Slowing Down

As the weather gets cooler my blood somehow gets thinner and I curse Mother Nature for encouraging me to slow down, but slow down I do. Yesterday I decided to nix my plans to drive to Asheville after work in part because I felt as if I were pushing myself too hard (which I actually don’t believe is true) and in part because I thought I should save the $100+ it would cost me to get a hotel and eat at a restaurant in Asheville.

This morning I stopped in for coffee at Joe’s Atlanta. The coffee is still great, but the experience has dropped dramatically since the lovely Ellen left oh so many years ago.

I Can’t Stand Sitting So I’m Taking A Stand Against Fat
I had a second $20 Groupon coupon for The Original El Taco which was expiring yesterday. I had planned on seeing if the restaurant was not crazy busy and if not, popping in for a few tacos and a beer. Being that it was Wednesday night I figured that I might even make my way to George’s for a pint and see if anyone still runs on Wednesdays. And then I drove home, specifically sat in traffic, feeling my belly fat, for nearly an hour. At that time I decided that eating the $10 I spent for the $20 for the Groupon coupon was better for me than stuffing my face with food and beer.

I really don’t like myself at the moment. I know, what else is new…

ITP Flickr Pic
Part of being boring is not taking photos. I’m completely uninspired at the moment. Perhaps a weekend at LEAF will change that. Of course, this is the weather forecast:
W, T, and F!
so I may be too bundled up to push a shutter.

Forgotten Bits: “Mr. Lee’s”
I’m introducing a new section to the blog called “Forgotten Bits.” This section will contain all of the things I remembered about after posting the day’s blog, sort of a blogging mulligan if you will.

On Tuesday night while driving to Kat’s and Mango’s for Bike Night I pondered where I would stop in order to pick up a six pack of decent beer and a bottle of wine that I intended to trade for the parts/work that Service put into my bike. East Atlanta and its surrounding neighborhoods have many great places to sit and drink, but (non-sketchy) places to actually stop and buy are few and far between (if not nonexistent). And then I remembered the Candler Park Market, aka “Mr. Lee’s” from many moons ago.

Located on McClendon Av next to Fellini’s Pizza this market has a surprisingly good beer and wine selection. Rumor has it that the Candler Park Market also sells food, but I honestly don’t think I’ve purchased anything other than beer and wine from there. I picked up a sixer of Highland Brewery’s St Therese Pale Ale and a nice Pinot Nior which (according the the shelf tag) scored well in taste tests — seriously, with so many wines out there I have to trust these shelf tags, or buy the ones with the cleverest names or labels.

What you won’t get out of Candler Park Market are my many fond memories associating Mr Lee’s with the fun times I spent with my friends back in the days before children. That’s okay though, the quality alcohol will help make up for that.

AAPL > $300/Share
Oh, why didn’t I buy more at $90/share? Oh, how I wish that I were in a position to cash out and not get one up the arse from Uncle Sam.

Yeah I know, shut my piehole. But at least you know I have real problems too, right? Yeah, I didn’t think that would change your opinion.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – better, though not perfect
Current Music – listening to a KEXP “Music That Matters” podcast
Website Of The Day – I didn’t think the world needed another travel search engine, but the folks who created Momondo did.
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 – 8
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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9 Responses to Slowing Down

  1. Barb says:

    That bottle of wine looks really tasty – I’ll let you know if it is good someday, but I’m sure it is very good.

    didn’t it rain last year at LEAF? At least you don’t have to deal with that this year.

  2. I hope it is tasty, Barb.

    It did rain last year. I guess that 35 F low is scaring me. I’m not ready to deal with cold weather yet. 🙂

  3. Barb says:

    Got a good sleeping bag? Bring an extra blanket & some firewood – I can’t wait to go camping in a little over a week up at Pisgah, that is some good sleeping weather.

  4. I have a decent sleeping bag and will be packing blankets and many layers of clothing. Sadly there will be no campfire as we are camping in a field and right next to our cars so we cannot have fires. I will be bringing my camping stove so that I can boil water for some piping hot coffee or tea, however.

  5. Martha says:

    This weather is having the opposite effect on me, I want to be out doing everything. I went to the gym this morning and I want to run later this afternoon, but I also need to rest up a bit because I have a long run Saturday that I need to be ready for, Columbus is only 4 weeks away.

    The only ‘camping’ I got to do this year was sleeping less than two hours, on the church parking lot some where in N. Georgia but that hasn’t stopped me from wanting all new camping gear. I’m thinking of streamlining my gear, just getting a nice sleeping pad (no big air mattress ) and a better sleeping bag will cut down, on the volume of crap I bring, by 40%.

    I’m thinking of having folks over on Sunday to carve pumpkins, it will be BYOP if anyone is interested.

  6. That CrossFit cult has brainwashed you, Martha. This is sleeping weather — see also: bears. 😛

  7. Martha says:

    If I was any good at sleeping I would do more of it, I would make a really bad bear.

  8. debbie says:

    It’s both for me. I’m full of energy during the day and sleeping like a rock at night. I’d love to go camping soon. I’ll have to give Steve a week or so to get over the Highland Games before I suggest that.

    In breaking news, a hot tub is likely coming to the Day Spa! Woohooo winter gathering anyone?

  9. Lisa says:

    It had to be at least that cold last year at night. We can always go in for story time by the fire. Don’t bother with your stove unless you really want to. We’ll have ours to boil water. See you tomorrow!!

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