last race

So tomorrow I have many things to be thankful for, not the least of which is my last race this year! Yay!!! No more races until the big one in January!

I can't believe the day is here already. If you're in ATL and up for a little spectating, I should be crossing the finish line at Turner field between 9:19 and 9:39. That's my best guess.

See you there!

McCain in ATL Thurs

To help Saxby out. I really love McCain for this. Down but not out, and still fighting for what he believes in: country first.

John McCain is coming to Atlanta to help Saxby!
Republican Presidential nominee John McCain, along with Senator Johnny Isakson, Governor Sonny Perdue, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, Secretary of State Karen Handel, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine and many other elected officials will be in Atlanta on Thursday, November 13th for a Victory Rally to help support Saxby Chambliss in his runoff for Senate. The event will begin at 4:30PM.

The rally will be held at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, located at 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30339. This event is free for all to attend. To RSVP, please email RSVP-at-Saxby-dot-org. For more information contact Justin Tomczak at Justin-at-Saxby-dot-org.

gas is back

Ha ha ha ha! The last time I filled my tank was at the cusp of the gas crisis...last Monday. I filled up my tank after waiting for ~30 minutes and paid $3.97 a gallon. Then that night and for the next week or so, every gas station had lines and prices over $4. I waited it out & conserved gas as much as possible. And tonight, I filled up my tank while waiting in no line, and paid...guess what? $3.97 a gallon. Oh the price you crazy people paid to top off your tanks! I feel so good right now. And I still resolve to try the MARTA bus :)

an end in sight?

The AJC is reporting that gas lines are shorter in Atlanta today. Also that QT expects to have gas at all stations tomorrow. Good news! Are we nearing the end of the gas crisis? I hope! Will I still try to take the MARTA bus some day soon? Probably :)

Top Chef Tour!

Oh my gosh I want to go! Who else wants to go?

Top Chef Tour coming to Atlanta on Sep 27!

The only thing I haven't figured out yet...how to get the free tickets. I guess I just keep checking their website until I can click on Atlanta?

weekend of reviews!

So just had a great weekend, a perfect balance of relaxing, fun, activity, and friends from all over! I decided to lump everything together into one post...so here goes!

Friday
Lime Taqueria
kiwis: taste 3, ambience 4, service 3

Here is how Friday dinner decision-making goes...
Ryan: where do you want to eat?
Me: I don't know...are you craving anything?
Ryan: I could go for anything.
Me: Hmm me too...

So we often times end up driving around, smart phones tuned in to Yelp & Google Maps. As we near things that sound good, we look up reviews and/or websites and then decide on a place to eat. Random! But it works :)

So we ended up at Lime Taqueria on Friday. It's a cute little place in the West Village at 285 & Atlanta Rd. The interior is really cute, and they had live music. The music was cool but we opted to eat outside since the weather was nice and we wanted to be able to hear each other. For appetizers we tried guacamole, tuna tostadas, and avocado salad. Everything was good, but not awesome. I was a little disappointed in the tuna tostadas. It was 3 chips with 1 piece each of seared tuna. I was expecting a little more substance for the price!

For dinner, we tried a variety of tacos: lobster, chorizo, pork, carne asada, chicken.

Those are my tacos, and the carne asada was my favorite! Each was delicious, but I was hoping for more. We had sides of plantains (which were amazing!!! mmm) and yucca fries (not as amazing). I may go back, I may not. It's a really cute, trendy place where you have to shell out a lot of $$ for not much food. Thank goodness I had a $25 gift card.

Saturday
Silver Comet Trail

After much finagling, pushing, and shoving, we managed to get my bike into Ryan's car to meet my friend/co-worker Holly at the Silver Comet. We biked from Smyrna Bicycles on the East-West Connector out to mile 10 on the Silver Comet, which was a little bit past the Powder Springs trailhead. It was SO MUCH FUN. My butt hurt so bad at the end of our out & back 21 miles, but man, it was great!! I want to do this at least once a month. Maybe start at different trailheads to get further out towards Alabama. And one day, I would like to bike all the way to Alabama. I think it'd be so fun to take it leisurely and stop at all the cute little towns or historic places of interest. And, it's only 60 miles! :) Anyone want to come along?

Here are some pics, proof that we made it 10 miles out, and a pic for my mom so that she can see I still use my Christmas present:


Oh and coincidentally, I ran into another co-worker at the trail who is training for the Callaway Gardens triathlon. What are the chances? I wished him good luck! Maybe one day I'll be fit enough to do one?

Atlanta Bread Company
kiwis: taste 4, service 2, ambience 3

Yes it's a chain. But has anyone noticed their total rebrand? It's awesome! And the ABC on South Cobb is probably the nicest and tastiest I have ever been to. I'm sad it's not closer to my house (free wifi!). The only problem was that there were only 2 or 3 workers. Severely understaffed. Nice people though, and lots of people there who were coming off or hitting the trail. I had a chicken pesto panini that just hit the spot! delicious.

Georgia Dome

I won't rate this on kiwis, but I will say that although the renovations are AWESOME, the food hasn't really improved that much. I tried a cheeseburger (ok) and fries (horrible). But there seems to be more options than there used to be...

