Inside The Perimeter

Husker Du — Do you remember?

That translation seems fitting for today’s blog post given that sixteen years ago today I published the first Inside The Perimeter blog post! 🎉
October 8, 2004: Do you remember?

This morning I was reminded that five years ago today I joined Stacy for pizza at Camelli’s on Moreland, where we ordered the BIG pizza pie. To this day it’s the biggest pizza, in diameter, I have ever seen in person.

October 8, 2015: Do you remember?

This morning I am also listening to the Coverville podcast; this week’s episode is a song-by-song album cover of Led Zeppelin III, which was release fifty years ago.
October 5, 1970: Do you remember? Okay, this one I don’t remember so well as I was only five years old. Those of you not yet born by this date need not comment about that fact. 😝

Let’s all remain healthy doing something memorable today that we will recount years down the road…

I did two hours of yard work yesterday, mostly taking down privet, young magnolia trees, and dead limbs. In the process I probably created three more hours of cleanup, but many of the felled limbs are incredibly straight and long, so I will use them for future teepees/trellises in Wee Little Farm. I am one good (long) day of cutting to get to my “final” planting airspace, and a good number of fires away from burning the wood that can’t be repurposed.

After showering to clean off my yard work stench I sat down to relax before making dinner. I was quite happy until I read the news that Eddie Van Halen has died. I had no idea he was 65 (of course I find it hard to believe that I am 55), and that he had cancer.

Even though I did a lot of yard work, it’s highly unlikely that I lost weight because my dinner was delicious but extremely caloric. I ate a fake chicken sandwich, with two substantial pretzel sticks on the side. I will strive to do better today.

Last night I tried to pre-order my Hop Passport for 2021 only to find out that it won’t be offered in Georgia next year. I reached out to the Hop Passport folk, and they replied telling me that since Georgia brewers cannot offer discounted beer, they won’t be in Georgia again. I know that bars in the City of Atlanta can’t do beer specials (Happy Hour pricing) but I swear I’ve seen it happen in other parts of the state. Is this a new state law? How did they get away with it this year?

I was going to go out and do some yard cleanup this morning, but alas I am tired and sore, and feeling like I should get into my home office and crank out a little work instead.

Tonight I will be making a freestyle Thai dish using my Instant Pot. It’s another recipe that will use up more of the things that I currently have in my cupboard, refrigerator, and freezer. Woot! And of course I will be consuming it while watching an old episode of Top Chef whilst texting with Betsy.

Hope all is happy and healthy in your world.

Yesterday I had to make the admission that my knee needs rest. It was an easy diagnosis since my knee was stiff and painful every time I got out of my chair to walk around the house. Because of this, I chose to not go to the Moonlite hash. Fortunately for me, Bonnie was busy all day, doing something cool that I will let her divulge here if she wishes, and I was able to drive over to her house to share dinner (which she made) and some beer on her lovely front porch. Upon returning home I briefly chatted with my mother on the phone before lying down and falling asleep well before 10pm.

When we all started sheltering in place last Spring many of us aspired to be “better people”. In addition to mucking around with plants, I started making lists of chores I’d hope to accomplish on a monthly basis. At first I was checking the list often, making concerted efforts to knock off items. As I mentioned at the end of September, it was my only month of complete failure. This morning I realized that I’d not even started a list for October. I’ve changed this already.

This afternoon I am going to attempt to get back doing destruction and cleanup in the backyard. My hope is that in a week or so I will finally have the airspace cleared so that I can plot the location of my raised vegetable beds. The clearing will also provide some more burnable materials for this Winter’s fire pit fires. Woot!

Hope you had a healthy Monday.

Tuesday Tale of the Tape: 190.4 pounds (+0.8 from last week’s weigh-in); not horrible, even though I did hike over fifteen miles this last weekend.

Oh, it’s Monday, isn’t it? Guess I should knock out a blog post then…

This weekend was a lot of fun, and a little painful; the former providing most of the latter.

On Saturday Bonnie and I drove up to a strange place called “Canton”. Don’t go there looking for fantastic Chinese food, because it seems to have no connection to that Canton. I’ll say that the primary purpose of this journey was to get in a day of hiking, but you all know me well enough to know that beer was involved. She and I did nearly eight miles of hiking around Boling Park, and then proceeded to use our Hop Passports at two Reformation Brewing locations — Canton, and Woodstock. The day was capped with my first (ever?) night of relaxation on my brick patio enjoying a fire. I will say that sitting around fire made the many hours of hard labor feel worth it, and oh, there was that whole beneficial weight loss as well.

