It’s been a long, long weekend already for me. Because of Miss K’s pending departure we spent the better parts of Saturday and Sunday in the office trying to work through the feature she’s like to wrap up prior to heading to the Northwest.
I’m in the office today (it’s suppose to be a paid holiday), and through some scheduling confusion I’ve missed the conference call that I initiated yesterday. I have decided to use my presence in the office as the impetus to work on some personal coding issues and then get my ass either outside or inside at LA Fitness to do some exercise.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Name a sport or exercise you’d like to learn or take up again.
Being active is good for so many reasons! When you move that body, you lower your risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, and certain types of cancer. Being physically active also improves your outlook, keeps your mind sharp, gives you more energy, and helps you sleep. By taking time to think about what you used to like (or would like to try), it may put you on a path to more regular activity that you really enjoy.
Does cycling count? I certainly can’t claim that I’ve done much of it since the Great Accident of February 2011.
How about hashing? Is that a sport?
A Night At The Bird
After working far too many hours Miss K, I, and my boss headed over to Firebird for some beers, food, and Olympics. While we sat there a group of twenty-plus twenty-somethings showed up and sat around one very long table. As I age I see the extreme lifestyle gaps getting large between me and that age group. What’s funnier is that our table’s twenty-five year old (going on thirty-five) even said she felt old when comparing herself to them.
For the most part they were a nice, but loud, group of young adults.
ITP Flickr Pic
“Through The Portal”
While up in Raleigh, NC I was taken to the Marbles Kids Museum, as you are when you are visiting friends with small children. There is a portal that takes you above the sidewalk, this shot shows you one of downtown Raleigh’s pocket parks.
Dearest Hertz (Car Rental, Not Theatre), I Am Trying To Give You Business
This weekend as Miss K departs Atlanta for the Northwest I will be departing Atlanta (temporarily) for warmer temps and to celebrate my mother’s birthday.
I think that I’ve driven the Jackmobile enough mileage over the years and he’s shown that he doesn’t want to do much more in the way of long-distance trips; as has been the case all too often in the past four years reliability has not been guaranteed. So, at least for this trip (as well as the one I’ll be making to Austin, Texas in about six weeks) I’m going to rent wheels. Sure, renting a car is more expensive, but at least this way I’m (almost) guaranteed to make it to my destinations on time.
My plan is to rent from the local (to work) Hertz pick up / drop off location, but I am currently unable to log into their website and my patience is growing thin. After I wrap up this blog post, and before I begin my day’s journey I am going to try and chat with them to find out what is wrong, and if we cannot figure this out I will seek another option.
Today’s Personal Project
I am going to work my way through an iOS tutorial book I purchased at the end of last week.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – getting better, though more things on my aged body are hurting today — if it’s not one thing it’s five things more.
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – Through a link posted by tech journalist Andy Ihnatko I have found News From Me, a blog written by Mark Evanier.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – Oops, I failed to check.
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 3 (3 cardio)
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
February Goals
– have European trip plans in place, if not carved in stone
– clean my basement to the point where I could have people over
– hire a plumber to fix all of the sinks at the ITP Estate
– walk no fewer than 75 miles
– publish an app to the iOS AppStore (new)
2014 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
– 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
– Sell the ITP Estate (tentative)
2014 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Continue to 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)
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2014
- “Johnny Carson” by Henry Bushkin
- “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” by Austin Kleon
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
This just in: Hertz Gold Center system is down, with an ETA of being back up sometime later today. It sure would be nice if their website mentioned this rather than forcing me to sit on hold for ten minutes only to find out the problem is on their end.
so, rent from Enterprise or somewhere else? It seems Enterprise has off site locations all over. I’m sure Hotwire or Travelocity or any of the other discount rental websites can tell you if there is a location nearby.
Our whirlwind weekend came to a grinding halt yesterday around 2 am.
After I picked Jerry up at the airport Friday we headed to EA Thai & Sushi for a little vday dinner. I don’t know if it was the candles, or what but I could barely stomach the smell…and it hung on to me after we left. Saturday was running errands, meeting with the contractor and shopping…good news, we got all the ceiling fans & appliances picked out and/or ordered.
The got the bathrooms tiled and grouted over the weekend. Hardwood floors are next (but we have to get the heat going first). It should be pretty warm and dry this week so maybe they can finish the exterior painting as well.
