In Case Of Emergency, Do Nothing!

I'm in a mood -- one of those moods which makes me question my existence.

Is There A Doctor In The House?
I think that I should go see a doctor about my allergic reaction that started last Saturday. The only problem is that I don't have a doctor.

The last time I went to see a physician was around November 2002 (or was it 2001?) for a similar malady. The doctor I saw at that time was "new to me" because the "my" doctor had left the practice (without letting his patients know, apparently). I really didn't care for the "new" doc, so I vowed not to go back. It's not that I have been exactly 100% healty since, but I'm part of the Sub-Species Stubbornus under Genus Homo Species Sapien therefore I tend to avoid medical practitioners.

I wonder if I can combine this trip with a about-to-turn-40-finger-up-my-arse physical?

Smoke Now, For Tomorrow You May Not Be Able To
As of tomorrow bars and restaurants in Georgia have to choose between on of the following

• Admit patrons younder than 18 and ban smoking
• Ban patrons younger than 18 and allow smoking

I'm looking forward to this change. I only hope that it doesn't destroy the business of some of my favorite places to eat.

We Interrupt This Blog Entry To Install More Memory
This pc has been sluggish of late, so I'm packing it with more ram. Be back shortly....
.
.
.
I'm back!

How Do You Ruin An Already Bad Run?
Mother Nature spewed gallons of water on me during my Wednesday night "run." Blech. The only joy I found in my own private Idaho last night was when I jumped feet first into a puddle at the corner of Briarcliff Road and North Decatur Road. Oh, it was like being a child again!.

It never rained in the Highlands so as I sauntered back toward George's Bar looking like a drowned rat people gave me the strangest looks.

Living In A Fantasy World
Yesterday I found out that the people over at the Performance Bicycle website have set up a fantasy league for the 2005 Tour de France. Cool. I'm just nerdy enough to be interested.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - far from 100%
Current Music - Coverville Podcast #104
Website Of The Day - Those crazy kids and their Flickr Tags. Devious Gelatin has an application called Montager which makes a montage of a photo using Flickr photos which have tags matching the ones you entered into the form. Try it, but please read the warning on the page first.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

You Gotta Know When To Hold Em, And When To Fold Em

City Of Atlanta, Welcome To The 90's!
I was able to pay my water bill online yesterday. Since regaining control of the billing rights to water and sewer services from United Water I have had to pay my (now monthly) bill with this crazy thing called a check. Oh, how quaint! Check out City of Atlanta's website for more deets if you think you can pay via the Internet Superhighway as well.

Dear Paul Armstrong
I will never make fun of Lance Armstrong. His ability to overcome cancer, and follow that up by winning six Tours de France (hopefully he'll wrap up his career with a seventh) are major achievements.

The web designers (or their email spamming drones) at the Lance Armstrong Foundation are fair targets, however. Perhaps they should have paid a little more attention to detail before sending out the email I received yesterday which referred to me as "Lance" instead of "Paul" in the salutation. Being a slightly-more-than-casual bike rider I am certainly flattered, but don't worry, I have no plans in pursuing the real Lance's lurv, Sheryl Crow.

iTunes Version 4.9 Contains Podcast Functionality
This can't be good for me. I spent about two hours last night subscribing to podcasts and then listening to a couple that I had never subscribed to before. I've had podcasting aggregators in the past, but I have to give credit to Apple for their ability to make things easy to use and sexy. The brilliance of their podcast directory page made it really easy for me to find podcasts that I never would have found any other way. Now if I could only figure out how to enter a URL directly into iTunes so that I can subscribe to My'Lanta. Command line entry is one thing that Apple has never really warmed up to in the past.

Start Spreading The News
I'm planning a trip to New Amsterdam, aka New York in August. As if I needed reasons other than New York fuckin' rocks and that I was born and spent nearly thirteen years there, I am planning to see my favorite movie "Glengarry Glen Ross" which came out in 1992, on Broadway at the Jacobs Theater. Never heard of "Glenngary Glen Ross?" Check this out then

It's a no holds barred, cutthroat competition in David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning suspense comedy GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, directed by two-time Tony® Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Wicked) and featuring an all-star cast led by Alan Alda, Tony® Award winner Liev Schreiber (The Manchurian Candidate), Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue), Frederick Weller (Take Me Out) and Tom Wopat (Dukes of Hazzard).

No a bad cast either, eh?

Oh no! It looks like my favorite website for tv information, TV Tome, has been gobbled up by TV.com which seems to be owned by CNET. I'm not so sure that I like this! Maybe it is the 1990's again and the City of Atlanta is on the cutting edge of technology afterall...

While in the Big Apple I can also help the New York City Subway celebrate its 150th anniversary. They are touting it as "150 Years of Rabid Transit in New York City." Oh I'm sorry, that's "150 Years of Rapid Transit in New York City."

Will Marta be around for their sesquicentennial? Who are we kidding?! They will have long since gone bankrupt and the tracks will have been turned into Segway trails by then.

All joking aside, the NYC subway site has a few cool links embedded within it. Check out their Rail Map (my home hood was near the end of the 7 in Queens), and the fascinating (at least to me) Abandoned Station List.

Have I ever mentioned my fascination with urban abandonment? Ah, I'll save that for a later date.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - doing the time warp
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Gomez -- "78 Stone Wobble"
Website Of The Day - Okay, I was going to make that NYC Subway website the Site of the day, that was until I saw a link to Men Who Look Like Kenny Rogers. Too Fucking Funny!!!

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Aw Shit!! How Did I Forget This??

Fuckity, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck! How did I miss this?!?!

Happy Birthday, Alter Ego!!!
Today is John Cusack's 39th birthday. JC call me next year and I'll give you all the 411 on turning 40.

I'll be at home celebrating be watching "Eight Men Out", or "High Fidelity", or "Being John Malkovich", or .....

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Insert Witty Title Here...

And Here Is Why I Hate Chastain
If I had my Metro Blogging privileges turned on I would have busted this out as my first entry.

I am a fan of "A Prairie Home Companion", the weekly Olde Time Radio show that has been on NPR for years. Usually this show is broadcast live on Saturday nights. When I found out that they were doing a show in Atlanta I was excited and wanted to get a ticket. When I found out that it was a Friday night show I was so confused that I didn't follow through on the ticket idea. I was certain that this was to be a "special" show, and not the normal "A Prairie Home Companion" show. Then, I found out that the show was going to be done at Chastain, and I decided that I definitely did not want to attend.

I hate Chastain Park Amphitheater! The venue is not that great, the people are usually loud/rude, and its nestled in a community that dictates that shows end by a certain time so that they can go beddy-bye in their super-overvalued houses.

It came as no surprise to me when I read the following passage "A Prairie Home Companion's" host Garrison Keillor on the Prairie Home Companion website.

