This weekend was interesting as I mixed in some new things to the old. Alternate title for today’s blog was “Big Gimpin'” since my foot has taken a turn for the worse.
Today’s Daily Challenge
Kick your left leg and clap your hands under your thigh, then repeat with your right leg.
This quick exercise is a triple-threat: it forces you to engage muscles in your backside, thighs, and abdominals! The high-kicking and clapping also adds a few moments of cardiovascular activity to your day, making it a great way to get a quick energy boost.
Perhaps I’ll save the leg kicking challenges until I am back to 100% (or so) health.
Friday Night Lavanderia
Friday was a weird day.
I went out and did a six-mile walk on Friday morning (a bad idea in hindsight) and was doing alright until just before lunch when I had what could best be described as an allergy situation; I started to sneeze, have a runny nose, and a scratchy throat. I went to lunch and upon return popped a Alavert, a non-drowsy OTC allergy pill. I was sleepy around 2:00pm and am certain that I fell asleep at least once during my afternoon meeting. I left work around 4:30pm and promptly drove my car to a little-used portion of our parking garage and proceeded to take about a ninety-minute nap.
Upon waking I decided that I should just head home, but instead rallied myself to the lavanderia and got my laundry done. Dinner that night was a Jarrito’s mango soda and most of a bag of honey-bbq Fritos both purchased at the lavanderia.
When Life Gives You No Parking It May Be Nudging You To Try Something New
I was feeling much better on Saturday but also feeling lazy and I didn’t get out of bed and moving until 10:00am or so (very late for me). I decided that I should go get coffee and brunch so that I’d be hungry again when I met up with ITP-Reader Stacy later that afternoon. I drove the Jackmobile to East Atlanta Village to go to Joe’s but there was no parking; I thought about going to Drip in Glenwood Park, Inman Perk Coffee in Inman Park, and San Francisco Coffee Co. in Poncey-Highland, before remembering Hodgepodge Coffee & Gallery located just blocks from the ITP Estate. As an added bonus I remembered that there was a Scoutmob for Hodgepodge and used it to save about five bucks! I quite liked Hodgepodge, where I had coffee (duh), a “breakfast pizza,” and purchased a pound of coffee beans as well. Perhaps the only downside to Hodgepodge is their limited hours, closing at 5pm each day. Yes, I shall return if they are open when I need a coffee fix.
When I got home a buddy of mine sent me an email inviting me to a bar I’d never been to before called Napolean’s Grill on LaVista near Clairmont. Wanting to keep the “try something new” vibe going I met up with him and another of his friends. I though that Napolean’s was a neat little joint, though a bit out of the way for my routine.
From Napolean’s I was supposed to make another stop before heading down to Little 5 Points to meet up with Stacy. However, upon seeing the slew of shitty traffic due to construction on Saturday afternoon I decided to play it safe and head to Little 5 Points early.
My early-bird arrival paid off because no more than fifteen minutes after I arrived, Stacy did as well. We used the extra time to have a beer at Euclid Avenue Yacht Club before walking up to The Wrecking Bar Brewpub for dinner (I had the pastrami sandwich this time) and then back to Horizon Theatre for “The Book Club Play.”
The play was rather entertaining and if you find yourself in need to try something new I suggest that you check it out.
ITP Flickr Pic
“Apropos”
This is the cup I was given at Hodgepodge, quite apropos for this native New Yorker.
I Don’t Know Where The Day Went Yesterday
I do know that my foot has been hurting since Friday, however.
Yesterday was another lazy morning. I decided that I was going to go out for lunch and settled on an old favorite — Fellini’s Pizza in Candler Park. I had my “usual” a salad (no onions), a Sicilian slice with two toppings (sausage and green olives this time) and Coke.
On my drive home I saw that my friends Mike and Sandy have a contract on their house (well done, kids!). This makes two weeks in a row that I’ve seen my friends move; the previous weekend I noticed that Stacy’s and Andy’s house is for sale and came to find out that they’ve already purchased a new(er) house in Atlanta and have moved. Both of these houses are in a “better” neighborhood and neither has the monumental issues that my house does, so I’m not surprised that Mike’s and Sandy’s has sold and I assumed Stacy’s and Andy’s will soon as well.
Once I arrived home I was to never leave again. My foot and the threat of rain kept me from doing much. My great “accomplishments” for the day were backing up my data and watching hours of video on Netflix.
Big Week Ahead
I’m trying to rally myself back into being a productive member of society. Depending on what I hear from my primary care physician (all attempts at getting recommendations for podiatrists failed) this week about my foot my contributions may come in the form of spending quality time writing code (instead of watching Netflix). I’m planning a getaway to Florida to visit my mother at the end of the month so I need to get myself back into health and leave for vacation with a clear mind by having my work completed.
Today’s Personal Project
Make a doctor’s appointment for my foot.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – hurt
Current Music – silence at the moment
Website Of The Day – I recently heard a podcast interview of Jerry Monkman, the guy behind EcoPhotography. Check out the site, there is some good work on it.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – I dunno any more
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0.0 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 0 (0 cardio)
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Meals – 2
Carnivorous Meals – 2
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
June Goals
– get my foot to stop hurting
– return ITP-Reader Martha’s coffee percolator to her

