Under Pressure

I’m part of a group who must deliver a demo application for CES (that’s the Consumer Electronics Show held early January for the non-nerds). The problem with this is that there is a ton of work to do and this is the time of year where people start taking vacation. If you don’t see or hear from me much, you now know why.

Urban Decay
Well, for the second time in as many years Urban Meyer has resigned as the coach of the Florida Gators. This time I think it’s going to stick. Oh well, my beloved Gators have had a great run under Meyer’s control — except for this season of course — and I hope that they can settle on an excellent coach and recruiter in the near future.

What’s Happened To The George’s Running Scene?
I dropped by George’s Bar early last night to find a small group of those with whom I used to (and hope to again) run. However, the 7pm crowd of non-hashers seems to have become extinct. What has happened? Has the running scene in Atlanta died out (figuratively) or has everyone moved on to other locations?

ITP Flickr Pic
Every feel like things have gone down the drain?

I’m really feeling that way today.

Slider Night
After an early departure from George’s I headed down to Glenwood Park to meetup with ITP-Readers Terri and Betsy for The Shed‘s “Slider Night.” I was actually happy to be eating sliders because it meant that I could have a small meal.

In addition to some popcorn (which must have been the theme of last night because I noshed on some popcorn at George’s as well) I ordered one slider — a duck confit with cranberries and pears — and a side of roasted Brussels sprouts. Oh, and my second beer of the night…

The meal was delicious.

RealiTV Update: Top Chef – Sometimes The Good Die Young
Like a carton of eggs that has been in the refrigerator too long, there are spoilers enclosed.

The thing about “All Star” casts is that sometimes the people you think will go far don’t. In fact, it has been rumored that Atlanta’s own Richard Blais doesn’t make it too deep into this season.

On last night’s Top Chef the cheftestants had to create a baggable snack that could be eaten by children doing a night at the museum sleepover in New York’s Museum of Natural History. In what could only be described as a “planned outcome” one of the Jonas brothers (I have no idea) couldn’t pick a clear winner in the QuickFire Challenge, thus forcing the cheftestants to pick teams and recreate each snack onsite so that the kids could decide. The kids had to decide between a vegetable snack and a marshmallow and chocolate snack. Which one do you think won? 😉

Just when the cheftestants thought their night was done, Big Daddy Collichio arrives at the museum and informs the cheftestants that they’ll have to sleep on cots and cook the critters, I mean children, breakfast in the morning. The teams which had been picked previously were to remain in tact and by virtue of her snack winning Tiffany got to choose between Tyrannosaurs Rex, the carnivores, or Brontosaurus, the vegetarians, she chose Tyrannosaurs Rex. Tiffany and her team were surprised and disappointed to find that their pantry consisted of only meat and meat byproducts and were vocal when explaining later that they thought they’d have “everything” where as the Brontosaurus would only have vegetables. Whoops!

The T Rex team, now subdivided into smaller teams was further hampered when cheftestant Jamie sliced her thumb and had to leave the kitchen to get two stitches. Jamie was later ridiculed by many of the other cheftestants who had their own tales of woe (like the time I sliced off the top of my thumb, but not being a professional myself had to go get it cauterized). Jamie’s partner was the never-self-doubting Jen from the Las Vegas season. Jen, who made it to fourth place during her season produced soggy bacon (more like slab pork) and tasteless eggs — at least that was the opinion of everyone on the show except for Jen. Upon hearing the judges’ critique she ripped into them as if she knew it was going to be her last attempt at saving her ass — and she was right because she was asked to pack up her knives and go.

The term “sore loser” came to mind as you could hear Jen yelling about how she was not supposed to be gone this early as she departed from the stew room.

Happy Birthday Greetings!
I seem to know a lot of folks who were created in the last cold months of the year.

Today is the birthday of one of my most favorite people in the world, one, who I may not see for years (because she is happily married and a mother of one), but when I do it’s as if no time has passed — mostly because she never ages. Happy birthday to my long-time friend Stac(e)y! [the spelling is an inside joke]

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – harried
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – You know me, I like food. So when I saw a link to Kitchen Daily yesterday I knew I had to steal it.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – stair climbing (11 flights)
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~5.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 44 flights

Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)

Vegetarian Days – 1
Carnivorous Days – 7

Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

December Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run no fewer than 75 miles
– Prepare Sharpened Stone, LLC for 2011
– Lose two pounds
– Eat vegetarian at least one day a week
– A couple of secret goals which I will not divulge

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, completed
– Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides, completed
– Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers, completed

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]