Yesterday was awful…all my plans for the day were canceled, I just slept…when I wasn’t throwing up. I’m not sure what I ate… I’m feeling better today but taking it easy, I’ve managed some toast but I think I might have to lay back down.
I’ve got some work I should do but I’m trying to stay away…I need a little break. Plus I have homework I need to do and a test next week I need to study for… I hope everyone that has the day off, has a good day off!
Hertz is the most convenient vendor when I want to go from work because I can walk to pick up the car (and back after dropping it off). I do not believe that there are any other options that close, and I don’t like relying on a rental car company’s “Pick You Up” promise. If Hertz can’t get their shit together by tomorrow I’ll look for other options.
Wow, very unfortunate Martha. Hope you feel better real soon.
I forgot to wrap up Friday’s Jackmobile report. It was the brake switch, and with the oil change requested the bill wasn’t too bad, but more than I want to continue dumping into a twelve year-old car. Still, cheaper than even a month’s payment…
Because it took so long for me to take MARTA to the Chamblee station and then walk to Peach Auto I wound up skipping laundry (until Saturday morning) and eating dinner with my boss at his place — how romantic. LOL.
Interesting tidbit from Friday was that MapMyRide+ charted my walk from Peach Auto to the Chamblee MARTA station as 1.4 miles, and my walk back later in the day as 1.6 miles; at least one of these measurements is wrong.
I guess since it is supposedly a holiday today, all my work is going to be messed up. I so need a new job.
My weekend was good, we had an impromptu party Saturday night at a friends, my old roomie Gregg (Hand Solo)decided to come to town. His wife’s family is up in Chattanooga, & he got a day pass to get away from the in-laws & come see friends.
Sunday I made a plan with Debbie to go see Philomena, a movie all the guys we know said no way to seeing. It is Oscar nominated, and a very well made movie, and I enjoyed it. Also got Katherine (Saddle Sores) to meet for lunch before, but she bailed on the movie.
It didn’t look like a Federal Holiday on the roads this morning. I was able to move but there was a good bit of traffic around me.
It’s forty minutes before lunch time and I am already hungry. Perhaps I’ll use the nice weather and no commitment to be in the office as an excuse to go out for lunch somewhere, perhaps walking to wherever I decide to eat.
yep- President’s Day is only a day off for government workers I think. Traffic was terrible this morning on 75 (which only affects me because I have to cross over & the entrance ramp was very backed up).
I’m hungry – trying to figure out what would be good for lunch as well.
The only places in walking distance really of my office is Cracker Barrel & Dave & Busters. And, there are no sidewalks, so it can be a bit dicey to walk around here.
Go get a Subaru…. I really do like my car. I jsut went over 10,000 miles this weekend, which I was surprised I had that many in a year. But, we did do some roadtrips in it.
This might shoot down my productivity, but I left the office for lunch and never returned.
Almost the end of the day and thought I’d better check up on everyone.
Let’s see.. Saturday I was at work installing new phones. We worked so well, we were able to wrap it all up in a day, instead of the forecasted 3 (apparently, the branch folks had more problems and were less organized- I don’t do disorganized… ). Saturday evening, the mizzus and I celebrated a little VD with some sushi. Apparently we were not the only folks with this idea, as we had to wait for a table for about 20 minutes. Well worth the wait, however.
Sunday, while Debbie was at the movies, I cleaned up a little storm debris. In the morning, I heard a transformer blow and didn’t think anything of it, as out lights only flickered. When I went down the driveway to clean up, there were 2 EMC trucks parked, working on the neighbor (Orange house). Apparently, his transformer went bad when everything was bouncing the other day, and finally got hot enough to blow that morning- he never had power, even though the circuit was on- off Wednesday evening, back on Sunday afternoon- ouch.
This morning I met Trish and some of her buds for a gravel grinder starting from Serenbe. Great fun until my chain broke. Fortunately, one guy had a tool and a spare link- it got me running enough to get back to the start without any hike-a-bike. Barb, expect a visit perhaps Wednesday??
-FP
Steve – Allan is working Wed. – and trust me, I’ve seen how to fix a chain maybe 50 times, and I still don’t think I could ever do it.
Tuesday or Thursday or Friday?