Slingerdoo

I am in an extremely lazy mood tonight. So much so, that I skipped my weekly trivia with friends because I didn't want to think. I came home, put the iPod on shuffle all songs and turned up the volume. While staring at the wall I got hungry. I thought of ordering a pizza but the decisions were overwhelming. Next thought was Tuna Helper, but that involved a pan and utensils and multiple ingredients and most of all time!

I ended up standing and staring into the freezer. Shrimp needs to be dethawed, steaks involved too much work and chicken, well I'm kinda sick of chicken. Then it jumped out at me...Nestle Toll House Ultimates - Peanut Butter (protein), Chips and Chocolate Chunks (dairy) cookie dough. I quickly looked at the nutrition facts and read the first two words - Nutrition Facts and decided that this was a good choice because of the fact it had "nutrition" in the title.

Upon looking at the directions, a two step process: "1) Just Break..." then it had other words in small print followed by "2)...and Bake!". Well step 2 was a no go, so I just made up my own - "2)...and Eat!".

But I found that the cookie dough made me thirsty. Water was too bland, Gatorade required a glass - ah Red Bull. Convenient and easy to open...and there are two left.

Anyone up for a jog to Florida?

So, I was tipped off on a Google trick this weekend and just got around to checking it out. Try this for hours of entertainment: Gizoogle

Here are some of the ones I tried:

me
bizzay (bump.net)
bobafred
dooce.com

The White House
The end of the internet
CNN
The Smoking Gun: The Jackson Case

Have fun! If you find something cool, leave it in my comments or e-mail me at slingerdoo {at} gmail

Added Note: Here is one I've been tipped off to {WARNING, may not be work safe} Pornolize.com
This site is similar to Gizoogle, but uses a porn theme. Here is my site pornolized

Early this morning five friends from flickr met at a local Starbuck for a graffiti stroll around a nearby highway overpass. Our goal was to capture some of the fabulous designs and catch some of the tags around the area. Many of those pictures can be found here.

Although the graffiti walk lasted most of the morning, what captured our attention the most was a pile of bags that looked like they had been snatched, rummaged through and discarded. As we walked by, it was obvious that most of the stuff was still inside one of the bags. Immediately apparent in an open pocket were syringes, a spoon and lighter. Using sticks, we tipped the bag until it's contents fell out. Inside were all the belongs of what appeared to be those belonging to your average teenage girl: stereo head phones, a journal with phone numbers of friends, a book and a few hygiene products. In addition we found the empty herione bag, cooking spoon lighter and needles, as well as unused condoms, energy bars and hand sanitizer. Some of the contents can be seen here and here.

This find was the most disturbing because of the conflicting ideas of a young school girl violently colliding with the harsh realities of drugs. While we poked at the bag and took pictures of our find, we discussed several scenerios ranging from innocent school girl's bag is stolen, to horrifying thoughts of such a young girl strung out on drugs. Although there were "middle ground" stories, the two extremes kept running through my mind.

Ok, so the baton has been handed off to me from Mingaling and I'm off and running:

Total volume of music on your computer:

Approximately 3/4 of my cd's loaded to date.

Not a bad hand off, I'm gaining speed....

The last Album you purchased was:
Actual CD would be ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - World Apart from a bricks and mortar Best Buy. Online would be Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame.

Alright, I'm starting find my rhythm...

Song playing right now:
Something to do with my hands by Her Space Holiday from The Young Machines album

Hey, I'm catching up from the late start... LOOK at me!

Five songs you've been listening to a lot recently, from several genres:
1) Neighborhood#1(Tunnels) by Arcade Fire (Funeral album) - Alternative
2) Squares by The Beta Band (Hot Shots II album) - Rock/Pop
3) Intensifieder Sunracapellectrohshit Mix 03 by !!! (Chk Chk Chk) "Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)" - electronic
4) Woman King by Iron & Wine "Woman King" album - folk
5) Building steam with a grain of salt by DJ Shadow "Endtroducing" album -DJ/trip-hop

Whew! I'm starting to get tired!

Five people you're passing the baton to:

OH NO! He trips, stumbles and FALLS FLAT ON HIS FACE!!

Well, I'll just sit here on the track and admire the other runners as they finish the race!

Titus, Mary, Bobafred and HG - Good luck!

Wow! I didn't mean to scare everyone. I simply haven't been feeling like myself lately. Less than a month ago I took this photo of Shadow & I on hike in North Georgia. Walking in the woods is very calming for me. If only I was feeling well enough to venture out this weekend, things would be different. I just need alone time.

As for now, I'm home sick. Dad and Sis have been taking good care of me - Chicken Soup and lots of Gatorade! BOTTOM LINE: I'm fine! The amount of work I need to do, the amount of cleaning around the house, the amount of yard work and things I'd like to do to help my family are simply weighing heavily on me right now. Things are getting better, they've got to get better!

Sorry to scare so many people! Thank you all for the e-mails and phone calls. I am blessed to have such great friends.

With a smile!

Lately, I have felt disconnected. My emotions seem to be all over the board, I have very little motivation, my long-term outlook only reaches several hours and I have no real appetite. My attention span only lasts a few minutes past the start of a project, yet every project needs to be done. My priorities are out of whack and I feel like the activities, or jobs, I do are only a diversion - busy work.

