Inside The Perimeter » My Daily Life

You Know It’s Hot When…

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:14:03 +0000

…after an hour of cycling your shorts feel like a swimsuit when you take them off. Holy crap was I ever a sweating machine out there this morning! My knees seemed fairly agreeable today, I’ll have to see what their opinion is when I try to ride home in this afternoon’s predicted brutal heat.

Another Boring Night In Pauliehood
What can I say, I’ve become rather a boring person of late. I had to drive the Red Rocket home last night so I didn’t feel extremely comfortable stopping for dinner anywhere, and besides, I really need to eat less and cheaper than I have been for the longest time. I was too late to hit up the East Atlanta Farmers Market as well, unfortunately. I wound up getting home, taking all of my goods indoors, and making myself a turkey and swiss sandwich for dinner.

After eating I settled in for a night of iPhone development tutorial watching, and promptly fell asleep.

I am a wild and crazy guy!!!

A Question For You
I’m looking for resources for in-season fruit, preferably “locally”-grown, and not über expensive. Why? Because I’m considering adding much more fruit to my diet and would like to make it worth my while. Any suggestions?

ITP Flickr Pic
Well, I thought yesterday’s shot would be the last I posted from last weekend’s photowalk. But then again I thought that I might set up and shoot something last night. I was wrong on both accounts.

I was struck by the play of light and shadow on the old door handles too this door, as well as the touch of red provided by the (modern day) padlock.

One Excursion Scrapped, Another Accepted
For about two weeks I’ve been targeting this weekend as a test of my outdoor readiness and cycling fortitude. I’ve mapped out a fairly tough 34-mile bike ride which starts and end at Black Rock Mountain State Park and was planning on doing it as part of a short camping weekend alone. However, I can’t be guaranteed that it’s not going to rain up there this weekend so I’ve scrapped it and will try again next weekend.

Instead, tomorrow I’ll be joining a few of my photog friends for a trip up to Dalton, GA for a camera swap meet followed by potentially heading up toward the Ocoee to do a little photography up there. It should be a fun time.

Sunday is a Black Sheep Hash hashing day! And, if a start is ever posted I may even consider running it.

What’s on your agenda this weekend?

Happy Birthday To Someone You Don’t Know
Today is the birthday of someone in the rare category of “I’ve known since I’ve graduated from high school.” There should probably be an asterisk on that category because I lost communication with my friend Mike for over fifteen years before being reconnected via Facebook (perhaps the only reason I keep my Facebook account).

Mike is the reason for whatever “coolness” my music collection contains as he was responsible for introducing me to Hüsker Dü, REM, The Smiths, Jason and the Scorchers, and many more. Mike is also the only person with whom I ever attended Spring Break in Daytona “back in the day.” I was able to reconnect with Mike last Christmas and hope to hang out with him again sometime soon.

Happy Birthday, old friend — though I have no idea whether or not you read this space.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, glad I rode to work today
Current Music – listening to this week’s “net@night” podcast
Website Of The Day – I’m not ashamed to admit that I have a crush on the lovely Felicia Day and her web-series The Guild. I am such a nerd.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my bike
Exercise (b)Log – cycling, 16.4 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 245.5 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 29
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 3

July Goals
- Not to get sick for the entire month (still waiting to accomplish this)
- Not get fired from my job
- Ride my bicycle no fewer than 150 miles
- Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
- Complete at least one iPhone application
- Completely plan out my August/September Colorado trip

2010 Goals
- Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds) [update: On July 1 I've sadly gained weight; I'm at 203 pounds]
- Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
- Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Sharpened Stone.
- Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
- Attend at least one professional photography workshop
- Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
- ~~Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online~~
- Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides
- Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
- Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
- Become a proficient programmer in ~~PHP and CSS~~ Objective-C
- Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Well That Wasn’t So Bad

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:10:30 +0000

I really thought that my plan to ride my bike home and then back in to work this morning was going to be wrecked by yesterday’s rain. Thankfully the rain subsided and I was able to pull off my riding plan. Even with a ton of sleep last night this morning’s ride was rough, especially since the weather was a touch on the muggy side. On the somewhat position my knees feel “strained” but are not feeling horrible. I think tonight will be a rest night and I’ll see how they feel tomorrow.

