Inside The Perimeter

That’s the text message I received from some unknown phone yesterday. I know that it wasn’t really intended for me, but I wish I understood what the hell it meant To further my confusion the person with the phone number who sent me this message tried to call me last night. I was driving and was in no position answer the phone.

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

When Bruce said he had trouble getting along with his mother, I liked him better. I like a man with faults, especially when he knows it. To err is human — I’m uncomfortable around gods.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

When Did They Create Those?
Last night I dropped the ball for our trivia team. For the most part the night was filled with “Are you smarter than a 5th Grader?” level questions. The host gave people a hint of “It happened in Atlanta” for his Sports/History question “What occurred at 9:07pm on April 8th, 1974?” for Christ’s sake!

Anyway, the halftime question was “Name four of the seven states which have more than 100 counties.” During our discussion I off-handily mentioned that I was sure that Florida wasn’t a candidate as it has only fifty-one. I lived in the state for thirteen years and that number stuck in my mind for some reason. I didn’t realize that it was going to come back to haunt me.

Because the questions were so simple three teams wound up in a tie for first place at the end of regulation. A tie-breaking question was imminent…

“How many counties does Florida have?”

The team closest to the correct anwser would take first place.

How lucky were we? Our team lit up with glee!

We turned in a sheet of paper with 51 written upon it.

Florida has 67 counties (although some records show only 66).

We finished in second place.

I still don’t know why I think that there are only fifty-one counties in Florida.

ITP Flickr Pic
It’s fun to play with wide-angle lenses…

Anyone want to guess that this was taken at Rock City?

Looks Like I Spoke Too Soon
Yesterday I sung the praises of TextExpander. Today it is not working properly. At first it wasn’t recognizing my tokens, now after a reboot it is substituting in the wrong text. Nothing like pissing away $30. And now I remember why I rarely purchase software.

I just found out that there is a similar application called TypeIt4Me, but that costs $27. I’ll be damned if I wind up spending $57 for a working application that does little more than expand tokens!

RealiTV Update: Survivor
I attempted to watch Survivor last night and quickly came to the conclusion that not only do I really not care what happens now, I don’t like most of the people left on the show. I’ve 86′ed the series from my DVR. Enjoy the remainder of the season without me.

What’cha Doin’ Tonight?
Me? I’ll be at The Granite Room in Castleberry Hill for the Atlanta Photography Exhibit. It should be a fun time as I know most of the people exhibiting tonight. Hell if I had gotten my shit together I could have been one of the people exhibiting tonight!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - fair, but I have a lot of things to accomplish over the next three days
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks — “Gardenia”
Website Of The Day - Say you’re out this weekend and you get held up. Say you got a good look at the asshat but your police sketching skills aren’t that good. Ultimate Flash Face to the rescue!
Exercise (b)Log - nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage - 48.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - Marta
Monthly Marta Rides - 5
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 26 (26)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

It took me seemingly forever to get my shit together for my run from Marta to my car. Then my waterproof headphones finally bit the dust, so I had to resort to using my crappy ear-buds. Then the “run” started… Fewer than two miles into my five miles I was spent. I wound up walking some before I began a slow lumber to my car. How did I run 13.3 a month ago? How will I run 13.1 three weeks from now?

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

The way to resolve this wish to share my marital trouble with someone else and at the same time remain loyal to Gayle is to express them as mine and not caused by her.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Scratch ‘N’ Dent Shouldn’t Mean Comes With Someone Else’s Scent
Last weekend I went the REI nearest to Nashville. Unbeknown to me they were having a “scratch and dent” sale that day. Since I was looking for hiking boots, which let’s face it are going to get scratched anyway, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to save a little money.

Imagine my horror when I realized that REI was attempting to sell used hiking boots. The first pair I picked up had visible wear on the soles. The second pair had mud on them! WTF? I’d expect this at Goodwill, not REI.

Even more disturbing to me was the hydration pack that was in another bin. I picked it up and read the sticker which said something to the effect of “customer said flow is not good” and then realized that there was still water in it! Isn’t reselling this against some sort of health code, even if I was in Tennessee?

I was flabbergasted and left the building immediately.

ITP Flickr Pic
I understand the cat’s plight.

I’m trying to escape too.

I Think I Found Something I’ve Been Seeking
What could it be?

• Inner Peace? Nope.
• A cute girlfriend? Nope.
• A program that will allow me to set up keyword tokens and insert text automatically when I type the tokens? Yes!

Hey, it ain’t much but it’ll keep me going another day.

Yesterday I plunked down $30 which never had a chance of staying in my bank account and purchased a license for Smile On My Mac’s “TextExpander”. The price was a little more than I had hoped to pay (and Andrew, I checked out the link you sent too and because they are based in Europe the conversion rate was ridiculous) but I am hoping that the benefits of the program will outweigh its cost.

As a quick aside, I find myself looking for and purchasing more software for my Macs than I ever did in the Windows days.

