And then I decided that I wanted to get to work in less than an hour. Besides, it’s GA400 Toll Amnesty Week! Getting out of the house early this morning and having no reason to slow down (much) at GA400 meant that I was able to get from East Atlanta to the Perimeter Mall area in fewer than twenty-three minutes. Huzzah!
Good To See Power Outages Aren’t Limited To East Atlanta
Remember Friday? Remember the storms that blew through on Friday afternoon (they were much like the ones that blew through last night). I was driving down Roswell Rd from Sandy Springs to Midtown on Friday and it was not much different than navigating a boat through a narrow stream that night.
The reason my destination was Midtown was to meet up with many of the hashers I’ve not seen in four months (gee, what was it that happened four months ago today?). The meetup was part of a loosely-organized monthly gathering for PBR drinking, which I am glad to see has elevated itself so that PBR is not the only beverage available. While hanging around noshing on post-dinner snacks the power in Midtown flickered, and then at some point went out for good. The power was still out when I decided to cash in my virtual chips and head home (I had a very early wakeup call on Saturday), where I thankfully had power.
Good to see everyone again and good to have beer better than the Miller High Life that I brought with me (what can I say, I just can’t be like everyone else).
Next Week, Or So They Say
On Saturday I rode out to Rutledge, GA (in a car) with my buddy John (aka HamWithCam) where we shot some sunflowers. We were more than a little dismayed to see that the sunflower farm was far from its peak (and they still charged us $10 each in order to shoot). The proprietors contend that they planted so that the farm would be at its peak for next weekend’s Sunflower Farm Festival. I have my doubts, but they are the professionals. Expect to see me milk the photos I took there all week for the ITP Flickr Pic section.
On the way back we three wisemen (we were joined by our buddy Dave) stopped in Stockbridge to eat “brunch” at Waffle House and the make our way to Conyers to check out the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. Will miracles never cease…
Saturday night was a waste as I caught up on all of the sleep, and then some, that I didn’t get the night before.
The Return Of The ITP Flickr Pic
Though no one has been openly clamoring for it, ITP Flickr Pics are back…
You have to get up pretty early in the morning these days in order to capture a sunrise.
I Think Being Single Has Been Detrimental To My Property
Much like exercising it is so easy to blow off house projects when you are single and not relying on, nor being pushed by, another person. I have a bad habit of thinking that I need to accomplish tasks in an entire day, when in reality I could chip away at projects for days/weeks and make progress. Why must I remove an entire gigantic holly bush at once? I don’t eat a large pizza at once, do I? Okay, bad example.
I did manage to clean my shower yesterday, however I must admit that once my cleaning dried I noticed that there is much soap-scum that I still need to tackle. Oh, and I managed to chip away at my enormous unlistened/unwatched podcast collection all day Sunday. Aw shit, who am I kidding, that’s just my equivalent to watching television.
I Have $100 Virtual Amazon Dollars In My Pocket
On Saturday my two $50 Amazon gift cards arrived in the post. These cards were “earned” by spending an enormous amount of money with my credit card company and converting my “points” into “prizes.” With $100 “free” my mind is spinning with the possibilities. I’m sure the one that will benefit most from my possession of Amazon gift cards is Amazon because I’m sure to spend much more when using these.
Fortunate Timing
Speaking of having credits…. My Audible (an Amazon-owned company) had reached it’s maximum accrual of six credits. [Side Note: I think it’s bullshit that after my account accrues six credits I still get charged monthly without accruing more credits!] Now that I am two-thirds the way through Genius : The Life and Science of Richard Feynman I decided to use one of my six credits to get another book. [Side Note: I chose and downloaded In Defense Of Food : An Eater’s Manifesto] It’s a damn good thing that I used up one of my six credits because the very next day my account cycled and I was charged my monthly fee and given another credit — which as I’ve mentioned I would not have gotten had I not spent one of my credits on Saturday night!
C’mon Amazon, you’ve owned and operated Audible for about two years it’s time to drop this six-credit limit bullshit. And while you’re at it please strip all of your files of their DRM (digital “rights” management) like you did with your music.
I Should Probably Buy Amazon Stock (AMZN)
I just thought about this. In addition to Amazon these are the companies from which I currently make many purchases:
All of these have been purchased by Amazon in recent years. I should either buy stock in Amazon or try and figure out how to start an internet company which Amazon will buy.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though I had planned to run today and that’s not going to happen
Current Music – listening to one of Wolf Parade’s last concerts; this was recorded at this year’s Sasquatch Festival. Related: I’m going to miss Wolf Parade.
Website Of The Day – (I should remember to fill this in as soon as I have the thought “Neat, I should use that for my Website Of The Day.” While I have some backlogged on my list of websites to highlight, I had a website I was going to use today and now can’t think of it. Well, I can’t remember my original pick so I’ll take plan “B”.) Have a great invention idea but are missing the components needed to complete the project? Check Inventables as they carry many electrical/computer components which can be used to inventing the Next Big Thing — perhaps it’ll even be good enough to be purchased by Amazon.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – Wednesday
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 – 5
Carnivorous Days – 21
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
June Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash
– Get back on a bicycle
– 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 done!
– Lose three pounds
– Go out on a date with someone else
– Finish The Laws Of Simplicity done! and read another book
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]
The other downer with Audible.com is that if you cancel your account, you lose all the credits. We got stuck in that cycle a couple of months ago. I’m not really in to ‘books on tape’ but Jerry really like them. I did get “The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements”, yes long title and sort of geeky but interesting. Side note: Two new elements have been added to the periodic tables, I wonder if there will be a supplement to the book published.
You just reminded me I didn’t plant any sunflowers this year. The birds always got more out of them than I ever did.
