Two Fifty

I broke the bank today and spent $7 on peanut butter, jelly and bread. That has to make it through 3 days to break even. I’m not too worried, however I’m kicking myself because I failed to notice I have three opened jars of peanut butter in various stages of used at home.

I benefited from the first display of charity last night as I inherited two suite level tickets to the Predators v. Canadians game last night, thanks to my coworker Travis. It ended up being one of the more entertaining live sports events I’ve witnessed. The Preds came out swinging and looked to dominate the ice. Those pesky Canadians came back strong late and tied the game with less than a minute remaining forcing an overtime. A stale mate was reached in the five minute OT, so they went into a shootout. The first round we had ‘em beat but lost the lead again and forced a sudden death shootout which we lost, in the first round. Lame. Man, but what an amazing game.

This morning I nearly got eaten by a dog in my neighborhood. There are two points of exit out of my neighborhood from my house (as there are in most houses), going left or going right. 99% of the time I go right, as going left is… well, mildly frightening. But every once in a while you forget why you don’t go left and you have to remind yourself. For whatever reason I thought it might be a faster bike ride if I went left. Within three houses I was faced with one of the (unfortunately) many stray dogs in the neighborhood standing in the middle of the street. He looked curious at first and I really thought he was going to leave me alone, but as I got right up to him, he lost it and had me tearing off like a maniac. The thing about stray dogs is that they don’t feel compelled to stop chasing you when they’re 17 houses down the road… they don’t have a yard that they are bound by or an owner to beat them when they run out of sight… so the bastard kept chasing me. In the end, I guess it was a quicker bike ride, as I was peddling for my life.

The premise:
In observance of Lent, I’m attempting to live for 40 days off of $100 total. All expenses outside of mortgage and utilities must be budgeted for.

A list of preparations:
1 bottle of mens multi-vitamins
A full tank of gas
The purchase of a Trek 7.2 fx bicycle.
One American Apparel hoodie
No food stocking or other preparatory steps were taken otherwise.

Last night I put the “fat” in Mardi Gras by ordering the biggest burger in town from Fat Mo’s, respecting the gluttonous observance of Fat Tuesday. The unnerving 27 oz. Super Deluxe Fat Mo. Its force in my gullet was hemorrhaging my intestines, but I was able to keep it down. I’d also filled my growlers with Yazoo Pale Ale, but was unable to find much room to wash it down. I had large plans to make the most of the evening and possibly incorporate some alcohol induced bad decisions, but was pretty much down for the count post this guy, so I called it a night.

I’d ridden the route from work to the house once on my old bike and it took me less than 30 minutes but it was on a Saturday, so bracing for a rush-hour bike commute, I left the house this morning at 8:25. To my complete delight, I was able to repeat my time cutting through Vanderbilt.

It was absolutely gorgeous this morning. I don’t know where the hell it came from, but somehow Nashville was able to shake its arctic temperatures over the weekend and within two days went from sub-freezing highs and snow on the ground to a mid-sixties gorgeous spring day. It made for quite the nice bike ride.

Fortunately I work across the parking lot from the much maligned (and undeservedly so) Apple Foods (of aka Compton’s fame). After perusing the whole store a couple of times to figure out what you can even get for less than a dollar, I settled on a can of condensed Chicken Noodle Soup to mix with a bag of chicken flavored Ramen Noodles. Surprisingly fair and under my allotted $.83/meal at a whopping $.67. I have a feeling I’m going to get pretty comfortable with ol’ Ramen. Regular bed fellows, I tell you.

Lent Fact: Despite the oft-coined 40 days of Lent, the season of Lent is actually 46 days long. The forty days of Lent discounts the Sundays in the period, as fasting on Sunday was considered inappropriate.