Actually I supposed I should be saying “Surf’s Down!”
Today was the first day that I felt like a long-haired surfer dude as I woke and checked the day’s weather forecast. “BITCHIN’ It’s not supposed to rain today!” I exclaimed as I waggled out of bed and headed down to the basement to get my bicycle. The surfer analogy breaks down when, instead of eschewing work, I placed the Red Rocket on top of the Jackmobile for riding later.
It’s supposed to rain again tomorrow — I think that will be a better night to do laundry.
Sometime You Have To Satisfy A Craving
Last night I headed out from work to find brilliant sunshine. I had two options
- Rush home and try to wedge in a bike ride.
- Take a leisurely drive home and get dinner along the way.
When I found that Peachtree-Dunwoody was closed at the Nancy Creek bridge, thus forcing me to turn around and seek a different path home, I decided that option number two was going to win out.
The first plan was to try a new (to me?) restaurant called DBA Barbecue on Highland up by Amsterdam. I had read recently that DBA does smoked chicken wings and I wanted to give them a shot. I don’t know if I feared traffic, or more road closures, but I quickly found myself back on my normal route home so DBA Barbecue seemed less likely to happen.
With the thoughts of smoked chicken wings still lingering in my head I decided to head to Fox Bros BBQ. Wow, was I ever glad that I did! My dinner consisting of six smoked chicken wings, a half-order of a Lopez, all washed down with a New Belgium Hoptoberfest was just what the doctor ordered (as long as that doctor is not a cardiologist).
ITP Flickr Pic
Dude! A photo!
This was a pancake breakfast made for us by our Senior VP yesterday.
RealiTV Update : Hell’s Kitchen, Twice As Nice
Last night I enjoyed a Hell’s Kitchen double header over at ITP-Reader Betsy’s house. Since my belly was already filled with Fox Bros BBQ I just dragged over a bottle of red wine for the two-hour extravaganza.
I’m not going to say that either episode of Hell’s Kitchen was groundbreaking, in fact, I’ll say just the opposite. The show really has become a dead horse and with each cringe makes me appreciate Top Chef that much more.
Hell’s Kitchen is now down to a single team comprised of six cooks. In two month’s time we’ll know who this season’s “winner” is, and by the following week I will most likely have forgotten.
2009 : The Last One Hundred Days
According to musician and life coach Christine Kane
Today is the 100 day countdown for 2009! Take some time to re-commit to your dreams.
Wow, only one hundred days left? Sadly as I scan my goals for 2009 I see that I will probably not be able to accomplish them by year’s end.
That being said, I am not ready to give up on this year yet! What we do for the next one hundred days will be a foundation for what we can accomplish in 2010. You are starting to plan for 2010, right? I know that I am…
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – I feel like riding. I wonder where I will?
Current Music – listening to the latest “FLOSS Weekly” podcast
Website Of The Day – Cold weather is right around the corner and you may be possessed to purchase a Snuggie. If so, you probably want to study up on the Snuggie Sutra to prepare for those cold nights with your Snuggie-wearing partner.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 136.7 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 3 (10)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 21
Marta Rides – 0
September Goals
– Not get fired from my job
– Take at least one photo every day
– Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August)
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]
Sorry to hear that Cathy’s (4-Inch) Dad passed away this morning.
Basement is dry this morning….might be able to get the grass the cut tonight.
Aw, I had heard he’d taken a turn for the worse but had not heard of his passing. My condolences to Cathy and her family.
My basement had one slightly damp spot last night but I don’t think it’s anything about which I’m going to fret. As my bicycle-toting car indicates I have no plans on being a responsible adult tonight. My grass will grow, grow more when it rains again, and will be cut (hopefully for the last time this year) sometime next week.
I’m hoping for a bike ride tonight as well, Allan is not working, so he is planning to ride during the day, hopefully he isn’t too tired. Azalea road by the Chattahoochee in Roswell is still closed as of this morning, so I’m thinking the Roswell loop is out. Maybe I’ll ride over to Kennesaw Mtn – I could use a climb before this weekend. (I wonder if any of those roads to get there might be closed too.) Hmmmmm.
My condolences to Cathy and her family too.
I wanted to ride tonight as well but with all the roads closed due to flooding, the roads that are open will be jam packed with cars. Maybe I’ll just start the tapering for this weekend early and just cut the lawn tonight.
Paulie, I congratulate you on your dedication to riding. Hopefully the rain will stay away tonight and you can get your fix. I managed to do 40 minutes of walk/run yesterday and finally remembered about halfway through that my lack of energy might be because I’m on a low carb diet. Talk about the tank being empty!
I was basically off the air yesterday while I “supervised” the installation of the new hot water heater at JEFDSDR. 1 little Rinnai continous flow device will replace 2 leaking 60 gallon units. We might have to put it to the test soon and pile everybody in the shower at once. Woo Hoo!
-FP
Steve, hot water = good. How’s the rest of the Day Spa doing after the double lightning strike weekend?
The second strike, while close, was not a direct hit as we first through. I can’t see that we had as much sudden downpour as you experienced on the Wilson weekend, just more over a longer period. I dumped 5 inches out of the rain guage yesterday, which I think is all from Monday. Except for Lu Lu sporting a nasty bite from one of the neighbors, all equine and canine are well.
