Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

Though I’m not Canadian I’m not above pandering to our neighbors to the North. Today is Canadian Thanksgiving and while I have no idea what they’ll be eating tonight I’d like to wish my Canadian friends a happy holiday.

Street Food Success
While walking around Castleberry Hill on Friday night with my Flickr friends John and Lee we walked past a small food tent which had been set up on the street. “Chicken burrito?” I heard a voice say, and having yet to have eaten dinner I stopped and pondered the idea. It as that time I noticed that the question had been posed by former Top Chef cheftestant and Pura Vida owner Hector Santiago. Say no more, say no more.

I quickly reversed my path and purchased a delicious, spicy chicken burrito which was packed with carrots and radishes in addition to some sour cream and tomatillo sauce. Damn was it good!

I’ve since found out that Santiago has a new sandwich shop called Super Pan Latino Sandwich Shop that I’ll be sure to stop at for lunch if I am ever around the Poncey-Highland area on a Tuesday-Friday.

The Problem With Groupon
In a phrase “expiration dates.” Unlike Scoutmob which doesn’t require the purchase of an offer, therefore when expiration dates approach there is no urgency to use a deal, Groupon‘s coupons lose the holder’s money when they expire. Imagine my surprise and horror when I realized that two of my Groupon coupons will be expiring this Wednesday!

Last night I was able to use one of my Groupon coupons by eating dinner at Everybody’s Pizza in Virginia-Highland. With $25 to blow (I forget how much I actually paid for this $25 coupon) I ordered a medium “Italian Market” pizza for $21(!) [see photo below] and a Coke. The medium pizza, while piled with exotic toppings, is/was large enough for two Paulie meals. My total for the night was $25.21, onto which I added $5.79 as a tip.

I guess I’ll try to use at least one of the three Fifth Group Restaurant coupons for dinner either Tuesday or Wednesday night.

ITP Flickr Pic
Here’s my pizza from last night.
Mmm, Pizza
No click through for this photo (in fact, it’s marked as “private” so I hope it shows up on your screen) because I’m rather disappointed with how blurry my photo turned out.

I Can Dress Me Up, But I Still Can’t Get Those I Desire To Go Out With Me
On Saturday I headed over to ITP-Reader Betsy’s street where her block was having a block party. It seemed like a it’d be a fun time and an opportunity to meet people that I’d not met before, so I dressed a little nicer than I normally would (read “jeans and a long-sleeved button-down shirt”, which I admit was a bit warm for the weather but I had been feeling cold the past few days so I thought it best to overdress) and was summarily ridiculed by my hashing friends upon my arrival. As the evening progressed I thought that I might have made the right call, however the Unmighty Paulie struck out again as the female in whom I had interest had interest in another person in our collective. Same as it ever was…

I Don’t Know Who I Am Anymore!
After eating an early dinner of Fox Bros BBQ ribs I thought about getting a popsicle from The King of Pops. However, I talked myself out of it! After leaving Betsy’s block party I thought about stopping for an ice cream from Morelli’s. However, I talked myself out of it! And then after doing some rough (for me) yard work involving sawing down some limbs and dragging them to the curb, instead of going to the Black Sheep Hash, I thought about drinking some beer. However, I talked myself out of it!

WTF?!?! I don’t know who I am anymore!

PS – Also notice that I’ve eaten vegetarian five days this month. WTF?!

You Can Beat Me Down, But (So Far) You Can’t Beat The Deadbeat Dads!
I have two players in tonight’s Jets v Vikings game and I don’t even need them to play in order to win my game this week. That’s right, in an otherwise unspectacular year (see also: Mets, now the Gators, and my life) the East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads will officially be 5-0 tomorrow!

