Inside The Perimeter

I am a winner!
Let me repeat that!
I am a winner!!!

Who knew going to the bathroom could pay off so nicely? On Sunday at The Midway Pub I finally had to “break the seal” after four beers (an important factor to this story) so I headed off to use the restroom. Whilst standing there doing my business I saw a sign for a raffle which was being held at the bar last night. For $5, which was going toward the cost of medical attention for one of the bar worker’s dogs, I had a chance at winning $100 in bar cash. I won’t lie, I was happy to donate $5 to the cause but I really entered because I was two sheets to the wind and hadn’t a care in the world. Hilariously, at least in hindsight, when I handed my ticket stub to the bartender I said “I’d like to turn in my winning ticket.” This morning I found out that I won!

I Nearly Bought A New Laptop Yesterday
But instead bought a new iPod. A new iPod? Did I go off the deep end? Perhaps. But I didn’t purchase a fancy-pants iPod Touch (capacity is still too low for me); I purchased a refurbished iPod Classic 160GB. My thought process was this. First, I have but 3GB available on my current iPod 60GB. Further, that iPod has a now-failing screen and I am getting prepared to watch it die any day now. The 160GB iPod Classic is being phased out, and oddly replaced by a 120GB version. And finally, I can use the 160GB iPod Classic in disk mode as a backup drive for future photography trips (I doubt I’ll be lugging the portable hard drive that requires both USB ports with me in the future.)

[Update @ 10:00am]: I’ve heard rumor that the Macbook is going to get an update soon. I guess that I am lucky that I didn’t purchase one yesterday.

What’s The Best Way To Undo Exercise?
Beer and $1 tacos of course! Last night the largest EAV Monday Running Group that we’ve gathered in some time completed a new, and somewhat sketchy, four-mile loop. After finishing off the run we headed to Blue Frog Cantina where I consumed one Guinness, three $1 tacos, and countless chips. It’s a shame for the others in the group that I didn’t know that I had won the $100 gift card at Midway because we had to stop there prior to heading to Blue Frog Cantina and I would have purchased a round of drinks for all.

ITP Flickr Pic
The water level in Lake Hartwell is incredibly low.

And here I thought that Georgia was getting a lot of rain this year.

Not All Endeavors Are Firing On All Cylinders
Yesterday when I berated my fantasy football team the East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads I failed to mention one other responsible party for the loss — me. Apparently I failed to understand the rule that if a game is postponed, a la the Baltimore v. Houston game, that the players involved would be scored as if they were on a bye week. Therefore, because I played the Baltimore defense, I scored zero points for them. The East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads lost their game by nine points.

Strange Pussy (Cat)
This morning when I exited ITP HQ I saw a new cat in the neighborhood that was very different from all the other feral cats on the block. This one was drinking out of the bucket in my driveway which catches rainwater, and unlike the rest was not the least bit afraid of me. He/She just stared as if to say, “I don’t know who you are, but you are interrupting my drink.” In fact, it wasn’t until I started the Jackmobile’s engine that it thought better of being in the driveway and scampered off to the safety of my front door.

Even two-and-a-half years after JFK’s disappearance I am not ready to allow another animal into my life, but I do admire this little guy’s/gal’s moxie; it’s one confident pussy (cat).

[Update @ 11:00am]: Had I more time this morning I would have taken some photos of this cat. It certainly didn’t seem to mind me being there, I’m sure it would have been amenable to my photo taking. Further, I have decided to refer to it as “Tigger” if I ever see it again.

Digital Download Of The Week
I don’t have any new material to suggest buying this week. Instead, I’ll tip you off on something that may save you money. Every day Amazon deep-discounts one of their cds. Yesterday I downloaded Elbow’s “The Seldom Seen Kid” for a mere $1.99.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - lucky
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Hold Steady — “Constructive Summer”
Website Of The Day - I like tv and think I like TV In Japan even better.
Exercise (b)Log - running/walking, 4 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 11.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 73 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 7 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
Still no idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

On (late) Saturday morning I heaved a bunch of stuff into the Jackmobile and drove up to Lake Hartwell for a relaxing day of beer drinking, cooking, and wading in a vanishing lake. I am proud to say that I was successful at accomplishing all three events. I was even more pleased on Sunday morning when I heard a couple of hashers praising the andouille grit cakes as well as the shrimp sauce that I assembled for them. The hashers had no idea that I had made them so I know that they were being sincere.

