I have no recollection of quelling the morning’s first alarm. I awoke about fifteen minutes prior to the sounding of my second alarm.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Learn about sugar alcohols in food.
Long gone are the days of just a few sugar substitutes – now food manufacturers have nearly a dozen sweeteners to choose from when creating their products. Becoming familiar with the names of the sweeteners can help you identify them on a nutrition label. Knowing their pros and cons allows you to make a more informed choice about your food.
If it’s sweet then it’s for me.
Hey, At Least I’m Wasn’t That Guy
I scampered out of work early yesterday in an effort to beat traffic into midtown. I won. I left the office near Perimeter Mall and pulled into the parking lot on 5th/Spring (to which I had the “pleasure” of paying $9 to park for five hours) at about 4:30pm.
With nearly two hours to kill prior to the start of the Atlanta iOS Developers Meetup I didn’t know what to do. The obvious answer would have been to wander over to the 5th Street LA Fitness and get some exercise, but instead I found a branch of my bank, pulled out some cash, and pulled into Cypress Street Pint & Plate.
By the time I arrived the four guys at one of the bar’s corners were smashed, talking shit about Tampa, the University of Florida, and something related to the business that supports me. I, not wanting to be sucked in, kept my mouth shut. Over time the guy closest to me, two bar stools away, wound up putting his head down on the bar for a little “nap”. I had no idea when these guys started drink and less desire to find out.
I like Cypress Street a lot. Tuesday night is apparently “Beer Geek” night and last night they were tapping a special keg of something, the bartender was friendly and attentive, and they offer pints of Sweetwater IPA for $3 at all times. As a bonus I noshed on some half-priced appetizers — fried mushrooms, pimento cheese with toast — as my dinner.
By the time I left Cypress Street and wandered into the basement of the Biltmore I was glad to be sitting and listening to presentations for a few hours before having to get back to my car.
Whole Lotta N00bs In The House
There was a good turn out for last night’s Atlanta iOS Developers Meetup, including a lot people attending for the first time. One of the first-timers was a guy named Scott who I follow on Twitter, we met in real life for the first time last night; Scott is the husband of the women I mildly freaked out at the career fair in Raleigh when I introduced myself to her. Another first-timer was a woman who mentioned that she was going to start another iOS developers group for women only. While I understand the desire for women’s-only gyms, it seems odd and wrong to me to segment the software development population based on gender, and it’s not because I think it’ll hurt my chances to meet women (you can’t get any worse than I am today).
The topics last night were about Bluetooth, something I’d like to learn more about but have little available bandwidth for at the moment, and a beginner’s lesson about the use of notifications, delegates, and blocks. I knew much about the beginner’s topic and for the first time felt confident enough to interject a few things. ** pushes nerd glasses back up bridge of nose **
Brave Comboing
Though it sounds as if I probably won’t see any of you down at Smith’s Olde Bar tonight I have a ticket and am planning on attending. Hell, even if no one I know makes it I’ll have a fun time listening to the polka stylings of Brave Combo (always chuckle at that URL).
Hey, if you are in Raleigh, North Carolina tomorrow night Brave Combo will be playing The Pour House.
Today’s Personal Project
Try to get some exercise before tonight’s Brave Combo show.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – miffed about work and my personal life
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – I find it humorous that a website called No Recipes posts recipes, but this one for baked beans looks so good that I might have to try it soon. Go watch the slideshow on that site, but don’t do it if you are hungry.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – I don’t want to know, which means that I need to know
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~3.9 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 2 (2 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]
I decided to plant some seeds in the garden last night, since it was so nice out & I knew it was supposed to rain today.
I planted, lettuce, spinach, green onions, celery, broccoli – but not sure what’s going to happen with the broccoli, I thought it was a row I hadn’t planted yet & threw some spinach seeds in little trench I had made. The broccoli seeds are very small & dark & I didn’t cover them up right away after planting, so I thought I hadn’t planted that row yet. Oops.
We also watched Gravity last night, I really have no idea why it was nominated for Best Picture. It was good, but to me, not that good. The special effects were really good though, so I can see it getting all the technical awards.
The beer mules’ mule did his duty after work yesterday. The product in question was Cigar City Brewing’s “Florida Cracker- Belgian Style While Ale”. Apparently, they are addicted to it, so I was glad to be an enabler.
Big crowd at the Games meeting last night, for no particular reason except the last meeting got iced out. The Saint Patricks Parade will be this Saturday and not downtown, but Midtown along W. Peachtree St. Huh? 14th to 5th. Make plans to attend and cheer on the Scots! I will be at a bike race.
-FP
A couple of weeks ago I received a press release about the change in parade route. Sooner or later there will be absolutely nothing to draw people into downtown execpt DragonCon perhaps.
I still think the St. Patrick’s Day parade ought to be on St. Patrick’s Day. Oh, the memories of the ones in Buckhead back in the early 90s.
Funny, I never saw a parade on my St. Patrick’s Days in Buckhead (mid-late 1990s) but I do remember seeing a lot of $3 Cafe, Fado, and Ri O’Bravos (aka “Rio Bravos”).
I don’t think the women’s only groups are a replacement for mixed gender groups but more of an supplement. I imagine that developers are still mostly men. Men and women, think and communicate differently. Sometime women don’t get heard when the men start talking…I get it (trust me, even with my big mouth I have a hard time being heard over the techno guys in work groups and management meetings).
Paulie- the parade can only be compared to the Pride parade nowdays, it was a bunch craziness. At least that is how I remember it, I was usually not sober.
I’m sorry Martha, did you say something? I was staring at your breasts. Lol.
You all realize that I am joking, right?
Martha, I completely agree. Interesting story on NPR just the other day about women and leadership. How even when not intending to, parents basically give “subliminal” messages to girls they are not leaders. Unfortunate.
And I was staring at Paulie’s breasts.
Be thankful you don’t have to live with my breasts — I can’t keep my hands off of them!
I know you’re joking. Jerry tells me I’m bossy, I say I have leadership skills…
on the plus side, since most teachers are women, schools/learning is geared towards the way women/girls learn…that’s why every boy ‘suffers’ from ADD, ADHA, etc.
I heard the Girl Scouts don’t like the word bossy now.
I’m a big beliver in “Lead, follow, or get out of the way”, and it doesn’t matter the gender.
Wow today has just been nuts between work and the house it’s been non-stop since I got back from the gym.
The good: island lights are up, microwave & dishwasher to be installed today.
The bad: I think another person is getting ready to submit their notice…*sigh*
Did they use you as a reference? Generally a dead giveaway.
The project manager for one of my projects resigned yesterday. Oh bother.
I wish I could resign……
I wish I could storm out it a blaze of obscenities, leaving a trail of tears in my wake …but I’m at least 20 years away from that scenario…
You can’t plan on something unless you’re talking about whatever you’re physically standing or sitting on whilst planning. You are planning on the hardwood floor TO see Brave Combo. Or you could just say you’re planning to see Brave Combo and save us all the confusion. This is one of the more useless tidbits of grammar you’ll hear from me.
wow Jenka – that’s a good one.
I worship the ground on which you walk Jenka. 🙂
I think I like confusing people, it gets them to comment.
I’m planning on Jenka to beat Jeaka up for being such a grammar nerd would be correct if I was sitting on you while make a plan to beat you up for being a grammar nerd? (Ugh just remembered this math nerd needs to finish her homework)
Yep, that’s perfect, Martha. And I’d deserve it!