I’m Just Going To Pretend That Today Is Sunday

Can I get everyone out there to do something for me? Can I get you all to agree that today is really Sunday and that I don’t have to take time off from work in order to do the things that are necessary today? Let’s just roll the clock back twenty-four hours, okay? That’s not asking much, is it?

Fill Me Up! My Belly, But Not My Gas Tank.
On Saturday I had the pleasure of tasting eighteen chili recipes, twelve brunswick stew recipes, and twelve chunks of cornbread. I was a judge at the Miller Lite Chili Cook-Off!

Chili (in the containers which were brought to the judges)

Cornbread (as left by another judge, who I would have killed to talk to btw; it’s no wonder she stays so skinny if she leaves this much food behind)

As I am wont to do I arrived early. My early arrival allowed me the time to wander the grounds looking at all of the teams who were preparing their concoctions. It was quite entertaining, as each team has a name, my favorite play on words being the team named “The Serranos”). Once the competition started food was served in rounds of six samples. If you break down my numbers above you’ll note that my table did three rounds of chili tasting (some of which were really good, others notsomuch), two rounds of brunswick stew (none of which thrilled me), and two rounds of cornbread (probably the most liberal interpretation on the day’s themes — one of which has something akin to bleu cheese!). For my efforts I received free entry to the event (including the park), enough food to fill my belly, a free t-shirt, a half-cup of Miller Lite (all I could stomach of that), and great afternoon of fun.

ITP Flickr Pic
This has been a common occurrence around these parts.

Here is the line waiting to get to the one gas station in Little Five Points that had gasoline yesterday.

Who Cares About The Drought, There’s No GAS!!!
If the above pictures didn’t paint an image of a “problem” then you weren’t paying attention.

It wasn’t until my commute home on Friday that I realized that the much ballyhooed gas “shortage” in Atlanta was real. As I drove down Briarcliff Road I passed four normally-functional gas stations that had none to sell. Since I had filled my gas tank last Wednesday I blew it off as a temporary affliction.

With plenty of gas in my tank still on Saturday I drove to Stone Mountain and back without even considering topping off my tank.

When I drove to Little Five Points to meet up with a group of Flickrites for a photostroll I started to get concerned. Three different stations had no gas, and the one that did had the line pictured above.

Because of this ridiculous gas crunch I decided to put off going to the Dialog In The Dark exhibition until today. I still plan to take Marta, but at least I am more confident that Marta will run on a more regular schedule today.

Whoops There Goes Another Rubber-Tree Plant
Another one of my banks is going by the wayside. Today the announcement came down that Wachovia is to be consumed by Citigroup. I hope that my money transfers (like the one I initiated Friday) and direct deposits/withdrawals will be completely unaffected. Seriously, this shit is happening so quickly that I cannot continue to stay on top of my financial future — that is if I still have a financial future…

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Current Mood – feel like I’m going to make it a great day
Current Music – listening to last week’s “Sound Opinions” podcast
Website Of The Day – So much shit is going down that I might have to go to iGourmet and buy myself a nice cheese basket. (This will make more sense tomorrow)
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Monthly Foot Mileage – 15.5 miles
Monthly Wheel Mileage – 136 miles
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Monthly Marta Rides – 0
Monday Morning Weigh-In – couldn’t take because batteries for scale have not yet completed recharging
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 15 (110)
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4

September Goals
No idea

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]