Mad Math
In the scant time that I was awake (after showering of course) I decided to look at some of the information about the cast of Mad Men. You may think that I am weird, but I avoided reading anything about Mad Men and its cast until I had fully caught up for fear of reading spoilers (actually, I screwed up by accidentally starting to read an article which led off with the line “Now that Don Draper is single…”)

Last night I was stunned to find out that the actor who plays Roger Sterling is only three years older than me. Wow. This led me to look up some of the other people and do a little bit of Mad Math

Roger Sterling – Paulie = 3
Don Draper – Paulie = -6
Joan Holloway – Paulie = -10
Pete Campbell – Paulie = -13

ITP Flickr Pic
One final shot from last weekend’s brief photo walk.

I know that flower photos are a dime a dozen, but I sort of like this one.

So Many Events, Not Enough Weekends
Well it’s happened again (to borrow a phrase from the Car Talk guys), another event has been scheduled for a weekend for which I am already committed. I just received email from the local iPhone Developers Group announcing that “Cocoa Camp”, an event I’d love to attend, will be held on September 25th. However, September 25th is the weekend of the Black Sheep Lake Hartwell campout — an event that I’m hoping will have no bizarre turns of events for me this year — and I’m committed to helping with the cooking again this year.

I know that there are generally only four weekends in a month, but why must so many events choose the same ones?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – listening to last night’s Top Chef
Website Of The Day – What can I say, I love the internet. Why? Because I can find sites like the Television Production Museum.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my bike
Exercise (b)Log – cycling, 19.1 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 229.1 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 3 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 28
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 2

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

An Hour Is Better Than Nothing I Hope

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:02:19 +0000

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for non-thunderstorm weather this afternoon because I’m trying something a little different today. This morning I drove the Red Rocket into work with the plan to ride it home tonight and then ride it back in to work tomorrow morning. I’m hoping that splitting up my rides for a while will spare my knees a little bit. And if it all works out I’ll actually get over an hour’s worth of exercise each day.

I Continue To Stoke The Economy
Yesterday I made appearances and purchases in two of the Atlanta area REIs. I was almost ready to purchase a $75 pair of Pearl Izumi bike shorts before changing my mind to wait and see if the other REI had the $50 pair in my size. Until last week I had no hesitation about purchasing new cycling gear, though with my current round of knee pain I’m a little concerned that I’ll have to take a hiatus from riding if my knees get worse and I’m forced to seek professional help.

I nearly purchased a pair of long-legged bike tights for the colder weather that will inevitably arrive (and which has historically ended my cycling year). The tights were on “clearance” but will still priced at $80 so I decided to wait.

Also purchased yesterday were packages of Clif Blocks, a couple of Clif Bars, and some hammock straps. Oh, I’ve never mentioned that I’ve purchased a lightweight hammock for my future camping/traveling outings.

ITP Flickr Pic
I like to believe that I am observant. While walking to Eddie’s Attic the other night I spied this old Mello Yello bottle which was partially embedded into the ground.

I assume that someone tossed the bottle into the patch of ivy that you can see along the right side, and over time the ivy overtook the bottle only to be exposed again years later.

btw- I took this shot with my iPhone 4 and post-processed it with an app called Camera Bag using its “Colorcross” setting.

RealiTV Update: Hell’s Kitchen Won’t Die; Master Chef is American Idol
Last night the tv watching crowd wound up at Leigh Ann’s for a last midtown hurrah. I stopped at Trader Joe’s. The original plan was to order some pizza as we watched Hell’s Kitchen and the premiere episode of Master Chef so I picked up a box of blackberries and a bottle of wine (I couldn’t find cold beer at Trader Joe’s. As it turned out, there was so much food left over from last week’s gathering that we nixed the pizza and noshed on the items that were on hand.

Where to start on Hell’s Kitchen? No one eliminated last night? WTF? Will this season never go away?

