“Fortunate” is not a word (or type) often. However on each of the past two mornings I’ve felt fortunate. No, I’m not pain free, in love, or planning for early retirement, but I’ve felt fortunate nonetheless.
Yesterday morning I woke to the realization that I forgot to blow out the three candles I had lit in the living room on Wednesday night. These were fairly large candles, but one was particularly low when I first lit it. Obviously I didn’t burn down the ITP Estate (though some have suggested that in order to improve my lot in life), but that one low candle was all but done.
This morning I woke to find out that in my haste to get inside last night my effort to close the trunk of the Jackmobile failed. Apparently I unintentionally tugged my fleece to the point where it stopped the trunk latch from engaging. When I exited my house this morning I saw the trunk ajar, with the light on inside. And this on the coldest night of the year. Fortunately the Jackmobile cranked on my first attempt, and I took a slow, winding drive to work in order to give the battery a chance to recover this morning.
I’m One-Third-Way There
“Wake up early and drive to work, work out, and then shower at work.” So far I’ve mastered the last step, now I need to improve my compliance to steps one and two.
Watching iOS Classes Proving To Be As Hard As Exercising
It seems that spending an hour a night watching a Stanford class covering a subject matter in which I have much to gain would be a simple chore to accomplish each day. Thus far I’m finding it hard to find this hour. I think that I need to find a stationary bike somewhere (I hear that they have these at places called “gyms”, or that I could connect either the BlackJack or a modified Red Rocket to that magnetic trainer which is collecting dust in my basement) and watch on my iPad whilst pedaling. ITP-Reader Barb, would you ask Allan about the feasibility of finding a cheap mismatched front fork for the Red Rocket? In it’s crippled state it would make an awesome stationary bike for this crippled rider. Thanks.
ITP Flickr Pic
Not a new shot, but there is a reason for posting this…
I took this shot which I titled “Trust” in September 2007 and I had long forgotten about it.
Yesterday I launched my buddy’s iPhone app, f/stats, which shows you the activity on your Flickr stream, and saw that this shot had ten views, all from Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Strange, I wonder what precipitated this activity.
It Could Be A Busy Weekend, Or Not
If I want I could be extremely busy this weekend — photography and work on Saturday, Wheelhopper on Sunday — or I could relax complete and just watch football on both days. I’m supposed to be at Arabia Mountain at 6:45am EST in order to set up for sunrise (7:44am EST) photos on the mountain. Has anyone else seen how cold it’s supposed to be at 6:45am EST tomorrow? “18º F” is the answer. What the fuck am I thinking? We’ll thaw out at a Waffle House (damn, I won’t be able to get pancakes) before some of us will heading to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit to shoot it.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – confused
Current Music – listening to “The Story” podcast
Website Of The Day – Ever wonder what American currency is worth for the metal it contains? Check out Coinflation. Your spare change could be worth a fortune.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – Monday looms
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 2.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 0 (0)
Vegetarian Days – 0
Carnivorous Days – 12
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
January Goals
– Lose at least one pound (net weight loss)
– “Completely” recover from the bike crash (though I’m beginning to think that this will never happen)
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than ten days
– Not get fired from my job, nor quit my job
– Follow up with doctors, lawyer, women in whom I have interest
– Participate in a least one dinner party (perhaps held at my house when plumbing issues are addressed?)
– Go out on a least one date with a woman in whom I have interest
– Submit 2012 paperwork for Sharpened Stone, LLC
– Gather all tax paperwork for 2011 income taxes
– Request free credit report
– Successfully arrange for automatic payments for my mortgage
– Watch all of the classes in the 2011 Winter semester of Stanford’s CS193P (iOS Development) course
2012 Goals [will be a little less fluid than last year]
– Get my weight under 200 pounds, or at least whittle myself back down to where wearing a 36″ pant size is comfortable
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than one one 10K
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
– Restore the ITP Estate to a condition where it can be put up for sale at any time
– Buy a new iPhone (iPhone 5?), a new iPad (iPad 3?), and MacBook Air [look, not all goals have to be altruistic]
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient and profitable programmer in Objective-C
– 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)
– See more live concerts than I did in 2011
– Eat more pancakes
– Drive/Fly somewhere for a real vacation
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
if you come to Wheelhopper, you could ask Allan that question in person. Wow, another reason to come to Wheelhopper.
I can’t believe they don’t have pancakes at Waffle House….. just kidding.
hey – I may have a dinner party for your January goal – Sunday 1/29, are you available?
Yeah, I suppose that I could ask him in person. 😉
My calendar is open for January 29th. I’ll pencil you in and await details.
Did your old fork completely break at the crown? If it’s just bent, you could pull it out enough to connect it to the trainer.
I see the Wheelhopper in my future for Sunday, so you should too!
-FP
It didn’t break, but don’t know what its integrity would be if bent back to its original position — if it would even survive being bent back into shape..
You might be suprised… worth a shot.
will it still hold a wheel? if your trainer is anything like ours, it just connects to the rear wheel.
bring the frame along if you want to on Sunday, Allan can probably look at it & tell you if it will hold any weight.
The rear wheel is completely intact. I connect the rear wheel to the trainer and set the front wheel into a block which keeps the front tire pointed straight, and makes the bike level. While the fork will still hold a wheel, it was bent backward quite a ways. The front wheel has a small indentation too, which is why I’d only relegate the Red Rocket to “trainer” status at this point.
Unrelated: Turner Classic Movies must be making today “Jane Fonda Day” as the last two movies have been Jane Fonda movies from the mid and early 1960s. What a hoot! She looked like a Barbie doll (from that era) back then.