Feed A Cold, Starve Ebola

That’s the appropriate course of action, correct?

Today’s Daily Challenge
Take your next phone call standing up.

Sitting for long stretches can lead to tight muscles, poor circulation in the legs, and slowed brain function. A ringing phone can be a great reminder to take a break from sitting. Bonus: standing while you’re on the phone can also make your voice sound more energetic to the person at the other end of the line.

What’s a “phone call” Grandpa?

Not Exactly How I Planned It
I am still fighting off this cold. Meh.

All day yesterday I sat performing my best “I’m okay, you’re okay” impression and mostly felt on the brink of miserable as I did. To give you an indication of how my day played out, I was carrying a handkerchief — a handkerchief (side note: I had no idea that it was spelled “handkerchief” I always thought it was a “handkerchief”). Believe it or not, matters got even worse as the afternoon and evening progressed; I’ll spare you the details.

Plywood Presents was an interesting, but not completely life-changing event. The crowd was mostly twentysomethings-thirtysomethings with some old farts like yours truly peppering the field. I did my level best not to hit on the young ladies, which was easy since I felt that all-but-one never even acknowledged my existence and my introvert’s mind combined with my illness teamed up to make me feel like a virtual Elephant Man. By and large the presentations were what you would expect from a liberally-slanted organization (I am guilty as charged), siding toward helping children in Iran cover medical expenses, helping women in Africa attend college, and leveling the playing field for women in the United States. There was one talk that confused me, an Australian man who gave up his high-salary career to become a hunter/gatherer — fine for him I suppose. And there were a few motivational talks by successful entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately my illness convinced me to skip the after party each day as well. Stupid ebola.

ITP Flickr Pic
“Conversations” (Atlanta, Georgia, US)
Conversations
The Plywood Presents “convention” was held in the Egyptian Room of the Fox Theatre. I’ve only been in the Egyptian Room twice before while taking the Fox tour that was being performed by my old friend (then) Glenn. During breaks we were encouraged to hold conversations with strangers, this is a photo taken by an introvert of people far more capable of conversation than he.

“Sunflower” (Atlanta, Georgia, US)
Sunflower
As we went to lunch one organization was handing out sunflowers. While I did not take one I did manage to find this one left behind being bathed by wonderful light.

Ten Years Ago Today
Today marks the ten-year “anniversary” of me getting held up in my driveway. This blog is the child of the anger instilled in me that day. Some good things (if you consider this blog to be a good thing) can result from bad things I suppose.

Cruising Through The Weekend
I had planned on stepping up my game this weekend and going for at least one bike ride and attending the Black Sheep Hash. However being sick the past three days and still feeling its affects today have changed my mind. Instead I think that I will take it easy, only attending Black Sheep if I feel 100% better by Sunday morning.

Today’s Personal Project
Kick this fucking cold to the curb, and if all possible go to the bank. Oh hell, I might as wait until Monday to go to the bank.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh, feeling like shit and coming into work to put out some major fires
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – One of the more humorous presentations given at “Plywood Presents” was Jia Jiang’s 100 Days of Rejection. Sadly it didn’t provide me with enough courage to talk to strangers, however.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – checking tomorrow

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 0 (0 cardio)

Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

August Goals
– clear out a room’s worth of things I no longer wish to own for the rest of my life
– hire a plumber to come in and fix the “small” repairs
– contact a realtor to make a hit list of things that need to change before the house can be listed

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

  1. “Johnny Carson” by Henry Bushkin
  2. “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” by Austin Kleon
  3. “Chaos: Making a New Science” by James Gleick
  4. “What’s So Funny?: My Hilarious Life” by Tim Conway

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

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13 Responses to Feed A Cold, Starve Ebola

  1. Steve says:

    Hope you feel better. Summer colds… OK colds suck.

    The offer/counter offer war continues. Now they want the hot tub as well as the W/D. We sent, what I believe is a final offer… more than fair.

    I was trying to get the rest of the pasture cut last night when the wind picked up and the skies darkened. The rain just barely started and I finished up the section I had started and high tailed it. There was no point in being a hero as I was almost out of fuel!

    DREAM CARS! This afternoon. I think we may stop at Ri Ra beforehand for a Friday afternoon Guiness prior to the mooseum. Come join us.

    Have a great weekend.

    -FP

  2. Wish I could come and play this afternoon. However even if I were feeling 100% my work load is bulging thanks to a day off and a catastrophic failure occurring right now. Enjoy!

    If I am feeling better this afternoon I might call Jenka’s realtor and make first contact. It’s kind of weird for me to think of not living in East Atlanta.

  3. Barb says:

    So, I tried to buy concert tickets on ticketmaster this morning – no such luck, it timed out due to high demand. But, my friend Gloria got tickets, so Allan & I will be going to see Garth Brooks at Phillips in Sept. I have no idea if he is excited about it, but I am, I wore out some cassettes & CDs back in the 90s. I’ve seen some concerts of his on TV, he puts on a fun show, and his tickets were resonably priced at $70. (which I still feel is high, but by today’s standards, it isn’t… James Taylor was $90 for lawn seats earlier this week)

    I still have no idea what the hell you went to yesterday Paulie, but that is okay.

    Black Sheep sunday, that might be fun to make an appearance.

  4. Steve says:

    I think you need a nice condo.. about 10 stories up. Midtown has some nice places, easy walk to MARTA and take that to work. Your life would be much simpler.

    While I’m not quite adjusted to leaving the farm yet, it is within the realm of possibilities.

  5. Barb, I attended and even I don’t know. 🙂

    I (think that I) am going to buy tickets for the Trombone Shorty show at Buckhead Theater on Nov 8. I had a blast seeing him three years ago and have missed him every time he’s returned since.

  6. Martha says:

    I’m not sure it’s a summer cold, I figured it was just bad air quality but I’ve not been 100% for a few days. I really considered skipping the gym today, since what ever it is has become more of a lower respritory issue but I called Jerry a pussy for skipping the gym yesterday because his finger hurt…so I felt I had to go.

    As for Jerry’s finger…uh, yeah, it was sort of messed up. I finally had a good look at it yesterday and realized it was probably an infected hangnail…I ‘popped’ it last night, I’ve never seen that color ecaspe from a human body before. He seems to be on the mend now.

    are you familar with “the handkerchief code”? better check it out before you next trip to Midtown.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code

    I would avoid brown at all cost 🙂

  7. Martha: I’ll have to investigate this after work because I just received a “Content blocked by your organization” message when I followed your link. 😉

  8. Debbie says:

    I love the sunflower photo – frame worthy for sure.

    No condo for us – I’ve gotten into gardening a little, now that we’re about to move. Doh!

    Most of the houses we are looking at on Sunday would let me indulge my new hobby on a smaller scale, so that will be even better. I suspect our live one will drop off the line and we’ll see what happens next. No lookers scheduled for this weekend yet. Maybe we’re being too hasty in rejecting the offer, but time will tell.

    And what am I missing? It looks like you spelled handkerchief the same way all four times.

  9. Steve says:

    Curious… and I could get the link. Who knew?? Oh, right, Martha!

  10. Martha says:

    10 years working in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention you’ll pick up an interesting fact or two.

    I noticed that too Debbie…but eh, what do I know. English isn’t really my strongest skill…

  11. Steve says:

    I figured he just got spellchecked every time and didn’t even notice.

  12. Yep, that’s correct Steve. I thought that it was spelled “hankerchief”

  13. Barb says:

    Allan also wants to go see Guardians of the Galaxy on sunday he informed me. IT does look pretty funny.

    and- the handkerchief code is pretty interesting.

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