By this time next week I’ll be forty-seven. Worse things could happen I suspect.
Today’s Personal Project
Mop my kitchen floor. I had a roach in my kitchen today. Ugh.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Draw up a contract for yourself that commits you to a goal.
Signing a formal contract with yourself appeals to your sense of duty and obligation, making it less likely you’ll skip out on the essential steps needed for success. A personal contract also puts procrastination on hold because it specifies when you’ll fit your commitments into an already busy schedule. Bonus: Every time you fulfill a contract with yourself, you’ll feel a sense of achievement.
I guess I should add a dotted line along the bottom to make this a contract. 🙂
Yet Another Saturday Night Home Alone
Perhaps I’ve grown a bit too comfortable spending my Saturday nights alone. After ruining what would have been a vegetarian day by eating some delicious fried chicken tenders and french fries at The Midway Pub I returned home.
Being in no mood to either get out of my bed nor watch any of the Stanford CS193p classes I surfed over to PBS’ website (linked below) and watched an American Masters show about Charles and Ray Eames. Like most people who recognize the Eames name I thought “furniture.” However, as I came to find out in the nearly ninety-minute program, Charles and Ray Eames did so much more — photography, art, architecture, film work; they were truly fascinating people. If you like watching documentaries I highly recommend watching this one.
ITP Flickr Pic
I actually worked on one photo I took during the Peachtree Road Race, but in the end decided that it was not up to the standards I want to show the world.
Riding, Napping, And Mowing
I rose early to head over to the annual Cheesy Yellow Sunday Morning Runners meetup, the only one which has occurred since last July. A group of us met, some running, and others riding. I joined ITP-Reader Barb, her hubby Allan, and our hostesses Catherine for a ride from the house to Stone Mountain and back. We kept a comfortable pace and rode about 18.8 miles in total. Post ride I ate my fair share of bacon, a n English muffin topped with crumbled breakfast sausage and cheese (a”hockey puck” as described by their maker Barb) and some cheesy eggs.
Upon arriving home I promptly took a good nap.
Around 4pm I convinced myself that the lawn needed a good mowing, and that some of the bushes and trees needed to have some limbs removed. I’m happy to say that I got out there and did the work promptly, and while I won’t say that the ITP Estate looks “good” I will say that it looks “better.”
August Planning Is Underway!
August will be a busy busy month for yours truly. I have one trip planned, a long weekend in Raleigh, and need to make the final decision about two others.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – silence at the moment because the constant commercial interruptions for the Tour de France were annoying me
Website Of The Day – Our tax dollars help pay for PBS. I’ve neglected PBS a lot over the past ten years, but I think my streaming of video from their website will be increasing.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday = cycling, ~18.8 miles
Morning Weigh-In – darn, I forgot to check
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~34.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~81.8 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Days – 2
Carnivorous Days – 13
Pancakes Eaten – 0
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
- Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
- God, No! — Penn Jillette
- The Elephant to Hollywood — Michael Caine
- Here Comes Trouble — Michael Moore
- How We Decide — Jonah Lehrer
- Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
- Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays) — Arthur Miller
- Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury
July Goals
– Take at least one load of stuff from my house to Goodwill
– Post at least ten new photos during the month (let’s try this again)
– Lose at least two pounds (net weight loss)
– Finish two books (audio or otherwise, comic books do not qualify)
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Not to get sick for the entire month (may be a moot point as of today)
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than ten days
– Watch all of the classes in the 2011 Winter semester of Stanford’s CS193P (iOS Development) course
– Ride no fewer than 150 miles
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]
It is my last DAY of being 46……..
Allan crashed hard Sunday afternoon, he said as he walked in the house, I’m going to take a shower & then a nap, & never made it to the shower.
I ended up going to a yoga class, since I couldn’t nap. (I can never nap)
I’d like to do a decent distance ride either Saturday &/or Sunday, but Saturday we have the same problem as we did this weekend, Allan may get no sleep at the firehouse. But – Sunday we have the problem of me convincing him to get up early on one of the few days he ever gets to sleep.