Now that’s something for which I can give thanks.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though I’m still awaiting 100% health again
Current Music – listening to my cubicle TV which is tuned ESPN
Website Of The DayFoodiggity is a really cool food/lifestyle blog. Check out their entry about Marlboro Beer, that’s right beer. How Mad Men, right?
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 – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 5
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

October Goals
Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 200 miles
– Determine the fate of Sharpened Stone, LLC
– Complete at least one iPhone application (seriously, this needs to happen)
– lose five pounds
– eat vegetarian at least one day a week

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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17 Responses to Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

  1. And now that I know that it’s also United States Columbus Day I shall wish you all a Happy Columbus Day and know that those who work for the Fed probably won’t be reading ITP today.

  2. And I’ve caught up on all of my RealiTV (and Mad Men), so spoil away…

  3. Barb says:

    I’ve decided some of the editing on Amazing Race is annoying – I’m thinking everyone had a hard time finding Phil, but they only showed the doctor chicks acting lost, to make it seem like the dad & son were closer in time. I won’t miss them. but then, I still don’t have a favorite team this year at all…..

    Went to 57 Fighter Group for brunch yesterday with some olf friends, if you want to eat a bunch of pretty good food & drink mimosas (or just champagne), it is the place to go. They really were good about the bottomless glasses & keeping them filled.

    As a result of that, I missed the All Chicks hash. I was told I got talked about since i wasn’t there, and they decided I get to be the hare next year. I just looked it up, 11/11/11 is a friday night – so, the trail will be in Marietta & will be very short!

  4. I’m still amazed you ladies continue the tradition. We men proved we were too lazy for this after the first All Mens’ Hash on 9/9/99. 🙂

    Yeah, the editing can be frustration. I assume this is why they will never show a real-time clock.

    I was sad to see mom/daughter go last week but only because the have an Atlanta connection.

    This week I was once again surprised to see how quickly “loved” ones turn on one another, all in the name of competition.

    I’ve yet to select a favorite. I’d like it if the choir boys would stop singing. I’d like it if the “pretty” blond would shut her pie hole occasionally. And overall I can’t believe that I am again amazed how stupid/ignorant and arrogant Americans are.

  5. Oh yeah Barb, how’d the Garage Mahal floor etching go?

  6. Barb says:

    I actually can see how people turn on each other, I’m sure they are so frustrated at that moment, but I think I’d remember I’m on TV (or hope I’d remember) so I’d try not to give the editors more material to make me look like an ass.

    which one do you think is the pretty blond? Aren’t there a couple of them at least?

    Etching went fine, but damn it is hard work, and working with muratic acid is a little nerve wracking. After sprinkling the solution with a plastic watering can (can’t use metal) on a section of floor, you have to scrub it with a stiff bristle brush for a few minutes, then hose it down & squeegee it out. Then, move on to the next section. And- since we have a huge garage, it was way too much work. We weren’t thinking about the fact that the cement needs to be completely dry before we can stain, so we couldn’t stain the same say. Hopefully it is dry enough to do a first coat of stain tonight.

  7. Good point on the blond. I mean the one who is the teammate of the watermelon-in-the-face girl. Her voice / screaming gets on my nerves.

    Also during last night’s viewing I found myself yelling at the tv (well, big screen) “WHY DON’T THESE FOOLS READ THEIR CLUE?” and “THE DAMN LEGEND IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, MORON!” 🙂

    At least you have good dry air, so perhaps the cement will dry more quickly.

  8. Martha says:

    This ‘Fed’ worker is reading the blog today. The office is closed but Columbus Day isn’t a paid holiday for my company so I’m working from home. Okay I just got back from the gym but I’ll do some work soon.

    Yesterday was fun but the trail was a real trail, not the short stroll before drinking and gossiping begin that I’m use to doing. It wouldn’t have been so bad but it wasn’t a Nibbles Friendly trail, so I ended up carrying her for at least 1/3 of trail. I was grumpy (I’m still not caught up on my sleep) and was ready to head back to the car but I ended up having a good time. Probably would have stayed later but I had to pick Jerry up from the airport.

