August 7th thru the 10th, 2006

Monday August 7, 2006

Atlanta
On Friday we (the GF, her sister, and I) drove the four hours over to ATL, GA, for some tourism. They've bent there plenty, of course, having growed up in the south, but it was my first time, so they indulged me. We went to the CNN Tower, had lunch at Chick-fil-A () as it was a bit of nostalgia for the lasses, and then took the $12 CNN Studio Tour (). It was fairly interesting-- my favorite part was watching the control board as the directors and producers cobbled together the images, live, for the show. They drew from literally hundreds of feeds and produced pieces to mix the show on-the-go, and I have to say, I was impressed with how smooth it was.

After CNN we headed over a few block to the Coca-Cola Museum () which I enjoyed. Mostly it’s filled with old advertisements and wall mounts of text explaining the history of Coke's image since 1884. There was also a few tasting rooms, with all manner of the various brands coke makes, including overseas brands-- my favorite was the Japanese Tutti-Frutti.

In the evening we hooked up with some good friends of mine who teach in nearby Auburn, for dinner at Two Urban Licks (), in an old warehouse behind a post office, converted into something chic and trendy. The dress code is supposed to be "candy casual," which we ignored, out of ignorance, and later discovered as we ate appetizers that "candy casual" means "well-dressed ho." I had a local beer, a Sweetwater PA, which was better than I thought pale ale's usual are, and the pork, which was amazing. No, really, it was a huge chunk of savory, tender pork, with a side of macaroni and cheese. Everyone else loved their entrees as well. This is definitely a place to seek out if you ever are in Atlanta.

After 2UL we grabbed some mocha at a place my friends know, Arora Coffee, and chatted for a bit before the 4 hour drive back. All told, I enjoyed ATL despite the damnable heat and humidity. Next time I go, I wanna see the aquarium.

Reunion
Saturday was the day of the reunion itself, but that wasn't until nightfall, so time was spent with the GF's PUs. Very nice people. Like all mom's hers wanted to feed me lots at each meal, and thoughtfully explained everything, assuming correctly that as a white-boy I was unfamiliar with home-cooked Gujarati food. And it was delicious. Of course I don't remember the names of anything, but my favorite was a dish described as an Indian Tostada, with pieces of bread, topped by crunchy sprinkly bits, then various chutneys, then chopped vegetables, then another awesome sauce, and some more sprinkly bits. Yum squared.

Eventually we got dressed up in our "cocktail casual" clothes this time and went over to the Hunstvegas Holiday Inn. I actually knew a few people there, as the GF stays close to her friends and some of them have visited Seattle before. I do have a few complaints: the bartender was way overworked, poor guy, and the line for drinks was too long at times. The tables where too close together, making it very difficult to get to the buffet, though I did like the chicken fingers and Swedish meatballs. The reason the tables where shoved together was to make room for the "dance" floor that no one was using, owing probably to the fact that they wanted to *gasp* talk to one another, or shout, as the music was way too loud, and not even from the mid 90s when these people where in highschool. And the "DJ" was pushing the karaoke way too hard-- even 10 years later, high-school is one of the most self-conscious, potentially embarrassing times of an American's life, and karaoke doesn't start to become fun without alcohol until you're in your 40s anyway.

But the GF had a good time seeing almost everyone again, which was great. After the Holiday Inn many went to a local bar, The Furniture Factory, where we saw (inside joke alert) Jabba the Hut, sunburned and wearing a teal tank-top, smoking a cigarette and sitting with her two pockmarked friends as they hogged a table that sat 12 while 8 of us squeezed around a single table. And then we went to the Jazz Factory, a classy place downtown with a more relaxed atmosphere and some better air conditioning. By then it was very late, so we said our goodbyes and made it home by 2:30 am.

Sunday
And Sunday was the return home. Or flight connected througfh ATL, so during the layover I HAD to have some burgers from Krystal () which is the southern equivalent of White Castle. I had four (only 65 cents each -- in an airport!) and they where good. I also had my last not-diet coke for a long while. Ah, lovely. The it was the plane, "Monk" and "The Family Guy" on the DVD player, a few crosswords and sudokus, and finally we where home.

