Instructions

Season's Greetings

The first winter party in our current home went well, I think. I only forgot a few detail to put out before I became too distracted. Good food. Good friends. VERY generous gifts - really too much but greatly appreciated.

Nearly perfect, except for a couple of incidents -
one uninvited guest who showed up early and empty-handed, drank the entire 6-pack of IPA that Daniel had brought as a gift to Monster, and ate half the roast beef. The couple who sent him here arrived late, though they themselves were gracious guests who even brought cake and did not hog the food or drink. Not sure how to deal with that situation yet, whether to just have a chat with someone about manners or just make alterations to future guest lists.
One older friend was in an automobile accident on the way to the party. Monster picked him up and brought him to join the party and try to relax after all was taken care of at the scene of the accident. Joy gave him a ride home at the end of the night, since she lived in the same part of town. No one was injured in the wreck, so we are all thankful that is is only the bother of dealing with insurance companies and civic entities to deal with afterwards.

Christmas Eve was spent in AL visiting with Monster's family and eating out in Birmingham.

This morning, we opened gifts, and discovered a new way to keep any squirrels of the bird feeders - and it has been QUITE a show of birds of many species this morning. Titmouse, cardinal, bluejay, downey woodpecker, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers (odd name, since their bellies aren't red), chickadees, mocking birds, sparrows, goldfinch, etc. We need more suet blocks for the feeder. :)

little rant

Monster is much better - he looks and talks 100% well again. He is suffering from some depression now just because of his circumstances. It's a hard reality check for him on his lifestyle and finances. He still has to regain some physical strength and he has to realize that all of the things he thought he could put off until later are now no longer an option. Rather than pointing out the obvious, I'm letting him find out on his own so I'm not associated with all of the negatives.

I'm trying to deal with his negative attitude about everything now while not giving into it. Needless to say, he's good at making everything I do, plan, or enjoy impotent now. He doesn't listen to me at all now but I can still urge him on by bringing in friends to back me up. He was completely against putting up lights around the house, so a pal came over last night and the two of us put up lights together while he grumbled downstairs. He could not stop BOTH of us from working on the house. Call it peer-pressure therapy. It is my best tool for a peaceful home now. Friends have no idea what a HUGE help they are just by being here for me to do the necessary things.

This is awesome

blue evening

Experiencing a slight case of the blues tonight, but all is well at home. Probably just a bit of fatigue.

Tomorrow is Monster's checkup with the neurologist. I wish I could be there to hear what his doctor has to say but, alas, I'll be at work.

Tomorrow night, joining friends Mr. & Mrs. Damaged Goods to remember Wayne from Code Blue at Maddys.

Wednesday, I get to watch Pushing Daisies for the first time in three weeks.

Thursday, maybe dinner with friends.

Friday, house-cleaning, followed by sleep.

Saturday, hopefully, holiday party at a friend's house.

send money

Open Clamshell Packaging with a Can Opener

be calm.

Slow day at work. Boss is out today and tomorrow and when he's not in, work ceases. This place is, at the end of the day, run as a one-man show. Things will bottleneck until he returns on Friday.

Had a paranoid moment when Chaz phoned to ask for the house number, explaining that he had tried to reach Monster via cell phone and there was no reply. I waited a couple of minutes (might have been in the shower) and called the house phone. He answered. He's fine. He was puttering around downstairs away from the phone.
I still worry when he's home alone.

Catch-22: Analysis

about the writers strike

tackling the leaves before the rain comes

Looks like it's going to rain tonight.
Fortunately, my friend Lisa came here today, along with her beau, and Lisa and I got up on the roof together with John's mega leaf blower while her sweetie started raking the yard. The dismount was much more difficult, but we made it back off the roof in one piece. Not a moment too soon tonight. We raked as many leaves as daylight and the number of bags I had allowed. And then, the rain started.
There is, however, still much to do but our most immediate needs have been taken care of today.

down in flames again, rising up from the ashes

Just when we thought we were making our way out of the woods, Monster had a relapse on Wednesday. I was almost to work when he phoned, losing his ability to speak, and came back home as quickly as possible to take him into the emergency room at Northside. He was going in and out of TIA's.
First, the CAT scan.
Then, the MRI, which showed the artery had become more disected than before.
Then, and arteriogram to get a better look at the damage. This was also to give everyone something to judge by in deciding whether to continue the drugs and hope for the best (that his body would heal on its own) or whether to attempt putting a stent in the artery to keep it open.

The arteriogram showed the artery becoming more damaged than anyone imagined - and an aneurysm on the artery now. That left no question but to go ahead with surgery to try to repair things with the stent.
They called in a specialist who was highly recommended and esteemed by his doctor. On his off day, he came in still wearing his gym clothes and apologizing for his appearance while I was incredibly happy to see him there so soon. The surgery went well despite some complications: They had to bring in some equipment from St. Joseph across the street and the stent of the right size had to come in from Rockdale.
He came through his surgery very well and his doctors have once again given him a good prognosis.

He's still in ICU at Northside hospital and intensely bored. That floor bans cell phones and wifi so there's no need for me to bring his phone to him.
He's not quite 100% back yet but he looks much better today than yesterday and continues to return to himself.
We're hoping for him to be transferred to a private room tomorrow or Saturday. John is, of course, hoping to come home by Saturday but I'm not expecting him to be released that soon.

trying to be normal as possible

I picked Monster up Sunday at noon.
First stop - the pharmacy to fill three different prescriptions.
Second - out for lunch to eat something other than hospital food.
Third - He was determined to hit at least one fleamarket before going
home.
Fourth - Home, at last, enjoying a nice long-awaited rendevous with
soap and a few gallons of very warm water.

Monday morning, I drove him to have blood drawn for outpatient monitoring. The blood thinners are still not quite at the right level.

Tuesday, today, I got to work on time thanks to a friend volunteering to drive him to his appointment in the morning.

home sick

Monster is still in the hospital today. He's starting to have some serious cabin fever. He wants to go home tomorrow. My guess is it'll probably be at least Monday before they release him.

bleeder

For the next few months, Monster will be on strong blood thinners.

He can't eat dark leafy greens or anything else that is rich in vitamin K, which is the antidote for the blood thinner, for the time being. Hopefully, he'll only be on these meds for a few months. I fear the blood thinners. They so often seem to do more harm than good. They are a necessary evil for now.

The cat misses him too. She actually does seem to be in need of his company. She just mopes on the steps indoors or huddles in her heated spot outside now, like she knows something is wrong. She suffers the lack of his warm feet.

One doctor said he might be able to come home tomorrow if the therapeutic levels in his blood are where they want them to be. His prognosis is very good. Cross your fingers and wish him luck on a quick return to normal.

medicated

For the cough Monster has, he's getting antibiotics because they now believe the "cold" that came with fever is actually bronchitis. That explains why it's been so severe and the cough so bad.

Get out of the house this weekend

Pine Lake Cultural Affairs Committee presents
Cafe Bizzoso: A Vaudevillian Music & Dance Extravaganza
Your Host: Papa Bizzoso aka Don Normando Ismay

On Saturday Nov. 24, come meet members of the Bizzoso family, as they thrill, charm, and entertain you with extraordinary stories, dances, and acts of music, including tap dancing, ukuleles, juggling, and family antics.
The Pine Lake Clubhouse will be transformed into a musical and visual treat, with original paintings by Papa Bizzoso, aka Atlantan/Argentine artist Normando Ismay.
The evening will be hosted by the Papa of the Bizzoso Family himself, who will regale us with stories of the Bizzoso Family.

Performers are arriving from far flung locales including Toronto, Blacksburg, Morocco, and Pine Lake. On the bill are the Ukulele Ladies, Junk DNA: The Cut Off Genes, the Packable Child, the Kinney Family Band, Lilikoi & Moku, The Duchess of Cabbagetown, La Banana, and members of the Deluxe Vaudeville Orchestra. Appearing in person are Elise Witt, Mick Kinney, Celeste Miller, Alexandra Miller MacColl, Ann Kilkelly, Carol Burch Brown, Jennie McKnight, Joyce Brookshire, Chip Epsten, Toni Shifalo, and of course the inimitable Papa Bizzoso.

NOV. 24 8:00 p.m. @ Pine Lake Clubhouse
300 Clubhouse Dr., Pine Lake GA 30072
Directions: http://tinyurl.com/2dvxsr

Admission at the door: $10 general / $5 seniors, kids, students, artists.

All proceeds will benefit the Artists Medical Fund for the Seaberg and Brookshire Families.

For more information, call (404) 297-8398 or visit http://www.elisewitt.com

Tragedy avoided, Bullet dodged.

