A pre-Valentine’s Day strike if you will…
A coworker of mine has once again packed a suitcase and is headed to Miami this weekend. He’s from Cuba and lived in Miami, but the reason he has been going back so regularly of late is because he has declared that he has met “The One.”
I don’t believe in “The One” I believe that the people you marry are “One of Many,” and the one you happen to meet at the right time in your life. I had that (though I didn’t make it to the alter) but it just didn’t work out.
Perhaps I’m just a bitter old man, as I realize that this will be my ninth consecutive Valentine’s Day alone.
Today’s Personal Project
Spend some time at home tonight cleaning and organizing.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Do yoga’s bow pose to open up your chest and strengthen back muscles.
The bow pose is an excellent way to stretch and open up the chest and shoulders, and it can feel great if you’ve been sitting at a desk for a long time. It also helps stretch and strengthen back muscles. Strong back muscles are less likely to get injured when you’re doing everyday tasks that involve bending, lifting, or twisting.
“Bike America” Went A Bit Flat On Me
Last night was almost the night I killed my iPad, unintentionally of course. My plans were to drive into midtown for the play “Bike America” at the Hertz Stage of the Alliance Theatre.
Given the rain I knew traffic into midtown would suck, so I left sufficiently early to keep my blood pressure down as I drove. I made it to midtown by 6:15pm. I was aghast to see that the Woodruff Arts Center was still charging $15 to park so I decided to park across the street in a different garage, even though there was a threat of rain. It was colder than I expected (hence I had no jacket) so I hurried into the Woodruff Arts Center, iPad in hand.
My early arrival provided me plenty of time to eat before the 7:30pm show, so I ducked into Table 1280 for a bite and a glass of wine. I ordered their sliders and Cabernet and started reading. One of the sliders was a standard ground meat slider, and when I pressed down on it so that I could consume it more easily, it shot hot grease out in a stream right onto my iPad! Luckily for me it didn’t hit the Home button, or I might be completely screwed today.
I went to the play as planned. “Bike America” is a play about a twenty-something girl named Penny who decides to do a cross-country bike tour — five days before it starts. I believe that this is the opening week of “Bike America” and it showed a bit. To me the actors didn’t seem “comfortable” in their roles yet and the dialog seemed a bit stilted. One of the most clever aspects of the play is the way the actors depict riding their bicycles; for most of the play they run in place while holding real handlebars/front forks/front wheels, I thought that was clever.
Word to the wise, there is a lot of cursing (I’m told my beloved “fuck” is said 99 times in various forms), and a brief moment of nudity also appears on stage.
Would I recommend you see “Bike America?” Probably not, and that’s too bad because I love supporting local theater.
I won’t spoil any of the plot lines in case you may want to see the play anyway.
ITP Flickr Pic
nothing today, should have something by Monday.
I’ll Be Playing Again Tomorrow Night
It was a good thing for me that I had to rummage to find my ticket for “Bike America.” In doing so I found out that I had mistakenly entered the date of the next play on my agenda “Fly” at Theatrical Outfit. I had put “Fly” into my calendar for March 9th, instead of February 9th. Whoopsie!
So, it looks as if I’ll have another (brief) play review on Monday.
Next Year Will Be My Year (At Least According To The Chinese Calendar)
On Sunday I’ll be attending a Chinese New Year celebration (I don’t actually know when the Chinese New Year occurs, because well, I’m not Chinese so it doesn’t matter that much to me). According to the many old-school placemats I’ve seen in Chinese restaurants I am a “snake” and I am told that 2013 will be the year of the snake.
Well, at least I’ve have that going for me.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though really busy
Current Music – nothing at the moment
Website Of The Day – I’ve created an account on Lose It! in order to help track my workouts/weight. I’m serious about this whole losing fat thing again…
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – checking again soon?
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~2.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 2
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Meals – 8
Carnivorous Meals – 11
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
February Goals
– lose five pounds
– walk/run no fewer that 100 miles
– read at least one book
– dissolve Sharpened Stone, LLC
– take at least one box of things to Goodwill
– post at least ten photos in the blog
– drink a lot less alcohol
2013 Goals: Measurable
– Get my weight down to 190 pounds so that I can wear a 36″ waist pants comfortably
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Dissolve Sharpened Stone
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Completely run at least one 10k
– Fix all (or at least most) of the things which are wrong with the ITP Estate
2013 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Simplify, simplify, simplify
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– 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)
– Take two real vacations, perhaps one abroad
– Take a more proactive approach to meeting women (read “stop being such a pussy”)
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2013
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
A fairly quiet night. Debbie found a recipe for shrimp corn chowder, which is our favorite dish at the Mexican place in Tucker, and thought she’d give it a shot. We used defrosted shrimp, which didn’t quite have the taste of fresh, and we needed to use a “boat motor” on it to improve the creaminess, but the taste was excellent. Very good for an hours work.