TextExpander sits resident and watches me type all the time looking for tokens which have been predefined. When it recognizes one of the tokens which is then followed by a predefined delimiter, TextExpander automatically substitutes the associated text (or whatever) for the token.

For instance, if I were to type
hreftc
TextExpander would automatically replace that with
Top Chef

Not bad, eh? This will certainly save me a lot of time when it comes to URLs that I use often…

RealiTV Update: Top Chef
On an “All New” Top Chef we see that we are down to ten contestants.

I got nervous early on because if I’ve learned one thing from RealiTV it’s that if your preselected favorite starts getting a lot of airtime in any given episode things won’t go well for that person. Such was the case for Antonia last night.

For last night’s QuickFire Challenge it was Pastry Time. Pastry chefs are the placekickers of cooking; they serve a specific need and can save the day in some cases, but by and large are a completely different breed. Desserts have left a bitter taste in the mouth of chefs from previous seasons, so it was interesting to see how this lot would handle the challenge.

But first…. a product placement. This week Top Chef is pimping its own cookbook. What’s the word I am seeking? Oh yeah… TACKY!

As an added bonus the winner of this QuickFire Challenge will get his or her recipe into the cookbook! My mom used to put recipes into a VFW cookbook back in the 1970’s, hell I helped Alton Brown with the recipes for his first cookbook, so I guess what I am saying is that it ain’t no big thing. King Richard wins again, this time with his “Banana Impersonating Scallop” dessert. To me it sounds disgusting, but then again what do I know? King Richard now has two of his ideas stolen, this dessert and the one that Rick Bayless stole a few weeks ago.

Next up, the chefs get to go to improv comedy. Give me a feeling — “BORED!” Give me a time — “NOW!” Give me an action — “I’M GETTING UP TO GRAB A BEER!” You should have seen the way I nailed that scene last night. Mensa-candidate Nikki quickly figures out that the improv night is not just for fun (really?) and that the chefs are going to have to cook whatever this low-brow comedy crowd MadLibs for them.

King Richard teams up with Dale and kicks royal ass. That team winds up as one of the top two duos along with, astonishingly, Crackhead Andrew and Funnyman “Spike” — who made a goddamn squash soup! However soup is no match for tofu which perplexingly tastes like beef and Richard and Dale share victory. Take that vegetarians!

My girl Antonia gets “Polish sausage” as her team’s main ingredient, along with the emotion “drunk.” PERFECT! You are in the sausage capital of America, you can cook sausage with beer, and since you all did tailgating last week this should be a snap. But noooooo, Antonia and Lisa think Polish sausage is beneath them and cook fish with chorizo sausage? Well Excuuuuuuuuse Meeeeeeee! (See the way I slipped in a Steve Martin reference when talking about improv comedy-related cooking? Brilliant!) Their high-brow attitude lands them into the bottom pair of teams along with Stephanie and Jen (who has declared she is now going to win for Zoi — hey, why not win for yourself?). The judges decide that there can only be one faux-hawk hairstyle on the show and since Richard had immunity and his food actually tasted good that Jen should be told to pack up her fucking knives and leave.

Next week - children! Oh, fucking, boy (and girl).

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - I have a strange feeling that I will describe tomorrow
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Magnetic Fields — “California Girls”
Website Of The Day - As a kid I loved MadLibs and not just because I liked to sniff the marker either.
Exercise (b)Log - running, 5 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 48.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - Marta
Monthly Marta Rides - 3
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 26 (26)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

When I discuss the possibilities of riding Marta to/from work I usually tell people that the reason I don’t is because it takes about an hour to go one way. This morning I clocked it and house-to-office took exactly fifty-nine minutes. It would have taken longer had I not hustled to catch a westbound train.

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

This: It is such a chore to talk to Bill. Why is he such a drag?

Versus this: I make such a chore for myself when I talk to Bill. How do I make it so hard?

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

All Hail Trey Parker And Matt Stone
By now you should know that Trey Parker and Matt are the creators of South Park (Jeebus how much money have those guys made by now). Last night I finally gotten around to watching last week’s South Park episode. I was eagerly anticipating this episode because I had heard much hype about it on the Internets because the plot was based around said Internets.

The episode was a wonderful parody of the migration of families to Californy (as it was pronounced) when the internet “ran dry” in South Park; it included families getting herded into Internet Refugee Camps and being allocated time slices during which they were allowed to access the internet.

Further enjoyment came for this nerd (me) when they showed “The Internet” as being one gigantic Linksys router in the middle of the desert — much like any science fiction movie from the 50’s or 60’s. And I nearly busted a gut laughing when the government official asked the computer science nerds about the problem and there answer was “See that blinking orange light? It should be solid green.” because that same statement has rattled through my brain when my own internet connection has died in the past.

Kudos to you South Park creative team!

[update: I forgot to mention that you can now watch episodes of South Park, including this brilliant one, at South Park Studios]

If I Could Only Define “Loved One”
In my electronic mailbox yesterday I was delivered a letter which said that I could save 10% off the purchase of a Road ID if I entered the code PCMAY58 when I checked out of their electronic store before May 5th.

