People Call Me Crazy

Crazy like an old fox…

Today’s Personal Project
Get some work done, go home, get some cleaning/organizing done.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Add one new type of leafy green veggie to your shopping list, such as kale, spinach, or cabbage.

Leafy greens are great for so many reasons! They are packed with a wide range of vitamins and minerals, including A, C, E, folate, and calcium. They provide fiber, which helps fill you up and aids with healthy digestion. Thanks to their antioxidant properties, it’s also believed they may help to prevent some kinds of cancers. By buying a leafy green you’ve never eaten, you may discover a new favorite.

Perhaps I should add “go grocery shopping” to Today’s Personal Project

A Busy Saturday Indeed
I woke early and drove up to The Majestic to meet up with my photography friends. To my surprise, I was once again one of the last to arrive on the scene. We wandered about The Majestic taking photos before going inside for breakfast. As we ate our breakfast we were surprised to see my friend Maigh walk in; she had arrived at breakfast to get a little “her” time. Oops, wrong time for that…

From The Majestic we wandered as a group down to the beltway, taking photos along the way and back. I spotted a Red Tail Hawk sitting in tree, but unfortunately none of my photo attempts worked; others had far better luck/skill than I did.

When we arrived back at our cars we drove over to the Carter Presidential Center to go into the Carter Presidential Library/Museum. I’ve lived in Atlanta for eighteen years (in fact today marks my 18th anniversary of starting my first Atlanta job — see below) and had never stepped foot inside. The tourist attraction is nice, I’m not miffed that I spent $8 to see it, but I doubt that there is any reason for me to return.

I split off from the pack at that point in order to drop off my unwanted electronics (an easy process) as well as head down to the Georgia World Congress Center to pick up my packet for Sunday’s race (not that hard of a process, but it did cost me $10 to park).

From downtown I met up with my photog friends for lunch at DBA Barbecue in the north portion of Virginia Highlands. It was at that time that I knew LA Fitness was no longer in the plans.

I returned home briefly and took a nap (seemingly my answer to everything these days) before heading northward again. I dropped off clothes at the dry cleaner near work and went over to REI before getting the text that the ITP-Reader Bob birthday bash was on its way to Rocco’s in Marietta.

I was under the impression that the I-285 weekend road work was completed, so I was quite miffed to find out otherwise. Luckily I was able to wind my way around to Powers Ferry and then Windy Hill in order to pick up I-75 North there.

A fun time was had by all at Bob’s gathering as we watched football, drank beer, and ate food. Instead of keeping the partying going I headed back to East Atlanta, stopping at Delia’s Chicken Sausage Stand for a Red Velvet Cake Shake before returning home again to watch the beginning of the Packers/49ers game.

ITP Flickr Pic
Entrance to the Carter Presidential Center.

I’m A Galloway Method Believer
For me to say that I was prepared to run 15k (aka 9.3 miles) on Sunday morning is about as preposterous as Lance Armstrong saying that he didn’t dope. There, I said it.

After getting guilted into trying the Hot Chocolate 15k on Friday I determined that the only hope I had of completing it was using the Galloway Method.

I was picked up at the ITP Estate by ITP-Laura, her sister, and brother-in-law who were all nice enough to encourage my participation.

There was an angel near us on that day — not because I made it through the race, but rather because she gave me a tissue that I used in the paperless port-a-potty before going out for my attempt.

My plan was to “run” for ten minutes and then take a one-minute walk break, which I quickly changed to a two-minute walk break, and then a three-minute walk break for miles seven, and eight.

I would have kept this plan to a “T” if not for making a critical math error along the way. I miscalculated my second stopping time, failing to account for the two minutes of walking I had performed. There was also the time during mile eight were my feet hurt so much that I wound up walking up one of the race’s last hills.

But I finished.
And I finished in a time that I deem to be acceptable.

Though you can see from the age and sex breakdowns that a lot more people finished with times that I deem far better than just “acceptable.”

I had many more comments about this race, but I am once again pressed for time.

And For The Rest Of Sunday
I took naps, watched the Falcons blow a nearly-insurmountable lead only to pull another game out of their ass, and read a lot (well, a lot by my standards) as I let my feet and legs recover.

Eighteen Years Ago “Today”
Not exactly “today” but rather eighteen MLK Days ago…

I had been working in Huntsville, AL for three years and was ready to leave. Huntsville, at least at that time, was a great place to raise a family but a lousy place to be a single guy. The main three business types in Huntsville were — military, space and rocketry, computer engineering — non of which are known (especially twenty years ago) to attract many females.

“Atlanta, or Austin, where ever I get a job first” was my plan. Fortunately(?) my friend Bill got me a job interview at Daugherty Systems, the company at which he had just taken a job, and I nailed it.

My first day of work was scheduled for MLK Day 1995. Upon realizing this I called HR and asked “Do I start Monday or Tuesday?” “On Monday, why would you be starting Tuesday?” she asked. “Well, because it’s MLK Day and I assumed that most of the businesses in his home town would observe the holiday.” I said. (side note: I had been getting MLK Day off the previous three years in Hunstville.) “Nope!” she replied. “See you on Monday then.” I said and hung up.

I’ve not had an MLK Day off since moving to Atlanta.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – sore, but a good kinda sore
Current Music – silence
Website Of The Day – Last Friday I subscribed to NSScreencasts — a site providing short videos regarding iOS development. I’m committed to continuing to improve my coding skills, I have a career to keep…
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Friday = walking/running, ~5.5 miles; Sunday = running/walking, 9.3 miles
Morning Weigh-In – I forgot to check yesterday

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~14.8 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 3

Days Of Bed-Making – 0

Vegetarian Meals – 20
Carnivorous Meals – 18

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

January Goals
– lose five pounds
– walk/run no fewer that 100 miles
– read at least one book
– dissolve Sharpened Stone, LLC
– take at least one box of things to Goodwill
– post at least ten photos in the blog

2013 Goals: Measurable
– Get my weight down to 190 pounds so that I can wear a 36″ waist pants comfortably
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Dissolve Sharpened Stone
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Completely run at least one 10k
– Fix all (or at least most) of the things which are wrong with the ITP Estate

2013 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Simplify, simplify, simplify
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– 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)
– Take two real vacations, perhaps one abroad
– Take a more proactive approach to meeting women (read “stop being such a pussy”)

Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2013

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]