If you read today’s title and start singing Oingo Boingo then you have my respect.
Today’s Personal Project
Figure out what I am going to do tonight, this weekend, and perhaps for the rest of my life.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Stretch your arm out, drop your hand, and pull gently toward your body with the other hand.
The muscles in your forearms help you with tasks large and small, from writing a shopping list to opening a jar. Stretching them helps to reduce muscle pain and helps to prevent injury. For those who work at a computer, this stretch also feels good after a long day of typing.
I don’t get this one.
It Was As If I Drove Through A Wash Cycle To Get To The Lavanderia
Not sure how it was in your neck of the woods last night, but ’round these parts things were bad. I had to navigate around a downed tree along the way, but luckily once I arrived at the lavanderia things had calmed down.
Laundry night was uneventful. I sat and contemplated what I was going to have for dinner while doing my wash, The early favorite was to eat a meal at Harmony Vegetarian Chinese Restaurant. It’s been more than fifteen years since I been to Harmony and I keep meaning to go back, however I wasn’t in the mood to have a sit-down dinner alone. I hemmed and hawed until I finally convinced myself to go home, cook up some breaded okra, and have a beer while watching some football. PAR-TY!
TAR Recap: THWARTED!
Late last night I planned to rewatch the first leg of this season’s The Amazing Race. Unfortunately all I could access via my iPad was a minute-long recap which was preceded by a Ford commercial.
FAIL.
I have a conference call very soon otherwise I’d attempt to assign nicknames now. Next week this space will contain a proper and hilarious recap, complete with the nicknames I will be assigning to each team.
ITP Flickr Pic
We joked about how far the bathroom at Tap was from our table — up two flights of stairs and on the other end of the building. I took this picture to show her the words of encouragement the staff had for its patrons making the journey.
After my dismissal soon thereafter I’ll forever read this sign as “Hey! The end is right around the corner …almost there.”
Squeaky Clean
Last night’s heavy rain gave me the opportunity to try out the new windshield wipers I put onto the Jackmobile on Saturday (washed, vacuumed, and new wipers… and still I was cast away!). Regardless of the motive for installing them on Saturday it was time for me to replace the old wipers which did little more than smear the rain across the windshield (windscreen for our European ITP readers). The new wipers seemed to be perfect, at least until I noticed that with each perfectly-cleansing swipe there was a squeak coming from one (or perhaps both) of the blades. This may be a result of the ancient Turtle Wax soap that I used to wash the car with on Saturday; only time will tell.
I’m Hatching An Idea
No details other than to mention that it will be bicycle related, and may occur very soon, next Spring, or perhaps both.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – slowly returning to “normal”
Current Music – silence, not because of anything in particular, but rather because I just haven’t gotten around to thinking about it today
Website Of The Day – One thing I took from her was a Website of the Day… Arts & Letters Daily.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – walking, ~5.2 miles
Morning Weigh-In – checking again tomorrow
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~5.2 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Days Of Bed-Making – 2
Vegetarian Meals – 3
Carnivorous Meals – 0
Pancakes Eaten – 0
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
October Goals
– Wear “nice” clothes to work at least twice a week, if for no other reason than to have people wonder why I am dressing up. New!
– Eat no fewer than forty-five vegetarian meals
– Take at least one load of stuff from my house to Goodwill
– Take unused electronics to recycling center
– 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)
– Not to get sick for the entire month
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Ride no fewer than 100 miles
– Walk (or run) no fewer than 100 miles
– Do no fewer than 750 sit-ups
– Do no fewer than 300 push-ups
– Read a non-techincal book
– Find someone else to go out on a date with
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
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) — Arthur Miller
- Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Yesterday was just crazy! It took me 65 minutes plus to get home (7 miles, I can run it in that amount of time) the most frustrating part, my Ford Sync told me traffic was ‘moderate’. I’m starting to get real nervous about the trees around the house. I big limb came down last month and I’m worried more will follow.
I went to dinner last night at the Elder Tree to celebrate a friend’s rock start finish at Augusta 70.3, Jenka was there along with others from my old gym. I ate fish and chips and drank beer, it was fun being naughty on a school night. I paid a small price for my fun on this morning’s run.
I’m curious to hear about your plan. I’d like to do something BIG next year, just not sure what just yet either…
I nearly wound up at Elder Tree, but the car was filled with laundry…
I suppose I should check the “back forty” to see if any new downed limbs have appeared.
Now that all but 1 of the Bradford pears have committed suicide, I only worry about 1 tree that I think has the pool house in its sights. Unless I want to get some climbers and drop it a piece at a time, it will take a pro. If it doesn’t hit the pool house, then a large section of fence is its other option.
I was thinking about running when I got home last night- there was a glimpse of sunshine from the bus, but the weather was only teasing me- and still too hot to ride the trainer. Ugh.
A shout out the mizzus as she made chili and cornbread for dinner last night. Black beans substituted for kidney beans and it was delicious!! The cornbread was tasty too!!
(would the grammar police please help me with the use of apostrophes and possesives(as in the first paragraph))
-FP
a BIG biking thing you could do next year is go to RAGBRAI….. I’m just saying.
I think everyone needs to spend a week in Iowa in late July…… hahahahaha
why couldn’t you go to Elder Tree with laundry in your car?
We did nothing last night, I worked until almost 7pm, Allan grilled some burgers, we watched some DVR’d TV. and a little football, but the Bears were killing the Cowboys, got bored.
Jerry and I ate there a couple of months ago but sat on the patio. I hadn’t been inside until last night. I wouldn’t have recognized it from the old Blue Frog. Brent (I think that’s his name) did a great job on the new place. Unfortunatly, it isn’t the type of food we eat on a regular basis. However, I think we will be planning a similar get together after PM40.
I could have gone there and left the laundry in the car, but I have been conditioned to never go anywhere and leave ANYTHING which might entice some shithead to break in. I could have gone home and then back out again, but by that time I would have gotten to comfortable in the house.
I know it’s stupid, but so is returning to your car to find someone has punched out a window in hopes of getting something of worth.
well – I guess I wouldn’t think of laundry as enticing to thieves…. just don’t put your logo’d shirts on the top? hahahahahaha
I’ll be the first to admit that my clothing isn’t worth the cloth it’s made of, but still, some crackhead/homeless/whatever might like my clean clothes over his dirty ones…
Steve, your usage of “its” was correct – both times, in fact. As that’s one of my biggest pet peeves I appreciate your hard work on the matter.
Grammar police
Come do BRAG next year! We are thinking of going big this year and renting a camper for the trip. Laura will transport our stuff from stop to stop and we can bring the tandem for the rest day and ride with Travis.
Laura, I want to add an apostrophe to indicate possession but it doesn’t “look” right. I know when to use the contraction “it is” = it’s.
Its is possessive; no apostrophy necessary.
I love to cook for Steve. He’s so appreciative and the bar is pretty low. It was some really good chili, but the cornbread could only be classed as edible.
Today was my first return to the saddle after getting bucked off last month. I rode two this morning and all systems were go. Glad to be back riding now that it is getting fall-ish – my favorite time of year to be on a horse.
It was great to see you last night, Martha! Yep, pretty much never have fish ‘n’ chips and beers on a Monday night, but it was worth it for Sarah’s accomplishment. We’ll do the same for you after PM!
a flat week of riding below the gnat line – now that would take a lot of convincing for me.
BTW Bob, Travis’s pat is still rolling around the garage/deck.
BAT is what I meant to type.
Crap I keep forgetting about Travis’s bat. I may have to go for a motorcycle ride and come pick it up.
If my toilet install goes smoothly I may swing by tonight. I’ll call you.