Thirty Years As A “Southerner”

As this is the last day of June I am certain that I’ve been in the south for thirty years. I don’t remember the exact date, but I know for sure that in June of 1978 my family uprooted from New York and moved to Florida. I always wonder what I would have become had we remained in New York. Even in Florida college was an afterthought, in New York it was unheard of for any member of my family.

For any parents in the ITP Readership let me tell you one thing… moving a child a month or so prior to his or her hitting puberty is really a bad idea. I know; it happened to me.

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

When I say “you should,” I avoid committing myself. I am referring you to some supposedly objective standard and saying the circumstances or decency or what-have-you dictates that you do this, while I pretend to stay out of it.

To all who have helped me — Thanks.

Fifty-Five Miles Is Nothing
Especially since the ride was only fifty-three miles.

On Saturday the weather gods smiled upon those of us who chose to punish their bodies by placing them upon manually-powered, two-wheel vehicles. The ride was fantastic, and the repercussions (read “sore ass or legs”) minimal.

The course, which winds around Cartersville and its neighboring cities, consisted of rolling hills and good country roads. There were three rest stops along the fifty-three mile ride and we (Barb, Martha, Brad, Harold) stopped and relaxed at each. ITP-reader Sal also rode the course, but since she is such a good rider I never saw her on the course so I cannot comment on whether or not she partook in the rest stops. 🙂

In one small Georgia town called Kingston I once again noticed The DeSoto Hotel and wondered about its past as well as its availability. Apparently it has been around since Civil War days and was sold in 2007 for $150k with the knowledge that it would require a complete renovation.

With the ride I am left nine miles short of my June goal. Perhaps tonight I’ll go for a ride. Or perhaps not…

The End Of An Amish Lineage
Amish Friendship Bread is no more in my household. I wasn’t trying to kill it off, but accidents and mishaps made it happen. On Saturday I noticed that the containers for one of my starters had failed to contain its contents and that the counter was covered with starter.

I still had one other starter and the desire to continue the lineage through baking. I whipped in ingredients, split the starters, added dry ingredients, and got prepared to bake. I sat down to peruse the instruction for cooking directions only to be horrified to see I added the wrong ingredients to the starter. Therefore, the three generated starters had to be trashed, and the resulting “breads” would be questionable. The baked goods weren’t horrible, but they were nothing that I’d ever serve to anyone else.

I am not too dismayed to know that there is not another started in my house awaiting cooking. If you scroll down to the bottom of today’s post you will see that my weigh-in wasn’t the thing that pleased me most this morning. 🙁 I’m sure that beer and too much food consumed are as responsible for my weight gain, but if I have to give up something….

ITP Flickr Pic
I finally got around to processing some of the shots I took last Tuesday.

This was one of the models waiting for the photogs to get their shit together.

Make My TV An AppleTV
This weekend I reconfigured by media center so that I could add in my new AppleTV. Afer a little head-banging I got everything up and running. I have to admit, it seems pretty cool even though I think that it will cost me some money in the long run.

Almost immediately I identified two television series that I wanted to purchase — The Henry Rollins Show on the Independent Film Channel, and Start-Up Junkies on Mojo HD. Perhaps I’ll have to look to see if these are also available on that awesome satellite television broadcaster for which I work, or on Netflix.

My Oh My, What A Big Hard Drive You Have!
As part of my “Spend Everything I Have In 2008 Campaign” I purchased two new 750GB hard drives on Friday. These new hard drives will also be part of the “Move All Data In 2008” plan which gets underway upon their arrival. Yippee!! What could possibly go wrong?

The drives purchased are Samsung SATA drives — don’t tell me anything bad about these and spoil their luster even before they arrive. These will be the first SATA drives in my arsenal which also means that I will have to purchase new enclosures to house them. I would have purchased some Macally USB/FireWire enclosures along with the drives had they been in stock, but they were not; so begins the research phase to find acceptable substitutions.

RealiTV Update: The Next Food Network Star
When it comes to becoming The Next Food Network Star looks aren’t everything. In fact, some may say that confidence is more important than appearance. Someone should have mentioned this to Jen. For weeks we’ve watched the attractive MILF appear too unsure and constantly undermine her own presentations and food. Last night was her last straw.

In the Reward Challenge the cooks where presented with a basket of six items and asked to prepare a dish from the items. They would then have ninety seconds to describe a dish on camera. What they didn’t realize was that they dish they would be describing would not be the one they prepared but rather one prepared by another contestant. It was almost painful to watch Aaron and Jen struggle to identify and describe the dishes placed in front of them. Of the contestants Shane was the clear winner.

In the Elimination Challenge the six contestants were paired up and were told to reinvent a classic, slow-cooked meal, in only forty-five minutes. Shane, who was declared the winner of the Reward Challenge got to select his dish and then assign the others to the other pairs. Shane chose Beef Wellington for himself and Kelsey while assigning Coque Au Vin to Adam and Aaron, and Turducken to Lisa and Jen. By and large the attempts look okay, although Jen did neither herself nor her team any favors by accidentally smashing a bottle of apricot juice all over the hot plate thus forcing her to throw out her entire side dish. Still questioning why Jen was eliminated last night? Shane and Kelsey were declared the winners, and Lisa was given a pass because she was hampered by Jen. Aaron and Adam made it through only because Jen was still around — they will be the next two to depart.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing My Morning Jacket — “Librarian”
Website Of The Day – There are only three things I dislike about Bacon Freak — 1) the URL is a landing page the must be clicked; 2) There is audio on the home page; 3) I didn’t think of it. “Bacon ’08!” “Bacon Is The New Black”
Exercise (b)Log – Saturday: cycling, 53 miles
Monthly Foot Mileage – 22.75 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage – 91 miles
Monday Morning Weigh-In – 198 pounds (ugh!)
Mode Of Transportation To Work – My car

Monthly Marta Rides – 22
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 89 (89)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

June Goals
1) Run no fewer than 75 miles
2) Ride no fewer than 100 road miles
3) Ride Marta no fewer than twenty times (ten round-trips)
4) Read at least one book
5) Make my bed every day
6) Eat out at a bar/restaurant no more than twice in one week

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]