No Longer A Slack Motherfucker

I'm cutting the virtual umbilical cord with Blogger today. If you've reached this message you should update your browser / aggregator to point to www.InsideThePerimeter.com which should take you to the new digs.

[UPDATE: fwiw- www.InsideThePerimeter.com is really redirected to www.InsideThePerimeter.net so if you got here by going to www.InsideThePerimeter.com it means that the nameservers have yet to realize the change. Sorry 'bout that]

Oh, there is no need to bring a housewarming gift and expect it to take me a week or so to unpack the links from the boxes that I've put them in.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

A(n Almost) Wasted Day In Paradise

As I sit here on my deck surfing the internet (love WiFi), smelling my grill burn off bits and bobs of barbeques past I am reflecting on the day that wasn't.

It's now 6:00pm on Saturday and except for getting my hair cut (10:30am), eating lunch at Fellini's (11:30am), and preparing the barbeque for a summer of home grilling (5:00pm), I've feel like I've pissed away a perfect day.

I could have read one of the many books that await my attention, but that would have required me to sit indoors. I could have hashed, but I just wasn't in a hashing mood. I tried to go to the Virginia-Highlands Summerfest, but the parking was non-existent (as I assumed it would be) and as I drove around looking at the happy couples/groups I realized that the social aspect of going was as non-existent as the parking for someone attending alone. I had my camera with me in hopes of being inspired to take pictures, but never encountered anything better than a cliche shot of downtown. I am scheduled to go see Over The Rhine tonight at the Variety Playhouse, but that too is a solo flight and I am not sure whether or not I will attend.

Why should you care? I don't expect you to. I just thought that today would be one of those days I would look forward to blogging about and instead I am here at home, alone, blogging about it.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - lonely
Current Music - Gomez' "Out West", Disc 2

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I've picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as "blogged."

Exercise (b)Log - nothing

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Huh? What? Pardon Me?

I expect these phrases to exit my mouth often today. My brain is scattered today. I guess I should feel fortunate that it is not also covered, chunked and peppered. Mmmmm, Waffle House...

The Name You Can't Trust
While finishing up a cup of coffee the other day I turned the cup over and saw this



Now I know that after thinking about it for a second you can understand that it says The Name You Can 'Trust', however when I first read it I saw The Name You Can't Trust and it made me laugh.

Penny For Your Thoughts
I wear a pair of sneakers that routinely get pebbles lodged within their tread. The other day I extracted three pebbles from my shoes and constructed a mini rock formation. I actually dislodged four but I had lost one by the time I was setting up this picture.



My first attempts at photographing (with Ye Olde Pentax Point & Shoot camera) this made me realize that you the viewer had no idea how tiny my little rock formation was. So, I enlisted Honest Abe as a common point of reference.

Hey, I've Got A Great Idea!!!
Join me and my friends at The EARL tonight to see National Grain; doors open at 9:30pm. You should probably like country music as that's the bulk of National Grain's catalog, but they are really good and as I found out at the East Atlanta Notoberfest Beer Festival they are nice guys.. at least to the people that are pouring their beer. :)

Country is not you favorite musical styling you say? A Fir Ju Well's guerilla marketing has informed me that they are playing at Lenny's Bar tonight. Go see them instead then. You should see one of their shows before their advertised "Final Show" at The EARL on July 1st. Hell, from the verbage on Lenny's website it's going to be their final days at their current digs as well. Hurry, time's a wasting! Leave work now and tell your boss that Paulie said it was okay. I can't guarantee that you will still have a job come Monday, but you can deal with that next week.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - foggy, hoping my Alavert and coffee kick in soon
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Gomez -- "How We Operate"
Website Of The Day - Interested in some juicy, nerd gossip? Then you should be reading Valleywag; it's as good as anything you will find at your grocer's check-out stand, assuming you are a nerd.

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I've picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as "blogged."

Exercise (b)Log - nothing

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

A Comady Of Errars

That best describes my life's experience yesterday...

No Hurry Hurry To Return For Piri Piri
Yesterday some coworkers and I decided to try something new over at the Super Target Parking Maze. With a plethora of chains from which to choose (have I mentioned that I am not a fan of chain restaurants?) including Chipotle, Shane's Rib Shack, Tin Drum, Panera, and Doc Green's, we chose to eat at the one none of us had ever previously tried... Boneheads.