AN APOLOGY TO OUR AUDIENCE IN ATLANTA
Saturday's broadcast from Chastain Park amphitheater was not the show it might have been, and I am awfully sorry. The show (which was taped on Friday evening) was troubled by a large number of loud drunks sitting in the expensive corporate seats down close to the stage. This is an odd experience for me, to be standing on the lip of the stage and telling the news from Lake Wobegon and hearing people yell at me, "Tell the one about the dog" and "How's the fishing this year?" and so forth. You could hear the wine bottles clanking for two hours. There were six-thousand other folks in the audience who seemed to be fans of the show, but all I could hear were the drunks snarfling and bellowing down below. And so the show was a joyless affair on stage, and when it was over, I walked off and didn't return for a bow. I have never felt so miserable on stage as I did Saturday. If Chastain Park were par for the course, I would've quit years ago. I apologize to the six thousand.

btw - I have a really hard time typing the word "prairie." I don't know why, I just do.

Now That's Alarming!
I accidently set off my car alarm when I returned home from trivia last night. I am here to tell you that it scared the living shit out of me! The alarm's blaring quickly brought me back to the carjacking last year and all of the thinking that I did in its aftermath. I came to the conclusion that I am very glad that I didn't attempt to set the alarm off during the carjacking because I seriously think that I would have been shot on the spot -- either out of anger, or by a knee-jerk reaction due to the noise.

Tuesday's CD Release Of The Day
There is not much to my liking today. I'm going to have to go old school country and give George Strait and his release of "Somewhere Down In Texas" my nod.

Seriously, I don't recognize most of the artists listed on today's list of releases. And, mark my word, I will most likely never pick a movie soundtrack as my pick of the day.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - fair to midland
Current Music - This Week in Tech Podcast #11
Website Of The Day - Generate a music family tree at Live Plasma.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

ITP Goes OTP For PRIDE

I figured that this being Pride Weekend and all I'd rather get fucked outside the perimeter rather than hanging around midtown and getting fucked inside the perimeter.

OTP, Part 1
Cartersville, Georgia -- The weather was beautiful, the ride was shorter than adverstised by about three miles (I rode 52 miles), the aid stations were well stocked, and the post-ride beer brought by my friend Harold was cold. What more could a person ask for?

Plum Loco
I rarely eat plums. It's not because I don't like them, I just never think about buying plums. One of the aid stations had plums and I took one for the end of the ride. It was ripe, juicy and delicious, the perfect snack for a warm day's ride. However, I think that I might have discovered that I am allergic to plums. The plum I ate was one of the few things out of "the norm" that I consumed on Saturday morning. Dammit, another one of life's pleasures taken away from me.

Corndogarama, Fun, But Not Fantastic
I gave up on the Corndogarama at The EARL pretty early Saturday night. Maybe it was because I was tired after riding my bike that morning. It was fun to do some people watching and scarf down some corndogs and Miller High Lifes, but I just wasn't into the scene.

OTP, Part 2
Woodstock, Georgia -- The weather was lousy, the hash was muddy thanks to the rain yesterday morning, but at least the beer at the end was cold. What more could a person ask for?

Not Pork Loco
Last night I think that I ate the best plate of carnitas I have ever eaten! Mind you, I doubt that I will ever drive all the way to Woodstock to eat it again, but damn it was good! I wish that I could tell you exactly where I ate this dish, but the name of the restaurant escapes me. It was La Pa.... north of I575 off of Exit 8. Did I mention that it is way the fuck OTP?

Catching Up On My Stories
Not really, just some podcasts. This weekend I "tuned in" to a podcast being delivered over at My-Lanta. The podcasts I listened to fell into two categories, the reading of Lisa Baron's column from The Sunday Paper, and reading "the best of" Craig's List Atlanta. Both styles were well done and will keep me coming back.

I am hoping that My-Lanta does well and continues to produce new podcasts, I just hope that they don't do so well as to get a "cease and desist" letter from that other Mylanta.

They're #2! They're #2!
Southeastern Conference fans can breath a sigh of relief knowing that my beloved Florida Gators failed to win the baseball college world series. Argh!

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - glad to be itp, hoping not to be itching
Current Music - Coverville Podcast #103
Website Of The Day - Have Monkey Butt you say? Try some Anti-Monkey Butt Powder!

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

New Ways To View Me

Look Who's Volunteered For Metroblogging Atlanta!
ME! Yesterday I bit the bullet and sent in a request to become an author over at Metroblogging, Atlanta style. It seems fitting that the person with www.InsideThePerimeter.com should be an author there, no? I've been accepted, pending the submission of a short bio. This will sound odd, but I hate writing about myself.

My Friend Flickr
Today I am becoming a paid member of Flickr. I was skeptical about becoming a member so soon after they got gobbled up by Yahoo, but then I remembered Blogger was once gobbled up by Google as well.

Look for more photos in this space now that I have a half-decent camera and a convient space to dump pictures. Oh, and if you want to become one of my Flickr friends/contacts, my account is InsideThePerimeter. How original...

I Can Ride 55
And I shall tomorrow in a far, far away place known as Cartersville, Georgia. I have to give the folks up in that area credit for their honesty in real estate advertising; their website name is Not Atlanta -- truer words never written.

If you happen to be in the area, I'll be the one doing 55 miles of the Cartersville Century on the red Trek, wearing a Yoo Hoo bike jersey, looking like I am about to puke my guts out thanks to my current lack of exercise.

Good Times. Good Times.

Show Me Your Pride. But Keep Your Penis In Your Pants, Please
This weekend is Gay Pride weekend in the ATL. While I don't subscribe to that lifestyle, I hear that Piedmont Park is the place to be this weekend. As I said I'll be in Not Atlanta.

A few years ago I went to Eddie's Attic over in Decatur on the Friday night of Gay Pride weekend. The place was packed with lesbians (imagine that -- lesians in Dick-Hater). It was great people watching until I came to the sad realization that it was like most nights for me in a bar -- surrounded by women who have absolutely no desire to go home with me.

Go Gators!
Woo Hoo! My alma mater is making a trip to the championship round of the College World Series. It's been somewhat lean times for Gators fans of late. Shit, the Gators even managed to lose a football game to Georgia last year.

Good luck lads! I hope you bring home the University's first baseball championship.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - living life on the straight and narrow
Current Music - Coverville Podcast #102
Website Of The Day - The Condiment Museum. That's C-O-N-D-I-M-E-N-T, and not C-O-N-D-O-M M-I-N-T.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

It's A Slow Week Afterall

This week my content, much like my life, has been on the lackluster side. I need to shake things up a bit.

Unreal Estate, aka What's In A Name?
The other day I saw a sign near the Edgewood Shopping District for a new housing community. You may remember the hubub about stores in this shopping center calling themselves "of Midtown" raising the blood pressures of some intowners.

The sign caught my eye because it said "The Preserve at East Atlanta" and touted itself as "DeKalb's first Conservation-Zoned neighborhood".

Using the currently-popular-nearby-neighborhood in your name is nothing new. I have heard of many apartments/houses being wrongly-touted as "in" or "near" Buckhead, Brookhaven, Decatur, Vinings, etc. during my ten years in Atlanta. But "of East Atlanta"? Where the heck is this thing going to be built?

First, let me say that the website for "The Preserve at East Atlanta" is no help. I could not find a single map or directions to the community using their site. The only clue I gathered was from their statement

Enjoy hiking along Sugar Creek to discover a new species of wildlife in the afternoon, and still meet your friends for an evening on the town.

