Well, I Must Be ‘Better’

Stepping the scale this morning took the digital dial all the way up to 200.8, a full three pounds more than Monday’s reading. My pants are once again a bit too snug so it’s time to start taking my desire to lose weight a little more seriously…. Goodbye hot chocolate. It was fun while it lasted. Ugh.

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

• Envying other people’s relationships is pointless. [Why don’t you tell me something I don’t know!]
• Give yourself time to adapt to change. [What if nothing changes?]
• Focus on what really matters to you. []
• Realize that complete satisfaction does not exist. [Wrong! I present to you the chewy, chocolate chip cookie.]
• Surround yourself with pleasant aromas. [Hahahaha!]

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.

Another Perfect Night Of Laundry
Even when I get my plumbing fixed I think I’ll keep up my new laundromat routine. Sure, it takes up about three hours of my week, but in trade it provides me the opportunity to do some reading and eat delicious Banh Mi sandwiches. That, my friend, is a fair trade indeed. About the only problem with the situation is that I get home around 8pm, have to spend another ten-to-fifteen minutes putting clothes away, and by the time I’m done rarely feel like doing much else. Maybe that’s more of a ‘me’ problem than a ‘laundromat’ problem. Hmmm.

ITP Flickr Pic
Just watch. One day I’m going to surprise everybody.

Catching Up With My Movies
I’m not a huge movie watcher, in fact I don’t think that I darkened the doors of a movie theater in 2009. However, I am a born-again Netflix devotee and plan to upgrade my internet connection at home (when have you heard that before) so that I can utilize my Roku box to its fullest. While remaining warm and toasty in bed the other day I managed to catch a couple of flicks that I’ve had on my hard drive.

If you know me well you know that the movies I watch fall in to one of three genres — comedy, animated, documentary.

Monsters vs. Aliens ticks two of those three as it is an animated comedy about Earth “monsters” being used to curtail the attack of aliens. Think “1950’s SciFi ‘B’ Movie” and you’ve got the right idea. While I really loved the storyline and most of the incredible computer-generated animation the one thing that really disturbed me for most of the movie was the lack of attention paid to the lip movements. This was the first time in a while that I was completely disappointed by how many times I noticed that the mouth movement bore no relationship to the words being spoken by the characters.

My Architect (A Son’s Journey) is a documentary about architect Louis I. Kahn, more specifically the attempt of his son Nathaniel to find out who Louis I. Kahn was. Louis Kahn passed away of a heart attack in New York City’s Penn Station in 1974. Nathaniel didn’t know much about his father as he was a bastard son of Kahn’s, who fathered children with three different women, only one of which he married. The movie is an interesting journey of life discovery and twentieth century architectural history.

I think tonight I’ll watch The Hangover to satisfy my need for a good, dumb comedy.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – a little perturbed with myself
Current Music – listening to a CBC Radio 3 podcast. It’s cold enough outside to make me believe that I’m in Canada.
Website Of The Day – I’m not very “zen” but I may have to start reading Zen Habits.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 201 pounds (looks like my body has remembered how to retain weight)

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 3 (3)
Vegetarian Days – 1, Carnivorous Days – 4
Marta Rides – 0

January Goals
– Not get fired from my job

2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (today’s weight was unknown, will start Monday)
– 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
– Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
– Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online
– Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]