Wouldn’t you know that I’d end the first six months of 2010 the same way I started them — missing something that I wanted to do because I was feeling sick. Yesterday afternoon I was attacked by something allergy-related (all the plants through which I hashed on Monday night?) or a Summer cold. All afternoon I sneezed and wiped a runny nose. I attempted a George’s visit, I made it into the Highlands by 6pm, but a quick walk around the block convinced me that it was a better idea to suffer alone than to suffer in public. I’d not have made a good impression on any (young female) that I would have met last night. Related: I’m completely frustrated with the state of my life.
It’s Canada Day, Eh!
It struck me the other day with the announcement of the anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death (a day I remember more as the day Farrah Fawcett died), and it has struck me again today, this being Canada Day. It’s hard for me to fathom that at this time last year I was vacationing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. A whole year has transpired and I have little to show for it. Also, I am now reminded why I didn’t make any of last year’s July 4th activities. I flew home from Canada on July 3rd and was too bushed to care about our own Independence Day.
Sadly yesterday’s sickness ruined any ideas of attending tonight’s Canada Day hash, though I do love me some poutine.
ITP Flickr Pic
Hashers are everywhere dammit!
I saw this bicycle in the parking garage of the building in which I work as I was walking to my car last night. Oddly it was still there this morning (not oddly because it wasn’t stolen, oddly because I don’t understand why the person wouldn’t have ridden it home.)
Unrelated: This is the first shot that I’ve posted which was taken with the camera in my iPhone 4.
One Good Thing Has Happened Today
I’ve purchased some new music.
This being the beginning of a new month Amazon (more on them in a minute) has posted a new list of one hundred “CDs” which cost only $5 each. This morning I purchased the Broken Bells disc, as well as the last release from the Athens/Atlanta band Dead Confederate.
Not to stop there, I also purchased (from iTunes) the much anticipated initial release from Admiral Radley. Admiral Radley is a joint effort from Jason Lytle (formerly of Grandaddy) and some of the members of Earlimart. I gave the entire release a listen this morning and really liked it (not surprisingly) though will admit that it’s won’t satisfy everyone.
Amazon Has Gobbled Up Another Well-Known Internet Brand
In the past year or so Amazon has purchased to well-know internet brands — Audible, sellers of audiobooks, and Zappos, sellers of shoes.
Yesterday Amazon acquired Woot!. You may remember Woot! because I mentioned that I’ve been buying wine deals from them through Woot! Wine. I’m not sure why, I like Amazon and I do a lot of business with them, but the acquisition of Woot! bothers me some, far more than the acquisition of Audible and Zappos. In fact, I was thrilled with the acquisition of Audible because I thought that Amazon would remove the annoying DRM (digital rights management) that Audible embedded in their recordings (fwiw, they have not removed the DRM).
I guess time will tell if my love for Woot! has been lessened by Amazon’s ownership. I hope not.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sad, I’m not having much fun any more
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – It’s July 1st folks, time to understand that WE ARE NO LONGER IN STANDARD TIME! Having trouble with timezones? Check out Every Time Zone.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 203 pounds (meh)
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (1)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 0
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
July Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month (still waiting to accomplish this)
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 150 miles
– Get the Sharpened Stone, LLC moving further
– Complete at least one iPhone application
– Completely plan out my August/September Colorado trip
2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds) [update: On July 1 I’ve sadly gained weight; I’m at 203 pounds]
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
– Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Sharpened Stone.
– 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 Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
what kind of bike is it? This could be our ‘mystery of the day’!
I missed Billy Idol’s greatest hits from last month, I don’t know why I put off getting it or why I don’t have any Billy Idol already…I just checked out this months selection. I’ll have to listen to a few but two caught my eye, Crowded House and Cutting Crew…greatest hits? I now we’ve had this discussion before but well anyway.
I’m at home this morning, waiting on the guy to fix my dryer. I have too much dirty laundry to not have a working dryer. I hope he can get it fixed this morning.
I didn’t note the brand of bike, it’s a hybrid with many, many stickers on it.
Martha, if you need a laundromat recommendation you know who to ask. 🙂
And a reminder that it’s now a crime to use your cell phone for “text based communications” while driving in Georgia. The law seems half-assed to me, another knee-jerk reaction law passed by our politicians.
well – who would have bought a little on-on sticker & ride a hybrid (and no clipless pedals) to work? that is quite the mystery. You aren’t in the same building as Mirant – are you? Cynthia F’er works there. Not that I knwo what bike he rides, but………
Martha – sorry to hear about the dryer – hope it doesn’t cost much.
My office is a few blocks away from Mirant.
I’m not talented enough to text & drive, so I don’t have to worry about that new law. I figure it will be more a revenue thing for cops, if they pull you over for something else (like weaving or speeding), & they can check your phone to see a time/date stamp, they can give you another ticket.
We are going to the Canada Day hash, Allan was complaining the other day about not doing any running hashes, so I told him we should go tonight. Once we get rid of being in charge of Wheelhopper – we will do more other hashes. But – I’ll probably bimbo, I have just enough poison ivy to be annoying, I certainly don’t need any more.
Thanks, worst case I’ll just run around the corner or buy a new one…I can’t not have a washer and dryer. It’s only been a couple of days and the laundry basket if overflowing and probably toxic.
Dryer is fixed, didn’t cost me anything, only had it for 3 months.
Now to decontaminate!!!
It’s funny when you see a hash sticker you always feel the need to know who it is. I have been out of the running hash world so long that I hardly recognize anybody any more.
I may change that tonight though, if all works out as planned I will attend the Canada Day hash. I hope I can remember how to run.
I’m bummed that I’ll be missing the Canada Day hash. The area where they are doing it looks interesting. I shot some abandoned cars back in February right near the start.
I had a table all waiting for us last night, but I’m sorry you weren’t feeling well. I must say that’s a pretty good camera in the phone- do you have any adjustment on that depth of field, or is it automatic? And very nice resolution.
I’m off to Nashville (again!) to fix something that’s broke- no hope of doing it before close of business, so I get to spend the night. Yippee.
-FP
I was rather bummed Steve. I did go into that Half Moon Outfitters for the first time last night — cool stuff, average prices.
I can choose on what the camera focuses, but have no depth of field adjustments. Believe or not one of the reasons I stood in line to get the phone was to upgrade the camera. My iPhone 3G had a 2MP camera, the iPhone 4G has a 5MP camera.
Have fun in Nashville. Might I suggest the Bluegrass Inn or Robert’s Western World?
I used to interact with Tony Hsieh on Twitter pre-Amazon days. Pretty cool how he put his cash on the line to invest in Zappos, took a salary of under $50 (annually), and lives rather modestly.
He’s got a book coming out… I wonder if that came into play with the Amazon deal..?