From my best determination Sugar Creek is down on I285 near I675, hardly what I would call East Atlanta, thankyouverylittle.

Jeepers The Cops!
I decided to run the Full Moon Hash last night. Knowing that the hash wouldn't be off the scale for difficulty and would provide me with a smidgeon of exercise, it seemed like the thing to do.

This hash had the added bonus of a beer stop midway through the course. The beer stop was a welcome sight as I meandered down the old railroad bed which runs behind the Home Depot on Ponce because I knew that I could rest a spell and perhaps drink a frosty beverage. I am glad I didn't.

We all stood around the bed of a pickup truck enjoying the beautiful evening, joking, and what do you know, the police arrived. That's right, some fucking assclown called the cops on us!

Okay, I know it's illegal to drink alcohol in public. Got it! But there were no more than fifteen adults, standing around a truck, not creating much commotion (especially compared to our endings), in the early evening. Jesus H Christ, lighten up people!

Luckily we saw the police in time to hide the few open containers that were present.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - bored
Current Music - Coverville Podcast for 22-Jun-05
Website Of The Day - Everyone says that I need to get a dog. I think that I'll just keep on pretending that I have one by visiting Dogster.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Full Moon Fever

It Wasn't A Firebird, It Was Just On Fire
My current office location has been a source of oddities over the last few years. Therefore, there was little disbelief when I was leaving the building for lunch yesterday to hear "Hey, there's a car on fire in the parking deck!" When I walked through the building doors the story was confirmed when I saw a stream of grey some coming from the other end of the lot (luckily, no where near the Jackmobile).

How does a parked car catch on fire? This is what I'd like to know...

Now Warming Up In The Bull Pen
For years I've travelled up and down the connector past Fulton County Stadium / Turner Field and have seen the bar (currently) known as The Bull Pen. In theory this business should be a gold mine during baseball season, at least for the 81+ home games played by the Braves. However, the fact that it is nestled between Turner Field and the Interstate seems to make it off the beaten path for the majority of the fans.

Last night I made my first trip to The Bull Pen since that was the pre-determined meeting location for the group of my friends who attended last night's game. While it was a somewhat surreal experience for me, it was an enjoyable one as well.

The place is HUGE, with rather high ceilings for bar. I guess the place is really more of a restaurant that sells beer. While I didn't eat there last night, since I had scarfed down a few slices of pizza at Grant Central East prior to walking to the stadium, the food that I saw my friends eating looked rather appetizing. The beer was "bar prices" as opposed to "stadium prices" -- the Sierra Nevada I had was $4, but there was a 5 for $15 offering for those willing to swill Budweiser products.

I dare say that I would be interested in making a return visit. Does anyone know if they are only open during baseball season? Are they open when there is no home game scheduled?

Hard Decisions About Hardware
Some of my aging home computer hardware is about to pass into the Great Beyond. About a month or so ago I pondered jumping to "the other side" by buying an Apple 12" iBook. I've been in the computer game for a long time and I've blogged my history with Apple in the past so I know the dangers of introducing another operating system into my network. I not exactly sure what is possessing my to think about adding an iBook, maybe it's the desire to have another platform available to see how this site acts, or maybe I got caught in the swell of interest in Apple's release of OS X Tiger.

And then the news that Apple is moving to Intel chips next year hit the streets.

What to do? What to do?

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - conflicted
Current Music - MacCast Podcast for 21-Jun-05
Website Of The Day - Celebs have to eat too, why not take pictures of them doing so. Go here to see some.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Sometimes It's Hard To Be Humble

The Number Of The Count Was Three
Meet the Hashers was a skeleton crew last night at Taco Mac. The team consisted of me, Glenn, and Angela. The number of team members was one more than the number of questions we missed. Did I mention that we won? Did I mention that we won BIG? MUHAHA!

Last night's victory was a little more pleasing than it normally is. We usually have a large constituency and most of the other (losing) teams gripe "They should win, they have so many people." Take that you whiners!

I can only remember one of the questions we missed, probably because it was a sports question.
Q: Long before becoming an NBA coach at which college was Pat Riley a basketball star?
A: Kentucky (damn, I guessed UCLA)

A Walk Is A Good As A Hit
And hopefully tonight it will be better than a drive.

I'm going to the Braves game tonight. For the first time since moving to my hood I am going to walk to Turner Field. Fear not, I shan't be alone as it was really Glenn's idea to walk and I just volunteered to join him.

East Atlanta Streetscaping
Driving up and down Flat Shoals Avenue in the East Atlanta Village is a little prettier these days. Thankfully the streetscaping project is starting to wind up and trees have been planted in the curb bulbouts.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Glenwood Avenue in the East Atlanta Village. Glenwood could use some trees to hide the number of emptied storefronts which have surfaced. Gone are Good News Cafe, some antique store, Kinky Pinky boutique, and Dollar Days.

I really want to tout how great my neighborhood is. On days like today that is really hard to do.

You Would Think It Would Be Cheap To Go To Vegas!
Thanks to Delta I'm already losing money on my birthday trip to Las Vegas. Yesterday I booked my flight (for late July) and it came to $518 round-trip. Fuck, you would think that Las Vegas would subsidize airlines to bring people to them.

New Music Tuesday
I see twenty-three new releases on the cd front; I have no idea who half of the people releasing cds today are. Crazy.

I guess I'll give my not to Billy Corgan and his release of "The Future Embrace". Don't know the name? Billy was the lead man of The Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - smart
Current Music - Geek News Central Podcast for 21-Jun-05
Website Of The Day - Turner's got a new offer for gaming. It's called GameTap. Psst, I like to game (for free)....

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

It Was A Tiring Weekend

It Was A Meal, It Was A Wonderful Meal
On Friday night I was finally able to eat at Rathbun's. I love a good meal. I don't even mind paying for a good meal. On Friday I had a great meal, and then found out that I didn't have to pay! Woo Hoo! Oh, I tried pay, but my friends wouldn't let me. Silly Kids.

My meal consisted of an appetizer of Ahi Tuna (yum!), an entree of a Pork Porter House with brilliant macaroni & cheese (yum!), and a shared dessert plate that was to die for!

I Snooze, I Lose -- Part 1
On Saturday yours truly was the hare (trail layer) for the Atlanta Hash. My trail, laid with the help of my buddy Gentrif*ckation, took our victims up to the top of an old, closed landfill (which gives you a great view of downtown), down the backside of the hill into the Entrenchment Creek. A good time was had by most.

I should know better than to buy a concert ticket for the same night as I lay trail. After a few extra beers at Gravity Pub I went home to take a power nap before going back out to The EARL to see the Shout Out Louds and The Dears. When my power nap turned into a power sleep I realized that I was not going to make it out again.

I Snooze, I Lose -- Part 2
Sunday morning brought an attempt at running -- that didn't go so well. The "running" was followed by a rousing day of drinking, eating, drinking, croquet, drinking, badminton, drinking, eating.

Want to take a guess at what I did when I got home?

Yeah, when I finally woke up again I managed to watch Family Guy before going back to sleep for the evening.