Monster almost had his lights put out permanently today.
When I came downstairs to wake him up this morning, there was no response from him to sight, sound, etc. Every breath he took ended with a cough and he seemed to be in a dream he couldn't wake up from. By all signs, he had a stroke. I did get one response, finally. When I put my hand to his head, he took it and patted it like he always does, so I knew he was mostly there inside. I phoned 911 and EMT's in Fire Rescue Red vans came and took him to the hospital. I gathered what I could, grabbed his wallet, dressed, and followed them. Found the room he was in, and told doctors what I knew about his medical history, habits, etc. First, the CAT scan showed nothing, which is common for new injuries/strokes. After that, as we waited for him to go in for a MRI, he started becoming more alert and able to respond to sight, sound, etc. He kept rubbing his hands together like he was trying to warm them or feel them. Before they wheeled him out for the MRI, he was able to say small phrases and answer questions with a simple "yes" or "no" but anything else he said was gibberish, like he was not quite finding the words that matched the thoughts. An hour later, after his MRI, he was mostly back, talking normally, and he had recovered the simple motor skills that had gone wonky.
After discussing test results, examining the MRI, and more questions, here is what the doctors believe happened: John had damaged (ruptured?) the interior carotid artery by coughing as long and as violently as he has for the past two nights. The tissue in the walls of the artery started separating like a sandwich and blood began to fill the area between tissue layers. Then, the artery began to close, cutting off circulation to the left side of his brain.
Fortunately, his blood pressure and blood flow regulated (how, I'm not quite sure) and blood flow was restored soon enough to prevent any real and permanent damage.
He's in a private room now. They have him on very strong blood thinners and will have to monitor healing. Hopefully, everything will eventually close up and seal itself with fibrous scar tissue. Hopefully, the scar tissue will not then close the artery. Hopefully, there will be no loose blood clots forming.
They plan to keep him in the hospital anywhere from five to ten days.

My head aches now. My stomach is queasy. I'm a bit dehydated. Going to bed now. Hopefully, we'll both feel better tomorrow morning.

Sick Monster

The Monster came home with a fever of 101 yesterday. We have begun treatment with EmerginC, Umka, and lots of rest in front of the telly.

With the freezing temperatures predicted, we brought Doris inside overnight. I ran to Target after work and bought the necessary litterbox, liners, scoop, etc. Tried to get her to recognize the box and showed it to her twice. The box was untouched this morning but there was no evidence of anything else in the area we had her contained to downstairs. She was, however, eager to be outside when I fed her. I put her heated pad/bed back in the outside carrier when I left for work.

in need of restraint

It's so boring at work today that I keep finding myself drifting into e-commerce and spending the money I make on little things that I certainly do not need.

Feeling very wanty today.

Winter edges closer

Onset of colder, darker days maybe?

Oh This sounds happy. Everything I see or read about this week seems to be pointing to depressing tales of dismal German artists. Maybe I need to purchase that book along with Klaus Kinski's autobiography and snuggle in for some dark and silent winter reading.

Or maybe not. Sounds as appealing as a Ingmar Bergman film fest to me. Not that I don't respect Bergman's work but I can only take these things in small doses. I have friends who will devour all of the above in large amounts but I am too morose by nature to immerse myself in lugubrious meditations.

Give me sitcoms. Give me red wine. Give me colorful sparklies and kitsch. Ginger. Caffeine. Minty freshness.
I still end up celebrating the dark underbelly more than the next person.

I don't feel especially dark this week. I'm just noticing a lot of this sort of stuff swirling around me lately.

Tony does Ghana tonight

No Reservations is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
The Travel Channel, 10:00 PM
Ghana: Visiting Ghana.

Looks like it might be a good show tonight. I know nothing about Ghana other than it's a delicious combination of French and African influences. Could be yummy.

Elvis is the late night DJ at WILO.

I had that darned Harry Chapin song in my head this morning while I brushed my teeth and got ready for work.
It reminds me of a running joke/story with an old friend of mine. My friend grew up in Danville, Virginia, a mill town whose most famous native son is Mojo Nixon. Mojo (I forget his real name - you could probably google it) Nixon's father owned the only soul music radio station in the area, WILO, "Wonderful Willow". Once, after seeing Mojo Nixon perform at the Metroplex, I showed a photo from the show to my buddy's mother, who didn't even seem to notice the television that Mojo was wearing on his head will howling something. She just smiled wide and said "oh, he looks just like his daddy".

slow. slow. slow.

Work is horribly slow this week. Today, I'm filling time by filing old jobs, making follow-up calls to clients, and doing some general maintenance to the machines.

Tonight at, 8:00 p.m., is the tribute to Ronnog Seaberg at EyeDrum.

Georgette Plays A Goth

a good account of this season's trick or treaters

At least Defective Yeti got to see some trick or treaters this year.

A Celebration of Rönnog Seaberg

A Celebration of Rönnog Seaberg, November 9, Eyedrum

Rönnog Seaberg (1932 – 2007)

Friday, November 9
8 pm
Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery
290 MLK Jr. Drive, SE, Atlanta, GA 30312
info@eyedrum.org
www.eyedrum.org

On Friday, November 9, Steve Seaberg invites everyone to remember and celebrate the life of his late wife, Rönnog Seaberg (1932 – 2007).

Rönnog Seaberg, mother, poet, author, and long standing and beloved member of Atlanta’s arts community, died at home on Wednesday, October 17, 2007. Her last poem “Old Age”, dated October 15, 2007, is included below.

With her husband of 50 years, Mrs. Seaberg created a new art form: acrobatic poetry. It was the physical expression of a life that embraced the world, relied on strong family support and always broke conventions.

Born in Sweden, Mrs. Seaberg earned degrees in literature and religion from the University of Uppsala. She met her Chicago-born husband while he was visiting relatives in her native country. The couple moved to Spain, wed in Morocco and vowed to live life as artists in America. They moved to Atlanta in 1970.

A memorial celebration is scheduled for 8 pm Nov. 9 at the Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery.
The evening will include films and videos of performances by the Seabergs, as well as performances by the remaining company of Seaberg Acrobatic Poetry, a troupe that included the Seabergs and younger performers. There will also be performances by several Atlanta-based performance artists including Allison Rentz and Nat Slaughter.

Rönnog Seaberg’s obituary, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, can be read here –

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2007/10/28/obit1028.html


OLD AGE

Old age like a tiger
ripping at your skin
to set your mind free.
We kneel of course.

If old age has such force
what strength birth should be
or the full length of life
and the whole earth!

The old silent movies run
from rusty projectors.
The spiderwebs the spiders spun
on spider spindles
food and fun.

Rönnog Seaberg, 10.15 2007


The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center | The Contemporary | 535 Means Street, NW | Atlanta | GA | 30318

fretting

I woke up this morning at 4:00 AM from troubled dreams. Now I can't go back to sleep for worring about money. Specifically, I'm worried about what the tax man is going to do to me this year. I have no idea what my property taxes are going to be.

Today is National Sushi Day

Today is National Sushi Day in Japan.
Since 1997, November 1st has been "Sushi Day."

Do you need any better reason to go out and enjoy some fresh fish and rice?

Trick or Treat

We stayed home watching Pushing Daisies and waiting to see what, if any, trick-or-treaters we'd get. We had only a couple to knock on our door and we could see the gangs of ghoulies coming down the street, only to turn up the next block before coming to our house at the deadend of the street. Our house looked fabulous but I admit we didn't have it lit at the street well enough and we only finished the decorating at the last couple of days, which decreased our ability to "advertise" that our house would be available for trick-or-treat.

Next year, Halloween will be on a Friday night so we might try to have a multi-level event here with candy and child-friendly monster movies on the telly in front and a firepit and adult refreshments in back. Thus, we could take advantage of our status as being outside the trick-or-treat zone.

home security

I should also note that service men came yesterday to ensure that our plumbing issues are solved. Parts were replaced. Tanks were emptied. Alarms were located.

What female superhero are you??? Wonder Woman! You're an original. A champion of justice and able to keep up with the best of male superheros, you attribute your power to amazonian origins. You're a powerful, independent woman, and you're not afraid to show it.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Festivities

Got two jack-o-lanterns carved and lit last night. I toasted seeds, which I brought to work with me this morning to share with the guys in back. There will be more carving and seed-roasting tonight. Watched Heroes and No Reservations. Went shopping in an unsuccessful search for more lil' pumpkin light strands. Bought dowels and as strobe light for the mini cemetary with scattered bones and tombstones. Monster is thinking next year we should invest in a good fog machine.

This is inspiring

A house on Rockbridge Road, near a friend's house. Amazing - I wonder how long it took to set all of that up.

sleepy

Having a hard time staying awake today at work. Doesn't help that we have nothing to work on today. Even my email has been silent all day.

up early this morning

Last night, the downstairs bathroom became a poo volcano again. That's the joy of living in this house at an elevation below the county sewer lines.

Then we discussed what to do with Saturday social activities. Whatever we do, we have to do together, and we have different priorities for that day both in which event is most important and what to do and bring.

Disturbing dreams woke me up early and motivated. I dreamed I was living like a teenager in my mother's home and there was no place of my own to escape to. I realized in reality that, in my current situation, there is no place of my own to escape to. I woke up dreadfully discontent with everything around me, feeling like I have no control over my life.

I got up. Started cleaning the kitchen and putting things away around the house in a small attempt to put some of my world in order. Showered in the mildewed bathroom. Left for work while my housemate still slept.

Halloweenie

We won first place, the Wizard's Cup, in the Little Five Points Community Halloween Parade.

Sunday, went with Mr. & Mrs. Pyynk to see the Ghastly Dreadfuls at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

Still slowly decorating the house for Halloween. There are a lot of things I'm holding off on until after the rain.