Since this season of Hell’s Kitchen has not done much for me I’ve been anticipating the start of Ramsay’s newest “reality tv” vehicle Master Chef. Sadly from what I saw last night Master Chef is nothing more that American Idol for cooking. Why am I not surprised?

Happy [REDACTED] Birthday, Lisa
Okay, let’s try this again on her actual birthday…

Has it really be [REDACTED] years since I joined ITP-Reader Steve, and a couple of other hashers in the parking lot of an apartment complex on North Druid Hills to serenade ITP-Reader Lisa on her [REDACTED] birthday? Holy. Shit. To give you some idea this was in the days before Steve and Lisa were “ITP-Readers” because I’d yet to become ITP-Writer Paulie.

Since that day Lisa has wised up considerably by meeting ITP-Reader Randy, moving to Raleigh North Carolina and marrying him, and then having two marvelous boys.

I’ve had many good laughs with today’s birthday girl over the past [REDACTED] years that I’ve known her and look forward to having many more as our paths cross in the future.

I wish I had the vacation time available to wish you a happy birthday in person during your family vacation this year, but since I don’t a blog birthday wish will have to suffice.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though am concerned about my health
Current Music – listening to the “MacBreak Weekly” podcast
Website Of The Day – Dive is a film documenting the “freegan” lifestyle of eating food discarded by businesses. I can’t wait until I can download / view this movie.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car (with bike on top)
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 210.0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 2 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 27
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 1

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

The Fugly Truth

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:17:25 +0000

Weighing #1: 205.6 pounds
Weighing #2: 205.4 pounds

So basically with all of my efforts to lose weight I’ve actually managed to put on weight. Fuck. Me. And please don’t feed me that “You know muscle weighs more than fat.” line because I’ve not put on noticeable muscle mass either. In fact, just don’t feed me.

In addition to trying to eat and drink less, I think it may be time to make an effort to increase my number of vegetarian days.

I’ve Eaten At P.F. Chang’s, Now I Never Have To Go Back
I attended a going-away lunch for one of my coworkers yesterday. Attending going-away lunches is a rare event for me because I believe we should celebrate people joining the company instead of leaving the company, and oh, I hate meals with big crowds.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve had a going away lunch, but I digress…

I decided to attend the going-away lunch for a couple of reasons. One, I really liked the guy who quit — he was one of my lunch bunch. Two, I’ve never eaten at a P.F. Chang’s and I wanted to see what all of the hubbub was about.

I ate an order of crispy green beans and some pepper steak. I was underwhelmed at the quality of the meal as well as the high price charged for each. Call me a naysayer but I’ll go to the Chinese Food Court near Peachtree Dekalb Airport or Tasty China ten out of ten times before I return to P.F. Chang’s.

ITP Flickr Pic
Last Saturday I was supposed to be at the Chattahoochee River by daybreak in order to meet my Flickr / RPS photo friends for daybreak photos. I didn’t make it in time.

Luckily for me, once the sun rose we hopped into our cars and sought out another shooting location. This is where we saw a guy in the distant mist in a canoe. Once he started paddling our way I locked onto him and did my best to get a shot of him in action.

Laundry Night With A Twist
Last night I did laundry at the laundromat next to Lee’s Bakery. What was different last night was that my friend Nav who lives in that area brought his laundry up there and did his wash at the same time. Of course there were Lee’s Bakery Banh Mi sandwiches consumed.

Happy [REDACTED] Birthday, Lisa
Has it really be [REDACTED] years since I joined ITP-Reader Steve, and a couple of other hashers in the parking lot of an apartment complex on North Druid Hills to serenade ITP-Reader Lisa on her [REDACTED] birthday? [Well, this is certainly embarrassing.... According to her Facebook account I am apparently a day early with my birthday wishes; I assume that Lisa knows which day her birthday is so I must be wrong. Looks like I'm having a hard time getting anything right these days...] Holy. Shit. To give you some idea this was in the days before Steve and Lisa were “ITP-Readers” because I’d yet to become ITP-Writer Paulie.

