STRESS

Things aren’t going well in my world, not news to any of you I realize, but it does explain the increased amount of stress that I am encountering. Exercising and losing weight would reduce some of the stress, but unfortunately they continue to take the low totem pole positions during these chilly mornings when I have a lot of work to accomplish.

Today’s Personal Project
Fix some major problems in my life.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Take a one-day break from an unhealthy habit.

We rarely take the time to explore our daily habits; they become so much a part of us that we don’t even think about them. By stepping back and identifying an unhealthy habit, you begin to take control of one aspect of your life. And by giving it a break for a day, you begin to make a commitment to change! You may even find that the one-day break isn’t as hard as you thought it would be, and this might motivate you to try it another day.

Too late, I already ate a large chunk of bread with butter and skipped my morning exercise today.

A Weekend Full Of Work, And Some Fun
I worked a lot this weekend — countless hours at home on Saturday trying to replicate the video playback features of Apple’s iOS Videos app (I had mild success) and many hours yesterday in the office attempting to make headway on some other major difficulties which have arisen in my iOS app. I won’t shoulder all of the blame for these issues, but I do have to manage some fairly intense changes in an extremely limited amount of time — during a “three-day work week.”

The weekend was not all work however. On Friday night I hung out with coworkers and past-coworkers at the house of one of a past-coworker (does that even make sense?).

Saturday evening brought BetsyFest 2012 in which much alcohol and delicious food (including Tony’s homemade pretzels and veal sausage — there’s a German name for this type of sausage I’m sure) where consumed, and countless attempts at burning Atlanta were made through fire and fireworks; thankfully the latter were failures;

ITP Flickr Pic
Talk about your party animals….

Poor Reese, now ten, had more than enough excitement for one night.

I Sat Down And Was Stood Up
I sat at the Majestic Diner for a while drinking coffee awaiting ITP-Reader Steve’s arrival.
Unfortunately for me, and more unfortunately for Steve, he had to cancel on our Majestic Diner pancake breakfast yesterday. From the sounds of things Steve’s work was going as swimmingly as mine. Upon hearing of his cancellation I ordered a short stack with eggs and had an interesting breakfast listening to the odd couple seated in the booth behind me.

From the Majestic I headed up to Chamblee and proceeded to do my laundry at the Lavanderia before making the trek further north in order to go into the office.

I Need To Find A New Taco Mac
The thrill of my local Taco Mac has gone, along with 90% of the waitresses that I liked. Further disappointing me is my inability to find a draft beer that I have not previously consumed. On the rare occasion I find a beer to order, I look at the “Out” list and find it there, probably because like me, all other beer drinkers order it because it’s one of the few they’ve not consumed.

It’s A Birthday!
Today is the actual birthday of ITP-Reader Betsy (at least according to my non-Mayan calendar). A tip of the hat to she who inspired BetsyFest. With any luck I’ll be celebrating again tonight.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – way fat
Current Music – listening to some bizarre concert from this year’s Moogfest.
Website Of The Day – “What is Moogfest?” you ask? Click that link and find out.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – not checking

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~11.7 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

Days Of Bed-Making – 9*

Vegetarian Meals – 25
Carnivorous Meals – 27
Pancakes Eaten – 2

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

November Goals
– none

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
– 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
10. White Jacket Required — Jenna Weber

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]