I Am Really Good In Bed

Geez, it’s been so long that I can’t even pull off a “That’s what she said” joke out of that. Actually, I haven’t been really good in bed recently. I got home from dinner (more below) and got into bed with my laptop to try and listen to a podcast while I did some iOS development work. And then I woke up. And it was 12:30am. I tried to go back to sleep, but struggled with the problem of sleeping all night long. My alarm sounded at 5:00am, I promptly turned it off, and immediately went back to sleep.

Yesterday’s Daily Challenge
Play mini-basketball with a wadded-up piece of paper.

Sometimes it’s just a good idea to relax and kick back for a few minutes, because it gives you a break from all your tasks and helps relieves stress. And if you like friendly competition, it can be fun to turn this activity into a game with your kids, friends, and co-workers.

Well, I sort of do this on a daily basis.

Not Even An Extra Day In February Could Help
As months go February used to be nothing more than celebrating others’ birthdays and anniversaries. Unfortunately February has joined August (car jacking) and July (house burglary) as a month noted for a bad event in my life (bike wreck).

This month has been okay, though my constant battle with pain has lessened the fun. I walked nearly fifty miles, ate vegetarian seven days, and made my bed nearly every day that I spent at home.

First Visit: The Elder Tree Public House
Last night I drove home from work at a fairly reasonable time, 6:45pm. A light rain had started and I feared that traffic would be miserable, but it wasn’t.

The Food Gods must have been smiling upon me, because I had to pass two good parking spots in the village because the person behind me was following too closely, but when I circled the blocks the spots remained.

The Elder Tree Public House is a wonderful repurposing of the space formerly occupied by Blue Frog Cantina. The space is dark (the words “Public House” are in its name) and thankfully (imho) smoke-free.

No beer list was prepared yet, so the friendly young woman who served me read the list written in her book. I ordered a Smithwick’s (I did mention that this was an Irish-inspired bar, haven’t I?). Given that I was going to eat meat my dinner choices were plentiful. I narrowed my selections to a sandwich — the Lamb Haystack — and an entree — the Corned Beef and Cabbage. Normally I’d have immediately gone for the corned beef and cabbage but the waitress professed a love for the lamb sandwich, so I went with it.

I was not disappointed, though the price was far from cheap. The lamb sandwich was delicious, but its accompanying cole slaw was bland. The beer and meal cost $17.50 ($5.50 for a proper pint of Smithwick’s, $12 for the lamb sandwich). I will return (not tonight as I’m considering trying the new bahn mi sandwich shop in the village), and I will try the corned beef.

ITP Flickr Pic
Nothing today, not even a walking map.

Today I Try To Become The Biggest Loser
No, not that type of loser. Today I am joining a “Biggest (weight) Loser” contest here at work. Who knows, this just might be the thing which finally gets me to lose some of the extra pounds that I’m carrying.

No Top Cheffing Tonight, I’m Going To Hear Shearwater
Months ago I purchased a ticket for tonight’s Shearwater show at The EARL. Unfortunately this conflicts with my standing meetup with ITP-Reader Betsy for dinner, wine, and Top Chef. Betsy, if you read this let me know when you want to meet up to watch — I won’t watch tonight’s show before hearing from you.

Waiting For March 7th
Because I’m getting a full physical. No, not really, because Apple has announced what is supposed to be the iPad 3 announcement. Looks like I’ll get one of those yearly goals done early in the year.

It’s probably going to be the day I order my iPhone 4s (or 5 if they happen to announce that). Yesterday I got one step closer to needing to become Siri-ous as for the first time I dropped my iPhone onto a sidewalk as I pulled it from my pocket while walking to Target. Ooops. 😉

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair
Current Music – listening to this week’s “MacBreak Weekly” podcast
Website Of The Day – Everyone (including ITP-Reader Lisa) seems to love Sodastream. I guess that I’m just not a fan of fizzy water.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – I’ll do a “Biggest Loser” weigh-in today

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~49.2 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 31 flights

Days Of Bed-Making – 27^*

Vegetarian Days – 7^*
Carnivorous Days – 21
Pancakes Eaten – 11

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

February Goals
– Lose at least one pound (net weight loss)
– 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
– 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
– 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]