Today brings the tenth month of 2012 to a close.
Today’s Personal Project
Get my shit straight.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Put your fork down between bites at one meal today.
Most of us can eat a meal in under 10 minutes, yet it takes our stomachs at least 20 minutes after we’re done eating to signal our brains that we’re no longer hungry. When you slow down your eating, you give your stomach a chance to catch up to your brain, which means you may actually eat less. By setting down your fork, you slow down the whole process.
That should be easy (or hard, depending how you look at things) for me to accomplish since so few of the meals that I eat these days require a fork.
October Recap
I was hoping that October was going to be awesome. Well, it wasn’t really, and I didn’t have to deal with a major hurricane.
The only positives of the month were spending a weekend at LEAF with ITP-Readers Lisa and Randy, and eating more than fifty vegetarian meals.
The month’s negatives were plentiful — no bike rides, a dropping of exercise with the dropping of the temperature, no loss of weight (in fact, if you believe today’s weigh-in I’ve added weight), no dates nor even a hint at returning to the dating pool.
Here’s to hoping that November is much better.
Old And Cold
I’ve been noticing that I am doing fewer things in the later part of the evening, most noticeably I’ve been skipping concerts solely because I don’t feel like staying out late.
Such was the case last night. After a much more successful trip to my local Taco Mac I headed back into East Atlanta. I was feeling okay, it was probably close to 10pm (in fact, it was probably slightly later than that) so I could have popped into The EARL to hear Gringo Star put on a set of music as an opening act. I’ve been a long-time supporter of Gringo Star, seeing them often when they were called A Fir Ju Well, and for the past few years their bass player has been “Two Crabs Fucking’s” son Chris. But I just wasn’t feeling it…
Instead I returned home to a how so cold you’d swear it was occupied by a scorned lover (Ha! Talk about impossibilities in my life!). I think the thermostat read 59° F when I entered and by the time I got out of bed the temperature had sunk to 57° F (fear not, I have a space heater and keep my bedroom at a much more tolerable level).
We’ll see how I do tonight; I have a ticket for the Titus Andronicus show at 529 tonight.
Flannels And Space
One of the first things that I did upon returning home was to strip my bed of its cotton sheet set and replace it with a flannel sheet set. Ooooh, waaaarm.
As I mentioned previously I also have started employing the services of a small electric space heater to try and warm my space. Funny thing I realized this morning, the space heater works much better if you clear the dust from the screen which sits behind its fan; something to do with airflow or something, but what do I know, I’m no scientist.
Colliding Calendars!
Who amongst you has combined two weeks’ worth of stuff into one? I have been trying.
All week I have been under the impression that this was the weekend of the FDR State Park campout. I’ve allowed my camping gear to sit in the kitchen since LEAF; I’ve been telling people at work that I won’t be in the office Friday; I had planned to go grocery shopping tonight for the items I need to bring with me on Friday.
The camping trip is next weekend.
Perhaps I should try to schedule some things I’ve been putting off because I expected to be out of town of Friday…
Good News From The Northern Front
In a quick phone conversation with my mother last night I heard that my brother, aka ITP-Reader Ronnie, has been bailing water out of his basement but they did not suffer any major damage.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – listening to a KEXP podcast featuring The Orbital
Website Of The Day – I’m always looking for new ways to acquire music. Yesterday I stumbled across You License.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 206 pounds? Ooof.
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~60.3 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Days Of Bed-Making – 19 (I suppose had I made my sleeping bag and blanket in Black Mountain I could have claimed credit)
Vegetarian Meals – 53
Carnivorous Meals – 21
Pancakes Eaten – 4
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
October 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
– Find someone else to go out on a date with
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
So, I finally take the time to read today, & no ones here?
our computers are on drugs today, I finally got thru the log in screeen, after an hour of being locked out due to a firewall? Now, our actual freight moving site just doesn’t want to work.
I haven’t put the flannel sheets on yet, but damn I need to, those cotton sheets are cold. We haven’t turned on the heat yet, I LOVE sleeping with lots of blankets on the bed, I’ve had 3 good nights of sleep. I slept like crap out on Sedona, our room had 2 very small double beds, so Allan & I slept separate, and I never sleep well in hotel rooms anyway.
Sedona was totally awesome, if you’ve never been, you really ought to go check it out. The hiking was very cool, took the entire family Friday (well, except Tom, he had wedding stuff to get ready for) to Devils Bridge. The hike was a little longer that we wanted for my parents, 4 miles, but the road was too 4 wheel drive ish, so we couldn’t park at the parking area we wanted. But – they all handled it just fine., except the parents didn’t get to the actual Devils Bridge, it was a little too steep & trecherous for them.
