I’d love to proclaim a happy Presidents Day to all, but happy is an emotion that’s been hard for me to find in recent times. I’m at home today, so perhaps I’ll try to find happiness through productivity.
I Couldn’t Carry A Tune In A Bucket
Believe me, I had no intention of doing karaoke on Friday night; it was not on the agenda for the Friday’s happy hour celebrating my boss’ birthday. We started the evening at a bar called Bat & Ball Pub (apparently no one listened to my plea to go to Taco Mac) and before I knew it someone made the decision to move the party to Karaoke Happy.
Karaoke Happy (no website found) is a small joint on Buford Highway inside the perimeter. A group of maybe ten of us staggered into the room and before we knew it we were belting out songs which may or may not have resembled the original versions. I think we were there a total of more than two hours and the bill for the room was $63 — picked up by one person in our party, but I’m not telling who. The alcohol selection and prices at Karaoke Happy left something to be desired. The only beer they had which I thought that I could stomach was Heineken for $4 a bottle, and they were charging $9 for skimpy pours of cheap wine. The oddest, but perhaps the best. thing to happen all evening occurred after about two hours in the room — one of the workers brought in plates of fresh fruit (cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, pineapple) for our consumption. The fresh fruit hit the spot, especially for someone who’d not eaten dinner, had been drinking for hours, and had just spent the past two hours singing aloud.
So20 (Almost)
On Saturday I decided that I was going to make an effort to stay south of I-20 for the entire three-day weekend. Honestly, if I didn’t work up in the Perimeter Mall area my Atlanta travels would rarely take me north of midtown — Chamblee/Buford Hwy would probably be the reason I’d do so. My decision didn’t last long however, as by lunch I was headed to Ansley Wine Merchants in midtown to get some consultation for the wines I needed to purchase for Saturday night’s group Tasty China dinner, and Sunday’s mimosas. I couldn’t think of a liquor store south of I-20 which would either carry the beverages I sought, or have a knowledgeable staffer willing to help me out.
Technically my plan was flawed from the get-go since ITP-Readers Terri and Pat, whose house at which we were meeting for the Tasty China dinner, resides north of I-20 because of the bizarre southern turn I-20 takes east of Moreland Avenue.
But I tried.
I managed to stay south of I-20 on Sunday (technically I was “on” I-20 in order to drive to Sweetwater Creek State Park) by choosing to eat dinner at Vickery’s in Glenwood Park. Using the Scoutmob discount for Vickery’s I saved %50 off my dinner of a Yeungling, chicken wings, and Maytag bleu cheese chips.
It’s Like Running, Just Slower
It was hailed as the return of the Sunday Runner’s group. And while there were hiccups with the planning, a small group of us managed to make it out to Sweetwater Creek State Park for a run followed by some bagels and libations.
I have to admit that my running is nowhere near what it was when we used to regularly hold the Sunday Runner’s groups. I made an effort to keep up with ITP-Reader Steve, but about a mile / mile-and-a-half into our run I realized that there was no way in hell that I could maintain his pace (which was probably slower than his normal pace to begin with). According to my Garmin I got in about 4.75 miles of running with far too much walking.
ITP Flickr Pic
Again, the camera stayed in its bag this weekend.
I should have stopped and taken a photo of the free-standing hearth I saw near Sweetwater State Park, but I was tired, and it was on private property, etc, etc, etc.
RealiTV Update: The Amazing Race Is Back!!!
While having dinner last night I received a text from ITP-Reader Terri reminding me that The Amazing Race was going to begin again last night. It was a win for me, and a loss for the local coffee shop I was planning on going to for a cup of coffee and dessert after dinner.
I can’t say that I’m thrilled with all of the all of the teams who have returned to race again (I’m looking at you Goths and cheerleaders), but it’s sort of good to have familiarity with the contestants from the start.
Already we have typical Amazing Race luck when the plane headed to Australia with the ninety-minute lead had to make an emergency landing in Hawaii because one of its passengers had a heart attack. Thankfully one contestant, Big Easy, didn’t whine about losing the lead but rather expressed relief that the passenger was going to be okay.
What was with all of the “cheating” on the flag clue detour? I wish the organizers would make this sort of inter-team helping illegal.
To be continued…
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – listening to a Coverville podcast featuring the music of The Band
Website Of The Day – If only I were a dog I could send myself to Dog Island.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Friday: running/walking (4.5 miles); Sunday: walking/running (4.75 miles).
Morning Weigh-In – posted before I got out of bed
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 37.25 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 4*
Carnivorous Days – 16
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
February Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month FAIL
– Not get fired from my job
– Run no fewer than 75 miles
– Lose two pounds
– Go out on a date with someone else
– Read an entire book
2011 Goals [will be a little more fluid than in past years]
– Reduce my weight by 25 pounds based on the my weight as measured on February 1st
– Completely read the book Daily Negations which I received as a Christmas gift.
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business — one which does not get penalized.