Bohemian Like Me
Perhaps the best discovery this weekend is that I found a comfortable way to sleep in my car. This is the third year that I’ve gone to the Lake Hartwell campout, and it’s also the third year that I’ve gone up on Saturday instead of Friday night. I don’t know about you, but I find it rather silly to erect a tent for one night’s rest. In the past I have struggled to sleep in the Jackmobile… but no more! This weekend I discovered that if I drop the rear seats I can extend my lower torso into the trunk, lay flat, and get a good night’s sleep. Hooray for being 5′9″!!! Two slight improvements will make my future travel sleeping experiences even better. First, I won’t pack so much crap into my trunk (including a 10″ chef’s knife which I miraculously avoided all night long). Second, I’ll bring my Therm-a-Rest to smooth out some of the bumps.

I’ve already Twittered about how much this discovery has pleased me. It’s crazy, but the fact that I can sleep a night or two in my car opens a huge volume of travel opportunities to me, without having to buy a SUV. Fear not, I’m in no state of mind to start following Phish or Widespread Panic around the country, but I can see myself doing some really bizarre trips if Life starts heading in an uncertain direction. Consider my a modern-day, not-so-hip Jack Kerouac.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ve finally decided for which candidate I will vote this November. He is loyal, obedient, and promises four years of no wars through regular stick and ball retrieving. His name is Andy.

Those of you who hash in Atlanta have probably met Andy on an occasion or two. Andy breaks the rule of “Never work with animals or children.” When I missed my first shot Darren (aka “Gentri”, aka “Andy’s food provider”) commanded him to stay, which Andy did.

J-E-T-S, Suck! Suck! Suck!
I don’t know how many people know this, but East Atlanta’s The Midway Pub has begrudgingly turned themselves into a nifty little sports bar. Yesterday they had five televisions tuned to different games and there were fans of about nine different teams in attendance.

For weeks the plan was to meet up for the Patriots v. Jets game for some quality beer and trash talking. Fortunately for me, one of the instigators of this gathering — a dyed-in-the-wool Patriots fan — didn’t make it to the bar. Instead I met a fellow Jets fan and drowned my sorrows with some quality beer (a Lagunitas Censored, an Avery 15, a Smithwick’s, and two Fire Rock Pale Ales). Yes, I walked to the bar.

I’m Getting Framed, Well At Least Canvassed
Last night I returned home from Midway Pub and placed my first print order from Mpix. I’ve placed an order to have my “Flowers In The Desert” photo

printed on a 16″x24″ stretched canvas. With shipping the cost of my experiment will only be $65, and if it comes out nicely I’ll finally have one of my photos hanging on my walls. I’m kinda excited to see how this turns out.

Rumors Of The East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads Having Talent Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Holy crap my team blows this year. It’s only two weeks into the season and the best thing that has happened so far is that hurricane Ike has forced the postponement of the Baltimore Ravens v. Houston Texans game (I have the Ravens’ defense as my starting defense). Seriously, things are bad. Why did the auto-draft inflict such pain upon me? Larry Johnson, Chad Johnson? They are both so two years ago. I might have a better team if I started Magic Johnson! My starting quarterback is Matt Hassleback, who scored a whopping five points yesterday…. in a game in which his team scored thirty real points! Hassleback managed to pepper his zero-touchdown-pass day with two interceptions. I might have more free time this Fall than I had imagined.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - good
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Radiohead — “Idioteque”
Website Of The Day - I have no plans to remain nobody’s sweetheart forever. Howeve, I do have plans to visit Nobody’s Sweetheart often.
Exercise (b)Log - nothing, not even a hash
Monthly Foot Mileage - 7.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 73 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - my car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 6 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

The Plan was to have everything ready to go to Lake Hartwell, attempt to sneak out of work early in hopes of avoiding traffic, and spend the entire weekend with the hash. This morning it was evident that I was in no way ready for the trip so the decision to put my departure off until tomorrow morning was an easy one.

Laundry, Grits, And Me
Why am I not ready?

I have laundry that is half done from Thursday morning. I really need to finish this load so that it doesn’t get moldy sitting in the washing machine.

I am responsible for preparing Andouille Cheese Grits With Crawfish Sauce for tomorrow night’s dinner. One of the steps in the process is to refrigerate the grit cakes so that they can firm up, therefore I’d like to make them tonight and refrigerate overnight. Did I mention that I’ve yet to visit the grocery store and pick up the necessary ingredients? Yep, I’m behind…

Truth be told, it might do my mind and body good to spend some time alone and not drink myself silly — which is what will happen to me at Lake Hartwell since I won’t have to drive anywhere when up there.

