Alan&Ali

Well, it looks like another year is about to vanish away and with this new year will come a renewed commitment toward the betterment of self. I have looked back into the past places of my life and feel that if its not going to be now, then when?
Its been a long painful search on a less than smmoth road but I feel that I am beginning to see things more clearly now and hope that the fog of angst and adolescence leaves me. I am ready to be the adult I feel I have always been.

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Scary santa

Yuppie xmas

Return to New York City

Streetscene 002, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I will be driving up into the northeast in just 14 days and I can't wait. I love the BIG city and am really looking forward to taking lots and lots of pictures and eating at some great dining spots.

I have not been able to post here for awhile because the internet is off limits for me at work but I am making an exception on this day.

Go vote.

I saw a trailer for a documentary about Anne Frank last night and one of the people interviewed said that we would not know anything about her if she had not kept a diary. This got me to thinking about blogs and the internet as a medium for personal journals. Will this blog be around to read in fifty years? Will anybody even be interested in reading it?

This is a blog in a virtual sea of similar blogs and there seems little that separates my thoughts, concepts, and ideas from the work of others. How can anyone really tell the difference between two blades of grass that occupy an entire lawn? This is how I look at blogging as of late, I try to read as much as I can but there are only so many hours in a day and this is purely using time that I could have otherwise spent on some other activity.

A blog of note may have ideas or information that is lacking in other places and this may, if discovered, could become a blog of note but like all things out in cyberspace, who can really say?

Is there a value placed on the efforts of the individual anymore?

It seems that things done on an individual level, whether they are a collection of words or photographs lose their meaning as they become part of the larger collection that is the internet. In regards to the people who use this medium, where is the future of their endeavors? Who will take the time to save all of this discourse for future generations to read and enjoy?

Maybe I need to transfer this to an analog format and hide it in a cool and dry place with the hopes that some future explorer comes across it and shares it again for the world to see.

Sake set

Its Friday!

There is good news today in the realm of my goals in higher education, it looks like my employer, Insert name here, a company within insert name here will be paying half of my tuition and education related expenses. This is perhaps the greatest perk this company has ever given me and I am truly grateful that such a thing exists here.

I am well aware that if it did not get this, I would never be able to go back unless I won the lotto or something. When I first discovered this program, I asked my immediate supervisor about it and he informed me that I was not eligible and my current job did not allow me such opportunities within the company. I am sure glad I went and asked another one of my managers because the information he gave me was simply not true. I have to admit that his response has caused me to distrust him in regards to my corporate well being.

I have wondered on a few separate times in the past when I never heard back from hiring managers or recruiters after I sent my resume out if they had called him to inquire about me.

I sometimes wonder what he would say...

Would he prevent me from leaving my post for better internal opportunities? Is he actively working against my perceived goals? Am I working along side a treacherous wolf in the guise of a mild mannered sheep?

I very well just may be...

I cancelled my fotolog subscription today, it seemed that they are just not on the ball anymore, my page is always slow to load on a t1 line so I can only imagine how bad it is for someone with a slower connection than mine. I have decided to move my online subscription money towards flickr.com as they seem to have more features and bandwidth for the money. On another note, I hate to say it but what is the deal with Brazilians on fotolog?

According to the website, there are 275,392 users in Brazil as oppossed to 51,955 in the United States on fotolog. I can't decipher their comments to save my life and the pictures they take for the most part are complete garbage. Let them pay $5.00 a month and leave me out of it. Of course, very few Brazilians seem to be supporting the site based on their numbers so I am out. The difference in features for paying users is not that attractive either.

That is my take on the site and I hope to see more people who take decent pictures make the move as well. I guess this is goodbye for now fotolog. It has been fun but it has not been real fun....

Cheeseboard

Chickfila

College Station kroger is 400 times better than the Citicenter

San Francisico Street Shot

San Francisico Street Shot, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I have always loved this picture. I took it while sitting inside a car on the way to the Swan Oyster Depot. I remember having a really wonderful time that day and will always treasure these moments in time.

There is a really great and affordable wine out now. Its the Mondavi Woodbridge Zinfandel. This stuff is being sold for around four dollars a bottle. Its almost needless to say but I have been in case mode for this deal. It is a great, well-balanced wine for everyday use.
This wine's zinfandel grapes hail from California's Lodi region, where this variety has a long history dating back to the Gold rush. I personally like the subtle notes of vanilla and cedar in the finish. If you see some, give it a try as you won't be disappointed.

Spyware on Internet Explorer is like herpes. Just when you think its gone, it flares up again. This spyware nonsense has got to stop. I am so upset with the people who are involved with this sort of crap that it is making me mentally unstable. Do these folks realize what they are doing to PCs?

Too bad the people with the pursestrings here where I work are more interested in trading advertising time for "free" PCs when they could have just bought non~microsoft computers to work with...

Apple comes to mind as well as linux but hey, what's better than a free PC and countless hours of OT for the socially vacant losers who work at the helpdesk?

This news is so hot, the server is overloaded....

Cherry OS, a $49.95 "reverse Virtual PC", promises to run the Mac OS on PC hardware:
MXS today announce the immediate availability of Cherry OS software. Cherry OS is a software translator that allows you to install Apple's Operating System on x86 computer architecture. To put it simply, you can now run Apple's award winning Panther OS on your PC! This breakthrough in OS development now gives home users, software developers and web designer's ultimate flexibility in both the operating system and hardware platform you use for your personal computer or testing environment. Cherry OS runs Panther as a virtual machine on your Windows PC. This virtual machine has full network capabilities including the ability to share folders and access the web. The virtual machine also has complete access to the computer's hardware resources including, Hard Drive, CPU, RAM, Firewire, USB, PCI, PCMIA BUS and RJ45/Ethernet and Modem.

fuzzy landscapes

fuzzy aquarium landscape, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I am back at work after a weekend devoted to my brother's wedding. With any luck things will quiet down around here for a while and I can get some much needed relaxation.

Flame on

Flame on, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Last night I was cooking some hamburgers.

What has the web become? Can the web be all things for all people? or it it just a sorry excuse for reality. I have been doing some independent investigations and dear readers. Proper syntax and grammar alone will not let my blog hover above the rest. Let's face it, I am a social burnout. I am happy to be broadcasting this happy news to such a large forum.

Let's commence with the list,

Problems, Real & Perceived:

1. I have let others get the best of me.
2. I am aware of the worst aspects of myself.
3. I am constantly broke.
4. I did not go to a good college.
5. I don't know the "right" people.
6. I do not have wealthy parents.
7. I am not a "trust fund kid".
8. I don't read the New Yorker.
9. I am not interested in brand names or labels.
10.I don't jet around the world to attend pointless conferences.
11.I don't have time to get a haircut this week.
12.I can't afford to buy new clothes.
13.I don't own an automobile.
14.I am a lousy gardener.
15.I can't afford to buy good cheese.
16.I don't watch television.
17.I stink of cats
18.Cats seem to like me better than people
19.I don't really trust anyone.
20.I work for the media.
21.I live on the wrong side of the tracks
22. I lack good judgement.
23.I don't have an agent.
24.I have no talent.
25.I have made unwise decisions
26.I don't like to listen to rock and roll.
27.I don't like hypocritical "baby boomers"
28.I think I enjoy electric shocks
29.I think america is evil.
30.I am sick of partisan politics.
31.I don't know who I am.
32.I don't care who I am.
33.I descended from slaveholders
34.I don't follow the rules.
35.I stare at people.
36.I feel hollow inside.
37.I drink too much.
38.I have a weak will.
39.I avoid telling people my true feelings.
40.I hide from myself.
41.I am not afraid of evil~doers.
42.I am afraid of myself.
43.I dream of happier times.
44.I will videotape garbage rotting on hillsides
45.I make strange noises
46.I ride the bus sometimes
47.I want to be someone, someday.
48.I try to be normal inside.
49.I have grown weary of hipsters.
50.I get what I want
51.I never get what I want
52.I like cold air and numb fingers
53.I hate myself when I smoke.
54.I don't care about "fitting in"
55.I just want people to like me.
56.I want to like me.
57.I can be self~centered at times
58.I am aware of routine.
59.I take photographs
60.I have read too many books.
61. I have trouble knowing what I want.
62.I am aware that I will not get rich someday.

