After an uneventful trip to the lavanderia (all my clothes seem unscathed) I finally made the time to watch the finale of The Amazing Race and I must say that I was not disappointed with the outcome. I will admit that were I one of the final three teams and leapt to the conclusion that I was going to have my picture taken with the President I would have been disappointed by CBS’ shenanigans. I was surprised that the country singer had so much trouble swimming in the bog; on tv it didn’t look as if it were that long of a swim. Since at least two of the final three teams had extensive notes to help them in the finale (and kudos to them for being TAR-saavy) I wonder if the producers of “The Amazing Race” will ban note-taking in the future.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth.
Saving water helps to maintain water supplies at safe levels. Lower water levels can contribute to higher concentrations of human and natural pollutants, which can put our health and the health of the environment at risk. Turning off the tap also saves an enormous amount of energy that’s expended in treating the water and delivering it to your home. Leaving the tap running for five minutes uses roughly the same amount of energy as running a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours. Plus, saving water means saving money – and every little bit helps!
I’m always surprised that people routinely don’t do this.
Oh Those Credit Card Companies
I knew the second I saw an envelop from American Express in the mailbox last night that I was going to be displease. Recently I missed a payment, again, though the this was the first time ever with American Express, because I was certain that I had set up “AutoPay” with them (there is a long story behind this certainty that I do not have time to detail).
The letter enclosed contained words which essentially rubbed my nose in the pile of shit I had caused on the floor — “probation,” “fixed rate plus a penalty percentage,” “review period,” yadda, yadda, yadda — all for missing my first payment since becoming a member in 1997.
My first instinct was to call American Express and tell them that they could go fuck themselves and then cancel my card that I pay annually to keep. But then I decided a cooling off period was in order and did nothing. I’m still contemplating canceling my American Express card.
Oh Those Internet Service Providers
I could have seen whether or not the DVR recorded The Amazing Race on Sunday night, but when I saw the finale on CBS’ website I decided to watch it online. The very first thing I noticed was that the video never made it to HD mode and that viewing it full-screen on my Mac made the video blocky.
I’ve been a little less than thrilled with AT&T U-Verse recently so I decided to finally do some investigation. Recent tests had proven that I was getting the service for which I was paying, but this was clearly not sufficient to watch online video (recall I am once-again a Netflix member). I found out for “just” $5/month more I could bump my service from a max down of 12Mbps to 18Mbps putting my new cost at $57/month.
I think the broadband market in the United States of a sham and we are getting ripped off left and right. But, what can I do? While I admit that I don’t “need” internet service at home I certainly “desire” it there.
ITP Flickr Pic
“Pizza — It’s What’s For Dinner”
A health food….
On my way home from doing laundry after work last night (around 9pm) I stopped into Grand Central East for a couple of slices and a root beer (not pictured). I figured that if I was going to eat pizza I might as well do it right and get toppings I really like; slice left — sausage, feta cheese; slice right — pepperoni, mushroom.
Hey, at least I didn’t have a beer with these…
I Thought That I Was The Whitestone Wonder
While perusing Twitter last night I saw that NY Mets outfielder Mike Baxter hit a home run in the tenth inning to win the game for the Good Guys (note: Mets pitching allowed zero runs and only one hit in this game, how the hell does the offense not support that?). It turns out that Baxter is a “local boy” from Whitestone, NY — where I was raised — and is known as “The Whitestone Wonder.” And here I was, all this time thinking that title should belong to me. Oh well, I’ll have to stick with my “Inside The Perimeter” moniker for awhile longer I suppose.
Today’s Personal Project
Don’t know. I have a lot to do, perhaps Fried Chicken night at The Shed? I am looking pretty sharp today.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat, hoping my body heals itself so I can return to exercising next week
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – Yesterday I heard about a music festival in Raleigh, NC called the Hopscotch Music Festival. This festival takes place in September, I wonder if it will be easy to get into Bates’ and Anthony’s bar by then.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – shit, I forgot to check this morning
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~3.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 0 (0 cardio)
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Meals – 7
Carnivorous Meals – 13
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
May Goals
– return ITP-Reader Martha’s coffee percolator to her