Let The World Know That I Don’t Recognize The 1919 Baseball Season!
I nearly cost “Meet The Hashers” our rightful spot at top of the heap for Thursday night Team Trivia at Raging Burrito in Decatur.

Last night I managed to break through traffic and make it to Decatur by 6:30pm. With ninety minutes to kill before the start of trivia I high-tailed it to the Brick Store Pub for one, or perhaps two, pints of beer. I started with a new Sweetwater ESB called “Motor Boat” which was quite delicious and at 7% ABV it packed a decent punch. I followed that beer with a Wells Bombardier. But this was not what nearly cost us….

As the “sports guy” on the trivia team I sometimes get a little too much credit for my sports answers. Did I mention that I had two powerful beers before the game started? Did I mention that I was drinking one more during the game? One of the sports questions last night was “Within ten minutes what is the record for the shortest nine-inning baseball game?” Knowing that an average game lasts approximately three hours, I figured the answer was somewhere around one-hour fifty-minutes. With much fervor one of my teammates argued that the shortest game was under an hour. I scoffed. Apparently in 1919 two teams played a nine-inning game in fifty-one minutes. Also in 1919 the Chicago “Black Sox” scandal occurred, therefore I think that the entire year should be struck from the record books. I wonder what the second longest game was? I’d guess that it must be sometime around one-hour fifty-minutes.

Luckily for me we managed to answer the final question correctly and leapfrog the team who had been ahead of us going into the final question. First place was ours again! Meet The Hashers takes no prisoners.

ITP Flickr Pics
Take two, they’re small.

I still have nothing new (shame on me for enjoying myself at the Brick Store Pub instead of walking around Decatur shooting) so enjoy this panorama that I took in Colorado.

Click the panorama to see a larger version.

Oh what the hell, you’ve been a good reader. Here is something I saw on Choice Hotels’ website.

I have an incredible knack of seeing misspellings. If only proofreading paid a decent wage….

That Man Has One Set Of Huge Balls
Lance Armstrong is supposedly coming out of retirement to ride in the 2009 Tour de France. I think The Onion’s title says it best “Bored Man To Participate In 2,200 Mile Bike Race”

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - bummed that I’m not headed to Lake Hartwell tonight, but the night at home will be good for me.
Current Music - listening to the latest Net@Night podcast
Website Of The Day - Somebody is thinking about having one of his photos printed. Somebody is going to use Mpix to get this done.
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage - 7.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 73 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 5 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

It seems that my house serves as a place to rest my head, shower my body, and reload my iPod, but little else. I am rarely there, and when I am it is not the peaceful oasis that I always imagine my home being. Would I have it any other way? Sure, but I don’t have the financial means nor the portable employment skill set to change much right now. Pity.

I Was Running. No Really, Running!
I ticked off approximately 4.5 miles on the roads last night. There were still too many moments during which I had to stop in order to catch my breath, or I “unfortunately” had to stop and wait for traffic lights to flip. The group with which I ran had set out to do a three-mile loop and I chose to tack on an additional mile, which unbeknown to me had a long, straight uphill within it.

After the run I gladly rejoined my companions for a pint or two at George’s Bar. I managed to limit my food consumption to popcorn and a shared plate of nachos as well.

It feels good to be committed to exercising again, however carving out time to fit it into my life will continue to be difficult.

Kudos To Good Neighbors
When I arrived at the hovel last night I was pleased to see that the fallen tree limb (see below) had been cut up and hauled to the curb. Not only that, the workers also cleaned up all of the leaves and pine straw that I tossed off the roof onto my driveway while I was up inspecting the roof. If all housework would be performed like magic by unseen elves then I would be much happier. I’m sure you would be too.

ITP Flickr Pic
Not having any “new” material I am still scouring the memory cards.

This is a photo of the tree limb that had fallen into my yard and was waiting for my when I returned from Colorado.

Soon I’ll Be Able To Look Through Rose-Colored Glass
As if I needed to buy more camera equipment. However, yesterday I ordered more camera equipment which in the camera world was relatively inexpensive.

Yesterday I placed an order with B&H for a Cokin filter holder with an adapter ring for my 77mm lenses and a neutral density filter. I’m actually quite excited by this purchase as this will allow me to start taking longer-exposure shots on sunny days (think “silky water”).

Now if I can only find time and subject matter for my photography.

