No, I haven’t hooked up. How dare you think that would be a sign of the Apocalypse!
5 Guys – 5 Guys = 0 Guys
My intent yesterday was to head home from work instead of attending the monthly Roswell Photographic Society meeting. And to some degree I followed through on that.
I did leave work early yesterday, but instead my first destination was to meet with my Flickr friends at 5 Guys Burgers And Fries in Roswell.
Only one problem.
When I rolled into the shopping center 5 Guys was closed and the space was partially cleaned out — no people, no tables, no peanuts, no nothing — well, except for some trash and such.
You read that right, a 5 Guys location CLOSED! Sell your stocks and cash out your 401k because the world is coming to an end! (Note: I am neither a financial advisor nor a great prognosticator so I assume no responsibility if you sell your stocks and cash out your 401k and the world doesn’t end soon.) Not only 5 Guys, Cold Stone Creamery was also vacated. C’mon Suburbia, support your chain restaurants; it’s your duty as suburbanites.
With the discovery of the closure a phone/text tree of sorts was put into action to make sure that we five guys would have a new place at which to meet. That place was Lucky’s Burgers And Brew which also lacked much patronage (dun dun duuuuuun!). My desire was to eat a bag of 5 Guys fries for dinner, so at Lucky’s I ate a mound of tater tots while drinking a single Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA (which sadly has way more than forty-eight calories) which I made sure cost less than $7 prior to ordering.
With dinner done I stopped at Target on Sidney Marcus to buy a new pair of fat man dungarees to replace the ones that are wearing thin (The only thing on my body getting thin at the moment. HEEEEY YOOOOOOOO!), and then at QuikTrip near Sage Hill to refill the Jackmobile with gas and oil, before returning home.
ITP Flickr Pic
Remember when I used to post photos? Yeah, it’s getting harder to remember that for me as well.
I’m Requesting Help
We old men are contemplating a (short, flat) bike ride tomorrow night. The ride should not be strenuous and should be accessible for road/hybrid/mountain bikes. I was tasked with determining the starting point and route for the ride.
My first thought was the Dekalb PATH which I rode last Saturday. Admittedly there is not “much to see” on the PATH ride from East Lake Marta to Stone Mountain — it’s not very scenic.
Other considerations are the Big Creek Greenway in Alpharetta (which I understand is partially under construction) and the Roswell Riverwalk. I have limited experience with each, so I’m asking for your help. And if you know a better place which fits our criteria, please mention that in a comment too.
Thanks!
No, That’s Not Stupid At All!
My life is in transition. For some time now tree growth has obscured my satellite dish’s ability to see the necessary satellites in order to deliver a lot of content. And, the television to which my satellite receiver is connected is currently kaput. Suffice to say, I’m not watching a whole lot of television at the moment unless it’s being broadcast for free over the airwaves via horribly-inconsistent digital transmission. And though my salary is based on the medium I’m okay with that right now — I’ve much to do otherwise.
Last night I wanted “watch” Monday Night Football. A few years after the purchase of ABC by ESPN (or vice-versa?) the Monday Night Football franchise was moved from the free airwaves of ABC to the pay airwaves of ESPN. With the advent of “high” speed internet much content has also been replicated on the internet and I was initially pleased to see that Monday Night Football was being streamed live. Bonus!
At the top of ESPN’s “Watch ESPN” page is a highly-visible advertisement saying “Powered by AT&T.” Since I have AT&T U-Verse at the ITP Estate I thought that I’d be “in like Flynn” and watching live football on my laptop in no time. But no.
Even though “Watch ESPN” is “Powered by AT&T” AT&T U-Verse is not a valid Internet Service Provider for watching ESPN online. Are you fucking kidding me? Certain that I’d had misread the choices I checked the dropdown list three times — each time seeing the same three valid ISPs, none of which read “AT&T U-Verse.” FAIL. FAIL. FAIL!
I watched no football last night. Instead I watched two Stanford iOS classes from last year and a couple of sitcoms on DVD.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – very nervous about something about which I cannot currently speak (neither female, health, nor work related)
Current Music – silence because I am having trouble concentrating today and I need to concentrate
Website Of The Day – I’m not sure if I’ve ever selected Bikely as a Website Of The Day. Bikely is a user-supported database of bike rides.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – tomorrow
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 99.5 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 27 flights
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 1
Carnivorous Days – 11
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]
The Alpharetta greenway construction is almost complete, they just need to pave the connecting pieces (they are currently gravel). Some people have been walking through there though, not sure how well received that is by the hard hat crowd. There is another way around, it involves going through a neighborhood but still keeps you off the main roads. If you choose to come up here let me know and I’ll show you the re-route.
The website shows a detour (and one which avoids the neighborhood — something that irks me). How’s the riding on the rest of the greenway?
Okay, so I don’t think I’ve ever ate at a Five Guys? Is it really that good? I usually save hamburgers for after a long race or a night of drinking. I think Cold Stone has been having problems for a few years now, so I can’t say I’m surprised it was closed.
I’m no help with the bike ride, man, I really need to get back on my bike.
So I made a decison about my Garmin. I’m getting the 305 replaced, depending on what sort of battery life I get after, I maybe saving up to get a 310xt before Pine Mountain. The down side is I will be without my GPS for two weeks 🙁 What will I do??
Five Guys is good, though as with all chains the quality is dependent on the location and is seemingly in decline. The “good” thing about Five Guys is the obscene amount of french fries they give you in standard order. Well, that may neither be good for heart or waist, but emotionally it’s pretty uplifting.
