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.

renting the condo. still fighting over it

Sunday, I went alone to visit my mother and pick up my tax return that my brother the accountant had prepared for me, while Monster stayed at the condo, painting. While we visited, Mom and I went to eat, then shopping at Target for a few things. I saw the bath isle and remembered that the new tenant, John, wanted a shower rod, etc. so I picked up a simple chrome rod while we were out. I also picked up a new liner to go on the rod. I got home with, among food from my mother and basics like tissue, the shower rod and liner. Monster looked at the rod, sneared and said he guessed it was okay and then got angry at my or purchasing a liner - with my money for my condo for my tenant. He said no place he'd ever rented provided shower curtains or liners. Then we got in a big row over the stupid liner and cheap rod and rings.
This is like when he insisted that none of the windows needed blinds over them and we didn't get a single call back from anyone who looked at the condo. He insisted no rental property provides blinds or curtains (or lets people install them without permission). Now, I've ordered new blinds and we have it rented by a guy who just wants a shower rod.

The condo, again

Maybe we will finally have it rented this month. Either that or I'm moving back to midtown.
A new ad goes online tomorrow and Monster says he showed it to three people this week: one very nice lady who I'd like to rent to, one decent-sounding young man, and one way-too-weird dude will never be a renter for me. The project he promised would be ready by October is still incomplete in February and we still fight about it every time the subject is brought up. Unfortunately, it's all my money going down the drain. I really want to stay where I am and not move again, but if there is a choice to make, I'll have to keep the condo - it's all I have. I'm tired of fighting about it. I'll still have the same problems with the caterer downstairs and the mooch next door if I move back in, not to mention that Monster will have to choose to live with me in cramped quarters while warehousing all of his stuff; or going back to his previous arrangement in Pell City. He just needs to finish the job he promised to do and we need to get a good tenant. I'd love to know why everyone looks at the place once when he shows it to them and never call back again.

Anyway, I'll have a lot less stuff to move this time around.

I just saw the strangest car wreck on the way to work. Not directly - more from my peripheral vision ahead of me, so I'd make a lousy witness. The light was green and had been so for a while. This was clearly not a case of someone trying to make it through the intersection as the light changed - I see that all the time. One car ran though a red light, oblivious to oncoming traffic. Fortunately for both cars, it was at a 35 mph intersection. I don't now if anyone was injured, but I hope not. Clearly, neither car tried to put on brakes. They hit each other at full speed.

I'm already a bit paranoid any time I go past an light or stop sign where oncoming cars are visible that haven't come to a stop yet. This just reminds me it's okay to feel that way.

very cold here

Valentines date last night at my favorite Italian restaurant in Midtown. I had the not-so-Italian dish of grilled salmon on mashed potatoes and a glass of Firesteed Pinot Noir. He had the gnochi and arrugula with chicken and a Peroni. Though it would have been nice to go to Babette's, this was a very good dinner in a quiet spot with great ambiance at a fraction of the cost. I've missed going there and told him that it would be great to come occassionally (low-traffic) nights mid-week just for desert or snacks to the same place. He agreed with that and I plan to hold him to it.

It's been cold, wintery weather all week here. My feet and seat are cold at work and I'm warming my hands with hot tea when I can. Tonight it's tapas with a large group friends and I truly hope that we aren't stuck on the somewhat heated, tented front porch of the restaurant we're meeting at. This is how much I love doing things with friends. I will sit in a very uncomfortable hard chairs in a cold room just to be with them.

I plan to spend the rest of the weekend baking and cooking at home and having my personal mixologist making martinis or hot cider.

Chaz's Jeep Gets It's 15 Minutes...

From Chaz:

My fave car-related blog runs a 'Reader's Ride of The Day' feature. This week's theme is "Beaters," and seeing my truck definitely falls into that category, I submitted pics. Lo, and behold today's Reader's Ride:





I think the putting Roland in the passenger seat sealed the deal...

Now, dear friends, I require a favor. When voting opens for Reader's Ride of the Week, I'm going to send you the link to the poll so you can vote for the Jeep. I am not above stuffing the ballot box...

winter fashions

This just in from Maure in Chicago:

It's 16 degrees outside. 4, with windchill. You'd think this would be reason enough to stay inside and devote time to online journaling (which appears to be going the way of my hardcopy journalling, which is, inevitably, to pot), but no! No, in fact, the lack of any trace of life-sustaining heat hasn't factored into my comings-and-goings in the least, except when it comes to my wardrobe. You can't imagine how fashionable three pairs of pants and several long-sleeved shirts layered under short-sleeved shirts layered under a sweater or sweatshirt, and then a coat, hat, gloves, and scarf (scarves, sometimes) can be. It's actually one of the things I really like about Chicago in Winter. Suddenly the city is populated with large, soft, pudgy, stuffed creatures who trundle jibblingly through the ice and wind and snow. It's really kind of disturbing and appealing at the same time. Like teddy bears grown human size, living normal human day-to-day lives in their squishy warm bundley bodies.

Dir En Grey show tonight

Driving home last night from work I saw the marquee on the Roxy in Buckhead:
Dir En Gray - Feb 3 - 7PM
Sadly, this is another show I'll have to miss because I've got other commitments tonight, but I would love to see what will probably be the only Southeastern show by that band. Should be quite entertaining.