I was very tempted to put nothing but “This Space Left Blank Intentionally” into today’s blog. But, things weren’t quite that dire. However, no matter how I slice it 2008 was far from good and will never enter my “Favorite Years” list.
2008: The Good
Me, Myself, And I
There were a few decent moments in the year. I completed two three (the number of the count shall be three!) half-marathons, neither of which under my desired time, but completed nonetheless. And while it seems like ages ago, I completed three long bike rides (Cartersville, Wilson, Beautiful Backroads). Another highlight of the year was completing Mystery Mountain, perhaps the toughest course that this body has tackled in some time.
I didn’t die, and as far as I know I haven’t contracted any terminal illnesses (although living is a terminal illness and the jury’s still out on that whole pecan thing). That’s good, right? I still have my life-remaining physical ailments and am still trying to make positive changes on the mental side of the ledger.
ITP Flickr Pic
This is perhaps my favorite self-portrait of the year.
Taken at a coffee shot in southern Colorado, Cortez to be exact.
It’s All About You
Hey you, ITP-Reader (fill in your name here) — THANKS! According to the stats, at which I glance about once a month, approximately one hundred and twenty of you read this space daily. Of those people I probably know about a third of you in real life. I’m thinking of holding a blog party sometime in 2009.
InsideThePerimeter Passed The 1000 Post Mark
Go me!!!
This space started as a journal, written for me, most likely to be read only by me. As InsideThePerimeter passed its fourth anniversary I consider this space more of an open conversation with the globe.
For those of you that enjoy this blog, take solace in the notion that I have no intention of stopping any time soon.
For those of you that have suggestions for improvements, please leave a comment.
It’s A Car! It’s A Tent! It’s A Car! It’s A Tent! It’s A Both!
This year will go down as the year I learned that I could sleep comfortably in the Jackmobile. I lurve the Jackmobile. Why? Well, for one it’s paid off and I’ve not suffered a car payment in years. For another, it now provides nearly sound-proof shelter on short camp outs.
Oh iPhone, Where Have You Been All Of My Life?
My conversion to “Mac Fan Boy” completed this year with the purchase of an iPhone. This joins the, somewhat-more-problematic refurbished last-gen MacBook that I purchased a few months ago. Look for this trend to continue in 2009.
Colorado, A Great Place To Visit…
Without doubt my vacation to Colorado was the year’s highlight (even though a rock hit my rental car’s windshield, for which miraculously I was never charged).
The trip started with a photography workshop in Fort Collins, at which I met a handful of really nice people.
From Fort Collins I wandered the state really never knowing in which city I would wind up sleeping.
And the trip ended with this year’s Colorado Invihashional in the depressed town of Walsenburg
I drank my fair share of Fat Tire, which as it turns out was not as necessary as it has been in the past. 2008 marked the year that Fat Tire started to be sold in a state near enough to Atlanta to make a beer run. “B-EE-RR-U-N! Beer Run!”
A Made Bed Makes For A Content Mind
Look at this month’s stats! No, not the running/cycling/vegetarian, the bed making! I made my bed every day in December.
Debbie? What’s your score?
My Hobby Could Be A Little Closer To Paying For Itself
Last night I created a SmugMug account, a Pro account even. My plan is to move Jalapeño Beach from its own dedicated server to this account (and you’ll be able to reach it using Jalapeño Beach’s URL). From SmugMug I can create galleries, and sell prints if I so desire.
With some help I also believe that I will be creating an actual company with an actual balance sheet for my photography. I have no intention of making this my career, but I do want to take it to another level.
It’s Great To Be A Florida Gator!
The East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads sucked ass.
The New York Jets were eliminated from the playoffs.
On January 8, 2009 the Florida Gators will be playing for the National Championship in football.
Drinkmas Was A Good Way To End The Year
This photo best summarizes the chaos that was Drinkmas.
(have I mentioned that I now own the domain www.drinkmas.com?)
And The Best Thing About 2008?
It’s almost over. Unless you don’t read this before midnight tonight in which case it is over!
Have a safe New Year’s everyone! There will be a very entertaining blog entry tomorrow, my annual resolution post.
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – good
Current Music – listening to the Mac Geek Gab podcast
Website Of The Day – Counting down until the end of the year.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 31 (31)
Vegetarian Days – 13
Carnivorous Days – 17
Marta Rides – 0
Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4
December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Happy New Year Paulie! Thanks for all the entertainment throughout the year 🙂
See you at Cheddarhead 2009.
Glad we all made it thru the year….. and are you ready for bowling tomorrow? Allan & I were going to get bowling balls for each other this year, but it never happened. I’m sure after tomorrow, the discussion will start again. But, if you have your own ball & shoes, does that mean if you don’t get to 100 you are a poser?
psst…didn’t you complete 3 half marathons???