What’s Going On In Inman Park?
During my morning drive along Highland hurtling toward The Connector I saw many trailers and trucks parked along the road. It also looked like something was being set up (movie/tv filming perhaps?) in the green space that separates Highland from Austin Avenue. Anyone know the scoop?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - down
Current Music - listening to the “Hawksley Workman In Session” podcast from CBC radio 3
Website Of The Day - Today is September 11th. What were you doing seven years ago today? The September 11 Digital Archive is striving to preserve and present the happenings of 9/11/01.
Exercise (b)Log - running, 4.5 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 7.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 73 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 4 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Yesterday was Apple’s “Let’s Rock” event. A new iPod Nano? A reduction in options for iPod Classic? An updated iTunes? That’s it? Yaaaaaawn.

Now That’s What I Call Networking
I’ve been to many meet-ups in this town, many of which have produced nothing. Last night my friend Maigh orchestrated a great time at the Cypress Street Pint & Plate for the inaugural Atlanta Tweet-Up. I met many people that I would not have otherwise, and in the process was introduced to a few Twitterers who also live in East Atlanta.

The Cypress Street Pint & Plate (horrible name imho) is in one of those locations that you think would never fail, but in the past has hosted more than one failed restaurant venture. Perhaps it’s the lack of parking? Perhaps the proprietors had not struck the proper food/price balance for the neighborhood? Beats me. I had a near-handful of Sweetwater 420’s along with samplings of some half-priced (before 7pm) appetizers — french fries, onion rings, cheese dip, hot wings. Of the appetizers I tasted the wings and onion rings were the clear winners. And be forewarned, not only is it really easy to miss the parking garage best suited for parking for going there, it also cost me $5 (aka one Beer Unit) to get out of it.

It’s JalapeñoBeach FTW!
I finally decided that my new “brand” for all of my photography concerns shall be Jalapeño Beach. It makes sense that I should start re-branding myself for my photographic work since soon I’ll be receiving business cards pointing people to my photoblog at Jalapeño Beach (look at me drop in the self-promotion). Soon, you will also be able to check out and perhaps purchase my work at Red Bubble under the user name…. JalapenoBeach.

Next up: getting someone to create a logo. Then, all I need to do is take quality photographs…

ITP Flickr Pic
Last Saturday I visited the Roosevelt Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. I thought that there would be a lot to shoot, but instead this is all I came away with.

In case you are wondering, that really is sixty-year-old toilet paper.

Netflix Must Love Me Right Now
Not only have I not watched a movie in over a month, I’ve yet to give up on the ones (whose titles I can’t recall) that I have at home. Therefore Netflix has had to do absolutely nothing to earn my monthly subscription. Not that’s a business model I completely understand.

Dominant Mail
I’ve yet to completely catch up on my mail since returning home. It’s not like there was a huge Santa Claus sized bag waiting for my return, but for one reason or another it has taken the lowest priority on my list of chores. I wonder how much it would cost to hire an assistant?

Half Minds With Sharp Knives
No, this is not about former-Top Chef cheftestant Richard Blais leaving the Atlanta restaurant HOME. Instead, this is about the meeting of the minds tonight at George’s that will occur between Niplets, Little Easy, and yours truly. We three will be cooking up a mess this Saturday night for the annual Lake Hartwell Black Sheep Hash “campout”. I’ve helped out in the past so I’m not concerned whether or not we can pull it off, but I want to find out what we’ll be serving up.

And who knows, if the weather is not complete shit I’ll even get a run in beforehand.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - harried
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Rapture — “No Sex For ben”
Website Of The Day - One of the Twitter Followers/Following I finally met IRL is Evan LaPointe who has a thought-provoking called There Are Two Types Of People In This World. And don’t worry, it has nothing to do with binary numbers (you know that joke if you are a geek like me).
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage - 3 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 73 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 3 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I keep getting compliments on the haircut, so I shan’t start this rant by saying don’t go to a junior stylist having no idea in mind what you want.

Thou Shall Not Leave Plastics In Hot Cars
Often times you buy a gadget for your car and the manufacturer advises you not to keep it stored within your car. More times than not you, or perhaps it’s just me, ignore such advice. Such has been the case with the components which are supplied with Jill the GPS (aka my Garmin Nüvi 250). When I was nearing the ITP estate on Sunday returning from the Moreland Day Spa I went to remove the suction cup which keeps Jill affixed to the windshield. Much to my dismay the plastic handle bent, and then snapped in my fingers. I knew it had been hot in Moreland, in fact at one point on Sunday I went to the car and opened the sun roof and cracked the windows in order to allow the heat to escape. Apparently I was already too late.