Trying to decide what to bring to the October Potluck at the Pyynk house this Saturday. Also trying to figure out how to make it to both the potluck and a new deck & pond party at The Barker's house in Decatur. Monster wants mostly to go to The Pond. I want mostly to go to the Pyynk House.

makes sense to me

You Are an Alien

You're so strange, people occasionally wonder if you're from another world. You don't try to be different, but you see most things from a very unique, very offbeat perspective. Brilliant to the point of genius, you definitely have some advanced intelligence going on. No matter what circles you travel in, you always feel like a stranger. And it's a feeling you've learned to like. Your greatest power: Your superhuman brain Your greatest weakness: Your lack of empathy - you just don't get humans You play well with: Zombies

What Kind of Monster Are You?

The Haunting Business

And now, a bit from someone else' blog.

The shocking, true story of Cam's big shaft

what strange curse is this?

Name my poison.

What is it in Archer Farms salt & pepper potato chips that destroys the inside of my mouth when I eat them? Last week, Monster got a bag and, knowing I was sensitive to them but not knowing how much, I thought two or three chips out of the bag couldn't hurt. Aparently any amount of those delicious potato chips is deadly to me now.

ick!

On the bright side, nothing else I eat does this to me.

However, I still have ulcers on my tongue from the chips I ate last week. What's amazing is how quickly it works on me. Within an hour of eating the chips, I knew I'd made a mistake and injured myself again.

it weighs on my soul

Another rock in my head keeping me up at night.

Monster has found some planters that resale for a good price on the internet. He has made arrangements to buy two today and bring them home and plans to buy more.

The problem? They are made of asbestos, which might be part of the reason they are popular on the collector's market, for all I know - forbidden fruit. My father died a few years ago of mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer caused specifically by asbestos exposure. He gets that tone of voice like I'm being unreasonable when I say I wish he wouldn't sell those things and when I keep repeating that I DO NOT WANT THOSE PLANTERS IN THE HOUSE - THEY MUST STAY OUTSIDE IN HIS SHED.
Am I being maudlin? Maybe. Do I think, knowing me and my family as he does, that this is a bad decision on his part? Yes.

my life in October

I sometimes feel as if I live in a state of moving entropy, both physically and mentally.
I used to go to LA Fitness regularly but I've moved to a neighborhood that is not especially convenient to any gym and have let my membership lapse.
My housemate has no interest in physical activity at all.

But I do still check the blogosphere on a regular basis to keep up with everyone.

Still, there are good things- looking forward to Halloween, carving pumpkins, costumes, papermache projects, the Oakland Cemetery Tour and Moonbird's picnic. Maybe we'll get more trick-or-treaters this year in the new neighborhood. I need to buy candy corn.

And, in all fairness to the housemate, he probably has a more active day than I do, so the time that he is most ready to be still and silent is the time that I am always twitching and squirming to do something.

Happy Weekend

Spoke to Monster via cell and he's making excellent time on the delivery and installation he had to do in NC today. Now he expects to have the truck, etc. returned and to be home within the next hour. He'll still be home before I get there today.

Tonight, we snack and watch this season's closing episode of Dr. Who.

Tomorrow and Sunday will be filled with painting and constructing bits for the Halloween parade.

I suppose I should take down the hummingbird feeders now, since their season is over for this year. All of the hummers have gone south by now.

Pushing Daisies - I like it.

It's a cute show.
A bit of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. A bit of Tim Burton.

Atlanta Zombie Walk - October 6

Thats right, don't miss it people! The zombie walk will be October 6th at noon @ Lennys Bar.
Atlanta Horrorfest starts THURSDAY OCT 4th and continues until Oct 7th.
CHECK OUT THE SCHEDULE AT Atlantahorrorfest.com

big weekend coming up

Big Weekend for a Big Wimp coming up.

I say big wimp because I cancelled out of tapas with friends tonight because I really did not want to risk driving home in the rain. I'm a bit night blind these days. I don't mind driving daytime in the rain or driving at night in good weather, but I HATE driving at night in the rain. Hey, I know my limits.

Anywho, tomorrow is an interesting show with the Beautiful Losers playing at the EARL.
Saturday is the first parade-planning and murder mystery party with the krewe I'm fortunate enough to be part of.
Sunday, two friends are getting married.

I am looking forward to plans that don't fall through this weekend.
Looking forward to spending a lot of time with lovely people who I love be around.

TONIGHT! James Brown: The Man, Music, and His Influence

Tonight, Thursday, September 27, 5 - 9 pm
James Brown: The Man, Music, and His Influence, from Augusta, Georgia to Bamako, Mali
At the High Museum of Art 1280 Peachtree Street, Atlanta
Free with museum admission and free to members
$15; $13 college students w/ID; $10 children

5 - 9
Stent Atrium
Deep Listening Party featuring DJ Apple Jac and Kevin Sipp, Curator, Hammonds House Museum. Dancing is highly encouraged!

6:30 - 8
Hill Auditorium
Lecture and Panel Discussion with Dr. Manthia Diawara, Director of Africana Studies, New York University; Dr. Fred Taylor, Ethnomusicologist, Georgia State University; Brett Love, Features Editor, Georgia Music Magazine; moderated by Stan Woodard, Communications Director, Atlanta Contemporary Center.

Gimme Shelter – Mad Housers Fundraiser!

Saturday, Sept. 22, 8 PM - $7
Gimme Shelter – Mad Housers Fundraiser!
Help provide shelter for the homeless, while helping to keep Eyedrum from being homeless (figuratively speaking, of course!)

http://www.pd.org/~eyedrum/calendar/index.php?id=1638

performers include:
Lucky Stray
The 5TH Sundays
Amazing Lizardos Collaborative Spectacle
Lori Guarisco
Cecelia Kane
Steve Seaberg & the Atlanta Naked People


Also silent auction in the performance space + raffle


www.madhousers.org

more on the East Atlanta Strut

in East Atlanta Village near the intersection of Flat Shoals and Glenwood just south of I-20.

11:30 - Earthshaking Samba Group
12:00 - Strezo
1 PM - Entropy
2 PM - Holy Temple Choir
3 PM - Strut Parade and 5K Awards
4 PM - Batata Doce
5 PM - ENVIE
6 PM - Bouldercrest Singing Group
7 PM - Tag Team
8 PM - Parade

Then, pay a visit to the EARL to top off the night with sets from:

9 PM - The Preakness
10 PM - Anna Kramer
11 PM - Elevado
12 PM - Moresight

East Atlanta Strut

Correction - Chaz has let me know the pageant was last week. However, I think this year's Queen will be an important figure in the neighborhood parade again this year.

Chaz sez:

You missed the Queen of The Strut, actually. It was this past Saturday and, of course, great fun. However, I am manning the mic at The Strut proper...

I have to keep it family friendly. Yikes!

East Atlanta Strut this Saturday

http://www.eastatlantastrut.org/

7:00a.m.-7:50 a.m. - 5K Race On-Site Registration
8:00 a.m. - 5K Race Begins
10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. - Artist Market
10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. - Food/Beverages Area
11:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. - Kids Area
11:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. - Live Music (See Stage Schedule for Details)
1:30 p.m. - Parade On-Site Registration
2:00 p.m. - Parade Starts
2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. - Silent Auction
6:30 p.m. - Silent Auction Winners Announced

And my friend Chaz will be MC at the Queen of the Strut Pageant.

House gets fixed today

We have electricians coming to the house today, as well as plumbers and servicemen to empty the septic tank.
So, after today, we should be able to have working plumbing downstairs and sleep without fear of burning wires inside the walls.
Living here has been a learning experience for both of us and the landlord, who has not owned the house long enough to know any of the quirks of the building.

Starfighters The Praetorian Issue

Scanning through different posts about the cast alone, this looks like it's going to be my kind of show. Starts in 2008.

Earthlink to cut 900 jobs

I found this at www.peachpundit.com -

Earthlink to cut 900 jobs
August 28th, 2007 by Chris Farris · 11 Comments

There is a bloodbath going on on Peachtree Street today. Earthlink (my former employer) is laying off almost 50% of its workforce. While I expect some of those jobs will be outsourced or offshored, or both (they are different), that is mostly irrelevant to my point.

Since 2000 when Earthlink and Mindspring merged, there was no one with vision at the helm. Anyone who followed the Internet industry knew that dial-up was gonna die and high-speed would be necessary to use the future internet. However Earthlink never managed to build a coherent business model. They attempted to do VOIP 3 years after Vonage became a household word. The poured millions into selling $500 phones so spoiled rich kids could myspace in class. And their Muni-Wifi project went so bad they fired the EVP responsible for that business unit.

As a free-market capitalist I’m glad to see Earthlink die. There are still (maybe?) many talented good people working there, and releasing them into the wild means that their talents will actually be put to good use.

Updated to add: Wow, In January they’ll have only 4 people running all of their mail. If you’re a customer I’d recommend you get a new email address now and start giving it out to people.

Kitty is okay!

Monster took stray-kitty "Doris" to the vet today.

Here's what we found out:
We have a reasonably healthy, already-spayed female, anywhere between 5 to 10 years of age.

She got a new rabies shot and a flea treatment at the veterinarian's office. She is free of feline leukemia, immunodeficiency virus, diabetes, etc. Appears to be clear of parasites too. She's just very very skinny from being near starvation. They said we should feed her dry food. Also, they suggested cleaning her teeth - she's got quite a tartar problem in back, so we'll make an appointment for that later. She's lost a lot of muscle from the starvation, but she should regain most of it and be fine.

