Or at least is starting today. I had a late start this morning (stupid comfortable bed) but that didn’t stop me from dropping into LA Fitness for sixty (Galloway Method) minutes.
Today’s Personal Project
Limit myself to two beers at happy hour. I’d say one beer, but who am I kidding? And if I jokingly said no beer, then what’s the point of going to happy hour?
Today’s Daily Challenge
Reach out to someone you have looked up to in the past and say thank you.
Connecting with someone who inspired you in the past can energize your thinking, because it takes you out of the moment and helps you remember that time in your life. This may help you project to a future time and inspire you to make changes or work toward goals.
I actually tried to do this yesterday. However, I keep forgetting that I accidentally set up two LinkedIn accounts and can communicate with only a portion of the people I know since I have forgotten the username/password for one of those accounts.
Theatre Me Not
I should have never looked into the plot of “The Whipping Man.”
“Oh, I hear it’s rather depressing.” said one coworker when I mentioned my evening’s plans. And with that and seeing a tweet from Atlanta INtown Paper about their review of the play I was one my way to canceling my plans.
It is an uneasy, dark, disturbing look at a peculiar moment in the American South, at the close of the Civil War, when the United States as a nation almost ceased to be.
reads one passage of their review, and reading
The play begins in near darkness as a cry of pain pierces the air: Caleb, the scion of a Southern Jewish family, has dragged himself home on a near dead horse, nursing a gangrenous leg. The horse drops dead, and Caleb (Jeremy Aggers) will soon follow, unless part of his leg is amputated. This grisly task will be performed by Simon (Keith Randolph Smith), the dilapidated plantation’s foreman, and John (John Stewart), the only other person around. Simon and John are newly freed slaves; they’ve been raised as Jews themselves, and Simon seems more devout than Caleb, whose hideous wartime experiences have left him doubting the existence of God.
Back to the amputation. Are you squirming? I was, because for a horrible moment I thought we were going to witness that onstage. We don’t, but Simon, like a Greek chorus, tells us the gruesome, graphic details of what will happen to Caleb if they don’t operate (without anesthesia, except for lots of liquor). Then the curtain of charity is drawn over the scene, figuratively and literally.
was all it took to keep me away.
I’m finally escaping the chasm of darkness which has loomed above me for three weeks, why subject myself to this subject now?
Instead I joined coworkers for a Thursday happy hour at Twisted Taco.
ITP Flickr Pic
One of our happy hour group got a little carried away.
Not me; I was drinking beer.
Dropbox Is Dropping The Ball
Sometime during the week I heard of Dropbox‘s new Mac client. I have been a fan of the cloud-sharing service for years so I immediately upgraded.
What a mistake.
At first I was dismayed at the changes they made in the menu dropdown, sure it looks nicer, but it moved critical functionality and data one more step away. But then the real problems started.
The problem started with the app losing its ability to sync — it’s killer feature. Then, the menu bar item would be hung, showing only a OS X “spinning beach ball” the Mac’s equivalent of an hourglass every time I hovered over it. Finally, my MacBook’s fan started making noise as if the laptop were trying to launch itself from my lap. This never happened with any 1.x install of the application.
The only solution is to whack Dropbox over the head with the UNIX “killall Dropbox” and then restart it. This is far from an ideal situation from a company whose service upon which I’ve come to rely.
I am not the only one experiencing grief, the Dropbox forums are littered with similar stories and pleas for Dropbox to fix their software.
A Wet Weekend Ahead?
Things don’t look great for this weekend, unless of course you are like me and have a ton of indoor chores to accomplish. At some point I may find myself at a lavanderia, but I think most of the rest of the weekend will be spent inside listening to podcasts and audiobooks whilst I work.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – a little better, wishing the weekend’s weather forecast was sunnier
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – Could this be my birthday trip? Vermont Bike & Brewery Tour. Could I possibly tack on a visit to the Canadian Maritimes with it? I don’t know, but the concept intrigues me.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – sadly, 213.6 pounds
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~3.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~42.0 miles
Gym Visits – 3 (3 cardio)
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Meals – 28
Carnivorous Meals – 29
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
March Goals
– not get sick
– lose two pounds
– walk/run no fewer that 50 miles
– lift weights at the gym no fewer than eight times
– finish at least two of the books I am reading
– take at least one box of things to Goodwill
– post at least ten photos in the blog
– drink a lot less alcohol
– prepare a house repair plan and budget
– return ITP-Reader Martha’s coffee percolator to her
– return ITP-Terri’s crutches to her
2013 Goals: Measurable
– Get my weight down to 190 pounds so that I can wear a 36″ waist pants comfortably
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Dissolve Sharpened Stone
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Completely run at least one 10k
– Fix all (or at least most) of the things which are wrong with the ITP Estate
2013 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Simplify, simplify, simplify
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– 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)
– Take two real vacations, perhaps one abroad
– Take a more proactive approach to meeting women (read “stop being such a pussy”)
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2013
- Pages 1.7 for iPad (Timestompers Guide) – by Sean Wells
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Skipping that play – I second that.
