Home Blogging

It’s like home schooling, but just not as creepy…

I guess that my body is still resisting the change to Daylight Saving Time as I slept in an hour longer than I normally do. Therefore I made an executive decision to make some coffee and write the blog before leaving the house for work. I am also hoping to miss the majority of the Friday morning commute because of this decision. Who knows, by the time I am done I might decide to take a vacation day — eh, probably not because it’s supposed to rain all day.

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

Both my body and my emotions were given to me and it is futile for me to condemn myself for feeling scared, insecure, selfish, or revengeful as it is for me to get mad at myself for the size of my feet. I am not responsible for my feelings, but for what I do with them.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

A Monumental Day
For the majority of you the following will produce no more than a “Eh, whatever.” My scheduled training run was a short three-miler last night so I decided to forgo the music I normally take with me. Including the time it took me to adjust the laces on my new shoes (each new pair goes through experimental tightening for comfort during the few handful of outings) and one short stop for the traffic light at Flat Shoals and Glenwood I ran my course in about 26:30.

26:30!

26:30 over three miles averages out to 8:50 per mile. I admit that by most runners standards this is “slow” but this is the first time I’ve sustained a sub-nine-minute per mile pace in ages. I will also admit that the last mile or so was an anaerobic, ugly huffing and puffing display of running but I could not have cared less. I set out to best nine-minute miles and I did. Besides, today is a rest day so I had to push myself harder than I normally would.

If I Hadn’t Been So Hungry
There would be a new section in the blog today called “Hey Paulie, What’s Cooking?” (look for it on my electronic newsstand in the future).

By the time I got back from my run and showered I was famished. Because I had to stop at Whole Paycheck to pick up the necessary ingredients for my red curry chicken on my way home from work, dinner was even later than it is normally.

The dish, which I served over a bed of jasmine rice and an amazing side of steamed green beans, was good but not stellar. I will have to tweak the recipe for my tastes however because the recipe was vague on some of the quantities (One can of coconut milk — great, don’t they know that there are varying sizes of cans of coconut milk? How about giving me a measurement?)

My kitchen was a mess and I was in no mood to fiddle about with taking photos while cooking, so there is no recorded proof of my efforts.

ITP Flickr Pic
The other night I took my camera to the Built To Spill show. I learned a lot that night, including that I need to shoot more because I am forgetting technique as well as how to change some of the camera’s settings, especially in the dark.

One of the interesting and pleasing discoveries was just how well the D300 handles high ISO shooting. The shot above was taken at ISO 2000 (!), yes 2000. As expected there is some grain in the shot, but not an appreciable amount. I’ll be processing the rest of the shoot this weekend and will see how the rest turned out.

Top Chef And Survivor Spoiler City — You Have Been Warned
Top Chef — Game On!
Top Chef has returned! W00t! On Wednesday night the season premiere aired.

Positives
– Two ITP chefs: welcome Richard (FauxHawk) Blais currently pimping his own place called Trail-Blais, and Nimma Something-or-other line-cook at Decatur’s Repast (although my inside sources tell me otherwise)
– Chicago: we’ve now seen pizza, is sausage making far behind?
– Anthony Bourdain: what more do I need to say?

Negatives
– Rocco DiSpirito: ugh can we shelve this guy already?
– No Gail Simmons: c’mon Bravo, I want to see one of Canada’s prettiest exports on each and every show!
– This product placement sponsored by…: fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck! I had just blocked out how much product whoring Bravo did and now I have to see and hear contestants use brand names like they are going out of style.

To spice up the viewing a group of us on the EAVBuzz have been assigned a chef through random selection and will be watching and commenting all season long. Me? I am getting in touch with my feminine side as Antonia.

Do these boots and frumpy dress make me look fat?

With the exception of the product placement I really enjoyed the episode. First off the contestants had to create a deep-dish pizza and Blais went and screwed some South Floridian asshat named Andrew right off the bat by using his pizza pan. Then in the elimination challenge Blais and Andrew went mano-a-mano and there was visible angst between them.

Remember how I said that there were two Atlanta chefs? Well thanks to Nimma’s poor efforts there is now just one. Nimma was told to pack up her damn knives and go, which is why I didn’t even bother to try and find out her last name today.

Survivor — Is That A Fake Immunity Idol In Your Pants, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?
Alternative choices for the titles could have been
– “Hey, Does This Look Infected To You?”
– “Crying? There’s No Crying In Survivor!”

I will preface my recap with the complaint that because of the time that I started watching tv last night I accidentally knew which tribe was at tribal council before I even started watching the episode. Dangen!

In last night’s episode we got to see Penner limp about like he had a massive boner, and then watch him be forced to leave the island because his leg was infected and the medical staff told him that he was in danger of complicating matters if he stayed. Poor Pennar, I knew ya and you actually deserved better — even if you did wear a stupid hat and sound like Alan Alda.

Later in the episode we got to see Jason shove a crudely-carved “Immunity” Idol down his pants with glee. When he returned from Exile Island he cagily stated that he thought that Ozzy had found the Immunity Idol — I can’t wait to see his face if he finds out just how right he was…

I was once again entertained by James. That man, he’s something else. Not only do I chuckle every time he speaks, I am amazed at his physical strength. His ability to keep the post erect (draw your own Freudian conclusions) in the elimination challenge was astonishing! I bet you that the people who invented that challenge were all sorts of pissed when they saw how James’ team pwned that challenge.

In the end the Chetster got what he has been deserving for weeks. However, this was the first time that I thought that the Fans should have taken out a stronger player in either the form of Ozzy (who never would have expected it) or in Cerie (please, do it soon so that if for no other reason I don’t have to see that family portrait t-shirt again).

What happens next week? I cannot remember the teasers.

Remember How I Was Complaining About Car Rental Prices?
It turns out that car rentals are still somewhat reasonable unless you are like me and want to rent a car in Denver.

This is a snippet from an email I received from either Hotwire or Priceline yesterday.

What the fuck? Seriously, why is the destination that I have chosen so much more expensive than all of the other western cities? It’s a good thing that I am not an internet conspiracy theorist or anything.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – okay with the way things are today
Current Music – listening to the “CBS Radio 3” podcast
Website Of The Day – While even my fastest pace may seem to be turtle-slow to some I don’t care. I identify with turtles so much that today I’ll send you to Sea Turtle (dot org).
Exercise (b)Log – running, 3 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage – 46 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work – My car
Monthly Marta Rides – 0

March Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride Marta no fewer than ten times (five round-trips)
3) Read at least one book

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]