my iPhone 4 on Thursday (I received no notification of early availability) I decided that I would wait to upgrade my iPhone 3G to iOS4.

That magical plan fell through when I dozed off at about 10pm last night and was wide awake again by 2am. At that point I figured “What the hell” and began the upgrading process. I’ll wager that it took about three hours for my upgrade to complete, mostly because unlike others I don’t have thousands of photos on my iPhone.

This morning there was conjecture that upgrading an iPhone 3GS was a snap, and that only the process of upgrading iPhone 3G was slow as molasses.

The Winding Path Of Channel Frederator
I have been a Channel Frederator podcast subscriber for years. In the time that I’ve been a subscriber I’ve seen Channel Frederator change its business plan from podcasts containing many animations, to podcasts containing a single animation, to a podcast which had two feeds — one of which was hosted by a rather compelling woman named Bailee DesRocher, to what seems to be the plan now — a podcast containing one animation based on episodes of “The Bear, The Cloud, And God.”

I miss the old days of Channel Frederator, and assume that they will never return. Pity, that.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – The fight to declutter and downsize continues… What to do with the floppy disks and VHS tapes which once seemed so advanced? Most places won’t recycle them, so I may wind up using a service like GreenDisk. Do you have a better solution?
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – cycling, 33 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 10.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 122.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 22 (22)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 21
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 3

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

If not, rejoice. If I remember correctly today is the Summer Solstice and should also be the day with the most amount of daylight. I am willing to accept that I am incorrect on both of those matters, however.

Somebody Should’ve Given The Organizers Of The Mid-Summer Music Festival A Calendar
On Saturday night I headed over to Candler Park to take in the last half of the Mid-Summer Music Festival. I was all geeked for the evening because the headliners were Better Than Ezra, a band whose career I’ve been following since the evening I saw them play in a bar in Huntsville, AL with about fourteen other people back in 1994. After all these years and a handful of drummers the boys from New Orleans did not let me down. I thoroughly enjoyed their set, including the bizarre medley of covers they did as part of their encore.

I was a little less impressed with the fact that I had to pay $10 to get a wristband in order to drink beer (it was $5 before 5pm) and then inside my only choice of beer was Red Stripe. I get that Red Stripe was a main sponsor, and I even like Red Stripe, but damn give us some options if you are going to make us pay to drink. In the end I wound up paying $10 so that I could buy one beer.

Unlike the drink, the food was stellar. Fox Bros BBQ were selling pulled pork sandwiches, so that’s what I ate for dinner. Later on I saw a guy pushing a cart for the King Of Pops and I had to finally try one. The flavor I chose was pineapple-habañero and it was fantastic! I may have to stop for a popsicle on my ride home tonight.

While milling about I ran into a couple of hashers (“Wet Dreams” and “Tastes Great”) and combined with the fact that I found a pretty decent parking space the night was enjoyable.

ITP Flickr Pic
Some flower, growing on the top of Arabia “Mountain.” I joined a few of my Flickr friends for a daybreak shoot on top of Arabia “Mountain” Saturday morning.

I really don’t consider myself to be a flower shooter, but recently that seems to be the only subject matter that’s been popping up in my photostream with regularity.

The Loneliest Hasher
For me, yesterday’s Black Sheep Hash was both difficult and lonely. The first check was impossible to solve but being the good little hasher I tried and I tried. In fact, I tried so hard that I missed the bit of intelligence which told everyone to give up on the check and run behind the Publix.

I was actually on my way back to my car to quit when a local asked me what was going on. I gave him and his young daughter the clean description of hashing and asked if he had seen any other people running around. He said he’d seen them all around, and on that bit of intelligence I made the decision to run behind Publix and lo and behold found trail.

I followed trail to a marked check which took me into weeds taller than me, until I gave up on that nonsense and figured I read the check marking too literally. At that point I ran into a couple of hasher and we figured out where the trail went by finding, and solving, another check. At this point I knew I was in trouble because I knew that I could not keep up with their pace (they somehow managed to go from DFL to FRB!), but being the good little hasher who wanted to hash yesterday I pushed on.

It wasn’t more than five minutes before I was alone again. If not for the fact that I ran into three hashers at the water stop (which I’ll guess was somewhere at the 60%-70% point in the trail) I would have never seen another hasher from the time I fell off the pace of the eventual FRBs. From the water stop to the trail’s end I never saw another person on trail.

Hashing alone is frustrating to me. I don’t know the time difference between the main pack’s arrival at the end an my arrival at the end, but given how refreshed everyone looked when I staggered in it must have been some time. I was worn out and displeased by trail’s end. It’s a pity that because I wear my emotions on my sweat-filled, dirty sleeve, I’ve seemed to have earned a reputation of being a malcontent at the hash now.