Thou Shall Not Make Fun Of Tennessee, But Only Because They Have New Belgium Beer
The news has broken — some New Belgium Brewery has started to sell some of their products in Tennessee. No more will I have to trek all the way to Colorado (okay, they do sell it further East than that) to get my fix.

In fact, I have a Nashville trip scheduled for the beginning of October. You know that I will scour the city in order to return the flavor of Colorado to Georgie (since I didn’t do that when I had the opportunity a few weeks ago).

Thou Shall Not Buy A Ticket To A Concert In Advance
While I certainly will be thrilled to get some Fat Tire in Nashville the trip will not be all happiness. I am going to be up in Nashville on Thursday October 2nd for Vanderbilt University’s Career Day, which is unfortunately being held on the same day that Okkervil River is playing 40 Watt Club in Athens. Want to guess who already purchased a ticket for this show?

However, this ticket is unusual because I actually possess a physical ticket. If one of you wishes to go and is willing to take the ticket from me at some point, then email me. I will give you the ticket for free, but be warned that because of this I will not be going out of my way to do so. I’m accessible, just keep reading this blog.

ITP Flickr Pic
I snapped just a few photos at the dry-run opening of The Grange last week. There was a photographer there snapping shots for the bar, so I didn’t want to compete with her. And besides, I was there to eat and drink for free.

This was one I shot at a semi-long exposure. I kind like the effect.

Thou Shall Not Buy Apple Products Before Big Announcements
And I did not…

A Lesson Learned In The Positive
The other day I sent an email to Moo explaining the problem that I created with my order. I also asked if I were to perform a instant re-order if there were any way that I could correct the ZIP code so that this error doesn’t get repeated.

To my delight Moo said that they considered the order “lost in the mail” and were going to ship out another order to my at the corrected ZIP code! Woo Hoo! This is the sore of customer service that creates customer loyalty. I will be certain to make more purchases from Moo in order to reward them for their service.

Tonight I’ll Be Tweeting Up
Maigh has organized a meeting of Atlanta Twitterers at the Cypress Street Pint & Plate. I have no idea what to expect, but I will lug this laptop and my camera with me and will be prepared to drink a pint or two.

Digital Download Of The Week
Is back!!! It wasn’t that I wasn’t keeping tabs while I was on vacation, it was that I didn’t get around to putting them into the blog.

To show you how much I’m bummed to be missing the Okkervil River show I am going to suggest that you purchase their CD “The Stand Ins” which was released today. I downloaded it this morning from Amazon. While not as strong as “The Stage Names” it is a good Okkervil River CD, and one which shouldn’t disappoint a die-hard Okkervil River fan.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - meh
Current Music - listening to the This Week In Photography podcast
Website Of The Day - There has been a lot of hurricane talk this year. Why not follow along at Stormpulse.
Exercise (b)Log - running, ~3 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 3 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 73 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 2 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

With the exception that my front tire flattened around the forty-five mile mark of the sixty-five I rode yesterday I had a great day. Oddly, I was not the only one of the group of riders who convened at the Moreland Day Spa to experience a flat. From accounts at the end Brad had one, and Marty had two. And here I always thought that the roads ITP were vicious…

Paulie The Hippie No More
After work on Friday I went to Helmet Hairworx in East Atlanta to get a haircut. I had made an appointment with a young stylist and let her have her way with me (hell, it’s about the only way that I get that these days). After much hacking she cleaned up the hippie. The hair looks good, although it’s a bit short and uncontrollable at the moment. This is not an unusual occurrence for me for almost every time some one cuts my hair for the first time they are frustrated by its ultra-fine, baby-softness that never allows them to cut it the way they want.

As for me I’m just happy that I have a mostly-full head of hair at forty-three — you should have seen my brother at that age.

Cell Phone Coverage: Not Exactly Everywhere Yet
I expected to be out of AT&T’s coverage area while driving around BFE Colorado, but an hour outside of Atlanta??? Further, I would love it if someone could figure out a way to guarantee cell coverage in every part of my house, including the basement. I missed some text messages last night because I chose to watch last night’s football game in HD on the big screen.

As a matter of fact I do want it all!

Well, That’s Odd
Two strange revelations occurred last night while surfing the internet in the basement (at least I have that means of communication down there).

First, whilst catching up on some Twittering I learned of the “Replies” tab from a Tweet posted by Christine Kane. On the “Replies” tab you can see all of the messages, that are not direct messages that have been sent to you. Huh, you’d think that Twitter would have some indicator alerting you that there are new entries on that tab. Obviously I never was curious enough to check it out previously.