Since that day Lisa has wised up considerably by meeting ITP-Reader Randy, moving to Raleigh North Carolina and marrying him, and then having two marvelous boys.

I’ve had many good laughs with today’s birthday girl over the past [REDACTED] years that I’ve known her and look forward to having many more as our paths cross in the future.

I wish I had the vacation time available to wish you a happy birthday in person during your family vacation this year, but since I don’t a blog birthday wish will have to suffice.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – dumpy
Current Music – listening to assorted podcasts trying to catch up no that the Tour de France is done
Website Of The Day – Whirled is a creative services advertising and marketing agency which produces some amazing remix videos. They recently released one called “Mad Smoke” which is a near three-minute piece made from smoking scenes taken from “Mad Men.”
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 205.5 pounds
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 210.0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 26
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 1

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Le Tour Est Fin

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:41:33 +0000

I’m still debating whether or not I’ll watch the recording of yesterday’s Tour de France finale. I have no good explanation, but I’m not much of an Alberto Contador fan.

World Wide Photomelt
I was supposed to meet my Flickr / Roswell Photographic Society gang at the Chattahoochee River at daybreak Saturday morning — that was until I didn’t wake up until 6:15am EDT. Ugh. I did my best to get up there and salvage my morning shoot, but only managed one shot with which I can be pleased (Barb, I tried to shoot that free-standing hearth but none of the shots of it that I took Saturday morning came out the way I wanted them to).

From the river our gang headed up Roswell Rd / Atlanta St to eat breakfast at The Southern Skillet. If you were to blindfold me and take me into The Southern Skillet I’d never believe you that it was part of a strip mall / shopping center. Overall the food was really good, though the wait to get our food on a Saturday morning was rather long.

After our breakfast we drove up to the meeting point for the third annual Scott Kelby World Wide Photowalk / Death March which was the gazebo of the Historic Roswell square. By the time we got sent off for our walk it was past 10:00am EDT and it was hot. My small group of photogs barely lasted an hour before succumbing to the heat and calling it quits. In retrospect I should have just stayed in the parking lot behind the Soda Salon and watched the parade of beautiful young women who were going there instead of trying to fight the heat elsewhere.

It Was A Mad, Mad, Mad, Weekend
For many there was an eight-month wait for last night’s Mad Men Season Four premiere, for me it was more like an eight-hour wait. I’m not exactly sure how I managed it (other than being lazy) but from the time I returned from Eddie’s Attic on Saturday night through yesterday afternoon I was able to watch the last eight episodes of Season Three in order to be caught up for last night’s premiere. And boy was I ever happy that I had intimate knowledge of the series going into last night’s episode… I’m hooked and am looking forward to keeping up with the Mad Men as they march toward that magical time of 1965 — the year yours truly entered this world.

A Mile For Every Year
Yesterday morning I woke up (later than I desired because of the three-plus hours of Mad Men I watched into the wee hours of Saturday night / Sunday morning) and hopped on the Red Rocket for a morning ride before the heat index climbed above 100º F. The plan was to ride forty-five miles, essentially one mile for every year I’ve been alive. Because of the pain I experienced last week with the new bike shoes I decided to “play it safe” by wearing the mountain bike shoes which had not given me much bother all year.

The ride started really well, even though by 7:30am EDT the Georgia temperature and humidity were fighting me. Regardless of the weather I pushed myself as hard as I could. Around mile twenty-eight the knee pain started to return; they’re not sharp pains (on the inner portion of my left knee and the outer portion of my right knee), but but neither should be there.

I finished up my forty-five miles (in somewhere around 2:50:00) and sat in a cool bath for a little while trying to provide some relief to my worn out bag of muscles and fat.

I’m wondering if I have to scale back my grandiose plans to take the Red Rocket with me on my Colorado trip and get some serious riding in while on vacation next month. I certainly hope that I don’t have to, because bringing the bike is one of the big reasons I’m driving instead of flying.

ITP Flickr Pic
One of the benefits of riding alone is taking the road less traveled. One of the benefits of having an iPhone 4 in the Red Rocket’s seat pack is having a half-decent camera with me when I ride.

