Though yesterday was a bit of a maintenance day I ended the month of July like a whirling dervish.
Friday Seems So Long Ago
Work? — Check!
Taco Mac? Check!
Outback? Check?
Drunken Unicorn to see/hear Country Mice? Check!
Home to sleep long enough to be able to meet my photog friend John in Decatur by 6:00am Saturday? Check!
The day was almost entirely great, save one tiny portion. When I pulled into the small parking lot which services many businesses including the Drunken Unicorn I had difficulty finding an open space. With only two rows from which to chose I went down one, and returned to try the other. Literally standing between me and the second row were about eight, mid-to-late-twentyish-old white people (four couples?) who, I’ll assume filled with alcoholic bravado, refused to move to allow me to drive. I stopped and sat for a second, before starting to lose my patience. The slowly started to move, and I mean slowly, so I slowly started to proceed. One couple who decided to be the biggest assholes move slower than slow. As I started to make my way through the parting of the white-hipster (actually they were more preppy than hipster) sea one guy leaned toward my passenger side and I stopped and rolled down the window. He somewhat playfully asked for $5 for parking (I’m sure he thought he was fucking hilarious. I know, I’ve done similar things in the past.) to which I said “Look man, I just don’t want to lose that open parking space.”. While getting out of my car I heard one of the girls in the group squawking about how it would have been “vehicular homicide”. What-the-fuck-ever.
ITP Flickr Pic
I like taking photos of whitewater rafting.
This shot was one of the first I took on Saturday. Little did I know it would be the only time that I’d catch someone getting launched from their raft. Only one other instance of this occurred — just after I had shot the last photo on the compact flash card that was in my camera at the time. Dangen!
Living Seventeen Hours Of A Twenty-Four Hour Day
As I mentioned I was in Decatur by 6:00am to meet with John. Upon loading gear into his vehicle we drove to Woodstock(?) to meet up with Dave. Upon loading gear into Dave’s car we were on our way to meet Jason at the Waffle House (side note: I was served by the prettiest Waffle House waitress I’ve ever seen. Admittedly this is a lot like being the thinnest kid at fat camp, but Kayla was a very attractive young woman.) to eat breakfast before making our way up to Dalton for a camera swap meet where we met up with Joe and Jim.
The swap meet this year was a bust for all but Jason who bought a fancy, old, 4×5 camera. From Dalton the six of us headed to Chick-fil-A for an early lunch. After lunch we six made our way up to Ocoee, Tennessee for a day of shooting along the river.
Much like last year we encountered some rain was we crossed from Georgia to Tennessee (through a town cleverly named “Tennga”) and I feared that we’d get washed out. Luckily like last year the weather threatened, rained a little bit, and then cleared again.
After a long day of shooting we decided to try our hand at shooting the sunset from the top of Fort Mountain State Park, though the sentiment of “Sunsets have been shot to death.” was voiced more than once.
(my best shot of a suspect sunset)
Prior to making our way up the mountain we stopped for dinner at a small Mexican restaurant called “La Pueblito” in Chatsworth, Georgia where I had one best plates of carnitas that I’ve eaten in some time. If I ever find myself in that area around dinner time I know where I will be eating…
I arrived home again some time around 11:30pm Saturday night, with just enough energy to go to sleep.
Sunday, Laundry Sunday
If the question “What did you do yesterday?” were posed to me today the best answer I could supply would be “Laundry.” Throughout the rest of the day I talked to my brother and mother on the phone, ate at Lee’s Bakery (after one aborted attempt), and filled the Jackmobile with gasoline at a very crowded Quiktrip and puttered around the house.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though today will be an interesting day at work
Current Music – listening to this week’s “Gardenfork Radio podcast
Website Of The Day – I don’t want too many “frivolous” items these days, though I have to admit that I’d like to buy a waterproof, helmet-mounted GoPro camera (warning: website has accompanying music).
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – not taken
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 – 0
Carnivorous Days – 0
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
August Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash
– Ride my bike no fewer than 150 miles
– 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 two 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]
Sounds like a successful weekend to me. Keep enjoying life in the now. They (whoever they are) say it’s the only one you have.
AWESOME rafting photo! Seriously way cool. You could enter that in contests, you could. 🙂
Wow, 2 great photos in one blog entry. Sunsets, while happening every day, are not always photo worthy, but this one certainly was.
The mizzus and I welcomed Barb and Allan down to the farm for a little quality pool time and pre-lube before attending a concert at their friends’ house on the other side of Moreland. The late afternoon rain perfectly cooled everything off and made for a beautiful evening to enjoy Mike and http://sunnyjim.com/
Mike sang covers while Sunny Jim (I have a new CD for sale) sang his own songs which everyone (except us) knew and enjoyed very much.
Sunday was spent performing maintenance on the network and the farm with a delicious dinner of pork chops and blackberry cobbler.
-FP
Ladies and Gentleman, that’s my real-life brother ITP-Reader Ronnie (or Bill, which is what most of the rest of the world calls him)!
Thanks Stacy. 🙂
I dunno….think I may just start calling your bro “(pick one)” *grin*
He would be the #1 Son. 🙂
Steve, “the other side of Moreland” is what, a five-minute drive? 😉 And it sounds like you all had a good weekend too. Did you not enjoy Sunny Jim’s songs, or were you just the only one’s who didn’t know them?
And looking at this week’s projected brutal high temperatures (before the predicted rain as I flee the city for western North Carolina this weekend) I might be moving into my basement for a few days. It’s easily 5º-10ºF cooler down there this time of year.
hey – I didn’t know those songs either!
I guess I’m just not a good Parrothead anymore, I dont’ know all the “trop rock” artists & their songs. Actually, I dont’ think I ever was a good parrothead music wise.