While reading through the items in the “Replies” tab I came across one from Regator (you might remember that I discussed them on Friday) alerting me the my blog has been aggregated on their site since April. Huh, it’s possible that I’ve been living blindly with my head up my ass since then but I never knew this! Oh well, they can continue to aggregate if they wish. Now I’ll have to figure out how to determine if people are finding this blog through them.

From Worst To First
I played two games of dominoes down at the spa. In the first game I finished dead last. In the second game I whipped ass.

That is all.

ITP Flickr Pic
I said I wouldn’t dredge up photos from Fort Collins… this is from the Garden Of The Gods in Colorado Springs.

Due to circumstances completely in my control I didn’t get ready for the weekend on Friday night as planned, therefore Saturday morning shooting was canceled. With any luck I plan to work on setting up some studio shots tonight, so perhaps I’ll have fresh material soon.

What A Fantastic Football Weekend!
Any time my teams beat the teams representing Miami I have much rejoicing.

University of Miami: 3
University of Florida: 26

New York Jets: 20
Miami Dolphins: 14

There was much rejoicing, even if I also determined that this is going to be the worst East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads fantasy football team that I have ever fielded — and I didn’t even draft Tom Brady.

The Plan For Tonight Is “Running” (Before The Organizing And Football Watching)
Even with soreness from riding yesterday I am planning on doing a few road miles tonight around East Atlanta. I can no longer run from the fact that I’ve signed up to do a brutal twelve mile run at the beginning of November, so I need to start training now (actually two weeks ago, but we can’t change the past).

Return Tomorrow To Hear How One Of You Can Get A Free Concert Ticket
How’s that for a teaser?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - a little sore, but good
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The White Stripe — “In The Cold, Cold, Night”
Website Of The Day - If you are a Mac user then TidBITS: Mac news for the rest of us is a good news resource. If you are not a Mac user, why not?
Exercise (b)Log - Saturday: biking, ~8 miles; Sunday: biking, 65 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 0 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 73 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 1 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Since Day One (officially October 8, 2004) Inside The Perimeter has had “Hello, Is This Thing On?” as its tagline. The tagline was chosen because I had failed the day before to create a blog entry, and I wondered if anyone in the Internet would be listening.

My recent travels, while not intended to be mind-opening and soul-searching, were mind-opening and soul-searching. Hence, for now until I think differently you will see the new tagline “If You Are Not Living, You Are Dying.” in the banner.

When A Tree Falls And You Are Not Around To Hear It
I heard from State Farm yesterday about my tree limb inquiries. Unfortunately, as things always seem to go in my life, the burden of payment is on me. The agent explained to me that because the tree was not dead, the limb falling onto my house did not warrant an “act of negligence” on my neighbor’s behalf. Therefore my neighbor’s insurance wouldn’t be responsible for repair costs; instead, my home owner’s insurance is responsible if I choose to file a claim. Of course I have insurance only for the purpose of calamity, so my deductible is set at $2000.

2007-2008 have become the most expensive years of my life. I have decided to suspend all major purposes until I can put a solid financial plan in place. Anyone want to buy a house?

Living Off The Celebrity Of Others
Last night was a lot of fun. I met up with Maigh at Eddie’s Attic for a few drinks before heading over to the The Grange Public House. As I mentioned yesterday Maigh is friends with the proprietors of the pub, so it was not surprising that she also knew so of the people in attendance. The food and service were okay, but what should be expected on a pre-opening gala. Maigh and I shared two appetizers, “chips” (aka french fries) and chicken wings. Of the two the fries were the clear winner for me, mostly because the wings were breaded. For an entree I ordered bbq brisket with mac & cheese, while Maigh ordered shepard’s pie. I thought that Maigh’s dish was better, in part because it was hotter than mine and in part because I thought that the mac & cheese was a bit lacking.

From The Grange we both headed over to Regator’s VIP party held at the office of Paste Magazine. Maigh was invited, I was not. Regator is another blog aggregation website, taking the content of others, putting it into one place, and promising “traffic” in return as compensation to the authors. For me this concept doesn’t work. Perhaps if ITP was a ad-driven money-making machine I’d desire to get thousands of readers, but honestly this space is only for those who care. Further, I don’t want to fear that any thing I write here will be taken out of context, and the last thing I want to do is to have to censor edit my material for the masses.