Today Was A Great Day To Ride My Bike To Work
I wish I had....

Your Student Is Not An Honor Student At The University Of Kansas
Apparently, somebody at the University of Kansas goofed.

Due to an e-mail mistake by the University of Kansas, 119 students who failed all their classes during the last semester found out who shared their misfortune.

Man, I'm glad the internet didn't exist when I was in school.

Happy Birthday, Pac-Man
I'm not sure if Inky, Blinky, Pinky, or Clyde are happy that Pac-Man is celebrating his twenty-fifth birthday this month, but I think that Ms. Pac-Man is probably fairly pleased.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - not bad
Current Music - This Week In Tech Podcast #9
Website Of The Day - Before you run one of my trails you might want to brush up on your travel health knowledge. Ok, this site is really to help you get ready to travel abroad.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

How'd It Get To Be So Late? (it's worth the wait)

Oh that's right, I didn't leave The EARL until 1:30am. So why not take a Friday off from work? Great Idea! So I have. Today's (late morning) post is coming to you from the not-so-palacial estate of mine in the EATL.

Call My Financial Advisor, It's Time To Change Strategy
If the market research I performed last night is any indication of the future, it's time to either sink my money into RJ Reynolds, or emphysema clinics. I swear the crowd at The EARL smoked more than any collection of people I have ever been around. Is "lucero" spanish for "light up"?

No matter which way I decide to go, this investment will match well with the tattoo removal parlor industry that I have been investigating.

And Under Which Rock Have I Been Living?
Apparently Lucero has released five cds in the past five years, and I have just found out about them. Hmmm, my bad. From the head bobbing, fist pumping, beer raising, and singing along of the majority of the crowd, I clearly have been out of this loop.

Lucero put on a great show. Starting it off by getting their current single "Sixteen" out of the way with the first song they launched into testosterone-induced rock-n-roll. The hard rocking energy stopped only to thank the crowd and fix some technical difficulties.

Luckily for me there was no happy couple engaging in groping at this concert. Instead I got myself fairly close to the stage (admittedly not hard to do at The EARL) and amused myself by watching this skinny little kid go nuts with every song. I swear at one point I thought he was single-handidly trying to start a mosh pit. Good times, good times.

The opening bands The Honorary Title and Cory Branan were also entertaining.

I probably could have enjoyed The Honorary Title more if I could have stopped thinking about how much the lead singer reminded me of Tobey Maguire with "sleeves".




I liked Cory Branan's music as much I can like a "one man with an acoustic guitar" show. To his credit he played the shit out of that thing on his final song and did not remind me of any Hollywood movie star.

Wanna PBR?
The oddest thing to occur to me last night was when out of nowhere a PBR Tall Boy was waived in front of my face. When I turned to see why this was happening the girl holding it said "Want a beer?" I declined. (before you jump to conclusions, read on)

My first thought was that she mistook me for one of the guys she was with. Then I realized that there was no way this could happen, since none of them was wearing a white Polo crew-neck shirt.

Then I thought is she was trying to talk to me. I quickly realized that she was probably half my age and only interested in getting rid of the beer in her hand.

Don't get me wrong, I am far from paranoid about taking free drink offers. However, an open beer (especially not knowing how long it has been open) from a person I have never seen before in my life is a recipe for disaster.

Besides, at The EARL I am definetly more of a High Life man.

Need A (Legal) CD Fix?
I received an email from Decatur CD alerting me of a sale that they are having this weekend.

25% off all used CDs $8 and up
Lots and lots of new bargain bin CDs, priced between $1 and $6

If you can't figure out how much an $8 cd costs when 25% percent is taken off, you could always use the Google tip I taught you yesterday.

I've got to hand it to Warren over at Decatur CD because I think he understands how to put things in perspective. There is a great joke/jab also embedded in the email

We're running out of room! We've got CDs crammed in so tightly that we're contemplating stacking CD racks up to the ceiling. Then you could just come and point to the CD you want, and we would get it for you... but no. That would just be... criminal.)

I'll probably be there. I'll be the one with the Lucero cd in hand. Who knows, I might finally break down and by that Stephen Malmus cd I have been yapping about for weeks.

Happy Father's Day
I'm not a father, at least not that I know of! *insert stupid macho laugh here*. Unfortunately, my father has also passed away, so I'll be spending a quiet Sunday amongst friends, chilling.

If your dad/pops/pa/old man is still with us, don't forget to wish him a Happy Father's Day this Sunday.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - recovering second-hand smoke-aholic
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Faint -- "Desperate Guys"
Website Of The Day - Want to see what's playing on Sirius Satellite Radio? Go to It's On Sirius. They also have a really good database lookup page here.

Off to mow my lawn....

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Ask Petula Clark Where You Should Be...

Downtown

As the lyrics go

When you're alone
And life is making you lonely,
You can always go downtown
When you've got worries,
All the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know, downtown

(entire "Downtown" lyrics here)

This Is So Scooterrific!
Yesterday my friend Maigh sent me an email with a link to this survey about scooter rental in downtown Atlanta.

My first thought about this was "I remember doing this on my trip to Key West. Man, that was cool." Then I remembered that the traffic downtown is so much different from that of Key West, and that someone is bound to get killed on a scooter downtown. Bad, bad idea.

Whilst looking for the scooter link, I stumbled upon these gems...

I've Finally Found A Reason To Visit The World Of Coke

This summer the World of Coca-Cola, located in Downtown Atlanta, will offer a taste of Waffle House.

That's right, fifty years of Waffle House is being celebrated at the WOC. Who would have thunk it?

Go here to see the entire story.

It's Official: Downtown Atlanta Loves Beach Volleyball!

As the presenting sponsor, Starbucks offered spectators and athletes great samples of their newest beverage, the Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino Blended Coffee! The Chill Patrol was on hand all weekend with these summer beverages, and Starbucks also provided another beach must-have – bright, yellow beach chairs!

"The Chill Patrol", PRICELESS! MUHAHA!

Go here to see the entire story.

I wish I had known about this, it might have been a lot of fun. Anyone out there go?

Okay, I Was Going To Pass On This One Since It Had Been Played
On The Bricks, who? We don't need no stinking On The Bricks! Say it with me, "Downtown Atlanta, Are You Ready To ROOOOOCK?"

That's right, 99x is bringing free concerts back to downtown -- this time at the Underground. They only have a skeleton schedule right now, but Weezer is confirmed, so you know that I will be in attendance for at least one of these shows.

You know the drill... Story here.

That Google Is Some Crazy Shit!
Is it wrong that I use Google as a simple calculator? Don't believe me? Go to Google (use that link if you wish) and type into the form the following

4.99 * 1.08

You'll see it return the value of 5.3892 which when rounded up to 5.39 is what you would pay for a $4.99 beer (including sales tax) at the now-defunct Kroger in downtown Atlanta. What, you didn't hear about this? Maybe you should have read this story...

And A Few Miles East
I will be at The EARL tonight to see Lucero. As is typical with shows at The EARL I am sure that it will go to the wee hours of the morning, so I'll give you an update sometime in the later morning hours tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary (To My) Jackmobile!
I've somehow misplaced the paperwork and I cannot remember the exact day I purchased the Jackmobile (see what old age and alcohol does to you kids) so I'll decree June 16th the anniversary date for JM and me!



