Instead of lamenting my failures.
A Somewhat Successful Weekend
On Friday night I was driving along Buford Highway when I received a phone call from ITP-Reader Betsy. She was in the Lee’s Bakery shopping center with our friend Lynette after picking up a keg of beer for a party they were having Saturday night, so I stopped to say hello. My timely meeting led to dinner with them, ITP-Reader Terri and her husband ITP-Reader Pat at The EARL.
The beer consumed Friday night led to a somewhat groggy morning on Saturday. When I arose Saturday morning I had a minor freak out because I refused to believe that it was Saturday and I was certain that I was going to be late for work. Once I realized my error I settled down and started a rather productive day:
- I had breakfast with some Flickr friends at The Majestic.
- I went to Intown Ace Hardware and purchased (rather expensive) respirator refills.
- I installed a new lock on my sliding glass door.
- I managed to replace the sillcock (spigot) on the rear of the house. Though all was not perfect as the water-cut off valve near that sillcock now has a small leak that I’m hoping will heal itself.
- I raked all leaves away from the house and sprayed the perimeter of the house with bug spray.
- I trimmed some branches off of trees making getting into the backyard a little easier and dragged those branches to the curb.
- I gathered a box of wood to take to Betsy’s for her party.
At 6:30pm I went over to Betsy’s to drop off the wood and a few bottles of wine before heading to get some dinner as a base for the drinking I planned to do at the party. Betsy was nice enough to share a couple of frozen pizzas as we watched yet another episode of “The F Word” and waited for others to arrive. My departure from the party at midnight did not set up a productive Sunday…
The weather forecast for Sunday was not good. I planned to use this gloom and doom to my benefit by staying indoors and doing some coding. I quickly realized that my intent was good, but my computer setup was not going to allow me to be as productive as I wanted to be. The hours spent downloading and installing software, in conjunction with the power nap I took mid-morning, set the stage for a rewarding, if not productive, day.
I’m Back To Making Lackluster Bread
Yesterday I fired up the bread machine with the notion of making a loaf of white bread. It’s been about a month since I had the proper bread flour, so I’d switched to making whole wheat bread. The loaf I created was visually unappealing, but tasted fantastic. In fact, that loaf of bread got me through a vegetarian day yesterday as I noshed on peanut butter sandwiches all day.
ITP Flickr Pic
Can you say Cookie Puss?
ITP-Reader Betsy managed to find Carvel in Atlanta (other than the one that I insisted was the only Carvel location) .
You Can Call Me Petty, I’ll Call Myself Pleased
One of the things I dislike about Twitter is the inability to temporarily mute someone you follow. If one of the people you follow starts ranting about politics, or spewing religious quotes, or whatever, your only recourse is to stop following them.
For months I’ve been following someone with whom I’ve been considering breaking up. We had been mutual Twitter followers for a while so I didn’t want to be discourteous by unfollowing her. Yesterday I launched Friend Or Follow and was thrilled to see that she stopped following me! Within a minute I returned the favor and unfollowed her.
RealiTV Update : The Amazing Race — Attention To Detail Takes A Holiday
What is it about The Amazing Race that causes people to lose whatever common sense they may have possessed?
Take Team Noun for instance. Not once but twice last night they failed to pay attention to detail and it should have been their demise. But noooooo, it was a non-elimination leg and they were spared elimination.
I was stunned when Team Who’s Your Daddy? left their backpacks behind! Are you kidding me? They had the common sense to bring their passports and money, but do they really think they can complete the rest of the race without the rest of their clothes?
Last night’s episode was somewhat odd in that all teams were required to board the same flight to the Seychelles. Team Clouseau’s lead? Gone. To make matters worse, once in the Seychelles teams were split into two groups based on the order in which they found the clue box (just once I’d like the producers to fuck with the contestants and go in descending order instead of ascending order). It was little surprise to me that the first three teams to arrive at the Pit Stop were the three teams in the first flight of helicopters.