Historic Buildings in Atlanta

The Mark, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Old buidings are actually hard to find in downtown Atlanta, they have for the most part been torn down in order to construct parking lots.

This is the newswire item of the week. It has all of the elements sensational news requires....

Romanian mistakenly cuts off penis, dog eats it
04 Oct 2004 13:52:15

BUCHAREST, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A elderly Romanian man mistook his penis for a chicken's neck, cut it off and his dog rushed up and ate it, the state Rompres news agency said on Monday.
It said 67 year-old Constantin Mocanu, from a village near the southeastern town of Galati, rushed out into his yard in his underwear to kill a noisy chicken keeping him awake at night.
"I confused it with the chicken's neck," Mocanu, who was admitted to the emergency hospital in Galati, was quoted as saying. "I cut it ... and the dog rushed and ate it."
Doctors said the man, who was brought in by an ambulance bleeding heavily, was now out of danger.

The corporate life, for some, a virtual Eden of money, travel, conferences, and perks. For others, it is a revolving nightmare of miscommunication and complete paranoia. Today marks my 5th anniversary with the company I work for, CNN. I remember when I started out, I just needed a little extra income and low and behold, five hard years have now passed me by somewhat like the ghost-like opportunities for advancement with this company.

This anniversary does mean something to me. My commitment to them shows that I am loyal despite uneven treatment during economic downturns. If you want to know the truth, I am trapped here, a victim of my own success. Now that I receive a steady paycheck and no longer lead the fly by night life of a young adult. Moving from apartment to apartment, taking opportunities as they appear, living life one day at a time, not worrying about the grim realities that lay over the next pass on the road of life. That is not me, I own a house, a shithole little house on the wrong side of town. Sketchy is what people with affluence would call it. Not that I have ever even been robbed or assaulted by anyone in this "sketchy" neighborhood.

There was a time when I did not have just wonderful commitments to cover. Homelessness is a concept that causes me concern. I tricked myself into thinking that there is a future for me here. I tried to join in, in essence become something that I am not. I was never interested in broadcasting as a career. I remember dreaming of one day owning an outdoor store, selling tents and the like but after a brief stint with REI, I discovered that this dream was built on sand and our modern internet society could never go for such a thing. I had to shift my focus onto something else. I have always enjoyed having the ability to understand video, film, computer systems, etc. I have never been the guy with the flashing "12:00" on his vcr. No sir, I have been able to set the clock on every electronic device I have ever encountered.

When at CNN.com, I embraced their culture, I loved my work and my responsibilities, I was part of the conduit that informs the world of relevant & newsworthy events. I was proud to be responsible for being the first on a story, When the Kursk sank, The world knew only twenty minutes after I saw it on the wires, I had found pictures & video of the submarine at port, I made my superiors proud, I made myself proud to be part of the team and then the bottom dropped out and they sent me home. The dot com crash of 2001. Why is it when the bubble bursts, no one at the top suffers? I saw the internet as the holy grail of job booms for my generation. I can thank the greedy nature of America for dashing the dreams of thousands like me. Did I get rich off the internet? No. Did I lose my shirt from the bust? Almost.

I went to work after being laid off with a company called metricom, I tested wireless bandwidth. The pay was good and the work interesting to say the least. They went under after I had been with them for three months. I was feeling pretty desperate by this point and was considering going back to waiting tables when I got the call from CNN domestic. They wanted me but I had to take a pay cut. I accepted their offer.

What is the point of this? I am computer literate, I don't need much instruction, I readily understand the basic mechanics of electronics. I never even applied to my present position. I am known for my expertise with streaming video. I am nothing but an overeducated robot. Too bad I can't afford the bandwidth to host my own streaming media site, alas, perhaps one day when I am old and gray and no longer sexually desirable....

Reflections at five years with the company. Message to self, don't be here in five more years because if you are, you need to go ahead and find a high place and jump.

There was some talk last night about developing a theme for the little bar that is now in my backyard. I really liked the tiki concept. Thatch and bamboo poles for the ceiling, Some sort of fiber weave or split cane for the walls with split bamboo accents throughout. Bamboo stools, nautical lighting, along with a collection of tiki mugs should round out the concept. Now I just need to raise the funds and get cracking!!

Target, Rooftop Bullseye logo.

Target, Rooftop Bullseye logo., originally uploaded by jekemp.

You can see the familiar bullseye logo of Target from the comfort of you seat at 30,000 feet.

Afterhours

Afterhours, originally uploaded by jekemp.

A picture from Friday night down in the bar. It seems that a rift is forming between friends who have money and want to go out drinking all night everynight and the more socially conservative friends who feel that alcohol is best consumed in smaller doses and in the home among your closest confidantes.

On the note of alcohol, I drank some Czech Absinthe over the weekend and I must report that it is much stronger that the absente we can get around these parts. I must not have drank enough of the stuff as I saw no green fairies this time...

Saturday:

I served as dj at my friends loft warming party over at the Arizona Lofts. I realized that I don't live in the right part of Atlanta and this community like many other like it around the intown area seemed to be some kind of 20-30 something compound. I guess its nice to own my own home though, in the long run anyway as being around too many people my own age make me depressed.

It has been such a strange week, Strange but moving along quickly as it should. Last night one of my neighbors gave us a really nice heavy wood bar. Now I can go out drinking in my own basement. I figure that I can get a couple of neon beer signs, a few stools, my dj equiptment, and have the afterhours spot I have always dreamed of. This bar is not something out of the pages of the Wine Enthusiast catalog. Its is a long heavy wood topped bar and it took six people to move it as well as a truck to get it over to my house. As soon as I set this little retreat up, I will post some pictures. Hooray for Friday!

I will be cup shaker, cardboard sign maker, roadside beggar.
To be the moneymaker, coin taker, a homeless faker.
I ask you one question
Got a dollar?

~short poem by:

Jekemp

65 degrees

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An update on my current television free lifestyle, finally managed to clear out overloaded dressers, put required clothes onto hangers, Spent more time cooking and enjoying the food that I am eating. I still feel like I am not missing anything. I believe that these are all good things!

Last night I made sauteed shrimp and grits. The grits turned out to be amazing. I sauteed the peeled and de-veined shrimp with olive oil, garlic, and a little white wine. Then, I prepared some instant grits and added what was left over from the saute pan into the grits, I then added shredded cheese and some salt to taste. I served the Shrimp and grits with a side of fresh steamed asparagus. It turned out really well and only took about ten minutes to slap together.
It seems that I am getting better. Too bad I am not a culinary pro, I could have used the discarded shells to prepare a shrimp bisque...

Maybe next time.

I have problems with some of these websites where people seem to post any/every picture they take. Ninety percent of the pictures that I take in a given period of time are garbage. I take these shots and delete them. I don't load them up for the world to see. This only proves that I am just another jackass American with a digital camera.

Do share the pictures that are artistic in nature or hold some sort of social or cultural significance to you or your peers. Believe it or not, nobody cares what you had for dinner down at the Golden Corral for example. There are so many underexposed, overexposed, and poorly conceived photos that are just taking up valuable bandwidth in cyberspace. Why is it like this?