Dreams rewrite history

Sometimes I dream of being in my tweenage bedroom with a computer and online connections - which I never would have had in those days - surfing through the early incarnations of IRC and AOL and newsreaders when you could find everything and everyone (if they were geeky enough) out in the void with no restrictions.

cat maintenance

At last, I've had time to make an appointment to take the stray kitty I've been feed to the vet. There's a clinic just around the corner from the subdivision we're in and she's scheduled for a pre-spaying checkup tomorrow. Monster will take her in the pet carrier we picked up a couple of weeks ago at PetsMart.

Hopefully, she'll get a reasonably good bill of health for a near-starved stray such as herself and I will at least be able to prevent more homeless cats from inhabiting the neighborhood.

Labor Day Weekend

Saturday at Drive-Invasion was fun. I made the mistake of not bringing sunscreen (couldn't find it as I was leaving home) and got sunburned despite a shady hat and umbrella. Chaz volunteered the use of his grill to everyone and we had brats and adult beverages - as well as a lot of bottled water - between watching bands, looking at cars, and ending with B-movies.

Sunday was horribly boring. I should have gone to the mall or done a DragonCon drive-by.

Monday, got a lot of yardwork done early in the day. In the evening, we grilled corn and sausages and watched the Anthony Bourdain marathon on TV.

it only makes me laugh

new car

Finally got the car yesterday.
It's pretty. New. Blue. Honda Civic.

hope, fear, love, despair

Looking forward to the first party/gathering in the new house.

If you see a scruffy feline waif at the front greeting everyone, that's the neighborhood orphan we're feeding now. I hope she survives - she was nearly starved to death when she came around to us and I fear she might have kidney failure setting in. But, then again, she is much stronger and steadier on her lil' feets now. I've named her Doris. For Doris Day. Que Sera Sera.

I hope no one lets her inside on the carpet. She is strictly an outside animal for now until we decide whether to commit to her lifetime care and consequently wash, de-infest, and groom her. I can't decide what would be best to do. We can't afford a signficant vet bill, but if she's healthy enough, we can swing spaying, shots, etc. - the usual maintenance and care. Her greatest strength is she is one sweet kitty. Right now, our task is to allow her a safe, dry place to sleep and to do our best to put some meat on those emaciated bones.

Anyone know a good vet near us?

Hot!

Sun zapping all energy.

Almost gave myself a relapse yesterday just by spending a few minutes weeding and trimming.

I'm thinking this would be a great time to buy an icecream maker. Not that I've ever made home-made icecream before but how hard could it be? And there is nothing like fresh peach icecream, for instance, or fresh fruit sorbet.

Lemonade would be really good too now. Or fresh limeade. Or lavender lemonade.

My appetite has returned today.

You Are a Visionary Soul

You are a curious person, always in a state of awareness. Connected to all things spiritual, you are very connected to your soul. You are wise and bright: able to reason and be reasonable. Occasionally, you get quite depressed and have dark feelings. You have great vision and can be very insightful. In fact, you are often profound in a way that surprises yourself. Visionary souls like you can be the best type of friend. You are intuitive, understanding, sympathetic, and a good healer. Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

feeling somewhat better today

Still trying to get over the awful cold I've had since last Thursday. I've had little bugs before but this has by far been the most painful cold I've ever had, with lots of burning and pressure in my ears and throat. I was afraid I had something much more severe like strep, plague, shingles, etc. but a visit to my doctor didn't find anything bad.

Now, there is finally some drainage and less swelly feeling inside, but it stll stings to breathe in. I purchased a vaporizer on my way home from work and I hope that will help me sleep with more comfort tonight. Standard cold remedies just make everything dry and hurt worse. Because my thoat is still sore, I don't dare do flu shots to help me sleep. The only thing that helps is chicken soup and hot tea.

Mornings are the worse. I usually feel better after a hot shower and walking upright.

Danger

I have a friend who used to like to go driving on deserted country roads for long distances in a car that didn't have a working fuel gauge. He loved to scare himself with the possibility of running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere. I can't remember if he ever succeeded in becoming stranded in the scarey rural areas of the Carolinas.

I feel like I'm doing that with my finances now. I'm taking on debts with car loans that I can't seem to find a budget for. And yet, it's necessary to have a new car because one of the causes for my failing bank account is the constant maintenance and repairs on my 13-year-old car.

the wind

sleepless

I was in bed by 9pm, tired, ready to shut down the brain.


And then, my mother phoned at 9:45, which is quite late in the evening for her -

to talk about the car

and what she, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my uncle all think I should be doing

which, of course, has nothing to do with the decisions I made that I can live with.

Never let the loved ones know what you're up to.

Bush Sees A New Threat

the car

Driving home from various errands on Saturday morning, I was suddenly aware of how hot it was in the car. Looking down at the panel, the AC was off. As were all the gauges and the power windows. I drove the rolling oven I was stuck with all the way home and checked what fuses I knew of under the hood. I saw nothing wrong.
After that, Monster followed me to the mechanic where I left it for a diagnostic. They called a couple of hours later and said I could pick up my car. When I got back, they said everything was working now and should continue to work - as long as I don't run my air conditioning.

There are an entire group of fuses under my steering that I missed checking and those fuses - all or most of them - went out all at once from the air conditioner. So, how do I fix this problem? I have to replace the entire unit for a cost of $2197.00 or there abouts, mostly parts and not labor, and the dealership could possibly get the replacement in by Tuesday or Wednesday if I had gone ahead and bought a new unit that day.

I paid the diagnostic fee of $100 and took my car home. This car is too old and needs too many expensive repairs on a regular basis to fix again at that cost. Every time I turn around, it's another repair in the price range of $2000, give or take $20. Really - the cost of taking my car into the mechanic is nearly always the same.

Monster is going around lots with me in the evening to look for a new compact car to replace my old '94 sedan.
I test drove a Toyota Yaris yesterday. This evening, I hope to try out the Honda Fit. It is a pit that there are no cars left anywhere of last year's Scion or Civic that might sell for something within reach. Monster was eyeing the new Scion at the dealership yesterday, although he's not at all in the market for a new car yet - just dreaming and planning.

My needs are not much. I don't haul much around on a regular basis. Just need something with automatic transmission and air conditioning, and maybe power windows & doors and a stereo I can plug my iPod into. That and in a better, much more visible color this time around than beige or gray. I think the color of my car might be one of the reasons people seem to be constantly running into it in parking lots and while stopped at lights. It's amazing how often I'll just be sitting idle and someone will turn or back into me, or how many times I come back to my car in the parking lot to find mystery dents and scratches. Maybe I need a car in Safety Orange or Electric Chartreuse.

it's boring out in the burbs

and work is no better today. there is a deafening silence here.

dinner with friends tonight will be good.

need to find a gym to join.

need to find some night classes to take.

the good news

Monster has started organizing the upstair living room of the house.
I get paid today.
Labyrinth is playing on the big screen at the Midtown Landmark Cinema.

chaos in a box

We still haven't set up the house yet, but things have been busy.
That, and my brain is shutting down.

Thursday was Tapas with pitbullpotpie and the usual suspects.

Friday was Rotzo's birthday party at Midtown Bowl, hosted by his lovely moonbird. Very groovy bowling ball. Incredible cake - raspberry and chocolate! And I discovered a new drink: booze-lite with vodka and crystal lite pomegranite tea. Very pink and girlie-looking.


Saturday was a 40th birthday party with the Grateful Gluttons that included a giant inflatable waterslide in the back yard. The birthday girl's mother was one of the people first to go down the slide. The party also had the appropriate theme "Summer of Love" potluck.


Sunday - afternoon brunch with _gothfather_

Happy Paul Reubens Day

Summer of Love

Groovy.

what I learned today

You are judged by the company you keep.
i.e.
When they raid the whore house, they take the piano player too.

Still brushing ants of of me from taking out the trash this morning.

Was ready to go to work and then I saw something different in my new neighborhood - trash cans on the curb.
So while my housemate went on to work, I returned to the house to push the bin to the curb. A few steps up the driveway and I had to sensation of spider webs on my arms. I looked down to see my arms and shirt covered with ants.

Brushed ants off. Walked a few steps further up the driveway. Brushed more ants off. Walked a few more steps up the driveway. And so on, until I finally got the infested bin to the curb. I hope they lift those bins with the arms of the garbage truck and little or now human contact. I wish we had a can of RAID or that I had been able to post some sort of warning for the collectors.

moving on

I went out to eat sushi with my favorite neighbor and we talked about the move, old Dutch men, art, music, crazy families, etc. Really good evening with her. We moved from Sushi Bar to hanging out on her back deck at home, drinking wine until her husband came home and joined us outside. Stayed until the my eyelids were heavy and I was shivering from the cool night air. I wish there could have been more nights like that.

This evening, we get the keys to The Ranch and start moving in. Tomorrow is the big-move day. Monster gets the rental truck at 10 a.m. and we start grabbing and loading at 11:00 a.m.

good monster. bad monster.

