The Evil Eyebrow

Category: Atlanta

  • Busy busy

    Once again, I’ve been a bit too busy to keep up with the blogging. I don’t even know what I’ve been doing so I can’t tell you about it, however we have had a couple bike-centric Saturday’s recently. Last week we went to the Roswell Criterium, shown here…

    Blur

    …and this week we biked the Atlanta Beltline path with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. Much fun was had. Pictures of both of these events are available at my flickr stream although there’s way more of the Criterium than the bicycle tour. I need a small camera that can be thrown into a bike jersey pocket.

    One of the stops on the tour was at the Beltline Bike Shop, a non-profit that serves the local community with emphasis on the kids in the neighborhood. I saw a bike there for $25 that might just fit the bill of somethign I’ve been looking for. ((heavy, and suitable for beating up in-town, possible to a single-speed conversion. Heavy, so that I’ll get a better workout!))

  • Georgia Marathon

    Tomorrow I run the Georgia Marathon. The course map is here (pdf) if you want to come cheer me on. You can figure I’ll cross the start line around 7:10 AM and be maintaining a 12:00 per mile pace (more on that in a second). So, if you happen to be at any location on the course, look for me. I’ll be wearing a blue shirt, red shorts, and a visor. Pretty much exactly this outfit ((Jennifer, also pictured here, although she’ll be wearing something else, will be running the half marathon tomorrow)).
    Peachtree Road Race 2008

    I’m predicting this race to be the most painful I’ve ever experienced.

    First, a little history: I have had great trouble completing training programs for marathons. This makes the 5th marathon I’ve trained for, but I’ve only completed one. I’ve trained for this very race three times, but have had to back out twice.

    The reasons why have been various. Injury. Laziness. Illness. They’ve all contributed. This year, I decided that despite my training being fubar ((Oh, and I haven’t been blogging much so I didn’t tell you that the 20 mile training run on that schedule was cut in half due to a calf pull and I haven’t run since. Tomorrow is going to be soooo much fun)), I was going to run the bloody race no matter what. Even if by “run” I mean, “slowly jog, then stagger, then walk” until I’m done.

    So I will line up tomorrow in my corral and set off on a pace that will not exceed 12:00 minutes per mile. I will husband and cherish and baby my strength so that I can try to get through this race without being a total wreck. I’m confident that I’ll finish. I’m not confident that I’ll be happy about it, at least, not in the miles leading up to the end.

    Wish me luck. Or come cheer me and my 17,999 closest friends on!

  • Sam and Ben Came to Visit!

    Jenn, Sam, Ben

    Jenn’s cousin Sam and her husband Ben were driving from Tucson to Washington D.C. on their way back to their cushy government cubicles. They stopped by and we showed them the town ((for some values of “the town”)).

    The flickr set can be found here.

  • Atlanta Snowpocalypse

    This town goes a bit nuts when snow hits. Or is likely to hit. Or is projected to be within 100 miles. I like to call it the French Toastpocalypse because a good segment of the population runs out and buys eggs, milk, and bread. Some may say this is hyperbole, but as evidence I present exhibit A:

    Snow is coming. The French Toastapocalyose is upon us. on Twitpic

    I actually did need eggs yesterday so I went to the egg section of our Publix and beheld that there was only one package of eggs in size 12 (twelve eggs per carton) remaining. There were some 18 packs left, but not very many. Same story in the bread section. Scattered remains of a vicious buying spree. I am/was amused.

    But, truly, I don’t blame my local Georgia neighbors. It doesn’t take very many people panicking to reduce a supermarket shelf to nigh-emptiness. Most people seem to be taking it calmly and if there are a lot of discussions of “damn southerners can’t drive in the snow” I’ll respond by saying that damn northerners can’t drive in the snow either if there’s no equipment out plowing and salting. And there isn’t. There’s just not enough iciness around here for counties, cities and the state to justify large fleets of trucks for snow and ice conditions.

    Therefore, it’s best to just stay home. Although as evidenced by Georgia Navigator, a lot of people did not.
    Atlanta, Noon, Snowpocalypse

    We did. In fact, I shoveled our walk; the first snow shoveling I’ve done since Texas, I believe. The shovel in this picture is one that was gifted to me by my Father before I went to college. It was for inclusion in the trunk of my car for those days when the vehicle had to be dug out of snow drifts. Thanks, dad. It’s still being used.