Paulie – Sunny Jim (as he told us many, many times) was the house band at the Hyatt Regency in Grand Cayman for over ten years. So, you can just guess the type of music he plays. (hint, songs with steel drums & stories.) They are plesantly enjoyable to listen to.
Thanks again to Steve & Debbie – a little pool time is always a good thing.
I didn’t do much yesterday – cut the grass, (& found a turtle in my tomatoes) did some house work, and lots of TV watching. It was nice to just de-compress.
Son of a gun! I forgot to mention the clothes that were on my street when I returned on Saturday night. Seriously, the weirdest shit has happened to me since I moved into East Atlanta in 1999.
– umbrella taken from my front porch
– lost phone service because a construction vehicle ripped the phone line down– chased into my house by a large, barking dog– held up at gunpoint in my own driveway
– came home to find an abandoned car in the middle of my street in front of my house
– house broken into
– came home to find clothes in my street in front of my house
and more I’m sure
I went with the expectation of hearing Jimmy Buffett covers, and I thought the first guy didn’t play any JB in defference to the “headliner”. When Sunny Jim didn’t play any, I was disappointed- the music was fine, but I didn’t know any of it.
It was the other side of Moreland.. almost to Grantville!!! At least 7 minutes.
Here’s to “Pick One”, he’s true blue.
He’s a blog reader, through and through…
(get your brother to ‘splain it to you)
Oh, I (misread? and) assumed that one of the bands did play Buffet covers on Saturday night.
And apologies to my bro for not naming today’s blog “Lies, Lies, Lies” as he suggested yesterday.
“Here’s to “Pick Oneâ€, he’s true blue.
He’s a blog reader, through and through…”
Hahaha! Love it! And I had a hand in the naming! 😉
I really didn’t know what all was in Sunny Jim’s songlist……. but I wasn’t shocked that he didn’t play any Buffett.
of that weird shit – the only one that doesn’t count is the phone service -that can happen anywhere.
hell – when we went to look at our current house, we had bikes on the top of the truck, and one of them ripped the cable service out of the house with the handlebars. We made an offer on the house that night, I gwas hoping that would make the seller less upset with us.
I’ll agree with you on that one, Barb. I guess the dog chasing me into the house could happen anywhere as well. Perhaps I’ll make a substitution for those with the night the police were in my backyard, looking for someone, without ever notifying me. I found out they were on my street because the neighbor’s dog kept barking. And to add insult they criticized my lack of yardwork while walking through my backyard (it was Summer and I had the window open, thus hearing their conversation).
The day we moved out of the Tucker house, the movers took out the phone line with their truck. I called the Bellsouth repair service and the first thing they want is the phone number affected… well, that number had already been turned off and the computer knew it. After a couople of minutes, an actual human came on the line and I explained the situation… she had a repair truck there in less than half an hour!
And this varmint update, I used the tractor yesterday and no sign of Ratty Rat Rat. Debbie says she’ll be mowing pasture today- may be interesting.
no, I think a dog chasing you into your own house is weird shit. That has never happened to me. And – I think I would have yelled something out the window at those cops 😉
Love the rafting photo … now I want to go rafting.
The concert was lovely … now I want to go to Grand Caymen.
Barb and Allan also got introduced to the Farley. He loved them and wanted to keep them.
Barb we had one of your tomatoes – the big heirloom one – for dinner last night and it was the best tomato I’ve ever eaten. If you see me hanging around your backyard with a basket, don’t mind me.
If there are vermin on the tractor – and I WILL be checking – there will be no mowing. I demand rat-free work conditions. 🙂
if any of you ITP readers haven’t met Farley yet – you are in for a treat. That dog is huge (you really can’t appreciate how big until you see him), but so very sweet. I particularily like the lean……..
You know how big he is when you don’t have to reach over to pet him. I like Debbie’s comment, “he wanted to keep you.”
Now for an unofficial survey- I grew up eating sliced tomatoes with sugar, Debbie adds salt and pepper. I know I’m in the minority, but anyone else add sugar?
I grew up not eating tomatoes. As an adult I started, and it’s salt no pepper for me.
Allan adds salt….. I really haven’t ever heard of anyone adding sugar.
When I was little my dad put sugar on tomatoes to get me to eat them, now that I’m all grown up it’s just salt and olive oil.
Just salt here! Sugar – nope, never heard of that on a tomato. I have known of people who salt their apples though. I always thought that a little odd.
Barb! I’m drooling over your ‘matoes. And I’ll be up your neck of the woods Sunday morning (bringing a friend to check out Dawn’s rescued kittens; think she will be taking one)…. so yeah, if you see Debbie AND me in your backyard with baskets…. 😉
Yeah, the dog thing is weird. Don’t forget about your recent cat experience either – ever live anywhere else that a cat kept dashing into your house when your head was turned?
Stacy – Allan is working Saturday, so I should be around – you don’t have to sneek…….. maybe I won’t go pick any for a day or two so you can find some good ones….. Dawn doesn’t live but 2 miles or so from me. MAybe we should all do lunch?
Wow, crazy, busy day. Day one of the new contact, lots of meetings, hand shakes and fake smiles…didn’t anyone tell them I’m a numbers person?
Barney (aka Doddle Bug) chased me into my house the first time I met him. Okay maybe not chase, but he followed my from my car and up the steps. That worked out well!
Saturday was Turf Wars, Team Cougars and Cubs came in 3rd place, we did really well the first two WODs but fell apart on the truck pull.
Anyway, if you want to see what it was like…
http://youtu.be/5qxAj0zFAQg
One of the highlights of the day was watching Gabe (on of the cubs) explain to his little sister why his socks said MEAT. The low point was somehow I jacked up my knee on the last WOD.
I watched that video and it convinced me of one thing- I’ll never do anything that crazy.