A Little Mo Betta

Compared to yesterday I am much better, but my back is still a little tender (as the kids say today) and my belly is still too large (as kids have been telling me for most of my 47 years).

Today’s Personal Project
Walk again tonight.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Lie on your back, raise your upper body, extend your legs into the air, and make five “V” shapes.

This exercise is great for your core, because it requires that you engage muscles in both your back and abdomen! It also provides a nice stretch for your thighs as you extend into your Vs.

Not with the condition that my back is in currently.

Out For A Walk
At 5:30pm the alarm I set for my “Appointment for Exercise” went off and I dutifully changed into some “exercise” clothes and went out for a walk. I was joined by my boss, and while we didn’t set and land-speed records, we did manage to cover about 5.4 miles.

By the time I returned home I was tired. I manage to make myself some eggs for dinner and then proceeded to watch (the last episode?) of Life After Top Chef, falling asleep twice prior to the show’s ending (Hooray for recordings! Many of you don’t recall the days where you were shit out of luck if you fell asleep watching a show; you had no dvr, and no ability to re-watch or download it.)

I remember speaking to my mother briefly some time around 10:30pm, but what I said to her is still a mystery to me. I hope that I didn’t agree to support her bingo habit as her Christmas gift.

ITP Flickr Pic
Um, yeah, wasn’t I supposed to take a photo yesterday?…

I Have A Gripe With Grammar Girl
I’ve been listening to Grammar Girl for years now, and agree with her on most things (even when I fail to execute some of the things properly).

In episodes past Grammar Girl has said that she didn’t agree with the rule that sentences should not end with a preposition. It took me years to learn and train myself not to end sentences with prepositions, and I’m not giving up this battle lightly!

While I’m at it, I feel compelled to continue to rant about people not saying “they’re” “there’re” “there are” instead of “there’s” when referring to multiple items. For example, it has become commonplace to hear “There’s multiple steps to this procedure.” in conversation; this makes my skin crawl. It’s call “Subject/Verb Agreement” people, use it! How long will it be until this rule is considered “antiquated” like the “Do not end sentences with prepositions.”?

More Of The Same In Store For Today
I woke early (Hooray for unseasonably warm Decembers!) and came into the office. I’m planning on working until my “Appointment for Exercise” goes off at 5:30pm, at which time I shall be heading out for another 5+ mile walk. Twice last night I proved to myself that neither my back nor belly were ready to start running as one was in pain and one jiggled too much (I think you can figure out which body part did which) when I attempted slow jogs. Oh well, walking it is for now.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – better, not great, but better.
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – Hi, I’m Paulie, and I’m not afraid to admit that walking is currently my only exercise. The Walking Site will tell you how good of an exercise walking can be for your body.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – walking, ~5.4 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check today

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~5.4 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Meals – 4
Carnivorous Meals – 4
Pancakes Eaten – 0

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

December Goals
– lose five pounds
– walk/run no fewer that 100 miles
– read at least one book
– dissolve Sharpened Stone, LLC
– donate money to charities
– take care of myself first
– take care of my house second

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
– 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
  10. White Jacket Required — Jenna Weber

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

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13 Responses to A Little Mo Betta

  1. Steve says:

    I guess I don’t understand how people get there’s and they’re confused. They are both contractions, but that’s where the similarity ends. Unless they said “There’s a heap of steps in this process”… and then I’d just write them off as rubes.

    My boos took us out for a “holiday meal”- very early as a couple of folks have much time off to burn between now and 2013. Brio in Buckhead was the lunch spot and I have to say it was pretty good Italian. I didn’t see the bill, but the prices did not look unreasonable.

    -FP

  2. Martha says:

    Ha Steve, I read ‘my boos’ and thought wow, Steve is very ‘urban’ today and bragging about having not one boo but multiple.

    Been to Brio a couple of times (right, I know, sort of shocking), a girl at my old gym worked there so we had a couple of happy hours.

    FYI, I’m feeling pretty go today. Took the day off yesterday, did a ton of yard work, took the chain saw to the crype myrtle and put up some holiday decorations. I think it will be a challenge this year to stop Jerry from turning the front yard into a sceen from NL Christmas Vacation.

    I’m going to try for a 30 minute jog after work, we will see how that goes.

  3. bob says:

    Good on you for getting out yesterday Paulie!

    I’m doing another night ride tonight in Alpharetta, I have found some pretty good trails to link together. If you come out to Wheelhopper you will get to see them. Plus I have committed to the Snake Creek Gap time trial series so I need to step up the training.

  4. Steve says:

    It must be too urban for me Martha, as I still don’t understand…

  5. Barb says:

    I’ve been to Brio – if they have a drink special & you order that drink, it is reasonable. I thought the food was priced in the Buckhead price range, not cheap at all, but wasn’t out of line.

    We got a truck load of tree mulch dumped this morning, so Allan has his next few days project. This batch smelled good, must have been a lot of a Cedar tree in that load.

    and Martha – let Jerry go for it with lights, but put your foot down at the blow up Santas, etc.

  6. Barb says:

    and Paulie – I found what seemed to be an interesting pizza place not too far from your office. Its in the Whole Foods shopping center at Hammond & Roswell Rd. Pizza smelled awesome – called Hearth Pizza Tavern. I didn’t get to eat, jsut had a quick beer with a couple friends.

  7. bob says:

    I have been to Hearth before, awesome pizza!

  8. Martha says:

    That’s the problem Barb, he wants to get another inflateable, we have an 8 foot tall Santa Micky already (it was pretty funny yesterday, I heard the kids two doors down squeal, “Micky’s Here”!) and he wants to get a 5 foot tall polar bear playing whack-a-penguin…good lord….

    Steve, Boo is a term of endearment or slang for boyfriend/girlfriend. You wrote Boos, when I think (I guess) you meant boss.

  9. Barb says:

    I hate those blow up things in the yard. And – I always think, what great easy things for the hoodlums of the neighborhood to mess with……

  10. Stacy says:

    Grammar geek piping up! I agree with you on the “there is” and subject/verb agreement statement: that drives me buggy too! But you’re actually also incorrect with “they’re” — that’s the contraction for “they are”, not “there are.” “There are” has no contraction. Folks should be saying the two words instead of being so lazy and trying to contract them. 😉

  11. Paulie [eatl/ga] says:

    Egads! I am appalled at my own gaff! How could I have typed, and obviously not proofread, “They’re”?

    So.
    Ashamed.

  12. Paulie [eatl/ga] says:

    And here is a Public Radio post about “there are”:

    http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/there's.html

    And Grammar Girl’s reference:

    http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-odd-contractions.aspx

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