…try, try again. Only this time try to fail less.
That was this morning’s mantra as I dragged my ass out of bed and tried another run this morning. I didn’t fare much better than on Monday, but I’m trying. Martha, you’re the queen of Garmin, how do I use lap/interval timers so that I can know exactly when I walk and when I “run”?
Oh That Old 9-To-5
After yesterday’s long day of meetings I was looking forward to heading home and then going out to 529 for the first time.
My first obstacle was traffic — which was horrible. In fact, traffic was so bad that I turned around and made it all the way into the Taco Mac parking lot before talking myself off of the ledge. I fought my way home and rested up for what I knew would probably be a late night.
I made it out to 529 at 9:30pm which turned out to be about thirty minutes too early for even the first band. The band I was at 529 to hear/see, Colourmusic, was billed as the second band so I stuck around. Colourmusic took the stage sometime around 11:00pm (if I remember correctly) which meant that there was no way that I’d be sticking around for the entire evening’s events. 529 is a cool little venue with a sound system which can produce loud music. Colourmusic was loud — in fact I thought of coining a new term “woud” which should be used when you think “wow, this is loud” — and after failing to find earplugs for sale I decided to watch the band from the bar room for a few songs before departing. I left around 11:30pm because I was tired, I had an early morning scheduled, and am an old man.
Finally, no matter how much I want to love East Atlanta the vibe in the neighborhood continues to haunt me. While walking past a group of three youngish males I put on my “don’t fuck with me face” and continued to walk head down when one of the three yelled something at me. Being only a block from my car I just kept walking and went home.
More Credit Card Talk
Yesterday was supposed to be a joyous day for me because it was the day after my reporting period closed for another of my credit cards and I was going to buy myself an early birthday present (which would not be too expensive because also this week I have to pay 1/4th of my auto insurance and the tag fee for the Jackmobile).
I have been eyeing a new stereo receiver for my electronic stack — not so much to replace the one that died earlier this year — but rather to get a couple of HDMI ports to which I could connect video input components. I logged onto only to find the one I was going to buy no longer in stock with an estimated one-to-three month wait. Dangen!
I suppose I could always go to Deals.Woot! and buy myself a refurbished 1080p projector… Naaaaah.
Decisions. Decisions.
While in my day-long meeting word came out that Netflix was changing its offerings and/or raising its prices immediately, or on September 1st for current subscribers. The price increase would be from $9.99/month to $15.99/month for shipping dvds and streaming, cheaper ($7.99/month?) if you choose exclusive dvd shipping or streaming.
Normally there would be no hesitation for me to either cancel my subscription, or change to the streaming-only option. However I’ve been underwhelmed with Netflix’s streaming options. If I had to guess I’d guess that no more than 20% of the content I have in my queue is available to be streamed. Not exactly “bang for my buck.”
I guess that I should also admit that I’ve been a bit bitter with Netflix since I screwed up by deciding not to buy their stock when it was in the mid-$40s. When I first started to track Netflix their stock jumped into the $60s and I declared that I had missed the “opportunity” to buy. Yesterday Netflix’s stock closed around $295(!). Miss opportunity much? Had I invested, admittedly I might not have resisted the urge to sell much earlier that its current price, I would have easily made enough money to repair the plumbing and hire a landscaping service. I keep waiting for Netflix to tumble, but it just continues to baffle me by rising.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – tired
Current Music – nothing as I wait for today’s Tour de France stage to begin
Website Of The Day – And now for something completely different — Best Week Ever’s Fifty Photos of Hounds Running. Funny stuff.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – shit, today is Wednesday and I completely forgot! I’m fairly certain that I’ve not lost any weight since last week.
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 1
Carnivorous Days – 11
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
July Goals
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash
– Buy a bicycle and start riding again
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Not get fired from my job
– Run at least once
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than five days
– Lose three pounds
2011 Goals [will be a little more fluid than in past years]
– Reduce my weight by 25 pounds based on the my weight as measured on February 1st
– Completely read the book Daily Negations which I received as a Christmas gift.
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business — one which does not get penalized.
– 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
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than two one half-marathon
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Just you post that website just for me? Funny because I don’t think either of my boys ever ran fast enough (or in Toby’s case, ever ran) to end up with those sorts of faces. AppleJack probably could have though.
Not sure what you are asking for the Garmin, do you want to set specific intervals for walking and running (a al Galloway) or just want to know how far you ran, then how far you walk, etc? First on is a little hard to explain ‘online’ for the second one, just hit the lap button each time you change pace. I think there is also a setting where you can specify, say 6-8 min/mile is run, 8-10 min/mile is slow run, etc….on TC it will show you how long you spend in each zone, not sure if that feature is on Garmin Connect…I’d have to look. More important, just keep going at it, this is a terrible time of year to start running, at 5:30am it was 77 and 86% humidity.
I canceled my Netflix when I became unemployed…I’m thinking I wont join back, no one seems very happy about it, I’m wondering if they will back track??
I admit that you were the first person I thought of when someone pointed me to the photos. I also thought the photos were pretty funny so I figured a lot of people would enjoy them.
