It was too warm (and I was too disinterested) to go up into the attic to clean up this weekend. I’ll be doing that tonight and probably Wednesday night, with hopes of finishing that task by the end of this coming weekend.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Read guidelines for when to have an eye exam.
Eye exam guidelines are different for everyone and depend on your age, family history, and whether or not you have a chronic disease. Making a visit to the eye doctor at the right time means that he or she will have the chance to find any problems early on, when they are most treatable.
I’ve had more eye exams than sex with other partners in the last decade, which is probably why I am going blind.
This Week’s Big Three
Yeah, this is probably the most inconsistent section of this blog…
- Gather all tax-related paperwork in preparation for appointment with tax preparer next Monday.
- Clean all of the shit (literal) and other detritus from the attic.
- Schedule an appointment with at least one plumber to get an estimate on repairing all of the sinks at the ITP Estate (note: still not ready to tackle major plumbing problem, that’s another task).
Kismet!
On Saturday afternoon I met up with ITP-Readers (?) Betsy and Terri for a lovely dinner at The Argosy. There was a bit of confusion as I arrived because I only expected to dine with Betsy so I had to abandon the table for two at which I had been seated and waited for a larger one to open. All was well however as I was seated before the ladies arrived. The three of us split pork belly kabobs, the cheese plate, and a pizza.
Only Betsy and I had tickets for the Alejandro Escovedo / Peter Buck show at The EARL, but as I lucked into buying a ticket to hear Escovedo in Kansas City four-plus years ago so did Terri on Saturday night — from a person who Betsy knew no less.
It was All-Star (for people like me) night at The EARL on Saturday. The crowd, consisting of mostly “old people” included members of Magnapop and Apples In Stereo (I recognized Robert Schneider), and also less well-known dignitaries such as the guy who owns Decatur CD, the guy who used to own Ella Guru, former hasher Asshole, and my friend John.
The show itself was a blast, I really enjoyed the sets performed by Buck and Escovedo. Although it was an “early show” (and non-smoking!) starting at 8:00pm we still didn’t exit The EARL until about 11:30pm.
Code Obsessed
I know that coding is my career but because of the way things have been lately I seem to be obsessed by it (you’d think that’d I’d be much better by now…). After my trip to the lavenderia yesterday morning I headed into the office for a few hours to try and wrap my head around this major snafu that my last project is experiencing.
With a modicum of success I left the office after about three hours to get some exercise in the beautiful weather. Unfortunately my planned two-hour / approximate-seven-mile walk was shortened significantly due to unforeseen bodily issues (let’s just leave it at that).
I drove the Jackmobile (who exhibited a new strange behavior this morning that might be tied to my last repair) to Kroger where I picked up some items to eat before heading home to start coding again. I think that I finally gave up around 11:00pm.
Huh, That’s New…
After putting items into the trunk this morning I closed the trunk only to watch the brake (?) lights stay on longer than they normally would. I watched with interest and dismay, and then they went off. I swear while sitting in the car letting it warm up the brake lights came on again without me pressing the brake.
Faulty new switch?
Faulty ground wire?
Time for a new car?
Yeesh.
Today’s Personal Project
Submit my expense report paperwork for my Raleigh trip so that I get reimbursed.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh, I wish things were very different
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – A lot of buzz on Twitter about something called “The Academy Awards” last night. As I understand it had something to do with movies. Here’s Paste Magazine’s (are they still in Decatur?) list of the fifty best movies of 2013. I’ve seen exactly zero of these.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car that keeps disappointing me
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday = walking, ~3.9 miles
Morning Weigh-In – Arg, I keep forgetting to jump on the scale
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~3.9 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 0 (0 cardio)
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
March Goals
– have Austin CocoaConf trip plans in place (new)
– exercise no fewer than twenty days (new)
– ride my bike no fewer than five times (new)
– 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
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]
Let’s see- a 12 hour day Saturday putting in new phones, and I was almost home when I got a call from the Law Enforcement technical guy saying he lost sight of a piece of equipment at exactly the time I was moving cables!! Damnit! Fortunately, they decided they could get by until this morning and I fixed it stratighaway.