    Shovel? What's that?

    Aside from that, we’re both working today; obviously from home. We took a bit of time to play in the snow, and I tested the applicability of our driveway for trash-bag-sledding. It is not for the faint of heart. I bailed once to avoid a face-on collision with our wood pile, once to avoid being thrown over a wall into the woods and once to avoid taking out all of our side-of-driveway lights.

    Driveway

    If I get around to it, I’ll take some more pictures tonight after the rain and sleet have iced everything over. I put the odds of me going to work tomorrow at “scant”.

  • Night of Astounding Peculiarities

    Fire Eating 7

    Last night I attended The Night of Astounding Peculiarities at Lenny’s Bar in Atlanta. We were treated to entertainment by Thimblerig Circus (show above), Witness the Apotheosis, and the always extraordinary Extraordinary Contraptions!

    If you haven’t heard the Contraptions play, I highly recommend it. If you have, they’re unveiling new stuff right now! I head a song last night that I’d never heard before (“Hollow”) and it rocked. They’ll be playing Dragon*Con in two weeks.

    Witness the Apotheosis was excellent as well. I have missed them several times running and was happy to finally get to hear them, and of course Thimblerig Circus is always entertaining. They perform their death-defying knife throwing, fire eating, nail-bed lying, pin juggling circus act with wonderful aplomb.

    Images from last night’s festivities can be found at the flickr set. There weren’t any good shots of the Contraptions, except for one, but you can find others here and here and here.

  • Streets Alive Atlanta

    Streets_Alive
    Biking in from Inman Park MARTA where we picked up Keith

    We attended Streets Alive in Atlanta on Sunday. It was a blast! They closed down Edgewood Avenue from Peachtree Street to Boulevard and Auburn Street from Peachtree to the Connector. There were cyclists and skateboarders and rollerbladers and walkers and strollers and jugglers and all sorts of stuff. It was a lot of fun. Hot, but fun.

    One of the coolest things I saw though was this guy (who’s name I totally didn’t get!).

    Portable_Music

    He passed us while we were on a group ride around town, on his way to the Streets Alive. On his bike he had:

    • A dog
    • A guitar
    • Himself
    • His amp
    • His speaker
    • The speaker stand
    • The battery to power all that stuff
    • Microphone and stand

    That’s hard core. I love it.

    There’s more images of him and his dog at my flickr set of the event.

  • Snow!

    Enjoying the Brief Snow

    You may be aware that the East Coast of these here United States has been enjoying some interesting times this winter. From record cold temps to record snowfalls, everybody has been invited to the party.

    Even Atlanta has had it’s share of fun, shown above. Jenn and I poked around outside and threw some snowballs, just to say that we did. After all, that image was taken on Saturday evening, and by Sunday afternoon it was all gone.

    Some other pictures of the snow here at my flickr site

  • Extensive Homeless Dwelling

    Last Tuesday, my father and I attended a Braves game here in Atlanta. My normal parking spot is at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers which is a bit of a walk, and on the other side of I-75/85 from the stadium. As we were walking under the bridge to get to the park, I snapped this picture of a man’s shelter up underneath the bridge deck.
    Home for Homeless
    This is quite a set up! A papasan chair and all. Frankly, I was a bit surprised that this complicated structure was allowed to remain in place by the police who, as always, are out in force for game nights. Atlanta has made a big deal about chivvying the homeless out of the tourist areas. This bridge, and the ball park, aren’t in the “Tourist Triangle” centered around the Five Points and Centennial Park, but it still surprised me. There’s an awful lot of people who walk under this bridge to get to ball games and I imagine a lot of them aren’t local. “Protecting” the vision of Atlanta as a tourist-friendly city without panhandling homeless was the whole point behind the Tourist Triangle regulations.

  • Snow in the South

    It’s a huge deal when snow hits Atlanta. North Georgia gets its fair share, but not so much in the metro area.

    Lonely Chair

  • Police Shut down I-75

    Yesterday, Jenn was caught in a traffic jam caused by the Police shutting down I-75 soutbound to look for a bank robber.

    Apparently, the bank that was robbed slipped a tracking device into the money that was stolen, allowing the police to locate the perpetrator’s position on I-75. Unfortunately, despite the heartache and congestion caused by this rush-hour event, the robber was not apprehended.

    Look for deeper thoughts concerning this and other events soon on Talking Traffic.