Manitoba Here I Come!

I did it! I booked a flight from Atlanta, Georgia to Winnipeg, Manitoba via Chicago, Illinois (and back). Why? Why not!?!?! I figured that I best book the $226 flight while I could, and was at least partially right as some of the departure times were no longer available at the cheaper rate.

I’ll be going in late June, most likely attending the Canada Nash Hash, celebrating Canada Day in Canada (whatever that means), and returning on the day before our nation’s birthday. I am so excited about this. I now have five months to plan the rest of the trip.

Just look at this place…

…it’s made for me (at least in the Summer)! In fact the 101 is called “Perimeter Highway.” Brilliant! Perhaps I’ll even venture outside the perimeter Manitoba-style.

Remind you of any place?

Getting Fat For Safety
My original plan for dinner last night was to pick something up from the Perimeter Mall food court after finishing some business at the Apple store. I was then reminded through numerous Twitter tweets that last night was the “Dine Out for Safety” event initiated by Atlantans Together Against Crime.

Most people seemed to be talking about heading to restaurants near The Standard Bar the original scene of the crime. In my infinite wisdom I decided to head in the other direction and have dinner at Universal Joint. Unfortunately for me the day’s rain and chilly weather kept people off the U-Joint’s patio and the place was packed when I arrived. I am not the most patient person and since I had a full slate of activities which needed to be completed, I left.

My next idea was to eat closer to home. With news that The Glenwood‘s non-smoking section was now open I decided to give it a shot. I was not the only one with this plan either. Once again my plan was stymied and I decided to head home instead.

Oh well, I guess I get an ‘A’ for effort.

ITP Flickr Pic
This statue resides inside Oakland Cemetery.

I keep taking photos of it because I’ve yet to get one that I love.

Recent Wisdom
While cleaning up my car yesterday I realized that I had three fortune cookie fortunes in my car.

“An unexpected event will soon bring you fortune.” (Look out Canada!)
“A movie would be a great way to relax this weekend.” (Christ, that MPAA has seeped into all facets of brainwashing)
“An important word of advice may come from a child.” (Looks like I received the wrong cookie that day.)

As an aside, has anyone every heard of anyone winning lottery money based on the numbers printed on the backs of fortune cookies? I think for shits and giggles I am going to try this weekend with the numbers provided to me.

Top Chef : Look Who’s Watching
After my frustration with trying to locate dinner I looked upon
SPOILER ALERT!
The night started out (for me) watching last week’s “Restaurant Wars” episode. I had already been exposed to the winner and loser, but wanted to see the events which caused each.

For the current week’s episode we were pretending it was the Thursday before the Super Bowl.

This week’s [SPONSOR NAME] QuickFire Challenge was all about the oats. In a homage to Super Bowl betting each cheftestant picked a square to determine what they’d be pairing with their [SPONSOR NAME] Oats product. All in all the concoctions created looked edible, and in the end Stefan won a-gain. Instead of winning immunity Stefan won an “advantage” for the Elimination Challenge. But what would that challenge be?

Bring on the Past Season Top Chef Cheftestant “All Stars.” I immediately called Bullshit because not only were these not the best cheftestants from the previous four seasons I couldn’t even identify one or two of them! Each season five cheftestant went head-to-head with a previous season cheftestant cooking food loosely based on cities which have NFL teams. Stefan’s “advantage” was to pick his opponent as well as the city’s food. The scoring for the night’s event was also football-related — the standard judges’ vote was a touchdown (worth seven points), while the unknown judges’ vote was a field goal (worth three points). The season five cheftestants won in the end, but Stefan, Fabio, and Jeff were not individually victorious; uh oh I guess we knew who would be on the judges’ chopping block!

At Judges’ Table Carla, Jamie, Hosea, and Leah were brought in for a end zone victory dance. Much to my surprise Beeker, I mean Carla, won. And holy shit, she won two tickets for the actual Super Bowl! That’s a shitload better than Rocco DeSpirito’s crappy-ass cookbook.

Bring in the big losers for the night, Stefan, Fabio, and Jeff. It’s then I realized that one of these three would be booted — before Carla? before Leah? Wow! Fabio has one of the most heated cheftestant v. celebritard judge exchanges ever shown on Top Chef. I was certain hissa goosa wassa cooked. But no! Pretty Boy Jeff gets to go back to Dildo Beach and return to the land of the retired New Yorker.

If You Are A Hell’s Kitchen Fan
Tonight is the return of Hell’s Kitchen. W00t!

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – nervous
Current Music – Sirius/XM Channel 26, playing Moldy Peaches — “Anyone Else But You”
Website Of The Day – Recently I’ve been watching a lot of the short videos being put out by ZapRoot. Their environmental message is not for everyone, but I like it.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – stair climbing, six flights of stairs

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 29 (29)
Vegetarian Days – 5
Carnivorous Days – 23
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
– Complete all necessary work on the dining room (not going to lie, I picked an easy room first)
– Lose no fewer than two pounds
– Run no fewer than 50 miles
– Completely read Softbox Lighting Techniques for Professional Photographers, Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, and How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness

2009 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 190 pounds (today’s weight was 199.5 pounds)
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
РEarn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalape̱o Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C (iPhone development) and Ruby on Rails (Black Sheep web page concept)
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]