Road ID was the company I was seeking but never located at the ING Runners’ Expo a month ago. Since then I’ve come very close to purchasing a $20 ID bracelet (at full price) but have been unable to supply a name and phone number of someone to call in case of emergency. In and of itself this conundrum has swirled me into a depressed state each time I contemplate making the purchase. I may jump on the 10% offer soon and just put “Someone who gives a damn” in that space and see what happens.

ITP Flickr Pic
Taken at Rock City.

I somewhat see it as a metaphor for my life. I wish to soar, but am being held back. The metaphor breaks down when I realize that I am not cast in stone and that I am the one holding myself back and not some physical chains — but I think you get my point.

The Price Of Gas Is Making Me Move My Ass
Today I make my first attempt at the “Grand Experiment.” I will be foregoing the pleasantries of hanging at George’s tonight because of caloric and monetary constraints. Instead I have packed running clothes and lugged them into the office with me this morning. The idea is that I will change into these clothes before leaving the office, take the train, exit at a station some number of miles from my car, and then run to my car. I should be able to do a sufficient run, and by the time that I get to my car I will have completed my workout for the evening. W00t! I’ve also packed a change of shirts in the car so that I won’t be all sweaty as I drive home. Now if I had only remembered to leave the towel in my trunk…

Meet My Chumby
I found out that on the Chumby website that I could create a virtual Chumby. If you sit and watch it for a while you can actually see all of the apps that I am running on my Chumby.

Sadly I had to settle for the “latte” model, as the black one was not a virtual option.

RealiTV Update: Hell’s Kitchen
On last night’s Hell’s Kitchen someone burns their right hand so badly that they may Never. Cook. Again. Dramatic enough for you?

Last night we watched the Red v. Blue make pasta as quickly as they could in order to win their reward challenge. The pasta was being prepared for Hell’s Kitchen’s first ever “family service” (read “annoying children, some of which should not be eating a big meal, never mind inquiring about cookies”). We see each team literally crank out pasta and then break what I hope is some California Food Preparation Law by hanging it dry off the arms and shoulders of a teammate. Ramsay checked and weighed each team’s effort and we see the women come out ahead again. The women get a shitty reward of going to a two-bit amusement park and the guys get lashed with wet noodles the entire time they are forced to prep for the early evening’s festivities. To further rub at least one of the guys’ noses in shit, the mustachioed one whose name I think is “Ben” has to go outside and shovel shit. Ben is visibly upset, but then quickly realizes that if he wins Hell’s Kitchen he’ll be shoveling Ramsay’s shit for awhile so he sees it as early on-the-job training.

As the families pile in to Hell’s Kitchen the heat is on. The first team to complete order service (apparently “Quality is not Job #1″ on this night as Ramsay has already determined that he will not be “shutting it down” tonight) will be declared the victor. Not long into service Vanessa gets a major motherfucking “owie” by accidentally pouring scalding oil onto her hand. She is rushed to the ER and all looks bad for the ladies. Fear not though ladies as the men on this season are as incompetent as they come — Craig can’t cook fresh pasta, Ramsay berates and hates Ben, and Matt likes to serve up chicken raw (You could KILL somebody! You donkey!). And just like that the ladies, who were one man down, pull out the victory.

Weak links Craig and Matt are identified as potential sacrificial lambs, but Ramsay wants to berate Ben a little more and calls him into the firing line as well. Hilarity ensues when the men attempt oneupmanship by throwing out trite percentage guarantees “I’ll give you 100% chef!” “I’ll give you 125%!” and then Craig says “I’m not good with percentages… but I’ll give you more.” Apparently Ramsay is all about the numbers because Craig (who is deserving of getting a Ramsay boot up his ass) is kicked off the show.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - fair
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Sea Wolf — “Winter Windows”
Website Of The Day - Inventor Spot is an interesting highlighting gadgets that are being invented marketed.
Exercise (b)Log - sit-ups, push-ups, dumbbell curls
Monthly Foot Mileage - 43.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - Marta
Monthly Marta Rides - 1
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 25 (25)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I haven’t done either since September. Come to think of it, there are a couple of other “things I haven’t done in awhile” that I’d like to check off my list sometime soon.

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

Why this need to divide up, classify and neatly package every new acquaintance? For me to try to classify something so complex as an individual human being merely demonstrates my own shallowness. A judgement (sp) of another person is an abstraction that adds qualities that are not there and leaves out what is unique about him. If I classify someone I turn him into a thing. The only way for me to contact this other person is to experience him, not think about him.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Things Seen Over The Weekend That I Forgot About Yesterday
I drew up some notes about the oddities I encountered on my trip to Nashville over the weekend.

• a camel (on the way up to Nashville)
• llamas (on the way up to Nashville)
• a fresh car accident (on the way up to Nashville)
• an Abe Lincoln impersonator (in the bars of Nashville)

Of course I forgot to consult my notes yesterday.

ITP Flickr Pic
When I returned to my hotel room in Nashville on Saturday night I saw that my neighbors had a bit of a party in their room. I guess that I got an invite, but I wasn’t around to receive it.