I left the experience feeling like a bonehead for eating there. There was a line to the door when we arrived. Was this a good sign meaning that the food was so good people would queue up to get some, or a sign of incompetence? The latter was true [note to the cashier who left me standing alone as she decided to go and walk the floor: Never leave your register at lunchtime!]. The food I ate was mostly sub-standard, and even worse it was only mildy warm at 12:30pm, a time at which one would expect all food should be leaving the kitchen piping hot.

Strike one more chain of my list.

Closed? Seriously? Closed?
After Boneheads we headed to Target so that I could pick up a prescription that I dropped off last week. It was now 1:25pm and I was stunned when I turned the corner to find the pharmacy closed for lunch. Huh? Closing an entire pharmacy at Target? During the day? Around lunchtime when many people are out trying to run errands? This might be expected at Mom & Pop's Pharmacy, but at Target? But wait, it gets better.

As I stood there obviously dumbfounded a Target employee approached me. Here is a transcript of our converstation.

Emp: Hello Sir, is there something that I can help you with?
Me: Yeah, I was coming here to pick up a prescription I dropped off last week.
Emp: Oh. Well what is your last name?
Me: I tell him my last name and spell it for him.
Emp: Well, the pharmacy is closed for lunch and will reopen at 2pm.

If he had no intention of getting my prescription, why did he even bother asking me my name? Am I the only one who finds this strange?

[UPDATE @10:40am: I just made a run to Target to get the prescription. In their defense, there is a sign which states that the pharmacy would be closed from 1:30pm-2:00pm for lunch. I still don't understand why for a store as large as Super Target, and as I stated above it was 1:25pm when I was there (this I know because I looked at my phone after I repeated the story to one of my coworkers).]

Like The WWE I'm Going RAW
There comes a time in every photographer's life when s/he decides to make the leap to RAW. My time is coming quickly. The format itself doesn't scare me as I have plenty of flash memory cards and the willingness to fail before I succeed. What does scare me is the increased amound of time it will take for me to get my shots through the workflow of saving, reviewing, editing, and converting to a suitable format for display. Considering my main work machine for photo processing is my G4 iBook which doesn't have Photoshop CS2 (I do have Elements), I am not even sure of the tools which I will be using to complete my workflow.

Perhaps I should start reconsidering whether or not my time has come to make the leap...

Here's another shot from my Milstead photostroll last weekend. It's really too bad that this old runoff chute doesn't dump water into a large, deep watering hole. What fun it would be to slide down it.



And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - good
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Ben Folds Five -- "Don't Change Your Plans" (BF two days in a row? Coincidence?)
Website Of The Day - To go along with today's title, check out this series of photos of a tow truck trying to rescue a car from the sea.

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I've picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as "blogged."

Exercise (b)Log - running and some walking, 4.8 miles

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

End Of May Day

Where did May go? Five months down, minor progress made along life's path.

Caught In The Wild
It's rare when I find myself on the lens side of a camera these days. It usually only occurs when someone else snaps a picture of me as rarely do I take self-portraits (btw- Maigh, I still have your plunger, in no worky with my camera).

On last weekend's photostroll my buddy Darren managed to capture me capturing something else.



It's a shame that the pipe obscures my awesome calves, but other than that I actually think it's a pretty good shot of me (look closely and notice my Mona-Lisa-like smile).

Margot And The Nuclear No Shows
Last night wasn't my fault (this time). After my photography class I rallied myself off the couch and headed up to The EARL around 9:30pm to see the live music for which I had purchased a ticket. The bill last night was to be (some band), Margot And The Nuclear So & So's, and Film School. I was there to see Margot et al, and Film School.

When I entered The EARL I thought it odd that the tv's were turned to baseball and that the place was relatively empty. I walked up to the table leading into the music room and saw the sign "Margot And The Nuclear So & So's cancelled". Given that I was there to see two bands and that it was about 9:45pm I asked "Does this mean that Film School will go on early?", to which the reply "They will probably take the stage around 11pm." While I have no qualms sitting in a bar for an hour, I don't really like doing it alone, so I decided to cut my losses and head home so that I could get a decent amount of sleep.

And as they say, misery loves company.