ITP Flickr Pic
Okay, I promise that this will be the last time I dredge up one of the shots I took in Fort Collins. Somehow that was two weeks ago. It still feels like it was just yesterday.

I plan to shoot this weekend, location yet to be determined.

What’s The Value Of A Brand?
Yesterday I went to create an account on a website through which I intend to offer some of my photos for sale. My natural inclination is to create accounts around “InsideThePerimeter” (or “InsidePerimeter” on Twitter) because it’s the brand I’ve been building for the past four years.

I’ve come to realize that “Inside The Perimeter” won’t make sense when I inevitably move from Atlanta (Yes Virginia, that notion has crossed my mind.) to where ever I end up next. Now you understand why I created the moniker Jalapeno Beach and why I am trying to link my photography to it. Now you understand the creation of photoblog and why I ordered the Moo business cards that are bouncing around the ether.

I’m torn. Do I create an InsideThePerimeter account so that people who know me now can find my work, or do I create a JalapenoBeach account for the future branding? All I know is that I don’t want to create a “Paulie” or “Paul Nue…..” (tied to my real name) account because that’s just too strange for me.

fwiw- this blog will always remain active as long as I write, although some day it may redirect you to whatever domain I am using then.

Ride, Paulie! Ride!
Tomorrow I’ll be heading down to the Moreland Day Spa for a wonderful dinner with friends. The dinner will be like the calm before the storm however as we will all be getting up early to go out and ride the Wilson 100. Considering the last time I mounted the Red Rocket was six weeks ago when I was in Florida I don’t exactly feel “ready” for a ride, but I’ll have to put that behind me now.

I guess tonight I’ll put the time in to get the Red Rocket ready.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - uneasy, like something good is happening but I can’t be sure
Current Music - listening to the Nikonians’ “The Image Doctors” podcast
Website Of The Day - What did you do over the past one hundred days? Roz Savage rowed solo from San Francisco to Hawaii. Man, I feel like such a slacker.
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage - 0 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 2 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Put your mail on hold for two weeks. Go ahead, you needn’t go anywhere, just let it pile up at the post office for two weeks and then have them deliver it. What do you get? A mess. A mess of crap mail sprinkled with incredibly important things like property tax documents and the remaining bills which still arrive via the post.

Now imagine what I did after:

1. Go onto roof to assess damage caused by tree limb
2. Start knocking back two weeks’ worth of dirty laundry

You guessed it — sifting through the mail looking for the scant items which matter.

I Got High Last Night
However, the apparatus to get me there was a ladder and not a bong. After putting in my time at the 9-to-5 (which for me is more of a 7-to-4) I headed home and got the ladder out so I could climb onto the roof. Those that know me well also know that the term “climb onto the roof” is not something I enjoy doing, mostly because of my incredible fear of heights. And of course the neighbors tree had to hit the corner of the house which is tallest.

Regardless, I shimmied to the edge (as close to the edge as I could get) to get a bird’s eye view of the damage and to snap a few cover-my-ass-in-case-an-insurance-battle-ensues photographs. In my youth I would have taken a person’s word to be honor, and since I have been (and probably will continue to be) dolling out money to authorities I’ve become a “let’s get this documented” person — although I just realized that I never took a photo of the windshield.

If I can ever leave a weekend free I need to return rooftop in order to clean the gutters.

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
At least the tree limb made it nearly impossible for anyone to steal my new air conditioner while I was away escaping reality. Just remember, if I can’t laugh then all you can do is cry — or drink alcohol.

ITP Flickr Pic
At the top of Mesa Verde the trees are all short and barren (at least they won’t be hitting anyone’s gutters). Other than the fact that they exist in the desert I couldn’t figure out why.

Another thing I couldn’t figure out is how I could shoot over 600 photographs and like so few. Ah the critical mind…

I’d Rather Be Programming Seaside By The Seashore
One of the “podcasting celebrities” that I met in Fort Collins was Randal Schwartz. To geeks Randal is the one of the knowledge bases of the programming language Perl and was a co-author on the seminal book on Perl Learning Pearl.

On one of the Fort Collins drinking nights where the Geek-O-Meter was cranked to eleven I asked Randal what was floating his boat these days, to which he curiously answered “Seaside” (Wikipedia link). Seaside (official link) is a programming framework for developing web sites around the programming language Smalltalk, or one of its incarnations, Squeak.

This sort of shit intrigues me, and when one of the industry heads mentions it then I think that it warrants my investigation. Hell, if you are not learning then you are dying, right?

