Greetings From Concord, NC

Hello from my room at the Sleep Inn in Concord, North Carolina. I can divulge my hotel location because by the time you read this I’ll no longer be here. 🙂

Today’s Personal Project
Decompress.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Write for five minutes about one thing that’s stressing you, so you can think about it more clearly.

Multiple studies have shown that writing about a stressful situation lowers stress and improves mental clarity in dealing with the problem. When something is making us anxious, we can get stuck in a cycle of repetitive thinking that is unproductive and actually stresses us out even more. Writing can break that cycle by giving you something to do, by allowing you to vent and get your problem out of your head and onto a piece of paper. Once there, you may be able to deal with it more objectively and with a bit more clarity.

The Life I Saved May Have Been My Own
While driving home on Monday night I exited I-20 and traveled up the long exit for the Memorial/Glenwood Connector (now named something else, I choose to refer to it by its old name). As I started up the off ramp I was startled to see a car turn onto the off ramp, obviously oblivious to the fact that he was traveling in the wrong direction. As the car continued to head directly toward me I started honking the horn and flashing my headlights to alert the driver that he was fucking nuts and headed in the wrong way. Luckily for all parties involved the driver heeded my warning, realized his mistake, quickly pulled over, and turned around after I passed by him. I’ve read about people turning onto highway off ramps, and in some cases making it all the way to the highway. Fortunately this was the first, and hopefully last, time I encounter one.

Perhaps My Last Trip To Zaxby’s?
On my drive last night I pulled into a Zaxby’s to grab dinner. It was shortly after 7:00pm when I did, and upon seeing how filled it was with some sort of camp/church/teenage outing, I should have turned and left immediately. I used to really like the food at Zaxby’s but the past few times I’ve gone there I’ve been underwhelmed. Last night’s food was borderline crap — chicken fingers which were as boring as boring could be, and “boneless chicken wings” which were like gloopy blobs of stuff with sauce on them.

I shan’t worry about eating at Zaxby’s any time in the near future, however, as I’ll be choosing to try the vegetarian lifestyle for the next few days. This is not a reaction to my substandard meal last night; it has been planned for a while.

Dammit! I Forgot To Shut Off The Alarm On My Chumby!
While I am away my Chumby‘s alarm will be going off (for five minutes or so). Thankfully I currently don’t live in an apartment otherwise I’d be pissing off some neighbors by now.

I just tried to see if I could shut off the Chumby’s alarm via the internet, but unfortunately that feature is not available.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – better
Current Music – listening to this week’s “In Beta” podcast
Website Of The Day – Think you have what it takes to be the University of Florida’s twelfth president? If so you should check out UF’s Presidential Search website.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – still haven’t checked

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

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Meals – 2
Carnivorous Meals – 1
Pancakes Eaten – 0

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

August Goals
– Eat no fewer than forty-five vegetarian meals
– Take at least one load of stuff from my house to Goodwill
– Take unused electronics to recycling center
– Post at least ten new photos during the month (let’s try this again)
– Lose at least two pounds (net weight loss)
– Finish two books (audio or otherwise, comic books do not qualify)
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Ride no fewer than 150 miles (might be hard given the amount of travel scheduled this month)
– Walk (or run) no fewer than 75 miles
– Do no fewer than 750 sit-ups
– Do no fewer than 300 push-ups

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

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
5. Here Comes Trouble — Michael Moore
6. How We Decide — Jonah Lehrer
7. Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
8. Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays) — Arthur Miller
9. Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]