With the exception of the six days she was in the hands of criminals (and the subsiquent fifty-plus days being repaired) JM and I have been together for three years. I think that three years is still an 87 Octane anniversary, so last night I took JM out and filled her with a full tank of petrol.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - scratched and tired
Current Music - Coverville Podcast #99. (I'm digging this Podcast)
Website Of The Day - Atlanta's Downtown News. This is gold for the ITP crowd!

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Can You See The Real Me?

Do you know The Who song "The Real Me"? I can't seem to get it out of my head. Strange, it's been resident in my head for the last thirty-five years and today it's decided to be a star.

Have I mentioned recently that my friends are awesome? I really enjoy spending time with them. You kids rock!

'Incomprehensible Mexican' Is Now 'Incomprehensible Japican'
One of my favorite lunchtime establishments has turned the culinary world on its ear. Yesterday my co-workers showed me the new menu from La Sabrosa which now features Japanese dishes in addition to its kick-ass authentic Mexican food. This is not as strange as it initially sounds since the chef spent three years in Japan.

Since they don't seem to have a website, I'll give them some props by telling to that they are located in Suntan Plaza on Buford Highway just south of North Druid Hills Road.

Go there! You won't be sorry. But be forewarned, English is far from their first language -- hence the moniker.

What's That I See?
I like the fact that I can walk to La Sabrosa from my office. On my stroll over there yesterday I saw two motorcycle police sitting on our street targeting their radar at cars travelling on Buford Highway. I assume that this activity is part of the Georgia Highway Patrol's "100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T." campaign.

You have been warned!

What's That I Hear?
While in La Sabrosa I once again heard that radio commercial where they talk about people living OTP (Outside The Perimeter) and ITP (Inside The Perimeter). I've got to find a way to get an audio clip of that and link it to this website.

Not Necessarily Must See TV
I don't like disappoinment. However, two of the shows that I thought would be compelling are turning out to be disappointments.

Hell's Kitchen, Fox's RealiTV show about contestants who are being verbally assaulted by Chef Gordon Ramsey seems so contrived. I've seen many tv series about Gordon Ramsey and up until this one I had a modicum of respect for the man eventhough he has been constantly portrayed as an asshole. This series has removed whatever respect I may have had. To expect people, some of which have never worked in a restaurant, to run a restaurant's kitchen and constantly berate them when they fail is asinine.

The Next Food Network Star, Food Network's RealiTV show in which they seek the next person to host a Food Network show is boooooring. If I can't stand the contestants as the vie to get their own show, how can I possibly continue to watch them when they have their own show?

And Here Are Some That I Hope Will Be Worthy Of Viewership
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to catch up on Intervention, A&E's RealitTV documentary-style series, last night. As you can see on A&E's site,

"Intervention profiles people who are losing the battle with their addictions, and whose friends and families feel the only remaining option is to hold an intervention."

The first episode that I saw was rather compelling; I hope that the rest live up. Although I'm not so sure that watching Intervention and reading "A Million Little Pieces" (yes, I'm still reading it) at the same time is such a good idea.

I'm still waiting the arrival of Morgan Sperlock's (star of "Super Size Me") new series 30 Days on FX. My wait ends tonight and if all is right in the world my dvr will capture it. The jist of the show is that Morgan will live a specific lifestyle for thirty days to see how it feels, much along the same lines as "Super Size Me". Hmmm, this might make the straight/gay episode rather strange...

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - boob tubed
Current Music - The PK & J Show Podcast. I'm not sure this will stick.. I doubt it will.
Website Of The Day - Become a Reality TV Star

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Twofer Tuesday

Two days of sun? What, the temperature is going to rise to ninety-one? Shit, why must is be either raining or sweltering hot? This kinda sucks...

With All This Heat, I Could Use A Hummer
From the folks who brought you the Happy Ending (stout) last year, Sweetwater Brewery has introduced the Summer Hummer. Seems to me that they got it backwards. If I dig back into my far-and-away memory banks, the 'happy ending' occurs after the 'summer hummer'.

Meatwad, You've Got Some 'Splaining To Do!!!
Music Midtown 2005 has come and gone. Those who attended have blogged their experiences. The one thing that caught my eye and made my day yesterday was this picture from Used Film.



While I am definitely no Turner whore, I do love me some Adult Swim content, including the Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Brilliant marketing folks, truly brilliant!

Be Thankful That I'm Not A Surgeon
I took my new trusty camera with me to The Fox for the Camper Van Beethoven / Modest Mouse show. Either I don't know what the fuck I am doing with it (highly possible) or I have the hand-steadiness of a bartender mixing drinks, because almost every picture looks like it was taken from a speeding car. It looks like I've got yet another project on my hands (or in my hands as the case is here).

It's really too bad since we had great seats (Row K, Orchestra Right). Sorry Stacey, I know I promised not to mention how great the show was, but these seats were sweeet.

Two, Two, Two Shows In One!
At the last two concerts I have been "treated" to two shows for the price of one. No, I'm not talking about two bands, I'm talking about watching/hearing the headlining band while the couple in front of me all but has sex. Look folks, if you are going to grope each other constantly, skip the damn concert and get a fucking room, literally.

The Beatiful People in front of me were a bit of a hoot last night. She, who weighed ninety pounds -- most of which was hair, was drunk as a skunk (imho) and all over Mr. Wonderful. During the concert they both sat down and I swore that he was about to get his own summer hummer. Thankfully, I was wrong. Nope, instead they whipped out a joint and started smoking. Yeah, because that's exactly what this girl needed -- to get baked. The fact that she didn't toss her cookies all over the people in front of her surprised me. Later in the show she disappeared for some time, ten minutes or so, and then Mr. Wonderful's phone rang. I'll make the assumption here that it was her and she was either sick or lost, because he left immediately. They managed to return later, but not directly in front of me. Too bad, I felt gypped not to get the entire show.

Oh, the music was entertaining too.

Free At Last, Free At Last
Oh thank God, Michael Jackson is a free man(?)! I must admit that I was only a passing viewer of the whole incident, so I don't have much to say about it. However, it certainly must have been a stressful trial because when he emerged from the courtroom he was as white as a ghost.

Did Someone Say It's Tuesday?
Fat Joe has another new release? Hasn't he already released two or three cds this year? Can this material be as good as the stuff on the other releases? Probably not.

What about the release from Backstreet, ah nevermind, I'm not interested.

Today's CD Release Of The Day goes out to Foo Fighters and their release of "In Your Honor". Unfortunately for the Fighters of Foo their cd is not at the head of my purchasing queue, I still have a Stephen Malkmus cd to get.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - who am i? what am i doing here?
Current Music - Adam Curry's Daily Source Code for 13-Jun-05
Website Of The Day - Go see the rest of Used Film's photos.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Buggy Monday

This Big Orange Thing In The Sky
That's the sun, right? After getting rained on Friday night at the Braves game and drenched while hashing yesterday, I'm here to say welcome back sunshine. I missed you.

