Early Bird Gets The Worm And Another Work Assignment

I am writing this on Wednesday night (while I am watching Top Chef) and early Thursday morning. The reason for my preemptive strike is because I have been assigned another troubleshoot ride-along for work at 8am Thursday morning. So, depending on when you read this I very well may be in some stranger’s house.

Today’s will be real short. If you have a problem with this I suggest that you go back and re-read the supersized edition that I produced yesterday.

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

Maybe I’d better not talk any more, they may be tired of listening to me. But I am talking because I want to, because it’s doing something for me, not because it’s doing something for them. So the question is do I want to talk some more.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

I Expected Common Sense And Was Wrong
Last night I went over a friend’s place to watch Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. He lives in midtown and his address is 704 so I parked around 6th Street because I assumed that 704 would be between 7th and 8th. Not so in Atlanta… After beginning my walk from 6th toward 7th I realized that the house numbers were increasing as expected, but were already in the 800’s! WTF? I turned around and walked nearly three blocks where I finally located 704 nestled between 3rd and 4th Street. Oh Atlanta, how stupid thou can be.

ITP Flickr Pic
The other night I got to hang out with my great friend Maigh and shoot her friend Gwen.

As you can see here and in some of the other photos that I’ve posted to my Flickr Photostream it’s easy to take good shots when you’ve got good models.

RealiTV Update: Top Chef
Top Chef has reached its Final Four!!! After tonight they say good-bye to Chicago and hear toward Puerto Rico.

In the QuickFire Challenge the chefs are taken to a butcher shop so that they can hack up some meat into “tomahawk steaks” and then cook one of them to medium rare for the guest judge’s assessment. Spike has the advantage of coming from a heritage of meat choppers so it is not surprising that he wins. It is also not surprising that his QuickFire win haunts him, now that the contestants no longer win immunity. Also heard in this segment of the show is some really poor audio overdubbing done by Padma. Every once in a while programs attempt to overdub either to correct errors made in the initial shooting, or to add content, and it never ceases to amaze me how poorly it is done.

Next up is the Elimination Challenge. The chefs have to work a night in a steak house restaurant cooking for the guests — nothing like free promotions on Top Chef and a night of free service! The mystery judges for the evening are the winners of Top Chef 1-3 — Harold, Elan, and Hung. Look three men have won in the past, and of the five remaining in Season 4 only two are men; it’s nice to see Bravo stacking the deck. In this challenge Spike figuratively slits his own throat by playing it safe and choosing to redo “tomahawk steaks” and also by selecting frozen scallops. Unlike other RealiTV cooking shows (read “Hell’s Kitchen”) we see that cooking doesn’t have to be disastrous and things go fairly smoothly, with the exception of Spike and his frozen scallops. At the judges’ table we see Stephanie get chosen as the night’s winner (another win for her!) even though King Richard is told that his was the best appetizer and MILFy Antonia is told that hers was the best entree. I guess consistency matters most? I nearly do a spit-take as it appears that Stephanie only wins a book for her efforts, but then they tell her that she’s also won a MacDaddy new kitchen from the folks at GE who have been pimped more times this season than a 65-year-old hooker. Spike and Lisa were determined “worst” (no surprises there, eh?) and once again Lisa’s incredibly poor attitude disgusts me. Spike then figuratively slits his throat for the final time by calling out the restaurant owner for even having frozen scallops in his walk-in cooler! Dude, not smart… Guess who got booted?

So it’s off to Puerto Rico for the Three-and-a-half Chefs. I expect Lisa to get booted immediately leaving the competition left to the three — Stephanie, Richard, Antonia — who were head-and-shoulders (surprisingly no product placement here) better than the rest. Expect one of the women to win this competition because it has been a focal point of the season since Episode #1.

Okay Have To Run Or I’ll Be Late For Job
DANGEN!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – frustrated
Current Music – listening to Wednesday’s CNET Buzz Out Loud podcast
Website Of The Day – Have you been seeking a good resource for learning more about recycling light bulbs? Look no further than Lamp Recycle
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage – 25 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage – 25 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work – My car
Monthly Marta Rides – 13
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 59 (59)

May 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]