Q: Who Has Two Thumbs, Gets Overlooked Often, And Will Probably Be Working A Lot Of Hours For Awhile

A: This guy.

What’s Thirty Minutes Between Friends?
Ugh, I have become a terrible team trivia player.

Because of major upheaval with my project at work (in addition to trying to catch up after missing a week) I had to work late and decided that laundry was not in the cards so I joined ITP-Reader Barb and her friends for some Team Trivia at Taco Mac Chattahoochee North River Tavern (once a Taco Mac).

Among the many questions I answered wrong for our team last night was this final rounder (paraphrased because I cannot remember the exact wording):
How many hours time difference separate the Pacific and Atlantic time zones?

Having researched a trip to Halifax this year, and this being a final-round question, I came up with and convinced the team, that the answer was three-and-a-half. Of course the answer is four. I confused the half-hour difference with that occurring in Saint Pierre which is just a little farther east from the Atlantic time zone.

Oh and some Florida Gator and New York Jet fan I proved to be when I didn’t know that Fred Taylor (Gator) and Curtis Martin (Jet) were two of the five running backs who rushed for over 11,000 yards but have yet to be voted into the NFL Hall of Fame. [see also: LaDainian Tomlinson (current Jet, who we got), Edgerrin James (who I incorrectly switched with Marshall Faulk), and Jerome Bettis (who I never knew rushed for that many yards)]

I’m Not Broke, Nor Do I Wish To Be
Though I have to get a lot of things done at work I have a theater ticket for tonight’s performance of “Broke” at the Hertz Stage of the Alliance Theatre.

The Eliason family is living the American dream until Liz Eliason, a high level marketing executive, comes home to her husband Jonathan with the news that she’s been fired. She is shocked; Jonathan is thrilled. With the wealth they have accrued from her career, they can now finally enjoy a life together. But when the company Liz has worked for goes under a few days later and with it, a great part of their wealth, Liz, Jonathan and their 19 year-old daughter Missie – a student at NYU – are now facing a new reality. BROKE asks the question: when it seems like everything is falling through your fingers, what (and who) do you hold onto?

Written by Atlanta’s own Janece Shaffer, BROKE is a deeply moving and almost-too-close-for-comfort story about when the indispensable in corporate America become dispensable. Shaffer once again brings to life a story that touches our community’s heart with compassion, keen insights, and humor.

Hmmm, this could be a very interesting play…

I’ve already exchanged my ticket once, for a performance which clashed with my recruiting trip to Florida, so I am going to make damn sure that I will be able to see this play tonight.

RealiTV Update : The Amazing Race — Foreshadowing, It’s What’s For Dinner
Look, it’s Wednesday and if you’ve yet to catch up on The Amazing Race yet then that’s a you problem.

We’ve seen it before, aching (single) parent misses his/her son/daughter [alternatively: spouse misses his/her wife/husband]. Normally this spells doom for the suffering person. This was the case for one of Team Pole Dancers (I can’t tell these similarly-looking teammates apart even when they are not twins) and would have most likely spelled “Win!” for ITP-Reader Stacy had she, I, or ITP-Reader Terri had remembered to make picks for this week’s episode.

There are still too many teams for me to have given them names, and there are teams I couldn’t identify in a police lineup. It has also been two days since I watched the episode so my recollection of the hour of tv watching is weak. [update: I’m reading the recap on the CBS website to jog my memory. Jog? That’s almost like exercise!]

All teams had to head out jump on bicycles to ride somewhere. After a few Lance Armstrong references we saw what may be our first mechanical failure in this season’s race when one of the pedals broke off of the bicycle being ridden by the round eye member of Team Round/Slant Eyes. While other teams passed the broken-down bicycle the slant eye member grated my nerves with her angst and complaining.

Once teams arrived at the next Detour they had to choose between filling bags with grass, drawing water out of a well using two (not one, nor three) buckets, and leading to sheep to some stable, OR, give two rice-planting women their lunch (I assume it wasn’t rice) and then plant rice in the mud. I’m going to hell because I laughed each time the female portion of Team AARP fell flat on her face running through the rice field.

I had growing respect for Team Dude! because they know to read the clues thoroughly and only hinted to Team Father/Son Reunion when they were screwing up by using too many buckets at the well. Of course later in the show the fully give the answer to Team Pine Mountain, which infuriated me.

After delivery of sheep or planting of rice all teams climb a massive temple, and I mean a massive temple, where they were told to count the number of Buddahs and report the number of each including the hand position for each count. We now encounter this season’s first cabbie FAIL as Team Pine Mountain’s cabbie got lost and drove them all around Indonesia, putting them into last place. Oddly, this would later help them immensely. We also see our second mechanical FAIL as some generic man/woman team’s taxi breaks down and they are forced to run a kilometer to get to the temple.

Remarkably Team Dude! and Team Father/Son Reunion decipher the Road Block clue perfectly and work as an alliance (another of my pet peeves) in order to solve the puzzle. All other teams fail to read the clue properly and pull singular numbers out of their asses in order try and complete this Road Block. Because Team Pine Mountain was so late at arriving at the temple they crossed paths with Team Dude! — who told them the complete answer to the Road Block (grrr!). After some amount of time all teams, including Team Pine Mountain’s Marcus who was given the fucking answer when they arrived!, figured out how to solve this Road Block.

On to the Pit Stop!!! Teams Dude! and Father/Son Reunion are so far out in front that they have no competition other than each other. Somehow Team Father/Son Reunion hit the mat first, but wait, they used more than two buckets to get their water and incurred a fifteen-minute penalty, giving Team Dude! the win. Because the Pit Stop is within walking distance of the Road Block, the remaining teams — except for Team Pine Mountain, who dismissed their shitty cabbie when they arrived at the temple, and team non-descript, whose taxi went kaput — had to return, find their taxi, pay their fare, and proceed to the Pit Stop on foot. And because of their odd twists of fate Teams Pine Mountain and non-descript could proceed directly to the Pit Stop finished high in the rankings. It was a (edited) race to the finish between Team Pole Dancers and Team Blonde One/Blonde Two!!! I secretly believe that the aching single-mom Pole Dancer, wanted to return to her daughter (who I’d never suspect to be hers since she looks so different) so much that she threw the race.

Next week. More things happen! (read: “I failed to watch next week’s preview”)

I’m Google Dammit!
Just go to Google today to see to what I refer.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – very fat and very frustrated
Current Music – listening to this week’s “Back To Work” podcast
Website Of The Day – Learn more about time zones at World Time Zone. I obviously need to school myself on this.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – not checking again until November

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~5.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~16.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

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

Vegetarian Meals – lost count (significantly fewer than carnivorous)
Carnivorous Meals – lost count (significantly more than vegetarian)
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

October Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash (though I’m beginning to this this will never happen)
– Ride my bike no fewer than 100 miles
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run at least twice
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than fifteen vegetarian meals
– 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]