Going Through The Motions

Thursday? That’s good because it means we’re one day closer to Friday.

Last night I did laundry at a different laundromat. Because I had to drive all the way home in order to pick up my dirty clothing (call it “bad planning” on my part) I decided that I didn’t want to drive all the way back up Buford Highway just to do my laundry. Since it was nearly 7pm EDT before I got back out to do laundry I also needed to find a place that would stay open later thank I’d normally be doing laundry. Not wanting to risk having the laundromat across from Manuel’s Tavern close before I could finish I decided to head to the SpinCycle, at which I’d done laundry once before, because I vaguely remember it being open 24 hours. I had much difficulty with the washers and dryers at SpinCycle last night, but the real WTF occurred when I left my box of dryer sheets with its one remaining dryer sheet near the dryers as I walked across the room to get my last load of laundry. When I returned the box was gone, and as it turned out, was in the trash can. At first I thought that the attendant must have mistaken it for trash, but when I retrieved the box from the otherwise empty can, my last dryer sheet was missing. Conclusion? The woman who was about ten dryers away from me and putting her clothing into them at the same time as I was mine, took my last dryer sheet and tossed the box in hopes that I wouldn’t notice. I don’t believe that it was an “honest” mistake because she was near me as I returned, looked for my box, retrieved the box only to find it empty, and then wound up tearing the one dryer sheet that I had already placed into a dryer in half, without saying a word to me. What the hell is wrong with people these days?

Thanks For Nothing, “This American Life”
It’s bad enough that Georgia, as well as The South, has earned a reputation of being populated with shall-we-say less-than-highly-educated people, we don’t need programs like This American Life perpetuating it.

In case you missed it, last week’s episode of “This American Life” (to which I listened on my bike commute yesterday) revived Atlanta Journal’s “Georgia Rambler” concept. In the 1970s/1980s the “Georgia Rambler” was an article about unforgettable individuals living throughout the state of Georgia. “This American Life” randomly selected counties from Georgia’s 159 counties and sent people out to get the story about the most unforgettable people in those counties.

  • A story about Franklin Delano Roosevelt possibly buying and consuming moonshine during Prohibition in Warm Springs
  • Three guys named Matt who have obviously been drinking, love to hoop it up on Lake Lanier, and each is currently on probation for one crime or another
  • People complaining in Chattooga county that they don’t have a Krystal
  • A farmer who has kept his parents’ house in tact since the day they died — over thirty years ago

This is the “best” that they could find? Thanks for nothing.

ITP Flickr Pic
There is a rule in whitewater rafting: “Always keep your hand on the ‘T'” because if you are not covering the end of your paddle you’ve turned your paddle into a potential weapon.
One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others
Why this one guy, and there always seems to be one guy in every raft, can’t follow this simple rule is beyond my comprehension. Thankfully I do not have a followup photo which shows the person next to him getting hit in the face by his paddle’s ‘T’.

Well Done!
I hate having to rewrite portions of this blog when I do something asinine like accidentally delete a section. So, you’ll now understand why this section is so brief…

Good work to all of you who helped the Good Food Truck reach its $4200 KickStarter goal! Perhaps this will help launch the street food movement now that this backward city has finally made vending street food legal. Who knows, perhaps some day this state’s residents will be allowed to purchase alcohol from a retail establishment on Sundays.

Hello Dali
Tonight I will (hopefully) be attending an opening preview of the Salvador Dali exhibit at the High Museum. Having once been a member of the in St Petersburg, Florida I’m excited to see which works have made it to Atlanta for this exhibit.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sneezing and sniffling, hoping that I can shake this before tonight
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The DayAtlanta Street Food Coalition. The name is really all you need to know, now go read about them.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – cycling, 16.5 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 33.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 5 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 4
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 1

August Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month (I did it once, I can do it again!)
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 200 miles
– Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
– Complete at least one iPhone application (seriously, this needs to happen)
– Completely plan out my August/September Colorado trip

2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds) [update: On July 1 I’ve sadly gained weight; I’m at 203 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 Sharpened Stone.
– 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]

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20 Responses to Going Through The Motions

  1. Stacy Fox says:

    I’m looking forward to your review on the Dali exhibit – from what I’ve heard, it’s supposed to be amazing!

    Yeah, and people are just wrong. You should have turned around, looked at her and said, “I am opening your dryer now to retrieve MY dryer sheet.” And done just that.

  2. Vic says:

    We went to the Dali exhibit Sunday. Enjoyed it very much. However, I went to see the art. I could care less about the artist’s eccentricities. Yeah, he had an unusual mustache. So what? That always just seems like a scream for attention to me.

    Oh well, to each his own.

  3. Wait, you’ve seen it already Vic? Damn, and here I thought I was special by going to tonight’s Contributor Member party. :^/

    It’s a shame that I’ll still be unable to purchase a good “dirty water” hot dog from a vendor tonight however.