I heard about the Midtown black out, I was hoping to make the party but between the 7 miles at Pine Mountain and the storms I just stayed put. We did Wolfden Loop, starting at the TV tower. The damage from the storms a few weeks (months?) back was still evident. The trail was cleared enough to make it though but was difficult in spots.
I’m spending my last few days of unemployment just trying to get things in order. One last garden task, build some sort of ‘protection’ for my lettuce garden, the critters are getting to it long before I ever have a chance.
re: Audible – I’ve often wondered about that. I’ve also wondered that, since you have to log in to Audible in order to sync audiobooks to your devices, if you lose all access to your audiobooks once you quit the service.
Hope you have a happy and productive last week of unemployment Martha.
Good morning everyone. I am back to the land of the wire/wireless and have time to check in.
The National Championships are over and exhaustion doesn’t even cover it. Long days, brutal tempratures, great racing, very few problems. Barb, TJ says we need to pick a day this week and do Skyline. I think he’s in town this weekend… maybe the Friday option again?
One of the “fun” things we get to do at these races is UCI bike check. A bike must be within certain measurements and must not have any part just for an aerodynamic benefit. This really applies to time trial bikes, so imagine spending a small fortune on a Specialized TT bike and having to take a hacksaw to it… they have little “wings” right behind the front fork which serve no purpose but to make it more aero…. “The mechanics have hacksaws right outside.. have a nice day.”
Paulie, I seem to recall riding the century in Cartersville (years ago) and passing a field of sunflowers, and of course, wished I had a camera. I can’t recall what time of year that was, though.
I’ll be back in the office tomorrow. A good call to take today off to recover.
-FP
That must have occurred this time of year Steve. The Cartersville Century probably took place last weekend — having no bike and no ability to ride has removed most of these events from my brain.
Also, I couldn’t help but recall your saying (which I’m certain is from the common vernacular) about corn and this time of year — “Knee-high by the Fourth of July.” when driving past the sunflowers on Saturday.
I’m back from Iowa as of about 11pm last night, it was fun seeing family, everyone (cousins & all) except a few spouses made it – so it was quite the reunion. The weather was awesome, I don’t think it even got to 80, and was cool & drizzly one of the days.
Had a stressful Friday getting there (delayed flight in Atlanta makes for a very tight connection in Minneapolis, and of course the gates were at opposite ends of the airport there), but I did make it with about 10 minutes to spare……. Then, something good was on my side on the way home, I got to my exit row aisle seat, the lady in the center seat asked if I would mind trading seats with her husband, in seat 4C. I’m like….um, isn’t that first class??? She confirms & says, go up there & enjoy……… I wish I had the bucks & could always fly first class, it is so nice.
Steve- Allan works Friday, and we aren’t sure of our plans yet for the weekend. But – WEd & Thursday evenings could be open, but you could maybe get stuck helping pouring cement.
Hey Barb: my buddy Jason and I are still on your schedule for Thursday, right? Of course the more the merrier… 🙂
oh yeah Paulie – yes, you are on the calendar for Thursday – I guess I should look at it sometime 😉
(and remind Allan……..)
I am so not awake yet & am not able to concentrate at all on work.
Huh! Well it looks like I picked a good weekend to do dog sitting up in Hall County – did not experience the power out! I got home on Sunday, fixed all the blinking clocks (“hmmm, power must’ve gone out.”) and that was that. Yay! I was afraid it was going to go out last night again, mainly because I had folks over for TV-viewing, but thankfully it didn’t.
Way cool with the upgrade, Barb! That never would happen to me. And hey – kudos to the husband who actually came and sat with his wife. I would be all: “sorry honey, I’m staying up in first class. See you at the end of the flight.” (wonder how they got different seating arrangements in the first place?)
And Martha – TOTALLY enjoy your last week “off.” And congrats on starting work again!
hey Stacy – I’m thinking he got a platinum or whatever level upgrade, and there was only 1 seat. They were the nicest couple, they even brought my carry-on up to me when we landed, I didn’t have to go back & get it!
And – since it was an exit row, with more leg room, maybe that is how she convinced him?
and – other wild coincidence, in the movie selections, there is a movie called Cedar Rapids (that wasn’t even filmed in Cedar Rapids, but supposedly takes place there), and since I was just in Cedar Rapids for the weekend, I just had to watch it. It was entertaining enough for a free movie…… but I wouldn’t want to have paid for it.
@ Barb: I LOVED that Cedar Rapids movie, I thought it was hilarious!! Maybe just cause of the midwestern setting. I also love the guy from The Office (Andy).
Just because I logged into Audible.com, it looks like even though I canceled my account I still have access to my library.
I think they are about ready to start ‘detassling’ in Indiana, so the corn had better be well above knee high at this point.
There’s also
“The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, and it looks like it’s climbing right up to the sky”
umm don’t forget about Jerry for Skyline night 😉
Somebody told me that I should watch Cedar Rapids. (Yes Lisa, I remember that it was you.)
High as an elephant’s eye? How high is that?
Martha, I can name that tune in one note… “Oh what a beautiful morning”.
According to Yahoo Answers, 8’2″, I have no idea if that is correct.
@Steve, “I’ve got a beautiful feeling”…you are correct.
so, I guess also being from the Midwest I need to at Cedar Rapids to my queue.
it was funny, but maybe because it bothered me that it wasn’t actually filmed in Cedar Rapids, and some of the references were just a little off that I didn’t think it was that great. (or, being on a plane, being distracted, that could be it too).
And – I don’t think Ed Helms is that funny……. he kind of annoys me, he seems to play the same character in everything he does. (John C Reilly was good though)