Here is a tip for any/all aspiring digital photographers, Self portraits rarely turn out decently when you are holding the camera yourself. Please, for your own sake, go find someone to take your picture for you and in the end, it will allow for much more creative control of how the shot will turn out. Simple one. Huh?

I just lost my entire post I was writing, but I guess I will just write it down again. These little incidents force me to wonder how much time computers actually waste for us.

I was writing earlier about this cd, So Young but so Cold, a compilation by Volga Select that I just got from my local record shop and how I was able to buy something that I almost managed to purchase back in July for 14 pounds sterling but due to some inventory snafus on the part of the record label, I never received it. So, I had to cancel the order after contacting paypal but here I am today with my compilation of underground french electronic music from the late seventies and I only had to pay $7.50 for it.

I can't wait to go home and give it a good listen and hopefully find something here to integrate into my DJ set this Friday night. I have taken the time to put the artist/track listing below for your enjoyment.

1
Suis-Je Normale~Nini Raviolette

2
Euroman~J.J. Burnel

3
Roman Photo~Ruth

4
Disco Rough
Mathematiques Modernes

5
Carnival
Metal Boys

6
Person To Person
The (Hypothetical) Prophets

7
Wallenberg
The (Hypothetical) Prophets

8
So Young But So Cold
Kas Product

9
Synchro
Charles De Goal

10
MAE
Artefact

11
Switch On Bach
Moderne

12
Triangle
Jacno

13
Lighthouse
Tim Blake

14
The Force (Part 1)
Droids

15
Welcome (To Deathrow)
Bernard Szajner

16
Iceland
Richard Pinhas

Poor man's Porsche

Poor man's Porsche, originally uploaded by jekemp.

When I was a teenager, I absolutely loved european sportscars.

I have been playing with the html with this site all morning and it finally is starting to look and provide the features that I want. I know that it probably looks different depending on the browser used but it looks good on a PC with explorer so most people should see this just fine.

I addded a new poll, now that I have set in motion the four year plan to escape from this cultural backwater, I need to find a city that I will actually enjoy living in. The word thrive comes to mind for this quest.

Monday already, back in the office, what a nice day to have just stayed at home and lounged in bed.

Last night was great until things inevitably turned ugly. Maybe it was the thai whiskey, the wine, a piece of undercooked chicken. Perhaps all of the elements combined to the ultimate overt purge of my digestive system. At one point I awoke clad only in my boxer shorts staring skyward in my front yard. Then a brief respite on the cool kitchen floor until the pattering of feline feet forced a move to the couch. Later, the sublime inner chill of antique pink tile on the bathroom floor sadly brought little relief to my fever of overindulgence.

The floor.

The floor., originally uploaded by jekemp.

A place to rest your weary head.

The only thing that I don't like about Thursday is that its not Friday. The week is drawing to a close and yet there is this one last hurdle to overcome and thats Friday morning.

On another note, I have been TV free for almost a month now and I can honestly report that I do not miss it. Now, instead of wasting my time in 30 minute increments, I am working on my own video projects and enjoying my life more.

I realize that it is hypocritical to be against television when I draw the lionshare of my pay from a broadcasting corporation but I watch video all day at work, my eyes hurt by the time friends comes on. I know that I am better off without it and I urge everyone else to try it.

I have been working on some video projects the past several days and things are really looking good. Of course, I need to purchase some items to realize my vision but by the end of this weekend, I will have something concrete to start passing around to potential venues. Then hopefully this nearly two year old hiatus from the scene will come to an end and I will once again be where I want to be.

Here is yet another day here at the office where I do not have a desk of my own, when it comes to computers and servers, I can hold my own, I am no genius but I do understand the dynamics of the FTP process.

Now that thought is out there, I can continue, how long are my computer skills going to be exploited by people who are completely clueless with regard to the technology that surrounds them?

Should I really care?

It is never easy to get out of bed on Monday morning and today was no exception. I am glad that I managed to take a shower and put on clean clothes. The things I did not manage to do included forgetting to bring my wallet to work. I hate when I do this, well, I just hate it when I just don't have time on my side and I never have enough time.

Last night, the weather here in Atlanta was wonderful. I did not even have to run the attic fan. Unfortunately, I had yet another re-occurring dream about a bizarre rectangle-like spacecraft tracking low in the heavens. Maybe it was all that buzz a couple of weeks ago about transmissions from space. I should have been having dreams about anything but spacecraft last night. I have to admit that aliens and alien technology actually frighten me. I would say much more so than clowns used to scare me as a young child. I know that this fear is without merit but what can I do to not dwell on the subject when dark craft from the unknown reaches of space find me looking upward and seeing them in the sky above?

Well, that is me for the moment but anyway, after some friendly discourse with friends and family on the subject of the upcoming elections, It has been determined that the democratic party in America has been incredibly weakened by GOP spin and if a road to recovery is not found soon, America will become a true one party system. Neato huh?

Let's see, Four more years of George W Bush in the White House, then I think Jeb Bush will be ready to give the oval office a whirl since by that time he will have succeeded in turning the coastline of Florida into a haven for Bush family oil derricks. I am willing to wager that the American people will really take to Jeb and decide that they need him for "four more years" and then by the 16th consecutive year of bush rule, the democrats will just be a sad and forgotten memory like the whigs or what party that Ross Perot created in the name of "reform."

As luck goes yesterday, as I was leaving my place of employment, the biggest feeder band of Ivan decided to pay a visit to intown Atlanta. I only live 6 miles from downtown and it took me almost an hour to get home. You may be thinking it took this long because of the power outages, nope, all the lights were working. It seemed that when people discovered that a tornado warning was in effect, it was time to get into the car and drive around aimlessly with their emergency flashers on and drive 10 miles per hour. Sure, there was some standing water but it was only a few inches deep. The longer you sit thinking about driving across, the deeper and deeper the water is surely going to get, so make a move or get out of my way because I know what my course of action is going to be.

We had almost gotten back home when a tow truck driver tried to close Sylvan road by parking across most of it. He had come to pull some crazy redneck's chevy truck out of a ditch. I am sure that the driver of the truck was operating his vehicle in a reckless manner so why should I have to stop and wait for his mistake to be corrected? By the time we encountered this scene, this tow truck driver had taken it upon himself to personally close the road despite the fact that there was little more than two inches of standing water over the road. We could not turn back at this point and sitting there for a half an hour was not an option. After waiting a few moments, we took the car over into the oncoming lane and blasted around him despite is cries for us to stop.

What comes over people when the weather turns foul? It seems everyone turns into monsters, stupid monsters.

George Lucas first film, THX 1138 The directors cut was released on dvd yesterday and I had the opportunity to see it with all that digitally re-mastered glory. This film is pure science fiction drama and contains many inspired shots and sequences and getting to see it for the first time without commercial interruptions and in a 16:9 aspect ratio is wonderful but, I do have a few issues with this revamped release.

First off, a little history. THX-1138 was first reluctantly released by Warner brothers in 1971. It marked the first film for American Zoetrope. Francis Ford Coppola had remarkably managed to sign a seven picture contract with Warner Brothers Studios and when the Warner executives saw THX 1138, they did not like it at all and attempted to shelf the project. Young George Lucas and Coppola, the executive producer, would not let that happen and the movie did eventually manage to go into limited release. This initial "bomb" for American Zoetrope almost brought the fledgling company to the straits to bankruptcy but it did manage to once again right itself with the subsequent hit the "Godfather." I suppose due to the subsequent success of Star Wars, THX 1138 made it onto the television by the eighties. This is the medium from which I was first able to see this particular film.

