The Next Step

I’m due to see a podiatrist today at 8:30am. I’m hoping to find the cause of my foot pain and walk away (pun intended) with a plan for returning to health.

I miss exercising.

Of course, my foot is feeling much better today. It’s just like taking your car to a mechanic, by the time you get to one the noise you’ve been hearing for weeks goes away.

Today’s Daily Challenge
List two things you like about your body.

Many of us tend to focus on the negatives or compare ourselves to others when we think and talk about our bodies. This negative talk – to ourselves and with others – can feed on itself and erode our self-esteem. By focusing on two positive aspects of your body, you can better appreciate what makes you special.

Huh, two things?
Really?
Nope, can’t think of any at the moment.

Oh wait, I do like my calf muscles.

I Am Getting Twice The Value
Tonight I will be using my “dinner for two” Scoutmob deal (that expires next week) at The Barrelhouse. Under normal circumstances I’d offer up the extra space to one of my friends, but I think tonight I’m going to fly solo.

ITP Flickr Pic
“Bread And Water”
Bread And Water
When I was a child one of the reasons I was told that I did not want to be sent to prison was that all I’d get to eat were bread and water; I always thought that would be okay.

This was my dinner Sunday night, a freshly-baked loaf of bread (well, at least a portion of that) and some “drinking” water.

With the help of my bread machine I’ve learned to make a mean loaf of bread. Now it’s time to take the next step and start making loaves from dough I’ve prepared. Or pizza. Yeah, pizza sounds good.

I Want To Get Away
I am starting to consider vacations and it appears that there will be no “big trip” again this year. I contemplated making 2013 the year I “finally” travel abroad to Europe, but at this time I have no real impulse for doing so.

There is a Amazon Local deal for two nights up in North Carolina (Bryson City) that I am contemplating; it’s a room for two, but that’s no different than a room for one, so a three-day weekend away in July is a possibility.

Honestly, the thing that sort of seems the most appealing to me is renting a house in North Georgia for a month, taking my laptop and iPad and getting away from everything; except there is this whole “job” thing which doesn’t allow me to take nearly that much time away.

Maybe I’ll foot the $4k bill (pun intended again) and take a week-long training class at Big Nerd Ranch in August since my employer seems hesitant to let me go.

Jack Of All Trades
Speaking of Big Nerd Ranch…

On a whim last night I started reading Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X — by Aaron Hillegas; Hillegas is the founder of Big Nerd Ranch.

I’m trying to get an understanding of how programming a Mac is different than programming an iOS device. While the Mac’s marketshare is minuscule in comparison to iOS’ I have this feeling that it would be beneficial to my career to understand how to program for each.

The scary thing? I really like this sort of thing. Computer programming is really the right career for me.

Fun Fact: The foundation of Cocoa (OS X) and Cocoa Touch (iOS) programming is NeXTStep the foundation created by NeXT engineers; NeXT was the company started by Steve Jobs after he was ousted at Apple.

Pretty amazing how I tie it all together, eh?

Two Seasons One Down
My lack of ambition has led me down the path of success for “television” viewing. Last night I watched the season one finales for both The Office and Arrested Development.

Today’s Personal Project
Enjoy myself at The Barrelhouse.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – I (as well as many others) received a postcard in the mail from Single ATL a “matchmaking” service. I know that it was a mass-mailing since it was addressed to “VALUE READER.”
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – not checking

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 0 (0 cardio)

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Meals – 3
Carnivorous Meals – 4

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

June Goals
– get my foot to stop hurting
– return ITP-Reader Martha’s coffee percolator to her

- return ITP-Terri’s crutches to her

- not get sick

- 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

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

  1. Pages 1.7 for iPad (Timestompers Guide) — by Sean Wells
  2. 60 Mountain Lion Tips — by David Sparks and Brett Terpstra
  3. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business — by Charles Duhigg
  4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy — by Douglas Adams

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

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22 Responses to The Next Step

  1. Barb says:

    Want to go to Iowa with me for my 30th class reunion for your birthday? LOL
    Allan doesn’t want to go & now that we are NOT going up there for RAGBRAI, I will fly up just for the weekend. The plane tickets are $400 . My mom said she’d pay for half of it becuae I jsut can’t pay that much to go to Iowa.

  2. Steve says:

    Wow.. how did they know you were single and in the market but didn’t address it to you? That must be some kind of tracking software they have… 🙂

    An evening of bush whacking and pool swabbing. It was a little warm last night so I had a good sweat going on by the time I was done at 8:30. The pool is a lovely shade of green, but after I load it up tonight, all those little algae will go and meet their maker.

    We say goodbye today to Daisy. She was going to be one of our brood mares, but we decided that wasn’t going to happen right now, so back she goes to her original owner. That leaves an opening on the roster for a possible “husband horse”. Stay tuned.

    -FP

  3. Steve says:

    Barb, flying into Chicago and driving wouldn’t save any money?

  4. Barb says:

    by the time I rent a car & gas & time (its 4 hours from Chicago)- Nope. Not when I’m just going for the weekend. and – now that Delta finally has direct flights to Cedar Rapids (though being too expensive) I’m going use it.