Yesterday both Glory Mole (aka Bonnie) and Wee Little Bit (aka me) misread the hashing tea leaves. The hares for yesterday’s Hog Mountain hash were Double Suck and Knight Stalker, both of whom have a recent history of laying trails that could, and perhaps should, be cut in half. Perhaps I thought that two wrongs would make a right. The start was the old Sports Authority on Northlake Parkway. After two hours of rough terrain and somewhat confusing marks, by this time we’d covered nearly 5.5 miles, we pulled the plug on the rest of trail and walked roads back to the start/end. My watch recorded 8.5 miles of moving, taking a little over three hours. The only hound to successfully finish trail was Aw Burned Out, who did over nine miles, which included the swamp that exists behind the cineplex (old I-85 Drive In) just north of Shallowford Road.

Each of these outings tested and further hurt my ailing left knee, the one that popped while bending down in REI last Tuesday. In other health news, there is still a bit of swelling in my left eyelid; I wish it would return to normal on its own.

Today I need to work, duh, and am considering going to the Moonlite hash that will start and end at Pancho’s on Buford Highway. The hare tonight is Knight Stalker, so I will attempt to read the tea leaves again, and see how my knee progresses, before making my final decision later. If I am to be honest I am considering going more for the Mexican food than the trail. 😂

The world of Wee Little Farm is literally being uprooted by goddamn squirrels. I pulled the remaining tiny carrot plants because they stood little chance of making it to full-sized carrots, and I had to replant some of my tiny lettuces and one basil plant, but don’t know if they will survive.

Hope you had a fun and healthy weekend.

I’ve already spewed enough bile for this week, so I’ll leave this space clean today hoping that all improves.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

Hello, October.

Frustrating work, 45 minutes on the trainer, delicious food, virtual Top Chef with Betsy, still-swollen eyelid, poor sleep — my day in a sentence.

I have two weeks remaining in my library checkout of “Daisy Jones and The Six”. I need to ramp up my reading time in order to finish reading it on time.

I’m still not studying/preparing for German classes. I’m starting to wonder if it’s time to consider quitting since it costs me about $1300/year to take classes.

This month I’d like to get back to minimizing and getting my life in a manageable order.

Hope you are having a healthy and rewarding week.

To show how little I am thinking about meat eating these days, yesterday I had to add the “V” for every day except September 1st. 😮🤯

September Summary

09/01 – 188.4, V, nothing 😢
09/02 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/03 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/04 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/05 – ?, V, hashing 😐
09/06 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/07 – ?, V, yard work 😅
09/08 – 187.8, V, dumbbells, sit-ups 🙂
09/09 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/10 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/11 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/12 – ?, V, cycling (19.10 miles, 152:32) 😁
09/13 – ?, V, walking 😐
09/14 – ?, V, walking (2.52 miles, 50:36) 🙂
09/15 – 190.2, V, nothing 😢
09/16 – ?, V, trainer (30:00) 😐
09/17 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/18 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/19 – ?, V, yard work (~300:00) 😮🤯😅
09/20 – ?, V, walking, hashing (WH4)(15.4 miles) 🙂
09/21 – ?, V, yard work (~60:00) 😐
09/22 – 188.8, V, nothing 😢
09/23 – ?, V, trainer (30:00) 😐
09/24 – ?, V, trainer (30:00) 😐
09/25 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/26 – ?, V, hiking (7.5 miles, 183:00) 😁
09/27 – ?, V, nothing 😢
09/28 – ?, V, hashing 🙂
09/29 – 189.6, V, nothing 😢
09/30 – ?, V, trainer (45:00) 🙂

It’s a good thing that I have given up on trying to physically impress women because this inflamed eyelid certainly doesn’t help with that; I am hoping that the irritation and inflammation subside soon because the mental irritation increases daily.

Today is the last day of September? Huh. I have completed exactly zero of the items on this month’s To Do list. Oops.