  4. Barb says:

    so – what’s with the street food obsession? just curious…..

  5. Good question Barb. Here’s the answer:

    As has been well documented, I am not cooking much these days. As has also been well documented, I am alone a lot. Recently I find myself not wanting to eat at restaurants because I am alone and am finding it increasingly sad to eat out alone. Street food is the great (quick and cheap) equalizer in that doesn’t involve corporate fast food and which will allow me to eat “out” without suffering my self-imposed stigma of being alone.

    Perhaps I just need to get away from Atlanta for a while…

  6. Barb says:

    That makes sense, I never liked to eat out alone back long ago when I had a job that I had to travel some. But – my way to deal with that is go to restaurants that had a bar to sit at – you can usually find someone to talk to, and it doesn’t seem to have the same stigma in my mind as sitting at a table alone.

    In less than a month we will be in Colorado…….. I can’t wait.
    Still not sure the full schedule, but we are completely crazy & leaving Atlanta on Friday 8/27 for Charleston (Isle of Palms), then Sunday whatever time start driving west, Monday night will be spent in Kansas City with some former Atlanta hashers, Tuesday, Wed. & Thursday maybe in Denver, or Heeney, or Vail & wherever else we feel like, then Friday to Monday in Boulder. Let me know if you want to hook up somewhere in Colorado on Tuesday night thru Friday morning – besides some downhill biking at whatever ski resort, and I want to make a stop in Leadville, we are open to suggestions.

  7. Littlewilly says:

    @ Barb , Try breakfast at The Columbine Cafe in Leadville…great food served by a bunch of hippies!

  8. While I have nothing carved in stone yet, I’m going to try and leave after lunch on 8/27 with my target set toward either Paducah, KY or St. Louis, MO. From there I “plan” to head as far North as Mount Rushmore before heading (South!) toward Colorado. I’m considering spending Wednesday night in Fort Collins, CO at the Armstrong Hotel (where I stayed two years ago) before heading to Boulder, CO on Thursday. It sounds as if I’ve planned everything, but like I said, nothing is carved in stone and can change at any time.

    The trip home should be “interesting” because thanks to a lack of vacation days I have to be back in the office the Thursday following Labor Day.

  9. Barb says:

    I’ve got to be back to work on Wednesday, so we will head out fairly early monday, stop in Kansas City again, & be back home by Tuesday night.

    I’ve never been to Mt. Rushmore – I so want to see it someday.

    Willie – I’ll remember that cafe name – we ate at a great cafe a few years back, but no idea the name.

  10. Making it to Rushmore will be ambitious for me, but it’s one of the things I want to see before I die and who knows when I’ll have the opportunity to go there?

  11. Steve says:

    Barb- you seem to be a little confused on directions- Isle of Palms SC is not on the way to Colorado.

    From the reports I hear about the street food trucks in L.A., we’re way behind the curve. There’s one here in Atlanta got it’s permit yesterday and sounded wonderful. Wish I had known they would be close by the office.

    -FP

  12. Steve, that’s the Korean truck which got permitted yesterday, correct? If you see it and get to eat some of its food I’d appreciate a review.

  13. Steve says:

    That would be part of the problem… you have to know where it’s going to be, and I hesitate to give them my email address so they can let me know.

    I heard the report on WABE and the report of the food sounded wonderful and non-traditional.. could have been Korean.

  14. Barb says:

    yes Steve – I know Isle of Palms is completely the wrong way, but what the hell, we are driving, and we have some friends from out of the country that will be visiting, and we never go to the beach. So, why not go from zero altitude to the mountains? Should make for a good altitude headache – huh?

  15. Barb says:

    you can make it to Mount Rushmore – I have faith in you. I’m sure you can find some other interesting spots along the way too. You’ve got you iPhone, I’m sure there is an app for that.

  16. Hmm, Steve you could always set up a bogus GMail account for stuff like that I suppose.

    Barb, there is indeed an app for that, but will AT&T have coverage? That is the question.

  17. bob says:

    Steve, Steve, Steve, what sort of nerd are you that you only have one email account?

  18. Lisa says:

    Jeeze… I hate to think of the RDU area as being more progressive than Atlanta, however we have all sorts of food trucks here. Some serving baked goods/coffee for breakfast, the Taco Truck, several different burger and pizza vans, not to mention the hot dog carts. I can’t wait for the guy riding the Margarita Tricycle to come down our street (just kidding). Though if you moved by us YOU could be That Guy!!

  19. Steve says:

    So do the trucks go to the same places, or does it vary?

  20. Lisa, RDU is that progressive. How long has it been since my first Loco Pop? Long before I’ve started raving about the King of Pops, that’s for sure. 😉

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