THX 1138 screams film school art film. Lucas seemed very idealistic at the time and took no compromises in the writing of his screenplay. Since the film basically was an adaptation of one of his earlier film school works, much of the essence of those days and techniques and style carried over into this project. Like any film school project, many low-budget techniques were utilized to keep the film from going over budget. These tricks included the use of guerilla film making tactics at various locations around San Francisco and the use of architecture that was already in place as opposed to the traditional use of elaborate and expensive sets. The movie is on the short side at 95 minutes long but contains enough content to correctly deliver the message of the film. It is funny to me that a few years later, a similar film came out in 1976. It seems that the more campy Logan's run could very well have been inspired by the plot of THX 1138. Logan's run, however, lacks the high brow film school pretense that seems to saturate this first film by Lucas.

The dvd release itself is beautifully done, it has great cover work and contains a really great bonus disc that contains among other items, Lucas' original student film from his days as a film student at USC. The whole movie has been remastered in digital "THX" sound. This is probably the best and only thing Lucas should have done to his film but he did not stop there. Much like his earlier Stars Wars re-releases for theater and VHS, Lucas for some reason decided to insert little CGI animals into a few of the scenes. At one point I was expecting to see Jar Jar Binks show up but thankfully he must have just stayed hidden away back in the shadows. I still think that current CGI technology looks awful and does not look real enough and actually cannot compare at this point in time to traditional composite "stop motion" techniques. A positive addition of CGI, however, came with the improved car chase sequence. Lucas added some very video game-like CGI shots of THX 1138 driving aggressively through a busy freeway of the future. This was good and well done but still felt a slight bit out of place. I really did enjoy it however. Maybe he will release a videogame to complement this film at some point. I also came to notice that he takes the time to add several CGI landscapes of the underground city here and there with the hopes of adding a bit more depth to the stark white future that is in the end, THX 1138.

All in all, I think this film was well-made and superbly shot. It contains a powerful message and thankfully lacks any sense of a traditional Hollywood formula. Far from being a money maker even as a new dvd release, it will hopefully find its place sitting among the other science fiction greats in the collections of future film makers and among the die hard fans of the Star Wars series.

Georgia's lake levels are looking great this year!

Allatoona (840.0) 838.9
Blackshear (237.0) 234.9
Blue Ridge (1690.0) 1679.5
Burton (1865.0) 1864.9
Carters (1072.0) 1067.2
Chatuge (1927.0) 1922.4
Goat Rock (400.0) 402.6
Harding (521.0) 520.1
Hartwell (660) 660.5
Lanier (1071.0) 1071.0
Lloyd Shoals (530.0) 526.4
Nottely (1779.0) 1771.1
Oconee (435.0) 434.7
Sinclair (339.8) 338.5
Thurmond (330.0) 328.6
Tugalo (891.5) 884.1
West Point (635.0) 634.1
Yonah (744.2) 741.8

I am finally taking food from home to eat instead of going down and spending $$$ in the atrium. What is strange, however, is that I am actually enjoying my home-built lunches over the $5-8 dollar fare that I have been used to getting.

I really miss the public school cafeteria at times, for a small amount of monetary outlay, one could eat a balanced meal. I remember the fresh baked rolls and how I longed to just gobble up a trayful. Thank goodness I never did that or I would be the size of a whale today.

Today I had Swedish chicken and onion balls with a small side of herb mashed potatoes, a gala apple I picked up last weekend in Elijay and a Big K sparkling water. Oh and a sliver of cheese from Switzerland added an element of dairy to the meal. It seemed to be a rather well rounded lunch and it did not cost me any extra than dinner cost me last night.

Here is the news item that I have to report today: The Kroger Citi Center on Cleveland avenue in intown Atlanta has been selling expired food. Instead of pulling these expired items like other grocers, it seems our friends at Kroger feel that the hard working people who shop at their store are not good enough to deserve the freshest products available.

In other news, as in the news from Iraq that no one seems to be concerned with any longer. The U.S. military said it was investigating an incident in Baghdad today in with American helicopters opened fire on civilians who were standing around an abandoned Army transport on Haifa Street. At least five people were killed, including a producer for Al-Arabiya television. It was a bad incident for journalists working in the area as a Reuters cameraman was also among those hurt in the attack. What is most disturbing about this death to me was that the producer was doing a live shot at the moment of his demise.

An Atlanta sunset

Atlanta sunset, originally uploaded by jekemp.

A temperate calm settled into the city this evening. Nights once thick with balmy indifference now give way to the practical cool and collected reason of impending autumn.

Sunday, at the lake

lake allatoona, originally uploaded by jekemp.

There is nothing finer than a day spent out at the lake. Now what did I do with my sailboat?

911

911, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Three years later...and is the world any safer?

alan catches the garter

alan catches the garter, originally uploaded by jekemp.

The toss happened so fast, I barely was able to capture the moment...

ali's garter belt

ali's garter, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I have been told and observed for myself on more than several such occasions that a tradition in weddings is for the bride to remove her garter belt and toss it into a crowd of bachelors, Interestingly, for the one who catches it, the days of being single are alleged to be few.

The Goodnows

The Goodnows, originally uploaded by jekemp.

The next generation of Goodnows will soon embark on a perilous journey towards truth, freedom, and the American way.

Its great to have some time to mess with this blog for once, Being an Apple OS user at home and a pc user at work have given me a little more of a challenge when it comes to configuring this blog to be more of the way that I would like it to be.

I just joined flickr and now I too can post my photos here with all the other crap I feel like mucking with. It feels good to be able to have such a thing and I look forward to going home and uploading some photos from my friend Mag & Ali's wedding last weekend.

I am sure you are thinking to yourself..."great. some stupid wedding photos" but hey, they may turn out to be more interesting than you think or would like to think anyway.

I just can't wait until I discover the way to post some mpegs here as well....

I can't believe that I have gone almost a month without updating this blog. It seems that I go through phases with the internet. Some days I get really into it and others days find me wondering why I write anything in here at all.

Now that the "big" media outlets have jumped on the blog bandwagon, will their coverage of the news get better? That is a good question to ponder.

Working for such a media outlet, I have discovered a parallel between myself and the Media machine and the old testament tale of Jonah and the whale or maybe its not like that at all and I am just really confused...

mosquitoes, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I just finished reading this novel and as with many books, I think it could be a pretty interesting film.

As the editor-in-chief around these parts, I feel the need to apologize to my readers for the lull in communications. It appears that strange times have befallen this literary ship at sea and through a rough passage of storms and swells, this tiny vessel is once again in sight of distant shorelines.

Sometimes it looks like I use this page to conjure up a vent, its a way to feel the sweet release of all that buried rage but I don't like to be that person. I need to express forms of happiness and contentment with the progress of my life. I have been spending some time on the thoughts of life and living and I am ready to move forward and no longer allow those old demons keep me from the realization of my potential in regards to my life.

I need to find another source of income, pull myself up by the bootstraps and forge ahead free and unhindered by a lack of resource. I fear that the wellspring of ideas that usually flows free could be damaged by my own lack of mental willpower.

It is high time to work, to achieve, and become the man that this stubborn bitter soul occupies. I went out last week on Wednesday night to ESL(formerly the Fountainhead Lounge..) for the last time.
This bar was responsible to awakening me to downtempo music and for that I am grateful but the place has stagnated in the way most places do around here. The novelty is gone and the owner(s) do not seem interested in moving forward. Fine. I hate to say it but I actually enjoy just staying at home and enjoying the fruits of my labour. I am no scenester, well not any more anyways, I really did not get too much out of the experience anyways. I did meet a few really great people that I still get to see on that rare and random occasion but I am not seeking anymore. The search has ended. How can I search for something when I do not even know what it is that I seek?

