An Hour And Twenty Minutes Is A Long Time

I know, it’s exactly an hour and twenty minutes long. However, that’s how long it took, and normally takes, for me to walk my five-mile route in the Perimeter Mall area. The exercise is good, the time it takes to accomplish it is not as good.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Check your toothbrush. If the bristles are bent and frayed, add a new one to your shopping list.

The recommended lifespan for a toothbrush is just three months, but many of us keep using the same old brush for much longer! Toothbrushes become infested with bacteria, bacteria that moves into your mouth. Most is harmless, but over time, more and more gets in there. If you think about what a toothbrush does for a living, you are doing yourself and the toothbrush a favor by moving on.

Who recommends that the lifespan of a modern-day toothbrush is only three months? The toothbrush manufacturers? I feel as if it’s like the oil companies telling me that I need to change my oil every three months. I’m due for my semi-annual checkup tomorrow (hoping that all checks out well and that my little front-tooth problem turns out to be nothing), and I assume that I’ll be getting a new brush in my take-home baggy.

A Weekend Of Body Punishment
After a relaxing day on Friday I headed up to meet coworkers at the Wing Factory on Roswell Road in (near) Buckhead. Doing the reverse-commute wasn’t bad at all and I punished (in a glorious way) my body by drinking beer at eating chicken wings knowing full well that I wasn’t going to have to wake up early, drive to Jackson county, and ride sixty-four miles of the Jackson Brevet century.

Instead on Saturday morning I rallied myself onto BlackJack to do my Stone Mountain ride. A funny thing happened along the way, while waiting for a traffic light I realized that I knew the two guys also pulled up on their bikes to cross the road. The guys were hashers Tastes Like Sh*t and Dumb F*ck, who were also riding from East Atlanta to Stone Mountain. I joined them on the journey to the mountain and was quickly dropped like a hot potato once the smallest climb was encountered. Undaunted, I kept going, took a few minutes rest inside the park, and the started my journey back to the ‘hood. Along the way I was passed by a pack of seven riders (none of which I knew) and I managed to jump to the back of their pack and ride along with them. The pack disintegrated along the ride toward East Atlanta and by the time I hit Kirkwood I was alone again. Oddly, as I crossed I-20 I was passed by another rider (boy, this is not painting my cycling skills in great light) but couldn’t maintain his pace for very long. It was a fantastic ride — until I realized how much I had strained my right knee (probably more like my IT-Band) and suffered the rest of the day.

With a nap behind me I attempted to get a lot done the rest of Saturday. I did not. I did manage to drive to Hop City in an attempt to get a growler filled with beer from Red Hare Brewing, but as I arrived there I noticed that I had done an incredibly poor job of cleaning out the growler the last time I completed it, and mold had grown. Did you know that Hop City has no provision for this, no discounted trade-in program for growler bottles? I would have had to buy yet another new growler bottle — for a system I’m still not sure I find economically viable — but with two other empty growler bottles at home I balked, and left the store with no beer. I stopped at Mink’s Package store near the household of ITP-Reader Barb (and her hubby Allan) where I then joined her, Allan, ITP-Readers Steve and Debbie, and Sal for a Tasty China outing.

Let it be known that when the nice waiter at Tasty China warns you that the dish you are ordering is “very spicy” that he is not lying. My “Shredded Beef with Wild Peppers” tore the roof off my mouth for the better part of the meal and was too spicy to eat for many sitting at the table. The leftovers are what I have for lunch today, and that will probably be the last time I encounter “Shredded Beef with Wild Peppers.” For me spicy food is good — in moderation.

After Tasty China the gang, sans Sal, headed off to Brunswick Zone for a game of bowling. I’m not going to mention who bowled the highest score, but let’s just say that it was the most deserved of the five-some. 🙂

I celebrated “You’re a Nice Guy But Not Deemed Husband/Father Material” Day like most men yesterday. I lounged around the house until about lunchtime and then headed out for a celebratory meal. I chose to try my hand at going to Big Tex Cantina again mostly because they were smart enough to answer my tweet about where I could go to get a “You’re a Nice Guy But Not Deemed Husband/Father Material” Day Special. Finding parking was much easier (now that I know the ins-and-outs) and I gorged myself on (more) chicken wings and a concoction known as a “Frito Pie” (a small bag of Fritos into which chili has been added). I may have packed on the calories at lunch, but considering there where about the only calories I consumed yesterday I was okay with that.

Big, Short Week Of Planning And Packing And Chores
I have another busy week ahead. In addition to my dental checkup I want to get my car emissions done this week and have all my stuff ready for get-away day later in the week.

In order to accomplish everything in time I’ve decided to skip the meeting of Roswell Photographic Society tonight, and may well also skip tomorrow night’s meet up of the Atlanta iOS Developers — if the meet up happens at all.

Busy.
Busy.
Busy.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fair, hoping that I have a positive week
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – This weekend I started listening to a lot of podcasts from British Tech Network; they’re like American podcasts with a funny accent.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Saturday = biking, 34.5 miles
Morning Weigh-In – not checking

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 5.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 34.5 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Days – 1
Carnivorous Days – 16
Pancakes Eaten – 3

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

Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
2. Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
3. God, No! — Penn Jillette
4. The Elephant to Hollywood — Michael Caine
5. Here Comes Trouble — Michael Moore
6. How We Decide — Jonah Lehrer
7. Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
8. 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]