Recluse

I hadn’t intended to play recluse this weekend, but that’s what happened. On Friday night I walked with my boss after work and then headed to Taco Mac. We actually attempted to head to Chuy’s after our walk but it was so crowded that we decided to go to Taco Mac. Here’s the crazy thing, I didn’t have any beer while I was at Taco Mac.

On Saturday I woke at a reasonable time but never really got into gear. The original plan was to head to Midway Pub (something about a football game being shown there) to celebrate ITP-Reader Terri’s birthday and hopefully meet up with ITP-Reader Betsy there. I had planned to ride Betsy’s coattails to May Avenue for their May on May block party since Betsy is friends with people who live on that block. I started working on some code and before I knew it noon had arrived and I had yet to shower. That’s when the recluse in my emerged. I continued working on code, listening to podcasts, and catching up with my brother and mother on the phone. In the end I never left the house.

On Sunday I started it all over again, but around 9:30am I headed outside to do some yard work — branch trimming, ivy pulling, “lawn” mowing. By the time I was done the heat was starting to arrive and I was dirty and hungry. I returned inside, showered, and then proceded to take a nap. By Sunday afternoon I had decided that I wasn’t going to make it out to the “Stinko de Mayo” hash so instead I started watching lectures from the Stanford iOS Development class, as well as catching up with Modern Family and The Office. As 8pm and the Amazing Race finale was due to start I got comfortable on the couch as well as with the idea that I had not spoken to any one in person since Friday evening. Weird. Yes, I am weird.

Yesterday’s Daily Challenge
Part with a piece of clothing that always makes you feel uncomfortable or unattractive.

Obviously, it’s the inside that counts! However, what we choose to put on each day can affect our mood and how we feel about ourselves. If you wear something that doesn’t fit correctly anymore, isn’t comfortable, or just isn’t “you,” it’s bound to make you feel less at ease. When you’re wearing something that’s flattering and makes you happy, it can help boost your confidence.

I have a lot of things which could help me successfully achieve this challenge.

It’s Going To Be A Long, Hot Summer For This Disgruntled Homeowner
This weekend required air conditioning in the ITP Estate. Unfortunately air conditioning is yet another thing with my house which is lacking. The air conditioner ran and ran, doing its best, but in the end it can’t compete against the heat. Apparently the system I had installed a few years ago is still not sufficient to cool the house down quickly — not that all of the air leaks help either.

It’s a good thing I prefer warmth to cold, but it is yet another reason I need to move.

I’m Not Sure How It’s Pronounced in Italian, But In English It’s “FAIL”
Even though I get NBC Universal over the air and on Dish Network I decided that I was going to pay the $20 to NBC for their online access to their coverage of the Giro d’Italia. But then I discovered that they require Flash to watch their video, no problem I’ll use Chrome. Then I found out that the sign in process using Chrome inexplicably didn’t work. Nothing I did, including turning off ad blocking, worked so I decided to save my money. I’ll have to figure out a solution before the start of le Tour de France.

Printing Like A Pro, Well, Sort Of
On Sunday I finally got around to setting up the printer I purchased. You may remember that I bought a Brother HL-2770DW about a month ago; this printer is network-capable either wired/wirelessly and I had made sure that it was Mac compatible.

Given that I the printer is network-capable I figured that it would be easy to configure without having to install software — wrong. Even worse, the CD shipped with printer did not contain software for Mac OS X 10.7. So I had to download drivers and installation software from Brother’s website, which oddly required me to connect my laptop to the printer via USB in order to configure the software. Even after getting the software installed I had to jump through a couple of more hoops in order to print. It seems as if printing from a personal computer should be nearly seamless by now.

I successfully configured the mac which I can’t easily move, but I decided to call it quits without trying to print from my iPad.

RealiTV Update: Another Amazing Race Is In The Books
SPOILER ALERT
I’m not sure how I came to dislike Rachel and Dave so much, but over time I really had. It’s not because they won so many legs, I can respect that, it had something to do with the way they interacted with one another.

There is no way that I would be able to hoist myself up a forty-five story building and then repel face-first. No way at all. The lure of $500,000 (before excessive taxation of course) would help.

In the end I could not believe that Rachel and Dave somehow missed the final roadblock, and I would have loved to see them fail to win The Amazing Race because of it. However, once again Rachel and Dave proved to be the best team and won it all.

