In theory BRAG (Bicycle Ride Around Georgia) seems like it could be a lot of fun, and if I worked for a company that was a little more generous with vacation time I’m sure I would have done it at least once by now.
I’m also sure that commenting around these parts will be lighter than usual because I know ITP-Readers Barb and Bob are spending the week tooling around Georgia on two-wheelers.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Cross your ankle over the opposite knee and lean forward for five breaths. Switch legs and repeat.
After sitting for long periods, tightness in the hips can lead to lower back pain. This move stretches the muscles responsible for rotating your hips away from your body. Stretching keeps your hips flexible, mobile, and free of soreness.
Sounds reasonable.
A Packed Weekend
I’d list all of the little things I accomplished puttering around the house this weekend, but you’d be bored to tears.
On Friday night I joined a few folks for drinks and music at Smith’s Olde Bar. We were there to support one of my boss’ friends who leads the band “Cherry Bomb”, a Joan Jett cover band. The night was fun, though I didn’t last for the entire set and returned home around 11pm.
I spent most of the day Saturday inside the ITP estate, finally exiting my lair for dinner. I was in the mood for Mexican, the type that gives you chips and salsa for free, and I didn’t want to deal with the hipster crowds. Me? A curmudgeon? Even I couldn’t believe that I convinced myself to drive all the way to Pancho’s on Buford Highway for this. I stunned to find that Pancho’s now has valet parking (always a deterrent for me) so I continued my journey further up Buford Highway. By the time I settled on a place to eat I was at Chamblee-Tucker and pulling into Pollo Norteño (I should have packed my laundry!). I had a delicious meal and watch something called “fútbol” on their television.
I met up with ITP-Reader Terri and her clan at The EARL on Saturday night for the The Rock*A*Teens show. The Rock*A*Teens were a band formed in Cabbagetown in the mid-1990s and broke up sometime in the early 2000s. While I listened to a lot of local music back then I was mostly unfamiliar with The Rock*A*Teens catalog, and I seemed to be one of the few based on the crowd’s knowledge of each and every song, but I had a good time nonetheless, getting home a little after 1am.
Yesterday I continued my early rising and house puttering, getting up by 6:30am and eventually starting what turned out to be a two-hour install of Mavericks on my home computer. At some point I received an email from my boss about racquetball, so yesterday afternoon we knocked the ball around the court for awhile at the Brookhaven LA Fitness. After having dinner and a few pints at There I returned home and passed out before 10pm.
My only regrets are that I did not yard maintenance nor did I get out on my bicycle this weekend.
ITP Flickr Pic
“Halt And Catch Fire”
(It’s a low quality image because I took a photo of a twelve-year-old television screen.)
On Saturday night I gave myself some time to watch television, and what I chose to watch was the recording of AMC’s newest television show “Halt And Catch Fire”. (side note: I did not watch episode two which aired last night, so please, no spoilers) The show is based around a Texas company who reverse-engineers an IBM PC back in the early 1980s; I’m a nerd, this intrigues me. I’m sure the computer-related content will subside as quickly as the advertising-related content did on “Mad Men”.
With all of the movies and television shows being shot in the Atlanta area I was curious about whether or not this show had any ties to the area. It took no longer than ten minutes for this shot of the Plaza Theater to confirm my suspicions.
Ah, Bologna
I left the house early enough this morning to stop into Publix to buy some money-saving food items. My goal was not to shop thoroughly but rather to quickly buy the three items necessary for making some sandwiches for lunch (and apparently breakfast as I just finished eating one now). I’m kind of proud of myself because I purchased three things — a loaf of bread ($4.29 because I don’t like to skimp on bread), two packages of turkey bologna ($3.29 and BOGO), and two packages of cheese (two for $5) — with tax brought my total to $13.
Considering I spend $7 for a single lunch from the downstairs cafeteria I can save considerable amounts of money over time if I stick to a plan such as this.
Today’s Personal Project
Laundry is packed for lavanderia lunes.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – not too bad
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – I need to be more prudent about how I spend my money. Because of this I’m sure I’ll reference Atlanta on the Cheap often.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday = racquetball, ~90 minutes
Morning Weigh-In – 216 pounds (2014-05-30), perhaps I didn’t want to know because I didn’t get on the scale yesterday
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~3.8 miles
Wheel Mileage – ~33.0 miles
Gym Visits – 3 (3 cardio)
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
June Goals
– 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]
My 3 day weekend disaapeared in the blink of an eye. Friday, a 30 mile ride took everything I had and then some. It wasn’t that hot, I wasn’t riding that hard, but I was thinking at several points about calling a taxi!! That. Sucked.
We did errands that afternoon, which included the purchase of a new phone. Why does it have to be so hard? I spent a good 25 minutes waiting on a sales person/tech/ order writer at the Verizon store, only to have him reccomend I walk across the street to Best Buys and purchase the phone I wanted. Screwy. The BB folks were at least a little more prompt, and at that point it was reasonably painless.
Saturday, we had horsey friends over to watch the Belmont. Sadly, no triple crown winner, and the consensus in the room was the jockey gave up his good position on the rail and it cost him. As for CA Chrome’s owner going off after the race about it isn’t fair as his horse has run 3 races in 5 weeks and the competition did not, I say so did every other triple crown winner- if you change the rules at this point, every winner going forward will have an asterisk.
Sunday was a lazy day, except for me getting into the pool to do hand-to-hand combat with the black mold. I had pulled out my scuba gear to get to the bottom (litterally) but didn’t have a full tank, so merely snorkled at the top and as far down as I could easily reach. I’ll get my tank filled and go at it once more.
Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to a clear diet in preparation for my colonoscopy Wednesday! yippee.
-FP
Where did my comment go?
This is the only comment I see Steve.
[Update: Your comment got gobbled up by the SPAM filter. It’s there now.]
Holy shit, that’s weird. I’m playing taxi driver for the boss who is also having a colonoscopy on Wednesday.
Just us cool kids… and holy shit is the comment of the day!
And what is the blog for 4″ and Butt Bob’s AT adventure? I read it the other week but didn’t save the link. Martha, do you recall?
Your Buddy Bob
Well it’s only 11 am on Monday and I’m ready to call it for the week. I really, really hate my job some days.
Uneventful weekend, saw a movie yesterday and went to dinner with Jerry.
I’ve been thinking more and more about a new phone, but it just seems like so much trouble, *sigh*.
When I get a chance I want to read up on Bob and Cathy, that sounds like a great time!
Oh and the next time you are hungry for ‘traditional’ Mexican food (and by that I mean lots of chips and salsa, numbered entrées, tacky decorations) check out El Mexicano down on Moreland, I think it fits the bill nicely.
I just read through a bunch of the AT blog. It really sounds like a good time. I still haven’t figured out how they are doing the whole thing- are they doing the South half southbound and the North half northbound? And is there an advantage?
I haven’t been to El Mexicano years, not since the dead body incident. It crossed my mind but not until I was already fighting traffic in L5P.
No clue about the AT. I’m too much of a city boy to ever consider such a thing.