The Last Third

Welcome to the start of the last third of 2011.

August: Getting Closer To Better
Riding a bike again, the first time in five months, was certainly the highlight of the month. Granted I’m not yet “fixed” and with each passing week I think that the hip popping I currently experience is going to become a life-long companion.

August was not all kittens and puppy dogs, however. Health issues struck me, as well as at least one other member of my family. There was great concern for a few days, and I’m glad to report the other person seems to be recovering nicely.

All in all I’d score the month a ‘B’ with hopes that things become ‘A’ worthy for the remainder of the year.

A New Start
Last night I ate dinner at East Atlanta’s newest joint, Tomatillos. Here’s what I wrote as a “review” on EAV Buzz

My two cents:

They were getting backed up when I arrived, I was in line which stretched to the front door, and just before I ordered the credit card machine hung up.

I ordered:
– chips and salsa : Chips are thin, I like that. Salsa was good and chunky, and had decent flavor.

– pulled pork burrito, fresh jalapeños, on a spinach tortilla : Food was piping hot when it arrived. I like a burrito with rice and beans inside, so this made me happy even though the rice was more of a glutinous mass instead of nicely steamed rice. The pulled pork was good, far from the best I’ve ever eaten but quite edible. I used a lot of the “red sauce” while eating it, but this is a common practice for me.

– Coke : It’s was a fountain Coke, I’m pretty sure you know what to expect with a fountain Coke.

Bill came to $12 and change.

Burrito took some time to arrive, but as I said they were backed up when I arrived. I was okay with the wait since I had chips and salsa and a seat at a front window. I liked what I had, will return when the hankering for a burrito hits, and hope they are around for awhile.

It’s good to have a new place in the village, especially as two new places which were said to be “Coming Soon” — the fitness center in the old Ace Hardware, and the Italian Market in the old Dwellings Real Estate space — don’t seem to be.

ITP Flickr Pic
From my seat last night I could watch East Atlanta Village pass by.

Some of what I saw pleased me, some of what I saw displeased me.

You Don’t Know How Good You Have It Until It’s Gone
With September comes the thought of the East Atlanta Strut. The Strut is one of my neighborhood’s longest-running events, and combines an artists market with music, and on the morning of the Strut there is a 5k run.

There have been years in which the only reason I knew that it was Strut Saturday was because I saw traffic cones on my street marking the 5k course. Each year I say that I’m going to wake early and sit in the front yard cheering people (read “attractive young ladies”) along whilst I drink beer. The thought of doing so this year was starting to take form…

This year’s Strut will be held on September 17th, and to my great dismay the run organizers have gone and changed the course! No longer will the ITP Estate be on the course, and therefore there is little point of me getting up early and sitting in my front yard drinking beer on that day because no one will be running by.

Kinda reminds me of the year that the Hash Halloween Home Crawl (does the hash even do this any longer?) asked to use my house as a beer stop, must have changed their minds, and then never followed up with me.

Happy Birthday Martha, Um Laura, Oh Hell, Martha!
Today is ITP-Reader Martha’s birthday. You also might know her as Laura (or as “Nurse Ratchet” as I did once), but for now (and probably ever) she’ll be Martha to me.

Hope you are having a better morning than the past few and that you’ve been able to return to your cult gym to work out. 🙂

You are a great friend to me and I am still in debt for your generosity earlier this year — not to mention I still have some of your cookware and heating pad. Where does the time go???

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – overwhelmed
Current Music – silence so that I can concentrate and knock this short blog out quickly
Website Of The Day – Say you have two materials which you’d like to glue together. Stumped on how to do so? Give This to That a shot at helping you.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – I could have, but didn’t

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

September 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 twice
– 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]