You never realize how many services hold your credit card information until they try to charge one that has expired. This morning I have already updated billing information on two websites and charged over $300 to my card, and this was just for internet hosting. Yeeesh!
Today’s Daily Challenge
Plan to make your next outing focused on an activity that’s not related to food.
Dining out is often the default activity when we’re making plans or rewarding ourselves. But, the downtime can often come with a side of the high salt, sugar, and fat found on many restaurant and fast food menus. Explore alternatives to dining out for a fun outing where you’re not faced with tough food choices.
Is beer considered to be food? 😉
My Last Outing Wasn’t About Food, But The One Before That Was
I fought traffic yesterday afternoon and made my way to the Deck Mahal for a lovely pork dinner prepared by ITP-Reader Barb and her husband Allan. For my portion of the meal I arrived at the house with a twelve-pack of New Belgium beer, specifically their current “Folly Pack” offering.
Great food, beer, and entertaining conversation were not the only things on my agenda for last night. After dinner I made my way over to the west side of town. specifically Terminal West, for the The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger show; as I mentioned yesterday this is Sean Ono-Lennon’s band. I arrived while the opener, a band called “Bronco” played and was grateful for the complimentary ear plugs offered by Terminal West. It’s not that Bronco was bad, it was that they were over-the-top LOUD. Lennon’s band took the stage a little after 10pm and played an amazing set of music. If I were stoned this would have been one of my top-five concerts. But I wasn’t stoned, and I decided that I didn’t need any more alcohol after leave Barb’s and Allan’s, so my opinion comes from a fairly sober state. My only complaint for the evening was that The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger didn’t play long enough. The band finished their first set shortly before 11:00pm and came back our for a one/two song encore, and that was it. I was home by 11:30pm, which given my current frenetic lifestyle was probably the best thing for me.
Interesting side note: The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger is really a duet backed by other musicians. The second half of the duet is the strikingly beautiful Kemp Muhl, who was born in Atlanta. Prior to teaching herself how to play the bass Muhl was a successful model. Oh, she is also Sean Ono-Lennon’s girlfriend, or should I say that Sean Ono-Lennon is Kemp Muhl’s boyfriend?
ITP Flickr Pic
“Pattern”
I’m not sure how long it took someone to make these intricate cuts into glass. It took me 1/200 of a second to take a (slightly askew) photo of it.
Looks As If It’s Going To Be An Expensive Trip
I’m about 10,000 SkyMiles short for booking travel to Brussels. According to Delta’s website it’ll cost me $350 to purchase the miles needed to cover my needs. If I’m going to spend $350 just for SkyMiles, I might as well spend the $1650 for the full fare and use the 119K miles for a domestic trip of my choice later this year. If I purchase the airline ticket straight out this vacation will easily cost me $4000, so in the grand scheme of things $1650 is not that big of a deal. Or, I could just say “Fuck Europe!” and not go…
To Mow Tonight, Or Not Mow Tonight? That Is The Question
While I thought I had all my chores mapped out I realize now that I:
- Forgot to pack the gas can for my lawnmower’s gas.
- Never got around to putting the new lawnmower blade that I purchased last Saturday morning onto the lawnmower.
My grass is not that tall yet, but I’m skipping town tomorrow and rain plus warm weather are predicted, which always spurs grass growth. Besides, my neighbors are doing a good job of keeping their lawns in check, and there is now a house for sale on the street so I’d like to keep up appearances.
If for some reason I don’t get out and mow tonight there will be the opportunity to mow tomorrow morning before departing for North Carolina. What time do you feel is the earliest one should crank up a gas-powered lawn mower in a city residential neighborhood?
Today’s Personal Project
Attain internal peace and if I can’t do that, pack the car for my trip.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – looking forward to skipping town tomorrow.
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – I did not know that the Taj Mahal had a website. I’m sure it’s nice but unfortunately it is Flash-based so I can’t use it.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – Arg, I keep forgetting to jump on the scale
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~5.6 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 1 (1 cardio)
Marta Rides To Work – 1
Bike Rides To Work – 0
May Goals
– have European trip plans 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
– go away two of the weekends
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
- “Chaos: Making a New Science” by James Gleick
- “What’s So Funny?: My Hilarious Life” by Tim Conway
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Here you go Paulie, couldn’t resist 🙂
http://bit.ly/1m1DiCW
Looks like you are good after 7AM on weekdays to legally cut your lawn.
Well played, sir.
7am eh?
LOL, I use that at work all the time.
So you are legal at 7AM, but not the best way to make your neighbors like you.
I’d say 9am, just to be nice.
Dinner was fun last night, glad you could join us. Now that Betsy has her bike back, I wonder if she will ride it more than you? And, thanks for being a good sport about your boyfriend & all our jokes.
Has he always gone by Sean Ono-Lennon? Or did he used to be just Sean Lennon. One of my biggest pet peeves in hyphenated last names.
Before you spend the $350 for the skymiles, be sure you can actually use them.
But- if all you are spending is $350, that’s no that much to go to Europe. It seems for domestic you can’t find any 25,000 mile seats, so you will most likely have to use 40,000. So you could get 3 domestic trips soon enough. Would those cost more than $1600? What a fun game of math to figure out what is the better deal.
Barb, I have the same pet peeve about hyphenated names- what happens when 2 people with hyphenated names marry? Someone’s going to lose out.
I would say 8AM, only because it’s a workday. Weekend would be 9. The other consideration would be how much dew is on the grass. We’ll be heading to East Point to do the same thing and that’s a serious consideration- the catcher clogs easily with the slightest amount of moisture. I do need to put down weed/feed and that needs moisture… I’m so conflicted.
The photo of Ms. Muhl from Wiki was not really flattering.
Cleaned up around the yard last night and have another load for the dump. My only exercise yesterday was a nice walk down the Beltline and back at lunch.
-FP
Remember, too, that you will get at least 4,000 Skymiles for a European trip if you pay full price. I’ve traveled to Europe at least 15 times in the past 9 years and I never got fewer than 4,000 miles per trip. So that’s an additional factor to weigh in your decision. Actually, I think it might even be 4,000 miles each way, but I can’t remember since I haven’t flown internationally since the divorce.
Jenka – fyi – Delta has changed things, they give you skymiles based on what you spend, not on miles actually flown.
I looked into buying the miles you’re short on the open market and all the reccomendations say it’s a mistake. I know you are a big risk taker (not!), so that’s off the table.
Really, Barb? Bastards!
Interesting points.
I’ll most likely cut the front lawn even if there is dew on the grass since that’s the only one anyone sees, and there aren’t many blades of grass (I’m really just leveling out the weeds).
yep- Jenka – its all about the business fliers that spend lots of money. You also have to pay super big bucks to have a Crown Room pass that included guests for free.