There are those nights where nothing happens. Last night was such a night, unless you call filling and placing some Damp-Rid buckets around the basement “productive.” (note to self: you need to buy a replacement air filter for your HVAC).
And Somehow I Would Have Been Blamed
While driving home in the rain last night around 7pm I noticed something very odd on one of the streets down which I drove. Specifically the street was Oakdale between North Decatur and The By Way; there are no street lights. Being mesmerized by the darkness I nearly shit my pants when I came upon a bicyclist who was:
- riding in the middle of the road (thankfully riding in my direction)
- wearing dark clothing including a hoodie pulled over his head, which had no reflective material
- on a bicycle with no lights or reflectors
We are both fortunate that I was cognizant of the darkness and as such was driving 25mph, because I believe that is the only reason I was able to not hit him.
Cyclists, and runners too, please be smarter than this. I will share the road with you but in order to do so I have to know that you are there.
ITP Flickr Pic
I had lunch yesterday at the Chinese Food Court in Chamblee (or is that Doraville?). While walking to my car I came upon this.
Really? A Student driver? I would have never guessed.
Related: What ever happened to the old saying “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”?
Tightening The Belt
Man I can’t wait to mean this literally…. Instead I mean this financially. Yesterday I decided that I was not getting enough out of my $25/month Lynda.com subscription so I canceled it. I also decided to scale back my Netflix plan to the “One Disc, Unlimited Streaming” plan thus reducing my monthly bill from $14.99 (as of next month) to $9.99.
Will saving $30/month launch me into financial freedom? No, but I think this is a smart financial move for me for the time being and it allows me the freedom to do something ridiculous like sign up for HuluPlus at $8/month, or get the NHL Center Ice plan for $21/month if I so desire. (btw- I most likely won’t do either, but they are good “for instances”). Or, perhaps consider fixing my plumbing.
Who Shrunk The Sitcom?
As I mentioned last week I’ve finally succumbed and jumped onto the Modern Family bandwagon. In doing so I’ve ripped a bunch of shows from the dvd so I can watch them on my iPad (I watch them all and erase them prior to sending the dvd back to Netflix thankyouverymuch) and have noticed something very interesting — the length of the show is usually only about 20-21 minutes, down from the former standard of 22 minutes. That means that nearly one-third of the broadcast time is commercials. One. Third. Or, 33% if you’d rather. Unbelievable.
In keeping with last week’s theme I am thankful that I own a dvr so that I can skip through all of that consumeristic nonsense.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – You know me, I love my crockpot(s). A Year Of Slow Cooking is a blog dedicated to crockpot cooking.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – walking (~1 mile)
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~14 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 30, Situps – 150
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 29
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
November Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 100 miles
– Run no fewer than 50 miles
– Determine the fate of Sharpened Stone, LLC
– lose five pounds
– eat vegetarian at least one day a week
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, completed
– Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides, completed
– Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers, completed
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]
I can barely watch something on “live” TV anymore. I would just as soon put the box on pause and wait for the comercials to pass. I have found that our current DVR will allow you to pause the live TV and go watch something recorded, so sometimes I flip back and forth.
This is not my favorite time of the year- I will not see the farm in daylight until the weekend.
-FP
I just record everything, even the news or something I don’t really care about so I don’t have to watch the commercials. But, I have noticed how TV shows have gotten shorter, but that is okay, it lets me get thru more shows when I sit down to watch.
BTW – just watched the swedish movie The Girl Who Plays With Fire last night, I have rarely read the book first, but this time I did. I think I like to do it the other way around, I’d rather see the movie first, then read the book to fill in the story. I did enjoy the movie though.
I’m not a big fan of this time of year, but I must admit that my yard looks much better in the dark.
For better or worse (and by that I mean worse) it seems that most of the time the cyclist gets the blame in an accident or at least the driver isn’t charged. It is scary, I see it at least twice a week to/from the gym.
I’m getting ready to spend a ton of money…I’ve really got the new car bug, I’m working on getting preapproved financing and looking big time at new (to me) cars. Probably going with a 2009/2010 Escape, unless some big expense pops up in the next couple of weeks or I otherwise talk myself. Jerry’s probably going to get his dad’s car, Pedro won’t be driving again.
Wish I had known you were in the area yesterday, I ended up with a granola bar for lunch because there wasn’t much in the house after the trip.
What kind of car does Jerry’s dad have?
and – I know this may sound weird, but look at brand new car prices on the cars you are considering, with all the discounts, lower percentage rates, etc. anymore, even Clark Howard has said that it can be as good of a deal as a used car, and you get all the warranty stuff.
I think it’s a Corolla…only a few years old.
I am giving the new cars a look, Ford has 0% for 60 months and $1500 cash back…I would consider new, if I could get that deal. Of course Ford will tell you how much you can borrow but wont discuss rates until you go to the dealer and pick out a car.
Work is slow so I’m trying to do some shopping for all the kids. Paulie, I’m getting a few things together for Sani’s/the hash family. If I don’t make it to a BS would you be able to take them to Sani if I drop them off?
When we bought Allan’s truck, we walked out of 2 different Toyota dealers when the deal wasn’t good enough. The one that really wanted to sell the truck called Allan back with a better offer. The other one told us to take that deal, he couldn’t do that good. So, don’t buy at the first place, it is a game, but to save a few $1000, it can be worth the hassle.
I want a new car so bad too, but until we get this garage paid for a little, I can’t think about it too much.
Martha, of course I’ll take your stuff to Sani if you can’t make it to Black Sheep on Sunday.
Best to all looking for a new car. I’m hoping the Jackmobile, with its rebuilt transmission, will last me a few more years. I can’t stomach paying the state any more in ad valorem taxes than I absolutely have to.
Martha — we just bought a new car — did a TON of legwork on the internet first (check out Clark Howard’s links for starters). We didn’t go to the dealer unless they had the car we wanted exactly — when you ask them to order things, the price goes up. We also chose the last day of the month, on a Sunday, at 3:00 to walk and and make our deal. We got our price without a lot of haggling that way. Good luck!
Thanks Beth, I’m starting to get a little over-whelmed with all the information out there. I’m hoping, this being the holidays and end-of-the-year, dealers will be looking to move cars.