The ability to convince myself of the importance in completing work, doing chores and basically getting off my butt has simply vanished. My internal clock is b0rked, and I'm wide awake at 3am, sound asleep by 9am and most active sometime after 3pm. Something's gotta give. I've told numerous people I would call, yet haven't. I've made plans, but only remembered them moments before they start. My physical health has been struggling and I can barely talk right now.

If only I could take a weekend for myself, do nothing, plug myself back in, reboot. No tv, no internet, no phone, no itinerary. If only I could feel like me again.

This weekend started off with me being sick, but fortunately I was well enough to make it to the photostroll on Sunday and the meetup on Monday. The stroll was a success, all things considered. We had about 13 people, the largest group yet, that all went off in different directions to take pictures. This stroll was tested several limits: 1) security at various points was not happy to see a "group" of photographers, 2) the size of the group pushed the limits of being able to just walk into a restaurant without a reservation (thank goodness it wasn't a busy time), 3) the overall area covered was relatively large compared to past strolls and time became a factor for some (mainly because the stroll was linear and the walk back to the car was lengthy) and 4) the overcast sky seemed to give a dreary feel to the some of the photos.

The stroll was fun and no one complained about it, in fact everyone wanted to know when the next one would be and where! There were multiple requests to hold the strolls more often, like every two weeks. Thanks to everyone who attended! I appreciate the feedback and constructive criticism.

The flickr meet-up was organized by bump and the crowd there was the best yet for a meetup! Some had to leave early, but there ended up being about ten people there, too. Frontpage News in Midtown was the spot and the patio was great! It all started at 7 pm and the last of us trickled out around 11 pm. The meetups are different from the strolls in that we stay in one spot and just get to know other people with a similar interest in flickr, or even work or play. Something interesting is how two people won't know each other, but have a third person in common. This seems to have happened on more than one occasion.

In short it was great end to the weekend. Hanging out with new people, learning lots of things I didn't know and enjoying the weather - regardless of how grey it was on Sunday!

Wishing for wonderful weather!

Ok, so work is busy and I'm back to my weekend social schedule!
Tonight's events should be fun, I'm going to see a band that I haven't seen in quite some time - Elevado. This is a big CD release for them. According to the website: "This album documents elevado's transformation into a fully fledged live touring band. It was recorded in Commerce, GA at Radium Recording with Chris Bishop." Also performing tonight will be Dames Aflame. Should be a fun night.

Saturday will be low key, but Sunday will be the flickr photo stroll. Depending on the weather, this might be the biggest group yet!

Any ideas on what I should do Saturday?

Ending my sad times on a high note, I went out this weekend and surrounded myself with friends and new acquaintances. Maybe I was a little over the top, but I enjoyed being around upbeat people and in a fun environment.

My weekend really got kicked off Saturday by helping Head Trauma move a couch! I assisted by standing far enough away and telling him to watch out for walls, doors and telling him not to drop it. For the most part he did fine. So, if you ever need really heavy furniture moved and don't want to pay for it - call him and I'll supervise. Together we do a great job! Once he loaded the couch into the truck, I had to do the whole supervising thing over again at his house! Exhausting!

From there we rested at my house playing a few PS2 games. We have this thing about selecting one player games and one of us directing the other on what to do. It works great for about 10 minutes before one of us gets totally pissed at the other for barking orders. The controller gets tossed, and then we calm down to start the cycle all over again. We could, and have, done that for days without sleep! (Red Bull is a GOOD THING)

After a brief couple of hours playing games I met andersenKT at Taqueria del Sol for a bite to eat and welcome her back state side. We laughed, we talked, we ate - but we didn't drink - until later but I'll get to that in a minute.

After lunch I headed over to a local park to see a wonder young lady celebrate her 6th birthday. My lunch ran a little late, so I missed the HUGE kickball game, but did make it time to see about a dozen three foot tall kids ingest two foot long Pixie Stix! Oh, their parents loved that I'm sure. But don't worry there was plenty of soda to wash it down with, and then cake and ice cream.

Time was really crunched all day and before I knew it, it was time for the Derby Party being held by family friends. When I got to that party, the front yard was innundated with kids ranging in age from several months to teenagers. Inside the adult party was in full swing with catered food and big screen tv to watch the Kentucky Derby! A fun time!

Unfortunately the close proximity to the office drew me in like a magnet, so I had to stop by on my way home to get some things in order for Monday. While I was there bobafred called and invited me out to Park Tavern for a drink. He said bump was going to be there. We hung for awhile, but decided to meet up at Hand in Hand. That's went we met up with andersenKT and one of her friends. bobafred called some others (names slipped me at the moment) and our little hang out turned into a good crowd.

Today was Mother's Day and it ended up being a little down for me. I stayed at home and didn't do anything all day. (except for having dinner with friends who just got back in town) Now, I'm preparing to return to work tomorrow and get back to a "real schedule". We'll see how it goes.

Tonight I attended my first "Atlanta People With Blogs Who Get Together To Drink" meeting at Manuel's Tavern. The weather was threatening outside, but the people were inviting inside.

I have become terrible with remembering names, but thankfully Mingaling brought name tags! It was fun meeting everyone tonight and I'm looking forward to the next event.