Swung by Oxford Comics last night, which, as I recall, used to be attached to the Buckhead Oxford. Fortunately for them, they weren’t actually the same business as Oxford Books, so they survived Oxford’s dissolution. Oxford got killed attempting to expand from its original funky location at Peachtree Battle into a local chain; it worked for a couple of years, and then Borders and B+N came and the market got oversaturated. Oxford fall down go boom.

Continuing in a similarly maudlin vein, I thought of other places I used to know and used to go to which aren’t around anymore:

Tortilla’s – once everyone and his dog started making burritos, Tortillas evidently decided to get out. For my money, Willy’s and Burrito Art couldn’t hold a candle to Tortillas (and some folks would say that Tortillas was nothing to Frijoleros on Peachtree).

Across the street from Tortillas for a couple of years was the noble attempt at a cybercafe, Innovox lounge. Innovox was way cool, but was always just hanging on to existence.

For ten years I lived a block away from Ken’s Tavern on Piedmont, a dive’s dive with a relaxed atmosphere, where college frat pledges would attempt to steal the barstools. It’s gone now, and some cajun joint is in it’s place. Whatever.

Other bookstores: The Old New York Bookshop, now (I think) a restaurant, and the Ansley Mall bookstore of my youth, now Chapter 11 (and still decent). The Science Fiction and Mystery bookstore closed recently and geeks everywhere are saddened – I was one of the folks who pitched in some cash to try to keep it open during it’s last few years. A Capella books still rocks, and thank God for the Atlanta Book Exchange – let me insert a plea here to everyone to please please do your part to keep independent booksellers open!

It’s part of the natural cycle of things – places come, places go, and one day you look up and you don’t recognize the landmarks anymore. What places do you miss?

I’ve been lax on my blogging duties here because of my PhD proposal and finals here at Tech, but I took some time out last night to play Team Trivia at Dark Horse (note: has free wifi) with my local alumni club.

Result: Complete and total domination (read: first place). And the questions were pretty difficult also. I think I’ve discovered the trick. Just have a team with people of many different ages and types and hope that one of them knows the answer to the question.

Question of the night: Since the tradition was started in 1910 by William Taft, who is the only President to not throw out the first pitch at an opening day major league baseball game?

We thought it was FDR, because he was in a wheelchair. We weren’t sure so we wagered zero on it. The answer is Georgia’s own Jimmy Carter!

I went shopping……

Yes, I know, those words during the holidays should send shivers down the spine of any good Atlanta citizen. But, the good news is, I went shopping at Town Center – the hub of life for the Northwest Atlanta Territories.

Traffic Level = 6.5
Shopper Anger Level = 4.3
Great Deals Level = 3.3
Line Level = 7.8

I heard the initial revenue returns for stores, post-Thanksgiving to now, has been good but, not stellar. Being out and about tonight, I did see a number of Saturday night buyers with their credit cards in hand but, noticed they were not buying too many high ticket items. I hope they can and I hope they do. A positive cash flow is good for Metro Atlanta!

Another thing I noticed at some of the stores was the lack of ìextra holiday helpî. Perhaps itís not time for them to come onboard but, I can see no reason not to have them standing at the cash registers. Some of the big box stores did seem to have a few more check out lanes open but, the ìin lineî wait times still seemed long to me. Especially since the parking lots were not very full.

Oh well, I guess they are being careful with their direct labor costs. The associated problem is the lack of ìhelpî on the floor for customers, especially for computer shoppers. I didnít mind as I know the stores I shop better than the floor staff.

Hereís hoping the holiday season is great for the metro area! Iíll keep you posted as to my festive holiday expeditions.

I just can’t really make up my mind here … check this out folks

Turns out that I’m not the only who received the PAY US NOW letter from Dekalb County for a 4 year old PREVIOUSLY paid parking ticket (See this link and this one). A quick perusing (is that a word?) of AJC.com reveals that perhaps DC sent the letter to any and everyone who had received a parking ticket in the County.

Here’s the kicker: Quoting a woman who received a letter similar to mine “There was an audit and they decided to send collection letters to everyone including those who they knew already paid their fine!”

Hmmph – Vernon is getting slick!

*AJC.com has a link on the website showing the video report done by Bulldog Belcher. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to link it here – any ideas? Belcher promises to keep us posted!*

As you all should know today is World AIDS Day …this day is commemorated around the world to remind everyone that HIV/AIDS is a problem for everyone. Usually for me, this date symbolizes 9 days ’til my car tag expires … 9 days before my birthday … or 24 days ’til Christmas…BUT for whatever reason, I actually realized before any of the above -the importance of this date.
To be frank, AIDS is not “real” to me. I haven’t seen its’ face, haven’t heard its’ story told to me by someone I know and love. I mean I know that it is out there …I’ve heard all that stats…seen the pictures, read the articles, sighed heavily watching the news reports.
I read this article this morning. Apparently, though African Americans make up less that 30% of Georgia’s population – we account for 64% of the state’s HIV/AIDS cases. There is also word that African American women between the ages of 25-34 (my age group) are being infected twice as fast as any other group!
This type of information has me thinking – WHEN will it be real to me if not now? At this rate, it is bound to reach my ‘sphere of influence’ sooner than later … the only question is will I be the one telling the story or the one hearing it?

I’ve been tested twice in the last six months …I’m negative!

I urge you to make an appointment to get tested. AID Atlanta offers anonymous testing with an one week turn around! There is also a comprehensive list of other testing facilities in Atlanta and across the Country.

A conversation with my boyfriend last (Monday) night, as we drove north on Moreland Avenue past Little Five Points:

Me: What’s that new place?
Him: What new place?
Me: Bang On.
Him: Dunno.
Me: You know what would be really funny, though? If it was a whorehouse.
Him: That would be funny. It looks more like a punk vintage clothing shop, though.
Me: Little Five could use a whorehouse more.

(And now I think, maybe a punk vintage whorehouse. Serving all gender identities, by necessity: the residents could dress up as Nancy Spungen, or Richard Hell . . .

Maybe I’m just weird.)