This was my view of Stone Mountain from the turnaround at what used to be the parking lot for the Olympic velodrome.

Thumbs Down, Thumbs Up
Talk about your contrasts…

On Friday I joined my friend Kevin for the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals show at Variety Playhouse. The night started off on the wrong foot when the plan to eat at The Vortex had to be scrapped because of an unfortunate turn of left-the-tickets-at-home (not it!) events. Instead the only place I could find an empty seat was in The Corner Tavern. The Corner Tavern’s garage-door window was open so I figured that it wouldn’t be very smoky, but what I should have realized that with the rain and heat which Little Five Points experienced on Friday night the place would be the sauna that it turned out to be. After dinner we headed into Variety for the sold out show. Between the annoying, blinding, headache inducing light show and the fact that I could not get into the Grace Potter sound I wound up leaving early.

On Saturday I went solo to Eddie’s Attic in Decatur to see Chatham County Line. You might recall that the last time I went to Eddie’s I had a less-than-stellar experience because I didn’t know of the procedures for checking in with the doorman. On Friday I received a blast email reminding me of the check-in procedure (could this email be in part caused by the bitching I did in this space?) so I decided to skip my plan to eat at Farm Burger and get a good seat inside Eddie’s instead. The Chatham County Line show was great, until I made one of the least graceful dismounts from a bar stool that anyone will ever see. Mind you I didn’t fall off, but I wasn’t that far from doing so because my legs were sticking to the wooden stool as I tried to spin around and hop off the stool. I was so embarrassed with my lack of grace that I decided to skip the final few tunes of the show and head home. Besides, I needed a good night’s sleep before riding — until I got sucked into my Mad Men vortex.

I Have Laundry Yes I Do, I Have Laundry What About You?
I’ve taken so long to do laundry that I’ve maxed out the capacity of my two IKEA shopping/laundry bags. Tonight’s laundry will be done at the lavanderia next to Lee’s Bakery so that I can hopefully meet up with my friend Nav for a Banh Mi sandwich.

Speaking of Banh Mi, has anyone listened to This American Life #412 “Million Dollar Idea” in which they said that Banh Mi and Bubble Tea is the latest craze? Seems to me that they are a few years late with that assumption as I’ve been going to Lee’s for “crazy cheap sandwiches” for at least six years.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – in pain
Current Music – listening to a CBC Radio 3 concert podcast by Elliot Brood
Website Of The Day – AMC is the home of Mad Men and apparently some other original tv series. To think, I’ve always just considered them to be American Movie Classics.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday: cycling, 45 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check, though I should have
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 210.0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 25
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 1

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Where’s My Wisdom?

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:04:56 +0000

With age comes wisdom, right? Where’s mine? If I had been blessed with wisdom I wouldn’t feel as groggy as I do right now.

No Plans To Eat At Home, Why Did I Buy So Much Bread?
Because of my scheduling I know that I won’t be making any food at the house so I can’t figure out why I purchased two loaves of bread at the East Atlanta Farmers Market last night.

I love the concept of the mini farmers market at which I can get bread, cheese, and vegetables. In fact, I dream of a life in which I live close enough to work and a market so that I could purchase produce and make delicious dinners at home.

Another reason for my desire to make it out to the farmers market last night was to consume another popsicle from the King of Pops. Last night I ate a blueberry/watermelon popsicle which was rather delicious. The popsicles sold by King of Pops are subtly flavored and quite refreshing. I implore you to try one if you happen to find yourself in the vicinity of the King of Pops pushcart.

One Night Only — SOLD OUT
WTH. I met up with some friends last night to partake in the Taste of East Atlanta. We started with a prelube at Holy Taco where I had three Fat Tires (kids, this is not the way to start a long evening) before I requested that we wander and sample some food.

At the Taste of East Atlanta you were to buy tickets which you would exchange for food/drink samples from the participating restaurants/bars in East Atlanta Village. Oddly, the main ticket tent had been shut down with a sign which read SOLD OUT. We crossed the street to another venue which was selling tickets and were informed that they had to stop selling tickets because restaurants were running out of samples; this was about ninety minutes before the event was supposed to end!