    I don’t watch the Amazing Race but after spending 30 hours in a van with four other people, I don’t know how no one as been seriously injured or killed.

    Paulie, great job on making smart food choices, if you keep it up, you’ll be surprised what a difference it makes. Thoughtful eating is the key!

  9. I know that eating better is the key but I really hated denying myself some of the few pleasures I have in life. 😉

    I was wondering why your Facebook update mentioned carrying Nibbles.

    Kudos to you and all of the other nuts who ran a 200-mile relay. I’m still puzzled how that team came together; I know you are all hashers, but you seem to be a disparate group. I can’t imagine running in such an event, even when I used to run.

  10. Barb says:

    yeah – Martha – tell us about it – I want to hear about the experience!

  11. Barb says:

    oh yeah – bike maintenance night @ Mango’s is tomorrow night – I’m pretty sure Allan is planning to bring your bike there (don’t hold me to it yet, but I think that is the plan).

  12. Thanks Barb. I need to do laundry either Tue or Wed night, so when you know one way or other please let me know. Also let me know what my final payment for parts/service is and I’ll gladly pick up whatever I can.

  13. Martha says:

    The race was fun. To be honest I think I would have rather had fewer people and ran more miles. There was a lot of sitting around with not much to do. My first leg started about noon on Friday and I didn’t run again until 10:30 that night.

    I feel good today, still need to catch up on my sleep. Others weren’t in such great shape after, not sure why? I ran the most of anyone.

    The team was mainly Wednesday night George’s and SoCo people (and me). We had to throw a wide net to get enough master women…we ended up with only 11 so we ended up as a Men Master team anyway.

    Van 1 was HighDicker, Boner, Dawgy, Maxi and me…I didn’t know Maxi well but I had a really good time hanging out with her. My first leg was 5 miles, leg 2 was 6 and my last was almost 10, I ran my last two legs in the dark…that was tough. Leg one was great. I was able to pass 3 people within a mile of the exchange point.

    I was nearly taken out by a car near the end of my second leg, he didn’t move over, didn’t slow down, I ended up in the tree along side the road, thankfully a cop was right there, saw it and went after him. The guy behind said he caught him.

    Leg 3 a super nice guy from TN ran most of the way with me. If it hadn’t been for him it would have taken me 2 hours to finish, instead we came in around 90 minutes.

    All in all a good experience that I would do again.

    Things I would change:
    1) spend more time with the other van, we hardly saw them.
    2) have fewer people
    3) plan out sleeping arrangements better
    4) have an all girls van, boys are nasty (I’m only sort of kidding on that one)
    5) have a ride waiting for me at the end (I was beyond ready to go at that point).

  14. Barb says:

    Martha – sounds like an interesting experience……. running in the dark by yourself sounds kind of scary, were there many people around?

    Would there be a way to spend more time with the other van very easily?

    Did you guys take turns driving?

    Since you ended up only having 11 people, did you have to run longer legs or did 3 people have to run 4 legs?

  15. Martha says:

    For the most part you are running by yourself…there would be vans driving by, hopping from point to point, checking on the runners. I felt very lucky to have someone to run with on leg 3.

    For the most part Bill and Dawgy drove, I think I got behind the wheel once, we all help with the navigating.

    The legs got a little messed up since we had an odd number of folks. The main transition point were after every 6 legs…but we had to meet up at 5 and 11…so we missed out on hanging with other teams and stuff.

    Jill worked it out that those people that had shorter and/or easier legs, ran one of the three extra legs. Tom’s first 3 legs only added up to about 11 miles so the last leg made his 15. Easy and I had harder and longer legs so we didn’t run extra. Maybe next time we can try for a 9 member team, 4 legs each, who’s in?

  16. Stacy Fox says:

    You tip like I do. 🙂 I tend to do the math to the nearest dollar too!

  17. The math can be a little more challenging, but then I don’t end up with that pesky change. 😉

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