February 26, 2006 22:15

Liverpool victory: 1-0 over Manchester City. Unfortunately I had to wait until after the Carling Cup final (Manchester United 4 Wigan 0). But that did mean that I could spend additional time with Tiffany.

I didn't make it to the party last night. Instead I ended up going to the Local and having a few drinks and playing some darts. I beat John on the first game and then he beat me. Lauren and Matt joined in the fun, and I also ran into most of the usual suspects. It was a fun night, and John ended up crashing the night at my place.

Aside from the football, I didn't do a lot today. I played some Civ, did some reading, watched some Charmed. I popped up the road between episodes to pick up some vanilla ice cream. I've been on quite a vanilla ice cream kick just lately.

I guess I should get to bed.

February 25, 2006 10:41

It's 10:30 on Saturday morning. Yesterday's splendid weather has disappeared: I awoke, about three hours ago, to rain and grey skies. I didn't want to be awake; I wanted to sleep late, but my body is not permitting me that simple pleasure. I lay in bed for some time, then roused myself for the sole to empty my bladder. When I returned to bed a grabbed the book from my side table and read a few short stories from that until a few minutes ago.

I had a pleasant enough evening last night. Liza and I went to Mezza, a Lebanese restaurant on La Vista. The food was very tasty. Once again, I restrained myself from alcoholic beverage, although I was intrigued by the Lebanese wine on the menu. Afterwards, we picked up a DVD (21 Grams and watched that. I enjoyed it, although the non-linear narrative flow took a little bit to sort out. I enjoyed it, like I said, but I did not feel emotionally drawn into or burdened by it. I guess it was a sad movie. Sean Penn is a strange-looking individual.

CHOKING WARNING: Do not give nuts to children under 6. KraftKidsfe.com. I have an almost tin of Planters mixed nuts on my desk, and this warning on the side just caught my notice.

I am disappointed by the return to overcast weather. And I am hungry. The two are not related. I think I'm going to make myself some breakfast - sausage and eggs. For some reason, I'm feeling a little lost, lacking in direction. I have a desire, but one that is lacking a direction, a focus.

February 24, 2006 16:14

Oh man what a fantastic day. I've just spent 45 minutes on my deck with my shirt off catching some rays while reading up on this and that. It has been overcast all week, and rainy, but today that clouds broke and it has just been super-splendid.

The work level has been slow as I've been trying to dig information out of other people. It seems to take me days to get the information, but the level of detail is so substandard that it raises a whole lot more questions that then take more days to get. If I could get all the information in one sitting (which should be possible), then I would have had a usefully busy week. As it happens, I've had a very slow week, but this has allowed me to get a few other things done.

My taxes have been sorted out. My bill is a lot lower than I was planning for, so I'm going to be able to pay off my high interest credit cards. Yay. I got my test server up and running, but for some reason it has locked out all incoming ports: I can initiate communications from the server, but it won't respond to communications attempts from other computers on my network. I threw the network monitor on, and it is definitely receiving the packets; I just can't find where the ports are being blocked. I've played some Civ (doing well). I've played some poker (losing money). I've made tasty dinner three nights this week, but the flounder didn't work out well last night. The brocolli and leeks in cheesy sauce was good though, just not enough. After playing poker last night I stopped down at the Highlander to catch up briefly with Shawn. Also earlier in the week I got to Wolf Camera and got a couple of photos that I took with my new camera in New Zealand printed, and I also picked up frames for them. So I now have a new family portrait of sorts, from Christmas Day.

Upcoming events: movie or play tonight, party tomorrow night, Liverpool vs Manchester City on Sunday, lunch with former workmate on Monday, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on Monday night. I missed Meat Beat Manifesto last night, and Thill Kill Kult on Tuesday.

---

Read comments

February 19, 2006 17:46

What a fantastic day. My totality of achievements today have been to read Stephen Kelly's biography of Bill Shankly, subtitled It's Much More Important Than That, refering of course to the relationship between football (soccer) and life and death. It's a great read. I also read much of another recent acquisition: The Official Liverpool FC Illustrated History. Yep, it was a Liverpool day, appropriate after their 1-0 defeat of Manchester United in yesterday's fifth round FA Cup clash, which I enjoyed at the Brewhouse. In unrelated sporting news, the Wellington Hurricanes spanked the Western Force (from Perth, Australia) 29-5 in the Super 14 (rugby).

