Things That Go D’Oh In The Night

Yesterday was a long day, one that seemingly tired me out in the afternoon. Driving home in the dark and misty rain also tired me. When I finally found the road on which Kat’s and Mango’s house stands I was feeling tired and increasingly anti-social. So when I couldn’t remember their address nor recognize their house in the dark I decided it best to quarantine myself with beer and the pumpernickel pretzels that I bought and wait for Top Chef. fwiw – The pumpernickel pretzels are “interesting” in a way that I doubt I’ll eat them straight up again, but could provide a clever twist as a “breading.”

RealiTV Update : Top Chef – Now This Is How To Cook
Top Chef is about halfway done, but if you believe the results as well as the clever editing being done the cheftestant cream is rising to the top. Two-thirds of the Atlanta cheftestants remain, but I think that Eli’s clock is ticking and about three weeks from departure (barring some catastrophic fuck up by one of the people who appear to be better than him).

Last night’s guest was Charlie Palmer who, according to one cheftestant “Invented American cooking”; funny he doesn’t appear that old.

For the elimination challenge the cheftestants go whole hog as they are required to pair a randomly selected portion of pork with a not-so-randomly selected Pinot Noir from a collection of Pinots that they tasted at Palmer’s Las Vegas restaurant. Once again Atlanta’s Kevin Gillespie takes victory. How could he not? He has a ginormous tattoo of a hog’s head on one of his forearms!

In the end Wishy Washy Ashy was told to pack up his knives. He was probably okay with this because other chefs had really incredible knives when compared to his.

Maybe I Can Be Inspired By Fellow Photogs?
Tonight is the monthly social meetup put on by Atlanta Photography Exhibit. Tonight’s meetup will be held at The Grange Public House (starting at 6pm) and is open to all. I’ll be there early, hopefully catching up with ITP-Reader Maigh as well as many others who I’ve not seen in some time. If you see me (I’ll be the one in the brown-striped Polo shirt, jeans, and sporting my hippie-like long hair and scruffy beard growth) please say hello.

I’m Becoming A Mountain Man, At Least For A Weekend
Dear Jeebus, what was I thinking when I agreed to go camping in Black Mountain, NC this weekend for LEAF? Look at the weather forecast for this weekend.

BRRRRRRR!

I guess that it will be alright once I remember where the hell I put my gloves, warm hats, and decide what jackets/hoodies I want to bring with me. I only wish that my winter beard had filled in by the time I encountered winter weather.

I am looking forward to the trip though. I’ll get to see ITP-Readers Lisa and Randy (and I assume their children) again; it’s been like nine days since I’ve seen them! With any luck I’ll run in to ITP-Reader Romanlily who is rumored to be making the trip up there. And I will have my camera gear ready for anything. My goal is to shoot one hundred photos over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday if for no other reason than to have material for this blog. 😉

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sad, need to figure a lot of shit out
Current Music – listening to a “This I Believe” podcast
Website Of The Day – Because of yesterday’s Website Of The Day I was informed about High Trek Adventure. It looks interesting too. Why the two are nine days apart I’ll never figure our though.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check, but wish that I had

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 8 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 3, Carnivorous Days – 11
Marta Rides – 0

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]