With no chance of sampling I commanded us to head to Midway Pub where I finally ate some food (delicious veggie corn dogs) and had some more beer.

The evening ended back at Holy Taco with more beverages.

Is it any wonder why the blog is late today?

Thanks to Betsy, Terri, and Leigh Ann for helping my birthday be a lot of fun.

ITP Flickr Pic
None today. Hell, I’m somewhat surprised I’m able to produce text this morning. I had planned on taking a photo of each food sample I consumed, but since I never got any I didn’t take any photos. Had I taken a photo of each beer I consumed I’d be uploading photos all day.

A Lot Of Live Music And Photography On My Agenda
Tomorrow morning I’ll be participating in the third annual World Wide Photowalk organized by Scott Kelby. I’ve chosen to join the group up in Roswell since I’ve never shot up in that area before.

Sandwiching my photowalk will be live music. Tonight I’ll be joining my friend Kevin at Variety Playhouse for the Grace Potter and the Nocturnal show. Tomorrow night I’ll be making a return to Eddie’s Attic for the Chatham County Line show.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – worn out, groggy
Current Music – listening to today’s Tour de France stage
Website Of The Day – Food In Jars is a really interesting blog about canning/jarring food.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 165.0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 4.5 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 22
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 1

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Growing Old, Not Growing Up

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:14:20 +0000

Forty-five? Yikes. How the hell did that happen? Oh great, I’m now in the target demographic for the low testosterone commercials that have been shown on the television all through the Tour de France.

I’ve already had two birthday surprises today. My mother called at 6am to sing Happy Birthday. Luckily for me I am an early riser and I was also too lazy to get out of be to make it in to work for the start of today’s Tour de France coverage. Then, on my drive in to work I saw ITP-Reader Betsy and Sarah running through East Atlanta Village. Note: I was pleased that I was driving and not running.

I’d Thought I’d Made A Big Mistake
When the violent storms rushed through the top end of the perimeter yesterday afternoon I questioned my decision to ride my bike to work yesterday. Luckily I was able to wait it out and ride home in a steam bath, with the roads becoming bone dry at some point during the ride. When I made it to the corner of North and Highland I decided to reward myself by stopping and buying honeydew grape popsicle from the King of Pops. The popsicle was delicious, though very hard to eat cleanly while pedaling my bicycle.

I arrived home around 7:30pm and made the decision that by the time I’d cooled down, showered, and drove back up to George’s, most of the people I’d be going up there to see would be headed out the door. Instead, I decided to plop my last-night-as-a-forty-four-year-old-ass on the couch and take in episodes of Mad Men and Top Chef before crashing for the evening.

ITP Flickr Pic
Cameraphone self-portrait of a marginally-photogenic, highly self-critical, and self-deprecating subject.

Tour de France is on in the background as proof of my love for the sport.

Happy Birthday To Me
And to David Spade, Willem Dafoe, and Alex Trebek.

Tonight I’ll be joining some others for the Taste of East Atlanta which is happening from 5-9pm tonight. If you have my cell number and want to join in please holler at me later as I don’t know exactly when and where we are going to start the journey.

Tonight may be the first time this year I’ve made it to the East Atlanta Farmers Market. I’m frustrated that I can’t make it to the market more often, and that it is now being held in the parking lot of the former Village Hardware which went out of business a few weeks ago.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – old
Current Music – listening to today’s Tour de France stage
Website Of The Day – With a website called Happy Happy Birthday To Me how could I not link to Athens Georgia’s Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records today?
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – cycling, 33.4 miles
Morning Weigh-In – couldn’t check, the batteries were dead
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 165.0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 4 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 21
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 1

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

They Rest In France, I Ride In Georgia

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:05:53 +0000

The riders of the Tour de France may be kissing babies and eating soft cheeses today in France, but I took the promise of only a slight chance for rain and the decision to put off doing laundry until another day to hop on my bike for a commute to work. I even managed to give my new cycling shoes a go, though I think some tweaking of my cleat positioning is in order.