We did dinner and a movie last night. It was the opening night of Harry Potter - Order of the Phoenix and Monster was dying to see it on the opening day. He'd already bought our tickets online and couldn't wait to get to the theatre. The movie started at 7:05 p.m. and we got to the theatre at 5:00. We picked up the tickets first before getting something to eat next door. He had the cheese ravioli. I had the tilapia salad special, which was great with a very bitey fresh garlic ranch dressing. While I enjoyed a very good glass of Sterling Merlot after dinner, he went inside the cinema to see if they were seating yet. He phoned me from inside the theatre to let me know he was already in the theatre, saving our seats.

To his credit, Monster paid for both dinner and the movie tickets.

Unfortunately, Harry Potter was showing in theatre 3. That's the mildew room. Two years after a nasty leak was fixed, the smell of mold still kinda knocks me back when I step inside - usually giving me a headache and/or sore throat. I meandered around the lobby for a while before sitting down in time for Monster to empty his bladder before the movie.

About half an hour before the movie, a woman sat down beside Monster with one of her sons, while waiting for the other one to come in from the concession stand. There were only two seats empty beside Monster. There was one seat empty in front of him and there was a seat beside me empty. She asked very politely if we could scoot down one seat to let her other son sit next to them. I was instantly saying "okay" and Monster strongly stated that No, he would not move down a seat and he had been waiting too long to see this movie to move for anyone. Once the movie was ready to start, she took the seat in front of Monster, and He was angry at Her for obstructing his view. After the movie, on the way home, I mentioned that it wouldn't have hurt a thing for him to move down one spot so they could all sit together. He got angry with me then, saying "Well, I guess I'm just a bad person!" and so on.
Maybe this was his way of expressing stress over moving this week but that's no excuse for being an asshole to other patrons, in my opinion.

Not leaving well-enough alone, I had to point out that he was behaving just like his best friend - a guy who will refuse to move his car a few feet forward at fast food take-out windows and who will complain when the free internet service is down at cafes where he's not even buying a cup of coffee.

All of us feel irritable and out of control sometimes and that's when the least we can do is try to be polite to eachother, especially when it costs us nothing to do so. And we all need to remember that none of us are especially entitled to anything from the universe.

Surgeon General

News story I was listening to this morning.

The Cure 2007 USA tour

Looks like they have a few dates booked in the Southeast:

Thu-Sep-13 Tampa - St Pete Times Forum
Sat-Sep-15 Atlanta - Gwinnett Center
Mon-Sep-17 Charlotte - Charlotte Bobcats Arena

My Life

I'd like to live either where I have the most friends near little five points or East Atlanta, or near work in Chamblee to avoid fuel costs, commute time and wear on my car. Ultimately, to buy a house, I'd choose to be in the near-friends area because jobs come and go.

We have a new house to rent in the NorthCrest subdivision. I have less money now than I've had in years. Northcrest is close to work, so maybe I can work out a way to live less expensively. I am more bored now than I've been in years too (if that's possible).

Last night was very cool. Hung out with friends until the wee hours at a backyard potluck. It was at a pal's house labeled The Shire - a little place in the middle of the city surrounded by kudzu and huge oak trees. Kinda like a secret garden. Our hostess had photos from her recent trip to Ireland and various friends played guitar and sang all night - lotta blues and Neil Young songs, as you might expect, but also some Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles. Fun. The subject came up of what would make good sing-alongs - songs that most people knew? Sounds like some future iTunes lists for someone.

I'm getting ready to move to another, bigger house. Still have the condo in Midtown, but it's a bit small and I desire garden space. This house is a classic mid-century modern ranch in a neighborhood of similar houses. Photos will follow, probably, as soon as I'm in and unpacked.

Iced Coffee

kick us out of the gene pool

Warning:
If you are looking for an amusing stories and good news, skip this post.
If you want to feel better about your life, by contrast, read on.


Spoke with my mother this weekend with little to say about the house until after we take possession.
The news from her end was good and bad. Mostly bad, as that is my mother's way.
Now you see where I get it from.

The good:
The new Tempur-Pedic mattress my mother bought is fantastic. She says she slept more last week than she did the last month, and she can do something she hadn't been able to do since her knee surgery - lie on her stomach.

The bad:
In a nutshell, with exception of my brother's family, all of the next generation is going down in flames.

My thug cousin sons are by age: #1 son is selling weed for a living (though he works in the service industry where that sort of thing seems standard to fill in gaps income), #2 son has dropped out of highschool, still carries a lot of anger against his mother, and is (surprise!!) a pothead, #3 son is most likely going to follow his older brothers example and truly shows no interest in girls - probably will not be carrying on the proud family name.

Another cousin's oldest daughter has been diagnosed with an unidentified mass on her brain last week. She's still in the hospital undergoing tests. I hope it is something treatable. She and her younger sister have taken up smoking. At best, maybe this crisis will motivate them to take care of their health and question their immortality.

Another cousin's teenage son has opted to live with his ex-convict mother and no longer communicates with his father. Apparently all ties are being cut by his choice.

The list just goes on and on. Monster says my family is starting to make his look almost normal.

Independence Day

There are plenty of invitations and activities on July 3rd - signing the new lease and handing over a ton of money to the new landlord. Movies. Travelogs. Dinner with friends.

But I've got nothing going on July 4th. Even the old people are busy that day. I know a lot of the day will be spent packing and preparing to move on (hopefully) July 14 and 15. That is not an all day thing. We'll get tired of only each other's company at home all day. At least this will be only one day off work.

So, I'm once again wondering what sort of things are going on that day around here. Must investigate.

excising the negative

I need to put myself on a temporary media blackout.
Too many stories this week on the news, internet, and in print of men who kill their wives, girlfriends, and children.
Too many of these men feel no remorse for these killings. What the hell is wrong with the male state of mind these days?

it'll be good for parties

First we found the house near friends and good things in Decatur. But it was the only house we looked at and I had questions about things like whether the wiring was compatable with our computer equipment, etc. Monster planned to redecorate - hang new fixtures, etc., which I said he needed to ask about first since we were dealing directly with an owner who lived close by and had more of an interest in his property. The answer was negative for both.

Then we found the house in his dream neighborhood of NorthCrest - a midcentury modern ranch style house.
So he emailed the owner of the Decatur house and said "thanks but no thanks."
Then we found out the NorthCrest house was already leased - credit check pending.

Yesterday, we found out the NorthCrest house was again available because the leasing company didn't approve the previous applicant. We printed out the lease and credit check forms and met the realtor at the house after I got off work so that I could see and approve it.

It's very noisey because it backs up to the highway but is reasonably quiet with the windows and doors closed. It's also a lot bigger than the house in Decatur and where we're at now. We're also running out of time. So I said okay and agreed to a one-year lease.

Now we just have to wait for them to approve us.

Monster suggested we have a yard sell to get rid of more stuff before the move. I just looked at him without saying anything. Then he added "or maybe not..."

still house-hunting

We didn't take the house near the Gothfather after all. I was concerned as to whether a house that age had grounded outlets or the ability to switch to new outlets inexpensively. Monster wanted to decorate and replace lighting fixtures, etc. The response from the owner was negative to both.

Meanwhile, a friend-realtor had pointed us to a mid-century modern ranch in Monster's beloved Northcrest neighborhood.
Monster emailed the first house owner to say thanks but no thanks.

Then we found out the 50's Ranch was already leased, pending credit checks, to someone else.

The search continues.

We still are doing drive-by's without stopping to take numbers on houses that are not attractive enough from the outside to someone who refuses to live in a building with siding or a hump of dirt in the front yard.

Soon we'll run out of time. Then, maybe, we'll find a place.

Chocolate

Chocolate!

A benefit for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

All the chocolate you can eat. And they even serve real food too! And the proceeds go to a good cause.

Go tonight and have a great time if you have an extra $60.00 lying around and can dig on a ton of chocolate.

Date: Thu 06/21/2007 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Location Villa Christina
Contact
For more information please contact the Georgia Chapter at:
T: 404-325-6973 or E: georgia@cff.org

Homo Sapiens

Other animals use tools and have lifelong relationships. We are the only creature that makes art.

too much caffeine

Didn't do my usual weekend shopping until last night. Usually, we drink fresh-ground coffee that I buy whole bean from Aurora (delish!) but it was too late on a sunday to shop at most independent stores by the time I got out. So I bought Cafe Bustello at the grocery, along with the other few necessities. Had two cups of Bustello this morning and I am still buzzed. And to think this used to be my usual brew for years! I phoned Monster to warn him to cut down on coffee intake this morning, but did he listen? He called me at work not long after I sat down at my desk to let me know that he now understood what I meant when I told him the coffee was dynamite. Unlike gourmet coffee, Cafe Bustello is not something to sip and savor quietly. It is rocket fuel.

Friday night: Went to Twinkledome for Bowie Worship night.

Saturday: Drove around looking at houses and taking numbers, etc. Had lunch at Dekalb Farmer's Market. Spent evening with friends in East Atlanta.

Today, I'm mopey. Stressed over the whole moving thing. Looks like we'll be living in Decatur soon.

I got jokes.

This from Maure.


I got jokes.




Sweet.

If you don't vote, you can't complain later.