Ice cream is one of my vices which is why I don’t allow myself to get it often — sorry Morelli’s. Last Friday night I did stop at Delia’s Sausage Stand and “drink” one of their Oooey Gooey Cake milkshakes. If I were diabetic I’m sure it would have killed me, but since I was consuming it on a belly mostly-filled with beer it was divine.
I just ordered a replacement band for my 305 — mine appears to be splitting at the hole I use to secure it to my wrist. If I hadn’t started using my 305 to track my bike rides I’d let you borrow it, but I currently don’t have a cyclometer attached to either bike.
Thanks, I think I might be able to make due with my BlackBerry for a little while, looks like I can get a free 7-day trial of a sport GPS Application. Or maybe I wont worry about it and just run?? Crazy idea, right!
I know some great ride around Moreland, but that might not help you much…
Martha, strange as it may seem, sometimes I even run and don’t start a stopwatch! What a concept.
Is the U-verse service restricted (bandwidth-wise)? Maybe they don’t want lots of folks streaming and clogging it up?
-FP
Greenway riding is greenway riding, there are kids and dogs and runners and walkers oh my. If you want a real ride why not do the Bike Roswell route?
U-Verse is not supposed to be service-restricted; I pay for 12Mbps download (max). What was really frustrating was seeing “Powered by AT&T” on the site only to find out that my AT&T U-Verse subscription was not eligible to watch.
Bob, the slower the better for this crowd and I’m not sure what type of bike everyone has — I’ll be on the mountain bike (which I nearly put onto the Jackmobile today so I could scout, but alas I have too much work to do — speaking of which, I better get to it.)
Paulie- I’d take the crowd to the Roswell/Alpharetta Greenway if I was you. Sounds like the safest bet.
I know this sounds really stupid, but why not just get the U-verse TV? I know, it will cost you a few bucks, so just don’t buy a few $7 beers and you will be able to pay for it. (and your waistline could benefit too)
As for Five Guys – here’s my guess – that shopping center jacked up the rent & they decided they couldn’t afford it? (you still need to take those folks to Mr. Taco – I don’t think you will be disappointed). and yes Martha – they do have good burgers, but I personally like the peanuts they have to eat while you wait.
and – Tater tots for dinner? Really? Even I, who is not the healthiest eater, wouldn’t do that. I don’t think that is what it means to eat vegetarian 😉
This may sound odd but I’d rather not have TV than pay for U-Verse TV. I don’t know how much a month it is, but I am extremely spoiled on the TV front.
I forgot about Mr Taco, though I’m not sure the crew assembled last night would have wanted to try something unknown.
It was more like “Irish Nachos” where tater tots took the place of nacho chips. I don’t even think it was vegetarian since I think there was meat hidden in the pile somewhere. Healthy? Oh hell no! But a bag of Five Guys fries isn’t healthy either. But, it was what I was craving yesterday.
What’s the closest (in relation to 285) spot for parking and getting onto the Alpharetta Greenway? I saw a reference to some park, but on Google Maps that “park” looks like an undeveloped group of trees.
I can only recall going to a 5GBF one time, which must mean I wasn’t impressed. And why it wouldn’t succeed in Roswell is pretty amazing.
I was biting my tongue, but I do agree with Barb. Tater tots, no matter how wonderful, are not a smart meal choice.
there is a lot @ Big Creek – if you go thru the first parking lot where most mtn bikers park, go down to the bottom of the hill – it is right next to the pavement. (there a bathroom there, in case that is something someone cares about)
You can park at the movie theatre (I think it is ok) at Mansell & hop on there.
there is a parking lot on N. Point Pkwy right next to a furniture store (almost across from the mall), there is a bathroom there too.
there is a parking lot on Haynes Bridge as well.
is that enough options?
Don’t feel the need to bite your tongue. Tots are AMAZING! 🙂
Almost too many options, Barb. 😉
I think Big Creek is your best option, depending on the riders getting to the construction zone may just be enough riding.
well – all are pretty easy to get to from 400 – Big Creek is off Holcomb Bridge, but it isn’t that much further to Mansell to the next 2 lots.
and – I love tater tots as well – in fact, we might grill some burgers tonight & maybe now I will bake some tots.
Oh yeah, I’m a big fan of the Tot myself. 🙂 Hmm…now I’m trying to figure out where to get some on lunch? Never visited a 5 Guys, but the way folks rave about them, I kinda think of them as the East Coast version to In-and-Out. (though as far as I know, they started on the West Coast!)
You know, if y’all want to run off them Tots and whatnot, you can come out to my T4T hash tonight! In Midtown, duh. 🙂 Okay…yeah, it’ll be more beer drinking than anything. But you WILL get exercise too! I had no idea there were so many hills in Midtown. We found ’em all.
So not just tots…tots with chesse and other stuff, even better 🙂
Maybe you could switch out your ‘no meat’ days with say, no fired food days or no soft drink/beer days or no putting stuff in mouth I can pronounce days …
Sadly I’ll be working late tonight — stupid deadline that I’m missing. And if I want to be able to play tomorrow I’ll need to hang here tonight.
Oh yeah, definitely other things — tots alone aren’t a meal! 😀 I’m going to be adjusting things a bit for the remainder of the year.
And, for those with inquiring minds, today’s lunch was Banh MÃ sandwiches. Yumm-y!
looks like I’m going biking after work today, Michelle wanted to me to go to Silver Comet, but I talked her into a ride to Kennesaw mtn. I don’t think I will be going up it – I’m really need to get riding more before attempting that.
And work is sucking….. so hopefully I can even get out of here. I see this fall as being a long, crappy fall work wise.