Hooray! One of my reviews just became Review of the Day on Yelp Atlanta!

And this afternoon I'll be going to my first Yelp event to get some little cards that say "You've Been Yelped" so that business owners know they're about to get rated. (Only after the transaction is complete, of course. Otherwise it's a shakedown.)

I know that guy, too.  He's one of the owners of Sidebar.  He was pouring free drinks before the Gator game this weekend, and I'm pleased to see he's equally entertaining when I'm totally sober.

Anyone want to join me this weekend for another Gator game?  Here's the Facebook event page.

"Decatur is what happens when Cabbagetown grows up, gets married to Emory, and learns some good manners." — Carlos C., on Yelp

We were at a Borders in north Atlanta today, and an employee approached Jodi at the magazine racks to ask her if she needed help finding anything. Yes, she said: can you help me find Ms. magazine?

"Ms. magazine? I've never heard of it."

I smirked to compliment his dry wit.

And then he got on his radio and asked "Has anyone heard of Ms. magazine?"

My jaw dropped. And the responses he got were not terribly helpful.

Morlocks, Morlocks, lama sabachthani?

Memo to 98.5 FM: What kind of demented sadist follows "Walking on Sunshine" with "Tears in Heaven"? And what sick puppy hires her as a morning DJ?

The new address is:

891 BRIARCLIFF RD NE APT A10
ATLANTA GA 30306-4632

Jodi and Pied are there tonight. We'll spend the day apart tomorrow, working on our respective projects, and then have dinner together. Most of our stuff is still over here, but she's got the basics. And now I'm going to sleep!

This weekend we looked around for a new home.  We started by looking at craigslist, but gave up when we found far too many spammy and deceptive postings to bother with.  (I'd love to see the owner "literally in a few minutes...bike to...CDC" from there.  Hell, I'd love to see Lance Armstrong do it.  It's 4.7 miles, and "a few minutes" would be 60+ mph, not counting traffic lights.)

Instead, we followed a few bus lines and drove around a block or two from each bus stop.  We found a half of a house that we'd love to get, but we're still waiting to hear if the woman who's first in line wants it enough to actually put down a security deposit.  The same owners also have a unit on the bottom floor of a house, but it's really just a finished basement, and Frank Lloyd Wright would approve of the ceiling height.  (I'd have to stoop, or bang my head, every time I use the kitchen, or any time I wanted to walk from the bedroom to the bathroom or the other room.)

We also went to Candler Park to see a 1/1 right on the main drag, but the house itself is inaccessible and the 1/1 unit is on the top floor up a spiral staircase anyway.

So we'll hope for the half a house, and also keep looking at other places.  A weekend festival blocked our access to most of Inman Park and Little 5 Points, as well as some of Candler Park.  We'll be able to follow bus lines in those neighborhoods after today.

We're also considering houses that we'd share with others (it would be cheaper by several hundred dollars per month) but are hoping to have a home for just the three of us for the first time in our married lives.

VoicePost 205K 1:02

“Hey, American Red Cross. It really is not adequate to judge callers by their phone number. I have a Tampa phone number but I live in Atlanta. I want to donate blood; your automated system tells me that since I'm calling from an 813 number, there are no blood donor centers in my area. That's not true. And when you give me the advice to call again from a land line, that's just ridiculous. I have a cell phone; what do I need with a land line? Instead you should say, if this isn't accurate, please enter your ZIP code. That would help you find the donor center. As it is, I have the library reference desk phoning your automated system from a 404 number, and then I'm going to call them back to find out what they found out for me. It should not be this difficult. People have all kinds of reasons not to donate blood. Don't give them another reason to not donate blood.” Transcribed by: sylvar

UPDATE: The library found out that there's a donor center at 1955 Monroe Dr., which is a lot more convenient than the Sandy Springs donor center. Yay!

Tuesday, after schlepping yard-sale leftovers to Salvation Army, I gave Tyson and Amanda a ride to a MARTA train station so they could get to the airport. I used it too, but didn't go that far south.