I did consider going to the Condominium Association meeting tonight. I thought on it for a day or two last week when, because absolutely no one showed up for the last impromptu Unit Owners meeting, someone said maybe we should reschedule for the 14th and give everyone a little advance warning to plan on being there. Since then, there has been a non-stop bitch fest via email involving everyone in general and two people in specific. I've been to a lot of condominium association meetings in the past. I know how they usually go. This will not end well and will not address any of the changes that actually need to be made in the building.

kinda blue today

Nothing new on the house hunt. Working during the week, I won't have time to search again until the weekend.

Last Sunday, we got to take a look at a house in unincorporated Decatur that looked okay, though a bit smaller that where we're at now. I'm trying to get Monster, who has the business card of the owner of the one and only house we looked at, to send a polite email to them saying that we're definitely interested but need just one more week to decide. I don't want them to immediately assume we don't want to live there. I also don't want the place we relocate to be the only place we saw.

Meanwhile, via email, arguments among different members of the owners assocation at the midtown condo remind me of how tired I was of living there and how frustrating it still is to deal with everyone there. As God is my witness, I will never buy another condominium or advise anyone else to invest in a piece of a building you have to share with several other people.

moving II: the oracle

I predict:

Between now and the time that we finally sign a lease, move out and settle in to a new place, I will be drunk often.

Moving in August

We're moving out by the beginning of August. We have no idea where we're moving to yet.

The owner of the house we live in is being relocated by his company back to Atlanta in September, so we've got a month to find a new place to live and keep our stuff. I'm thinking we should be close to where I work as possible. Monster drives a lot for what he does anyway, so location is really not important to him but my car is very old and will not be running too much longer. My current employer is in walking distance of a MARTA station, so if I could live very close by or near MARTA as well, it will not be as traumatic when I'm without a car, temporarily or permanently. Less money being spent on gasoline would also be a huge help, as would less commute time.

The newspaper seems useless for rental houses, as do most online listings. We really need to just get out and drive around the area we need to live in. We were going to look at rental in houses in Kirkwood and East Atlanta yesterday, but the house in Kirkwood was already rented and occupied. The house in East Atlanta - well, the current tenant bachelor guys were out drinking late with their landlord last night. Looks like that house may not be available to new tenants now.

We looked at one house in need of a lot of work that was for sale. The location was great - next to the houses of freinds and in walking distance of more friends, as well as cool shops, restaurants, and cafes. It also has a great back yard with a lot of potential. It has water drainage problems in the house that will require jackhammers and possibly a new roofline. Monster reminded me that we are in no position to buy a house anyway.

Today, there will be more house hunting, hopefully, before going to the movies with friends this evening.

Screen on the Green

Casablanca at Piedmont Park was perfect, complete with Baton Bob marching while dressed like the hat-and-trenchcoat Humphrey Bogart from the waist up. It was an abbreviated trenchcoat. Next time we picnic at the park, I'm planning to get this and this.

one mystery solved

I now know what the yellow flower on the fence in back of the house is, thanks to Finslippy. Kerria japonica "pleniflora" (also comes in a "single bloom" variety which looks more like it's common name "Japanese Rose"). And now I have to give Monster the satisfaction of knowing he was right - it's not a wild flower but something planted there a long time ago.

Perky? Me?

You scored as Perky Goff, You are a perky goff! You like cute things, glitter, and scary carnivals. You think that the contrast between playful innocence and dark corruption is tantalizing, which is why you like to dress up like an evil dollie. Click on my name to take my other tests if you liked this one. Perky Goff 83% Romantic Goth 75% Cyber-goth 71% Old-school Goth 63% Anything-Goes Goth 54% Fantasy Goth 54% Ethereal Goth 50% Industrial/Rivet-Head 46% Understanding Outsider 42% Death Rocker 38% Confused Outsider 17% What subcategory of Goth best fits you? created with QuizFarm.com

long weekend coming up

I'm wondering what the Memorial Day weekend has going on. Who's still in town this week? Any good events happening?
It will be a good weekend to to a lot of gardening - cleaning, setting up a new box, and more planting.

Maybe we should have a few folks over to hang out on the patio Sunday and/or Monday. We have tunes... we have the butterfly chairs & benches... we don't have a huge grill but I believe litttle smokey is big enough for plenty of hotdogs and other quick cooking goodies. I could even try my hand at lavendar lemonade or my standard red sangria for company.

All I think we need is a wading pool and and ice cream.

smoked

It is incredibly smokey outside this morning all over the city. My drive into work was like driving through a cloud smelling of woodfire from Midtown to Chamblee. All of this is said to be from the fires in south Georgia, which have been burning for many days now, but the effects have not been noticable here until today.

pretty good week

This week at work has been busy. As busy as it should be all the time - it felt like we finally got back to where we should be. I actually believe I got forty hours of busy this week.

Thursday, got my hair cut by the wonderful Mr. Marcinko.

Friday, I went to a wine tasting at my pal Lee's house and sampled a few syrahs and shiraz while chatting with friends until it was time for home and bed.

Saturday, last night, was the Gemini Potluck. Got to see Kortny and Stephen's home. Very very nice place. Beautiful aquariums. Sweet and friendly cats and dog. Groovy reptiles. Fun collections and A TON OF FOOD. I was charmed.

Today, woke up for my usual CBS Sunday Morning, brunch with the GothFather. Came home and killed more English ivy in the back yard in my quest for a back yard I can use and enjoy. Showered. Watched Dr. Who while Monster made me a cosmopolitan.

Soto

Last night, for Herb's birthday, a small group of friends gathered at Soto restaurant for dinner. The group included Herb, Aileen, John F, Monster, the GothFather, Brandon & Gilli. Great dinner. Fun service, since it was the workplace of the GothFather, so everyone in the staff knew him and he was the experienced native guide and advisor on the food. We started by ordering the mussels and antipasto plates for the table. I had the scallops with fava beans. Monster had the grilled duck breast on polenta. Great food, perfectly cooked. They also have a new pastry chef at the restaurant who put together a fabulous "cookie" plate that came after the meal with several very diverse baked sweets. I'm not sure how that appeared at our table - whether someone was talked into trying it or if it was a normal after-dinner bit or if, knowing it was Herb's birthday, a treat.

Afterwards, all of us gathered at the GothFather's Groovy Bachelor Pad for Italian cream cake and coffee. Lots of conversation on film followed. Finally, we left for home and bed around 1:30 AM.

No More Archer Farms potato chips

This is kinda icky but I find it fascinating.

I seem to have developed a food allergy. Something in Archer Farms Salt & Pepper potato chips causes canker sores on my tongue. Odd but true.

The experiment was this week. For the last two weeks I had to go through the slow-healing process of sores on my tongue that I at first attributed to burns. I do a lot of personal injury to myself with burning-hot food and scratchy tortilla chips. But somewhere in the back of my head I remembered greatly enjoying a bag of those chips over the course of the preceding week. I did not eat any potato chips during the healing, because it seemed to irritate things in my mouth worse than anything else. All healed up, I had a handful of chips (maybe two or three) on Saturday morning and by Sunday, I had what seemed like the begining of a sore on my tongue. Didn't eat any chips Sunday and by Monday, my mouth felt fine again. Last night, there was just small amount of chips left in a bag, that I scarfed down before putting the empty bag in the trash before throwing it out. This morning, my tongue is once again raw on the tip. These sores don't always occur on the same place, but they are nearly always on my tongue, rather than my gums, inner cheeks, etc.

Now I'd give anything to know what the exact irritant is in the chips, so I can avoid it in other foods and snack fear-free.

Another for Ben

From Philip:

Ben was a GREAT public speaker. So I know this better be good

I had a really bad dream a few months ago. Ben was in it. It was so bad, I woke up shaking. Something’s wrong with Ben. Should I call? Should I call? I did the math. It was 4:15 Eastern Standard. A.M. Hmmmmm…Should I call? Hmmmm… He’s probably fine. It’s nothing. But I COULDN’T shake the feeling. I paced a little. Finally, Violet insisted, “Call him. You should really call him.” So, I called. At 4:30 AM, eastern…standard….time…..

Phone rings. Rings again. And again. And again. OK, getting worried. Click.

Ben: [very sleepily] Hello?

Philip: [very quickly] Hey man, it’s philip I know this is probably silly but I just had a dream that you were in and I had dream like that when I was a kid and it didn’t turn out so well and I got worried and just wanted to make sure you are ok and safe and cool and debra is too is good yeah...

Ben: [pause, slowly] Yes, Philip, everything’s fine. [A little testily] And you know what, buddy?

Philip: What, what?

Ben: I will be even better tomorrow. [pause] In the daytime.

Philip: OK, cool. Sorry, I just got worried and had to know if you were good, glad we got to talk glad you’re ok, silly I know, call ya back later, ok cool. Love ya man.

Ben: Love you, too, buddy.

[Click]

I’m glad I got to talk to him a few times after that. Like the 3-day visit last Fall, in San Francisco, at my HOUSE. That was AWESOME fun. Even if, according to Ben, I didn’t let his VERY expensive wine breathe long enough. Luckily it was bottle number two and no one noticed. That was a great time. I had them to MYSELF! Without all of you fighting for their attention. It was great. Truly.

Then a couple of months ago, I saw Ben for the last time. Ironically at another brother’s funeral. Jason Swinks. Also a great guy.

