Pressing ‘Reset’

Oh hello there! I was just sitting here wondering what it would be like to write a blog entry again that doesn’t whine about suffering from the flu. I’m probably at 97% recovery (+/- 2%) so I thought that I’d give it a shot. But don’t go expecting any photos today, I’m recovered but I’m not that recovered yet.

Welcome to a new month. Welcome to the final quarter of 2009. I, for one, will be happy to see this year find its way into the history books.

As for October’s goals? Well, since I did such a horrible job in September I’m merely going to roll them over to October.

Somewhat Back Amongst The Living
Last night I actually felt well enough to do something after work other than go home and sleep. What a concept! It had been a while since I joined one of my trivia-playing groups and as it turned out on this night they were playing at Matador Cantina in Glenwood Park. (It will probably be the last time they play there as well. Unbeknown to them Matador Cantina changed trivia companies without any notification. Since they are trying to get into the top twenty-five of their league to gain entry into a cash-paying tournament playing at a Team Trivia-hosted location does them no good.)

I’d not previously visited Matador as my little corner of the world is overrun with Mexican restaurants — even with the recent closing of Cantina La Casita. But on this occasion I was interested to give the place a shot and play some trivia.

The food and beverage selection were fair. I ordered Pollo Fundido, which was reasonable but far from spectacular. The dish consisted of a chicken breast, pounded thinly and pan seared, covered with queso, and served with flour tortillas, rice, and refried beans. With the meal I had two Fat Tires, each costing $4. I am glad to see that Fat Tire is starting to lose some of its “boutique” status in this town and getting priced in the same ballpark as its peers.

Trivia? Oh, we won even though we botched the final questions.

According to SoundScan, who is the best selling US stand-up comedian of all time?
Answer is a the bottom of this post…

ID For Me
For the longest time I’ve considered getting a Road ID for myself. I’ve always considered the concept to be sound, but the pricing ($20) and the lack of a local “In Case of Emergency” contact to place on the ID made me hesitant. I figured that I could always run (then) or ride (now) with my driver’s license and that would suffice.

When reading an article the other day about a girl who was the victim of a hit-and-run accident while out running without an identification (thankfully, perhaps, they were able to identify her through the serial number of her iPod — I’m not sure I want Apple divulging this information though) I started reconsidering the purchase of a Road ID.

When I logged on to Road ID’s website I was pleased to see they now offer a Road ID “Interactive” model which, for the cost of $10 a year, allows me to keep an up-to-date profile online. This profile can contain personal information, a photo, medical history, as well as names and phone numbers of emergency contacts. In case of emergency the Road ID displays my name as well as a PIN number that a medical responder can use to acquire my information by contacting Road ID. I’m okay with providing this information online, I (perhaps naïvely) assume that Road ID has all its security ducks in a row, as it allows me to alter the information as it changes without having to repurchase a new Road ID each time.

I’m A Little Late, But I’m Starting My Mid-Life Crisis
I have had a very hard time deciding how I should perform my mid-life crisis. At 44 I figure I better start getting cracking! After all, what’s the likelihood that this body will make it to 88, never mind 90?

As the Mayor of Loserville I’ve successfully avoided Life’s normal trappings of getting married and having children, so I have none of those to abandon.

For the most part I’ve owned sporty(ish) vehicles, so the allure of the Corvette/Porsche, even though I probably could afford such beasts if I wanted to, doesn’t hold much thrill for me.

What to do? Baby steps. Baby steps.

Yesterday I decided to trade Jill in for a newer model. Most guys do this with living, breathing women, I do it with electronics.

I almost couldn’t help myself. I’ve been considering updating Jill’s three-year-old maps for some time and was close to purchasing Garmin‘s (finally reasonably priced) map update CD. But then yesterday Amazon had an offer on a newer, sexier model, already loaded with updated maps. Hmmmmm.

One of the problems I was reading about with performing map updates is that the map files have gotten larger (thanks to more streets and points of interest) and older GPS models have a hard time dealing with these files, if their memory capacity allows them to be loaded at all. So, I could either buy the map update and attempt to load it onto Jill or just bite the bullet and order the new model from the catalog. I’m a man, which would you expect me to do?

I’m sure I’ll miss old what’s-her-name, but can’t wait to start tooling around the country with my new gal.

I have a few other ideas knocking around my old noodle, but nothing even close to fruition so I’ll keep those tucked away and expose only as necessary.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – cautiously optimistic
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – I’ve been listening to the audiobook version of Younger Next Year. Targeted mostly for 50+ year-old men it is an eye-opening listen for the things I should be doing now for my health’s future.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check, didn’t want to ruin any possibility of a good start to a new month

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

September October 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]

Trivia answer: Jeff Foxworthy