I Hope Everyone Is Okay

Compared to the tornados which have plagued the South and Midwest last night’s winds were not much, but damn they were powerful nonetheless. I hope that this day finds you and yours unscathed.

Of Downed Trees And Power Outages
I am almost surprised that it took me “only” sixty-five minutes to drive home last night. For the first part of the trip I took surface streets covered with leaves and sticks. Even with the disastrous weather, traffic on the surface streets was scant and my trip was going swiftly. Then I made the decision to hop onto I-85 South at North Druid Hills Road. I’d seen the Google Maps traffic report and decided that taking the access road (old-timers call this 85) and quickly realized there was no good answer to my newly-found traffic woes.

The 85 access road dumps you on to West Peachtree around 19th Street. It was there that I saw my first downed limb/tree, and then two blocks later I encountered my first darkened traffic signal due to a power outage.

Let’s take a moment to remember the (potentially anecdotal) traffic laws:

1. If the light is flashing yellow, slow down and proceed with caution
2. If the light is flashing red, treat the traffic light as if it were a stop sign
3. If the light is completely dark, treat the intersection as if it were an all-way stop intersection

In the Mad Max world of Atlanta these laws don’t stand a chance. More and more I’m of the mindset that the laws should be changed to stipulate that all malfunctioning traffic signals should be treated as all-way stops.

Traffic lights and much building power were out from 17th Street to about 5th Street along West Peachtree, Peachtree, Spring, and I’m sure others. Want to guess what sort of clusterfuck that produced? I may have always been a dickhead behind the wheel of a car, but last night I was all for getting home by asserting my current traffic rights. I stopped at every darkened traffic light, allowed one person in each direction to go, and boldly laid on the horn when the second person thought that they could bully their way through the intersection. Guess what folks, unless you are an emergency vehicle, you must obey the traffic laws — I don’t give a shit how important you think you are.

So Much SoBa
Cooking was no option last night so ITP-Reader Betsy and I decided to grab some food for our weekly Wednesday night television watching, this week held on Thursday night. Even though she’d eaten their last night we decided to drop into East Atlanta’s SoBa for some take away. Much to my surprise as I walked through the small restaurant I saw ITP-Readers Tony, Pat, and Terri. Huh, I guess I was not the only one with SoBa on my mind.

Betsy and I jumped over to the bar to place an order to take away and each drank an unusually warm glass of pinot noir. When our food arrived the ITP-reading trio had been joined by their friend Mike and a young woman who I’ll assume is Mike’s girlfriend. With food in hand Betsy and I said our pleasant good-byes so that we could head to the ITP-Estate for some food eating and tv watching.

When it comes to ordering food I should not be allowed to do so. Betsy and I each ordered an entree and additionally we ordered an appetizer of fried tofu. Normally the fried tofu is to die for, but last night it seemed to have been sitting around too long and lost its specialness (the delay in eating wasn’t helped by what you’ll read next). With the meal Betsy and I devoured a surprisingly refreshing sparkling red wine that I’ve had forever and had finally put into the refrigerator to chill. If I were more prepared I’d either have the name of the wine or a photo of the bottle to share with you.

Of Grown Trees And Television Outages
When I planted three trees in the front yard ten or so years ago I had Pollyanna thoughts of pretty trees providing shade. I never thought about water/sewer lines also lying in the front yard which they might endanger.

When I put a new roof on the ITP-Estate eight years ago (wow) I decided to move the satellite dish from the roof (c’mon, who wants to penetrate a brand new roof?) to a location in the front yard (hurray for old school neighborhoods with no associations!). I knew that eventually the trees I planted would ascend to a height that would obscure the satellite’s view, but I was deeply involved with a woman who I thought I’d be marrying and the concept of time and its consequences were then irrelevant.

After taking the SoBa home to my house Betsy and I went into the basement to watch this week’s new Top Chef Masters that my DVR dutifully recorded on Wednesday night. Apparently Betsy and I are the only two ITPers who watch “Top Chef Masters” because no one told us that there was no new episode this week.

It’s funny how one problem influences others. While looking for the new “Top Chef Masters” on the DVR I noticed that my recording of Wednesday night’s new “Modern Family” was only nine minutes long. Huh. I concluded that the DVR crapped out while recording and that was why there was no recording for a new “Top Chef Masters.” The shortened recording led me to try and tune to Bravo, which showed me that I’d lost signal. Losing signal on Thursday night made sense because of the poor weather, but none of that existed on Wednesday night. I’ve subsequently realized that the trees are finally an issue with my signal strength. Hello new problem and associated time-consuming chore to fix…

Another problem identified last night was my inability to purchase programming from my AppleTV (first edition). Before finding out that there was no new episode of “Top Chef Masters” this week I tried to buy it from the Apple iTunes store. After not finding it and admitting defeat I decided to buy the new “Modern Family” which was available. However, all attempts to purchase it from the AppleTV failed. Dangen!!!!! I eventually wound up buying it from my computer and syncing that to my AppleTV so we could watch it on the big screen. And the networks wonder why people steal their content.

Have A Safe Memorial Day Weekend, Americans
United States’ Americans, I guess.

No Hedon this year. No time for trips for me. I’ll be coding away, probably doing some tree limb hacking, and general chores around the ITP-Estate. There may be a blog on Monday, you’ll have to come back to find out.

Until then friends…

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though I have a lot of things to do this weekend
Current Music – listening to this week’s “Gardenfork Radio” podcast
Website Of The Day – I am a complex man. On the one hand I want(ed) to be the hip bachelor living in a swank loft. On the other hand I want to be a Self-Sufficient Gardener.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – physical therapy
Morning Weigh-In – not checking currently

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 – 22

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

May 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
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than five days
– Lose three pounds
– Go out on a date with someone else
– Read an entire book, specifically The Laws Of Simplicity

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]