I also made breakfast today. That is an accomplishment, I guess, although I tend to do that every day. I have not left my apartment, because it is simply too cold outside (38F/3C). I really am ready for winter to be over, even though it must be stated that this January was apparently the warmest on record for Atlanta. The things that didn't get done today were getting a photo printed at Wolf Camera and going to the gym. There's always tomorrow. Things that will get done later today include the making of dinner (pork, mushrooms, veggies) and the folding of laundry.

As I mentioned above, I watched the Liverpool v Man U game yesterday. That required me to be at the Brewhouse for a 7:30am (EST) kickoff. After the game I returned home and did some chores. Midafternoon I headed out to Conyers for dinner and conversation with Herb and Eileen and Russ. It was a good afternoon/evening and the food was great (you can't go wrong with steak, mushrooms, salad and baked potato). I excused myself when they got ready to watch a movie, as I was already yawning. There had originally been a plan to catch up with Lauren and Matt later in the evening, but I pretty much just went to bed when I got home.

On Friday night I dined at the Local and played darts. John was in town so it was good to catch up and play darts against him - we haven't played darts together in some time. I'm still pretty much at the bottom of the ranks of the people I dart against, but I like to think I show improvement. I left relatively early (11ish) since (a) I was getting up early for the football, (b) I tend to get a little negative in mood with everyone else drinking around me and (c) the cigarette smoke gets to me a lot more when I don't drink (which may also contribute to (b)).

Thursday's poker went well, with me coming out ahead after having to buy in a couple of times. Makes up for my poor recent performances, although I'm still down for the year.

---

Read comments

February 16, 2006 19:16

This week has made me pleased that I'm doing this project on a fixed-price basis rather than an hourly rate, because I have not had a lot of working hours. Of course, the flip side will be that I am likely to have a heavy week next week. Never mind, it's all good.

In tasty food news, tonight I had sauteed NZ orange roughy with steamed vegetables for dinner. The fish was great, perhaps better than I expected, and the veggies were tasty as well.

My activities this week highlighted with Liverpool's 1-0 win over Arsenal on Tuesday. The only other activity that was outside the norm slightly was having lunch with Ben today. I was going to drop my taxes in the mail on my way home from lunch, but the post office was busy (as in there were cars queuing to park) and I needed to pee. For the record, lunch was beef brisket with coleslaw, sweet corn, and fries.

Patrick called me a couple of hours ago to see if I'd be interested in playing Poker tonight. I indicated that I would, and he said he'd get back to me later on. I think we're looking to start around 8pm.

---

Read comments

February 12, 2006 21:35

Madame Butterfly was rather good last night. We had dinner beforehand at American Bazaar, which was rather tasty and just the right quantity of food. But, yes, the ballet was also very entertaining.

The ballet was my only venturing out of the apartment all weekend. I almost made it out today but was thwarted by the cold. I watched some soccer, did some cleaning, finished my laundry, played some Civ (space ship victory), watched some TV, listened to lots of music, took out the trash (okay, that was my only venturing out today), read some magazines, did some work. I need to grab a book and do some proper reading.

I have a couple of meetings already scheduled for this week, one of which will cause me to be late to the Liverpool vs Arsenal game on Tuesday. Speaking of football, Saturday morning is the fifth round FA clash between Liverpool and Manchester United - 7:30am on Pay per View and hopefully at the Brewhouse.

---

Read comments

February 11, 2006 09:49

About bloody time! Liverpool just beat Wigan, 1-0 at JJB Stadium. The Liverpool performance wasn't consistent, but there were some beautiful plays. So I'll take the victory, which moves us closer to second place and away from Spurs (who are in fourth place). In other good sports news, the Wellington Hurricanes walked over the Auckland Blues at Eden Park yesterday, 37-19, to get the Super-14 under way. Aweseome!

I stayed in last night, after popping up the Local to have some dinner (burger with cheese and mushrooms and belgian fries with mayo on the side) and pick up my projector. I did some reading and watched Comedy Central and was in bed before midnight.