Yesterday, a party at our vet/friend Nicole where Debbie had struck a deal to swap horses. Saintly went to live/rehab at Nicoles’ while one of hers came to stay with us. As yet correctly named pony was a pistol getting on the trailer and after he kicked me, is lucky his name isn’t Alpo.
Last night a great concert at Eddies Attic by Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas. Capacity crowd, mostly Scottish types, although not many kilts. (even I did not dress out). We were joined by 2 Games friends and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Barb, had I not already been completely booked, I’d have loved to join you riding Silk Sheets, and I saw your note about the CX bike. Might have to get together this weekend.
Back to putting out fires!!
-FP
I was a social butterfly this weekend (well for me) I was ‘social’ 3 days in a row.
Friday night was a lovely ladies night dinner for Michelle. I know I haven’t seen much of her over the past couple of years but I’m still going to miss her a lot once she leaves.
Saturday and Sunday I was at the veledrome becoming track certified. It was scary as fuck and really, really fun at the same time. I’d like to say I’ll be back but that will totally depend on my schedule and if any others from Team Vapor Trail go again. For the record I had no part in either the development or inspiration for that name….
I also hit Six Feet Under with the gang after Saturday’s class, made it to boot camp and picked out pendant lights and tile for the kitchen back splash.
I’m ready for a day off 🙂
So did they have you doing fun things like swooping down from the top of turn 2 for a flying 200m? Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to try the new track in Rock Hill when I work nationals in August. It’s as steep as EP, but a 250m, not a “333” which is what we consider EP, but it’s really 320 and change.
Steve – you would have died with the slowness of our ride Sunday. But, we had fun, Michelle just wanted to get out & ride before heading to the winter of Colorado. Ray joined us too. We parked at a dear friend that I know from the Parrotheads, he’s had some serious health issues, and is living with his sister who needs 24 hour care. I think he really enjoyed our visit, we will definitely park there again. (next time we need to bring clothes to go to Steve’s favorite Italian restaurant after) We did have to ride about a quarter mile on gravel to get to Hutcheson Ferry, so its just like leaving your house.
Went hashing with AH4 Saturday. Ur-anus was the hare, he is such a nut, his trying to explain a “short-cut” made no sense (I know, that surprising), so a group of us walkers made our own trail. Which, I do have to say, was a pretty damn good trail. We actually got ahead of the hare, since he was laying the trail live. Allan said the real trail was tough, but that’s ok, it was fun. We saw him coming behind us, so we tried to snare him, but he went out of sight & then appeared ahead of us. We just followed him in. Some other folks got lost (not sure how) and we left at 5:30 before down downs, as we had dinner plans.
You left before down downs because there was a too long with your name on it 🙂
Fast or slow, I was missing my bike yesterday!
Yes, we did get to do one, 200m sprint…I think I nailed it 🙂 Well at least I did better than Faulkner…
we worked on pace lines and did one race as well. It was such a big class (25 ) we didn’t get to spend as much time on the track.
I’m not afraid of a down down…… I just had people coming to my house for dinner, I find it rude to not be home or taking a shower when they arrive. LOL
It was nice to be on the bike, but damn I’m slow these days. I’m really looking forward to daylights savings time & being able to do things after work.
Martha did great at the velodrome! Poor thing had to make do with a bike that was too long. Everyone on Team Vapor Trail (and those guys really, really deserved that name) did fantastic. You’d never catch me riding a bike straight up a wall! But it was fun to watch.
Jenka, it really is a lot of fun. It looks much scarier than it is. And I started on a road bike, which has a lower bottom bracket and longer cranks, so scraping the pedals was fairly common.
Jenka, it IS much, much scarier than it looks…
and- I have NO desire to even ever attempt the track. Some downhill mtn biking with big curved berms scared the crap out of me.
Martha- this from a veteran of crossfit? Pshaw…
It was fucking awesome. The rush of hitting that turn at full speed is addictive. And yes, Martha: this member of Team Vapor Trail will be back. Ride in my slipstream at your own risk.
Hi Paulie!
Yes, Saturday was awesome…I love when an unplanned plan goes as planned :)!
I am not on the blog as often as it is blocked at work for “alcohol.” The Atlanta Hash Forum is blocked as “porn.” Funny little thing…the filter!