All Systems No

Either someone has invented a time machine and has gone back and erased most of what I had accomplished in August, or I’m losing my marbles.

Another of my “systems” has failed. When I identify an event that I wish to attend I put it into a Google Calendar. If I don’t immediately purchase a ticket for the event I append “[tentative]” to the event in the calendar. When a ticket is acquired, I remove the “[tentative]” tag as a confirmation of my attendance. There is usually an email confirmation as well, and in some instances a physical ticket.

The Case Of The Missing Confirmation #1
I left work and headed to the Alliance Theatre to see the performance of “Into the Woods.” Not finding a physical ticket for the play I made the assumption that I instructed the ticket agency to hold my ticket at Will Call. After all, there was no “[tentative]” tag in my calendar for the event.

I walked up to the box office and politely asked the woman working the counter and was informed that there was no record of a ticket purchase. Huh. I left the box office and made all attempts to find confirmation via email or credit card bill. After searching high and low, including another scouring of my messenger bag for a physical ticket, and not finding anything, I left in a bit of a huff.

To add insult to insult parking for the hour I spent looking for my ticket cost me $10.

Penalty: Home Team. Loss Of Fun: No Eating Out Allowed!
With no play consuming two hours of last night I decided that I could eat a nice dinner out as compensation. But my desire to eat less, as well as spend less (that $10 for parking smarted), as well as a need to use some of the food I had in my refrigerator, I returned home to eat dinner (a delicious cheeseburger with some breaded okra from the freezer).

I tried to make the best of a bad situation by watching more iOS training, but fell asleep way early only to wake again at 4am. And then, to make matters worse I fell back asleep at 5am only to wake up again at 6:45am.

The Case Of The Missing Confirmation #2
I was scheduled to attend a photography seminar up in Clarkesville, GA on Sunday. At least I thought that I was scheduled to attend a photography seminar up in Clarkesville, GA on Sunday.

When I threw out a reminder to all people who said they were going to attend and found the person who initiated the idea of going up to Clarkesville on Sunday had backed out, and that there weren’t as many committed to going as I initially thought, I decided to back out as well.

In order to be somewhat “responsible” I decided to send an email to the organizers of the seminar alerting them that I would no longer be attending. However, no matter where I looked I found no confirmation of my attendance (And I swear that I received one! And the fact that there was no “[tentative]” tag on the event in my calendar furthered this belief!). I sent them an email regardless…

What the hell is going on with my life???

At Least I Know I’ll Be Doing Laundry Tonight
No confirmation needed.

Looks As If Netflix Has Become Too Big For Its Britches
Just days after it split its offerings into two separate streams — streaming online, shipping dvds — I read yesterday that Netflix has implemented another restriction. According to the article I read, Netflix now restricts online accounts to one stream at a time, therefore if you are a family using a single account only one person can stream video from Netflix at a time. FAIL.
Even though I’m a one-person household I’m glad that I switched to the DVD shipping plan because this new, unannounced, limitation would piss me off to the point of canceling my Netflix account. Hell, I may do so anyway…

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – majorly frustrated
Current Music – listening to this week’s “MacBreak Weekly” podcast
Website Of The Day – I guess I should read these Seven Google Calendar Planning Tips.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car (though the initial idea was to ride my bike today)
Exercise (b)Log – stair climbing, 7 flights
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t think to check; stupid Holiday week has thrown me off

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 52.5 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 7 flights

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

Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 6

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

September Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash
– Ride my bike no fewer than 150 miles
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run at least twice
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than five days
– Lose three pounds

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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24 Responses to All Systems No

  1. Barb says:

    I guess that the likelihood of Allan streaming something at the firehouse on his laptop, and me streaming something at home thru the Wii is probably never going to happen, so I guess I really don’t care about the new Netflix rule.
    I bet they come up with another new plan (more $$) to stream more than one thing at a time to an account.

    Couldn’t you have bought a ticket on the spot to the play? I thnk I would have done that since I was already there and planning on it.

  2. I’m sure they’ll have another higher-cost plan but I’ve already gotten tired of Netflix’s antics; their stock has soared, it’s not like they are hurting for money.

    I thought about buying a ticket. However, I intended to see the play for 50% off and that was sticking in my mind and didn’t want to pay full price after thinking I’d already bought a ticket for 50% off.

    Damn, the Vuelta is already been streaming for hours today! So much for the mindset of all stages starting at 10:00am EDT. Also, I thought yesterday was a rest day but apparently it wasn’t. It looks as if it too started streaming at 7:00am EDT yesterday. 10am EDT streaming starts again tomorrow.

  3. Steve says:

    You thought yesterday was a rest day because your body told you it was MONDAY! That is what’s throwing you off. To watch the Vuelta did you have to buy a pass or is your secret access a company thing? I can only see day old stuff online- nothing live.

    I will now start the movement here- I move that next weeks Wednesday run be moved to Thursday so we can help celebrate George’s 50th Anniversary. They will be celebrating all that weekend long. So, come and run, or just come and celebrate. Even if you have never been a regular (Barb) or have forgotten how to get there (Sally). Georges has certainly had a major role in our lives… certainly in mine.

    -FP

  4. I thought the Vuelta rested on Tuesday last week. I paid NBC Universal $15 for live online streaming. Tonight I’m going to see about a similar deal for the Rugby World Cup which starts Friday — 2011 will be the year I start following rugby.