As an added bonus, today’s ride is going to help me complete my July goal of riding no fewer than 150 miles this month.

A Funny Thing Happened At Lunch Yesterday
Yesterday at lunch I dropped into Target to buy some rechargeable batteries and an air filter for the house. While there I ran into my old friend Tom, from whom I used to rent a room many moons ago.

You probably don’t remember me mentioning Tom who, with his wife (and my friend) Danielle, hosted the Super Bowl party I attended this year. Back then it had been about ten years since I’d seen Tom, so the fact that I ran into him again only six months later seems like a good omen for me.

Scratch That
After discovering a minor scratch that I’ve put onto the front glass of my iPhone 4 I’ve succumbed to putting a screen protector on the front glass. I had a screen protector on my iPhone 3G from nearly the day I bought it, but had decided to gamble a bit with the iPhone 4. I lost.

Yesterday I dropped by Best Buy and picked up a three pack of screen protectors for the iPhone 4. Admittedly the brilliance of the screen has dropped slightly, but I’ll feel a little more comfortable shoving the phone in my bicycle seat-pack now.

ITP Flickr Pic
Here are my new cycling kicks

I like them, but as I said above I need to tweak the cleat positioning.

I’m really digging using the iPhone 4 as a macroesque camera which is perfect for small online photos for the blog. And how do you like my office “studio” setup with which I’m using my iPhone’s camera?

RealiTV Update: Hell’s Kitchen — It’s Time To Shut It Down
I’ve been a “fan” of Hell’s Kitchen since it first aired on American airwaves. However, with this season I think that it’s time to shut it down. The group of “chefs” that they brought in for this season is easily the worst group that has ever been on the show, at least according to the way that the show is edited. Thanks to Fox banging out two episodes a week this season is already down to the final four contestants and I can’t see any of them successfully working at Ramsey’s Savoy Grill in London.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – listening to the GardenFork Radio podcast
Website Of The Day – Interested in picking your own fruit/vegetables that are in season? Check out Pick Your Own to see if there are any picking opportunities near you.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – bicycle
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – almost checked, but didn’t
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 131.6 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 3 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 20
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

WELCOME TO MOE’S

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:29:02 +0000

Although I don’t eat at Moe’s all that often I’m glad that when I do they no longer seem to shout at me as soon as I enter the building. Given that I’ve been eating much better Mexican food of late it’s no surprise that the “Overachiever” taco I ate last night was sub-par.

Since I didn’t have a horse in last night’s photo critique I sat and listened to the critique of my friends’ work. It’s always interesting to me to see how differently I view photographs from others — my taste is just “different.”

Software Is Getting Worse, Not Better
I don’t know whether to blame Apple with iOS4 or the developers of iPhone/iPad apps but things seem to be getting worse, not better. It seems that almost each day I get software updates for iPhone/iPad apps, and in many cases the “update” is worse than its predecessor.

Case and point: The Flickr app. This morning I took a photo for today’s blog using my iPhone. In order to publish it in this blog I upload my photos to Flickr so I can link to them. In order to upload them to Flickr I use the iPhone app published by Flickr (Yahoo!). This morning I was able to select the photo you’ll see below, but no keyboard ever appeared to allow me to enter a title, description or tags. No. Keyboard. Appeared. If this functionality was never tested in this app update then Yahoo! should be completely ashamed of themselves. If they tested it successfully, then perhaps Apple’s iOS4 developers should hang their head in shame.

ITP Flickr Pic
One of my mid-day snacks are Cham Pui Mui. Unfamiliar? C’mon, even LiveStrong has heard about Cham Pui Mui.

Cham Pui Mui are preserved prunes with licorice and salt.

As The Tour Marches On, My Podcasts Stack Up
This has happened in each of the past five Julys. As I spend more time (up to four hours a day) listening to the Tour de France the podcasts in my iTunes library start to stack up because I don’t spend that time listening to them. Currently my iTunes library contains a few more than one hundred unheard podcasts, up from fewer than eighty just two weeks ago.

