Fashionably Late

Whereas yesterday was messed up because of the power outage, today I am late due to a 7:00am physical therapy appointment. I’ve just now arrived at work, showered, and have put on a pair of size-appropriate (read “fat”) shorts.

I Had Always Wondered
For most of my life I’d seen photos of Black Widow spiders, but I don’t think that I’ve ever encountered one. I had always wondered whether or not I’d be able to identify one of Nature’s nastier inhabitants.

If they all come as large as the one that I saw outside my front door the other day then I’ll never have difficulty recognizing them. The one I saw, which slowly made its way back into the vase in which it was living was large, black as coal, and had a bright red hour glass on its body. It may not be dead, but it’s definitely no where near the front door any longer as I threw the entire vase into the front yard.

Huzzah! I Believe Jack And I Will Be Together Another Year!
Yesterday morning’s frustrations were heightened when the emissions testing location I was going to use wasn’t open at their advertised time. When they opened a few minutes later and I circled back to get the Jackmobile’s emissions tested the man asked me if I could wait ten minutes for the instrument to calibrate. I declined.

Assuming that my attempt would see failure again I happened upon a Shell station just outside I-285 which was advertising $15 emission testing — which was $5 cheaper than the place I just left disgustingly. So I stopped there.

This is the first year I’ve worried about the Jackmobile passing emissions. You’d think a nine-year-old Honda would have no difficulties but with last year’s transmission fiasco and the fact that I’m burning oil internally these days I was waiting on the results with bated breath. Thankfully, Jack passed. Now it’s time for me to continue to take care of him and start saving some money for the inevitable day when I decide that it’s time to part ways with an old friend.

So Many Letdowns
It’s still tough being a Mets fan.

I got home last night and fired up the game using Major League Baseball’s iOS application and by the time I did the Braves already had a 1-0 lead. I cooked up a hamburger (note to self: these pre-portioned patties are huge and require more cooking time to ensure the middle meat is cooked) and sat down to take care of some business. As I worked the Mets took the lead, then quickly gave it back again thanks to my most-hated Brave Chipper Jones’ three-run home run. Disgustedly I turned the game off.

Some time later in the night I checked in on the game and was thrilled to see the Mets leading 8-6 in the bottom of the ninth inning! Maybe I should have gone to the game after all!

As I typed in a comment to a friend’s Facebook wall I realized that it was taking the Mets a long time to win this game. I then checked back to see the score had changed to 8-8. Holy Jebus! Mother F*cker! WTF, dudes!!! With anger and disgust I deleted what was to be a joyous comment and stopped watching the game again.

The Mets lost 9-8 in ten innings. Maybe it was a good thing I didn’t go to the game.

Another Busy Weekend Ahead
Y’all come back Monday to see what I did. Have a great weekend all!

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – harried, which is how I often feel on PT mornings
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – Ever seen a word and wonder how it’s pronounced? Try Forvo (which I assume is pronounced “Four-voe”) to see if they can clear matters up.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – checking next Wednesday

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

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

Vegetarian Days – 5
Carnivorous Days – 11

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

June Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash
– Get back on a bicycle
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run at least once
Eat vegetarian no fewer than five days done!
– Lose three pounds
Go out on a date with someone else
Finish The Laws Of Simplicity done! and read another 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 one half-marathon
– 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]

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5 Responses to Fashionably Late

  1. Martha says:

    I found two, two!! black widow spiders on the inside of my meter lid a few weeks ago, there is no way anyone could not recognize them. Mine are both dead, I made sure of that.

    Driving to the gym today I hit 10,000 miles, I’ve owned it for just 3 days shy of 6 months? I have no idea where I’ve been going?

    I’m going to make another attempt on the bike today, I’ll be meeting some friends at the Silver Comet…wish me luck.

  2. I would have dispatched the black widow had it not crawled back into the vase before I could.

    One thing I plan to do in order to extend Jack’s life is take MARTA again. I have money stowed away in a Flexible Savings Account for transportation only. Once I’m done with PT I’m going to ride the train again. Of course this’ll mean that I’ll have to be better at preparing the blog since there is no way I could produce one on the train.

    Speaking of PT I’m proud to say that I ran for ten minutes at a 9:13 (aka 6.5 mi/hr) pace! This is huge for such a huge and still-injured man.

    Good luck with the ride.

  3. Steve says:

    Good for you Martha!! The Comet is a great place to get your riding back in shape.

    Spiders don’t bother me- they actually are fasinating to watch, and no, I don’t think you can mistake a black widow for much of anything else.

    Nothing much planned for this weekend- dinner with friends tonight, a pre-Fathers’ day lunch with Debbie’s folks tomorrow and nothing planned for Sunday.

    Next week will be hellish as I’m only working the real job Monday, then off to Augusta for Nationals the rest of the week.

    Have a good weekend everyone. Happy Fathers Day to those that qualify, and even those that don’t.

    -FP

  4. Barb says:

    Why can’t you type up the blog on the train?

    I rode last night in Roswell (with the C group) since the A & B group are those CRUSHING types of riders. We had a couple B group wanna bes in our group, trying to go fast & then giving dirty looks when they have to wait at the re-group points. I have a Ironman training girl friend that talked me into riding, it was actually pretty pleasant temperature wise – well, maybe compared to BRAG, anything will be pleasant temperature wise.

    We had a black widow in the kitchen in a little nook not too long ago, I called Allan over, he confirmed & them somehow took it away. (I’m not a fan of spiders, so I left the room).

    I’m actually going to get to see my father next weekend (yes, lucky me, I get to go to Iowa for a weekend), so he gets no card! But – he is used to that & has said before that cards are a waste of money 😉

  5. Three reasons I can’t type on the train
    – I’m never guaranteed a seat
    – I’m not that good of a typist in a moving object
    – I get easily distracted by people and start people-watching

    Good reminder about Father’s Day — I wish my dad were still around.

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