Gone Again

I’m off again. If you are reading this on Friday morning the Jackmobile and I are hurtling toward Black Mountain, NC — at least I hope so.

A Night At The Pops
Instead of heading toward Asheville last night I stayed in town and met up with my friend John at The Marlay House in Decatur. There I had a few beers and more food than I should have shoved into my piehole at any one sitting. I wasn’t done for the evening, however.

From Decatur John and I weaved our way toward Poncey-Highland where we managed to catch The King of Pops right as he was starting to pack up for the evening. At first I felt badly for delaying his departure (it was probably 7:15pm) but then as John and I stood there chatting him up four more people stopped for popsicles and I thought that they’d not gotten any had I not stopped him. As usual the popsicle was outstanding; I ate a Mango Mojito flavored popsicle.

I learned a lot about the man known as the King of Pops (Steve Carse) while noshing on my popsicle last night.

• This is his first year in the popsicle business. (I sort of knew this fact.)
• At the end of October he plans on taking his first vacation day since kicking off this venture.
• Once the weather turns colder the popsicles will be hard to find on the street, but the local merchants (Urban Cannibals, Candler Park Market, Souper Jenny, etc) will carry the popsicles through the Winter.
• The Woodruff Park location was good, but nothing compared to the corner of North and Highland.
• He helped paint the mural which is on the side of the laundromat.
• During the Winter he’ll be figuring out in which direction the King of Pops will head.
• He received a “Cease and Desist” letter from Unilever, the owners of the trademark Popsicleâ„¢ because the word popsicle is present on his pushcart and website.
• His brother is co-owner of King of Pops.

Not bad considering we didn’t speak for long. Hell, I should have asked if I could take his portrait.

I Can’t Attend
If you are looking for something fun to do this weekend check out the Highland Games held at Stone Mountain.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – absent
Current Music – I have no idea at this moment because I’m writing this on Thursday night
Website Of The Day – By now you should know that I love music, this is why sites like Explore Music please me.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In –
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 – 6, 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]