– 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
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than two half-marathons
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Free Forever!!!! 🙂
Happy President’s Day to you! I’m at home today as well. Today isn’t a paid holiday for SAIC, but CDC is closed. Right now I’m debating on using my floating holiday or trying to get some work done…I’m leaning toward the first option.
Yesterday was nice, a little chilly but good to see everyone. I came home an collapsed on the sofa. Back squats this morning did not help my legs. Not sure what is on your training schedule today but if you want company for a short (slow, very slow, god please!!) run just let me know. I might throw a yoga DVD in at some point today also.
I did not watch Amazing Race last night – we had what was originally planned as a small dinner party (6-8 people) that turned into a much bigger birthday party at the house (25-30). I’m a sucker sometimes, but it was a good surprise for my friend Becky. (and the house got cleaned) Good thing about parties on Sunday night, if you start them early enough, everyone goes home early.
I rode the bike both days of the weekend, Michelle & I went to Silver Comet on Saturday for some flat riding, dodged plenty of families (many not wearing helmets we noticed) & got in a few miles. Not bad for the first time on the road bike in forever – and DAMN, it was a GORGEOUS day. Sunday we went over to Roswell in the morning, a little chilly, but was a nice ride. Now if i can just keep riding…….
Thank you SO MUCH for passing on the TAR tip (ha! Tar tip from Ter!) yesterday – I’m totally stoked it is back on. Of course, my faves are already in the back of the pack (there’s just something about them sillyass cowboys that make them so hard not to like!), but I’m hoping the whole “meet at the pitstop…but you’re still racing!” will allow them to catch back up. I, too, didn’t really care much that the cheerleaders are back. Goth kids might be fun to watch self destruct.
AND – finale party! Okay, I know…I know…it just started. But if I remember correctly, it was bad weather that kept us all from getting together last time. I daresay we shouldn’t have that problem this go around!
‘Twas lovely to see everyone yesterday at Sweetwater. I guess I need an expert to show me how to run a 5 mile loop that doesn’t backtrack on itself. There must be a way- Debbie said she got to the lake on the Yellow (?) trail…
I got suckered into Amazing Race last night. If the cowboys get booted (I crack myself up) early, I may lose interest quickly. The deaf kid and his mom are the only other folks I’d root for. And what was so hard about the alphabet challenge? Did they not realize the flags went around the building?
I might try and get a ride in this afternoon. I actually have a riding lesson late this morning, and I asked Debbie to snap a couple pictures… this could be interesting.
-FP
Steve, we ran blue to white (then white to blue the second time), it’s just under 5 miles, run with me next time. Right now you can only do a small part of the yellow trail, the bridge that connected it to the rest of the park washed out during the flood a couple of years ago.
SuperSuck and MiniBrew are riding to Stone Mountain today. I was thinking about it but in addition to my legs, I’m carless today so I’ll be staying close to home. There were a LOT of stupid folks riding bikes this weekend. I’m sure many had not been out since last fall.
We got out early enough that we missed most of the crowds, by the time we left yesterday I’m sure we could have gotten a few bucks for our parking spaces, SW was crazy busy.
I’m now just getting started with my day. I’m not sure what my training schedule will be today but for some reason I’m contemplating going to a grocery store and getting ingredients for a meal tonight. I was in Publix on Saturday (and ran into my friend Sandy and one of her two lads), but was not in the mood to do any food planning/purchasing then. Now, I am. D’Oh!
My pleasure Stacy. I know that I’ve been out of the tv loop and thought there was an outside chance that I was not alone. Weather shouldn’t be an issue this time, and because there is no NFL during this season we should know exactly when it will start as well. 🙂 I’m in!
I’m far from a Sweetwater expert, so I can’t help. In linking to the park’s website I found it interesting that the yellow trail is currently partially closed due to a bridge outage from the flooding a few years ago. Of course. that might be old information as well…
And does anyone know why all of the picnic areas were closed? It being February? Short-staffing of parks employees?
I’m guessing budget constraints for the park is why things are closed.
In completely unrelated news, is your top beer over there –> supposed to be “21st Amendment Brew Free OR Die?” Cause that’s kinda clever. (or “OF dye” if, well, it’s not colored) Was it any good?
Haha, manual data entry FAIL! I thought that beer was pretty good, if memory serves me right.
In news related to the unrelated news, today I am going to try and write an application which will transform my current passport list from its .csv format to html so that I can keep that list accurate and up to date.
MEL and MIKE! MEL and MIKE!
I’m all for an Amazing Race finale gathering! I’ll offer my place again unless someone else is more geographically convenient ;)…
I hope that Mel and Mike last for awhile this season. It appears we are being teased about problems ahead with them however.
I’m a fan of Team Noun (as coined by Terri) and hope that they can overcome their inability to figure out the puzzle or get the answer from another team.
Team Noun! I totally forgot that was their name. Outstanding. Do you remember any of the others? If not, we really need to name them pronto!
I don’t recall any other team names off the top of my head. I’ll have to dig into the ITP archives as the season goes on.