Thursday August 10, 2006

Weight Watchers
Forgot to report that last Friday at the weight in I was at 201, only a small drop from the week before. And this week (tomorrow, to be exact) may not be too much either, if at all, as I had that food-filled weekend in the South, and not much exercise this week. I didn't get around to eating too much yesterday, which means I may rebound today, overstuff myself before the weigh-in, and get so depressed at the bad numbers that I spiral into a comfort-food frenzy. It's complicated. I know you sympathize, you skinny little squirts, I just know you do.

Video iPod
Got one. The GF's sister received one in some kinda promotional deal, offered it to me, but I felt all guilty, so I just "borrowed" it. Man this thing is nice. It's a 30Gb, and thinner than my 20GB. Slick black and flashy. Of course I had to load it fulla video podcasts, and not I hafta find album cover art for every single song I possess. The good news is its easy to do: I use Safari on the Apple, use Google's image search, then just drag the pic from Safari to iTunes, and Bob's your uncle. Sweet. I am such a tech-geek-wannabe it makes my pants short.

Apropos of Nothing...
I was reading 101 People Who Are Really Screwing Up America, and it had an article about good ol' Mel Gibson. This was published before Mel's recent malfeasance, but you know, he's been a controversial dude for a while now. At any rate, I was gratified to read that Leon Wieseltier of the New Republic magazine called Gibson's Passion of the Christ "Pious Pornography." I was gratified, you see, because that's what I called it, and it's good to know my use of the nomenclature, and the sentiment itself, was not isolated to my own silly noggin. I used the word "pornography" to describe Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill as well-- since the violence was the point of the movie, you can't call it gratuitous, but the entire movie is gratuitous itself, so there you go.

Bob's Your Uncle?
In case you're wondering, the phrase is more common in Britain and her sibling nations, but thanks to cross-cultural communication in the form of film, music, television, and the internet, it's a phrase not unheard in America and other English-speaking places. The more interesting theory as to it's origin is that it comes from the nepotism of Lord Salisbury (Robert Cecil), appointing his inexperienced nephew Arthur Balfour to a series of diplomatic posts, culminating in Chief Secretary of Ireland in 1887. So, if you want to say something is sure to succeed, you say, "and Bob's your uncle." The less interesting and less complete theory is that it comes from one of many different uses of the word "bob" from as far back as the late 1700s.

Maybe we can come up with another phrase that will have a similar but distinct function. Instead of an indication of ease, perhaps we could make one that suggests a negative inevitability, like "Go ahead, cross the street without looking both ways: you'll get hit by a semi, and Flo's your aunt." Hmm… okay, may not.

The New York Times
My subscription to the NYT started today. I was spending a dollar per issue at this store or another, and so I decided to pony up, pay in advance, and have it brung to my door. It was here by 6, I am happy to report, and at $2.95 for 5 issues a week, I think I am getting a good deal. It's all for the sake of AntiPundit.com, of course, though I must confess I like the crossword puzzles too. Not that I'm any good at them-- I can do Mondays' and Tuesdays no sweat, Wednesday's gives me trouble, Thursdays I usually never finish, and Friday's I can barely start. I can still kick all the Sudoku's asses. I'm sure I'll be telling you all about it in future blogs.

Video Game Report
I haven't played World of Warcraft in a long dang time. Need to do that, maybe tomorrow, or Saturday. Finished Cloning Clyde, with all of the Xbox 360 "Achievements" achieved and 200 out of 200 gamer points. Having done, it was time to try a new one, and so I downloaded Marble Blast Ultra. I'll review it more in depth when I get into it, but for now, I like its simple elegance and graphic tranquility. Otherwise, I am still waiting for them to release Lumines for the 360 Arcade, which everyone and his brother will surely download-- I just hope they don't make a lot of the achievements involve online play. Online is okay against friends, but playing a stranger more or less guarantees you're playing a 13 year old with bad manners and a foul mouth. Losing to them is inevitable, and beating them is merely embarrassing.