Last night I joined Urban Explorers of Atlanta for the monthly “Mystery Dinner”. My participation in last night’s event was a no-brainer since the area of town for the event was advertised as “Crescent Avenue”, aka “one of the streets that borders XYZ Corp’s office building”.
I walked down the road to Foxtrot Bourbon Bar, which was the launching point for the event. Thankfully the name is misleading because I was able to secure a beer for my pre-dinner consumption. A large group of us gathered for a beverage before once again picking slips of paper from a jar and determining our dinner fate.
I considered myself fortunate again, as I chose Pasta da Pulcinella, the long-standing midtown Atlanta Italian restaurant. It’s been a handful of years since I last ate at Pasta da Pulcinella, so I was happy to return. The other group went to Princi Italia, a relative newcomer; I’ve not eaten here, but may eventually.
For dinner I had a Caesar salad (no anchovies, thank you), red bell pepper gnocchi with chicken for my entree, and a glass of red wine.
After dinner we reconvened at Cafe Intermezzo, another Atlanta standard, for an after-dinner drink and dessert. Much to my surprise I had water, and only a couple of bites from the shared desserts.
It was a fun evening, chatting with some new people, as well as some people who are becoming familiar through attendance at multiple outings. September’s “Mystery Dinner” is in Decatur, I hope to be on ball and sign up for it as soon as registration opens.
In An Instant
It’s funny how one’s life can change in an instant.
When I was on hiatus last year my answer to the commonly-asked question of “Why are you doing this?” was “Because I have things that I want to do, and I cannot guarantee that I will be healthy enough in the future to do them.” At that time I never imagined the “future” to be “2017”.
As you well know my April bike wreck has essentially also wrecked my year. Thankfully I was able to go to Germany/Austria and experience that pain-free, but until I can completely rid myself of the pain that has resurfaced, as well as have confidence that I can participate in whatever physical task is associated with my excursion, I cannot plan any.
I am “upgrading” my injury situation because I’ve gone from excruciating pain to mid-level annoyance when I was walking through the house this morning.
Mystery Solved
That $24.99 charge on my AmEx? Legit. Turns out that the timing was merely coincidental that Amazon would renew my annual Amazon Music subscription on the same day that the Visa card to which the fee was charged last year was nullified, thus pushing the charge to the AmEx which is also registered with Amazon. It’s curious to me why this subscription never shows up in my “Orders” list on Amazon, however. Amazon being sneaky? Perhaps.
Anyway, I’ve concluded that my AmEx account has not been compromised, so there is no need for me to file a fraud claim and get a new card. Now, if my new Visa card would only arrive in the mail; I’m on Day Three of “3-5” business days…
Have a great Thursday friends.
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
My recent infatuation with 3D printing has come to a screeching halt. It seems my little hand-me-down Printrbot is “having trouble heating up its hot end…” 🙂
Jiggling the wire bundle connecting the hot end (extruder head) to the control board makes the heater work/not work. Dang it! I hope it’s an easy fix.
Fortunately, I managed to get several iterations of a “solar filter holder” printed before things went South. This 90mm round piece will hold a portion of the 6″ x 6″ “NASA certified” solar filter material ($9.99 via eBay) to the front of my Nikkor 500mm lens.
Tonight, Jan and I are off to “An American in Paris” at the Fox. AKA, “Wow! These sure are fancy restrooms!” “Pre-theater” dinner TBD.
In other news, controversy is still raging regarding the “Confederate” monument adjacent to the old courthouse in Decatur. “Take it down!”
How long before attention is turned to Oakland Cemetery, home to 1000’s of Confederate (and Union) dead and at least two Confederate monuments?
73 de JG/HamWithCam
I think places like cemeteries and battlefields will get a pass, but now as I think about it, the entire city was a battlefield, though I doubt people much think about that.
Most people don’t think, about much of anything.
73 de
JG/HamWithCam
I’ve read stories about idiots around the country now going to cemeteries and trying to dig up old confederate officers. That’s just stupid insane. I would hope most people would understand the sanctity of those places.
A new chapter in the saga of the Mazda. Finally we have demonstrable problems rather than just a code! As I left 85 and started to drive down 29 towards Luthersville, I noticed an odd sound. Turning off the radio, I heard a definite engine whine, and when I looked at the gear indicator it showed 3. This is called “limp home mode” and after getting stopped and thinking of my options for a moment, I opted to head back to the shop as I could make it before they closed. He was just as happy to see me as I was him and he said a used computer would run about $300 with $150 to install/reprogram. On to my friends at Enterprise to pick up another ride from their fleet- this time a Nissan Altima, which is one of the nicer cars they rent.
A run last night was the order of the day and it was as painful as I expected, but I did it. Hard to grasp I’ve run a couple of marathons and at the moment can’t put together 1 consistent mile. This will change.
Glad you had a good time at UX. Maybe even outside of your comfort level? Did you speak to any females?
-FP
To the best of my ability I spoke to everyone. It wasn’t too bad since I have met a few of the people previously, so I wasn’t making all cold-calls.
Nice work at the event. In the words of Ali G, “Respek!”
FYI if you liked Foxtrot (or if you’re an ITP reader who is interested in trying): Local Flavor dot com has a special out there currently running – $20 for $40 worth of food and drink. A friend and I did this a few months back. I really enjoyed it! I also like Local Flavor dot com because when you buy the deal you can actually even use it the same day. I’m all about discounts and frugality. 🙂
I didn’t look at Foxtrot’s menu. I just got one beer.
I was a Foxtrot many years ago. It was a date. That’s how long ago it was…
Well Foxtrot is pretty new (only since last October), but I’m assuming you meant the space there. I had never been before when it was a different business.
It’s probably been five different places since the last time I was there circa 2003.
Since I don’t need to moderate my own comments. 🙂
Local Flavor
Thanks for the tip, I’d never heard of this service.
You’re welcome! 🙂 It used to be “Double Take Deals” – I think you can still Google it as that and it’ll direct here. There’s an app too. I use it on-the-go, much like Scoutmob. I’ve been pleasantly accidentally surprised at times when I was planning to go somewhere anyway, then found a deal waiting I could get as well. With Groupon, you have to wait 24 hours to use. With this one, you don’t.
Looks pretty good. New sushi place on West Peachtree!! Score!
I think Allan is working as Fire Marshall at the Fox for An American in Paris, but sorry John, on Saturday night, so you don’t have to be worried about getting kicked out (by him). I wonder what they are doing to need a Fire Marshall? fog or smoke I guess.
Still busy as hell- Megan isn’t back, so I’m crazy busy……….
Whew! Dodged a bullet….
BTW: Met a few friends at Mellow Mush Midtown. Lunch, talk…we all three totally walked out without paying. Oops.
(Called, all good, we are regulars, one of the guys dropping back by to square things.)
JG/HamWithCam
Huh, there have been times that I thought I hadn’t paid because I was drunk when I left somewhere, but I have yet to do so.
I remember doing that a loooong time ago, and it wasn’t somewhere I was a regular. The waitress gave chase and we were pretty embarrassed.