Packed and headed to Greenville after work. Guess I better review the new rulebook?
Brother Ronnie, are you battening down the hatches?
Have a great weekend everyone.
-FP
Huh. There is another big storm hitting the northeast? Who knew? Best of luck bro.
I was born in the Year of the Rooster, but it was so much more fun when I would see Cock instead of Rooster…I guess it still is, I have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy.
Ugh, long distance relationships are not for me. Did it once (the boy I was dating when I moved to Atlanta, stayed in Indiana to finish school, then he moved to Chicago, I should have taken that as a sign *sigh*). Oh well it all worked out in the end…heard he got married, moved in with his MIL and had a couple of kids.
I didn’t bring a jacket or umbrella with me yesterday, how miserable was I? Thankfully, I don’t spend much time outdoors but I had an uncontrollable desire for a grilled cheese…I had no choice to walk to the little cafe a few buildings down. It was worth it 🙂
I was born in the Year of the Horse, go figure.
You know the romance is alive in your relationship when you ask for an immersion blender for Valentine’s Day. Oh well, I like to cook and we both like to eat so it works out.
I’m toying with the whole gluten-free idea. Between my headaches and some GI challenges, it may provide a solution, but it’s likely to kill Steve. He can carb load at lunch during the week right? Any one tried it?
Paulie, may I gently point out that it’s hard to get serious about weight loss if you don’t weigh yourself regularly. I weigh daily, which is excessive and clearly hasn’t made me model thin (or any other kind of thin), but it does help me make better choices during the day.
Shoot, I forgot to mention that parking in that other lot wound up costing me $14. So, for all the extra hassle of parking there I saved $1.
I weigh in today at work and will most of the following Fridays.
You can have my carbs when you pry them from my cold, dead jaws!! (without apologies to Charlton Heston and the NRA)
Actually, I’ll do whatever it takes, as long as it isn’t paleo! 🙂
Debbie, I went gluten-free for about 4-6 weeks a couple of years back. I was having some skin/hive issues, it didn’t make a difference. Granted I wasn’t a gluten Nazi (did you know that soy sauce has gluten? and so does some pre-shredded cheese? and mayo?? what a PITA). The skin issue cleared up on its own awhile back.
I also swear by keeping a food journal. If you have to write down everything you consume, you start thinking about each choice you make. Even if you only do it during the week (give yourself the weekend off) it can help. I need to get back on it myself.
I totally forgot about Valentine’s Day, how’s that for romance…maybe he’ll get me the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who monopoly edition I’ve been asking for, I mean I did get him Jeep parts for Christmas.
Ha, I figure you average 11 meals a week without me, so you can carry on with carbs all you like for those meals.
Hmmmm, paleo sound good. You cave man, me Jane. 🙂
Thanks Martha, that’s good to know. I’m about ready to try anything to knock out my daily head aches from hell, but dang I’ll have to purge a LOT of stuff from our pantry and fridge.
We had a paleo weekend with some friends down in Florida and I thought Steve was going to have the DTs. We stopped at a Macaroni Grill on the way home just so he could get a pasta fix. It was like a starving man at an oasis of plenty.
Actually, the weekend was not quite that bad, but I was starting to have the shakes.
I second what Martha said (as per usual, she’s wicked smart and way faster to comment, heh) about the food journal. You don’t realize the crap you’re eating or how much of it until you see it in black and white on a page. Very eye-opening and also depressing. Pro tip: don’t forget beverages, they can pack a lot of calories.
Also: Steve and Debbie, have you tried the shrimp corn chowder at Taqueria del Sol in Decatur? It’s to die for! It’s probably also on the menu at the Howell Mill and Cheshire Bridge locations but I’ve never been there so I can’t say for sure. http://www.taqueriadelsol.com/
Jenka, our normal is Taqueria los Hermanos in Tucker. We used to be regulars, like a couple of nights a week!! I’d be interested in trying others, though.