    While it’s not as accurate as it once was my calendar says that I am free on Thursday September 15th, so I will be at George’s that night.

  5. Barb says:

    Steve – I’m hurt that you think I’ve never been a regular at George’s – back in the 90s, I was there A LOT. In fact, I think I’m one of the few people that GG has bought a beer for. (or so I’ve been told that he doesn’t do that very often.)

    Allan will be back by then, we can probably fit a visit to George’s in next Thursday. Maybe I’ll get Sal to carpool with us.

  6. Randy says:

    Your website of the day has a suggestion for you – a virtual personal assistant (unless, of course, you can afford a non-virtual one).

  7. UPDATE: NBC Universal wants $150 for the Rugby World Cup! 2011 will NOT be the year I start following rugby, at least not with the World Cup.

  8. I wish that I could afford a non-virtual assistant; she would probably be no better at keeping me organized, but she’d be “my type.” πŸ˜‰

  9. Hey, I’m getting a Road ID commercial on my Vuelta streaming. WTF?!?!

  10. Steve says:

    Barb, my apologies.. my memory isn’t quite what it used to be. I know I only started running there in 97 or so- I’m a newbie.

  11. ’99 was when I first started darkening George’s doors as a runner. I was (briefly) dating a girl named Deb who went to the same high school (many years later) as Ass Cracker.

  12. Barb says:

    I even RAN on Wednesdays back in the mid 90s – especially when I lived up on University. But – once I realized how bad running was for my back pain, and then moving to OTP Roswell in 2001, the visits to George’s got less & less frequent.

    Road ID is everywhere – is it a Bobke commerical at least? He does speak Spanish.

  13. It wasn’t a Bobke commercial, it was the “Share the Road” Road ID commercial.

    Even I used to run at George’s. πŸ™‚ There was a day I used to run well at George’s, but that was more than ten years ago. πŸ™

  14. Steve says:

    Many signs in Colorado, “Bobke, I’ll ride with you.”

    There was a time when I ran well at George’s… not lately though.

    Barb, your move to Roswell was 2001? wow… just seems like yesterday.

  15. I just read that the Netflix deal is that you get as many concurrent streams as DVDs allowed out at one time. However, I don’t know what this means if you are on the streaming-only plan.

  16. WOW! That was a hell of a finish of today’s Vuelta stage. Much respect to the riders Cobo and Froome who just put on a clinic of mountain-top riding.

  17. Stacy Fox says:

    Wait. Your girlfriend went to high school with Ass Cracker many years later? Exactly how young WAS she when you dated her?! πŸ˜‰

  18. I like ’em young. πŸ˜‰

  19. Sal says:

    Hey Paulie: an answers to your question about individual zoo memberships:

    Good Morning,

    That is a good question. We stopped selling individual memberships because they were not popular (low number of individual memberships). We found that the companion membership level was much perfered. With a companion membership, members could list just one person and leave the second as a guest. This option allows them to bring any other person with them to the zoo. This person can change everytime if they want. If there are any other questions I can answer for you or anything I can help you with please let me know. Thank you and have a great day!

    Thank you,

    Zoo Atlanta Member Services
    404-624-5662 (phone)
    404-624-5819 (fax)

  20. Thanks Sal!

    I considered sending Zoo Atlanta a question regarding the lack of individual memberships, but got distracted.

    While I sort of understand their lack of popularity I doubt it costs the zoo any more money to offer a lower level of membership. I don’t have a companion and don’t want to seek one out (at least for zoo participation) so in essence the zoo is telling me that they don’t want me because I am a loner. Pity.

  21. Steve says:

    … so we didn’t sell enough of the individual memberships (even though that’s probably the biggest profit margin price point?) Huh?

    I had a similar discussion after first attending Martini’s and IMAX at Fernbank… I wrote them a note as to why the museum wasn’t open during the evening. They explained it was too expensive to have all the security- even though that was a perfect opportunity to show off the museum to a group that was not likely to already be members- hence plenty of opportunity to sell memberships!!

    Want to guess where I’ve never been a member?

  22. Barb says:

    here’s my delimma of the day – do I want to pay $65 for Darius Rucker (formerly Hootie) at Chastain on 9/17?
    I hate how much concerts cost these days, but I like Daruis’s new, sort of country sound.
    they have 2 tables – in the pit…….
    (and, if any of you ITP readers want to go, I can ask Gloria how many seats she has available?)

  23. $65? Yikes! Yesterday a coworker asked me if I wanted to go to The Tabernacle tomorrow to hear (a band even I’ve never heard of, but are apparently rather popular — deathmau5 ??). Last night I saw that tickets were $50 and I told the person I had no interest in paying $50 to hear a band I loved, never mind one I’d never heard of before.

    I *almost* paid $100 (plus fees) to get a table for Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar) at Eddie’s Attic, but decided to get a single ticket for $20 instead — at least I *think* I’ve purchased a ticket, I better double-check that. πŸ˜‰

    Regardless of the price 9/17 is East Atlanta Strut day and if the weather is nice I should be good a drunk by the time Darius takes the stage.

  24. Barb says:

    well – to sit in the pit at Chastain is pretty fun (if you are into that sort of thing), and you can really, really see the band, so $65 isn’t that unreasonable (in this day & age).
    But – I just don’t know if I want to spend the money. I’m trying to not spend until I get the deck sort of paid off.

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