Slow Start

I did fairly well in the food arena by eating sensible meals and consuming no beverages on the verboten list, and just okay in the exercise arena. My efforts to reconfigure my television viewing area went awry last night and consumed more time than I had hoped (with the end result being that tonight’s Top Chef viewing will most likely take place upstairs in the living room as opposed to said television viewing area). I wouldn’t have had to “fix” this problem if the old projector hadn’t died. I’ll have to perform a complete tear-down / rebuild of the television viewing area some time this weekend so that I am ready for Sunday night’s The Amazing Race viewing (all ITP-Readers who know where I live are welcome to join).

To Eat Or Not To Eat? What Would You Have Done?
Last night’s dinner included a baked sweet potato. Since I was going to be heating up the toaster oven for one, I figured that I’d wrap two in foil and bake them at the same time. The plan was to eat one sweet potato with dinner and to bring the other one to work with me for lunch today.

As you can imagine sweet potatoes straight out of the oven (even a toaster oven) are rather hot. So, I sliced and prepared the one I had planned to eat for dinner while I let the other cool before putting it into the refrigerator overnight. But after eating dinner I went into my bedroom, forgetting about the cooling sweet potato, and eventually fell asleep.

When I entered the kitchen this morning I saw the second sweet potato sitting on the stove top. It’d been there all night and had remained wrapped in the jacket of tin foil in which it was cooked.

A younger Paulie would have shrugged his shoulders and tossed into a bag to bring to work. An older, not quite as healthy, Paulie decided that he shouldn’t mess with the God of Food Poisoning and tossed the sweet potato into the trash with much remorse. I so hate wasting food and money.

So I ask. What would you do in this scenario?

Aw Rats!
Luckily not the animal, at least not this time…

This morning I saw about an seven-inch scratch on my hardwood floors. The scratch was caused by the Red Rocket which was propped up against a wall and moved by one of the hashers who entered my house on Saturday. I noticed that the bicycle had been moved when I went to plug something into a wall socket on Sunday and the rear tire was blocking the outlets. It wasn’t until this morning that I saw the scratch. I repeat what I mentioned on Monday that I should have cleaned up and prepared my house a little better for the invasion (for the bathroom) that I should have anticipated.

In the grand scheme of things a scratch of this sort is nothing major. In fact I’m sure those ITP-Readers with pets or children are laughing at my attempts to keep my living environment scratch-free. But I do try, it’s part of who I am.

Looking Forward To Some Top Chef And Ropa Vieja Tonight
Tonight is the premiere of Top Chef: Texas (I inadvertently called this “Top Chef: Dallas” last weekend). Tonight ITP-Reader Betsy will be bringing over some ropa vieja (yee haw!) for dinner. As I usually do, I plan on giving recaps each week, and this season I’ll also describe the dinner which she or I (or anyone else who wants to join in) prepare for the evening. Maybe I’ll even take photos — what a concept!

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – frustrated on many levels right now
Current Music – silence as I stew
Website Of The Day – Not only is November “National Novel Writing Month” it’s Movember, when men grow mustaches to raise awareness about prostate cancer. As for me I’ve grown a beard and mustache to raise awareness that winter is coming.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – stair climbing, 18 flights, situps, 40
Morning Weigh-In – forgot to check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 40
Stairs – 18 flights

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

Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 1

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

November Goals
– Lose three pounds
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash (though I’m beginning to this this will never happen)
– Ride my bike no fewer than 100 miles
– Exercise for an hour no fewer than twenty-five days
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than fifteen vegetarian meals
– Not get fired from my job, nor quit my job

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]