One task I did accomplish was the purchase of a new cycling helmet. After shutting down the home office faster than a droopy eyelid could, I drove Bonnie and myself to REI where I purchased a fancy new, bright green noggin protector. Hell, if I can’t see where I am riding I might as well improve my chances in a crash, right? Besides, my now-former helmet is probably nine years old and showing its age. I thought Bonnie would purchase the same helmet, but apparently she no longer wants to be twinsies with a man with a lazy eye… 🙄 Huh, none of the emoticons in iOS have one eyelid red and nearly shut? And I thought Apple was “inclusive”…

Since we had driven all the way to Clairmont and I-85, my plan was to eat out and drink a beer before heading home. However, COVID has sucked all of the fun out of restaurant eating for me, and since the weather was sketchy staying outdoors didn’t seem like fun either. Instead, Bonnie and I returned my house where we made an impromptu Instant Pot dinner and drank a couple of beers. I’d like to think Bonnie was just socially distancing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was just keeping distance from the hideous monster with the appalling eyelid.

Oh boy, as I type this I received notifications telling me that I have been paid, and that one of my credit cards has taken a third of that for its payment processing. Isn’t technology grand?

It’s probably a combination of poor sleep habits, my eyelid, later daybreak, and cooler temperatures, but I am finding it very difficult to get motivated to get out of bed currently.

Hope you are sleeping better than I am, and are remaining healthy.

Still trying to figure out how to get the irrigation and swelling in my left eyelid to subside.

Last night I “ran” for the first time in six weeks. Even in the best of recent times my running is slow, so the fact that I shuffled along and walked some during the Moonlite hash didn’t bother me. We ended up sitting in The EARL’s parking lot for our On-In.

Not much on my agenda for today. It’s now almost 8am so I am going to finish this post now.

Have a great day everyone.

Tuesday Tale of the Tape: 189.6 pounds (+0.8 from last week’s weigh-in); bummer, but not horrible.

Man, what I’d do for a month, or even a full week, without suffering a new media all anomaly. This week’s suffering comes from an infected and swollen eyelid. I am hoping that I can nurse it back to health without seeking professional medical attention.

Other than that…

This weekend was really fun. I spent the weekend camping down at FD Roosevelt State Park in Powder Springs Pine Mountain. To my surprise I didn’t reserve the same pioneer campsite in which I have stayed in previous years, which made me scrap all of my tent location plans I had. On Saturday the group did a nice, 7.5 mile hike through the park, earning me some beers while sitting around the campfire.

Yesterday I packed up tent, finding three scorpions lurking beneath my tent’s footprint. Fortunately I had been alerted to their existence, so I kept an eye out for them while breaking down camp.

Rather than race out of Pine Mountain to drive up to Loganville for Black Sheep, a small group of us stopped at Wild Leap Brewing in La Grange. Unlike every other brewery, Wild Leap doesn’t currently allow patrons inside their (architecturally cool) building. Fortunately there is a huge brick patio, including a covered stage (foreshadowing) where we could consume some beer while eating some snacks. Once we popped a beer I checked the weather because of the gray skies I saw in the near distance. The covered stage proved to be a savior when the skies opened and dumped buckets of rain for a good fifteen minutes or so.

Today starts a busy week of adulting, including caring for the aforementioned eyelid problem. Tonight’s Moonlite Hash which starts in Brownwood Park in East Atlanta, so I will most likely be hashing tonight.

Hope you had a healthy and enjoyable weekend.

Work is frustrating me because I am unable to do the sort of coding that I want to do, the type of coding I was hired to do. Because I sit all day trying to get something working, and get pissed off failing at that, I have little motivation to work on my own SwiftUI apps after hours.

To literally let off some steam I put in thirty minutes on my trainer. I may have overdone it a bit though, and am a little concerned about the state of my right shin. Of course my leg could also hurt a little because I am not getting much exercise these days and it has weakened.

I sat through German class last night but really never got fully engaged. To be honest, my mind kept wandering to today, because of my weekend plans. This weekend was supposed to be the Lake Hartwell campout, which was postponed. Since I had to abandon those plans, I am headed to do other outdoor, potentially muddy, fun. Woot!

One other good thing about today is that a new season/series of “The Great British Bake Off” is available on Netflix as of today.

Hope you all have a wonderful and healthy weekend. Until Monday…