I Seemed To Have So Much More To Say Last Night

Last night was a late one. I returned home around 12:30am and while I fell asleep nearly immediately, I was groggy this morning when my alarm sounded. I was so groggy in fact that I went immediately back to sleep and slept for another hour.

Praise For A Job Well Done
Yesterday A Better Gutter Cleaning had a cancellation so they were able to come over and clean out my gutters. (And it’s supposed to rain today. Good timing.) I had also asked them to quote me a price for fixing the damage on my gutters and was dismayed to hear that they wanted $325 to do so — Little Willy, is this something we could discuss?

I have to give credit where credit is due. When I arrived home I could barely tell that they had been there. This is not to say that they did a crappy job cleaning my gutters and cleaning off my roof, but rather that they did such a great job cleaning the debris which was taken from the gutters and roof.

The cost to have them come out and clean the gutters and roof debris was $105. In days gone by I’d never have agreed to pay for this much for gutter cleaning, but now I realize how “important” my time is and how my fear of heights restricts my ability to do a decent gutter cleaning job.

Atlanta Was Rich With Good Music Last Night
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit played at Smith’s Olde Bar.
The XX played at Variety Playhouse.
I went to see Shearwater play at The EARL.

I arrived at The EARL a little after 10:00pm. Even though I was not going to do so I purchased a Miller High Life (I like slumming like a Hipster at The EARL) and realized that I was still too early. I was told that the first opening band had already performed, and as I stood there a two-piece guy/girl band called Wye Oak took the stage. They were an odd duo, she played guitar and sang, he played drums and keyboard at the same time! (right hand and feet played drums, left hand played keyboard to emulate a bass guitar). I really enjoyed Wye Oak’s set and was able to tell the guy this later (no handshake of course) later in the evening.

Shearwater took the stage around 11:00pm. They played a really decent set (although for me they may nave been upstaged by Wye Oak). Around the fourth song or so I needed a break from being blasted with music so I receded to the back of the room (not hard to do as the place was only half-full at best). As I stood there I noticed a small group of noticeably older people, some sporting full heads of white hair. Not minutes after I tweeted that I thought that there may be some Shearwater parents in attendance Shearwater’s lead singer, Jonathan Meiburg, mentioned that he was from the area (though his Wikipedia page states otherwise and that he had family in attendance. I thought that was kinda cool.

ITP Flickr Pic
I have nothing for you today.

I’ve come to the realization that my concert-shooting days may be in the past. I didn’t even think to bring my camera with me last night and was somewhat glad that I didn’t. There were no fewer than six people at the stage’s edge shooting, not all with fancy-pants DSLRs mind you. I don’t want to fight to get the same shot that all these other people are getting, that’s not my style (see also: Why I stopped going to the Atlanta Photography Guild’s meetups at Elliott Street Pub). Concerts, especially when I’m paying to attend them, are supposed to be enjoyable. If I have to work to take photos, then they are a lot less enjoyable for me.

RealiTV Update: Survivor – Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Admittedly I’ve only been half-attentive to this season’s “Heroes v. Villains” season. Truth be told, if this weren’t a “Heroes v. Villains” season I’d be paying no attention to Survivor at all.

By the time I got home from eating dinner and running errands it was 8:20pm. I decided that I should check the DVR to make sure that it was recording Survivor and was aghast to see that it was not. Had I set this DVR to actually record Survivor perhaps things would have been different.

Realizing that I had no recording underway I sat down to watch last night’s Survivor “real time” and the point at which I joined was just after Rob won immunity. I vaguely remembered that each team was going to have to send someone home, so how Rob (and Candace as I found out later) won seemed irrelevant.

In watching things go down at the Villains camp I realized that Parvati, Russell (who I’m liking much less this season), and someone else (Danielle) seemed to be against Rob’s alliance. Rob, always an intelligent RealiTV strategist, devised a brilliant plan to force a re-vote and force Russell to use the hidden immunity idol. Of course dumbfuck Tyson was outplayed by Russell, didn’t follow the plan, and was himself eliminated. To you dumbass I say Goooooood Daaaaaay. You cut your own damn throat and no, you are not still awesome.

The Heroes camp had far less gamesmanship occurring. Colby, merely a shell of the Colby that played back in Season 2, came to grips that it was his time to go and asked that the team just have a pleasant day until Tribal Council. But wait, James is still injured! But, James also has a beautiful, doe-eyed, sponsor in Amanda who, politely councils James on how to play well with others. Apparently in the end “love” doesn’t endure (at least when it comes to voting someone out) and James was booted.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay
Current Music – silence as I need to knock this out quickly
Website Of The Day – I’m thinking of taking photos of items in my basement and submitting them to Retro Thing.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 204 pounds
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 52

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~4 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 20
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (19)
Vegetarian Days – 3, Carnivorous Days – 21
Marta Rides – 0

March Goals
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
– Get the new LLC moving…

2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 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
– 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
– Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

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]