I suppose that I’ll have more than enough time to get close to “Podcast Zero” (think Inbox Zero) when I take some long drives in the next few months. If not, I can always declare Podcast Bankruptcy and start over — or just ignore them all and start listening to more audiobooks.

News Of Their Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
A month or so ago I jumped to the conclusion that all Fuddruckers had closed. Well, I’ve come to realize that I am incorrect about this. I’ve been meaning to mention this, but when I drove down to Hampton, GA to visit the JailHouse Brewery a few weeks ago I saw a Fuddruckers that was still open for business. Seems an awful long way to drive to get one of their burgers however…

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though I wish I could have ridden my bike today
Current Music – listening to today’s Tour de France stage
Website Of The Day – I’ve probably linked to the LiveStrong Foundation, but this being Lance Armstrong’s last Tour de France I’ve decided to link to it again.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 131.6 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 2 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 19
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Weekend (Holy Taco) Warrior

Paulie [eatl/ga] — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:30:23 +0000

This was a busy, busy, weekend.

Who Attends A PBR Gathering And Drinks No PBRs?
On Friday night I attended a PBR Night at my friend Gary’s house. Not being much of a PBR drinker I brought a canned six-pack of 21st Amendment Brewery‘s “Brew Free or Die” IPA with the plan of drinking one or two and then joining the rest by drinking PBR. As I left the party I realized that I never made the leap to PBR and only consumed the beer I brought. I guess that I sort of ignored the point of the evening, though I did nosh on some delicious food that was made for the evening.

One Marked Course, Good. Many Marked Courses, Confusing.
On Saturday morning I joined a group including ITP-Readers Barb (the birthday girl), Steve, Michelle, and Willie for a “37 mile” ride known as Silk Sheets. The map of the ride clearly stated that the course is marked with orange chevrons (>>). The first problem was that orange has seemed to turn in to black. The second problem was that the black chevrons didn’t always correspond to the thirty-seven mile main loop that we desired to follow.

Confusing course aside I had a really good day of riding, my legs felt strong and while I had some slight breathing issues my ride was an overall success.

After riding I joined ITP-Reader Betsy and Sarah for an evening of too many hours and too many beers at Holy Taco.

ITP Flickr Pic
I have nothing today. I did not take a single shot over the weekend. Further disappointment comes tonight when I attend the monthly critique at Roswell Photographic Society without having submitted a photo for critique.

Well I’m Glad That’s Over
Things looked very dicey yesterday. As hashers gathered to run my Black Sheep Hash the skies turned dark, rumbled, and started dousing us with water. Luckily for all involved the clouds passed and the hash was able to run without being drenched (by Mother Nature, however I got them wet). I was glad the rain stopped because my trail was difficult (and some said difficult to follow) and doing it under adverse conditions could have been disastrous. As it was by the time my co-hare Cockpit and I made it to our final water crossing the water in that branch of the South River was flowing faster than any time we had been out to scout trail.

Here’s a rough map of the trail:

(click here to see a larger version)

I had much concern as we circled up for trail trial and there were still six people out, three walkers, two notorious short-cutters, and someone I had never met. As four of that six came in I still had concern about the final two. I believe it’s the hares duty to make sure that everyone makes it to the end, even when people arrive late and have no right to start running with no hope of catching up with the rest of the pack. Just as Cockpit and I were preparing to go out and look for the final to hounds they arrived at the end. Whew! I’m glad that’s over.

The night ended with far too many hours and too many beers at Holy Taco.

Hey, Did You Hear About The Pipe Bomb Found No More Than A Mile From My House?
One thing about my neighborhood is that it’s rarely boring…

Here’s the AJC story about the pipe bomb that was found on Moreland Avenue yesterday.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – tired
Current Music – listening to today’s Tour de France stage
Website Of The Day – I actually like the idea of Fitness Singles though I can’t bring myself to use them.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Saturday: cycling, 36.6 miles; Sunday: hashing, ~5 miles
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~12 miles, Wheel Mileage – 131.6 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (16)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 18
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]