I Am A Bad Son
I knew it was coming, but I didn’t find out exactly when. I forgot the date and was ashamed to ask. And now I have found out that the date has passed. Monday was the tenth anniversary(?) of my father’s death. My desire was to do something nice for my mother, who still mourns his passing, to take her mind of of the date but I forgot. I spoke with my mother on the phone Monday night but the topic never arose, most likely because the news she told me about my aunt (who is one of her sisters). I feel like shit for forgetting, I feel like shit for not being a better son.
Cool Runnings
Ha! If I was committed to go running at 8:30pm last night (the earliest possible time for me to do so yesterday) than I should be committed to a mental institution. I wasn’t cool last night, it was MF’n cold, and really MF’n cold with the wind chill!
Instead I chose to ride the road to nowhere. I blew off a year’s worth of dust on my bike trainer and pumped up the tires on my bike (why do they go flat when not used?) and spun my heart out for a sweaty hour. It wasn’t my best indoor ride and it wasn’t my worst either. I need to get a different rear tire and make some adjustments to my rig in order to have a better ride. During my hour of spinning I watched the No Reservations episode where Anthony Bourdain visited Ireland, confirming my belief that I need to make a trip there one day, and then finished the hour flipping around Sirius for tunes. After reading about my Christmas escapades (or experiencing it if you were one of the Few and Proud) it should come as no surprise when I tell you I broke out into laughter when the first song I tuned into was a Scorpions tune.
Paulie – 1
Lazy Lifestyle – 0
ITP Flickr Pic
I need to shoot more…
Sometimes It’s The Simple Things In Life
The last two meals that I have prepared at home have been some of the simplest I have made recently and I must confess they have been absolutely delicious.
On Sunday night I indoor-grilled some chicken breasts and served it with homemade-mashed potatoes and steamed peas & carrots.
Last night I sautéed an onion and pepper and browned some ground beef and then added those to a jar of Prego Three Cheese pasta sauce. I poured the resulting concoction over some pasta and OMFG! The result had a depth of flavor that my “quick and easy” pasta dishes rarely do.
Best of all? I have leftovers to eat for lunch at work which will save me time, money and calories. I’m rather pleased about this…
No George’s Again
It’s not because it’s supposed to be bitterly cold again, although I admit that may have been my excuse if I didn’t have a better one. Instead I am again a participant in a meeting that starts at 5pm EST so I will be unable to get to George’s to run with the Cool Kids at 6pm. Do not fret, I’ll find an exercise alternative, and I might even follow my exercising with a beer tonight to simulate the George’s experience.
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Hold Steady — “Chips Ahoy!” (one day I will finally buy this CD)
Website Of The Day – Ever get stumped by an acronym or abbreviation and Googling the term proves to be of no help? Try the Acronym Finder to see if it’s defined there.
Training Target – still don’t know
Exercise (b)Log – bike riding on trainer, 1 hour
January Goals
1) Lose two pounds. (starting weight 205 lbs)
2) Run no fewer than fifty miles.
3) Do twenty push-ups and fifty sit-ups at least three times a week.
4) See Manchester Orchestra in concert. [FAILED]
5) Read two books.
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
there’s no one like you, paulie.
either that, or you rock me like a hurricane.
1) Come join me at Taco Mac this evening again after your meeting! All Tongues from CH3 is in town and Pumpt’kin’s coming too. You can watch me finally meet Beer #13 – woo! Bring on the t-shirt. Maybe Sunnie will be working again too; she was cute.
[Hey, all you ITP blog readers, y’all come out too!]
2) Our meals were scarily similar last night, though my pasta sauce also contained zuccini, shallots, mushrooms and cheese with meatless meatballs for P1 and meaty meaty ones for me. All over low carb pasta, of course. (Which, seriously? Not half bad.)
3) Finally and most importantly: you are not a bad son. Here’s my point: Do you think your Mom a bad mother? Because, of course, you lost your father just as much as she lost her husband. (Neither loss is worse than the other, just different, you know.) Should she feel like shit for not mentioning it to you either then? Of course not. And neither should you.
I totally understand: December was 10 years since my father passed too. It’s hard to grasp that some days, huh? I say don’t be too hard on yourself. If your Mom had needed it to come up, she would have brought it up. It may have even been that she needed it to be like a normal day. You never know.
Wow – I’m impressed, you got the trainer out & rode for an hour!!! Now that just makes me feel even more lazy that mine is somewhere in the basement. I will try to make this peer pressure and go find it, dust it off, and maybe even ride it.
Stacy: What time will you be at Taco Mac? If I can’t “find” the trainer, maybe I’ll come have a beer. I have to be in Sandy Springs to play Uno with some old ladies from 7:30-9:00.
Barb: Perfect! I’m going to head out right from work, so probably about 5:15 or so. Jack’s coming after his work at 5:30 and TOS (The Other Stacy) — I’m not sure, but maybe she’ll pipe in here today.
Paulie: You’ll be there by 5:15 too, right? =)
Wow Paulie, I’m impressed… I still can’t stay on my trainer for more than half an hour without my brains turning into peanut butter. Of course, I only have a radio and not a full A/V system to dull the pain.
Ask some of your hard core riding buddies if they have any Spinnerval DVD’s… no more mindless TV for you, mister. Those will make running 7 miles seem like a walk in the park.
-FP
Wow, I went to a doctor’s appointment and there was a flurry of activity!
@Betsy: Very well played! Unfortunately, you were very close but missed the song which was playing; it was the Scorpions power ballad “Still Loving You.” You were right however because there is no one like me, and anytime you need to be rocked like a hurricane just send me an email. btw- Wouldn’t that song made more sense if it was called “Rock You Like An Earthquake”? Just wondering.
@Stacy: I will see you and others at Taco Mac once my 5pm meeting adjourns. Woo Hoo. Hurray for #13!!!
@Barb & Steve: The trainer was option #2. I really wanted to go out for a run but when I went outside to check the temperature I changed my mind quickly. I like watching brain dead tv when I spin. It’s like a reward — “Okay Paulie you want to watch X? Well, in order to do so you need to ride while you watch it.” At least I am not crazy enough to try and hook up a generator to the a/v equipment. 🙂
Ach man, I want to start “work” on my passport, but can’t see braving traffic just for Taco Mac North… plus I want another go at Gears of War…. although given how shitty I played before, this may all be for the best!
Gentri, leave now traffic is light…
We’ll get together again soon for some Gears of War. It was blast playing cooperative. I played solo last night and while it was fun it was as fun as playing cooperative.
Friday 1/26 at Wind Wing Marietta a band called Mad Magritt is playing. They still think that big hair is in, and they play all 80s rock. I knew I would like them when the first song was a Poison song, followed by a the Scorpions. I’ll be there with a few friends if anyone wants to venture outside the perimeter. I live 5 minutes away, and have a guest room and a few couches…..
Paulie: you played solo without telling Phil? He’s going to kill you!
:shakes head, confused. You boys and your games….
Phil wasn’t on xbox live when I logged in, so I played solo.
I never thought the Scorpions would hold such a special place in my heart.
As for the cold, I was hoping I could avoid it by playing tennis tonight instead of last night, I don’t think my plan is going to work. Well hopefully the wind has died down since yesterday. Well wish me luck, I’ve some how made it to the quarter finals without playing one match in the playoffs…or picking up a racket in the last month.
Good luck Martha! I have a feeling that the weather might beat you tomight, however.
Martha, dear, that’s why you need to take a cue from us: beer good! tennis bad! 🙂