What I’d like to do is when I feel I need to walk instead of run press a button on the watch to start timing my walk. When I feel good enough to run again press a button to record that time. Is this the lap feature?
On the one hand it’s the worst time to start again — thanks to the heat/humidity. On the other hand it’s the perfect time because it’s easiest for me to get out of bed and go outside in this temperature.
I’m considering canceling Netflix and seeing if I can live with what DISH programming I have, podcasts, and Amazon Prime streaming. I’ll give Netflix a few more weeks to see if their streaming catalog increases.
Car tag — ugh! Yup, I got mine coming up next month. And lemme tell you: I now remember what was so nice about having a POS car. Between the new one and perhaps Fulton County living (? does anyone know if tag fees have to do with county residence too?), my tag has jumped almost 4x what it was. Painful.
I *believe* the ad valorem is a state-wide tax based solely on the “value” of the car. When I bought the Jackmobile I swore that I’d never buy another new vehicle while I lived in Georgia. That was nine years ago, it may be time for me to move…
I think the lap button will do fine for what you want. If not let me know and we will figure something else out.
Did you see that you can get Lee’s Bhan Mi at MidCity Cafe now? Probably easier for us to just hit Buford Hwy than fight the traffic/parking in Midtown.
Yep, not looking forward to Sep 1, it’s going to hurt, but well worth that new car smell 😉
The other up side to running now, by the time October gets here, you will feel like you are flying. We did Michael today, I was about 90 seconds slower than last time, I blame it 100% on the weather.
I just changed my Netflix from 3 DVDs at a time (waste of money these past few months) to 2 at a time, plus the streaming. Price is the same, $19.98, Allan watches stuff streaming at the firehouse, (he finds crazy stuff SciFi or cartoon) so I need both.
My Share the Road tag fee was almost more than my ad valorem this year, gotta love the 1998 Honda right now.
Looks like the mower has a bent crank shaft, (which we supposedly had fixed last fall???). Did I hit something? Who knows….. We may have to give up & just take the loss & get a new one. Just gave Allan the “good” news that he needs to call the guy, don’t go to Buckhead right now, he is pissed off.
For many reasons I hope never to use the phrase “I did Michael today”. 😉
Barb, I’ll avoid the area today. Good thing I wasn’t planning on trying out One Star BBQ for lunch. 🙂 Related, did I talk about the “Best Barbecue in Atlanta” show I watched the other night?
One Star is okay I’ve been told, but Shane’s in closer and I think they give the firemen a decent discount……..
I’ve always had the desire to get: CHZ NPS on my tag…. unfortunately, just really don’t want to spend the money for it. (wouldn’t that be cute though?) 🙂
I think Martha is right. Just hit the lap button at your transitions, so if you start by walking, just remember your first lap is a walk time. When you pull history, it will show the laps as appropriate.
At 4:30AM (7:30EDT) my phone rang, which I realized was voice mail from work. Now I put a nice long simple message when I’m out of the office so people don’t leave messages. I call and it’s someone from the event I’m attending. “Mr. Brady, this is … from Cisco, you were the winner of one of the Kindles and can pick it up at the booth.” Yippee!! I’m a wiener! Now if I can just win the Mini Cooper.. and you must be present to win!!! I’ll keep everyone posted.
-FP
Congrats Steve! But, don’t you already have a Kindle? or, did the dog eat it? (btw, my birthday is soon…….. hint, hint…… if you need someone to give it to).
Debbie just tried to lay claim to it- I told her she could have it if I win the Mini Cooper. And you’re right Barb, the dog didn’t eat it, just knocked it off the sofa and it lost most of it’s display.
I still have yet to get to Little Sista’s BBQ joint but need to make a trip.
Barb, is there a plan for a work party this weekend?
It’s pouring at the end of today’s stage. The boys are riding like madmen today. Tomorrow should be fun, the “real” climbs start.
Steve, Frank’s BBQ place (where Little Sister worked) closed a couple of weeks ago. And congrats on the Kindle win!
let me talk to Allan, I’m sure we can figure out a birthday work party for Sunday. (Allan works Saturday at the firehouse). Bring a change of clothes, you can test out the garage shower too!
Steve, if you’re refering to Billy Jack’s, you’re too late, I think they closed the place down a couple of weeks ago.
I’m so sick of BBQ or anything cooked on the grill…Jerry smoked chicken wings the other night, my burps tasted like cig butts…yuck. He wants to cook EVERYTHING on the grill, I can’t even pull a pizza out of the freezer *sigh*, I know he’s only trying to help.
I think a Kindle is on my must get list, now that I’m bringing home a paycheck again. I don’t mind using Jerry’s but I can’t buy a book (well I have to go through his account, or send it to him as a gift) and read it on his.
Very fast, but very clean finish today in very nasty conditions.
Well crap. Guess I should have given them some business. Atlanta is an incredibly tough town for a restaurant, and this economy is particularly tough. Sorry Sista.
Off to the show… William Shatner is the speaker at 10:30, speaking on technology, should be fun.
Let us know the plan Barb.