Look Who’s Exercising

Surprised to find out it’s me, aren’t you.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Quiet your mind by looking at an object from nature.

Our lives are so busy that we often disconnect from the natural world. Slowing down to pay attention to small details helps us feel more at one with everything around us and can redirect our focus, if even for a minute. Making time for quiet reflection can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve concentration, and reduce anger and frustration. Breathing deeply while you do it will also lower your heart rate and renew your energy.

I tried connecting with the natural world yesterday, see today’s photo to see how well it went.

Out And About
With productivity in mind I headed up to the Perimeter Mall area on Saturday morning. While there I deposited a check at Delta Community Credit Union, picked up a few shirts at my “local” dry cleaner, and spent a few formative hours in the office doing work. On Saturday afternoon I was lured by the warmth and sunshine to go for a walk. I drove to the the Brookhaven LA Fitness, changed clothes, and then went for what turned out to be a 6.1 mile walk (if you believe Map My Ride).

On Sunday morning I left the house to go get gas, do laundry, and eventually meet up with my boss for some racquetball smacking at the Brookhaven LA Fitness. We may not be good players, in fact we are not even keeping score, but this change of pace in the exercise routine is working out well as I am rather sore today.

P’Cheen Is P’Gone
After kicking around the office for a few hours on Saturday I wound up spending a lovely afternoon with ITP-Reader Betsy and Gary. While drinking some drinks and awaiting our pizza’s arrival we started talking about local establishments. It was at that time that I fond out that P’Cheen has closed.

P’Cheen is one of those places that I really liked when it first opened and always figured that I would frequent. But I didn’t. And now it’s gone.

ITP Flickr Pic
“No Trespassing”

I spent some time at Shady Valley Park (think “off Buford Hwy, near Green’s Package Store”) and was hoping to get a bit of a nature walk in before meeting up with my boss to play racquetball. I was stymied.

5c Or Not 5c, That Is The Question
Another imperfection with my iPhone 5 has started to show. This weekend when taking photos of white things I noticed two areas of the camera’s sensor that have appeared to have died. It may be time for a new phone (in-con-ceivable!).

I am considering wandering over to the Apple store today and plunking down the full cost for an unlocked phone, my only decision is whether or not to save $100 and get an iPhone 5c (a pretty-color one that is really an iPhone 5 in disguise) or an iPhone 5s (the “new” higher-tech model).

Regardless of the model I choose this phone is meant to be a place-holder until the iPhone 6 is available sometime later in the year. This is also why I plan to pay full price ($549 for the iPhone 5c, or $649 for the iPhone 5s) for an unlocked phone. Buying an unlocked phone will give me two short-term benefits as well:

1. While traveling around Europe this summer I can buy SIM cards and use them because an unlocked phone is carrier agnostic. Suck it, AT&T!
2. Unlocked phones have higher resale values and when the time comes for my to buy the new and fancy later in the year (perhaps getting the cheaper price by renting my soul to AT&T for another two years) I have a better chance of recouping some of my loss.

And if I act now I might even be able to get a few shekels for my barely-acceptable iPhone 5 from Gazelle.

Today’s Personal Project
Make a decision about my cell phone.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sore in a physical way, which I’m okay with today
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – It’s highly unlikely I’ll win my NCAA bracket, but I should follow Blogging the Bracket.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Saturday = walking, ~6.1 miles; Sunday = racquetball, ~1 hour
Morning Weigh-In – Arg, I keep forgetting to jump on the scale

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~10.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 7 (7 cardio)

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

March Goals
– have Austin CocoaConf trip plans in place (new)
– exercise no fewer than twenty days (new)
– ride my bike no fewer than five times (new)
– 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

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

1. “Johnny Carson” by Henry Bushkin
2. “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” by Austin Kleon

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]