Slowly But Surely

I was out of the house by 5:50am this morning (you’ll find out why tomorrow) and was shocked and dismayed at the amount of traffic I encountered along the way. I remember the days when if you hit the freeway before 6:00am you almost owned the road.

Considering The Last Time I Won, Losing Wasn’t That Bad
On Saturday I attended a photography seminar put on by the Roswell Photographic Society. The day was spent listening to stories from National Geographic, and as it turned out local, photographer Peter Essick.

During the day there were many door prizes handout out. With each miss (the people one number on either side of me won things) I chuckled and grumbled as I remembered “winning” a Le Crueset Dutch Oven on 9/11/10 at the food bloggers’ seminar; this is the prize which I’ve never received. I don’t know why I can’t forget the unfortunate minor things which have happened to me over my life, but I seem to be unable.

The seminar was good — last year’s was better. Without doubt Essick is an accomplished photographer. I liked about half of his work and was “meh” about the other half. Essick has a straightforward, unexcitable approach toward presentation; his approach combined with a very early sunrise meetup left me being a very tired person all day long. I think my eyes shut for good some time around 9pm.

ITP Flickr Pic
My photography efforts were thwarted by fog and a less-than-spectacular sunrise on Saturday morning. The camera never came out of the bag on Sunday. My scanner did come out on Sunday (I had to send stuff regarding the bike wreck), so I did a little scanning.

A couple of weeks ago I dug up some paraphernalia that I inherited a couple of decades ago. One of my uncles was related to Pro Football Hall of Famer Cliff Battles and upon Battles’ death I was given a huge (physical size) scrapbook from his playing days. A few years ago my mother scavenged the photos and articles from the scrapbook, which had at that time become quite frail. This is one of the shots that was in the scrapbook.

On the back, written in pencil, is “Battles of the Redskins making a 14 yard gain against Chicago Bears at Fenway Park”. Additionally I know that this photo was taken by Leslie Jones a photographer for the Boston Herald-Traveler because his name is stamped onto the back as well.

The Official Bacon Maker Of The Cheesy Tour de France
I played up my injury status to bag out of having to either run or ride at this year’s Cheesy Tour de France gathering. For the fifth year in a row my friends Dave and Catherine opened their home for running/riding followed by beer drinking while eating fantastic food and watching the Tour de France. I volunteered to be Designated Bacon Maker, and cooked up three pounds while the athletes pounded out the miles.

When the group returned we noshed on the bacon, bagels, some great sausage balls, and some cheesy eggs. We made carnage of the food and beer while watching some of the riders in this year’s Tour de France become carnage either by riding off the road or having the horrible luck to get struck by a television car or get caught up in the aftermath of that situation.

This year’s Tour de France has had more crashes, many of which being dramatic, than any other Tour de France that I can ever remember watching. I know that many of you couldn’t care less about the Tour de France, but after watching yesterday’s stage all I can say is Holy Crap!

At This Rate I Might Never Get Done
After playing Designated Bacon Maker I decided to return home and get at least a little yard work done. With a “plan” in mind for the shaping of the gigantic holly bush which I started hacking at the previous Sunday I thought I’d see how much work I could get done during the heat of the day.

Not much is the answer.

I hacked away and worked up a heck of a sweat in about an hour, quitting mostly due to laziness though I’ll admit the appearance of a couple of wasps also encouraged me to pack up my tools for the day. The bush is starting to come along, but at this rate it’s going to take me a heck of a long time to get all of my yard work done.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat, tired, a bit dejected
Current Music – silence until the Tour de France recap comes on (today is a Tour rest day)
Website Of The Day – If you are interested in seeing some of Peter Essick’s photography, check out his website.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – on 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 – 1
Carnivorous Days – 9

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

July Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash
– Buy a bicycle and start riding again
– 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

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]