I should start doing my bowling stretches today. Dear Jeebus I hope I still fit into my hash bowling shirt…
Three? I remember ING and [sponsor name redacted] Atlanta. What’s the third? Oh wait, I completely forgot about Twisted Ankle!!! How could I forget the only one that I ran faster than you ZING! (and it will most likely be the only time that happens ZING BACK AT ME!)
I guess the blog is going to remind me of my life when the Parkinson’s Disease sets in completely. 🙁
No worries, I’ll be waiting for you at the finish line next year. Well you ‘should’ be able to finish ING faster than me this year… 😉
Ah, but I’ve made no commitment to doing the 2009 Twisted Ankle. The times they are a changing. Further, I’m officially not running ING as I refuse to pay their price and don’t need any more shirts. You will get the opportunity to have a few beers at the end of Red Top Rumble before I am done, however. 😉
DAMMIT, I just remembered that I need to send in my GUTS renewal… (and I just found out that GUTS’ website is blocked at work)
When did we start the bedmaking challenge? Whenever it was, I’ve missed one day since then. It is now thoroughly a habit to make the bed as soon as I get up and I really, really like having a made bed, so thanks for the incentive!!
Happy New Year Paulie and all ITP readers!
My frail memory can’t remember when it started, so I’ll guess May/June. Only one day? That’s fantastic! I missed about a week’s worth, excluding the many days that I didn’t sleep in my own bed….. because I was traveling for work.
Okay, I went back and looked. (I love your archives by the way, so easy to find whatever.) We’ve been making our beds since the first of April, so 3/4s of ’08 were good on the bed making front. Does that turn the tide on your overall assessment of the year? 😉 not so much, eh
Love the Drinkmas photo!
hey- here is a question that we need to have a survey –
A friend sent this out – she was watching some TV show called Manswers on Spike (I’ve never heard of it, but I guess that doesn’t really matter)
The question was “how do you tell if that chick is really a dude?”
the answer “a chicks ring finger is shorter than her index finger. a dude’s ring finger is longer than his index finger”.
Does everyone that reads here agree with that statement?
Mine are basically the same length, but the 2 guys here in the office their ring finger is definately longer.
@Barb, well I’m only looking at my ‘chick fingers’ and my index finger about 1/4″ longer than my ring finger.
@Paulie, you have a TA steak you can’t break it…and just think about how easy camping will be in the Jackmobile! As for ING I guess next time I need to type ZING…
@Debbie, I like that photo also. Paulie can take a good picture, even of me. Plus Nibbles is so darn cute, even when she is within centimeters of frech kissing me, yuck! She seemed to have suffered no ill-effect from the earlier mauling.
Mine are pretty close to the same length. Maybe my ring finger is slightly longer my a millimeter.
As far as bed making, it is very nice to come home to a made bed every day. As for missing only one day, I think we might have taken a mulligan or two.
I know there are only professional drinkers that read this blog, so I don’t need to remind you of all the amatures tonight, so be careful if you will be on the road.
-FP
Did you miss some days when I was traveling? Way to out yoursself! My ring finger and my index finger are the same lenght.
Thanks Steve, I’m thinking about staying home tonight. Tom made plans before we started seeing each other and between Cheddarhead, your Bday, the Pub Crawl and last night’s game I think I have enough opprotunities for drinking/partying/socializing this weekend.
Plus I have two Dr.Who DVDs that should be showing up today (martha = geek)
My bed gets made once a week, when I change the sheets…that’s it!
How can I tell it’s a man? If the person has a penis or an Adam’s Apple — it’s a man. As for fingers, my ring fingers are slightly longer than my index fingers.
I’m staying in tonight. It’s going to be me, alcohol (I’m thinking wine) and the Drapers (that’s a “Mad Men” reference). I’m trying to finish watching season one so I can find season two somewhere and watch it — the entirety of season two was on the dvr that I was forced to return.
Oh, and the only thing better than coming home to a made bed would be coming home to one that has my dream girl in it.
Well Paulie, if you need a SciFi fix let me know. I’m thinking gyros, ice cream and chicken wings for dinner…yeap I’m just going to pig out and start fresh, ummm maybe Monday.
@Martha
I’m surprised you aren’t running at least a 5K at midnight tonight.
http://www.fleetfeetwinston-salem.com/ (bottom of the page)
There’s still time though, maybe you could organise your own charge through the ‘hood avoiding stray bullets and checking out the local festive lights?
Happy last day of 2008! We are flying home from Orlando this afternoon so no plans of going out tonight (plus Laura cannot stay up later than 8:30). Having an 8 month old out at a bar at midnight just doesn’t look too good either.
I’m glad you are doing your bowling stretches because I’m looking forward to Chedderhead and kicking your and Randy’s asses!
Let the smack talking begin!!
Peace out
Flying back tonight…. nice built in excuse. BRING IT! 😉