I wonder if CBS pays for couples counseling for its contestants? The childish relationship shared by Team Model Citizens (Brent and Caite) needs help; those two, while in their twenties, act as if they are pre-teens. Then there’s Team LezBeFriends whose relationship skews toward bitterness; those two, who are probably in their forties, spare few opportunities to throw each other under the bus. The Amazing Race seems to double as The Amazing Couples Splitter.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – listening to this week’s “This Week In Technology” podcast
Website Of The Day – Friend Or Follow made my weekend so I’ll give them props today.
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) – 4 (19)
Vegetarian Days – 5, Carnivorous Days – 23
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]
okay- do you actually know the girl you were considering un-following? If not, how could it be that tough of a decision? If you don’t enjoy or are interested in her tweets, why would you want to read them?
Amazing Race – Remember a few years back the teams that were lucky enough to “not eliminated” had to go on with only the clothes on their backs? This will sort of be like that, & maybe they can borrow clothes from another team, or even beg something from a stranger. It will be interesting.
I’ve always heard about the Seychelles, I thought it was funny that only the lesbians knew where they were going & how to pronounce it.
Wheels O Fire was a good bike ride, though 45 miles was a little tough since I haven’t been riding all that much. Damn this cold, wet winter.
Yeah, I hung out with her some before she moved away. It wouldn’t have been a tough decision otherwise.
Oh, what was the “Seven” them? I didn’t understand that connection with Team Who’s Your Daddy’s prize. I get that 7-Up was advertising and they each won 7k, but what else am I missing?
I’ve recently heard about the Seychelles because a photographer whose work I follow just went on a trip to there. Had this not occurred I would probably have butchered the pronunciation as well.
Today should mark the onslaught of Spring. I only hope that we get 70-80 highs for a few weeks before the 90’s arrive.
Where do they find people who are so uneducated?? You’ve never heard of the Seychelles? You think they are in Africa?? These people are too late for “No child left behind.”
Maybe we need to suggest that CBS run it like a stage race- lowest elapsed time is the winner, you have to finish within a percentage of the winners time or be eliminated. Problem would be only having 2 teams by the third show.
-FP
Alternate titles for today’s “RealiTV” section
– “She sells sea shells on the Seychelles.”
– “You say Seychelles, I say Chechelless.”
– “It’s Anonymous! It’s a good thing I’m handsome.”
I didn’t see the Seven theme anywhere in the whole leg, so I missed it too.
I don’t think it will be to the 90s quite yet.
BTW – we now need to get mountain biking to get ready for our trip to Utah in May, so anyone that wants to ride on the weekends let me know. (Paulie, this can mean you too, I know you have a mtn bike collecting dust somewhere).
I have a pedal-less mountain bike with flat tires collecting dust next to the road bike.
I hope to be able to find time to ride this week but make no guarantees. I’ve already given up hope about riding 100 miles in March. Oops!
Also missing today was my lament for not chatting up a couple of young ladies at the party on Saturday night. I am so out of touch these days that, even when provided with opportunity, I drop the ball. *cue the sad trombones*
What kind of pedals do you have again? Allan (or his dad) might have some laying around.
Wednesday night should be nice after work for a road bike ride, I’m sure Allan & I could go over to Roswell & ride, or you can come over here & we could ride to Kennesaw Mtn. Now, it won’t be 100 miles, but hey, it will be a number higher than zero!
The clips are SPD. Eventually I’d like to get pedals for the road bike and put the ones currently on it back on to the mountain bike. That plan was in action until I stopped riding last Fall because of weather and health.
I could ride on Wednesday night. I’d be happy to head over to your place to ride Kennesaw Mtn. Should I put the road bike onto of the Jackmobile?
The only thing that might affect my schedule is if the guy I’m having wash/stain my deck will be working on the house that night. I’ll let you know asap.
Just let me know if you remembered to put the bike on the Jackmobile Wed. morning, we will plan to ride either way.
Any other ITP readers that want to ride are invited to come join us as well.
I think I even know what we will have for dinner that night afterwards already, I’ve got some beef enchiladas I made in the freezer that will be easy to just stick in the oven.