I had no problem taking a little joy watching Team Big Brother mistakenly read the clue and all-but take themselves out of the game.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though not great
Current Music – I have the Giro on my tv at work
Website Of The Day – Have you heard of Google Art Project? You can virtually tour some of the world’s are museums from your browser.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Friday = walking, 3.5 miles
Morning Weigh-In – may weigh in on Wednesday even though I know that I won’t be pleased

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 7.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 6
Pancakes Eaten – 0

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

Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012

  1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
  2. Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
  3. God, No! — Penn Jillette
  4. The Elephant to Hollywood — Michael Caine

May Goals
– Lose at least two pounds (net weight loss)
– Completely recover from my sebaceous cyst surgery
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Not to get sick for the entire month (may be a moot point as of today)
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than ten days
Watch all of the classes in the 2011 Winter semester of Stanford’s CS193P (iOS Development) course

2012 Goals [will be a little less fluid than last year]
– Get my weight under 200 pounds, or at least whittle myself back down to where wearing a 36″ pant size is comfortable
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than one one 10K
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
– Restore the ITP Estate to a condition where it can be put up for sale at any time
– Buy a new iPhone (iPhone 5?), a new iPad (iPad 3?), and MacBook Air [look, not all goals have to be altruistic]

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient and profitable programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
– See more live concerts than I did in 2011
– Eat more pancakes
– Drive/Fly somewhere for a real vacation

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

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8 Responses to Recluse

  1. Martha says:

    Looks like you forgot to close the bold after “Printing like a pro, …”

    If you need a HVAC guy, I’ve got one. Local, resonable and didn’t give me a lot of grief when I waited almost 10 years between servicing. Is it possible to close off any rooms you don’t use? Before Jerry moved in and we got Bode, I kept two rooms pretty much closed off and it seemed to help.

    We didn’t do much this weekend, went to “First Friday” for an hour or so but that was about it. I have no desire to participate in Cinco de Mayo celebrations…I did a brick at the Comet Saturday and a nice ‘hood run yesterday. I’m in no way ready for Twisted Ankle but that isn’t going to stop me.

  2. Yeah, I just saw that too. Fixed. Thanks for the head’s up.

    I just put in a new A/C a few years back so I’d assume that things are up-to-snuff but that I just put in a undersized unit for the house (of course there could be a coolent leak somewhere that wasn’t apparent at that time). I suppose I could close a few of the vents. I should also clean up the basement and start migrating down there because it is always five or so degrees more comfortable thanks to being half padded by earth.

    Was that “First Friday” up in Marietta? I have a coworker who went up there for that.

  3. Debbie says:

    My attitude going into the TAR finale was any team but green, so I was okay with d&r winning. The repel facedown a very tall building challenge would have knocked me right out of the race. EEK.

    I’m in jury duty today. At least they have wifi in the holding area. I probably won’t know until this afternoon if I’ll be picked for a trial. They are trying felony criminal cases this week so it could be interesting.

  4. Martha says:

    My “First Friday” is a Grant Park get together…

    Well if it’s been a few years, it can’t hurt to have someone check things out. I would not call the company that sold you an underpowered unit.

    I just realize I have not been called for jury duty since I lived in Dekalb, it’s been over 11 years…I think I just temped the fates.

  5. Paulie [eatl/ga] says:

    Pooh, significant crash at the end of today’s Giro stage.

  6. Steve says:

    With Universal Spurts taking on the Giro, I’m seriously pissed, as they aren’t carried by my (sorry Paulie) local CABLE provider. The TdF will be handled by NBCSN, so no worries there.

    And WTF! Did you see those roads in the last 10k yesterday? How much more narrow could you get and still squeeze a pro peloton through it? That was crazy, then throw in a 90 degree right hander 500m from the line and tell me you won’t have a crash… and the guy that started it just absolutely lost traction on his rear wheel- no chance of recovery.

    Late news from JEFDSDR- Maxwell Smart may have been sold!! Debbie is heartbroken as he’s been the best ride she’s had in a long time. I’m upset as he’s such a sweet boy, unless you’re doing something he doesn’t like and he tries to kick you. Debbie told him to be bad for his “check ride” this morning and the trainer said he was “an asshat” but the buyer was still in love. $hit.

    -FP

  7. Well, why should I care if the company in which I own much stock reports a 34% decrease in profit after everyone jumps ship to providers who don’t show Universal Sports? 😛 Seriously, do you get Atlanta’s CBS down there? Do you still have the digital-to-analog converter (or a digital tuner?)

  8. Steve says:

    I can’t imagine we get much digital signal- hell, we don’t get much cell signal. The geography doesn’t favor Atlanta signals- I don’t know if they have any repeaters out in the hinterlands…

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