Resurrection

It seems fitting that on Easter weekend I’ve attempted to resurrect many parts of my life. (Am I right about Easter and the Resurrection? I’m such a religious ignoramus.)

Zen And The Art Of Lawnmower Maintenance
Yesterday I finally got around to performing a little lawnmower maintenance — I changed the oil, and swapped out the air filter and blade for new ones. I probably should have gotten a new spark plug too, but I don’t have the appropriate gap tool, so that’ll have to wait for now. I also noticed that after eleven years of use the front plastic wheels are starting to crack, so buy summer’s end I may need to investigate getting new ones.

And with a resurrected lawnmower who wouldn’t use it to mow their lawn? I know you are expecting me to answer “Me” but you’d be wrong. It’s amazing how much better the mower works with a new blade; my weeds haven’t looked this nice in a while.

Not Necessarily Feaster
I’d intended to prepare a large Easter dinner for myself. As an experiment I put a large chunk of beef into the crockpot with some onions, potatoes, carrots, a sprig of rosemary, a package of french onion soup mix, and some red wine. I set the crockpot on low and started it to cook early in the morning. I over-estimated the amount of time needed to cook the three-pound chunk of meat because it was (over) done much earlier than I expected. I wound up eating dinner by five o’clock, because it was ready even though I wasn’t.

One benefit of yesterday’s cooking is that I have at least two lunches set for this week. Eating at work instead of going out for lunch is part of my plan to resurrect my weight-loss and money-saving programs.

ITP Flickr Pic
Hey, wait a minute! How’d this get here?

On Saturday morning I met up with a couple of my Flickr friends for breakfast at The Majestic before heading over to Wings Camera to attend their flea market / yard sale / been-there-done-that sale.

RealiTV Update: The Amazing Race – Lichtenstein, Oh Lichtenstein
Let there be spoilers!
I’m more than a little disappointed with the organizers of The Amazing Race, and if I my schedule this week would permit I’d head to Atlantic Station to ask Phil Keoghan a question or two. Read on to see what irks me.

All teams start this leg by getting on the same train to Lichtenstein. In this leg we know that Team Daddy’s Little Miss America will have to perform a Speed Bump as punishment for finishing last, and we learn that there will be a Double U-Turn. U-Turning two teams with only six teams remaining? WTF?

Once in Lichtenstein the teams get their first Road Block — riding a moped the length of Lichtenstein to calculate the country’s length. And then my first gripe occurs — the Speed Bump challenges these days are too easy. As their Speed Bump “punishment” Team Daddy’s Little Miss America have to solve a math problem. WHAT?!?! Are you serious? That’s punishment? Their shitty cabbie proved to be more of a speed hump than that! Because of this incredibly simple “punishment” (I miss the days when teams were stripped of all of their possessions.) Team Daddy’s Little Miss America got onto the road only slightly later than the other teams.

This Road Block also brings us to my second gripe — helping/cheating. Out of the shoot every team but Team Daddy’s Little Miss America gets out onto the course. Teams Noun and Trotters misread their map, causing them problems. Team Sista Sista loses the map(!) which should require a restart, but no! Team Assburger passes Team Sista Sista and the two teams work together to finish the Road Block first. Then, they see Team Trotters along the course and tell him the fucking answer. Team Trotters runs into Team Daddy’s Little Miss America and tells him the answer too! Team Goths Gone Wild seem to be one of the few teams who does the Road Block correctly the first time without intervention. The only team to screw up and not be saved is Team Noun, who has to go back to the start and try again. This turns out to be the episode where Team Noun’s missteps finally gets them verbed.

From the Road Block the teams encounter a Detour which includes another eating challenge, and a luggage delivery challenge. After failing the schnitzel challenge in Austria I am surprised to see Team Assburger take the eating challenge, which this time consists of eating a very large bowl of cheese fondu. Two things intrigued me about this challenge.

1. I’m surprised to see the lads use the bread in order to eat the fondu. If I were doing this as part of the race I’d ask for a spoon, or figure out how to scoop and eat the cheese sans bread cubes knowing that the bread is what’s going to prove to be the most filling part.
2. In a rare view into the “real time” world of The Amazing Race a clock is placed in the corner of the screen showing how long it takes Team Assburger to become Team Assburger with Cheese.

Team Sista Sista quickly realize that fondu eating is not going to be the key to their success, and switch tasks.

After the Detour the teams reach the Double U-Turn, which oddly occurs right before they head to the Pitstop. Really? One by one teams choose not to use the U-Turn, of course Team Goths Gone Wild have no choice as they U-Turned the redheads many episodes ago. Only Team Trotters, who had a touch of difficulty with the luggage delivery challenge, choose to use the U-Turn in order to save themselves; they U-Turned Team Noun which thus eliminates them.

Team Assburger won their fourth leg of The Amazing Race (is that four in this season?). They seem to be one of the few teams remaining that I would have predicted would still be around at this time in the season. I’m surprised to see Team Goths Gone Wild and Team Daddy’s Little Miss America still fighting while other stronger (imho) teams have been eliminated.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – listening to last week’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” podcast
Website Of The Day – I’m lonely. I’m almost lonely enough to sign up for Cupidtino. Actually, if things were different with me I would have joined online dating services long ago.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – not checking, I’m too fat to want to know

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

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

Vegetarian Days – 3
Carnivorous Days – 21

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

April Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run at least once
– Lose two pounds
– Go out on a date with someone else
– Read an entire book, specifically The Mole People: Life In The Tunnels Beneath New York City

2011 Goals [will be a little more fluid than in past years]
– Reduce my weight by 25 pounds based on the my weight as measured on February 1st
– Completely read the book Daily Negations which I received as a Christmas gift.
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business — one which does not get penalized.
– 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
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than two one half-marathon
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]