I had no realization that today I’d be posting my two-thousandth blog post! Sure, it’s just a number, but still.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Give yourself a scalp massage.
The human head is a very sensitive place! Your scalp is covered in nerve endings that make it very responsive to touch, so a nice massage can provide stress relief and a moment of relaxation. Scalp massage is also good for relieving a tension headache.
I Cricketed And I Was The King Of Theater
On Friday the office had a “field day,” complete with barbecue, games, and little productivity. The weather was great for our event, but with theatre plans in place I had no desire to stay out for very long.
I also did not have any plans at making my first attempt at playing cricket (something I’ve wanted to try since seeing them have to bat the ball on The Amazing Race last season). Here’s what I will admit about my brief cricket career — on my first swing I hit the ball, on my first bowl I hit the wickets putting the batter out. As for the rest of my attempts…
After field day I took a quick shower at the office and drove myself downtown to go see “C.S. Lewis on Stage” at Theatrical Outfit. The one-person play, which was only performed this weekend, was masterful, though not being up on my CS Lewis I’m certain that I missed many of the intricacies of the monolog. And even better was the odd luck that I had with seating. I’d purchased a single ticket on the first row, dead center; for some reason the two seats on either side of me remained empty, so I was like royalty at the theater.
On a side note: The parking attendant for the lot across from Theatrical Outfit once again called me Superman. While I no longer have the same resemblance to Christopher Reeve I once did, I still get a kick out of people referring to me as such. Now if they were only cute women making this connection…
It’s “Official,” I’m No Longer An “Event” Person
I got myself out of the house on Saturday morning and headed to midtown for the Red Bull Soapbox Derby. I brought my camera gear and was ready to take on the day. As expected traffic was thick and parking was tough, but knowing my way around I was able to get a side-street spot and hike over to Piedmont Park with more than an hour to spare. The crowds were building as I wandered around looking for a place to call my own. I quickly realized that there were few good places for photography, and those good places were already taken. Have I mentioned that I hate jockeying for position and refuse to do it these days? I ambled to the starting ramp and took a substandard spot along the fence. “Hey, at least I’d get clear shots of the contestants as they start.” I thought. And then, about twenty minutes before the event’s “start” a policeman told us that we’d all have to move. Like the idiot I am I followed orders directly and moved. No sooner than I had evacuated the space it was filled by others who never moved from it and I was left trying to shoot over some children and around a man’s head. As the “start” of the event was pushed back the throngs of people continued to stream in and pack the sidelines. I watched three “pre-start” cars attempt the course, well, I watched them begin their run and then could not see another damn thing. Frustrated and knowing that I’d not get any of the shots I had envisioned, I left. I’m sure a lot of people had a great time at the event, but all it did for me was convince me that I no longer want to attend “events.”
ITP Flickr Pic
Tomorrow I may post one of the five photos I took on Saturday.
EUFA? Da!
I left midtown early enough to decide were I’d eat lunch. As I drove I convinced myself that I wanted Midway Pub’s chicken tenders. When I arrived I saw ITP-Reader Betsy’s and ITP-Reader Terri’s cars. I then remembered something about a soccer match or something or other. I ate, and then spurred on by cheap Full Sail Session Blacks I decided to see what this soccer thing was all about.
As added bonuses I saw ITP-Reader Jenka and her husband outside on the Midway’s patio Saturday, and the Pinelake hash ended at Midway Pub on Saturday as well.
With Sunday’s rain there was no doubt that I wasn’t going to ride, so I returned to Midway Pub for another day of EUFA watching while eating chicken tenders and drinking all of the Full Sail Session Blacks in Midway’s cooler.
The days were fun, but I don’t think I can honestly say that I am a soccer fan yet.
Free? Really?
On Saturday night I drove back to midtown to go to the High Museum’s showing of “Gotham Shorts” — a series of bizarre and disappointing (to me) short films about New York. As I awaited the opening of the theater I heard one of the volunteers explain that Patron Member free tickets can be picked up at a different box office. Patron Member free tickets? WTH? I’m a Patron Member and when I reserved my ticket I was charged $7! I had to log into the Woodruff Arts’ / High Museum’s website to make the ticket purchase, so surely their ticketing system knew of my membership level at the time of reservation. I will take a portion of the blame however, because I had no idea that free tickets to any film series event was one of the perks of my membership. But now I do…
Was I Onto Something?
This week the Car Talk guys announced that they are retiring at the end of September. Too bad.
In the article I read about their retirement they stated that the show will continue to air “repurposed” episodes (the latest euphemism for “rerun”) in place of new episodes. The article also mentioned that they have tested “repurposed” episodes and at they stand the test of time.