Let me guess, it never rained on Music Midtown, right? Yeah, sure it didn't.

What Is The Purpose Of The Fire Ant?
Yesterday's hash had us slogging through the swamps of Snellville, Georgia (where I hear that everyone is someone). One of the last thoughts on my mind when I was in the middle of the swamps was "Look out for fire ants." Why should I? I was in the middle of a fucking swamp, how were they going to get there? With about ten bothersome ant bites on my hands I wish that thought had crossed my mind.

By the way, if you find youself in the middle of a Georgia swamp, they are most likely to be found on downed trees.

Anyone have a good ant bite remedy?

The Million Millipede March
Over the last week I have seen a parade of bugs (centipede, millipede, somethinpede) along the curb where I park my car at work. I only see this in the morning, however. When I go out to my car to go home there is nary a pede in sight -- not even a dead one. What gives?

Shuffle != Random
This much I know. On occasion I drop my iPod into Shuffle mode so that I can have continuous playback. I am really shocked at how non-random the playback is. While I rarely hear the same song (I have 4200+ loaded), I often hear the same artists more than once in a given session.

The programmer in me would love to take a look at their code. Open Source, Apple? Please?

Can You Yahoo?
I am starting to feel the frustrations with Yahoo's email that I felt with Hotmail. I realize that I pay absolutely nothing for their services, but not being able to get to my email is (assumably) a lot like not being able to score crack when a fix is needed.

I dare say that I'd pay Yahoo an annual fee for guaranteed service. I probably wouldn't pay that much, however.

Happy Birthday!
My friend Mike has a birthday today. I have no clue how old Mike is, but I do know that he is old enough to appreciate the music stylings of Camper Van Beethoven. Mike, if you read this don't forget to ask for your free birthday beer before we get to see CVB and Modest Mouse.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - bitten and bothered it
Current Music - iPod on Shuffle
Website Of The Day - USA Today article which answers the question "Do Snakes Have Legs?"

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Reading Is Fundamental

Sit down children and let me impart some knowledge

Always Read The Labels, Part 1
When I reached in to my Drawer O' Drugs at work yesterday I never imagined that I would have allergy medication that wasn't of the non-drowsy variety. A short while after ingesting the medication I started feeling very sleepy. I pulled out the box and read these words

"marked drowsiness may occur"

Can I tell you how hard it is to stay awake through meetings when you make this mistake?

Always Read The Labels, Part 2
With drug-induced drowsiness and hungry from skipping breakfast I rallied up the energy to go down to the snack machine in the basement of our building. I don't hit the snack machine often, it's far too dangerous to my already-increasing waistline. As I gazed through the glass panel the words "Mini Pound Cake" struck me. Sold! As I stepped back into the elevator and started gnawing the package open, I thought "Man, this is going to be delicious." The first bite.... dry. Damn It! I turned the package around and noticed that the "Sell By Date" was May 31st; yesterday was June 9th. Damn You Unknown Vending Company!

Meet The Hashers Ignore The Calendar
An impromptu call to play trivia at Raging Burrito in Decatur occurred last night. A quorum of Meet The Hashers met up and managed to take first place! In fact, teams of hashers took the first two places as team "R-U" took second place. Our antics may put our common sense in question, but there is no doubt that we possess a vast quantity of useless knowledge.

I Hear That There Is A Big Music Festival Going On This Weekend
That's right, Bonnaroo Festival occurs this weekend up in Tennessee. Oh sure, there are two different music festivals occurring here in Atlanta as well, but I figured you already knew about them.

With all my concert-going love it may come as quite a surprise that I won't be attending any of the festivals this weekend. The days of my tolerance for large-crowd events have come and gone. I realize that I will be missing a lot of good shows, but that is a price that I am willing to pay.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - looking forward to the weekend
Current Music - Adam Curry's Daily Source Code for 9-June-05
Website Of The Day - Like Music Midtown needs my endorsement...

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

My So-Called Life

Geeks W/Blogs v. Geeks W/Cameras
A lazy night of drinking at the Highlander was what I experienced at the monthly meetup of the Atlanta People With Blogs Who Get Together To Drink. This month's twist was that we were being matched up with the Atlanta Flickr Group. It was easy to tell us apart. There were those who had cameras that could be placed into pockets, and those who had cameras that couldn't. Those who had no camera were clearly losers.

Could I Be Any More Allergic To Something Right Now?
My nose is miserable! While nothing seems to be "blooming" right now, I am incredibly disturbed at the amount of sniffling I am doing. I guess it could be that my office is moving in about a month, so everyone is kicking up the dust that has accumulated since we moved in six years ago. I haven't wiped my nose this much since Forrest Gump was introduced to his son.

If You Are Considering A Career In Chair Bocce
Here is where you don't want to be.



Yes, that is a floppy hat on my head.
Yes, that is a beer in my hand.
Yes, that spare tire around my midsection is mine, all mine.

What, you've not heard of chair bocce? Well, all you need is a bocce ball set, some number of drunks with camping chairs, and a large area filled with obstacles (such as tents). The object of this nonsense is to follow the target ball by throwing from you chair, try to get in the way of everyone, while always keeping in mind to play toward the beer source when mugs run low.

I wish there was a set of overhead time-lapse pictures that chronicled the hours of playing around camp Memorial Day weekend.

Did I mention that beer was involved?

They Put The "L" In Flinch
Last night I dropped by Full Moon Records in Candler Park. You see where this is headed, don't you?

Well, I was good, at least to a point. I didn't snatch up the REM cd "Green" that I need to replace the one that was in the car when stolen last year. I didn't buy any of the early Beastie Boys cds such as "Paul's Boutique" that my collection lacks. No, instead I rummaged through "Ye Olde Bargain Bin" looking for overlooked gems.

There is a local band called The Finch who, if memory serves me right, used to be called Atticus Finch. I was pleased when I found one of their cds in the bargain bin; the only problem was that I didn't. I don't know if it was my nearly forty-year old eyes misreading the cd jacket, the fact that I was mesmerized by the beautiful woman pictured on the cd, or both, but I failed to notice that the cd I purchased was by a band called The Flinch and not The Finch.

In the infamous words of Gilda Radner's character Emily Litella "Oh, well that's very different. Nevermind."

Three dollars, poorly spent.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - sniffling Dixie
Current Music - The Flinch's CD "Naranga" (don't bother)
Website Of The Day - My kind of eye chart -- courtesy of Men's Health magazine. (CAUTION: Not necessarily Work Safe)

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Architorture

I am back in the office, yippee!

Much like George Costanza I've always wanted to pretend to be an architect. In fact, I would have tried to become one if I knew that I wouldn't have smashed all of my models to bits in a midnight fit of rage. Computer software, while frustrating as well, was much easier to repair after fucking it up.

Happy (Would Have Been) Birthday Mr. Wright
From Google's homage to Frank Lloyd Wright I have realized that today would have been Mr. Wright's 138th birthday. I have been a lover of FLW's architecture for a long time. When living in Huntsville, Alabama I visited (although I actually never went inside since it was being lived in) one of his Usonian-designed houses in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has done a good job of keeping his legacy alive.