It has come to my attention that something I said was construed in perhaps a negative way by some unknown person or persons who attended the TPMP session last week and I would very much like to take the time to apologize for this oversight on my part.
At one point while being given the new guidelines to the employee review process, I said in a voice loud enough of the whole room to hear and spoken to no one person in particular that if they could find a monkey that could recognize Dennis Hastert, I would be out of a job. I said this in the hope of relieving some of the tension that seemed to be creeping into the proceedings of the meeting with a little dose of off-beat humour, afterwards, I distinctly recall at the vey least more than half of the people in the room laughing or smiling and a fellow who was sitting behind me who works up in the newsroom whispered in my ear that they already had been working on just such a project. This joke at the time in no way seemed to affect anyone in a negative manner and there was little to no pause in the flow of the meeting afterwards.
I am dreadfully sorry that my style of self-deprecating humour has found offense with other co-workers and I will make a conscience effort to refrain from making such comments in the future.

Many members of the staff through no fault of their own view the company with a certain degree of skepticism. I believe this to be only but a natural reponse to a workplace that knowingly creates an environment of fear. This fear is mainly centered on the the fact that the company I work for lays off large amounts of people in times of perceived economic pressure. Usually the first people to be let go are the most recently hired or the other lowest compensated positions that can be filled again by someone else a just a few months down the road when the company discovers that they actually do need people to be performing these jobs.
How would you feel if you had to foreclose on the mortgage to your home or have your automobile repossessed and then be asked to come back a few months later for less pay? I have never seen any of the executives hurting for money. Why do I get to languish in squalor and still have to live in fear of losing everything? Do I really deserve this type of treatment? How is a free ice cream cone going to repair my shattered credit rating?

I was just served ice cream by Phil Kent, the CEO of Turner. In this kooky pr initiative, executives hand out the frozen stuff to employees. Besides being a nice gesture on their part, I really don't know what this is going to do for employee morale around here though.

Last night I was discussing the phenomenon of the shedspace movement here in Atlanta with my brother and he suggested an even more over the top concept for displaying the work of local artists. He called it crawlspace. I guess you put the work down in a crawlspace and tell folks to just watch their heads!

This is a fact, over the past five years, my net pay has decreased and I am making less money today than I was back in the year 2000.  The strange thing is that I still work for the same company. 

What makes this hard for me despite earning less $$$  is that the cost of the things I have to buy have largely increased over that same period of time.  I have noticed that recently the price of most goods and services have increased by larger proportions and it is making a pauper out of me.

The price of milk is twice as much as it was just five years ago, the price of cheese is about three times what it was even a year ago.  I was fascinated to discover that the price automobiles have also gone through the roof.  Who the hell has 35k to spend on a Nissan?  Actually what I would really like to know is who all of these people are who can purchase a 700k house or a 350k one-bedroom condo in midtown. 

What do they do for a living and where did I go wrong?

I can't handle being poor anymore.  I can't afford to take a vacation, I can't afford a car, I can't afford to get a new computer, I barely manage to keep my mortgage, gas, communications, electricity, and food expenses from overwhelming me.  Let's not even discuss when the last time I was able to buy myself some new clothes or shoes and we all know that it is the clothes that makes the man..

Lets break it down shall we? 

One example is how much the cost of communications has risen these days,  A phone line into the house $25-$55 dollars a month, a cellphone costs about $50 a month, the cable television bill $50 a month with broadband internet adds another $50.   A household with all of these costs adds up to over $200 a month just for communications.  Sad, when the only calls you receive are from creditors and telemarketers.

My natural gas bill is over $130.00 a month and I don't even live up in the northern colder states.  The recent de-regulation of the natural gas industry here in Georgia has done the opposite of what the politicians at the time promised, as if adding middlemen to a bureaucratic process could ever drive the cost down in the first place.  Too bad I can't drill for my own natural gas or make it somehow, hmmm.

My electricity bill hovers around the $100 mark, got to keep the security lights burning, the air-conditioner churning just to fight off that sulty southern humid air, the appliances, the computer whirring.  All for what?  So I can hide out inside my little house,  a virtual shut in from the rest of the world?

Thankfully, I no longer drive my car.  I am saving about $100 a month on insurance costs and another $80 or so in fuel costs.  Add to that the randomly occurring $30-$1200 repair and maintenance costs incurred by having to own an older car and it is easy to see why I am no longer behind the wheel.   I never have owned a gas guzzler.  I could not even imagine having to pay $50 every time I visited the pumps.  What about the people with new cars and the car payments.  $200-$500 a month plus the price of insurance plus the cost of fuel and maintenance costs? 

Sometimes I wish I could just live in the time before the industrial revolution.  I have actually heard that they had more free time than we do today.   Imagine, a world without damn cars, power poles, utility bills.  It must have been truly wonderful.

I just read the CNN.com Dnc blog and I wish I could go to the democratic national convention and write the hype but I will be staying here using the same amount of brainpower as a chimp to do my "sexy" digitization job.

This reminds me of when I worked at R.E.I.  it was an absolutely miserable experience.  My co-workers were mostly the children of wealthy people,  doctors, businessmen, etc.

I think they worked there for two main reasons, first, they were perceived as experts by the clueless people who shopped there and second, the pro-deal.  A little known fact about the wealthy is that they are some of the most frugal shoppers and misers on the planet so enter the pro deal.  The pro deal is an incentive that allowed the employees of R.E.I. to purchase outdoor gear at or even below wholesale cost.  This allowed my intrepid coworkers the ability to buy even more crap to load into their SUVs.

There was a time in my life when mountain biking and kayaking was very important to me.  This is no longer the case.  While working at R.E.I, I was trying to support myself and that left very little cash to indulge in  these pro deals.  I think anyone reading this would agree that $5.50 an hour is not even enough money to live comfortably in metro Atlanta.  So there I was, a kid with no money in what amounted to a giant candy store.  I found the experience to be unpleasant but eye opening none the less. 

What does this have to do me wishing I could go to the DNC? 

Well,  today it is a different boat but basically the same scenario.  Here I am working at the world's news leader and I am not the fortunate son yet again.  I have repeatedly tried to get sent out in to the field with no luck.  I am young, unmarried, and in good health but will not be leaving my desk to go on an assignment ever.  Not that I am unable to do the work, I am simply not in the right circle of friends.  The endless line of cronyism that extends into the highest reaches of power in the good old US of A starts here and excludes me.   I have been told that the people already in the field do not want any "new" blood showing up because they are afraid that the "shirts" back in Atlanta will discover what raging alcoholics they all are and dismiss them.  Hey, maybe.  The last time I checked, most journalists are admitted alcoholics.   I think there maybe a different reason altogether, I simply do not know the right people.  Maybe had I gone to a real university in the northeast, I would have the connections an average American needs to get ahead in this day and age.   Its like those spoiled kids I worked with at R.E.I., they never had to work to support themselves, they did not worry about not getting accepted into the right schools.  their folks money opened all the right doors for them.  Were their lives better than mine?  I feel confident that they are still better off than me now.  I remember one girl in particular, her name was Allison and she worked in customer service.  She had a brand new jumbo sport utility vehicle and was dating this loser of  guy whose dad invented combos.
They spent their time when not working the 20 or so hours a week at the store playing ultimate frisbee or just out in the great outdoors, did I ever get to come along?  No way, I was too busy working 50+ hours a week to make ends meet to participate in such leisure activities.

I five put in five long years with this company and have nothing to show for it but a run down house located in the terminally poor side of town, no car, and very little spendable income.  I want to go back to school but I can't afford it.  I hope that my coworkers who go to Boston have the time of their lives because somebody needs to be living the good life.  Too bad it is never going to be me.

I recommend everyone go check out Fahrenheit 9/11 even if they, like me have a career in broadcast news, sure, there was nothing in it I had not seen or heard before but it was nice to have all of those points condensed into an hour and a half as opposed to have had gathered all that data from years of paying attention to the news.

Do I have a fotolog problem?

