My hip pain, well chronicled this week, remains, though not as intensely as I’ve experienced in previous days. I walked about a mile after dinner last night and am wondering if this slight bit of exercise exasperated the pain or not. I’m still wondering if it’s this medication that I am taking since a mile walk would never produce pain previous to this week.
My pleasures last night came during a relaxing time getting a haircut and explaining hashing to the woman who cuts my hair, and then walking up to DBA Barbecue for their all-you-can-eat dinner at which I stopped after a single plate (more than enough food for one sitting) saving myself from abdominal discomfort. By coincidence I had the same server as last week; I must have made a lasting impression on him because he moved my order ahead of a couple of large groups who had been seated just before I arrived. Now if I could only figure out how to have the same effect on women.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Visit a website to learn what to do after a tick bite.
When you spend time outdoors in wooded areas, you may be exposed to ticks. Lyme disease, a disease that’s present worldwide, is caused by a bite from a deer tick. There is often a clear sign of the disease: a painless, bull’s eye-shaped rash. But, Lyme disease shares other symptoms with unrelated conditions like arthritis, depression, and the flu. Knowing what to do after a tick bite can help you avoid unnecessary testing and get treated for the real cause of your symptoms.
I actually did this after discovering the ticks on me post-fencepost painting.
Captain Clearance!
One of the many traits I got from my father was the love for a bargain. The other night I stopped into Kroger and went clearance happy (yes Virginia, Kroger does have clearance items and they are not all expired food). While at the Kroger Clearance (I tried to aloo myself to type “Kroger Klearance” but I just couldn’t do it.) I picked up four cans of Amour chili ($.79/can, originally $1.49/can), two bottles of Fox Bros Bar-B-Q barbecue sauce ($2.49/bottle, originally $4.79/bottle) and a loaf of bread ($1.99, originally $3.99). Now if I could only find a way to get Kroger to put beer and Talenti on clearance.
Oh MARTA
Seriously, I want to like MARTA, I really do. But to love MARTA is to love something with numerous faults.
I meandered up to the Sandy Springs station yesterday afternoon so that I could reload my Breeze card (to whittle down my cash balance) and attempt to beat yesterday’s heat by waiting in an underground station. I didn’t expect to wait as long as I did, however. While I didn’t clock the wait I did see three northbound trains arrive at the Sandy Springs station (the next-to-last stop on the north line, btw) before the first southbound train arrived. Naturally when delays like this occur the quantity of people waiting at each stop grows, and by the time my train reached Medical Center (two stops south of Sandy Springs) we were packed in like sardines. The entire ride to Five Points was crowded (some people took photos, I was not in a good location to do so), with intermittent stops as we “let the train ahead of us service the station ahead of us” at which it just arrived, and our driver alerting passengers who tried to push their way onto our train that there was another southbound train directly behind us.
Along the way the driver apologized for the situation, stating that there had been some track difficulties earlier, but still, there always seems to be something negative with each MARTA commute I make.
Ugh.
By the time I arrived at the station at which I parked the Jackmobile, my commute from office to car was about an hour an thirty minutes. My commute would have been even longer had I not hustled to the awaiting eastbound train, which had mobility issues of its own.
Fortunately for me I am anal about being on time so I budget for mishaps such as this and was able to get to my destination on time without rushing.
JUST TAKE DOWN THE SIGN ALREADY!
I drove by the “Food Truck Wednesdays” sign in Virginia-Highland twice last night, once on my way to VaHi and once on my way home. At neither time was there a single food truck in that parking lot. Okay, the food truck fad is probably waning and many of the food trucks prefer their permanent food truck park (still not been, still don’t understand the concept of a permanent food truck food court), so this event may no longer take place. If that’s the case just take down the sign already! It’s depressing to see what once was, but is now more.
Today’s Personal Project
Going to try playing some racquetball tonight. If it goes well I am going to spend a good bit of time stretching, something I don’t do nearly enough of these days.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – meh, would love to get rid of this hip/hind-quarter pain
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – Go to the people who know, National Institutes of Health: Tick Bites.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – walking, ~1 mile
Morning Weigh-In – someday, right now it’d just display “ERR – TOO FAT”
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~16.9 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 3 (3 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]
Nothing too exciting going on over here in Marietta, did manage a short bike ride last night, hoping to get out there again tonight. Got a lovely SRAM t-shirt from TJ, and I actually like it. (I’ve instructed him I don’t need more tshirts in my life, & he usually doesn’t listen, and they get given to Goodwill). This one I will actually keep.
Funny, though I have a million t-shirts, okay, seventy, I am finding that I am outgrowing many of them (unfortunately physically, not intellectually).
Well – they are usually from a bike race I’ve never heard of, etc. So, unless I like the color, or the fabric, and it isn’t too obnoxxious, I get rid of them.
Went to the Marietta Square for lunch, they are filming a movie called Selma. Traffic was wonky because of it. But – we did see a huge car hauler with a bunch of matching 60s Alambama State Trooper cars. If I was quick, I’d have taken a picture, but I’m not quick. It must be getting harder & harder to find those types of cars.
At least the sign doesn’t say “food trucks Wednesday”.
The customer appreciation event was at AT&T field last night. Lenny Kravitz opened and I suppose if you know his music (I don’t) it was OK. Plenty of food and beer, and I stood on the pitchers mound for a while watching the crowd. That will be as close as I ever get to pitching in the show.
Now chilling at SFO for a noon PDT flight. SF is a great city to walk or ride or transit, but as Debbie pointed out last night, the mental health services are non-existent. And this is not a dig at SF, but is simply very apparent with so many homeless. A real shame.
About 12 hours home before off again to Chattanooga. I’m over it and ready to be home.
-FP
I’ll have to play the role of Jenka today. I believe you were going for exacerbated rather than exasperated in terms of your hip pain. I’m sure you are exasperated about your hip pain being exacerbated by minimal exercise.
Speaking of pain, hiking around San Francisco has left my calves super sore. Damn hills.
My Dad is back in the hospital and they are testing for blockages today and will do an angioplasty if they find any. I just hope they get to the bottom of the issue this time.
I knew I was probably using the wrong word but couldn’t recall the other and convinced myself that I was right.
Best wishes for your dad.