Today’s post is mainly comprised of topics that I’ve forgotten to add to previous posts. At the end is something that happened last night.
Amazing Race? Not So Much.
After downloading Friday night’s episode of The Amazing Race I finally got around to watching it on Saturday morning (Since I wasn’t riding a bicycle or anything. Hey, I could have ridden on my trainer!)
To say this season hasn’t “done it” for me is an understatement. As I mentioned at the season’s start I’ve found the themed seasons of TAR to be the worst, and this one is going to be added toward the bottom of the list. Maybe I’ve just seen too much TAR and it’s mere repetition at this point?
I’ve mostly been watching in hopes that my fellow former Gators would bring home the million dollars. Spoiler Alert: they won’t be. I think the move that Burnie and Ashley played at the Double U-Turn was brilliant, and I hope that the rulers of TAR outlaw this play in the future. Why? Because it allowed two teams to conspire to completely screw another team. I think that each team should be forced to play the game individually. If this had been a “blind” Double U-Turn and Burnie and Ashley weren’t 100% sure that Tyler and Korey had gotten through the U-Turn already, then that’d be a different story.
Oh well, my life doesn’t change with this outcome, except that I may get a little time freed up since I may not watch the remainder of the season.
I Won The RAGBRAI Lottery
I received an email from RAGBRAI congratulating me for winning the RAGBRAI lottery. I officially have a wristband number! The funniest part about this is that I didn’t realize I was entering a lottery when I filled out my information weeks ago, I just assumed that I was signing up.
I wonder what I will do if the whole BRAG thing falls apart now…
Book Author Coincidence
Okay, follow me on this one.
For over a year I have been listening to a podcast called 99% Invisible. The podcast, hosted by Roman Mars, really appeals to my love of minute detail. (Also: Another reason I respect Mars is because he is an old fan of Hüsker Dü like me.)
A couple of weeks ago I heard that Mars was going to be interviewed on a new podcast called The Thread on which he was going to explain his love for the book Moon Palace. Mars’s description of the book intrigued me, but at a price of $12.99 for the Kindle edition I balked at buying it. I already have more books than I can read, so “saving” $12.99 seemed smart.
After Creative Mornings last Friday, which was held at SCAD Show, I popped into the Goethe Zentrum to borrow a German movie from their library. While I waited for someone to come to the front desk I perused their books for sale and my eye was drawn to a book entitled “The New York Trilogy” (in German, of course). I thought that stories about New York would appeal to me enough to force me to read it in German, and it only cost $1, so I bought it.
“The New York Trilogy” was written by Paul Auster, who also wrote “Moon Palace”. I hadn’t made this connection until I looked at the book again while in my car and thought that the author’s name had a familiar sound to it.
The Great Baked Pasta Fiasco
Last night I tried an experiment, and pretty much failed. Recently I’d seen a recipe for a Ramen noodle bake. Since I was stopping off at Kroger on my way home last night I picked up the ingredients, but substituted a box of elbow noodles, that I knew was already in my pantry, for the Ramen.
The recipe, which made an entire 9″ x 13″ of pasta, took forever to bake; I wound up eating dinner at nearly 9:00pm. And by the time most of the water had been cooked off the pasta was completely overcooked. I should have also known to up the spice level too since I was not going to have the one packet of beef-flavoring that would come a package of Ramen.
On top of it all I had my 1950’s inefficient oven on at 400°F for over an hour, heating up the kitchen. Since I’m still holding off on running the A/C in my house, things got a little toasty even with the kitchen door left wide open in an effort to escort some of the heat from the oven outside.
Oh well, it did serve as dinner and I still have three more large portions to eat sometime this week.
Live and learn…
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
I agree with you on the double U-Turn – a brilliant move on a strong team – but at the same time, doesn’t seem very fair.
I decided I needed mindless entertainment (& I was home alone)- so I watched The Voice last night. There really are some good singers on that show. I wonder if any of the past contestants have really made any real money since the show.
