Today’s title is a variant of an old joke.
Holy Crap, It’s Christmas Week
And I’ve already been blessed three times.
- I’m now an official iLemming — I now own an iPhone. I even purchased a case for it this weekend, one which appears to have an affinity for collecting lint.
- I did something really stupid in my car Saturday night. I don’t wish to reveal any real details, let’s just say that I hadn’t been drinking, I’m ashamed of myself, and no one got injured. There happened to be an officer there who gave me a sufficient scolding and let me off with a warning.
- Yesterday I was reintroduced to an old friend — a camping chair that I lost at least two years ago at the end of a hash. I remember posting to a hash forum that I forgot the chair in the back of a pickup truck, but no one ever mentioned finding it. It wouldn’t have been hard to identify the chair since I had written my hash name on the back, but for some reason no one ever read the back. And what did I do yesterday? I left it at the ending of the hash.
I will attempt to keep my good will going all week long.
The Night Was Jambandelicious
So my traffic-boneheaded maneuver occurred while I was on my way to Variety Playhouse to see the Dead Confederate / Manchester Orchestra show. I was running late and as it turned out the show was extremely well-attended so I had no hope of getting down front to get a superior shooting location. My camera stayed in the bag the entire show. Getting stopped by the police really put a disturbing spin on the night, which unfortunately removed some of my fun.
However, the night of music was fantastic. There were four, count’em, four bands on the bill. I arrived after the first band had taken the stage, so I grabbed a beer and a chair and made myself comfortable.
The second band to take the stage was Kevin Devine, a musician from Brooklyn (how in-the-moment). Devine is really into his music, which is always nice to see, and he put on a really entertaining set. During a few of his band’s songs members of other bands joined in; the theme for the night was set.
Next up was Athens’ band Dead Confederate. I’ve seen Dead Confederate before so I knew that I would be enjoying their set. What I didn’t expect was for their set to be so short. Unless I am completely wrong they only played five songs.
The headlining band was Atlanta’s Manchester Orchestra. (side note: There was a “Right Away, Great Captain!” disc for sale at the merch table and I did purchase one). I’ve seen and blogged about Manchester Orchestra shows in the past. Although I’ve enjoyed their show each time, this was by far the best performance I’ve seen from them. Lead singer Andy Hull was in fine form and interacted often with the crowd, including making a joke about seeing Death Cab For Cutie at Variety Playhouse when he was sixteen (Andy, if for some reason you read this review note that I didn’t give away the story). As was the norm for the night members of other bands joined Manchester Orchestra on stage, including one ginormous jam-band rendition of the theme song from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” to end the evening.
ITP Flickr Pic
One of my favorite bars in Atlanta
The Euclid Avenue Yacht Club. Say it with me, “Brisket…”
I Found One Reason My Energy Bills Are High
Cold air was lightly-streaming through the window frames in my bedroom. No wonder why the room is so cold (in addition to the cold heart of the lone sole who occasionally sleeps within the room). Yeah I know, I should consider replacing the windows in this old house. Guess what, I’ve got a lot higher priority problems to rectify first.
Seriously, You People Need To Learn How To Drink Black Coffee
This morning I stopped into Einstein Bagels to grab a fattening bagel and a cup of coffee for breakfast. With no line at the counter I figured to be in and out in a matter of moments. I was partially correct. With bagel in hand I moved toward the coffee station where I encountered people hovering around perfecting the coffee/milk/sugar ratio, as slowly as humanly possible! Even worse, some of these people would drink some of their coffee and then refill! Seriously, either learn to fix your coffee quickly and leave, or learn to drink it black. Denying others from their morning fix of caffeine might be one of the best way to get whacked.
And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal…
Daily
Current Mood – good, even considering all of my problems.
Current Music – listening to the LightSource Photography podcast
Website Of The Day – Jonesing for some Christmas video? Fanpop’s list of Christmas videos which can be watched online might be of some help.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Sunday = hashing, 3.5 miles
Monthly
Foot Mileage – 11.5 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 22 (22)
Vegetarian Days – 11
Carnivorous Days – 10
Marta Rides – 0
Ongoing
Books To Read To Earn Kindle – 4
December Goals
1) Lose no fewer than two pounds
2) Drink no soda
3) Run no fewer than 50 miles
4) Completely read no fewer than one book
5) Write at least one program using Ruby on Rails
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
All my windows are like that in the ‘new to me” place, and unless really affecting comfort, should be fairly low on the list… I replaced all the windows in my duplex; it does make a difference, but would have cost around $200 per window if I had had someone do it for me vs. around $100.
I spent a lovely evening at the Yacht Club myself last week, and due to your multiple mentions of said item, tried the brisket! Definite thumbs up, especially with tatter tots and Brunswick stew… seriously, for as long as I was there, the tab was very reasonable… even got to see the “White Trash Ginger Bread” trailer contest and Santacon wandered through! Turns out my date knew “Hip” from back in the day, so we chatted a bit with him… definitely gonna have to go hang out there more often…
I can’t believe you found your chair and then left it behind again.
As for the windows, yes, replacing them will cost big bucks. We will be getting ours in January, and I’m not looking forward to that charge on my credit card…. But, on the good side, lots & lots of frequent flyer miles will be added to my account, just in case we ever have cash again to go somewhere.
You can buy that plastic/weatherstripping stuff pretty cheap, just seal up the window(s) for the winter, since we all know you need to get the plumbing fixed first.