If The Hotel Is A Rockin'...
My July trip to Chicago is a go! The other day I took my chances and used Hotwire to book my hotel room for the weekend of the Paste Music Festival in Chicago. When I booked my room all I knew was that it was to be at a "Four Star" hotel in The Loop for $131 pre-tax per night. What I found out afterwards was that my room is in the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago, which seems fitting for the reason that I am travelling to Chi-town (which is a term probably loved by Chicagoans like Atlantans love Hotlanta).

Next on the agenda, buy a ticket for the recording of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.

Run Like The Wind
I'm planning on a George's running outing tonight. It should be nice and steamy come 6pm, perfect weather for sweating out and toxins I injested over the big Memorial Day weekend. A look at the calendar reminds me that it's time to start training for the annual Atlanta Hash Peachtree Pub Crawl on July 4th.

"Water Bad! Beer Good!"

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - okay, thanks
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Ben Folds -- "Bitches Ain't Shit"
Website Of The Day - Maybe I'll do my Peachtree training via HyperStrike - Online Personal Fitness.

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I've picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as "blogged."

Exercise (b)Log - nothing

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Flirting With Disaster

That Would Have Been A Shitty Way To Start The Week
Cruising up 400 this morning there was a State Trooper with a radar gun. Eventhough I was amongst a pack of cars and I wasn't speeding, that much ;), my heart skipped a few beats when I saw him get into his car and turn on his blue lights a second later. I was certain that it was my turn (again) since I was in the shiny red Honda Accord, but luckily some other poor soul got the pleasure of flirting with Johnny Law this morning.

Moving This Blog, Part 436
I tried this weekend to cut ties with Blogger and move this space to my Wordpress setup. For someone who has twenty years of computer experience this process is going embarrassingly slow. This weekend I did go out looking for a new theme/skin for the blog. The latest selection is currently up at www.InsideThePerimeter.net.

I've got a meeting with the minds set up for June 7th, afterwhich I will undertake a no-holds-barred attack on getting the move done. Look forward to the ribbon-cutting around that time.

OTP: Two Out Of Three
That's right I crossed the fence twice over the weekend. On Saturday my buddy Darren and I went to Milstead, GA to take photos of the remnants of an old mill which once sat along the Yellow River. We had hashed past this site a few weeks ago and I was ready to go back with the camera.



This shot highlights my fascination with old manufactured parts that have information about the part forged onto it. If you look closely at this shot (or click through to get to see a better view) you'll see that this is/was a "fire door hanger" and was patented in 1901 and 1909. Eh, I think it's kinda neat.

I Prefer Fat Tires Over Flat Tires
Yesterday my friends Betsy, Melissa and I decided to do a grueling bike ride in the middle of the day. About two miles into the ride we saw three women on the side of McLendon Ave having difficulties with one of their tires. I, being brought up in an era where chivalry was still taught, asked them if they needed help to which they replied that they needed someone to help free the tire from the rim. We stopped, and secretly in the back of my mind I knew that I would look like a putz if I couldn't complete the task. After much struggling (and sweating, even in the shade) I admitted defeat (note to self: time to return to the gym). The woman's friends took off and started to ride back to their cars.

We remounted our bikes to resume our ride and about two blocks later Betsy's rear tire was punctured by a staple. Oh bother. While fixing her tire (we managed to get hers off the rim) the first woman passed us on her bike alerting us that she had gotten a real "fix it" man to help her out, and that he had ruined his housekey in the process. While I contemplated finding a stick to shove into her spokes, the task of fixing Betsy's tire was still at hand and I couldn't be bothered with filing police reports, etc. Once the tire was repared we decided that it was time to drink beer instead of ride so we headed back to our start. I accused Betsy of sabotaging her tire in order to restore my manly bravado, but thanked her for doing so. While the beer wasn't Fat Tire Ale, it was rather tasty.

CD Pick Of The Week
Readers, I hate to say this but you are on your own. I haven't a fucking clue about any of the CDs being released today.

Asobi Seksu? Boards Of Canada? Jim Dickinson? Matthew Herbert? Peeping Tom?

Perhaps one of you could educate me.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - unsure
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Faint -- "Desperate Guys"
Website Of The Day - If you've got the moxie to flirt in traffic, perhaps you should sign up for offline dating at Flirting In Traffic.

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I've picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as "blogged."