I shouldn’t put up photos like this when I am so hungry.

Time Passages
I don’t remember where I heard it or why I looked it up, but do you realize that Forrest Gump was released fourteen years ago? Four-Teen…

Forrest Gump may be my second-favorite movie of all time. I remember anxiously awaited seeing it in the theater with some of my friends in Huntsville only to find out that they went and saw it on opening weekend without inviting me. I was so disappointed.

What Is Your Plan “B?”
While driving alone forever through seemingly endless back roads on Friday I came to a serious conclusion — I need to define Plan “B.”

Plan “A” seemed simple enough

1. Do well in school
2. Meet a mate
3. Get a good job
4. Get married, buy house, have child(ren)
5. Live happily ever after

but is not going to happen for me. Many of the singletons that I’ve hanging with over the past handful of years have paired-up and in some cases moved on while I have not.

I will be forty-three in three months. I have no prospect of coupledom and have not in ages. I estimate that I have fewer than thirty-five years to live and enough money to get me by for a little while in case of tragedy. I have no idea what I want out of life any longer and I need to start working out the details for the rest of my life.

You Look Nice Today
I’ve blathered about Merlin Mann in this space before. If you missed it, search for “Merlin Mann” on this site and you’ll see he’s been mentioned more than once.

Mann has gone and done it again; he’s started yet another podcast that I enjoy even though I fully expect him to lose interest in about ten episodes.

This time around Mann’s podcast is called You Look Nice Today. YLNT is a three-way stream-of-conscience between Mann, a guy named Scott, and a guy named Adam. I guess the only explanation that I have for liking the podcast is that the three seem to share a similar sense of humor and view of life that I do.

CD Pick Of The Week
There are a few interesting things being released today.

• Billy Bragg “Mr. Love & Justice”
• Blind Melon “For My Friends”
• Elvis Costello “Momofuku” (vinyl/download only)
• Elbow “The Seldom Seen Kid”
• Flight Of The Conchords “Flight Of The Conchords”
• Tokyo Police Club “Elephant Shell”

I really want to hear the Flight of The Conchords disc to see if their schtick is holding up. I would have immediately downloaded the Elvis Costello release today in order to prepare for next Monday’s concert had it not been canceled. How is Blind Melon releasing something new? Did they get a new singer to replace the long-deceased Shannon Hoon? Hoon died in October of 1995 — at least he lived long enough to see Forrest Gump.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - really, really hungry
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing M.I.A. — “Paper Planes” (I don’t want to like this song, but I do because it’s so damn catchy)
Website Of The Day - What’cha doing for dinner tomorrow night? Why not consider Dining Out For Project Open Hand?
Exercise (b)Log - running, 5 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 43.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car, but I thought about Marta today
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 24 (24)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

So much happened this weekend that I could probably write a post which takes an hour to read (that’s my time, it would probably take you ten minutes).

• I went to Nashville the wrong long way.
• I determined that I am a 2008 version of Rain Man because it rained Friday and Saturday in Nashville just like it has been everywhere I’ve gone recently.
• I stayed in a hotel with a gaggle of softball players who were in town for a tournament. They were loud.
• I reconfirmed that I am addicted to the Internet. The Internet connection in my hotel room went down on Friday night and never returned — my weekend last-minute activity planning suffered because of this.
• I realized again that I stink at people photography and am going to have to work hard to overcome this.
• I ate a mushroom bisque on Saturday that was so good I want to learn how to make one.
• I confirmed that Nashville is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
• I realized that America was probably once a very beautiful country that we have fucked up with endless strip malls, factories, and housing.
• I learned that ankle injuries are the new black (and blue).

Overall I’d give the weekend a rating of “45 mph - 55 mph”

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

There is no such thing as “best” in a world of individuals.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Let’s Just Say “Things Didn’t Go My Way” On Friday
When I left the house the weather predicted for Nashville was perfect, I planned to take a pleasurable, back-road drive to Nashville, and I was going to see the entire New Pornographers.

When I arrived seven hours after departing Atlanta in Nashville the skies were cloudy and there was an 80% chance of thunderstorms. The drive was fun for awhile but a little investigation on a map led me to the conclusion that I shall never trust “Jill” with “Avoid Highways” enabled again. I made it to the upper Northwestern corner of Georgia and then she proceeded to take me on a wild-hare ride through Alabama before I overrode her and wound up on I-65 twenty miles south of Huntsville. I should have given up on Jill’s directions when she tried to get me onto a US Highway by taking me down a dead-end road.

After settling into my hotel room and catching up on news I read that New Pornographers’ singer-extraordinaire Neko Case had injured her ankle a few nights ago and had to drop out of the tour after Thursday night’s show in Athens (a show I could have attended but chose to skip in order to spend the weekend in Nashville). The show was good but New Pornographers without Case and Dan Bejar (who is touring with his band Destroyer) just aren’t the same; Okkervil River rocked big time however and I’d like to see them again in an intimate setting such as the case was at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville.

ITP Flickr Pic
Isn’t it iconic? Why yes it is.

The weather in Nashville on Saturday morning was excellent and I made sure to get a few hours of photography in prior to watching the clouds and rain roll in for an encore appearance.

I Saw Rock City
If you are over the age of forty and grew up along the East Coast in a family whose vacations consisted of car trips (back when gas was $0.50 a gallon and not $3.50) then you’ve no doubt seen advertisements for Rock City. I’ve always been intrigued by Rock City because I never really knew what it was, even though I probably visited it sometime in the early 1970’s. Yesterday I decided to stop there on my way home.

For all of their advertising you’d think that no one would have difficulty finding Rock City, but of course I missed the “next stop light” turn and had to turn around in order to get there. The weather was okay, but not super clear when I arrived some time late in the morning so I grabbed my camera gear and headed in. Oh wait, there was that minor nit of having to pay $17 before I could enter. Yeouch! But I was there and didn’t know if I’d ever return (and after I was done I probably won’t.)

Before you consider going to Rock City keep in mind that it was opened in 1932 and is as far from being “American with Disabilities Act” compliant as a theme park can be. The complex is a maze of walkways (and annoying “soothing” music) with a myriad of steps and a few places that were so narrow a person weighing more than 250 pounds (read “fat American”) could not get through. I was surprised by both of these observations and was shocked that there was no mention of this prior to encountering them. I felt that they should have made the turnstile as narrow as the narrowest of passages and put a sign saying “You Must Be Able To Fit Through To Enter” in front of it.

One of the allures of Rock City is the ability to see seven states from its observation point.

As you can see from the weather conditions in my photo I was unable to do so yesterday. Oddly, the weather on the other side of the mountain was perfect.

All I did to take the shot of the flags was turn around from where I took the shot of the sign.

Overall I had a decent time in Rock City and am not disappointed that I stopped there on my way home.

Too Much Fun, Not Enough Run
Stepping on the scale this morning only confirmed what I had been feeling this weekend — the weight is returning and I need to do something to stop it. While I had opportunity to run in Nashville I chose not to. Tonight will have to be another story however as I plan to rejoin the Monday Night Running Group in East Atlanta. I’ll just have to remember why I am running when it’s time to order food and drink after the run.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - where did my long weekend go?
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks — “Gardenia”
Website Of The Day - See seven states from one spot? Inconceivable! Which of course reminds me to tell you about the Princess Bride Game.
Exercise (b)Log - not a damn thing
Monthly Foot Mileage - 38.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Monday Morning Weigh-In - 199 pounds
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 21 (21)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

This will be quick as I am headed to Nashville today for tonight’s Okkervil River / New Pornographers show (I know, they played in Athens last night — meh). It’s already past when I wanted to leave and I’ve yet to pack. Priorities…. mine are all screwed up.

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

I always seem to be feeling either superior or inferior, one up or one down, better off or worse off than everyone else. The superior moments are elating, but the rare and blessed moments are when I feel equal.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Weak Sauce
“Weak sauce” is the best way that I can describe my attempted run yesterday. I started the trot the same way that I have the previous two days but yesterday’s jaunt was different. The first mile was tough, the second really tough, and the third and a half absolutely brutal. While it was warmer than the previous weather in which I’ve run I can’t blame the weather. I think my diet has been “iffy” but not horrible so I cannot fault it either. It may boil down to my body still not being ready to run three days in a row.

It concerns me that I will have to crank things up a few notches to be able to run thirteen in a month’s time, never mind the ten I am scheduled for tomorrow.

ITP Flickr Pic
I’ll probably never get around to writing my full Chumby review so I might as well use the photo I took for it.

Ladies, if that manly bedding, on a bed which is made every morning, excites you — you know where to send an email…

Played To Perfection
Last night I rejoined Meet The Hashers for a little Team Trivia at Raging Burrito in Decatur. It was the first time that I’ve been able to do so in some time. As if we hadn’t missed a beat we won — with a perfect score no less! Unlike many previous outings this was a complete team effort. Vandy Beth’s friend (a nice young girl and fellow-Gator from Puerto Rico whose name I didn’t quite catch) was the only one of us who knew that Nickelback was both from Canada and had a #1 hit called “How You Remind Me” back in 2002. My lone solo contribution of “John Olerud” was based on my love of baseball, specifically the New York Mets.

RealiTV Update: Survivor
I didn’t get an opportunity to watch. Discuss amongst yourselves….

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - decent
Current Music - my iTunes library listening to Stars Of Track And Field — “Movies Of Antarctica”
Website Of The Day - strangeglue is another of the really good sites out there providing music news and reviews — just don’t expect any information about Nickelback there.
Exercise (b)Log - running, 3.5 lousy miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 38.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - n/a
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 18 (18)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

After getting sucked into a 5pm meeting yesterday I made an executive decision to show up at George’s “late” (7pm) and do a solo run knowing well that my decision would preclude me from making the dinner I desired. Things didn’t start well as my GPS watch failed to find any satellite signals so I wound up running a modified course unaware of the distance I was traveling. I ambled about for a little over an hour, with a short uphill walk break, only to find out later that I cover little more than six miles. Funny, it felt like I was going so much faster than that…

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

“You’re wrong” means “I don’t understand you” — I’m not seeing what you’re seeing. But there is nothing wrong with you, you are simply not me and that’s not wrong.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

I Hope That Chumby Is Not Made Of Fail
Two weeks with Chumby have revealed some cool features and major setbacks. I’ve been meaning to do a full review of Chumby, but haven’t had the time.

When I returned from camping last Sunday I noticed that Chumby had turned itself off. My house notoriously loses power, sometime for a good while, so I was not overly surprised. I was relieved to see that Chumby had not died and untimely death.

This morning I was stunned to wake up (on the couch) and find out that it was nearly 5:30am. Chumby has two alarms set — one for 5:15am and one for 5:30am — and unlike my cellphone (case and point, when my cellphone’s alarm went off this morning it rang the alarm bell exactly twice before shutting itself off; thanks for nothing Microsoft) has been excellent at ringing them until dismissed. When I went into the bedroom I noticed that Chumby was stuck on some initialization screen and that’s why the alarm never went off at 5:15am. I had to reboot Chumby, which for an alarm clock is completely unacceptable. If this behavior persists I will have to return to using my alarm clock and relegate Chumby to “cool, nerdy to which cannot be trusted”, much like any Windows computer even though Chumby is running Linux.

ITP Flickr Pic
Rat’s Ass (aka “Gary”) should never run for office…. This is the non-incriminating shot of bamboo ramming that I possess.

If someone would shoot me Gary’s email address I’ll get his clearance for the incriminating shot.

I Want To Walk In Your Shoes
Actually, I want to hike in your boots. I probably made this request about eleven months ago, but I never followed up on it so I will make it again.

In August I’ll be traveling to Colorado and I want to buy a decent pair of hiking boots. I want to purchase something in the coming months so that I will have ample time to break them in before my trip.

I probably want mid-height (with ankle support), and definitely waterproof. What brand to you trust? Keen? Merrill? Please let me know what brand, and model if you know offhand, in the comments. My feet will love you forever.

RealiTV Update: Top Chef
By now we know the Top Chef Cha-Cha-Cha, right?

• Wake up chefs
• Perform QuickFire Challenge with product placement
• Declare Stephanie / Richard / Antonia / Jennifer the winner
• Announce Elimination Challenge with product placement
• More obligatory product placement
• Declare Stephanie / Richard / Antonia / Dale the winner
• Tell sub-par / completely-lost chef to pack up knives and get the fuck out

For last night’s QuickFire challenge the chefs had to pair a simple meal with beer. Um, two-bit hacks like myself excel at beer dinners, how can these people stand a chance? I was actually surprised to see

1. The range of beers that were represented, including things I don’t consider to be beer like Michelob Ultra.
2. How many “Top Chefs” were not beer drinkers.

I don’t remember the dish that won, only that Jennifer won so that she could avenge her lesbian-lover’s outing last week (not that type of outing) because I was craving a beer for some reason.

For the Elimination Challenge the “Top Chefs” got to prepare tailgating food at a Chicago Bears game. First off, poor Aussie Frodo Mark has no idea what “American” football is and couldn’t gate a tail if it had a handle on it. Further, local products read “Chicago natives” such as Dale had a huge advantage because not only do they understand the concept of tailgating at Soldier Field, they’ve actually tailgated at Soldier Field. If you don’t think that’s an advantage then take the same food to a tailgating party in Green Bay as you do in Atlanta and you will see. Again I call out the producers for introducing meaningless challenges into the game — what’s next, a fish-fry at the aquarium?

Stephanie, Antonia, and Dale were the top three with Dale coming out on top. For his efforts he won a bbq which probably won’t fit in his Chicago apartment, a stupid replica Bears jersey with “Top Chef” on the back (yeah that won’t get his ass beaten much) and all of the man-loving he can take from Richard Dent and William “Refrigerator” Perry.

Metrosexual Ryan, who didn’t understand the concept of tailgating one bit, was deemed to be “Bottom Chef” and told to pack up his Wustoff-Trident knives, put on some Steve Madden shoes, jump into a Toyota SUV, fill the tank with $100 of gas at the local Sunoco, and get the fuck off of the show. For his final punishment Ryan was forced to put on a cheerleader’s outfit and perform on the sidelines during the game. Okay, I made that last bit up but I think that next season the Elimination Challenge should be changed to the Elimination/Humiliation Challenge.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - decent
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Drive-By Truckers — “The Righteous Path”
Website Of The Day - Yesterday I picked up a new skill in learning how to set up my phone to receive Twitter “tweets.” If you want to know what you can “unlearn” so that your brain can handle new skills check out Obsolete Skills.
Exercise (b)Log - running, 6 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 35 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 17 (17)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

The Jews have a menorah which symbolizes oil which was predicted to last one night but actually lasted seven eight. I have a case of Yeungling which has lasted two months because I cannot remember to put it into my car to deliver it; it’s not much but at least I’ve got that going for me…

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

No one is wrong. At most someone is uninformed. If I think a man is wrong, either I am unaware of something, or he is. So unless I want to play a superiority game I had best find out what he is looking at.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

One Busy Night
Yesterday twelve hours of my life were consumed by j-o-b, this includes the traveling to and fro. I also made a pit-stop at the Kroger on Briarcliff Road on my way home in order to pick up a “few” items needed to prepare a couple meals this week.

I convinced myself that I really needed to start running again and am glad to report that I did. Last night I ambled around my five-mile Grant Park course finishing fairly strong to boot.

After showering it was time to cook dinner. The idea was to make a potato gratin (which I freestyled and perhaps shouldn’t have) and some flank steak. I realized that it was already 8pm and I wasn’t that hungry so I 86′ed the steak and just made the potato gratin, which wasn’t completely done until 10pm(!) — so much for a quick meal.

After watching Hell’s Kitchen on my DVR (more on this below) it was off to slumberland so that I could wake up and do it all again today.

My First $50+ Fill-Up
Ugh!

I was dreadfully low on petrol this morning and I forked over $3.49 per gallon at the Exxon close to work (which for all that live/work in the Perimeter Mall area know as “the only goddamn gas station within a two-mile radius of the mall”).

Fourteen gallons and $51.25 later I had a full tank of gas. Guess who will start riding Marta again next week?

American society as we know it cannot continue with these conditions much longer, can it?

ITP Flickr Pic
I kept trying to get a photo of Betsy’s dog Reese but every time I got close she moved.

Bitch. No really, she is a female dog.

OMFG I’ve Created A Twitter Account
I broke down yesterday and created a Twitter account. Twitter is known as a “micro-blogging” site because people post status messages up to 140 characters long (think “text message”) and people who are “following” that user see these posts, usually on a mobile device. I have no intention of becoming a constantly-updating Twitterholic, I joined to follow a user that’s been set up to post crime and suspicious activity information occurring in East Atlanta.

If you care to follow me, which will be less than thrilling I admit, my user name is “InsidePerimeter” (because Twitter has length restrictions on their account names.)

RealiTV Update: Hell’s Kitchen
Talk about your inevitable outcomes. Who couldn’t predict that Jason was going to get ousted last night?

It was another catastrophic evening at Hell’s Kitchen. Cooks couldn’t dissect chickens, cook meat and fish, or even remember the dessert menu in one case. Seriously, I don’t know that I’ve got the chops to hang in a production kitchen, but you can bet your sweet ass that I’d have that menu memorized once it was given to me; twice now guys have been unable to tell Ramsay what’s on their own menu.

Hey Hell’s Kitchen, 1986 called and they want their mechanical bull back. Huh? What the fuck? And can someone look me straight in the eyes and tell me that they didn’t think that Aaron wasn’t a complete “plant”? Holy Jeebus the producers of these RealiTV shows are hard up for content.

Next week on cook (notice I don’t call these people “chefs”) burns his or her hand so badly that he or she many never cook again! (Or so the producers would like us to believe….)

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - fair
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Editors — “Smoker Outside The Hospital Doors”
Website Of The Day - If I am going to keep buying things on the interwebs (and the likelihood of that is high) I’m going to have to check out RetailMeNot before I pull the trigger in order to see if they have any coupon codes.
Exercise (b)Log - running, 5 miles (whew, back at it!)
Monthly Foot Mileage - 29 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 16 (16)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I wish that I had remembered about the Atlanta Tornado Relief project before blogging yesterday; I certainly would have picked it as my Website Of The Day if I had. Held exactly one month from the evening that a tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta, Cabbagetown, and East Atlanta some local restaurants chipped in 15% of their coffers toward rebuilding the community. It was a nice gesture and the impetus I needed to forgo exercising on a chilly evening and eat a burger and drink a Guinness at Flat Iron instead.

While at Flat Iron I saw EAV Monday Night Running Group regular Jenka and her husband Brian (or perhaps Bryan?) where we decided that I must be stalking her because this is the second time I’ve run into them recently while eating in the village. Of course Chapter One of “The Stalker’s Handbook” states that if someone calls you out as a stalker you are not doing it correctly.

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

When I feel defensive I like it best when I remain aware of my defensiveness and yet continue to act just as defensively as I feel like acting.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Take This Check And Shove It!
Guess what I get to do today? Like many other Americans who “owe” money to our Government I am going to be writing checks and mailing off tax returns at the Post Office. I could use the excuse that I was affected by the tornado and use the “free” extension to May provided by the Government, but why put off the inevitable any longer than I have to?

If you are looking for me today I’ll be the one in line contemplating buying a cabin in the woods and living off the grid.

ITP Flickr Pic
It’s Tax Day and the Federal and State Governments to which I have paid a shitload of money this year have made me feel like this…

…a pig that’s had a pole stuck through its ass clear through its mouth and roasted on a spit for hours.

One Person. One House. How Do People Manage?
My house gets dirtier faster than it does clean. I suppose that entropy gets credit for that, but seriously what the fuck? It seems like I spend and inordinate amount of time cleaning, doing laundry, organizing, cooking, whatnot and my house still bugs the shit out of me — with the exception of having a neatly-made bed each day when I return home of course. My house is larger than my needs for sure, but it’s not like I am living in a mansion or anything. I am finding that I am not nearly efficient enough to keep house.

And now strange things are starting to occur as well. In the twenty-something years that I have been doing my own laundry I think that I may have lost two socks in total. In the past three weeks I have turned up three socks which have lost their partner.

Twenty+ years — two socks lost
Three weeks — three socks lost

How does this happen? I really need some help…

“Fuck” Is The New “Black,” Which Of Course Was The New “Wolf”
Trends happen for whatever reason; I certainly cannot explain them. Lately I’ve noticed a trend in indie-band names of using the word “Fuck.” Off the top of my head I can think of two such bands — “Fuck Buttons” and “Holy Fuck.”

Last year’s buzz word was “Black” for which we had “Black Kids”, “Black Lips”, “The Black Keys”, and “Black Mountain.”

The year before it was “Wolf” with “Sea Wolf” and “Wolf Parade.”

I’ll go out on a limb and guess that next year’s overused buzz word will be “Buzz” itself.

CD Pick Of The Week
My taxes this year were a massacre, so how fitting is it that I pick “My Bloody Underground” from The Brian Jonestown Massacre as my pick this week? Just don’t try and see The Brian Jonestown Massacre in concert because they are as flaky as a delicious pie crust.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - all things considered, not too bad
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Fuck Buttons — “Sweet Love For Planet Earth”
Website Of The Day - I need some comic relief today, Pix And Pander should help out nicely.
Exercise (b)Log - more nothing, but that ends tonight
Monthly Foot Mileage - 24 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 15 (15)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

For fuck’s sake will the real Spring hurry up and arrive? High today of 49, a low of 33, with rain? Hey Mother Nature, April Fool’s Day was two weeks ago, this shit ain’t funny any longer.

I should also interject here that I am also very tired of our current weather pattern where rain is predicted for Friday and Saturday of each week, while Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are perfect weather.

Read Along With Me
Today’s passage from Notes To Myself.

Now that I know that when I am criticizing another I am seeing my own fault I like to be very honest and very specific in my criticism. After I get it straight how I think this fault works in someone else, I can then look at my own behavior with a surprising new clarity. (This way of criticizing works best when I do it silently.)

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Old Age Or Wisdom, Which One Was It?
I decided with the weather forecast that my weekend would be best served in one of the campsite “bear pantries” instead of my new tent. By and large I think that I was right, however I wish that I had not picked the pantry whose tin roof’s corner was not secured because the wind periodically lifted it and slammed it back down. If not for my ability to sleep heavily (especially when drunk) I would have had a horrible evening on Saturday night.

I found myself snuggled in my sleeping bag rather early on Friday and Saturday nights. There was something about me, the amount of beer I consumed, and the cold weather that lured me into bed early. I’m sure that my demeanor was a little nicer sans hangover, but that’s really not my call to make.

Saturday’s trail, my sixtieth Black Sheep Hash, was short in distance but long in descending / ascending. While I really like hashing up in the mountains it is not a conducive area for getting a good long run in.

The weekend did provide me with a renewed annual parking pass for Georgia State Parks which should get much use this year. Already planned is a trip to James H. (Sloppy) Floyd State Park in May. I am sure that I will be making at least one trip to Sweetwater Creek State Park and I’ll be taking a couple of last-minute camping trips to some of the state’s other facilities this year.

ITP Flickr Pic
Pig Iron Chefs…

Niplets and Rat’s Ass assessing the progress of the pig cooking.

I have a lot of shots of pig preparation most of which would probably turn your stomach so I’ll be kind and not use these in future blogs. Ah, drinking and photography make for interesting results.

Yard Waste
There are many days that I wish that I hadn’t bought a house with a yard; yesterday was another one of those. Unfortunately for me I was so whipped from the weekend’s festivities I didn’t get out to start Yard Cleanup 2008. It may be time for me to finally throw in the towel and hire someone to come out and do my yard work — I certainly have proven to myself that I don’t enjoy it.

If You Are Looking For Me Tonight
There is a good possibility that my arse shan’t be braving the elements in order to run. I’m over exercising in the nasty weather and I just might make tonight the night that I take care of the chores that I should have completed last night.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood - meh, and like I am way behind on everything
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Postal Service — “Such Great Heights”
Website Of The Day - I plan to visit a handful of Georgia State Parks I’ve never seen before. Have any suggestions?
Exercise (b)Log - Saturday: hashing, 2.5 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage - 24 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage - 0 miles
Monday Morning Weigh-In - 197 pounds (argh, time to stop this increase)
Mode Of Transportation To Work - My car
Monthly Marta Rides - 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) - 14 (14)

April Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]