So now it's relatively early on a Saturday morning, but the outside weather is anything but inviting. I guess I'll do chores and bills (not that they need to be paid until next week, but I might as well get them out of the way), and then do more reading. I may even commit a couple of hours to Civ (there's a shock!).

---

Read comments

February 09, 2006 20:58

Last night: jumbo shrimp cockail, followed by flounder in lemon butter sauce, with brocollini and mached potatoes, and vanilla bean creme brulee for desert. Tasty. Tonight: caprese followed by risotto with pork and wild mushrooms. Two corporate-paid dinner and no alcohol imbibed by me. Shocking, but true.

Yesterday, confirmation that I do have A & B antibodies and do not have hepatitis C (yay). My liver profile was back to normal, and my blood count, SMAC 17 profile, Thyroid function, and urinalysis were all normal. Now I just need for my skin to sort itself out.

Liverpool lost to Charlton yestreday (crap!) and have Wigan to beat on Saturday and then Arsenal on Valentine's day. I was planning on going to the Brewhouse to watch the Arsenal game, but I have a meeting that afternoon, so I might not get to the game until half time. It's important that we win these games.

---

Read comments

February 06, 2006 14:30

Holy crap it's cold out there. weather.com says it's 40F (4C) and that it supposedly feels that way, but I've been out there and it feels colder. That could be because of the rain. Who cares? It's cold, and I do not like it. No sir.

Speaking of not liking, Liverpool lost to Chelsea yesterday, 2-0, and Jose Reina got red-carded. We played dominating football in the first half, but couldn't get the finish. This is becoming a serious problem, because we had several shots but very few on target. In other sports news, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks to win the Superbowl XL. I was up at the Local for the game (having provided my projector), which was a pretty good game. I was backing Seattle (not a good day for my teams). Daniel, as usual, had a great supply of free food on hand, and Steve brought his trademark steak tartar.

One of the things that was hard about this past weekend was that I didn't drink, even though we celebrated Lauren's birthday on Saturday night (her birthday was Sunday) and it was Superbowl on Sunday. Well, I did have one shot for Lauren, but that doesn't really count for much. I was really keen on having a drink on Sunday, but I managed to hold off.

On Sunday morning, prior to heading the Brewhouse for the Liverpool game, I met up with Mike C at the gym. We did some cardio, some leg work and some abdominal work before I headed off to my other activities. I should probably go again this afternoon, but the weather is just so miserable, that I think I'm going to just stay home. I could also do with another session in the tanning booth. Maybe tomorrow - the weather is supposed to be better then. Note to self: need to buy some long working out pants, shorts are just not good for the walk to the gym.

February 04, 2006 17:13

Bookshops are dangerous places for me. I'm surviving the battle between willpower and alcohol, so this was just puching things too far. I went to Borders with the intent of making a purchase that was not for me. In the end, me ended up with a lot more than that one item. On the positive side, I did come out spending less than $100, but not a huge amount less than $100. But I was pleased with my purchases, including Love, etc, a sequel to Julian Barnes' earlier novel, Talking it Over. Julian Barnes is one of my favourite modern British authors, and I was surprised to only see this now, since it was published in 2000 and the paperback was first released in 2002.

Aside from my consumrism, today has been a day of football (Fulham put up a great fight in their 4-2 loss to Man U) and chores (laundry, dishes) and reading (latest Spectrum, the Julian Barne's book) and listening to music (currently New Order). I had toyed with going to the gym, but it's cold outside and I hate the cold. Having siad that, though, I will be wandering up the the Local tonight to celebrate Lauren's birthday (which is actually tomorrow).

Speaking of tomorrow, I have a ridiculously busy day tomorrow. First up it's Liverpool vs Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, followed by a meeting up at Perimeter with one of the Coke people from Australia, and then I'll be back at the Local with my projector for Superbowl. Here will be ample temptation to drink, but I shall overcome. There will also be fried food, baked food, steak tartar, and miscellaneous other food offerings. Superbowl at the Local is fun.

And then the new week starts with an 8am meeting at CCE on Monday morning. It's going to be a busy week, that's for sure.