I Could Have Walked Forever

With the temperature moderate, cloud cover protecting me from the sun, a nice breeze, strong legs, and no desire to go in to the office I could have walked forever this morning. As it turned out I relented and cut my walk down to 5.5 miles.

Today’s Personal Project
Work an eight-hour day, leave, go grab a beer at Taco Mac, and then go home.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Lie face-up on the floor with your legs together, lift them into the air, and slowly lower them.

This exercise provides a real challenge for your core! To bring your legs all the way up, you need to engage your abdominal muscles and lower back – and do the same as your legs slowly come down. You also have to call on the large muscles in your thighs to power your legs up. Finally, this quick exercise may also get your heart rate up a little bit!

This is part of my stretching routine, so I can honestly say that I did today’s challenge already.

Short Turn Around
I never made it to Taco Mac last night. In fact, I missed the entire Packers/Bears game too. I didn’t leave the office until 0:945pm last night, and by the time I arrived home (forty minutes later) I was beat. I opened a small bottle of Gatorade, swigged it while watching a podcast, and then promptly went to sleep.

This morning’s 05:00am alarm was not welcome, but at least I slept well.

iPhone 5 Complaints #2 and #3
The first thing I did this morning was pre-order my iPhone 5. The process took longer than expected because of two annoyances:

1. I was confused about my AT&T text messaging plan not showing up in the order details. Turns out that AT&T no longer offers the plan that I was purchasing so I had to choose the “unlimited” plan for $20/month, $5/month more than I am currently paying. Stay classy, AT&T.

2. Apple’s website would not allow me to specify a shipping address other than the one tied to my credit card, even though I have a different default shipping address assigned in my account settings.

I was concerned that the initial projected shipping date for the iPhone 5 was next Friday, a day on which I intended to be nowhere near my shipping address. My concern was for naught, because by 05:15am EDT today Apple had sold out of their initial shipment, so I’ll have to wait two weeks for my order to ship.

Also included in my order is one, thirty-pin to Lightning adaptor for $30. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

No Riding, Strutting
I decided that this weekend would be devoid of bike riding so that I can get a haircut and then enjoy the East Atlanta Strut on Saturday. On Sunday I plan to do laundry (gee, I hope no one smacks the shit out of the Jackmobile this time), clean up the Jackmobile, and then go into the office to work (and watch football).

Before I know it Monday will return and I will be harried for the entirety of next week before heading out for camping.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – listening to the “Human League Cover Story” podcast put out by Coverville
Website Of The Day – As I do each time this year I pimp my neighborhood’s arts and music festival, the East Atlanta Strut. As I do each time this year I regret not having my front yard in good shape and a cooler of beer ready to hand out to runners, who may or may not run past by my house during the East Atlanta Strut 5k.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – walking/jogging, ~5.7 miles
Morning Weigh-In – I should have checked this morning, but didn’t

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~48.9 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~50.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Meals – 21
Carnivorous Meals – 15
Pancakes Eaten – 3

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

September Goals
– Wear “nice” clothes to work at least twice a week, if for no other reason than to have people wonder why I am dressing up. New!
– Eat no fewer than forty-five vegetarian meals
– Take at least one load of stuff from my house to Goodwill
– Take unused electronics to recycling center
– Post at least ten new photos during the month
– Lose at least two pounds (net weight loss)
– Finish two books (audio or otherwise, comic books do not qualify)
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Ride no fewer than 100 miles
– Walk (or run) no fewer than 100 miles
– Do no fewer than 750 sit-ups
– Do no fewer than 300 push-ups
– Read a non-techincal book

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

Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
2. Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
3. God, No! — Penn Jillette
4. The Elephant to Hollywood — Michael Caine
5. Here Comes Trouble — Michael Moore
6. How We Decide — Jonah Lehrer
7. Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
8. Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays) — Arthur Miller
9. Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]