Less Is More

Except when speaking of quantity of housework, of course. I spent some quality time doing work inside the house, but what I really should have been doing this weekend was spending quality time doing work outside the house. DANGEN!

This weekend will go down as the “I told you so” weekend if/when squirrels and/or rats inhabit my attic again this winter.

Somebody Has Not Been Working Out. Wanna Guess Who?
On Saturday I helped move some furniture, not much, and nothing really heavy. On Sunday my biceps were sore. Huh?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve become lazy and not seen the inside of a gym in years. Hell, I’ll also be the first to admit that I’ve not done a single pushup since I vowed to do some each day. But really? A couple of hours of not-so-heavy lifting and I’m sore? Wow. Just wow.

A Quest Returns!
On Sunday I spent some time rejiggering (technical term) my electronics setup in the man-cave. Gone is the XBOX360 whose hard drive bit the dust right after the last time I rejiggered and made it nearly impossible for thieves (see, I always knew that I’d be burgled) to get out of the bread racks. In its place I installed my new Roku box which will allow me to stream Netflix movies to my tv.

Well, the Roku box will let me stream Netflix movies once I rejigger my network configuration (apparently Roku didn’t build in the capability to configure their hardware using static IP addresses — FAIL), nor does my current DSL seem to provide fast enough downloading to watch movies. This failing of my DSL will finally cause me to make a switch to faster, lower-cost internet service that I’ve been trying to make for years.

ITP Flickr Pic
A quest fails! I’ve not used any of my cameras in days.

My Brain Was As Strong As My Biceps
Yesterday I joined some friends (not sure if Bill, Kathryn, or Chris read this blog) for a team trivia tournament at the Tin Roof Cantina (the last time I was in a Tin Roof Cantina was when they were located in Buckhead ten/eleven years ago and the night ended when my friend Jason got us kicked out by playing with their order-placement computer). I was brought in for my sports knowledge, but sadly my contribution was minimal.

The tournament was strangely run. There were four rounds containing five questions, the last of each round being a “bonus” question. The final question was a “single” question containing no fewer than fifteen parts, each worth four points. Huh? Essentially the final question completely obliterated the work accomplished during the four rounds. In my opinion this format is completely ridiculous! Needless to say, we didn’t win. In fact, we didn’t even come close. Too bad too, as the money being offered would have gone nicely toward some Christmas purchases.

RealiTV Update : The Amazing Race – This Race Is Costing Me
I’ve only successfully picked the correct team to be ousted just once, while ITP-Reader Stacy has been right once, and newcomer ITP-Reader Terri has correctly picked three times.

Five teams remained:

1. Team Jungle Fever Zebra (picked by me)
2. Team Brotherly Lovers (picked by Stacy)
3. Team Pinky and the Brain (picked by Terri)
4. Team Aryan
5. Team Globetrotters

The teams get ready to head to Estonia, but wouldn’t you know that they have to do so on a ferry which only leaves once a day thus allowing all teams to catch up again? The head to Estonia with a bunch of keys to enter building to become a “member” of “secret” society (seems to me that it’s not very “secret” when you put it on national television). Before they can join the Secret Society Pinky and the Brain have to perform their “Speed Hump” by finding and sitting in a “Spabus” for five minutes. Sitting in a spa for five minutes? What sort of penalty is that? All teams seem to have no problem with finding the candelabras, except for Pinky who was looking for “candle bras;” I guess sitting next to an Estonian “Bottle Blond” scrambled his brain some. With their “candle bras” they had to find a room which contained a piece of paper possessing a “secret” message. For most teams the message was a easy to decipher as finding a “secret society” in a foreign country.

From there the teams had to find some tower, and then either play mud volleyball or radish sling-shotting at a moose sign to drop a table full of cabbages (WHAT? Those crazy Estonians!) before running down a wooden walkway before finding Phil in the middle of a swamp. The only real action in the entire episode was watching the Globetrotters battle the Brotherly Lovers for position.

Team Aryan returned to the position in which they will finish this Amazing Race — first. Team Brotherly Lovers fought hard with Team Globetrotters to come in second and third. Team Zebra pulled in at fourth. And team Pinky and the Brain brought up the rear — again. The only difference this week for Team Pinky and the Brain is that they were not spared elimination as they were last week.

Does anyone feel, based on the challenges, that this race has been a little less “Amazing” as other seasons?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – good, not great, but good
Current Music – listening to the “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – The Sartorialist is an incredible blog filled with street portrait photography.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 4.5 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (5)
Vegetarian Days – 4, Carnivorous Days – 11
Marta Rides – 0

November Goals
– Not get fired from my job
– Restart work on house, actually making progress this time (note: not successful during August, September, or October)

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]