My spirits were revived at I joined ITP-Reader Betsy for dinner at the Holy Taco in East Atlanta after the hash.

Yes, There Will Be No RPS For Me Tonight
I never found/made a “Nature” shot that I was proud enough to submit for tonight’s critique. So, given that and the fact that I decided to ride the Red Rocket to work today I shan’t be attending tonight’s Roswell Photographic Society meeting.

I’m disappointed in myself, except for the fact that I am getting some good exercise in the place of joining my friends for dinner and RPS. Life is all about tradeoffs I guess.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – good, though saddened that I won’t be attending RPS
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – I may not know when the Summer Solstice is, but I do know that if I were to be in Santa Barbara, CA next weekend I’d be attending the Summer Solstice Celebration.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my bike
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday: hashing, 5 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check because I rode in
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 10.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 89.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 21 (21)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 20
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 2

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Perhaps the only thing more discouraging than pumping your tires to make sure that they are properly inflated and then accidentally snapping off one of the Presta valves in the process is waking up early the next morning and determining that it would be a bad idea to ride your bike to work.

I drove to work today, rather late by my standards as well.

At Least They Tried
Unfortunately the camp cooking class was rather a bust last night. The hour-long class was all about car camping, admittedly the only camping I do, but I was hoping for insight and tips on doing backpack camping. Also unfortunate was the the group assembled was mostly families and people who couldn’t keep their damn mouths closed while the presenters were talking.

Oh well, at least it was free…

ITP Flickr Pic
Um, I suck.

Chrome Is Regaining Some Lustre
I’ve returned to Google’s Chrome because I found a TextExpander replacement in the form of a Chrome Extension called “Popchrom.” Admittedly Popchrom does not do everything that TextExpander can, but it does actually expand my pre-define macros when I’m typing this blog.

For example:
When I type : hrefvp and then hit Ctrl+Space
It automatically gets expanded to Variety Playhouse

Nifty!
And free!

Now if 1Password would get around to releasing a final version of their product I could make a clean break from Firefox.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – depressed
Current Music – listening to yesterday’s Tour de Suisse stage.
Website Of The Day – If you’ve ever considered going Premium on Evernote check out the current bundle deal at AppSumo.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car, unfortunately
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 5.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 89.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 18 (18)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 17
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 2

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I realize the human body is a complex machine. I just wish my would stop going fubar. This morning I woke with a sore throat and some swelling, even though I had no indication of ill health when I finally went to sleep last night. Hopefully it’s just a little speed hump that I’ll clear quickly.
(update #1: and now I’m sneezing….. DANGEN!)

The Good Life Is Over
Last night I received the disc containing the only episode of The Good Life which was not available for streaming from Netflix. I watched what was the final episode of the series which aired on the BBC from 1975-1978 and mailed the disc back to Netflix this morning. I really enjoyed going back and watching that series from my youth (note: I watched it during its PBS run some time in the early 1980s). I only wish that this was the only “good life” to leave me this morning.

ITP Flickr Pic
The well has run dry and I have nothing in the hopper to present. I’m not happy about this either.

44 Going On 45. BFD.
Have you heard about the hubbub that’s going on between Lance Armstrong and Outside magazine? Lance is pictured on the cover of this month’s issue. However, instead of the plain dark blue t-shirt that he wore for the shoot, the shirt has been Photoshopped to read “38. BFD.” and Lance is less than pleased about this.

Read the whole story here.

I’m (Supposedly) Taking A Cooking Class Tonight
A camp cooking class.

For years I’ve been receiving emails from REI outlining classes they hold at their retail stores. Most of the time I peruse their offerings with minor interest. “Should I take that bicycle maintenance class?” “Hmmm, preparing for a long-distance bike ride looks interesting.” is what I usually mutter under my breath.

Recently I saw an offering relating to camp cooking being held at 6:30pm in the REI near my office. Well, I like to cook and I like to camp, so it seems like a natural combination for me. So, there is no riding for me today, even if I were healthy enough to do so.

RealiTV Update: Top Chef — No More Dreading This Season
Last night Top Chef: DC (also known as Season #7) started. Another slew of chefs, this time only one hailing from Atlanta, trying to attain the status of “Top Chef.”

It’s too early in the season to pick out faves and unfaves, and don’t get too attached from dreadlocks-John from Detroit as he was asked to pack up his knives and get the hell out of DC after trying to present a maple dessert using store-bought puff pastry. Don’t these people ever learn?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – confused, frustrated
Current Music – I have “The Epic Cycle” on the tv in the background
Website Of The Day – This morning I’m eating a delicious package of Asian pear slices which have been freeze-dried into crisps and sold by Brothers All Natural. I bet you these crisps would be an excellent addition to a bowl of Kashi cereal.
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 – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 5.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 89.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 17 (17)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 16
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 2

June Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application

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.
- 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
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]