    Allan is off playing boy scout today at some sort of day camp at Jim R Miller park. Some friends that are way too into scouting asked if he could come help out. Should be some interesting storries tonight……

  5. Paulie [eatl/ga] says:

    I was considering going to my 30th reunion as well. I guess I shouldn’t have made plans to go down to Florida in June. Ooops.

    Steve, they obviously didn’t know me very well since they addressed it to “reader.” Lol

  6. Martha says:

    It is pretty amazing how dead on some of the mass market ads can be. They probably did a search of the “database”, saw only one name associated with your address and boom! ads for match making services, I get tons of catalogs for athletic clothing…other times they can be really, really off, I get post cards for children’s dental care (we accept Medicaid) and clothing magazines targeted towards a more ‘urban’ audience, lots of big, church hats and the like.

    My 25th was last year, I think they did a pot luck at someone’s house… needless to say, I did not attend. I didn’t like most of those people 25 years ago, I doubt much has changed.

    Two things, that’s easy. My eyes and my quads (while I do have a bit of a love/hate thing going on with my quads they are pretty awesome).

    So what’s up with the foot? I’m riding Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

  7. Barb says:

    I’m up for riding one or both days, not sure what is on our agenda.
    What mileage are you thinking?
    We are considering going to watch some roller derby here in Marietta Saturday afternoon/evening, hasher Bitch Fork is playing at the Marietta Civic center right on the South Marietta Pkwy.

  8. Martha says:

    I have 50 on the schedule for both days. Pretty sure I’m going to hit the SCT on Saturday, I have intervals, then maybe Sosebee or something for Sunday.

  9. Jenka says:

    A good friend of mine from childhood lives in Cedar Rapids, and once I flew into Moline, IL to go visit. That was cheaper and the drive wasn’t too long.

    I need to try the Barrelhouse. Let us know how it turns out!

    My 20th is happening this fall. I missed the 15th so I’m excited for the 20th.

    I totally got that Single ATL flyer, too, except it was actually addressed to me! WTF?!

  10. The verdict is ——-> tendonitis. Three x-rays done, no breaks / fractures found. The podiatrist says I was lucky because many times when an injury such as mine occurs the tendon also damages the bone. I have anti-inflamatories and an appointment for a follow-up visit next week.

    I’d like to say that I found a cool new coffeehouse in Dunwoody, but I haven’t. I did find another Starbucks, however.

    There was a part of me that really wanted to go back for my 30th as I missed the 10th and 20th and there was no 25th.

    Jenka, a full report will be filed tomorrow. If they addressed it to you it must mean that they really want you as a customer; I’m just another address in someone’s database.

  11. On a different note: I have (once again) decided to become a rugby fan. Anyone have pointers on how to learn the rules and which leagues to follow?

  12. Jenka says:

    Nah, I’m thinking they probably troll the public records. What are the odds that I get a matchmaking flyer addressed to me within days of my divorce finalization being filed at Fulton County Courthouse?

  13. Oh, I shouldn’t have given them your name? 🙂

    (just kidding of course)

  14. Barb says:

    Tendonitis – fun times.

    AirTran (or Delta) stopped going to Moline, so that isn’t any cheaper anymore. I used to fly into there, its about 1.5 hrs to my parents.
    I’ve actually made it to all my reunions (10, 20 & 25), only because of my parents still living there, and I don’t get home enough.

    With FB and a special website, I’m learning a lot about my classmates before I go, and it makes me sort of want to go more, but sort of less, and I already know what so many of them are up to. Here’s a scary fact (part of the reason Allan doesn’t want to go) out of 150 or so that graduated with me, I’d say 90 still live in Iowa (and another 20-15 live in the surounding states.) That & the fact that so many places are all about lite beers (at RAGBRAI the beer selection was usualy 4 lite beers and maybe if you are lucky, one full strength & you know Allan & Lite beer, he won’t drink it)

  15. Martha says:

    I believe Tank (buzz) plays and the ‘Australian’ might be able to help you…should be pretty easy to get some info.

    Um, tendonitis? My money was on gout 🙂 I hope it is resolved soon.

  16. Steve says:

    That is pretty funny on all counts.

    Did the Dr. give you any stretches to do or any other PT? I was wondering if my running is causing more problems rather than helping.

    20th Jenka? You just made me feel really old!! My 35th was LAST year! Ugh.

  17. Martha says:

    Steve, I have a set of foot exercises that I try to do (not as regularly as I should), I think I have an e-copy at home. If you’d like I can sent it to you later. I also have this knoby foot roller thing. I really need to add more stretching/flexibility to my routine.

  18. Paulie [eatl/ga] says:

    I’m wearing a pad on my foot. I’m supposed to walk half as much as I normally do and report back next week.

    Jenka is young, intelligent, and attractive — she’s got it all going on.

  19. You know Martha, my father suffered from gout and I was considering it as well. If not for the fact that I felt pain the instant I landed funny on the treadmill it would have been my first guess.

  20. Postponing The Barrelhouse until Thursday night…

  21. Barb says:

    $435 for a plane ticket to Iowa. I guess i”m going now……..
    My mom will be so happy, I can maybe teach her more about how to email!
    and – maybe how to google search!

  22. You are a good daughter, Barb.

    I bought the two-night stay up in Bryson City, NC ($169). I will most likely use it when I need a weekend by myself, far away from Atlanta.

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