I really just wanted to mention it because it is SO much better than it used to be. The red & black is really intimidating and I'm glad the outdated, faded pictures of sites around GA are gone. I know the Falcons must be pumped. And even with how much bigger it feels, you can still run into people you know (another co-worker! random). And even though the home team lost, I had a great time watching (the video intro shown at the beginning of game and beginning of 2nd half is really good! The falcon is so scary, it gave me chills!)


Taco Mac
kiwis: taste 5, ambience 5, service 4

I love love love Taco Mac. I could go there any day of the week. This day happened to be Saturday, and we walked in the moment the last relay for Michael Phelps was in progress. It was a real American moment for me. Every TV was on the race. Every person in the place was yelling & screaming & cheering. It was surreal. And then the Americans won, and Michael Phelps got his 8th gold. I can't really describe the moment. I got a little tear...and I'll always remember it!

But yeah Taco Mac always has the best sports on awesome flat screen TVs, good people there, and the best queso dip in the city. Even though our server was busy, another server covered for her while the other caught up on her tables. I thought that was really nice considering the chaos that ensued after Team USA's win. We went with my old roomie Linds and 2 of her friends, and then also ran into 2 of my friends from NorthPoint/Fusion. It was good times!

Sunday
After church we were craving some Southern veggies and decided to hit up a perennial favorite, Roasters. I was hoping for some fried green tomaotes, but settled for fried okra and mac n cheese instead. Oh yeah, and chicken fingers. Sometimes you just have to indulge. Our server was really nice, we always get great, friendly service at Roasters. The food was decent, I just wish the tomatoes had been there. So for kiwis: taste 3, service 4, ambience 3. It's just your average comfort food, family type restaurant. Solid choice when you want some good, great price comfort food.

And that wraps up my weekend! Woohoo!

this Congress is failing me

So in my previous post, I mentioned opening the floor to contributors...here is the first! Surprise, it's Ryan. (probably not much of a surprise, hehe) but if you read this, and in reading my posts have something you really want to share (that is too long or involved to be a "comment"), then forward it on to me and you may just see it posted here.

Here we have Ryan's letter that he recently sent to newspapers, congressmen(&women) and Pres. Bush:

I support the Republican Party's general plan to address the energy crisis.

It is outrageous that the congress would break for its 5 week August break without first addressing the issues that are hammering our country into a recession. It is irresponsible for the Democratic Congress, lead by the lackadaisical, self seeking Nancy Pelosi, to walk out on this issue. For whatever reason, the face that Congresswoman Pelosi believes that Congress "deserves" this break is simply sad.

Offshore drilling has been banned for many years. While the dangers to the environment still exist, oil companies have made leaps and bounds in progress on how to prevent issues from popping up and damaging the environment.

On top of the ludicrous idea that we should abandon offshore drilling, we're facing more and more pressure from oil speculators. Rampant speculation in the commodities futures market is driving up prices out of proportion to marketplace demands. The problem is speculators are increasingly buying and selling commodities such as oil even though they have no intention of using the product. The unregulated speculators are pocketing billions of dollars at our expense. The cost of food has gone
up, the price at the pump has gone way up, and I'm already concerned about how much more it will cost to heat my home this winter.

To lower oil prices for all Americans we need to increase domestic supply (that's right, increase), exploration, alternative energy sources and conservation. We also must protect bona fide speculation and hedging.

It is with a heavy heart that I say that this Congress is failing me, a voter, in its attempt to actually care about domestic issues. It is my understanding that this Congress has passed fewer bills than any Congress in the history of America. It's nice to know that Congress can take a 5 week vacation from work while all of America reconsiders their personal vacations after the rising cost of fuel has made it tough to take one.

If we don't learn to rely on domestic supply, our American tax dollars and our hard earned paychecks will keep going to overseas OPEC nations that in return are buying up American land and businesses. Please keep America for Americans and help us be self-reliant.

In closing, I would hope that if recalled by President Bush, Congress would take the initiative to care about what matters to America, care about the big issue looming in front of us, and care about the one thing that will shape the future of our economy for years to come. I hope that Congress does not spend too much time wondering why it has a pathetic 9% approval rating, when it's so very clear to all of us.

Ryan Duckworth
Atlanta, GA

Pres Bush visits my street

Yeah, that's right. Too bad I wasn't home at the time. Pres. Bush dropped in to Atlanta yesterday and attended an event right down the road from my humble abode!

"Close to 200 people — including Gov. Sonny Perdue — attended the event at the home of Harrison Merrill, a local developer, just off West Paces Ferry Road."

The closest I got was stuck in a moving roadblock on 75N after work. SO FUN.

i got in!

Peachtree Road Race, here I come!

At first, I was really scared to enter, because it's the largest 10K in the world, and you run with 55,000 people. Talk about intimidating and claustrophobic. But then I figured, I should just do it, at least once. It's an Atlanta tradition, you get a "coveted" tshirt, and if I hate it, I never have to do it again. And I'll get to tell my chlidren some day, I ran in the largest 10K in the world. Although I'm sure by that time, it may not be the largest 10K any more. Who knows?

But they cashed my check, so I'm doing it. Yippee!!

I only regret that I didn't get my 10K time down so I could be in a better seed group. :(