Not The Only Way I Like To Get High
Did you know that Atlanta is home to the 23rd tallest building in the world? This is according to the Official World's 200 Tallest High-Rise Buildings. Yep, coming in at 1,017 feet tall the building that I will always call the Nations Bank Building (now called the Bank Of America Plaza) is takes the honor.

It's funny that I have a fascination with skyscrapers since I also have a great fear of heights.

East Atlanta Needs A Waffle House!
Last weekend I needed to feed a Waffle House craving. When a Waffle House craving hits, only a Waffle House breakfast will satisfy.

Did you know that the closest Waffle House to my house in East Atlanta is the one on Cheshire Bridge near I85? (if I am wrong about this, please let me know). That's a fucking trip-and-a-half for a Waffle House fix!

A few years ago I went to Waffle House's website to look into franchising one at I20 and Moreland Avenue (I could walk to work!). However, it requires quite a layout of cash, I figured we'd get robbed a million times, and it looks quite hard to open a new Waffle House in the Atlanta area. Bummer!

Six Feet Under, Not The Television Show
The last two times I ate at Six Feet Under in Grant Park I was accompanied by women in whom I've had much interest -- who soon after decided I was not "It". So, last night's trip was all about me, my craving for their catfish tacos, and a hope that I could try out the panorama mode on my new camera by taking a picture of Oakland Cemetery from their upstairs deck.

Two out of three ain't bad. Due to the weather I had to sit on the bottom floor and couldn't get a decent shot of the cemetery. Oh well, it's a good excuse to return at a later date. The catfish tacos were awesome, but the Brooklyn Brown beer was yellow -- go figure.

Sir Spam-A-Lot
One of the benefits of moving email addresses every once in awhile is that the spammers lag behind. Being in "the computer industry" I am very skeptical of email from sources that I don't trust implicitly.

Each of the last two days I have received an email from "info@yahoo.com" sent to one of my Yahoo accounts and delivered into my "Bulk Mail" folder. The first email was entitled "IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION" and the second was entitled "Account Alert", both if which increase my skepitism.

Anyone else getting these and know if they are safe? I refuse to open them. I still doubt they are.

Another Tuesday Missed...
Argh, I like being timely so I wish that I had time to pop this out yesterday. My CD Pick Of The Week is going to The White Stripes and their release of "Get Behind Me Satan."

This was a bit of a tough call since Coldplay and Black Eyed Peas both released cds yesterday.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - ass planted firmly in office chair
Current Music - Adam Curry's Daily Source Code for 07-Jun-05
Website Of The Day - Tall buildings, very tall buildings. The Skyscraper Page.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

A Day Away

I'm playing the game a little differently today. I'm out riding along with an installer so I'll be away from the keyboard all day.

Back On Top
Meet The Hashers played at Johnny's Pizza again last night. The pizza was still substandard, but at least we were able to overcome and finish in first. I was far from helpful, but we won which really is all that matters in the end.

Go read some of the blogs I've linked to in the right hand galley --->
I'll be back with a vengence tomorrow.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - rolling, rolling, rolling
Current Music - none
Website Of The Day - My employer, Dish Network

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

I Ain't Got Much -- Time Or Material

The clock on the wall tells me that I am running real late today; my apologies. The biggest reason is the darn three-hour nap I took yesterday afternoon. It ruined any chance I had a getting sleep last night.

The Silver Lining
I was able to catch some "new" television last night, and set up some recordings for future viewing. I'm now somewhat hooked on the Food Network's lastest crack at RealiTV^tm called "The Next Food Network Star." After watching the first two episodes I have have much more respect for the multi-tasking abilities of TV chefs -- except for Rachael Ray who may be nice eye candy, but once that mouth opens... forgettaboutit.

I Spent A Lot Of Time In Decatur This Weekend
And I'm not even a lesbian!

Saturday night saw me spending time at one of the best bars in Decatur, the Brick Store Pub. I am like a kid in a candy store because of the size of their beer list. Mmmmmmm Beeeer....

If I could have changed one thing about this weekend it would have been to be hungry at 4pm on Sunday. As has been chronicled on Vicklanta the first Sunday of every month the New York Corned Beef Society of Atlanta meets up for fine dining at Twains. If I could have been able to shove a sammie down my throat, I would have been ecstatic.

Instead, I spent time and money at the used cd store in Decatur. Yeah, I've got a problem. Yesterday I added six more cds (one a double-set) to my collection. What's truly funny is that none of the ones that I purchased were the one that I went in to buy initially...

Here are my new children (no links, I'm too lazy right now)

• Mike Doughty - "Skittish" / "Rockity Roll"
• Bloc Party -- "Silent Alarm"
• The White Stripes -- "The White Stripes"
• Chatham County Line -- "Route 23"
• Micheal Been -- "On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakthrough"
• The Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies -- "Magnolia"

Somebody Is Selling Whites In Edgewood?
Fear not, it's only because Bed, Bath And Beyond has opened up in the Edgewood Retail District. You know, once that Barnes & Noble opens up I might have to change my tune and stop badmouthing that complex. That attitude will last until everybody starts driving the same back roads as me.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - hurray for sunshine!
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Soundtrack Of Our Lives -- "Believe I've Found"
Website Of The Day - Georgia Navigator. Wasn't all of that roadwork traffic fun this weekend?

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Friday Wrap Up

It's been a rather quite week in my BlogSpace and I'm not sure why.

Last night was a quiet one, a little driving about town, dinner at Taco Bell, a third trip to Best Buy with nary a purchase and the rest of the evening spent on the couch surfing the internet.

So, now you know that I was a complete bore last night let me serve up some odds-n-ends, leftovers if you will, to end the week.

Got Logo?
InsideThePerimeter.com is searching for a logo. I have an artistic mind, but no art skills. I am thinking about going to GotLogos.com and giving them a crack for $25, but would rather talk to someone about my ideas. Any suggestions?

What Up, G?
Yesterday's lunch took me OTP (yikes!). Lunch was served at Sushi Yoko followed by the obligatory trip to Tomato, the Japanese market attached to the restaurant, afterwards. My big purchase of the day was a different flavor of Pocky called PockyG, pictured below



I love shopping in Japanese markets because they have some of the most amusing packaging I have ever seen.

Pimpin' My Melon
I keep forgetting to post that my Inside The Perimeter hat arrived in the mail a week or so ago. Here it is being worn by a face that only a mother could love, mine.



I was hoping that my new lid would make me look more like this guy



Here is the guy I used to be compared to when I was in great shape



Happy Birthday Time!
My great friend Laura has a birthday this Sunday; it's a "biggie". It would be completely impolite if I were to give away a woman's age, so I won't. I will say that I was nine years old when she was born and that I am turning forty this year -- you do the math.

Caching Hell
I love the Firefox browser. However, under my install of Mandrake Linux I get a bit frustrated. I cannot figure out how to clear its cache so that when I pull up a webpage I am guaranteed that it has looked for an update. I'm going to get carpal tunnel mousing up to refresh a page each time I return during the day. Can someone hook a brotha up? (btw - switching away from linux and/or firefox on this machine are not options).