And last Wednesday, when he’d been moved to the hospice, we talked. Debra held the phone. We actually talked for about 20 minutes, Cracked each other up a few times, cried some, said our I love you mans, our great meeting yas, our remember whens. And our goodbyes. Like we all had to do last week.

He understood his condition, but what he was giving was giving me -- giving ALL of us – was the last little bit of Ben he could. Goes out the way we remember him. That’s a lesson learned, brother.

And that’s not the only thing Ben taught us, no?

Things like…

You just can’t laugh enough. In fact, too much laughter is just about right. A wit so dry, he might as well have whispered vermouth over it.

It’s a FACT: Single-ply toilet paper is just flat-out wrong.

The only thing better than a great bottle of wine, is 2, sometimes, THREE great bottles of wine.

If you have a beautiful & kind partner who loves you, hey, the rest of your life is just plain easy. Find her.

Toast the cumin seed first. Then grind it. Then don’t tell anyone your secret. Unless they beg. Like I did once.
Incidentally that helped us win the 24th annual Sausalito chili cook-off. Hap, I hear you are making Ben’s chili. I hope you remembered the toasted cumin seed, bro.

Beautiful Triumph motorcycles that sit in the basement are sad and lonely. There’s no excuse, Ben!

You are never the smartest person in the room, if Ben is there, too.

Croquet is in fact a contact sport.

And of course, “ Ben! Whatcha gonna gimme for my piece o’ cornbread??!!”

Back to that bad dream. It felt a little like this. A little unreal. I think we all feel like we’re in a bad dream right now.

I can’t say Ben’s in a better place, because I honestly don’t know if there is one. But, oh, if there IS, he is absolutely THERE. And he’s probably cracking everyone up. And pouring wine. And cooking up something delicious. Because that is what he did HERE. He made THIS place a better place. And he made all of us better people.

We miss you Ben. There is a hole in the world where you used to be.

We’ll get by, but it sure won’t be the same without you. And it won’t be as much fun. We will remember the things you taught us about love, and laughter and friendships and honoring your partner. And we will miss you.

If you have anything to do with it, can you keep us all safe and healthy? Especially Debra.

And we will ALL keep YOU in our hearts. And we will never forget.

Until we can join you, wherever you are.

Cheers, buddy.

funerals, parties, eulogies

Last Saturday was the memorial service and funeral for Ben. As funerals go, it was one of the best I've been to. It was at Patterson/Oglethorpe Funeral Home, which is one of the nicest I've seen. Very formal but without the cold, sterile utilitarian quality that most funeral homes have. Ben did not want a religious service, not being especially religious himself. Instead, the memorial service was a series of stories and memories shared by friends, family, and co-workers. All were good speakers. All were great stories - and examples to live by, or rather, how to really live.

Afterwards, there was an open-invitation potluck for everyone who knew Ben at Joy & Cam's that went on the rest of the day and well into the night.

Chantelle shared her eulogy:

Hello. I’m Chantelle, Captain of The Krewe of the Grateful Gluttons. I lived in New Orleans for a time and became enamored of the notion of a Krewe; friends and their families celebrating together for 150 years. And I thought: my friends are the stuff Krewes are made of. I declared us a Krewe Mardi Gras 1999. All 8 of us.

Ben comes to me through Doc and Hap coming to Jazz Fest. They really perfected the art of attending the Jazz Festival. They would go early and set up all the stuff; the tarp and lawn chairs and coolers. And they’d raise our flag, so us people on the slow bus could find them. Today is the last Saturday of Jazz Fest. Buckwheat Zydeco is playing right now. Cowboy Mouth goes on at 3. Then we would have to decided between The Allmand Brothers and John Mayer. Diana is there right now with all of us in her heart. See: you can be in two places at once when someone loves you. When you got a Krewe.

Our Krewe isn’t so exclusive. You just have to live the creed. Try everything. Have seconds. And, say Thank You. On a balcony in New Orleans on our last St. Patrick’s Day trip Ben declared an addendum: Extravagance Without Waste. That’s my Eagle Scout.

When I moved to Atlanta, I wondered if the Grateful Gluttons would stick. When Ben Perry called himself a Grateful Glutton, my heart soared. He meant it. He believed we were the stuff Krewes were made of, that we could be together for 150 years. And he did the things to make it so. He lavished time on his friendships. You know what that is right there? That is faith in action. Faith in love. Believing in what you can’t see or touch or spend and reaching for it. Believing that the love between us is our greatest treasure and honoring it.

I recently read that this life is a “School for Gods”. That we are all Gods at college and these bodies are our classrooms and dorms. And after finals, we go home. What might the study of Gods be? The nature of love. Faith in it. I suppose it’s no wonder that Mr. Smarty-pants graduated ahead of his class. We’ll all get there eventually, us people on the slow bus. And our Ben will have raised the flag.

Y’all love each other real good. Immortal, like.


Thomas shared his thoughts in the form of a poem:

I was a friend of Ben:

In the Feudalism of my

Feast of Friends

there is no King or Queen.

But we lost a Duke when we lost Ben.

We lost a chef,

A happy scientist,

An Eagle Scout,

A Loyal friend.

===============

Eagle Scouts are born

to be

Prepared, Loyal, and Free

there for us to emulate--

in life--

and later,

in the gently treasured,

resurrected

Memories

of thoughtful deeds,

of playful thoughts,

of words well spoken,

and more attention paid

to Fools

than certainly

I

did

warrant.

I'll miss Ben's sense of humor

most of all.

arrivals and departures

Yesterday was so true to the statement "Someone comes into town. Someone leaves town."

In the morning, our friends Luke and Bridget became the parents of a new daughter.
In the afternoon, we got word that our friend Ben had passed.

recovery

Monster is nearly over his self-inflicted abuse this weekend.

We went out after work to the Tin Drum Cafe, which was much nicer than I expected - a good soundtrack for what is essentially a simple (fast) food diner. I admit I was thrilled to see the David Sylvian photo used as a motif for the restaurant.

funny

Morning, Noon, and Night After

Thank you to everyone who came to our home. We had a great time hosting the Taurus Potluck last night. Maybe just a little too much fun for one birthday boy. Monster (now known as Mr. Throbby-Head) is still feeling rather tender now. He's not been outside the house all day but has at least moved from the bed to the sofa. Many beers were sampled last night, followed by Tigger Juice (also dubbed "Genius Juice" by Chaz). As soon as everyone left the house, Monster went to bed and I cleaned up the house and patio so there would be nothing to face in the morning (and hopefully not much to attract pests).

When I headed out the door to deposit trash outside, there were two bottles of Gatorade sitting by the door, placed by a very kindly soul for Mr. Throbby-Head. Thank you very much for that.

As usual, I woke up with the sun a bit before 8AM and cleaned up a bit more, watched Sunday Morning, and watered the garden. I gave Mr. Throbby-Head a glass of Gatorade and a Nuprin for breakfast and then went out to brunch with the _gothfather_, pitbullpotpie (who I am now convinced is indestructable), Foster and aesthetic.

Came back from brunch and made a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup for Mr. Throbby-Head.

Tomorrow will be a long day when the sleep deprivation catches up with me.

I must try to sleep now.

This put a smile on my face

Stephen Hawking enjoying a moment in Zero-G.

Spring Cleaning

In anticipation of having folks over to the house now, we filled 22 leaf bags yesterday. This morning the City of Atlanta kindly took all of our yard refuse away. Hooray!
Today, Monster is spreading fresh pine straw and fixing the "water feature".

And now, for the house...

Hybrids and bureaucracy

Georgia is freaking retarded.

cabin fever

It has been one long, boring day.
Monster worked on reuphostering and repairing chairs all day while watching "The Stand" on SciFi Channel.
I went out twice, both time bringing home groceries. Our fridge is now stocked for frozen dinners.
I should have gone to brunch with the GothFather, but there was an option for either the Dogwood Festival or RollerGirls, both of which fizzled out.
I had Monster, who has been very difficult to live with this weekend, make me two chocolate raspberry martinis. I feel better now. Half jigger white creme de cacao and one jigger raspberry vodka. Lovely. Like a liquid chocolate truffle.

company bunker?

Should large corporate employers provide dorms for workers who aren't paid a living wage to live in?

What I learned today

What is a Chapter 18?

After a Chapter 11 fails and is followed by a Chapter 7.

atrophy

Just me and Boss #2 here today. Boss #1 is on a brief family vacation until tomorrow. Two press men phoned in various reasons for why they are not coming in today. I need to work and make money and these guys aren't making it easy to do that this week. The bonus might be that I can get some very long, full days in after Boss #1 returns and the pressroom crew decide to show up.

Trying to make this as expensive as possible

Because the cabinets were not set up in time last week to take advantage of the free installation of appliances by Home Depot, I had to hire a plumber to install and hook up the new gas range. Now, the person in charge of the kitchen renovation tells me the plumber has to come back this week to move the dishwasher one foot from it's current position. The new countertop are and stainless steel sink will have to be installed AFTER the dishwasher is moved. That's three plumber visits at $250 each.

The End of my money

Looking at my bank account last night, I found out I'm running on near-empty and I haven't even gotten the credit card bills for the cabinets and I've already bought. I still have the other half of the cabinets to buy - on credit - before the kitchen project is complete.

