IOP, Thanksgiving 2011

Sent from my HTC Inspire™ 4G on AT&T

The conference I’m attending this week in Atlanta is being held in the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead. To save a little, okay a lot, on the budget I stayed at the Marriott and this was the view from in front of my hotel.

First, I’ll give you a wild guess which city I shot this picture in. Second, would you call these bottle-shaped cans “cottles”?

So the DMV sent me my new license in the mail and enclosed a special bonus (pictured). Not sure what I did to merit such special treatment but I’m just glad it wasn’t a horse’s head.

Per the last post about my dearly beloved’s attempt to make my Granny’s chess pie for my birthday, I will tell you that judging by looks (see picture) it was a “bless her heart” moment. The actual eating experience was, in a word, YUM!

Down here in the South the folks have a way of saying “Bless his/her heart” about people who’ve made questionable decisions, shown questionable intelligence or just been straight up dumba**es. Sometimes the term is used as it was originally intended, as a way to show sympathy for someone who has genuinely had a tough time.

Pictured is the recipe for a chess pie written by my Granny. My lovely wife attempted to make the pie as a surprise for my birthday, and as you can see the directions lack a certain specificity so let’s just say that the result has me saying “Bless her heart.”

I’ve done nothing remotely good enough to deserve her.

Borders is in the midst of liquidating so I thought I’d see if I could find one of my daughter’s required reading books there and get a good deal in the process. I didn’t hold out much hope since the required reading books tend to sell out early under normal circumstances and I figured the chances were slim that I’d beat the organized parents to the punch when discounts were involved.

Much to my surprise I found several copies on the shelf and when I went to check out the clerk said “Oh you found one! We were out if them when I checked yesterday so we must have gotten a shipment in.” That surprised me because I always assumed that in a liquidation they sold the items already in the store and wholesaled whatever was in the warehouse. Shows what I know.

Anyway, if you’re looking for “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” you can get a copy at Borders. For now.

Want to know the difference five feet makes? When the city/county water department comes out to your neighborhood and digs a hole and that hole is over the water main five feet from where the water line for your house connects to the main, and the water department shuts off the water where the hole is, you miraculously end up with water while all your neighbors on the other side of that hole have no water service at all.

Note to the water folks – if you’re going to shut off the water for a bunch of folks on Sunday evening you might want to let them know. A note on the door letting them know what you’re doing and giving them an idea of what lies ahead (nature of the work being done, time til water service is turned back on, etc.) would be a good idea.