We got 2 truckloads of tree mulch dropped off yesterday, the church across the street had a big tree come down, and it was my tree guy that got the job – so he called to see if he could dump the mulch. Guess we will be getting our fill of manual labor the rest of this week. But, we do need it- we were just talking about giving him a call last week.
I disagree with you both on the U-Turn! I think it was clever strategy and they should always allow it. If the Gators had been able to survive the double U, it would have made things super interesting, as in: who would they target now? The ones who turned them or the ones that kept them from being able to? It’s only that they came in last that this seems anti-climatic now.
But otherwise, I agree in that this TAR is meh. It doesn’t seem much like a themed one to me, mainly because I didn’t know any of these so-called stars to begin with. But I still prefer the Normal People seasons. As long as there are no kids.
I could not hold off on the air conditioner, so I’m happy to see we have a cool spell coming back in the next few days (though Sunday looks like close to 90 again – YUCK! Too early!). My place runs on two separate window units though and the rooms cool off darn quick, so I’ve been taking to keeping only the one on in the room I’m in at the time (living/dining/kitchen vs. bedroom), hoping that’ll keep costs down. Like you, I did some baking on Sunday and DANG. Even a little convection oven heats up the place!
Given that the teams were so close, leaving no more than fifteen minutes apart at the start, the placement of that double U-Turn with that strategy allowed, virtually sunk whatever team was actually U-Turned. Rarely do I recall a point within the race that had such a distinct outcome. This season seems to have fewer flight segments, keeping all of the teams near one-another.
Well, I don’t know where my previous post went…
Just an hour to ride home yesterday after an almost 2 hour ride in. How people do this every day, I don’t know.
Class is having its moments. Mostly boring ones… hopefully it will pick up.
– FP
We suffer every day, until we cannot suffer any longer Steve.
Oh JESUS. When Steve said “an hour to ride home yesterday after a 2 hour ride in” I thought he meant on his BIKE. I’m like: daaaaaamn.
But, yeah. Car. Yeah, that sucks. 🙁
And I know it’s only 11:00am but I am ready for lunch. I’ll be reheating some Mezcalitos from Saturday night along with some (cheaper than $4.50) tortillas I purchased at Kroger last night.
Steve, you are taking a cybersecurity class, pretty difficult making that not boring 🙂
and I’m with you, I have NO idea how people commute like that. When GA400 was re-doing the Windward pkwy exit my commute went from 12 minutes to almost 30. Riding my bike was almost faster.
About to go meet the boss for a McKesson Dilligence In Risk Technologies (McKDirt) meeting at the blankets creek parking lot. It’s nice having a boss that rides 🙂
re: commute — I’ve heard of some people considering quitting their jobs because of the lousy commute in this town. I’ve heard. 😉
Steve –
2 hours to get up here yesterday? dang – that was way worse than usual.
I wonder where the wreck was to make it that bad.
I went to Sports Authority at lunch yesterday, I can always meet you over there somewhere, there really is quite a few places to eat within walking distance of the Galleria.
We had to turn on the A/C a while back – it was just too warm to sleep, and I’m not a fan of a fan blowing on me, so I have to deal with it on low for Allan, but the A/C was a much better option for me.
And – I HATE YOU BOB. I’d love to not have to be in the office some days…….. for work.
285 was a slow moving parking lot yesterday. Much more typical today, just slow north of 20.
Bob, I think this guy has a special gift for making this boring. And he’s a walker… back and forth.
Barb, I was thinking TC, if they are quick enough at lunch.
And Bob, I officially hate you.
Wait. Why are we all hating Bob? 🙁
Because we can!
Or, because he went out bike riding today with his boss instead of having to stay in his office.
Steve – TC is fine for lunch – just let us know what time. Allan said he can (or will) take a break from spreading mulch……….
Ohhhhh! Okay, that’s legit. #HateOn!
🙂 and it was a good meeting too, we covered all we needed to cover and had a good ride. Beautiful day out, trails are still a little wet though.
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