Saturday was a long day made longer by the fact that I was unable to get a place to sleep in Black Rock Mountain State Park (I arrived later that I should have and the campground was full), I didn’t feel like paying the $72.99 (before taxes and fees) to stay one night at the Quality Inn in Clayton, GA, or attempt to sleep in the Wal*Mart parking lot. Because I came home on Saturday night I also had to bail on the notion of riding the bike ride I highlighted on Friday. Even worse, I was so tired and uninspired on Sunday that I never left my house.
My current plan is to get some bike mileage in via commuting. I’ve once again shuttled the Red Rocket with me to work and plan to ride it home tonight. I need mileage. I need exercise.
All Was Not Failure On Saturday
My trip on Saturday almost never happened. I (finally) learned that I need a better alarm clock system. At some point Saturday morning the power to my house went out, rendering the Chumby’s alarms useless. I also planned to use an alarm clock app on my iPad, but they seemingly never went off as the iPad itself had gone to sleep.
Saturday proved to be a great learning experience for what and what not to do when taking a lot of crap on a long drive. This experience will be quite helpful in a few weeks when I pack up the Jackmobile and point it Westward for my big Colorado trip. I believe that I should do more planning, though I want to leave my agenda as open-ended as possible. I’ve learned how to better pack my trunk so that I can access the things I’ll need to access and not have to move unneeded items constantly. If it helps my big trip go more smoothly than Saturday’s travails were well worth it.
Another Year Has Gone By
It’s funny that it took a tweet mentioning how much someone was glad that August 8th was nearly over, because she doesn’t like August 8th, to remind me of my own dislike for the date. The last time that August 8th fell on a Sunday (six years ago thanks to leap year) was the day during which I was held up at gunpoint in my driveway by two pieces of sub-human shit (with at least one more driving the truck from which they emerged). It was the day that the Jackmobile, then all of two years old, became the “Jackmobile” when those assholes stole the car along with my wallet, keys, phone, and belief that all would be good in my life. It was the day which stirred enough anger and angst within me to start blogging, though that would have to wait for to months to transpire from the date.
Happy August 9th everybody!
ITP Flickr Pic
Saturday morning started in Atlanta and my travels reached as far North as the Nantahala River in North Carolina — with a few impromptu offshoot trips for good measure.
Expect to see more “rafting pics” this week as that is the crux of what I shot on Saturday.
This might be the technically weakest shot that I’ll post this week, but I loved how I was able to capture the moment of this kayaker being perpendicular.
Bonus ITP Flickr Pic
I think that I may be allergic to something…
Fear not, it’s only the handy work of a clever iPhone app called FatBooth. At Friday night’s Taco Mac happy hour (which moved over to Outback Steakhouse if you believe it!) some of my coworkers were showing off this app as well as one called AgingBooth. I laughed so hard on Friday night that I bought the two $0.99 apps immediately. I couldn’t help perpetuating the viral marketing on Saturday with my FlickRPS buds by snapping a few photos of them, as well as the self-portrait gem depicted above.
I Wonder How It Will Be Commemorated?
At the end of last night’s Mad Men episode the series begins the year 1965. I happen to know someone who was born in New York during that fantastic year. I wonder how the writers incorporated my birth into the story line? 🙂
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – contemplative
Current Music – silence as I let new podcasts download
Website Of The Day – PiVi & Co are the clever minds behind FatBooth and AgingBooth. I certainly wish that I had thought of these.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car, bike on top for ride home
Exercise (b)Log – nothing, unfortunately
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check, didn’t want to know
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) – 1 (6)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 7
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]
in looking into camping here & there this summer, it seems most campgrounds that have reservable sites are booked, so the ones that have First Come/Walk Up sites I guess it wouldnt’ be that surprising that all the sites were booked.
That sucks for you though.
I think most parks have a two-night minimum for weekend reservations. That and not knowing what the weather would be like led me to take the chance of getting a spot. Obviously I don’t camp much in the Summer otherwise I’d have known that it would be full. I’m really going to have to reconsider my nilly-willy sleeping plans for the Colorado trip.
It may have been for the best though. Driving up to the top of Black Rock Mountain I was reminded just how fucking steep that road is. I’m not so sure that I would have been able to pedal up it all.
well – as long as you “don’t care” about the hotel/motels you stay in, you will be able to find something driving, we’ve never had a problem. That being said, you might want to look into places up near Mt. Rushmore – that would be the only place I’d be even slightly concerned. (plus, you’ve got your iPhone, you can find places that way.) I was watching something this weekend on the Travel channel and they had a story about Mt. Rushmore, thought that was weird coincidence.
Another reason to be glad for today, it is 8/9/10.
I was also a slug yesterday and didn’t leave the house after breakfast at Waffle House. I was truly bored by the end of the day.
Mmmm, Waffle House….. I was hoping we’d stop at the Waffle House in Clayton, but I was overruled and we ended up at Chic-fil-A. Speaking of greasy spoons, did everyone hear that the Varsity Jr on Cheshire Bridge is going to close? Apparently they are in a battle with the City of Atlanta.
Good point about Mt Rushmore, Barb. I think I’ll look into securing a hotel room around there very soon.
I have a really hard time just ‘taking off’ without having plans…in my younger days a boyfriend and I took off to Michigan for the weekend, ended up having to drive back when after four hours of searching couldn’t find any place to stay (this was before the internet, iphones and such).
I remember when you got car jacked, even though I didn’t know you yet. I got an email or read it on a neighborhood forum (maybe the ‘old buzz’) about it. I met you for the first time a few weeks later, funny the moments you remember. We were on trail (Coffee Bean and SFP laid it) together, in what would become a little subdivision off Custard Ave. Someone asked you about the car and I was like, hey I know who you are. Okay not life altering but…
I almost made Jerry eat with me at Waffle House yesterday after a run at Kennesaw Mt….I really wanted waffles for some reason.
Martha, you’ve also hit upon something I meant to mention in today’s blog. You know when you have the least cellphone coverage? When you need it the most. On Saturday we were using my two FRS radios to communicate between cars because we had no cellphone service until we reached the Nantahala Outdoor Center.
Mt Rushmore hotel secured. Now all I have to do is make it there by my scheduled day. Yikes!
“Everybody loves waffles!” Name that movie.
No waffles for me. I’m trying to cuts some pounds and cutting out carbs works for me. Kinda like cutting out meat works for you Paulie.
I wish that all it took was cutting out the meat eating (hey, did anyone notice that yesterday I had my first successful vegetarian day in some time?).
No idea about the derivation of that quote.
Damn, I should have sold my DISH stock and taken a small profit on Friday; the stock is down more than 10% on the release of bad second-quarter earnings results.
Sorry I didn’t read Friday’s post until today – glad to see you enjoyed the brew named after our oldest son 🙂
No problem, you were probably on some fantastic family vacation or something. btw- I saw Kevin’s family photo and am quite impressed with it. It’s not easy getting you all together into one shot. 😉