July 16th, Midweek Off Day

Off days in the middle of the week are rarely real off days.
Here's the yard, freshly mowed.

That's bermuda grass and I like to keep it cut pretty long, especially in the summer, and especially when its been so damn dry.



That's a Red Stripe beer bottle for scale.

And, the back door is being replaced.

Here's the old door. There's nothing wrong with it...

...But the frame is all jacked up. Notice the rot.
The back porch was enclosed, probably sometime in the 1950's or 1960's. That is the original framing.

Random Thoughts

If you are going to sell fireworks or your own line of bar-b-que sauces, you should get yourself a wacky nickname. For fireworks, get a nickname that touts your insanity. Something like, Crazy Dave, or Shifty Pete.
For bar-b-que sauce, go with a description of the body. Like, Stubbs, or Baldheaded Bob.

If you were to have a very useful superpower, I don't think you can do better than a mind-reading bartender. Imagine being able to have every patron's drink ready for them before they tell you what to make. Can you even begin to calculate what your tips would be?

Why does everyone forget what fun board games are? Every time someone plays one, they always say, "Oh, man, that was great. Why don't we do this more often?"
But the Monopoly sits quietly in the closet next to Uncle Wiggley and Chutes and Ladders for months on end.
Sure, the Twister mat gets broken out every other drunken Saturday (usually in the Summer), but everything else gets neglected.

Day 4

Thursday started off, as usual, with boot camp.

We started off with a 400 meter run. My time was 1:15.

Then we ran four 200 meter runs, with 3 minutes of rest in between each run.

Then we did a 16-minute circuit of:

15 Pull-ups

20 dips

40 squats

Medicine ball throws...50 yards out and back

20 kettlebell thrusters

As many rounds as possible.

Leigh and I had lunch with her mom at a place near GA Tech called Jaqbo Cafe. Its a great little deli place that does a kickin' lunch business. Here's the outside with Leigh's mom holding the door. Looks inviting, doesn't it?










Here's the inside. That's me at the counter on the left with the white shirt with pink flamingos on it.







I had the quiche. And, yes, real men eat quiche.
Look at it...It's like almost a pound of food.














Here's Leigh's chicken salad sandwich...












And here's Leigh's mom with the half sandwich/soup combo...













On the way out, I noticed this random graffiti on the side of the building. I don't usually like this kind of tagging, but I liked the reference from "The Outsiders."

We loaded up on beers and went to the pool, again. You've already seen photos of us in our bathing suits, so just upload them and relive the moment.

For dinner, we went to a cuban place in Midtown called Papi's. I wouldn't say they were the friendliest people in the world, but the food was pretty good...

After that, we went to a local bar called The Glenwood. They were having a little celebration for their One Year Anniversary, so we stopped by. We met up with our friends Bill and Jen and Angie for a few drinks and a few laughs.

Bill is a funny dude and he's got a million funny stories. He's genuinely one of the funniest people I know.

Day 3

Leigh and I haven't been to Six Flags for at least fifteen years. As a kid, it seemed like the closest thing to Nirvana you'd find in Georgia. They had roller coasters, cotton candy, trinkets, and stuffed animal games.
Waiting in line was no big deal and every moment was a new discovery. There was ice cream and Icees. Arcade games and water rides.
As we got older, new priorities filled the spare time. Mortgages and car payments keep us away from Six Flags today.
Well, that's what an At Home Vacation is supposed to be; spare time filled with childhood fun and whatever else we want. Today, we want Six Flags.


There were many new rides. Many.
Back in the day, The Mindbender was a Hell of a ride. It had three loops, after all. These days, you don't even get started without five loops. One of Six Flags' rides is called The Goliath and rises two hundred feet above the ground. That's about the height of a twenty story building. It goes seventy miles an hour.
Things have changes.


Here's me getting ready to be thrown around...






We also did all the cheesy little rides that you did as a kid. Here's Leigh on the Hanson car ride...

Here's us on the carousel...






Here's an example of how much things have changed. Its kinda hard to see in this photo unless you know what you're looking for, but check this out...The horses now have seat belts. On the carousel. Yes, on the carousel...

We also rode the bumper cars, and I totally owned Leigh.

Here's Leigh standing outside the Log Jamboree ride. Of course, that's also the title to a movie that was the sequel to Log Jammin', which starred Karl Hungus.

And this is the good old Great American Scream Machine...

Day 2

Boot camp started off with a rough workout...

100 lunges

80 push-ups

60 double under jump ropes (or 300 singles)

40 burpees

20 wall balls

800 meter run

rinse. repeat.

After yesterday's workout, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's day off.

Leigh and I took the dogs for a little walk. After all, its their At Home Vacation, too. Here's a couple of photos of us in the hood...