- return ITP-Terri’s crutches to her

- not get sick

- finish at least two of the books I am reading

- take at least one box of things to Goodwill

- post at least ten photos in the blog

- drink a lot less alcohol

- prepare a house repair plan and budget
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
- Pages 1.7 for iPad (Timestompers Guide) — by Sean Wells
- 60 Mountain Lion Tips — by David Sparks and Brett Terpstra
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business — by Charles Duhigg
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy — by Douglas Adams
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Dr. Nick didn’t refer you? He’s been so good about doing that for me, first when Lumpy showed up and then with the sleep study.
You missed a hellva day of bike riding…a decent group showed up for the 50 route, I ended up doing the 31 (which I managed to turn into a 25) route alone. It was a long day and I think I can safely say we were all cooked by the end. Yesterday’s run was just horrible…I did it, it was ugly but I did it. Added bonus I saw Nipplets walking over to the GP farmer’s market.
I’m hearing lots of good things about the Atlanta housing market recently. Home prices are up about 20% from a year ago…if you are thinking about selling you might want to start making some plans.
We like Hodgepodge a lot, our problem is they open a little late on the weekend to be much good for me (They don’t open until 8 on Saturday and 9 on Sunday). Jerry just LOVES the jamacain beef patties.
I’ll be calling Dr Nick today. When I had that odd occurrence with my two becoming twice its normal size for no reason he sent me to a podiatrist, but I was trying to use the hive mind to get more recommendations.
I want to ride, really I do. However my body is not cooperating.
I too am hearing good things. In fact, my friend John thinks I should put it on the market now as is. If I have “I won’t go any lower than” figure in mind I just might do so. The big problem then is figuring out where I would move (and getting rid of at least half of the shit that I own).
I find that most Atlanta coffee shops open too late on the weekends. Normally by the time they open I have had my first, if not second, cup.
It was a great ride and Martha was a rock STAR for doing 80! I think we were all cooked- that beer went down really well after the ride. I was falling asleep on the drive home!!
The saga of the pool pump is nearing completion. $475 got me a completely new pump, which is in place and doing its thing. I still plan on reworking some of the plumbing, so that is the next job. After that, replacing the sand in the filter. When I said if our next house has a pool to please shoot me, I wasn’t kidding.
Tried a new restaurant in Senoia last night (when Home Town Pizza was closed!!). Good ‘cue and very good mac and cheese. Could be a possible stop for a Summer Slacker ride.
-FP
Podiatrist appointment scheduled for 8:30am tomorrow morning. Stay tuned…
Yes- I was cooked after that 50 miles, the 60 the week before seemed a whole lot easier, I don’t think the elevation & climbing is much different. I blame it on wings & margaritas – I won’t be having that for dinner next weekend if I plan to ride. We stopped over at JoAnna’a after for a dip in the pool, and she ended up making us dinner. That was so nice.
We got up early Sunday (well, early for us, 8am) to go mountain biking. We were meeting a friend at 9:30 at Allatoona Creek. It is a hard place to get to in West Cobb, so it isn’t very crowded. Fun & not super hilly trail, which was good because my legs had no climb in them. 14 miles was MORE than enough.