Vermont bike & brewery tour – that looks like an excellent idea. Our RAGBRAI plan may be messed up (Team Wimpy leader sold the bus, not sure what the new guy is doing yet). So, I may be looking for a new summer vacation idea.
Is it really Friday? God it’s been a long week. 13 employee reviews, 12 got no raise…wow that was fun.
Meet with the designer again yesterday, got the first draft of the designs…so happy right now! I think what he is proposing will work really well for us. We made a few, minor changes, he’ll have those to us next week. Once we get the plans finalized we can start working on the finance side.
No big plans this weekend. I want to get the house sorted out, run a little race and maybe ride the bike (I know it’s going to be rainy). We might also go to the Home Show, see what’s out there. Barb, I think that’s up in your neck of the woods.
Oh, I missed the bike/brew tour. I did a bike/wine tour in NC a few years back, it was fun. Probably would have been more fun with someone other than the one I went with…If Jerry would get a bike, I would consider doing something like it again.
Oh, I remember you doing that trip Martha. That was the first one I looked at, but NC can have serious hills, and this VT trip is around my birthday. The biggest “if” about the idea is driving to/from and my scant amount of vacation. Oooh, if I book by April 8 I can save 10% using a coupon code!
Unrelated: My REI dividend arrived yesterday (about $33), I think I may be buying a new pair of comfortable walking shoes soon…
our REI dividend came, we obviously don’t shop often at REI – we got a whopping $4.80.
Home Show is at the Galleria – I went a few years back, it was almost bad, got TOO MANY new ideas for things, if you know what I mean. Find a coupon or BOGO free……..
Oh I know what you mean, I’m having a hard enough time keeping Jerry in check. He started pouting yesterday when I said the ‘wine fridge’ might have to wait/is not a must have…we hardly even drink wine…don’t even ask his reaction when for a few brief moments we didn’t have a place for the big screen tv.
I also got my REI dividend…$271 (note: I have an REI rewards card, I don’t shop *that much* at REI)…I bought the bike rack last year, no big plans for it this year. Maybe a new sleeping bag for BRAG STU.
Yes some of the hills were brutal, I would hope I would handle them better now, not that I’d want to do them…
Wow, that trips does sound like fun. Maybe a little pricey though.
Speaking of upgrades- my replacement phone arrived yesterday and I think I have managed to lose most of my contacts. I haven’t given up quite yet, but I know I had Barb in there under Primer and it’s gone. Fck!
I was fighting the good fight with the phone last night instead of riding. Maybe there is a run at lunch.
Tomorrow, off to Delray Beach Fl to work a bike race. And back first thing Sunday morning!
A great weekend all.
-FP
What about the “Green Egg Dome” is that still in the plans. 🙂
Steve, I am finding out that all these trips are pricey. The one I selected would provide a bike, but I’d really want to ride my own steed. There was a cheaper company that I found but I don’t know if it’s the same trip and they aren’t specifying dates.
Vermont is pretty effing hilly, but absolutely beautiful. Sounds like a wonderful trip.
I’ll be an enthusiastic third that skipping the play was an excellent choice. What a downer.
And Martha – I’m glad you’ve got the fun of the house plans to shake off that week.
Off to do our taxes. Joy.
For now the BGE is homeless, but when the deck is build (phase II) it will have its own special place.
Any organized tour is pricy – but you just have to suck it up, not worry about it & enjoy. They do all the work.
Allan really wants to do the Chris King gourmet century some day out in Portland, that would take some serious training but I hear it has amazing food & drinks along with a great bike ride.
Martha – Allan & I have an Amazon Rewards Visa card – that way he can buy books with that “free” money, so I don’t get annoyed at all the money that is spent on books at our house.
Steve – my problem with my iPhone is I have double entries for everyone, the way the phone#s and email addys imported, it is annoying, but I haven’t taken the time to condense but a few.
Yes, what Barb said. The great thing about the tour was all I had to worry about was pedaling my bike (and if I didn’t want to, well there was someone there to drive me).
I have an Amazon card as well, I think I’ll use it more this year, maybe earn enough points to take care of Christmas.
Can anyone tell I’m doing my best to avoid work today??
Well I’m watching Debbie’s man Fabian ride away from the field in one of the second tier classics. How’s that for being productive?
Debbie’s man just spanked them all by a minute! Very impressive.
Yeah, but how did he look? 🙂
Taxes done with good results; I guess I shouldn’t have been procrastinating.
What’s the scoop on the wine glass photo Paulie? It doesn’t appear that there was any blood shed, so that’s good.
Taxes done with good results – congrats to you!
Ours were not good results, I told Allan we are poor for the next month, stop spending money, so we have enough in the bank account for us to be able to pay on 4/15.
Last night was “Acoustic Thursday” at Twisted Taco. As the guitar player played my boss “tapped” his wine glass on the table and, oops! Luckily no blood was shed nor was wine spilled. Oddly his next glass of wine was free — some guys have all the luck.