Exercise (b)Log - a short Black Sheep hash on Sunday, an even shorter bikre ride on Monday

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

In Memory Of Memorial Day

I have spent the last handful of Memorial Days in Newnan, Georgia with hashers at an event known as Hedon. Hedon is a "camping" weekend on private property where the rules are "No dogs. No illegal drugs." and there are two beer trucks on site dispensing beer the entire weekend. Sound fun?

In the I have had a lot of fun at Hedon and about a month ago I signed up for this year's event. However, my recently-relentless schedule combined with last weekend's campout convinced me that Hedon was not for me this year. Instead I plan to spend a mostly-restful weekend doing whatever the hell I please.

Not Too Tough An Act To Follow
This morning I followed the "You Have But One Chance To Make A First Impression Act Of 1978" by taking the Jackmobile in for some TLC at Catcus Carwash. She looks fucking hot, even with the smattering of lint still present on the windshield. Seriously, I like Cactus Carwash but for what they are charging to wash cars could they not afford lint-free towels?

In two weeks I will take the Jackmobile in for her 50,000 mile checkup as she turns the ripe-old age of four. She still looks a like this picture from a year or so ago, with the addition of a few gray hairs and a few more wrinkles




Speaking of the Jackmobile, the other day I received a phone call from a District Attorney asking me questions about my carjacking which occurred in August of 2003. Ah, the swift wheels of the criminal investigation process...

When WiFi Turns Into WoeFi
When I made the monumental leap from my ancient Palm Pilot III to an iPAQ last year one of the big perks was getting the ability to surf the net wirelessly when I was at a location with a WiFi hotspot. It was great, until last week, when my iPAQ decided that it didn't want to do this any longer. It sees WiFi networks, but refuses to attempt to connect to them. Rats!

The timing this couldn't be much better since I am seriously considering moving to a Treo 650 from Sprint (Sprint's prices for data plans seem so much more reasonable than Cingular's and Verizon's). Cool kids like Susan and Mark carry them (although not necessarily of the Sprint variety), why should I? And let's face it, I'll never be as cool as Maigh so a Blackberry is out of the question...

Don't Know Much About Geography
Yesterday I found out that I will be spending a day or two in El Paso, Texas in the middle of July for training. Don't be that way, nobody likes it when you are so jealous of me. Do you think it will be hot then???

Not being a cartographer myself I pulled up Google Maps to locate El Paso. Holy Fucking Hell (almost literally) it's almost due South of Albuquerque, New Mexico! And it being almost directly on the US / Mexico border I can get a look at the new fencing being put up in efforts to stop illegals from entering.

Customer Disservice, Part 1
In preparation for my trip I decided to sign up for Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns^(R) frequent-flier program. I consider doing this like getting immunization shots before travelling; I may not need them, but having them can't hurt.

After providing all of the required information on their web site I was greeted with an error message. So I tried again, same error message. Naturally I then turned to calling customer service where I was promptly greeted with the standard message that

• their menus have changed recently, please listen to all options
• my call was important to them
• call volume was higher than "expected"
• all of their loyalty agents were currently helping other customers

Loyalty Agents? Oh Please, stop this fucking nonsense! They are (on average) underpaid call service representatives who'd give their left nut/teet to get the hell out of Dodge and we all know it.

Customer Disservice, Part 2
June marks the end of my Natural Gas Fixed Rate plan. To prepare myself for sigining another contract I surfed on over to websites of the major gas marketers to check their rates. One of the marketers had a rate plan called the Choice plan which was in between the non-fixed-rate plan and their "normal" fixed-rate plan. Want to know what this means? Me too! From their site I could never figure out what the hell made this plan "choice." I am sure that you understand why I didn't dare call them because I had no desire to sit on hold to wait to talk to one of their Loyalty Agents...

Well, that's a lot to digest. I'll probably be posting on Monday, so check you aggregators then. If not, I'll have plenty of nonsense to discuss on Tuesday. Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend all!!!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - nervous
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- "Phenomena"
Website Of The Day - Are you planning to travel to where the Internets may have not reached yet too? You may want to do like me and grab some of your favorite apps from Portable Apps and put them onto a USB thumb drive.

If you ever want a quick glance of the sites I've picked for my Websites Of The Day, you can check them out on del.icio.us, my user name is InsideThePerimeter (go figure), and they are all tagged as "blogged."

Exercise (b)Log - nothing

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]