A group shower…woohoo…..
The roads to get to Kennesaw Mtn are open….however, the visitor center and parking lot were closed yesterday. Kennesaw Ave is kind of a mess with construction, etc.
Those pancakes look reaaaallly good…..
Steve – we want one of those tankless water heaters, but ours has to break before we spend the money. I’ve heard so many awesome things about it.
Our Rinnai has been fantastic. We replaced our old hot water heater when we put on the addition. The fact that you never run out of hot water is such a good feeling when you have guests.
Paulie, any review available for the Hoptoberfest? I haven’t happened across it yet, but will be looking this weekend.
Randy – if you like hoppy beers, I hear it is very good. (Allan has had some too). I don’t like it, but I don’t like hoppy beers, so that isn’t surprising.
I like hoppy beers! I love me some Hoptoberfest! It’s one of those beers that you can’t drink a lot of because it’s so thick but damn is it tasty.
I like the Hoptoberfest well enough, although it’s not something I’ll grab often (which means the six pack in my refrigerator should last a while). It’s hoppy, and I think it’s a pretty crisp beer — something that should be able to make it drinkable on its own or served up with food. It managed to hold its own against the strong bbq I ate last night.
Steve, my running has suffered as well, and it isn’t because of any low-carb diet. I just can’t shake whatever it is I brought back from Hartwell. I tried 4 last night, I made it back home but it wasn’t pretty.
Barb, I’m with you. I’d love a tankless water heater (at least something not sitting in a hole in the crawl space) but the one I have needs to break first. Might not be too long.
Tonight, I’m going to try to get the water heater lit and go for a run. I will not be drinking any Sweetwater 420 after.
Martha, come and join us at Georges for a slow 4 and I promise I won’t buy you any 420.
And this water heater… ain’t no lightweight investment. Relighting the WH isn’t a problem- turn it to “light”, light the pilot, hold the button down for a good 15 seconds so the thermocouple heats up and will keep the gas flowing after you stop pushing the button.
-FP
This is the year to put in a tankless if you are considering it as there is a 30% tax credit. Details here: http://energystar.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/energystar.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5703
As Steve said they are not a small investment, but in our case we had 120 gallons of hot water sitting in the attic where a leak would have caused far more expense in damages if (when) one burst.
My running hasn’t suffered at all. 😉 Although my exercise plan did take a hit when lightning killed our Wii.
Oops, correction, the tax credit is good through the end of 2010.
Thanks for the offer Steve. Someone (not sure who just yet) coming to help with the WH (my problem is actually finding where to light it at) and my general pissy mood will keep me around the house tonight.
Debbie – since we got new windows in 2009, I don’t think I can get the water heater credit too. So, it beter not break in 2009.
My running hasn’t suffered either, and we didn’t lose power (& I don’t even have a Wii), so I can’t use that excuse. I’m just lazy.
Debbie (& everyone) – did you want the season premiere of Castle? I really like that show – Nathan Fillion is way too cool.
Martha – I’d be pissy too if I had to get into the crawl space to get the water heater lit.
BTW – any of you potential (or current) wheelhoppers – looks like the Ellijay ride has now been rescheduled for Nov. 21st weekend – (I feel so powerful when I tell people we can’t go, they change the date. Well, maybe it is because we are beer meister, and no one else wants that job, but still…..) Anyway – cool place we are staying saturday night is http://www.mulberrygap.com
Even if you don’t ride, you can come up & hike, or just hang out – & join us for dinner, hot tubbing, campfire & breakfast. It is also a dog friendly place.
I’d be pissy too if I had to do that to get my hot water heater lit.
Or what about having to potentially pay someone thousands of dollars to repair one sewer pipe that drains water from your kitchen and washing machine? You want to talk about pissers…
We did watch Castle – I love that show and Nathan Fillion, very funny. The season premiere of House was good, too. I’m way too excited about the return of new tv.
You can get a total tax credit of up to $1,500, so a combo of energy saving upgrades could be combined for up to $5,000 in total expense. I’m with you though, we wouldn’t have do anything if ours hadn’t been leaking – hate to spend that much money on anything other than horse/bike or vacation. 🙂
I’m sorry you are in a pissy mood Martha. The dancing baby video on your FB gave me the giggles, so hope it helps lift your mood a little.
The water heater is no big deal, I don’t actually have to crawl in that section of my crawl space. I will have to get down (or whoever actually lights it) on the dirt floor but, that’s nothing.
I think the pissy mood is a combination of the weather, being sick, not running and the weekend.
The campout sounds fun but, well, you know what I’m dealing with when it comes to that.
Have Jerry check out the website – I think it is very much “camping lite”.
they have bunkhouses too. Maybe if he does something like that, it will ease him into real camping.
Go camping alone. This way when Jerry wants you to hang out and watch football at the Midway all day you can just remind him about not wanting to camp.
No, I’m not going to risk another crappy weekend. Plus there’s no tv (meaning no football)…
I’ll already be camping alone one weekend in November for the FDR Campout.