At the Avondale station, I helped a woman who spoke Spanish figure out how to buy a ticket. The kiosk offered English and Deutsch, but not Spanish, Hindi, or Amharic, any of which would have been more useful to the local population. Hearing what was going on, I got drafted to help another Spanish speaker buy two tickets. I was proud to have been able to help.

Once I got to Peachtree Center, I asked an employee where the post office was. They said it was right upstairs and pointed me to the escalator. Well, I'm glad it was working, because it took me about 120 feet up, which doesn't sound like much but is interminable and dizzying. Still, the post office really was at the top of the escalator, so I was able to mail mattyo3000's birthday gift and lots of bills without venturing into the sun.

I got enough vitamin D a little while later. I had figured with Google Maps that the Aveda Institute was within walking distance of the Buckhead station, and although it was, it was pretty hot by 2pm. I phoned them for directions so I could avoid getting lost while delirious with the heat, and (after a stop at a nearby Starbucks for refreshment, including an arugula-tomato-mozzarella salad for lunch) got to Aveda in time to score an immediate haircut opening. While walking back toward the station I tried to figure out if there was an easier way to get back, but by the time MARTA's customer service bot told me the estimated wait time was likely to get me there on foot anyway, I had already decided to hoof it and was only holding to get the info for next time. (The 23 stops at the Starbucks, which is a block away.)

If I'd taken the 23, I also could have gone straight to Ikea, which was my next stop. Instead, I rode the train to Arts Center to take the Atlantic Station shuttle. A guy asked if I had 75 cents for a MARTA fare, since he already had a dollar. I said (honestly, since I use a Breeze card) that I didn't, and he walked off, exclaiming loudly and sarcastically, "What a coincidence! No, wait -- a CONSPIRACY!!." I'd have chosen the same crowd to ask, though, since Atlantic Station is pretty ritzy.

After getting a bathroom shelf (which I'm taking back, since Jodi says it clashes horribly), some organic pasta, and a few other things at Ikea, I headed back home. I'd have preferred to have gone to Edgewood Shopping Center to get some garden hose, but I'm going to see if I can get some that someone else doesn't want.

In short (too late), using MARTA seems feasible, especially if I compromise and drive two or three miles to a station. I can also walk half a mile to a bus that comes every 15 minutes, which isn't bad.

I haven't quite become an Atlantan yet and I'm already being quoted in the AJC.

1530 Deerwood Dr
Decatur GA 30030-4516

The lease starts July 15. Not sure when we'll actually do the moving.

Photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvar/sets/72157600263305052/

Dragon*Con!  Labor Day weekend is close enough, and by all indications I'll be in Atlanta.  At any rate, I'll have a place to stay while at the con, and if I'm not fully moved in by then, I can arrange to haul up a load of our stuff (moving expenses are tax-deductible, including 18 cents per mile) with the right timing.
Claudia's going to be there. :)

As soon as possible, Jodi and I are going to Atlanta for a week to check out apartments there.  SunCat 2.0 still needs to be finished before I can do that, though.  So I've been coming home about 12 hours after I left, and I'm planning to do the same thing over the weekend.  Last night I got 4 hours of sleep, but that was because Jodi's been missing me. 

This is *much* less prurient than you'd think; we were up until 2:30am arguing over whether Georgia State was going to suddenly reject her after all, whether she could possibly vet apartments with the help of an Atlanta local while I continued to work on SunCat, whether I wanted to perform anatomically improbable (but subservient) acts on TBLC while secretly plotting to not go to Atlanta, and whether it was a good idea to continue arguing with me when I was already exhausted and unlikely to improve my mood merely by arguing.

This, of course, leads us both to welcome my long hours at the office.  But we're also going to try to spend some fun time together when I get home, watching Jeopardy! and other shows.

And this leads me to note publicly that I will be difficult to reach for the next couple of weeks.

Those of you who are students probably won't notice, because you're going to be busy yourselves.

Those of you who have young children are probably laughing bitterly at me and the students, urging us to enjoy the four hours of uninterrupted sleep, sheer luxury, when I was a lass we din't 'ave sleep, we 'ad to spend an hour clinically dead and go back down ' mineshaft.

In any case, I'll still try to read LJ while servers reboot and that sort of thing.  But I probably won't be making many phone calls to say hello.