It Was The Return Of Meatless Monday

It wasn’t very easy, but I did it. Breakfast (a power bar) and lunch (a vegetarian burrito from Willy’s Mexicana Grill) were easy; dinner was difficult. I wound up leaving the office around 7:30pm and stopped at Kroger on my way home. Unlike at lunch time when I ate just before going into Publix, I was really hungry entering Kroger — mistake… I fought hard not to buy everything in the store, and nothing vegetarian was looking appetizing when compared to their meaty counterparts. Dinner wound up consisting of apple cider, bread, and butter — not exactly “nutritious,” but exactly “vegetarian.”

Five Of The One Hundred Simple Secrets Of Happy People
I am currently, and deliberately slowly, reading a super-easy read called The 100 Simple Secrets Of Happy People. Each morning I read three of these “secrets.” (Remember when I mentioned exercising my mind?)

Here are five “secrets” on which you can ponder

• Believe in yourself
• Don’t believe in yourself too much
• Don’t face your problems alone
• Age is not to be feared
• Develop a household routine

You may find this hard to believe, but I’m trying to live my life under the concept that it’s the only one I’ll ever have so I better enjoy it.

It’s An Expensive Toy, But Man Do I Love My iPhone!
I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to figure this out, but the iPhone is an incredible streaming media device. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Christmas music via Pandora as well as streaming some music from one of my favorite radio stations KEXP in Seattle.

I’m not just listening to these when I have WiFi access, but have also started listening to them using AT&T‘s 3G network while traveling in my car.

ITP Flickr Pic
This morning I uploaded a few more shots from the photostroll I took two weekends ago.

This was a pretty flower growing in the remnants of a knocked down house.

It’s More Than A Bank, It’s A Post Office Of Sorts Too!
Yesterday I was supposed to buy stamps. I knew that I was headed to Publix at lunch so I assumed that I would pick some up there since that’s one of the services that Publix offers. But I completely forgot.

My next stop was to swing by Wachovia to extract some of the millions in cash I keep there, when what did I see on the ATM screen? The ability to buy stamps! I had also forgotten that Wachovia (and I assume other banks) have started offering stamps at some of their ATMs. Of course I could have always stopped into the Post Office at Sage Hill when I stopped at that Kroger last night too — but that wouldn’t have been nearly as cool.

It’s Hard To Explain Buying Twenty-Five Pounds Of Flour
With a new bread machine and a scheduled haring on Saturday (oh, have I yet to mention that I’m laying the Pine Lake hash this Saturday?) I purchased twenty-five pounds of flour at Publix yesterday.

While not all of bags were All-Purpose flour it was a little hard to answer the cashier when she asked “What’cha making?” Since I was in no mood to explain that at least ten of those pounds were to be used marking a trail for people to follow so that they may drink beer, I replied “It’s bread making season.” and gave her a wry smile (See what I did there?!?! Rye is a type bread, so I gave her a “wry” smile…). She then stumped me momentarily when she followed up with “Oh, what type of bread are you making?” I had no idea of course, so I lied. “I’m going to make some country white. The whole wheat flour is there in case I get inspired and want to make more.” Sounds plausible, no?

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, harried, confused
Current Music – listening to the “Daily Giz Wiz” podcast
Website Of The Day – For a person who works in the satellite tv field I sure give you a lot of alternatives to television — like Snag Films, which allows you to watch some interesting documentaries for free online.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 8 (8)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 6
Marta Rides – 0

December Goals
– Not get fired from my job

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]