I plan to do a ghetto-fix on the windows (see also my plastic-bag fix on the basement door).
Gentri, any time you need a drinking partner for the Yacht Club holler. It’s one of the few bars for which I will travel outside the EAV.
One of the reasons I don’t ‘go out for coffee’ is I hate the PITAs that have to have something special, even worse, that person is now me. So I just make my soy latte at home in silence, shaking my head and pondering “when did I become that guy?”
After all that I can’t believe you left that chair! I guess you got distracted by all the talk of Christmas Fun Times!!!
Took me a minute to figure out that PITAs = “Pain In The Asses” 🙂 They say that the mind is the first thing to go. Looks like I’m already gone.
The chair looked so happy in its new environs, I couldn’t think of ripping it away from its new friends (read “I now own three camping chairs and don’t need one more even though one of those three is on its last-legs”).
I’m always amazed at the people around here who try to have meetings standing in front of the coffee urn. Move along, people, there are better places to be wasting my time- I’ve got blogs to read!!
And for those hockey fans, the game yesterday between the Glad-he-ate-hers and some small town from NY was fairly poor. There were just enough people in attendance that the mizzus and I did not have to suit up, but I think we could have done no worse than those who did suit up.
-FP
Steve, that’s sad but funny. Were Service and Primer at the game too?
I just got a free ticket to the Thrashers for tonight, hopefully there will be a few more fans, and a better game. There may be 1 more left, if anyone wants to go, let me know, and I’ll ask my friend if she still has the 4th.
We blew off the hockey game, someone named Fag Pipes forgot to remind me to buy tickerts, and then decided we wanted to watch football instead. So, we ended up at a Viking fan friend’s house for the Falcons game.
Barb, if I were feeling 100% I’d go to the game. I’m a little sniffly and blech today. Gee, I wonder if running through ice-cold creeks and then standing outside for an hour yesterday has anything to do with this?
CMB/Trick and Bag o’ Tricks were in attendance, but Mr and Mrs Tool were lame NO SHOWS!! And a bottle of Blue Moon was $7!! And no Yuengling… so sad, considering every taco stand in the state now has it for sale.
-FP
Yeah the Gladiators offer up some cheap hockey tix and you get what you pay for. I’ll bet College players are better than these guys, the playing wasn’t all that good but the checks were there. We had second row seats so saw a lot of faces pressed into the glass, holy crap these guys hit hard.
It was nice seeing the Brady’s WAY up on the north side, how was the flight home?
I always get a kick out of people who order these crazy drinks from $tarbucks. What the hell is a double half-caf half soy half cream served at 104 degrees? It has been said before that the longer your starbucks order is the bigger asshole you are. Although I do like their Egg Nog Latte’s
The flight home was fine- only an hour 20- the ponies were a shivvering lot by the time Debbie got their blankies on.
-FP
Christmas Update: been to the Farmer’s Market and have food! Next stop…the package store!!!
I did leave the soy egg nogg on the shelf but there is no guarantee that it won’t make an appearance christmas day.
>I wonder if running through ice-cold creeks and then standing outside for an hour yesterday has anything to do with this
No!
Paulie update: Unless you are on the Facebook you may have missed this afternoon’s drama.
I went to Mellow Mushroom for lunch where I had a jerk chicken sandwich with water. Upon return to work I made a pot of Starbucks coffee and ate a piece of a Christmas snack that was brought in by one of my coworkers.
As soon as I sat down I felt “funny.” Within a matter of minutes the inside of my mouth started to swell. I confirmed this by looking in a mirror and talking to a coworker about hospitals nearby. He suggested Benadryl, which I thought was a great idea. Unfortunately, I no longer had any in my desk, and none were in the two hardly-used first aid kits in my car. Partially panicked I fought Perimeter Mall traffic to the nearby Target. Inside the store I popped two pills and then got in line to pay.
Things are not 100% right so I’ll continue to monitor my situation.
I’ll assume this is the last time I’ll eat the jerk chicken sandwich at Mellow Mushroom. I am also going to try and find out what was in the Christmas snack that I ate.
Just the inside of your mouth started to swell? No skin rash or anything? I’d say an alergic reaction, but you wouldn’t think it would be that localized. Hmmmm – crazy stuff, keep us updated, since my work now blocks facebook!
You can call Allan and tell him I told you to have him do a paramedic diagnosis over the phone if you want, he is at the firehouse today.
I get very mild allergic reactions to shrimp and eggplant sometimes….mouth, lips and throat get slightly swollen and very ‘itchy’…Allergies are funny things they can come and go with no warning.
I would be more suspicious of the Christmas treat. Allergic reactions to food are pretty much instantaneous…
The Christmas treat seems to consist of graham crackers, pecans, and some sort of praline-like syrup. I’ve never had a reaction to any of those things before.
Off to see if I can find out what was in the Mellow Mushroom sandwich.
According to Mellow Mushroom’s online calendar the Jerk Chicken sandwich consists of grilled mushrooms, onions, green peppers, spicy jerk chicken, pineapple, spinach, feta, and pesto mayo.
I have eaten all of these before and have no reaction.
That’s the kicker about allergies…you never know when they will develop. There is also the probablity of cross contamination. Nuts and eggs are two of the most common food allergens…Sounds like both meals may have included both. Have you had any addtional symptoms (i.e. nausea, abdominal pain)?
No other symptoms. The swelling has seemed to completely subsided, but I am dead tired because of the Benadryl.