My fotolog is something that I enjoy posting and these are the photographs that I like to share with the world but, are my images simply no good? Why do I receive so few comments? I navigate around the site and comment on other folks logs that I enjoy and hope that the same could happen possibly for me.

Does this mean that I suck as a photographer?

I do understand that the most comments come when you post images of females that are clad in a minimalistic fashion. But even when I post something like that, there is such little commentary for what I am doing despite the fact that I am receiving thousands of hits per week. What are these people thinking as these pass on through? I am actually curious to understand how my own work is perceived and find the comments of the few who do post to me wonderful and I am truly grateful for them.

I look at some of the loggers who get the comments and there are often so many not just one or two but ten, twenty or more? How are their images better than mine, more thought-provoking than mine, more inspired than mine? I just don't understand. Maybe I never will.

I recently joined another photo service that is stanger in this regard than fotolog, textamerica. I feel that this mobile phone effort will be hard for me to sustain based on the nature of these other users on the site.

Maybe I need more attention, is that why I am posting here now? Posting for my two loyal readers? I feel that they already give me too much attention as it is. What am I to do?

The all important weekend update:

Friday afternoon found me free from the bondage of work thanks in part to a program initiated by Phil Kent, one of the few executives in this company that I actually admire. It was a wonderful example of a hot and humid July afternoon. Luckily, the bus had the A/C on for the ride back home to the southside.

I had some of my own coconut chicken soup for a light dinner and by nine p.m., I was over at Alan & Tiffany's cocktail party. This of course is when the drinking started and lay the path to follow for the rest of the weekend. Mint Julip, Bourbon & Ice, Newcastle(s),Sake to name a few of the drinks that I poured into myself on Friday night made for a rather rough arrival into Saturday morning.

The light of the sun was so unrelenting in its pursuit of all-time brightness, the heat of midday seemed to have discovered a new home as the heat of first light. Lacking my sunglasses I took the glare with eyes squinted and lowered until I was able to seek refuge in my own cool & darkened room.

Saturday- More to come!

I have had the opportunity to drive around the Midwest recently and find an America that despite ethnic and social distinctions through regional variation seems to be on a fast track to seamless cultural homogenation through the following list of retailers...

Wal-Mart
Home Depot
Lowes
Ruby Tuesday
Outback Steakhouse
McDonald's
Target
Ross


We must fight cultural homogenation by not spending money at these establishments...

I am sitting here watching snow fall in Kabul from back in 2002 on my monitor. A bunch of Afghan children are in the dirt streets tossing snowballs at the camera crew. Men in wool shawls bundled up against the cold carry brightly colored umbrellas as they make their way up the street. Women in burkas stroll while fat flakes of snow settle onto their bright blue garments. Cigarettes are smoked as bearded men huddle around makeshift fires. Usually the video is of an alarming nature but there are moments where day to day life is actually captured. It is in those moments where I find peace.

Ahh, better living through technology.

Yesterday, I got a new mobile phone, an LG vx6000.
It has a built in camera that is really nifty and being someone who enjoys such things, I also was clued into a neat service that allows you to post your mobile phone pictures directly to a website.

So without further hesitation I present my mobile phone log: Random images from an otherwise meaningless life.
I have added this site to my links list. Enjoy.

I am really frustrated with work, nothing is ever functioning right on this project and I feel that it is negatively affecting my workflow.

What the hell am I supposed to do? No one listens to me or considers my input valid. I am so tired of being here. Sometimes I feel I would be happier if I washed dishes for a living, at least I know how to unblock a clogged greasetrap and move on.

On another note,

Based on my personal observations, Michigan and Wisconsin are two profoundly different states. One watches the sunrise over the lake and the other watches the sunset. Wisconsin must have more persons of nothern european descent than Michigan as there are far more bakeries, smoked fish, bars & taverns, and cheese west of the lake.

Ok ya'll I'm back from an odd and slightly sad ordeal in the midwest and I promise to elaborate on it as soon as my mood allows me the pleasure of so doing.

In the meantime, I will continue to dream of a brighter tomorrow and push you, my brave readers to look into the world of vaseline glass. This yellowish collectible glass contains uranium oxide and glows bright green under UV light.

Spooky.

Everybody go to jail!


Feds haul passenger off cruise ship in cuffs for marshmallow incident

June 20, 2004

BY CATHERINE WILSON Associated Press

MIAMI -- A teacher's aide who forgot to put away her marshmallows and hot chocolate at Yellowstone National Park last year was taken from her cruise ship cabin in handcuffs and hauled before a judge Friday, wrongfully accused of failing to pay the fine.

Hope Clarke, 32, crying and in leg shackles, told the judge she was rousted at 6:30 a.m. by federal agents after the ship returned to Miami from Mexico. She insisted that she had been required to pay the $50 fine before she could leave Yellowstone, which has strict rules about food storage to prevent wildlife from eating human food.

Customs agents meet all cruise ships arriving from foreign ports and run random checks of passenger lists, and a warrant claiming Clarke had not paid the fine was found in the federal database.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Outerbridge conceded there were some ''discrepancies,'' but suggested to the judge that Clarke appear in court again to clear up the warrant.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John O'Sullivan, who had a copy of a citation indicating the fine was paid, apologized to Clarke, who spent nearly nine hours in detention, and demanded that the U.S. attorney's office find out what went wrong.

Zach Mann, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called the arrest ''an unfortunate set of circumstances.'' He added, ''We were acting on what we believed was accurate information.''


Here is the problem, the law enforcement community believes it is never wrong, when they "believe" that they are acting on accurate information, people's lives are brought to ruin. Ok, and in regard to this unfortunate incident, When did America turn into a police state?
If this woman did have an outstanding fine for $50.00 did it not take more effort in terms of $$ on the part of law enforcement to capture and detain her for nine hours? What happen to the age old practice of sending a notice through the mail?

It appears beheading Americans are all the rage these days with those "religious zealots" in the middle east.

Wow, maybe this is something I can finally get I the ground floor on, I am totally willing to jump aboard the beheading bandwagon but like any good American, I do have to set some conditions.

The first thing we need is a film crew to shoot the act from at least three different angles and actually use film as opposed to a cheap 8mm camcorder.

The second thing would be the need for a razor sharp scimitar to do the deed, what's the deal with the small knives? Talk about a poor choice of tool for the job...

No posting on websites, I need this to be shown over and over on Fox news until people are so sick of watching it, they stop watching television all together.

As ridiculous as this all seems, we really should take the time to thank our government for making the world a safer place for all Americans who live and work abroad.

I had an interesting idea the other day, why do I need to be living in poverty here in Atlanta when I can live in poverty in pretty much any other city in the world?

What is it that I find so appealing about being poor in this city? Is it the fact that I am a minority here?
Is it that I enjoy having to drive to get anywhere and everywhere?

A coworker of mine asked me the other day as to why I have not transferred to another department and that sparked in my feeble mind a running count of reasons/excuses as to why my corporate career here at CNN has stagnated. I have many theories but the main force keeping me where I sit is that no one from HR or other departments contact me when I send out a resume. Its like sending your data into a black hole.

Another reason could be the fear of being laid off. This irrational fear has been with me since the last time it happened. I know I should be afraid, the last time I was laid off, I was nearly rendered homeless and I do not want to end up roaming around this city aimlessly looking through trash bins for my next meal. I am quite sure, that I could not tolerate being homeless. I would probably just try to leave the country if that were to happen, there is work to be had out there, somewhere anyways.

Atlanta is a really strange place for me to live, despite having been spent the bulk of my life within the confines of the metro area, I have few true friends and my attempts at friendship with new people over the past several years have just turned out sour. I never feel like I fit in and this is not just in my head, I am certain of that. Despite my efforts to extend the olive branch of friendship, I often discover in the end that I am just not welcome. It amazes me that some people I know who in the past few years made Atlanta their home and then find themselves moving up into some great occupations or sideline jobs and of course, meeting all of the "right" people and thus being invited to all the "right" parties and gatherings.