Then – the real fun of the weekend- went to a Rose tasting (as in pink wine, how do you make the ‘ go above the e?), charity fund raiser at a mansion on Mt Paran Rd. It was quite spectacular, and tasted a lot of really good wines. My friend Leslie gets us into very cool places. They had chefs from Loca Luna making paella, both seafood & chicken, and a leg of prosciutto that was amazing. And – I won a Gucci wallet in the raffle (now I gotta buy a better purse to put it in)
Barb, I had a look at the elevations from this weekend and last…the two 30 mile laps at Sosebee had 1804 ft of gain, the 50 miles at Silk Sheets had 1776. So about the same gain but SS was 10 miles shorter. I think this is the key, the difference between max and min elevation, Sosebee 226 ft, Silk Sheets 324 ft. So there it is, read into it what you will.
Yesterday we went clothes shopping then had Little Azio’s for a quick snack.
Steve, if I had drank a beer with you guy, I would have fallen asleep driving home!
I am so glad to read that although our dinner-and-a-play tradition is old, I personally did not fall into the “Some Things Old” category. 😉
Oooh! New pump, Steve? Does that mean the pool will be open for visitors soon? *GRIN*
I only know how to do it on the Mac or in iOS, Barb — Rosé.
I just realized that I rudely failed to mention that ITP-Reader Stacy kindly bought me beer and dinner in exchange for the theatre ticket. Thank you so much. As always it was a pleasure spending time with you.
Some night this week I will be dining at The Barrelhouse, using a Scoutmob deal for two (but I am just one…).
And – (in case you didn’t hear) Michelle did the 100 miles out there in Tahoe yesterday! Congrats to her! I’m so glad she did it- she really wanted to be able to finish it as her first century.
Whoa, that’s awesome. I don’t know if I ever want to sit in a saddle for 100 again but I understand the thrill of doing one.
In regards to Barrelhouse: might I suggest NOT going this Wednesday? “Flicks on Fifth” start that night (every Wednesday in June) so that area will probably be pretty congested.
Let me know how you like it though!
Yikes, thanks for that information. I’m thinking of going tonight or tomorrow night, tomorrow is looking more likely.
Stacy (and all), hopefully, I can get on top of the slime in the pool and get it clean very soon. I had the booster pump running for a little while last night (the one that drives Igor) and it is leaking (!!) so I have that to work on.
That reminds me to call the mizzus and ask her to throw old Igor in the pool for a session.
and Steve – glad the new pump is working, it sucks to have to buy it, but ya gotta have it……… can’t not have a pool at the day spa……..
I just formed an accountability group with some friends to prepare ourselves and our horses for a competition next May, so the pool is zooming to the top of my priority list – I can’t stand the heat. I’m also going to have to get up a lot earlier. Heading out at high noon to ride is not fun.
If anyone watches Top Gear US, we had a “celeb” sighting at dinner. Rutledge, the tall bearded guy of the trio, came in and chatted with a gentleman at the bar for a few minutes. I love that show, those guys are living the (teenage boy) dream – getting paid to tear stuff up and drive hot cars.
This blog jacking brought to you by yours truly- who knew my boss was such a comedian (for a central banker).
http://www.scribd.com/doc/145429083/Ben-Bernanke-s-Princeton-Commencement-Address
Debbie: that is AWESOME! Although I would’ve preferred to see Tanner Faust (for obvious reasons), but Rutledge is a funny guy.
“A propos” are supposed to be two words, but general usage has morphed them into one. There’s your grammatical trivia for the day!
Had a great time at the Braves game yesterday. It did rain once, forcing us to find new seats under the roof, but in general it was a nice day, and the Braves won.