I don't know when or how I will recover from this financially yet. I think I'm looking at a year or maybe two years to set things right.

I hope that no one I know ever has a renter like Joshua Bradford in their life.

Happy Birthday to Brenda

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. Hopefully, my brother has something fun planned this week for her.

What I learned today: There are two basic types of fire extinguishers. One is an environmentally friendlier version of the old Halon gas type and does no harm to to electronics or machinery and leaves no residue. The other is powder, corrosive, and leaves a huge mess but it's only one fourth of the cost of the gas.

buying cabinets

Went to IKEA last night an bought cabinets for one side of the galley kitchen in the condo so that HomeDepot can deliver and install the new range today. I'll be buying the cabinets for the other half of the kitchen tonight. Then I hope this project will be finished by Friday night.

making progress

I bought a lot of things last night.
We went to HomeDepot and ordered the new range and countertops and set the delivery dates. While we were there, a guy from corporate, who just happened to be on the floor, managed to sell a different and much less expensive vent-hood to me that was there. Then we checked on the availability of the new stainless steel sink in the next store and, once we found out they currently had two in stock, made it there just before closing to buy the sink and load it in the van next to the new hood.
That done, we ate dinner across the lot from the second HomeDepot location before coming home.

Monster says there should be nothing to buy and picking up the cabinets because all of that is in stock at IKEA. He will go to the store and double check all of his measurements with a CSR one last time this evening, while we have time within the 24-hour limit to change our countertop order, if necessary.

Next, we need to find someone to help with the demo of the old kitchen and installation the new cabinets.

back to fighting every day again

My old stove and oven are trashed. Because I have to replace them, I now must replace all of the cabinets and countertops as well. Nothing will match unless I replace the cabinets and tops on both sides. I now have to completely renovate the kitchen. I might as well throw in a new sink and vent-hood while I'm at it.

Monster wishes to be in charge of the reconstruction. Fine, since I don't have time, being at work, and he thinks it's a huge waste of money to hire someone to do it. Now we argue about it every day when I'm home from work. It should be simple. I want name-brand appliance from companies that have local representatives and that will be around, in one form or another. Therefore I want to buy all of the appliances at HomeDepot or BestBuy. The cabinets at HomeDepot are all too ornate and old-fashioned. There are no good, affordable sources for simple cabinets anywhere to be found locally, so we can buy cheap modern modular cabinets at IKEA. Cheap white shells with birch doors and facades on the outside.

The latest thing that cropped up last night is he wants me to buy cheap, unknown, quirky appliances at IKEA, like the ugly range fans they sell there, and don't I know how wasteful I'm being with buying the expensive General Electric and Nutone brand names appliance I picked out?

He keeps referring to "when we sell this" which translates into when I sell the only thing I own and pull money out of nowhere to buy a house. No. Not going to happen. He's been listening to the newest neighbors talking about buying into the building because "any day now, some huge developer will come in an buy this place to put a high-rise luxury condo & office building". I've heard that exact argument for twenty years, ever since I first bought this place. I'm stuck with the condo. We will probably have to move back in some day in the hopefully-quite-distant future. Maybe years from now. Unless HE makes enough money to buy a house or pull funds together with me to do so. Right now it looks like there will be no funds left on my side to put a down-payment on a house with. It's all been eaten up in the last year repairing my poor condo.

And now the kitchen has to be remodeled

We had someone look at the kitchen. The stove and oven could be repaired but as old as they are, the one company willing to work on it said they could not guarantee what they could do once they took it apart. In the end it will cost as much to repair and retrofit old parts as it will to just buy a new oven and cook top. We'll still need a plumber to replace as much of the old pipes as possible. If we're replacing the oddly sized appliances, I'll need to have new cabinetry and countertops installed. So the broken oven has turned into a kitchen remodel job. Should I keep the old sink? that seems like the only thing I might not need to replace. And the dishwasher is a nearly new Kitchenaid that I think is still in decent condition. Monster had to make his only workday this week short so he could be there for the technician. Now I need to find a good contractor who can pull all of this together for me while I attempt to remain employed.

I hope the new renter will hang in there. The reward at the end is that he'll be gettin a new kitchen at the same old rent. I hope that works for him.

It never ends!!

My tenant let us know there was a gas leak now in the kitchen of the condo. Imagine, if you will, after all I've gone through with that place, how thrilled I am to hear this. I immediately developed a migrain headache that made my head feel like it was about to explode from the pressure within.

Fortunately my tenant is very understanding and after he figured out how to simply turn the gas line off below the leak, he's assured me he's okay and there's no huge hurry to fix it as the kitchen is his last priority. After phoning friends for referrences on gas repair and checking Yahoo! yellow pages for ads and placing calls, I've already gotten a call back from one company and feel a lot more at ease. I took an excedrine and laid down for a while. Then Monster took me out to dinner at Figo and two glasses of wine. I feel better now, if a bit tipsy.

One of my co-workers today was robbed and cut with a knife today in our parking lot as he was trying to leave work.

A man was casually waiting for the next person to come out the door in back of our building. He walked up to him and told him to give his money, which he did, and for no reason the guy cut him before running away with his cash. First I phoned 911, then I phoned Boss #1, who was making deliveries, and told him what had happened.

Should be interesting to see how this affects things when all of us get back to work next week. Hopefully, the initial shock will lessen over the weekend chill-out. I'm sure some sort of extra security will be in place after this.

unconscious sounds

Sound - odd musical rhythmic electronic sounds - kept invading my sleep in different dreams. First, a repetitive squeal like a dance mix, and later a low hum slowly repeating. The dreams themselves were mostly frustration probably on being between stages of deeper sleep - dreams of being in a house that was never clean and when people came over, the hostess actually decided it was a good time to pull all of the old crap out of the garage or attic she'd been meaning to throw out. Or dreams where I couldn't find my way back to where I'd been. That kinda thing.

fish!

I had sushi tonight after work at Ru San's. Soon it will be warmer, fish-eating weather. I wonder if I could organize a weekly or bi-monthly sushi night.

What I learned last night

What I heard at the birthday dinner -
Almost any drink can be fixed with amaretto.
If it's too bad to fix with amaretto, just put it in a water melon.

Who knew?

the answer to this morning's question

BAD SCENE

A bus carrying a college baseball team has plunged off a motorway ramp in the southern US state of Georgia, killing at least six people, officials say.
A number of people were also injured in the crash that took place early on Friday, reports say.

Rescue teams pulled trapped passengers through the roof to safety. The exact cause of the crash remains unknown.

The charter bus was carrying the team from Bluffton University in Ohio to a tournament in Florida.

It crashed through a fenced barrier on an exit ramp and fell onto Interstate 75.

US television showed footage of the badly damaged bus lying on its side.

"It's bad... It's hard to describe. The bus is completely annihilated," police spokesman Joe Cobb was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

A number of injured passengers were taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Atlanta.

crawling to the end of the work week

It's 9:30 AM and I just now got to work and to my desk.
Traffic was stop and go all the way to Peachtree Street. - The ramp to 75-85 was closed and cops were directing trafffic, even though the lights were still working and I saw no accidents. There was A LOT of construction going on at 8AM though.
I don't know what exactly was up this morning but it took me three times as long to get to work this morning - 90 minutes.

smoke

I have an answer now, thanks to my boss:

Planned forestry fire in Jasper smokes out surprised Atlantans

By Stacy Shelton
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/01/07
An all-day controlled burn on federal land in Jasper County southeast of Atlanta created a hovering cloud of smoke through a large swath of the east metro region on Wednesday. The U.S. Forestry Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the burn on about 3,000 acres to prevent a wildfire and make room for regrowth.

The federal agencies do the burns occasionally —- about once every two years —- to enhance the habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker, a member of the federal endangered species list.

In downtown Atlanta, about 60 miles from the burning forest, workers heading to the Five Points MARTA Station about 6:15 p.m. walked with their hands clasped over their nose, some coughing as they looked up at the sky and wondered where the fire was.

In Decatur, Frida Ghitis immediately went inside when the air started smelling funny around 4 p.m.

"It suddenly started to look very cloudy, almost like an early morning fog," said Ghitis, 46. "To me it smells almost like burning plastic. It was unpleasant enough that I had to go back inside."

Ghitis called the Decatur police department. She was advised to stay inside.

Alan Dozier, chief of forest protection for the Georgia Forestry Commission, said the problem was compounded by about 150 wildfires across the state, including 20 near the federally controlled fire in the vicinity of Monticello. Many of the fires were probably started by people trying to burn their yard waste.

Dozier said the conditions were perfect for the prescribed burn, especially with rain forecast for Thursday. But a strong easterly wind caught the smoke and blew it through McDonough, Lilburn, Decatur and downtown Atlanta.

By the afternoon, people started calling friends, police and fire departments, city halls and state offices to find where the blackish haze and smell was coming from.

What is burning?

Why was all of midtown and downtown enshrouded with smoke today after work?
It was such a cloud over the city that the sun was just a pink fluff ball and everything looked like it was cloaked in fog.

February Potluck

Lots of fun at the February Potluck dinner.




Tigger tried a new presentation for his juice and brought art gifts made for the hosts, Pyynk & Kel.