Oh Boy

I hated the number I saw on the scale this morning. Going to implement a twice-a-week weigh-in (Monday/Thursday mornings) to remind myself that the Big Picture includes getting smaller.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Get up and move around at least once this morning and afternoon
Guaranteed.

How Is It That I’ve Never Been To The Original Pancake House?
You know that my goal to “Eat more pancakes” was stated a little tongue-in-cheek (with maple syrup). But I do love pancakes.

On Saturday morning I decided to rectify one of my greatest Atlanta deficiencies — eating at The Original Pancake House. The location I chose was the one on Lavista at Cheshire Bridge since it fit well with my plans to head into the office for a little while afterward.

It took no more than the handwritten sign “We have pumpkin pancakes” for me to know what I’d be ordering. The place was packed when I arrived around 9:00am (I know, a terrible time to arrive for breakfast) but I fortunately didn’t have to wait long for a table. A stack of three pumpkin pancakes (with an unfortunate heavy-handed sprinkling of powdered sugar) we placed in front of me, and I ate the entire plate while I consumed copious amounts of coffee.

I shall return.

A Great Show At The EARL
On Saturday evening I went to The EARL for The Mountain Goats show. You may recall that this was the show I mentioned being held at Variety Playhouse, but thankfully I checked my calendar and corrected my error prior to heading out for the evening.

The show was billed as being sold out, but I honestly don’t know why since the room was not 100% filled. Perhaps it was the notification that this show was to be a non-smoking show at the artist’s request? Regardless I had a wonderful time at the show, which ended at a respectable 12:30am, and was amused when the two couples I followed back to my car (there’s safety in numbers) to find that they were the owners of the cars parked in front, and in back of the Jackmobile.

ITP Flickr Pic
Yesterday I went out to do laundry and was able to follow that with some time watching Chinese New Year celebrations.

I didn’t get many good shots (poor planning on my part, fireworks going off all around me startling me often, whatever) but I did get a couple to share.

One Good Dinner Decision, The Other, Well…
Last night I had a wonderful time at ITP-Reader Barb’s house for a beef stroganoff dinner. I was asked if I could bring a loaf of homemade bread and a bottle of wine. No. Problem.

On Saturday I made a loaf of bread as a “backup” in case I didn’t have time on Sunday to make the dinner rolls I really wanted to bring to the party. With barely enough time after arriving home from laundry and Chinese New Year celebration I started the bread machine making dough for the rolls. This was a dough recipe which had not failed me.

Until yesterday.

When the bread machine completed its ninety-minute process the dough inside was one wet mess. I dumped the contents onto a well-floured board and fought with the messy dough, adding far more flour than should have been required. I cut the dough into ten rolls and popped them into the oven. At the completion of the baking I looked at my creation, and decided that no one but me should be subjected to eating them.

The loaf of bread was really good.

Given that one of the dinner party participants is well-versed and well-stocked with wine I picked out a bottle from my cellar which I hoped wouldn’t embarrass me. The bottle I brought was a 2003 Adobe Road Cabernet Sauvignon. Compared the to wine she brought I might as well have been contributing a 2011 Trader Joe’s Cabernet Sauvignon for my bottle of cab didn’t hold a candle to the first three bottles the group consumed.

You win some. You lose some. But in the end a fantastic tasting dinner with good conversation trumps all.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – silence for the moment
Website Of The Day – Most of you will never need Can I Use, but this might make a web developer’s day.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 213 pounds (WHAT?!?)

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~11.7 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~6.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

Days Of Bed-Making – 4

Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 29
Pancakes Eaten – 6

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

January Goals
– Lose at least one pound (net weight loss)
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash (though I’m beginning to think that this will never happen)
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than ten days
– Not get fired from my job, nor quit my job
– Follow up with doctors, lawyer, women in whom I have interest
– Participate in a least one dinner party (perhaps held at my house when plumbing issues are addressed?)
– Go out on a least one date with a woman in whom I have interest
– Submit 2012 paperwork for Sharpened Stone, LLC
– Gather all tax paperwork for 2011 income taxes
– Request free credit report
– Successfully arrange for automatic payments for my mortgage
– Watch all of the classes in the 2011 Winter semester of Stanford’s CS193P (iOS Development) course

2012 Goals [will be a little less fluid than last year]
– Get my weight under 200 pounds, or at least whittle myself back down to where wearing a 36″ pant size is comfortable
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than one one 10K
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
– Restore the ITP Estate to a condition where it can be put up for sale at any time
– Buy a new iPhone (iPhone 5?), a new iPad (iPad 3?), and MacBook Air [look, not all goals have to be altruistic]

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient and profitable programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
– See more live concerts than I did in 2011
– Eat more pancakes
– Drive/Fly somewhere for a real vacation

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]