Speaking of "hood," look at the new mural we saw painted on the side of an East Atlanta business. Yes, that's a Colt 45 mural that says, "Works every time." Yes, its ghetto fabulous.

So, neither of us has had breakfast and we did that on purpose. We're going to Ann's Snack Bar for lunch. Never heard of Ann's Snack Bar? Then you're a moron.

It was judged to be America's Best Burger. Don't believe me? Look here...

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117348069193432668-3Vp_rYqpZJRILUpFrHCpe4FFjVk_20080312.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

I've been going there for years and it really is a very unique establishment. Ann is the proprietor of this eponymous establishment where she's been working the grill for 36 years. Her flagship burger is the Ghetto Burger, which is a giant double cheeseburger with bacon, and chili. I'm not exaggerating when I say its as big as your head.

Ann's place is not big and it only seats eight people. She seats eight, takes their orders, fixes the food, and then serves it up. When those eight are done, another eight may enter and take their seats.

Ann does not like standing in her snack bar. Nor does she like cursing. In fact, there are a list of rules hanging over the griddle. Let's just post the more colorful:

No babies on the snack bar,

No weapons in the snack bar,

No alcohol.

But the food is phenomenal.

Here's a couple of shots of the exterior...

Ann doesn't have a "real" sign out front, so you could drive right past it if you weren't looking. The only signs she has are the ones you see in the shots above. Wanna see more about Ann's? Take a look at this piece done by Channel 2 shortly after the WSJ's article came out. You may recognize one of the devistatingly handsome patrons...

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=anns%20snack%20bar&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

Leigh and I had the regular, single cheeseburgers, which were probably close to a pound of meat each. Its unbelievable what this woman does with a burger. They really are the best burgers in the world.

I told Ann years ago that if I wasn't already married I'd ask her. She laughed and blushed a little.

After that enormous meal, we headed home and took naps. Leigh went to the bed and I took the couch where I fell asleep during Monty Python's "Life of Brian."

I woke up in time to walk up to a local pub called "The Midway," and I caught the two soccer matches for the UEFA 2008 Euro. I ran into several of my bar friends and we watched the Netherlands vs. Romania and France vs. Italy. They had two giant TV screens and one played on each screen.

The Netherlands and Italy both won. That means they'll be moving on to the next round.

Leigh joined me just after halftime and we had a nice little time watching soccer with our pub friends.

We wandered home, had a relatively light dinner, and retired early.

This vacation stuff is something I could get used to, real quick.

Someone asked me about my tshirt from last night. Here it is...

Day 1

So, the vacation is ready to get underway. I start off with Boot Camp, which was a tough one, today. Here's our workout:

1 mile run

3 sets of:

10 bronco burpies

15 pull-ups

30 kettlebell swings

40 Supermans

1 mile run.

Yes, we started and ended with a mile run.

Leigh and I decided to walk up to Kasan Red for breakfast. Along the way, we picked up our neighbor, Jen, and the three of us had a nice meal.

Here's Leigh, looking cosmopolitan.



Here's Leigh and Jen passing a local "celebrity" called "The Sheriff."

His real name is William and he's a local guy that hangs out in East Atlanta just about every day. He got his nickname from wearing an old Western cowboby shirt with a Sheriff's badge on it. He would go around and tell people what to do.

Fox5 did a piece on him a few years ago. Here it is...

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=the+sheriff%2C+east+atlanta&hl=en&sitesearch=#

The breakfast was wonderful and satisfying. I love Kasan Red. I also love the mimosas we had. Sure, I know they're a girly drink. I don't care. They were yummy.

So, after lunch, we go to Leigh's sister's pool and hang out there with Jen for a couple hours. Of course, I had beers and the girls had some sort of Smirnoff pomegrante drink. It was sweet and tasted like a girly drink. I wanted none of it. Here's the pool and us at it...

Raawwwwrrrrrrrrr!

After the pool, we chilled out a bit and drank some more. Then we picked up Allison and went for sushi dinner. It was a nice Atlanta summer night and we sat out on the patio...

Our dinner...

Jen (left) and Allison...

Jen and Allison goofing off...

All four of us, Jen, Allison, Me, and Leigh.

From there, we went home and met up with Jason and one of Jen's friends named Angie. Jason brought over a bottle of champagne to celebrate Leigh's birthday (Sunday). We had some cheesecake with a Kahlua chocolate sauce and a lot of laughs.

This was a great, great first day of the At Home Vacation.

At Home Vacation

My lovely wife, Leigh, and I have decided to take a vacation at home. What the Hell is that? you're asking. Its just a vacation, but we aren't travelling to another place. We're staying in Atlanta and doing stuff around here.

It'll probably be a little cheaper than an out of town vacation. We don't have to pay for a hotel. We can eat and drink several meals at home. We don't have to travel to another city. Cool, right?