I’ve Given Up On September

Don’t worry about my goals for this month, because I’m not.

Depending on when you read this I’m seeing a man about a toe. I had to make a doctor’s appointment to have a doctor look at my toe which has not returned to its normal size in the past week.

It’s A Small World After All
I could probably write a week’s worth of blogs about Saturday’s East Atlanta Strut.

It almost all happened while waiting for a corn dog… To begin, you should know that I was a big fan of a local band called Dayroom back in the 1990s.

ITP-Reader Betsy and I were standing in line to buy a corn dog when we started talking to the guy standing in front of us. As we stood there ITP-Reader Tony walked up and started talking to Robert because he knew him, and it turns out that Robert lives (at least currently) in East Atlanta. A few minutes later I noticed Brad, the former drummer of Dayroom, walking toward the line and I said hello to him and a short conversation started. It was apparent that he knew Robert as well. A few minutes later Brad came to me and thought that I was putting him on by calling him out as Dayroom’s drummer, because apparently Robert is the brother of Michael, who was the lead singer in Dayroom. Very strange.

After all of this I walked up to Betsy who was talking to someone else in line, who happened to be a guy name Jason with whom I used to volunteer at Trees Atlanta plantings.

Also spotted at the Strut were my friends Mike and Sandy with their kids, and a guy named “Bama” who I haven’t seen in about eight years (since I stopped hanging out at Gravity Pub).

One day, many memories.

ITP Flickr Pic
I took a shot of the Jackmobile parked in front of this sign because I thought it was a pretty cool scene.

My time with the Jackmobile is not up, though he’s been acting like a real bitch recently.

The Jackmobile Is Straining Our Relationship
Question: How many times does it take Paulie to change a lightbulb?
Answer: Three.

When I got into the Jackmobile after happy hour on Friday night a light on the Jackmobile’s dashboard illuminated alerting me that one of my brake lights had burned out. On Sunday I stopped by an Auto Zone to pick up a new bulb. I replaced the bulb in the parking lot and was stunned when the dashboard light didn’t shut off. It turned out that I replaced the wrong bulb. Amazingly, I actually had a new bulb (the one that had burned out was different than the one I replaced) in order to replace the bulb which had actually burned out, but on my first attempt must not have pushed the bulb completely into the light socket because I was mocked by the dashboard light stayed on. D’oh!

Also concerning me was a brief moment when the Jackmobile’s oil idiot light flashed while sitting idling in a parking lot on Sunday. I checked the oil when I got home and was stunned how low on oil the engine was. I added a quart of oil as a stop-gap measure until I can take the Jackmobile to get an oil change before heading to Lake Hartwell this weekend.

What To Do When Your Initial Plan Fails?
A long day of drinking led to the natural progression of a hangover brunch followed by a day of sleeping.

I met ITP-Reader Betsy for brunch. She had a desire to eat at Mi Barrio, which sounded good to me as well. However, Mi Barrio decided not to be open yesterday so a new plan had to be formulated. After driving past a Home Grown, which seems to be rather popular since opening a handful of months ago, we decided to give the East Atlanta Village some more love by trying out its newest restaurant, N’awlins (I couldn’t find a website, but I did find their Yelp! page). As the name suggests N’awlins has a Creole/Cajun inspired menu. I ate a really good plate of fried catfish served over grits (I assume my recent grits eating is because I’m getting ready to cook grits cakes for the Lake Hartwell campout this weekend). I think N’awlins is open for lunch during the week and for brunch on Sundays.

I Went, I Tried, They Failed
I had read that the Good Food Truck was going to be at the corner of Krog and Irwin in Inman Park last night. Having supported their Kickstarter project I’ve been unable to try their food, and have unfortunately found out that their big party will be held on a night that I am unavailable (I received a canvas shopping bag as a consolation prize for not being able to attend their party). I have still yet to try their food. Upon walking up to the truck I was informed that they were not ready to serve and that it would be about a half-hour before food would be ready. Having nothing to do in that part of Inman Park to occupy thirty minutes, I decided to leave.

My departure worked in my favor (somewhat) as I was able to make it to the corner of North and Highland and purchase a popsicle from The King of Pops before he sold out for the evening. I are a delicious honeydew-lemon popsicle last night.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – okay, though concerned about my toe
Current Music – listening to the latest MacCast podcast
Website Of The Day – Going to try something a little different to see how it works. I’m going to harness the power of Stumble Upon to see if I can find something neat to post. Check out some of the clever photos done by photographer Chema Madoz.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – didn’t check
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 77

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~15 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (2)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 19
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

September Goals
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Ride my bicycle no fewer than 250 miles
– Determine the fate of Sharpened Stone, LLC
– Complete at least one iPhone application (seriously, this needs to happen)
– lose five pounds
– eat vegetarian at least one day a week

2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds) [update: On July 1 I’ve sadly gained weight; I’m at 203 pounds]
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
– Earn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Sharpened Stone.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
– Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online
– Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Complete my Taco Mac Passport requirement of 125 beers

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]