Remember that time last year I wondered in this space whether or not the Car Talk episode aired the previous week was “new?” Now I am really skeptical…
No Mad Men Talk Please
I am in the midst of another of my June Super Secret Projects for which I have removed my satellite receiver from action. Because of this I couldn’t watch last night’s season finale of “Mad Men” so I won’t know what happened until I can watch my iTunes download of it tonight. Please, no spoilers today.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair, wishing I could return to good health
Current Music – listening to an NPR “All Songs Considered” podcast
Website Of The Day – I’m sure that I’ll be glued to Engadget later as they live-blog Apple’s WWDC keynote speech later this afternoon.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – not checking currently
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Days – 1
Carnivorous Days – 10
Pancakes Eaten – 0
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
- Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
- God, No! — Penn Jillette
- The Elephant to Hollywood — Michael Caine
- Here Comes Trouble — Michael Moore
- How We Decide — Jonah Lehrer
- Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
- Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays) — Authur Miller
June Goals
– Post at least ten new photos during the month
– Lose at least two pounds (net weight loss)
– Finish two books (audio or otherwise, comic books do not qualify)
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Not to get sick for the entire month (may be a moot point as of today)
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than ten days
– 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]
I am officially in mourning at the announcement about “Car Talk”. As Debbie can tell you, I start to hyperventilate if the radio isn’t tuned correctly at 10 each Saturday morning. I don’t begrudge them their retirement, but please- how hard can that show actually be? I did post a note on their website thanking them for many years of enjoyment.. and I’ll probably still listen after the shows aren’t live.
I thought about coming down for the Red Bull gig, but realized the crowds would be gi-normous, and I’m not a big fan of crowds.
Unlike Martha, I was a weather weenie yesterday and passed on a ride outdoors. There were several windows of opportunity, but I finally sought the comfort of my trainer. And just for the record, 100% humidity and 75 degrees with no breeze makes the man-cave a man-sauna. Ugh.
Congratulations on 2000 blogs!! Many more.
-FP
We were at Midway as well Saturday, said hello to the hashers, heard a rumor you and Betsy were inside. Betsy walked by us about 6 times…can’t say our experience on Saturday will have us going back any time soon. It took over 20 minutes (I know because I checked the time) to get water. We just had a drink and a snack, I have to say, with a little salt the grit cake and pork was pretty yummy.
You couldn’t pay me to go to one of those events at Piedmont…I have no tolerance for those types of crowds these days.
I did go for a ride yesterday, two and a half hours, 38 miles of wet, dirty Silver Comet. Seriously, I was covered in mud from head to toe (it was in my hair). It never rain ‘hard’ but it was a constant drizzle. On the plus side I pretty much had the trail to myself.
Looks like today will be rainy run.
Well shoot, sorry I didn’t see you out there Martha. I wandered out once, before the pack had arrived, but since I wasn’t hashing decided that it was not my place to be. Yeah, I’m funny like that.
Good on both of you for getting exercise yesterday! Not to use is as any sort of excuse, but I’m still fighting off the runny nose and cough that I’ve had for nearly a week — never mind the damn pain in my mouth… I’m tired of all of this nonsense and hope that I am completely better and have the antibodies necessary to fight off whatever I encounter on my flights to and from San Francisco later this week.
Shoot, I forgot to welcome back our BRAGgers. How was it, folks?
It was nice to see you, Paulie, however briefly!
Martha, I meant to tell you that our Subaru was also rummaged through last week, Thursday night/Friday morning, I think. Dice forgot to lock the car, and when he came out the following morning the doors and trunk were open, but nothing was taken (because nothing was in the car). Could’ve been the same culprit!
We got there a bit after 5, the hashers were already settled in nicely. Yes we were invited to join circle but I passed as well.
I forgot the other issue, aside from the slow service, a damn dog on the patio. I love dogs, I wish more places allowed them but if you bring your dog you can’t just talk on your phone while it’s barking its damn head off. It was worse than a crying kid. Does the Midway allow smoking inside? The patio was pretty stinky.
Jenka, looks like a lot of cars in Ormewood Park were messed with last week. There must have been more than one, whoever it was covered a lot of ground that night.
As sucky as it was riding yesterday, sitting on the training for 150 minutes would have been much worse.
If I had to do 150 minutes, I’d have been out in the rain as well. Been there, done that.
The Tour de Suisse has a bit of controversy- an “at grade” rail crossing. A few of the field got through and then the gates came down. The commisaires stopped the part of the field that got across and put the field back together after the gates went up. The break went from 7:15 to 8:30 with about 40km to go.
Yeah, Midway’s only negative for me is that they allow smoking inside. It wasn’t bad yesterday, but it did get to me a bit on Saturday.
Spending time in a smoky bar probably isn’t doing your upper respiratory system any favors.
Steve, all I managed to watch yesterday was Sagan taking the time trail win from Cancellara.
I’m back- just busy as hell trying to figure out what happened (or really, what didn’t happen) while I was gone.
BRAG was awesome temperature wise, that rain early in the week was interesting, but luckily it was really a great storm overnight Sunday night, but stopped enough to get camp packed up then drizzled/light rain monday. Tuesday morning it wasn’t raining, but about 1-2 miles in, jsut started pouring. Rode 40-45 miles of the 53 in pouring rain, that wasn’t all that fun. but- it did stop by the time we got to Roswell, so everyone could get there stuff set up &* dried out again.
We did a cool as hell ride yesterday for the final leg from Mt Airy (really Cornelia) to Tiger, GA. We rode along the Soque River for a while, then around Lake Burton. Some good hills, but over al it was just a beautiful ride. Might have to roadtrip up there again sometime to ride around again, I wish I had the money to buy a place at Lake Burton, that is one NICE area.
Next year is rumored to be going back to South GA – we will NOT be doing a week below the gnat line, I’ve learned my lesson in years past. So, need to find something else to waste a week of vacation on………
I hate to disappoint you, but Sagan sat up with 10k to climb yesterday and went from the yellow jersey to the back of the bus. Let’s see.. sprinting- check, time trialing- check, climbing- oops!! Maybe not a TdF contender.
And Debbie won’t let me root against “Faaaaabian”.