I planned to spend Saturday night at home, but got a call from a friend who was at Wild Wings, so I decided some wings sounded good. It was crazy busy, they had a band out in the courtyard, and a crab leg festival going on. But – it was good to catch up with her & get out of the house for a little while.
I arrived too late for any of the fun Sunday. PE and Catherine were nice enough to entertain me with a beer and catch me up on the Tour.
Yesterday’s ride was nice, I made it out past Coot’s Lake, never been that far out before. There is a really cool tunnel around mile 31 (I think). I got caught in a sun shower towards the end, it didn’t really cool things off but didn’t bother me either.
Question was is the protocol when someone starts drafing? The last five miles or so were very annoying? First there was this dude that could only pass me at intersections…as I was slowing down to check for traffic. As soon as we started riding I would have to pass him again. I could tell he was getting miffed, being passed by a ‘girl’ half a dozen times 🙂
Another guy I passed he caught back up and stayed on my back wheel…I’m not normally one to be paranoid, but I felt like I was being chased down. He didn’t say anything, finally I started a conversation with him, then I was fine but you would have thought he would say something???
We finally got our lawnmower back Saturday, Jerry is thrilled, it is working so much better plus the self-propelled drive is now working.
yeah – I like that old tunnel – it is at about 31 from the start of the trail. Where did you start?
Everyone has a different opinion on drafting, some people hate it (Sal), I personally don’t care, they are behind me. You are supposed to “ask”, because sometimes it just works out that you are riding the same pace. We actually had a skater draft off us one day out there, he was really good & liked a 15-16 mile pace & asked if we minded.
On BRAG friday last year down on the way to Hineville, Sarah noticed we had a bunch of people behind us. We decided to pull over at a corner, just to see how many people there were, it was I’d guess 40 or so. Allan was like, I don’t care, all I care about is that our group was together.
At the very minimum, someone who gets on your wheel should at least say “on your wheel” or somesuch. Sneaking up and sitting on without identifying yourself is just rude.
After being camped out in Miami for almost a week, I’m heading home this afternoon. Having only run a couple times while here, I’ll be ready to get back on my bike this weekend. I already have Friday off and may take Thursday as well.
As far as the Tour, I guess France has rednecks too- tacks on the road… what a nice touch.
Barb, I heard your man won yesterday?
-FP
well yes – Katherine & I decided Luis Leon Sanchez is good looking enough to be our new boyfriend – we will have to fight over him.
I think I would have been far more freaked out by it if we had been on a more remote part of the SCT. THe only other part that confused me, I wasn’t sure what to do, he was behind and to my left, his front wheel, may or may not have overlapped my back wheel. It (again) made me nevrous when I needed to pass, I couldn’t tell where he was and I was afraid I was going to take him out when I moved to the left. I guess these are things I need to deal with if I’m going to ride.
Don’t get me started on the skaters. They were out if full force yesterday, they make me nervous just as a general rule. Yesterday they were all going that extra mile to piss me off. One guy was trying to ‘walk his dog’, two girls just jumped right in front of us (this is where the big dude drafting earned his keep, his voice carried much better than mine) and over into the left lane, so we couldn’t get around them.
I started at the bike depot (4.2), rode out to the 35 mile mark. It’s werid, my garmin is usually right on with the mile markers until I get past 20, then I lose almost mile. I ended up with 60 on the GPS.
If you start so close in, your going to get that many more nuts/skater/dogs. But riding by yourself, maybe that’s the price you pay.
I doubt he had you overlapped… if he did, he really was an idiot. Especially with the other users on the trail.
I’m keeping an eye on Friday’s weather forecast. I’ll be going to the Botanical Garden that night for the Neko Case concert that night, and if the weather is nice I plan to take the da off and get a ride is well.
Oh, I plan to try and ride this weekend too so please keep me in the loop.
And PE keeps his “something strange in le Tour has happened” streak alive
2011 – car runs into riders, sending one of them into barbed wire
2012 – someone throws tacks into the road