Saturday Allan & I hiked to Cathedral Rock – that was a tough one, very steep on lots of slick rock. But – it was very, very cool.
Sunday we did a hot air balloon ride with my mom, that is now crossed off the bucket list, another very cool thing to do (but not often, too much $$)
We also found some local wineries nearby – 3 almost next to each other, so that was fun. Had some local beer too.
Welcome back Barb, sounds like you had a great trip!
I remember reading something that made it sound like you thought the camping was this weekend, but I didn’t think much about it…figured I just misunderstood. Since I’m probably not coming down until Saturday, I may send a couple of things down with you for if that’s okay (campstove and some paper products).
I need to pull things out to see what I have/need…it’s been awhile.
We’ve had the space heater out for a couple of day but it seems to be causing a breaker to flip. I guess we need to move it to another outlet. My poor house was not designed for all of today’s electronic devices. If/when we do an additon, we will need to upgrade the electric system as well.
I went for a run last night, while a little chilly when I started it was perfect once I got moving.
Sorry I’m late.. When your day starts off with the alarm clock thinking it’s no longer Daylight Savings Time and you’re already an hour late, it isn’t going to be a good day.
Glad Sedona was cool, Barb. It has always been a favorite place that I’ve only managed to get to one time but have always wanted to go back to and show to the current administration.
Good to hear Ronnie is only a little wet. Debbie and I discussed being in NYC when something like this breaks out… wouldn’t be a fun time.
-FP
I’d love flannel sheets but Steve is opposed, so my fleece jammy pants have to suffice. I challenged Steve to not turn on the heat until Nov. 1, but we caved and turned it on Monday. Stepping out of the shower into a sub 60-degree bathroom is no fun.
Barb, I was very jealous of your hot air ballon ride especially in that area. Your whole trip sounds great – you guys packed a lot into a short time and oh yeah how was the wedding? 🙂
I’m so sick of wind. It was fairly calm this morning, but now it is whipping again. No real interest in going outside til it stops.
I’m not a big fan of the flannel sheets myself, but after the raving here, maybe I should give them another try?
This space heater thing is intriguing too. Why are folks using space heaters? Is it mainly just to cut down on heating costs? Or is there something about them that’s really awesome these days? I have radiator heat but might consider a space heater… are there some particularly good ones out there?
I was *trying* to make it to 1 Nov before I turned on the heat, but I caved last night when the thermostat said 60 degrees and the cats looked at me with shivering in their eyes. I’ve got flannel sheets AND a flannel comforter!
Stacy, I use a space heater in the bedroom since our thermostat is programmed to drop to 60 overnight. I’m more comfortable a bit warmer than that, so it’s more energy efficient to do the smaller area with a space heater.
We have a great one that Steve got at Lowes. It’s probably 4 feet long and puts out major heat very quietly.
the wedding – oh yeah – it was very nice. They rented a park pavilion (Red Rocks park) or some name like that (it is where the Cathedral Rock hike started) & it was funny, the Ramada Pavilion costs $90 to rent, but it comes with 10 car passes, and it costs $9 per car to get into the park, so the pavilion was in a sense free.
We hiked about 1/4 mile to a slick rock area by a stream, and a cute little ceremony, hiked back to the pavilion for some dinner & drinks. I think there was 22-25 people.
The one complaint I had about Sedona is their lack of lighting in the evening, I know it is so you can see the stars, etc. better, but it is damn hard to find places when they barely have signs.
I don’t even know if we have a space heater, and the cold bathroom KILLS me in the morning, I begged for a heated floor when Allan re-did it – he didn’t listen.
Oh hi there!
Flannel sheets are awesome, except for the whole “I don’t want to leave this warm bed” thing.
When you are single with no pets heating the entire house seems excessive (and expensive) so I’ve closed myself off in my bedroom, which has a bathroom attached, and live in that space overnight. I just have to remember to turn the space heater off before falling asleep — call me paranoid.
I’m envious of your hot-air ballooning. Even though I am afraid of heights it’s something that I want to do. There is a hot air balloon festival in Anderson, SC this weekend (this actual weekend) but now that I know what weekend this is I know of the things I have planned which will keep me from attending.
the basket you ride in comes up to about mid stomach, chest height. You can’t fall out……. though I did worry about dropping my hat or camera looking over & down. We had a great captain, he was quite funny & told us lots of stuff about the area.
J E A L O U S of the balloon ride.
The space heater is an oil based one- if it makes a sound, I can’t hear it.. (EH?)