I have not reached the point when I discard the hopes and dreams of my life and sink into the depression of a failed middle-aged life. I know in my heart that Atlanta is just not the place for me. The problem is, where is the right place for me to realize my ambitions?

Not too much going out here in la la land other than the steady flow of analog to digital. I have just let this week slide by with little to no hassle what so ever and find myself again just hours away from a weekend of work-free bliss. Today a HVAC technician will be testing and hopefully repairing my long deceased air conditioner. It will be most pleasant to wallow in conditioned air for the summer having not had the luxury for the last two seasons.

Here is a bonus link to follow for the day:

aeolian-ride

Original Story text:

http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1538799,00.html


Cologne, Germany - The German Physical Education College DSHS in Cologne has reported riding a bicycle is an ideal way for people to improve their overall physical well being, with only 10 minutes a day to start the process towards a more healthy body.

In a report summarising about 7000 studies on the benefits of bicycling as a means to physical fitness, the DSHS said 10 minutes a day already helps muscle tone, circulation and body joints.

The Germans noted that improvement in the heart's condition can come from about 30 minutes of cycling each day, and at 50 minutes daily, the metabolism in burning off body fats is stimulated. Bicycling also strengthens the back muscles and the spinal column.

The report also called bicycling a good alternative to jogging because it puts less stress on the knee joints. - Sapa-dpa

The advocacy supported by the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign seems to be the sort of bicycle advocacy that I feel I need to support. I surfed into their site following a row over curb "bulb outs" being constructed on Mclendon Ave over in Dekalb county. I can understand that this will cause cyclists who prefer to hug the right curb while they ride a considerable amount of difficulty. What I can't understand is why these cyclists want to ride there.

After completing two seasons as a bike courier in Atlanta without significant injury from abusive motorists, I can easily say that these riders need to take the lane. Yes, take the lane, it is yours. I too was once a right curb hugging rider, riding far to close to parked cars and hidden driveways. Now, I can't stand riding that far to the right. Why? Well for one, it is actually more dangerous due to several factors. Parked cars with their doors are a bicycle accident waiting to happen as are the hidden driveways mentioned above and then there is the glass and road debris that tends to accumulate along the sides of the road. This road junk promotes flat tires and flat tires in the case of a sudden blowout can prove deadly for the unsuspecting cyclist.

I ride the lane and only get over to let cars pass if I feel it is safe to do so, not if the guy in the H2 thinks so, me, I am in control of my vehicle. Not only that but the road itself is smoothest where the cars actually ride. I don't get flats from broken beer bottles in the street and car doors are not long enough to hook me when I ride more towards the middle of MY lane. The law is on my side as well. I have as much right to take the lane as a motorcycle or car. I have rarely seen motorcycles forced to the right so why should I be intimidated by motorists to follow some arcane unwritten rule?

Sure, I have been assaulted by motorists for taking this position, that is the risk, The driver and his/her precious time. Funny how time works while driving in an urban area. A car accelerates to pass me only to find itself having to stop at a traffic signal just yards away. So how did I inconvenience them? Do traffic signs and signals not cause more of a delay for motorists than me riding my bike?

Another thing, why advocate bike lanes? Does the existence of a bicycle lane or path deny my right to take the "real" lane?

As an individual who rides a bicycle as a means of transportation, How could the Atlanta Bicycle campaign advocate the loss of my rights to the road?

From the ABC list of accomplishments~ "Organized a campaign to straighten dangerous parallel sewer grates in Atlanta" Hmmm, I saw one of these grates still in use just yesterday on Marietta Street. I guess it going to take more than a campaign to straighten those grates out. If they were to encourage cyclists to just take their lane, bicylists would not be sinking their front wheels into these dangerous grates in the first place.

Sometimes the wires expose a more touching side of the news by showcasing the elderly.
the link below is but one example.


Lifestyle

I am so tired of watching tragic events play out in front of me day after day after day here at work.

Why do I work here?

Working here on most days makes me feel like hunting down a cartoon network employee and spitting on him/her.

I never had any idea how truly malicious the members of the morning show on 99x are. During some internet surfing I discovered some offensive material from them regarding bicycles and the road.

For the two years I spent as a bicycle courier here on the streets of Atlanta, I was constantly made aware of who really owns the road. I had more than a few close calls with cars and found that Atlanta motorists have some serious issues with cyclists who want their share of the road.

I remember one afternoon in particular on Peachtree Street next to the High Museum of Art, a mother with two small children in a Volvo station wagon did not like me being on the road. She made her stand known by laying on the horn and then an attempt to run me off the road and onto the sidewalk with the fender of her car. (Where are the police when you need them?) Afterwards, I caught up to her at the light at 14th street and did my best to inform her of my rights and that she was out of line for trying to bring harm to me. She screamed and yelled about getting on the sidewalk and sped away when the light turned green.

It was from this experience that I came to the realization that some motorists are really interested in bringing physical harm to cyclists who try to use the street. I can also say from experiences like the one above that Atlanta is one of the worst places to ride a bicycle in the United States.

Enter 99x. Wow. I had no idea that these guys could say such things about bicyclists. One of them even joked about nudging cyclists off into trees with his automobile. Having had this happen to me on more than one occasion leads me to believe that this "shock jock" has actually done this in the past and enjoyed it?

This event happened back in April and since then, we have been informed that these people have been disciplined and made a formal apology on the radio. Was that really enough? I don't think that these people understand how impressionable their teenage listeners are or maybe they do and they just don't give a damn.

The weekend found me in Athens Ga.
I don't think I could ever live there. Seeing all of the students living it up just makes me feel old...

I wonder if hardcore environmentalists secretly want to see the Earth totally annihilated.

Is the human race just another parasite in the long line of such pests to have the good earth play host?

Will the skinheads, hippies, and punks who once made L5P their hangout, now shop at the new Ross Dress for Less just down the street?

Why do I concern myself with such useless thoughts?

The state of Georgia continues to amaze me with its complete and udder backwardness.
Lately, I am fed up with the District Attorney of Floyd County and her decision to appeal the Marcus Dixon case. For those of you not aware of this case, Marcus Dixon was an 18 year high School senior with a 3.96 gpa and a scholarship to Vanderbilt University. He attended Peperell High School in Floyd County, Georgia. One afternoon after school he and a 15 year old student who was just months shy of her sixteenth birthday had what was originally described by the victim as consensual sex. During this act, the girl's virginity was lost. Since I am not a woman, I can not speak with too much authority on this subject but I have heard and read that losing one's virginity can be quite a painful experience. Marcus Dixon was later charged with aggravated sexual assault as well as child molested by the Floyd County district attorney. The incident in question resulted in a jury convicting him in May 2003 of misdemeanor statutory rape as well as felony aggravated child molestation.

While the former charge carries a maximum one-year sentence, the latter carries a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence. The same jury simultaneously acquitted him of rape, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and sexual battery, leading many to question the jury's understanding of the felony charge, a fact that was later confirmed by the jury foreman and other jury members. Dixon's scholarship to Vanderbilt was subsequently revoked.

Following this conviction, Dixon filed an appeal with the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing that the Georgia legislature never intended for the behavior in this case to fall under the felony child molestation statute and further, that the ten-year mandatory sentence was cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution.

Thankfully, the high court ruled in Dixon's favor. Now, the Floyd County district attorney is at it again. I guess the members of the Georgia Supreme Court are confused and unable to hand out justice in a fair and balanced manner as an appeal is being filed Floyd County District Attorney. The D.A., Leigh Patterson claims the court's 4-3 May 3 ruling was in error when it said Marcus Dixon should have only been charged with misdemeanor statutory rape, not aggravated child molestation, one of Georgia's "seven deadly sins" crimes.