If It’s For Free Then It’s For Me
My good friend Maigh has friends who are reopening the bar space in Decatur which formerly housed “The Angel.” The Grange Public House will have its official opening this Saturday, and tonight I get to tag along as Maigh’s “+1″ to the soft-opening/dry-run. Woo Hoo! Free food, free beer, free fun! What a great way to scrape away all the ills that have attached themselves to me over the past week.

Hey Music Heads, About What Shows Have I Not Heard?
I’ve been away for two weeks. Other than the Drive By Truckers / Hold Steady show that I will be unable to attend, what has been announced? About what shows should I know? And most importantly, who’s going to the Black Kids show at The EARL?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - curious
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Language City — “Wolf Parade”
Website Of The Day - Today I will check out Red Bubble as a potential site for selling some of my photos.
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage - 0 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 1 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

For four hours I listened to the audiobook version of “The Last Lecture” as read by its author, and now-deceased, Randy Pausch. By book’s end I was finally at peace with myself and all that has transpired. How could I not be after listening to the voice of wisdom of a man who had it all and was robbed of Life by pancreatic cancer? The rock to the windshield (which is still completely unresolved but addressed further below) didn’t seem to matter. My inability to change the past didn’t seem to matter. I was feeling okay. And then I returned home….

When I finally got back to my house at 10:30pm I noticed a note taped to my kitchen door. It was a note from one of my neighbors alerting me that a large limb had come down and fallen into my yard and asking permission to enter my yard for cleanup. The note was dated 8/20, the same day that I left for Colorado. Upon brief inspection I saw that the limb also struck my gutters and disfigured them to some degree. Today I’ll have to head home, inspect the damage, and speak with my neighbors and in the process explain to them why I’ve “ignored” their request.

I cannot understand why these hurdles are continually thrown in front of me, causing even more stress into my life.

A Short Primer On Insurance As Related To Renting A Car
Returning a car at the Denver International Airport is a process in efficiency, unless perhaps if something’s gone wrong. I was given a receipt for my rental without any questions so I hopped on the bus and headed for the airport. If my parking ticket fiasco from last year is any indication then I fully expect to receive a supplemental charge to my bill to cover the cost of a new windshield.

Prior to returning the car I did my homework to learn all of my options.

• AAA: Membership provided no help at all. For some reason I didn’t think I needed to purchase insurance in addition to my membership in order to receive rental car insurance benefits.
• State Farm: Since I have rental car insurance as part of my policy I can file a claim with them and pay only my deductible (which is $200)
• American Express: American Express is supplemental auto insurance for car rentals. American Express will cover up to the full amount of my deductible (ie $200) and no more. They will not contact State Farm and instead leave that up to me if I decide to file a claim.

So it all boils down to this: Depending on how much Alamo charges me, I should choose one of two options.

1. If the charge is $200 or less then, only file with American Express.
2. If the charge is more than $200, file with American Express and determine if it beneficial for me to file an auto insurance claim with State Farm.

If nothing else, I’ve learned how insurance works when renting a car — something I’ve wondered about for a long time.

ITP Flickr Pic
An overlooked photo because of all of those landscapes I’ve taken

I still have to process the hundreds of shots I took on this trip….

No Moo For Me? Boo. Hoo.
When I left for Colorado I was looking forward to returning to the office and picking up the Moo business cards that I was hoping would be delivered prior to my departure. I had received an email from Moo on August 12th alerting me that they had been dispatched and I should expect to receive them in 5-7 business days. Therefore, I expected to find the small box of fifty cards sitting on my desk. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that they were not delivered.

Dammit! I just looked at the email again and noticed that the shipping address had the wrong ZIP code. Since they were shipped USPS it means that I will probably never see them. I give up.

George’s Was In The Plans, But No More
The plan was to make a triumphant return to George’s tonight. I certainly could use the exercise and the thought of running in sub-8000 feet of altitude seemed exciting.

For at least one obvious reason (read “tree limb”) and some not-so-obvious reasons (read “need to do laundry,” “have two weeks of mail to process”) I will have to put that plan off for a week.

Okay, I Am Worn Out
My body is still on Mountain Time. I am still very tired and emotionally drained. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. The sun will come out tomorrow…

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - tired, frustrated, questioning Life
Current Music - listening to the “Daily Source Code” podcast from 9/1
Website Of The Day - I still need a break from reality so today I’ll surf around Uncyclopedia: The Content-Free Encyclopedia
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage - 0 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - my car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 0 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle - 4

September Goals
Don’t know yet

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]