- return ITP
-Terri’s crutches to her

- not get sick

- lose three pounds

- exercise at least twenty-five of May’s thirty-one days

- finish at least two of the books I am reading

- take at least one box of things to Goodwill

- post at least ten photos in the blog

- drink a lot less alcohol

- prepare a house repair plan and budget
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
- Pages 1.7 for iPad (Timestompers Guide) — by Sean Wells
- 60 Mountain Lion Tips — by David Sparks and Brett Terpstra
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business — by Charles Duhigg
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
I don’t understand the cable content (actual signals) to know why some stations routinely come in with hi-def audio (which helps me hear it). CBS is normally one that does, and it may be just the shows we watch.
50% more bandwidth might help- what does the next step cost and what bang do you get?
Just turned on the Giro coverage- shots of the finish indicate it will be an absolute swim meet. Roads at the moment are dry with a bit of sun.
And how late was this dinner of 2 slices of pizza?
-FP
The “next step up” (to 24 Mbps if I remember correctly) costs and additional $15/month.
Your Giro coverage is better than mine, BEIN tv doesn’t start broadcasting it until 9:30am EDT.
Pizza occurred somewhere around 9:30pm. I almost considered skipping dinner and then decided not to do that. It was a weird evening, I think I finally cashed in my chips (figuratively) around 12:45am and didn’t sleep very well.
I just saw a shot of the finish line. Water pouring down the street several inches deep. Lovely.
Kevin got ‘booted’ from the Giro this year, some rider (probably Cadel) wanted his personal mechanic to be there. I wasn’t listening all that closely when the family was discussing all this.
Pizza……. pizza is always tasty.
If you call AmEx & have a little discussion about what a great customer you are, they will probably drop the extra charges & take all the “probation” stuff off your account. First offense, usually a phone call will do the trick.
BEIN is broadcasting. It always humors me to hear different commentators for cycling. I have to admit that I completely missed the first week of riding in this year’s Giro.
I’m not too worried about all this AmEx nonsense (though I may call them anyway). It’s time for me to get my shit together regarding my finances again.
I just called our pest control company about a $1.50 finance charge on the bill (that really isn’t a finance charge she says, its really a gas surcharge). Its now gone. Its the principle of the thing.
The aggrivation of the call wasn’t worth $1.50 (but I get it).
What is BEIN?
I misspelled it, it’s not BEIN, it’s beIN — beIN Sport TV, channel 392 on your (former) DISH Network satellite systems.
Steve – its worth it when I’m here at work not all that busy….. I get tired of being nickel & dimed…… I’ll fight it when I can.
I haven’t had an Amex in years, even then it was a corporate card. I wont pay for a credit card. My Amazon visa has a ridiculous rate, I remember calling about it a few years back and they said they couldn’t do anything about it (My credit scores are in the high 700s). I don’t carry a balance so it isn’t really a burning issue.
Hoping to hear from the mortgage guy today, fingers crossed!
We have Clear for our internet. $40/month. It seems to work fine, of course your standards are much higher than mine I’m sure. Sometimes, Hulu will get hung up but it seems to be more of an issue on my Kindle than the computer so it might not have much to do with the internet speed.
Don’t get me started on AmEx! They cancelled my accounts after 22 years over a poor business practice on their end. They are dead to me.
I was happy the Hockey Boys won, and pleasantly surprised by their stellar note taking! I liked the Roller Derby Moms well enough, but their inability to grasp the Titanic challenge was nutso.
Taking Bunny to meet some prospective adopters this afternoon. I hope it’s a love connection. I’ll be glad to get back to just (ha) four dogs for a while.
Ha, I finally remembered what I forgot to put into the blog. On my drive in I came across a kicked hash check a block from my office. Given the amount of rain we have had I assume Two 4 Tuesday was run in this neighborhood last night.
Bummer. I just found out that tickets for Neutral Milk Hotel’s Atlanta show go on sale at noon on Friday — when I will be traveling to North Carolina. I might have to plan my trip around being in a place with good internet at that time…
Nope! Two for Tuesday is NEXT week (second Tuesday of the month)….it’s the 10 year anniversary, actually. 🙂 Only reason I know. Must’ve survived from Monday.