This woman needs to be informed that racism is no longer tolerated in this state and people of her ilk are part of the reason that the southern states have a bad reputation. She also needs to be removed from her office but unfortunately that is for the people of Floyd county to decide.

Anyone who knows about this case should be outraged as me. Please help this person see the error of her evil ways and mail, fax, or call her at:



Ms. Leigh Patterson, District Attorney
3 Government Plaza, Suite 302
Rome, Georgia 30161
Telephone (706)291-5210
Fax (706)291-5163

Sorry for the gap in my posts,

The weekend found me fighting the home maintenance/repair battle.
I own an older home in a mostly working class neighborhood itp. I was told the it was built in 1945. Needless to say, many homebuilding techniques have changed since then.

Upon arrival home from work on Friday afternoon, a small leak was discovered in my bathroom. I shut off the water in the house and upon closer inspection of the leak showed a nearly complete degeneration of the stubs to the sink.

This is where the problem started, what to do? I did not have $500-$600 dollars to pay a plumber so it was off to the nearby Lowe's to find the needed parts and replace them. This was easy to say and hard to do.

The whole do-it-yourself trend in America must generate mixed emotions among the professional set. Was I to become a plumber in a day?

The answer was sadly yes.

Now I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

Why do so many people try to intimidate cyclists on the road around here?

This is for the guy down on King Arnold Street last night around 7:30pm.
Why do you insist on speeding when the posted speed limit is 15 miles per hour?
Why did you try to run me off the road? Did your Ford Expedition need more room than the road could offer you? Was your masculinity challenged when I rode past you using only my own power to overtake you?

I am truly sorry that my bicycle is a better form of transportation than your SUV.

Atlanta has some of the worst traffic in the nation.
The transit system does not go anywhere, well, I guess it does go to the airport and to Lenox Square Mall, what else does a savvy shopper need?
Sonny Perdue, our Governor was shelved an initiative to implement a commuter rail system to the far outlying suburbs. Good for us! More cars everday into the city is just what this city needs.

This issue upsets me, this and people that don't take the time to chew their food.

The cookout on Friday was great fun but it took the better part of Saturday afternoon to recover.
I believe I need to stick to some non-alcoholic amusement for a while as my liver has to be slightly pickled.

My own solution to the Air quality problem in Atlanta.


I believe that most people agree that if there were more abundant plant life in metro Atlanta, the air quality would be much better.

A recent American Lung Association study found that Atlanta ranks 21 in the list of cities with the most air pollution in America. How do we as a city rectify this horrible situation?

Enter the solution, Kudzu.

Kudzu could be grown in containers at or near the top of some of the taller skyscrapers around town. As the season progresses, the kudzu will grow towards the bottom of the building and in time the building could become entirely covered. As the contaminated air passes through the vines, the kudzu will act as a natural filtration system of sorts. Another effect of this green shield would be to reduce the collection and reflection of solar radiation that tends to build up around areas that are mostly covered with concrete.

If every tall building in the metro Atlanta were to undertake this initiative, I firmly believe that we will be able to improve the quality of air in this fine southern city.

I really need to stay on track with my written thoughts, my ideas are all over the place. I also don't need to remind myself of the people in this city who irk me. They can do whatever they want as long as it is not around me.

There is so much going on in the world that bothers me. I fear that I am making a transition from being full of angst to being just a bitter old man. I have finally cured my computer's vulerabilty to the Sasser worm attacks and can now return to more mundane activities like work...

I just read an article in the May/June 2004 issue of Utne Reader about walking. I am not sure who this article was geared towards. Why is these sorts of messages always being repeated to the people that do not need to hear these types of messages? The Utne readers the people who with a high probability are already working towards change?

Yes, I walk every day. I gave up driving my porsche to work. Now when I refer to my porsche, don't be thinking the impure thoughts... I am not rich, it is a an older model one of the cheapest porsches on the road. It is a four cylinder, it may be sporty but it is not fast by any stretch of the imagination. I was told by own of my coworkers about a case of resentment caused by my porsche ownership. My director said, "How can HE own a porsche? I don't make enough $$$ to own a porsche..." She must think I am a real high roller in my 1978 924 with faded paint and a busted out driver's side window.

Ok,

I am getting off topic. Back to the walk and to the message. By the way, Microsoft Windows sucks. Period. If my department would have invested in apples, we would not be having all of the stupid worm attacks...

Let's see, how long can I type until this computer crashes again? Hmmm, back to the message at hand. If walking is good for your health, good for the environment, and good for your mental health, would you do it? Would you choose to live close to where you work and walk there or ride a bicycle?

My guess that your answer is no. Why walk when you can drive? Why live close to work when you can have a nice two hour commute to save yourself the agony of living around minorities and the poor? Why I ask? The people of Atlanta could be compared to the nation as a whole in terms of intelligence, behavior, and culture. The automobile is king here. Parking is scarce even in the midst of all this sprawl ya'll. Most people who live in this city are shallow, cash grubbing, selfish, stupid and impolite and that is just when they get behind the wheel of a car.

I wonder sometimes why I care to even express these concerns. Nobody is taking up the gauntlet, changing their lives, trying alternative solutions. Did my quality of life improve since the car is out of the way? Not really but at least I can be honest about what I am doing to save the environment unlike some people I know.

I am not going to say any names but some people really would have you think that they are radicals or bonafide activists when in reality, they are just trying to be perceived a certain way by their peer group. One guy I know is all about fighting the power or at least making you think he is fighting the power when in reality he is a self-serving yuppie in disguise. He is one of those fucks who has to have the 17 inch titanium powerbook. He talks a good game but I can see through his little scheme. He was never arrested for participating in protests but he sent out an email telling others about it. He does not ride a bike but he has a Huffy.

There needs to be an afterhours spot in the ATL that is famous for its selection of sparkling mineral water.

Blimps are really cool marketing tools. It is a real shame that more companies aren't interested in this novel approach to advertising.

Ugh, what am I saying...

Blimps are arleady at the mercy of corporate welfare...

Downtown Atlanta, What can I say?

I had lunch today at Reuben's Deli at 57 Broad Street downtown. I like what is going on down on Broad street, at least around lunchtime. It feels very urban to me. Too bad that feeing only persists on Broad Street proper...
Now, I will propose a question.

Why is there not a Dean & Deluca or something like it downtown?


I already know the answer to this question. I guess I ask it just for kicks. I am well aware of the constant influx of people moving here from New York City, Why don't these folks try to bring some of their urban culture with them instead of simply assimilating into the sprawl around us? I know the answer to this question as well, I don't know if I need to share it as it only reflects the stupidity and selfishness of Americans in general.

I feel sorry for people who have to live downtown without access to really any of the services needed to survive in an urban location. There are no real bakeries, no real bars, no places to buy groceries. That dinky Kroger next to Sylvias does not count!! Speaking of Kroger, they just remodeled the one near my house, lets see if they can keep it clean now..

Downtown Atlanta could be better compared to an overpriced theme park than a place to live and work. The city has done its part to attract conventioneers and tourists downtown with such interesting locales. Places like Centennial Olympic Park, CNN Center, Underground Atlanta, and the World of Coca Cola. They just need to go ahead and change the name to whatever corporation wants it. I imagine Coca Colapolis or Home Depopolis, either one will work great for the city that is too busy to hate. Plus think of all that extra revenue...


As far as people living downtown, who would want to buy a 300,000 dollar residence downtown if they had to go all the way up to Buckhead to shop?
Well, if I could afford to buy a 300k loftominium then I guess I could also gas up the H2 and get all my shopping done OTP like the rest of the herd.