The Jackmobile’s odometer passed 171,717 miles last night.
And I missed it.
My missing it would be less monumental if I hadn’t noticed that the odometer read 171711 and thought, “Oh, in six miles the odometer will be 171717!”.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Give your kitchen sponge a once-over and add a new one to your shopping list if it looks tired.
A kitchen sponge does a dirty job and has the bacteria to prove it. Because a sponge is often warm and moist, it’s a perfect breeding ground for yeast, mold, and other potentially harmful germs. Food safety experts recommend replacing your sponge every two to four weeks to help avoid spreading bacteria and ensure the safety of your food.
I’m surprised people don’t do this more often. Kitchen sponges get nasty over time.
Dearest Software Gods: Please Give Us A Break
We’ll be delivering the latest cut of code to our Indian brethren today. Unfortunately, because it is using some new software application interfaces to do our file transfers in the iOS background the code is not as rock-solid as I hoped it would be by this point. Let’s just say that what I thought would be an easy switch of technology has turned out to be more than a little pain in the ass.
And I’ll be out of the office on Monday and Tuesday.
And Miss K will be care-free in Seattle.
And we are the two people who implemented this feature set and have an understanding (she better than me) of how it is supposed to work.
Ugh. I’m already dreading my return next week and I haven’t even left.
It’s Miss K’s Last Day Having To Put Up With Me At Work
I’m sad about this, but since I’m taking her to the airport tomorrow I can still give her shit until then. ]:>
I do have to fulfill a promise I made to Miss K the last time we all went bowling. On that evening I promised to make every attempt to pronounce her name correctly on her last day at work. I tried mightily when she first arrived, but quickly we began calling her “K” (her name is “Kseniia”) and that has stuck since.
It Was Almost Ironic
Though she won’t admit it, we made one last trip to Taco Mac for her to get the monthly pint glass for her husband. ITP readers know that you don’t have to twist my arm hard to get me to go to Taco Mac.
Last night Miss K and I waited a long time for a table, talked about her concerns regarding the revolution/uprising in her home country of Ukraine, shared an order of wings, and each added one more beer to our tallies.
The irony arose when Miss K ordered the beer of the month and our waiter informed her that they were out of the pint glass giveaways. Fortunately at the end of the evening he managed to liberate a glass from someone and she got to leave with her mission accomplished. Though she’ll never admit that was the only reason we went to Taco Mac.
I’m Going To Eat Shaslick!
Since joining our company a year ago Miss K has talked about making the Russian dish called “shashlik”, it’s the Russian version of shish-kabob. When I realized that her departure was imminent I whined “Aw man, now I’ll never get to eat shaslick!”, to which she replied “I will make Friday night.”. So tonight I’m taking Miss K over to Hank’s (my boss) place and she’s going to cook shashlik for me, Hank, and Hank’s two daughters.
Miss K’s a good kid. I will miss having her around as a coworker and friend.
Today’s Personal Project
Get my rental car for this weekend’s trip. Speaking of this trip, I’ll be in a land of no WiFi on Monday and Tuesday, so I’ll be blogging via my iPad. Expect underwhelming posts on those two days (if your expectations are not already there).
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – a little sad, however I’m also feeling a bit optimistic at the thought of turning my life around again starting tomorrow
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – Yesterday I was researching internationally recognized symbols (think “handicap sign”) for a project on which I am working. Last night I listened to the latest 99% Invisible podcast and the topic was the redesign of these symbols, like the updated handicap sign symbol created by The Accessible Icon Project.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – Check again on Wednesday of next week.
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 3 (3 cardio)
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
February Goals
– have European trip plans in place, if not carved in stone
– clean my basement to the point where I could have people over
– hire a plumber to fix all of the sinks at the ITP Estate
– walk no fewer than 75 miles
– publish an app to the iOS AppStore (new)
2014 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
– 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
– Sell the ITP Estate (tentative)
2014 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Continue to 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)
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2014
- “Johnny Carson” by Henry Bushkin
- “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” by Austin Kleon
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
So, have you ever had a transformer or something blow up right outside your house? I have now, more than once at 5am or so. The storm had actually woken me up, then I see a bright flash of light & hear a very loud boom. I heard all the clicks & noises associated with losing power. Allan was awake now as well & that bright light & boom happened 3 more times. But then, the power came back on. So, we went back to sleep. It happened one more time about 0730, but we never lost power again, which was good, because I have no idea how to manually open the garage door.
Marietta Power was blocking my driveway, so I asked them to move their truck & asked then what had caused the light & noise. They pointed to a big gray thing across the street. We had power, but the traffic lights on Powers Ferry were out, so I’m confused on who lost power & who didn’t.
What a morning.
Tasty China was excellent as always, and Steve, I talked to Mary & she said TJ was looking around for your parts, but she’s not sure about the Skyline. 😉
I was awaked by the storm, but then again I wake up during the night often so maybe I shouldn’t blame the storm.
A handful of months ago I was standing at QT on Briarcliff (and Clifton) and saw a transformer a block or so away blow up; it’s impressive and frightening all at once. Power grids, especially ones where development did not occur all at once, are strange beasts. I can’t tell you how many times in the past fifteen years my power has gone our but the houses on “new” (probably thirteen years old now) cul-de-sac behind my house have kept their power.
I’m hoping this weather clears by this afternoon as predicted so that I can walk down to Hertz to get my rental car.
Sorry, I missed Tasty China — next time.
And with the winter we’ve been through this season I had a hard time thinking about packing the right cloths for 60 ° F, potentially rainy, weather.
Sometimes change opens up opportunities, make some lemonade 🙂 I know you will miss your friend but she is able to reunite with her husband, good for her.
Have fun in Florida, I’ll be at the dome for Supercross on Saturday and tiling bathroom #2 on Sunday. Fun times!