Baby It’s Cold Outside

I know. I know. You know this already. However if I do one thing well it’s state the obvious. And if I do two things well they are procrastinate, and then it’s stating the obvious.

Look Ma! No Cavities! And I Need New Glasses!
I should have scheduled a haircut or physical exam for yesterday morning so it could have been “Paulie Seeks Professional Help Day” yesterday.

After lunch I headed over to the Cumberland area, to an aptly name Windy Hill Road, for my semi-annual dental checkup, radiation blast, cleaning, and wallet thinning. Here’s a Pro Tip for you: It is a bad idea to eat molten roasted garlic, which burns and sticks to your gums, the night before a dental exam. I had to explain my stupidity to both the hygienist and the dentist. The great news of the day was that I have no cavities and no need to return to the dentist until my next semi-annual appointment.

From the dentist I immediately ruined my cleaning by eating lunch. I was famished because I had a 1pm dental appointment and would have felt badly about eating immediately prior to a cleaning. I was going to go to the Indian buffet on Cobb Parkway (Swapna) but instead decided I was in more of a cheap Chinese mood so I made a return to Jade Palace instead.

From lunch I motored down to midtown, Colony Square to be exact, for my annual eye exam. While my prescription has not gotten drastically worse it has been two years since I’ve purchased new glasses. I wish I had the face and fashion sense to pull off funky glasses. However, without female confirmation (and I wonder why I should care since I’ve gone so long without female acceptance) I dread the idea of getting new frames. So, I’ve gone for the “These are different from what I currently have but not much different from those I’ve had in the past.” route. The price of glasses has certainly dropped in this recession, and with the limited choices that I have for my facial configuration I considered myself “lucky” to find frames for $200. In one of the few instances that I’ll praise insurance, my plan covers $120 of that, and I get a discount on my lenses as well. All in all my optometrist visit cost a little more than my dental visit.

ITP Flickr Pic
No, this is not QT‘s new slush machine, it is a bucket of windshield washing fluid kept by the gas pumps.

Related: Damn it was cold pumping gas this morning.

I Put The ‘Pro’ In Procrastinate
Yesterday I tried to get into the Christmas spirit. I really did. However, I realized that even with the bitter cold walking out of a Target into a Cobb County parking lot was no substitution for walking out of a New York department store back in the olden days. 🙁

I was to complete, and actually start, my Christmas card writing last night as well. I cranked up Pandora Christmas station (I should probably listen to all of the Christmas music I own prior to Christmas’ arrival) and started. And then stopped. And then try to convince myself to restart. And then restarted. And then stopped. This pattern repeated until I finally gave up and went to sleep. So, if you are on my Christmas card mailing list, and your card is a little late this year, you now know why.

I might also mention that I had to pack an overnight bag for my whirlwind trip to (Northern) California which departs tonight — weather and Atlanta airport permitting. There should be no interruption in the blogging as I’ll only be traveling for a couple of days, but don’t expect any photographic masterpieces either as I’ll be leaving my camera in the office lockup since I doubt I’ll have a moment of free time.

My evening was further hampered by the fact that yesterday morning I was informed via email that Gawker Media (owner of such sites as Gizmodo and Lifehacker) had been compromised by hackers and that I should change my password for my account. Of course my login was the same as my GMail login, and when I was informed of “suspicious activity” on that account I had to change the password for it. And, to make matters worse I also had to change my passwords for Twitter and Facebook because they too shared the email/username associated with my Lifehacker login. Here’s to a new username and password creation scheme starting in 2011. In fact, there will most likely be a complete overhaul of my online presence, save InsideThePerimeter of course, next year.

A Fitting End
My fantasy football career officially came to an end last night though admittedly I’d checked out emotionally a few weeks ago. The once mighty East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads (remember the good times when they were undefeated?) got old in a heartbeat right around the time that Randy Moss got cut from the Vikings. From that turning point the Double-Ds limped into the playoffs and with merely a whimper lost to a team who was playing Aaron Rogers (for those not into football Rogers was hurt in the first half of his game on Sunday and did no return). How fucking pathetic!

So now I can focus my hatred and joy on real players, playing for real teams, or at least the NY Jets who have seemed to use the East Atlanta Deadbeat Dads as a role model this season.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – indifferent
Current Music – silent, like the night
Website Of The Day – I sure do bitch and moan a lot. So, to counteract that here is a wonderfully uplifting site — Appreciate It.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – nope, didn’t do it
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~5.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 55 flights

Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)

Vegetarian Days – 2
Carnivorous Days – 11

Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

December Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run no fewer than 75 miles
– Prepare Sharpened Stone, LLC for 2011
– Lose two pounds
– Eat vegetarian at least one day a week
– A couple of secret goals which I will not divulge

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]