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - even more well rested, ready for the weekend
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Fountains Of Wayne -- "Maureen"
Website Of The Day - Japanese Magic Mushroom snacks from Meiji. Apparently they turn thirty this year just like Laura. Damn it, I just gave away her age!

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Somewhere Above The Gray Is A Star Called The Sun

It's still up there, right?

It's Like 10,000 Knives When All You Need Is A Spoon
Thanks to the efforts of The Faint and Bright Eyes the night before Spoon had a lot to live up to last night at Variety Playhouse. In my world they missed -- bigtime.

You have one "hit" on your latest cd -- PLAY THE FUCKING SONG IN CONCERT!!!

My overall opinion of Spoon's music is that it is far from infectious. My blog, my opinion. To be fair I heard much lauding about how the band delivered "pure rock-n-roll" and that they sounded "tight", from others when I was leaving the venue. Whatever...

I Am Laughing On The Inside
My recent trips to concerts have humored me.

Maybe it's because they no longer have to "fill" an entire album, but most bands have lost the abandoned insert guitar/drum solos, and experimentation while on stage. Many of the bands I have seen this year sound exactly as they did on cd. Too bad.

At least once a show something or someone causes me to have a flashback to a concert long since past. Many of these memories have not been dredged up in well over a decade. I nearly started laughing aloud the other night when I thought about the idea of wearing my Pat Benatar concert t-shirt which hangs in my basement, that I bought at my first concert in 1980 -- before most of the kids in the arena were born!

This One's Dedicated To The Ancients
Bob Mould is touring this Fall. He's once again taking out a full band, which unfortunately does not include Athens Georgia's Dave Barbe. I am as excited as a little school girl!

I never got to see Husker Du perform live; Clearwater/Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida just wasn't that "hip" in those days. I did get to see Sugar perform in 1994 (the night I nearly killed myself driving home to Huntsville, Alabama from Atlanta after the concert). And I've seen Bob perform solo twice since moving to Atlanta (including an extremely fun evening at The Earl).

I can't wait.

Sweet Lime You Say?
My friends and I dined at Sweet Lime in L5P last night. You might know Sweet Lime better by the name "That $1 sushi place where Bang used to be", because up until eating there last night I had no idea what the name of the place was.

What used to be at a certain location is a popular topic of conversation for me and my friends. While eavesdropping on the conversation at the table behind me I realized that I am not alone with this fascintation.

I can't recommend the place highly however since the service was scattered, Andy described his drink "like drinking a cigar", and the sushi was decent but no better.

At Least It Wasn't A Scene From Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen starring Britain's Culinary Bad Boy Gordon Ramsey is Fox's latest attempt at RealityTV. It made its series premiere the other night and I'm hooked. Blast You Fox! Please promise me you won't take this off the air before its conclusion (see also "Playing It Straight" and "My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss").

One of the contestants is a Stockbridge Georgia lad named Dewberry -- bless his heart. Rumor has it that Dewberry used to be a pastry chef at the Flying Biscuit. Can anyone confirm?

I Wish I Wasn't "A Scared" Of Scary Movies
Recently I've seen advertisement for a movie called Haute Tension (High Tension to us English speakers). I can't see it. I know I can't, eventhough I have a fascination with its star Cecile De France. Based on her appearance in the promo poster she would make her an excellent candidate to revive Helen Slater's roll of Billie Jean Davy in The Legend of Billie Jean.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - well rested
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing Spoon -- "I Turn My Camera On" (their one hit, btw)
Website Of The Day - Urinal photos from around the world. Here's a direct link to a urinal at UPS' HQ in Atlanta. Thanks Bill!

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]

Bright Eyes, No Bushy Tails

Today's Word is
demographic - adj : of or relating to demography; "demographic surveys" n : a statistic characterizing human populations (or segments of human populations broken down by age or sex or income etc.)

39 And Life To Go
I made my first trip to Earthlink Live to see The Faint and Bright Eyes last night. I must say that I was rather impressed.

Okay, I am two months away from forty...

Standing in line to get into the building reconfirmed my belief that I was not in the target demographic (15-25?) for this show. As I watched the kids get in line (sometimes after getting dropped off by their parents) I cursed myself for not investing in Hot Topic or Urban Outfitters. At this moment I declare the metal-studded belt to once again be the fashion accessory of the misunderstood Youth of America!

When I finally got inside and stepped up to buy a beer the lovely female bartender told me that it was nice to see someone over the age of seventeen. Heh heh, believe it or not, that brought a smile to my face (and for some reason still does). The second smile came sooner than expected when she told me that the Guinness I had ordered cost a mere $5. Turner Field, you could learn a lot from this establishment!

I did my best not to infringe on the fun of the Kids, so I placed myself in the Parent and Chaperone section known as "The Seats."

This was an interesting show, no a very interesting show.

Some 'band' called Airborne Audio (I think) had driven all the way down from the N-Y to play to the A-T-L. They rapped about eight "jointz", I declared rap to be officially dead! (R.I.P. RAP)

The Amateur Rock Concert Promoter in me wondered why this 'band' was on stage rapping to lilly-white American suburban kids.

The Faint took the stage next. House Music meet AC-DC; AC-DC meet House Music. Their set was fucking awesome -- full of energy, multimedia, and a light show that brought out the epilepsy in everyone. Having heard their cd a few times I knew that their set was the one that would shake the house the most, and I dare say that it nearly brought This Ancient to his feet to dance. Luckily, I had to do no more than look on stage to be reminded that White Boys Can't Dance.

Last night's headliner was Bright Eyes. While waiting in line I overheard two kids talking about one Conor Oberst in the same tones as Bob Dylan. Whatever, I thought to myself, he's definitely no Stephen Malkmus.

Two drum kits? This could be interesting...

As they took the stage I realized that the band "Bright Eyes" was going to be an almagamation of musicians from The Faint, Oberst and others.

The first songs were played to perfection, but never inspired the crowd to move. The Bright Eyes hits were played, inspiring some motion. Oberst drank beer, talked to the crowd, climbed on many of the pieces of equipment on stage, and showed an emotion, I dare say an interest to perform on stage, that is seldom seen these days, the crowd responded.

And as the night ended I thought to myself "I think that I have just witnessed brilliance." Keep up the good work Young Oberst; in fifteen years you will be Stephen Malkmus; in thirty you may even be Bob Dylan.

A $5 Guinness and a shitload of great music. Brilliant! Fucking Brilliant!

Tonight, Tonight, Ooooh Oh
Six hours of sleep, a full day at work, whatever! I'll be seeing Spoon tonight at the Variety Playhouse. I'll be the one constructing the critique against what I witnessed last night.

This Is What Happens When There Is No Monday In My Blog Week
I forgot to pick a CD Release Of The Week yesterday. This one is pretty easy for me, I'm going with Better Than Ezra's release of "Before The Robots." I may have mentioned that I go way back with the Ezras; it has been more than eleven years now since I first caught them in concert back in HuntsVegas, Alabama.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - happy, yes, I said happy
Current Music - Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 26 playing The Beta Band -- "Dry The Rain"
Website Of The Day - This blog was brought to you (unofficially) by Saddle Creek Records.

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga]