Inside The Perimeter

Not much to talk about today, other than my first meat meal of the month. I decided to buy the last disposable face mask in stock at Flat Iron and in the process procured a fried chicken sandwich for dinner.

Tonight I assume will be another virtual Top Chef night with Betsy, though we’ve not confirmed.

The biggest thing on my mind today is the scheduled appearance of an HVAC maintenance person, who is due to arrive “between 8:00am-11:00am”. I am hoping to not incur a large bill attempting to get the air conditioner ready for the imminent heat.

Have a good Wednesday. Attempt to stay healthy, friends.

If my days had themes yesterday’s could have been “Not quite as planned”, for both good and bad.

Because the weather was sunnier and breezier than I expected I wound up washing and drying more clothes than I anticipated. I will say that along with all of the washing up, the manual labor I have undertaken has been hell on my hands; they are riddled with small cuts and dry skin, making life annoyingly painful.

Yesterday afternoon I had the idea to make a loaf of bread using my bread machine. I decided to use up all of the yeast that failed me a month ago, and much to my surprise it was all very much still alive! The loaf rose so much in the machine that it stuck to the inside lid, leaving me with a highly deformed loaf and a mess to clean.

For dinner I focused my intention on making a lasagna, the likes of which I never would never have eaten as a child. My lasagna contained, in addition to “normal” lasagna ingredients, spinach, mushrooms, onion, garlic, rosemary, and green onion. I probably should have focused more on the construction as I used too much sauce in the pan initially, leaving not enough to smother the top, and wound up with leftover noodles since I didn’t lay them out properly in the pan. Then, I over-baked the lasagna because I got distracted changing the rear wheel of my road bike so that I could remount it on the trainer, and forgot about the lasagna in the oven.

Today? Today’s theme should be something in German, but you can well imagine that my studying didn’t go as planned either…

Tuesday Take of the Tape: 208.4 pounds (-0.2 from last week’s weigh-in); not bad, especially considering how much food I’ve been eating the the past two months.

It’s 6:30am as I sit drinking coffee and typing this blog post. I had a fun, if not fairly responsible, weekend. I do have to admit that I may be addicted to doing laundry by hand while I have the time and weather to allow them to hang dry all day. I think I’ve done laundry three consecutive days.

My yard work has been a little less addictive because I could only muster an hour’s worth of doing more on Saturday and none yesterday. The silver lining to this is that the path to the air conditioner compressor is now ready for Wednesday’s service call. This is an excellent thing since it appears real heat will be returning at week’s end.

On Saturday I also did a walk with Betsy and her dog Bella. We strolled around East Atlanta, and then after my hour of yard work, I stayed indoors attempting to do coding and German, neither of them very successfully.

Yesterday I did a wonderful, 6.3 mile walk with Bonnie; we retraced a lot of my “Wee Is Risen #1” trail from 2018. Oh the old days of hashing… After our journey we sat in my carport and drank some beer before ordering some delicious takeout food from Flat Iron. My weekend of activities took their toll and I was well asleep on the futon by 9:00pm last night.

Today? Work, and some form of exercise. Hell, it’s supposed to be sunny and dry, maybe I will do a load of laundry first?

Good Friday to you, friends.

I have little to discuss today. Yesterday was a blasé day during which I accomplished little. I often felt rushed, and a touch anxious for no apparent reason.

In addition to work and my studies, I hope to start spending some time doing productive yard clean up. I believe the ITP Estate may see some rain today, so I hope to accomplish my goal before it arrives.

No big plans for the Mother’s Day weekend. I hope to continue progressing with my efforts to learn, see some friends, and get exercise in the process.

I was about declare that I was going to get out of bed and start my day early, but it’s already 6:30am which is about when I normally try to start me day, so there. At least this explains why I am tired in the afternoon and fall asleep pretty early.

Cheers all!

My morning started fairly early yesterday, I was in the M6 by 7:45am. Knowing that Kroger opens at 8:00am these days I took a drive around beforehand to give the M6 some much-needed exercise. I arrived at Kroger about 8:05am and walked up to the door and grabbed a cart (after wiping it down with a cloth I brought with me). The last time I did a Kroger run, admittedly to Glenwood and not South Moreland Avenue, there was a line at the door and they were only letting seniors in until a certain time. I couldn’t recall if the “general public” was allowed in at 8:00am or 9:00am however, so given that Kroger’s time to open is 8:00am I assumed the latter. Because of this I wasn’t too surprised to see three people lined up inside the store; I assumed that Kroger was throttling the flow of people. After waiting about ten minutes I realized that I might be in line for the Customer Service / Cash (Bank? Food Stamps?) counter. Upon confirming my theory with the man standing in front of me I exited the line and proceeded to start my shopping.

For some reason I couldn’t be contained yesterday and needed to get out. I rode my road bike around, 2.5 miles in total just to test out the mechanicals, and determined that all is well with it. Barb, I will work out a meetup for a tuneup in the near future when it’s convenient for you and Allan. Once satisfied with the state of my road bike I returned home and transitioned to my mountain bike and rode down to Perimeter College (or whatever it’s called these days) and back. The reason for the switch is knowing how bad Bouldercrest Road is these days, many potholes, and wanting the fat tires and front suspension to combat them. It was a tough ride back due to the wind, but I was pleased that I accomplished it. (Un)Fun fact, I was the only cyclist I saw (of about six) who was wearing any sort of face mask.

Upon returning home and freshening up with a shower I started my dinner preparation. My meal last night was roasted Beyond bratwurst with vegetables —- onion, shallot, garlic, tomato, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, potatoes — seasoned only with some oil, salt, and pepper. The meal was amazing, and I have three more servings to boot!

This morning started early again today as I arose at 5:30am to start the process of baking pumpkin bread. You know that I am capitalizing on this unseasonably cool weather by using my inefficiently insulated oven, right? 😉

Hope you have a wonderful Thursday.

What does it say about my current life that the most exciting thing to happen in some time was cracking an egg that contained two yolks this morning? Seriously.

The rest of my day was routine
– wake up
– make and eat breakfast
– wash and hang laundry
– clean up breakfast mess
– work
– abbreviated exercise because I misread my calendar
– struggle through German class
– fall asleep watching YouTube

Last night I also experimented with one of the few bottles of wine still cellared in my basement, a Scott Harvey Syrah from 2006. According to Barb’s recommendation of CellarTracker I was only four years late in my opening of this bottle. Fortunately my bottle hadn’t corked, and was pretty drinkable. Looks like I know what I will be drinking tonight while virtually hanging out with Betsy.

Have a great Wednesday, friends.

Aye aye aye aye
Sí sí señora
My sister Belinda
She pissed out a window
All over my new sombrero

It’s a good thing that I didn’t get to a Mexican restaurant for Saint Patrick’s Day, because I’d be sad that I couldn’t complete the trick by going to an Irish Pub today.

Yesterday was about as routine as my days get these days. Had I thought to do so I would have mailed my mother’s Mother’s Day card yesterday to ensure that it arrives by Sunday. To escape some of the afternoon heat I went down into the basement and generated some of my own by doing 60 minutes on the trainer. My road bike is starting to feel a bit “off” making some noises I don’t recognize; it could be the trainer as well. Barb, is there any chance I can arrange a solcially-distanced bike drop off / potential repair in the coming weeks? Thinking about riding outdoors again has me starting to think about improving my emergency roadside repair kit and skills.

Today is shaping up to be an incredibly busy day. I will have to mail my mother’s card either by walking up to the post office, or driving there in order to give the M6 a drive today. At some point during today I have to get in a workout, sit through meetings, and call into German class tonight. It’s a good thing that I am not in dire need for food as I will not have the time to go grocery shopping today.

Tuesday Tale of the Tape: 208.6 pounds (-1.4 from last week’s weigh-in);

Funny, as I was about to type that I was going to avoid the pun related to today’s date, and the podcast to which I am listening started in with the Star Wars theme. Whoa…

The weekend was good but I think that this pandemic has also reduced my tolerance for alcohol. 😱 Admittedly the single churro muffin I ate prior to beer consumption was not nearly enough after a long walk in the heat with Bonnie (such a trooper as we went on a route so bizarre one could confuse it for a hash), but man did the beer hit back hard! After scarfing down dinner my head hit a pillow wand I was passed out well before 8pm; this will make what you read be a little more sensible.

I also accomplished a long walk on Saturday with Betsy and her dog Bella, and had I understood the path taken by four of the planes on Saturday, would have had some phenomenal photos (okay, probably blurry photos) taken from my deck; four of the planes flew nearly directly over the ITP Estate.

I realize that I am not alone in stating that this pandemic has temporarily changed my routine. Never before have I awakened early, cooked and eaten breakfast, washed and hung to dry an entire “load” of laundry (two days in a row!), and cleaned up the dishes from last night and this morning. After I publish this I need to hit the shower and go to work.

Below are my stats for April. What’s interesting about the month is that I believe all of the “meat days” are associated with a bean soup recipe that I made using a package of andouille sausage.

April 2020

04/01 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/02 – ?, V, walking (4.55 mi, 84:00) 😀
04/03 – ?, V, nothing 😢
04/04 – ?, M, walking (4.88 mi, 124:00) 🙂
04/05 – ?, V, cycling (28.47 mi, 150:00) 😁
04/06 – ?, V, walking (2.79 mi, 51:17) 😐
04/07 – 212.2, M, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/08 – ?, V, nothing (hurt calf) 🤕😢
04/09 – ?, V, nothing 😢
04/10 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/11 – ?, V, walking (4.47 mi, 102:25), yard work 😀
04/12 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/13 – ?, V, walking (4.28 mi, 79:35) 🙂
04/14 – 209.0, V, trainer (50:00) 🙂
04/15 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 🙂
04/16 – ?, V, walking (3.26 mi, 58:35) 🙂
04/17 – ?, M, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/18 – ?, V, trainer (95:00) 😀
04/19 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/20 – ?, V, walking (5.34 mi, 79:35) 😀
04/21 – 210.8, V, trainer (50:30) 😀
04/22 – ?, M, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/23 – ?, V, walking (4.20 mi, 79:47) 🙂
04/24 – ?, M, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/25 – ?, V, walking (5.21 mi, 141:56) 🙂
04/26 – ?, V, walking (5.92 mi, 128:00) 😀
04/27 – ?, V, nothing 😐
04/28 – 210.0, V, nothing 🤒😢
04/29 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😀
04/30 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😀

May Day!
May Day!
see also: Jonathan Coulton’s “First of May” 😁

Last night I reminded myself how badly I can feel when I overeat. I knew the recipe I was making (American Goulash) made a lot of food and it would have been difficult to halve the ingredients, so I made the whole thing. Had I not gone back for seconds, mostly because I had so much left over, I would have been fine. In addition to overeating I made a few other discoveries:

• Red bell peppers can mold on the inside? Yuck! The pepper looked fine on the outside but when I cut the top off it was no bueno.
• This recipe can be made meatless. The recipe calls for ground beef and I was going to substitute Beyond crumbles, but I had a pound of button mushrooms in the refrigerator so I chopped those into small pieces and used them in place of the beef. Yes, there was some beefy flavor lost, but not enough to concern me.
• This recipe also works if you add an entire box of baby spinach at the end. Spinach wasn’t called for, but again, I had it on hand and it needed to be used.
• It’s wiser to add cheese to each serving than to the entire pot as directed. Dishing out the goulash was gooey, messy affair, and I would probably use a lot less cheese if I added it to each individual serving.

Even though I rode the trainer yesterday I almost considered going out for a walk to combat my gluttony.

I made a little progress on the work front, but am still trying to figure out the other difficulties in my life.

As I have been saying here in the recent past, I am typing this with window and door open to allow cool air to enter the house. Shockingly it is so cool this morning that my heater kicked on! Guess it’s time to turn that off for Spring/Summer…

Hoping that I have fun this weekend, whatever that entails during these days. I should force myself to suit up and do some yard maintenance as well.

Have a good Friday, friends.

On the last day of one of the strangest months in all of our lives I am lapping up what will most likely be one of the last cool days we (in the Southeast of the US) encounter for awhile.

Yesterday was a little better.

While I am not 100% healthwise (when am I ever, right?) I managed to get in a good 45-minute workout on the trainer. Hopefully this will be repeated today, or perhaps I’ll get outside for a solo walk instead.

I cooked a supper that was edible, but completely unrecognizable to what was initially intended; because I used tofu instead of “beef”, my orange-chili beef turned into more of a orange-flavored mapo tofu. Also, for the second week in a row I failed miserably at cooking a batch of rice, something I used to nail. I even tried rinsing the long-grain rice before cooking it, a step everyone claims is vital, but it made no difference. The resultant pot was a gooey blob of rice. Perhaps I just bought an inferior bag of rice? I think this weekend I’ll put that rice in a rice cooker, or my Instant Pot, and see what is produced.

My biggest issues these days are trying to be productive with my job, while I also attempt to “adult” by solving financial and logistical problems I never expected to encounter as recently as eight weeks ago. Wish me luck, I may need it.

Stay well.