I went to Six Feet Under yesterday afternoon to celebrate a co-worker’s birthday. It was a great day to be out and about (unlike today) and the view from the restaraunt was fabulous. Sun-dappled masoleums across the street at Oakland Cemetery, beer paraphenalia and nostalgia inside and good company.

I partook of Fish and Chips (which were American chips and not French Fries) and thanked myself for it. Eschewing tartar in favor of malt vinegar, I left Six Feet Under a full and happy man. Other than some rude behavior in the parking lot (someone else, not my party), it was a wonderful afternoon.

Next time, I’m making an afternoon of it and strolling through the cemetery after lunch.

Lindbergh Plaza began. Now that the Mickey D’s (and every thing else) is gone …. I have to head down Chesire Bridge to get my Egg McMuffin fix in the morning.

But I digress…

I’m driving down Piedmont minding my own business when what to my wandering eyes should appear… A BLAZING FatBurger sign screaming Kendall come eat here!

So I immediately, to the chagrin of the black Lexus that was tailgating me, slammed on my brakes at the corner of Sidney Marcus and Piedmont hang a quick right and a left into the parking lot.

Once inside – I was instantly transported back to the 1st time I experienced Fatburger. It was Vegas, 2 a.m., I was both hungry and broke. I left there satisfied ( with even less money – there was a slot machine in there too).

As I stepped up to the counter ready to place my order – I wondered if Atlanta’s Fatburger would be as satisfying as Vegas’ Fatburger AND if coming in so soon after the Grand Opening was such a good idea. Well, since I was already there and drooling…I decided to go for it.

Long story short (I know – too late!) It was awesome!!!! Fatburger is about the only fast food place (that I know of) where they cook your burger after you order it AND you can actually tell them how you want your burger cooked (I recommend medium).

So Atlanta – go check it out and when you do – please order the Fatburger with egg and bacon on top. Let me know how that turns out …

If you’re interested in this sort of stuff (I am, because I live in the area), this should be an interesting meeting.

The city planners and external consultants working on the Ponce/Moreland Corridor Study will hold a meeting on Monday, January 24, in the Media Center at Inman Middle School (774 Virginia Avenue). They will present a proposal to rezone parts of the Ponce de Leon Corridor and their recommendations for the Ponce/Briarcliff intersection. Discussion of the rezoning recommendations will take place from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, while discussion of the intersection will begin at 7:30.

I’m planning on going (barring any last minute research duties) and will definitely have thoughts on it.

I’m going to be out of town (visiting my grandmother in Florida) next Friday, which makes me sad.

Why? ‘Cause I’ll be missing the open-house night of ATL[art]05, when many of the local galleries throw their doors open until late into the night, put up cash bars, and serve crackers and grapes. I went last year, on a whim, and had a great time seeing the work of artists I wasn’t familiar with before. I went alone, but as you can imagine it also works as a great date or group night.

One suggestion: carpool, because parking on Bennett Street (and East Paces Ferry too, I’m guessing) will be, to say the least, limited.

Is it me, or does it seem like every single day there is some sort of truck fire or car wreck or something else blocking the traffic in Atlanta? If I actually had to get on the highway, it would upset me.

All lanes of southbound I-85 headed toward the Atlanta airport are blocked this morning because of a truck fire.

The tractor-trailer, which was hauling cars and vans, caught fire before 7 a.m. near Cleveland Avenue. Several of the vehicles on the truck are burning, but police dispatchers say no injuries have been reported.

What does upset me (and I know there’s really no real comparison) are the huge number of potholes and/or poorly taken care of areas of the city streets. And, I’m not really quite sure the reason why it is that way – we don’t have extreme weather here that might cause it. I’m glad the city is trying to turn my car into a personal massage chair, but I’d much rather prefer a smooth ride. Is that pothole posse still going in full force? Because if their solution was to cover potholes with metal sheets, well… Anyway, you can call (404) POTHOLE to report some potholes.
Thank goodness it’s Friday.

(via the AJC)

Here is a pretty good flash file on the Atlanta Campaign of the Civil War and what you can see today.

Personally I prefer the post-WWII history of Atlanta, and recommend this book, but there is a lot of Civil War history around here also.

Occasionally my work takes me to Nashville, as it did yesterday. And I never fail to get to Nashville without wandering around its beautiful central library, and wondering why Nashville has something so nice and Atlanta has such a misery of a central library.

To some degree I think that the central library, like MARTA, suffers from being a product of the 1970s, known as the Decade Decent Design Forgot. Renovate the inside all you want, it’s still going to have an ugly exterior. But the Nashville library is open and airy, with a built-in art gallery, clean restrooms, a huge periodicals section, and a ground-floor privately-owned cafÈ with delicious hot chocolate and wireless access. It’s just a nifty place to be. And I do wonder why Atlanta, priding itself on being such a world-class city, runs so conspicuously behind supposedly-perenially-honky-tonk Nashville on this.

Thousands of Georgia students fail to graduate after four years of high school, often because they can’t pass the science section of the state graduation test.

Georgia School Superintendent Kathy Cox told legislators Tuesday the state must act immediately to stem the “hemorrhaging” by putting more money into preparing students for the science exams

My guess is that Cobb County has the answer.

Let me start this off by saying – I’m from Upstate New York. Former Bills fan, current New York J!E!T!S! diehard (and believe you me – this week it is incredibly hard) fan…

But now that my team has beat itself – my attention is turning to the NFC … the NFC championship game to be exact.

Falcons vs. Eagles, 3 p.m. Sunday

So you’ve got:

Michael Vick vs. Donovan McNabb

Jim Mora Jr. vs. Andy Reid

The Long Suffering Eagles Fans (who have watched their team go to this very same game 3 times in the last 3 years and lose) vs. The Long Suffering Falcons Fans (who have yet to see their birds put together back-to-back winning seasons – hasn’t happened – EVER!)

Freddy Falcon vs. Swoop the Eagle

Arthur Blank vs. Jeffrey Lurie

As Sunday draws near, the trash talking will rise to a fevered pitch -battlelines will be drawn. ESPN/Fox will undoubtedly put together a hard hitting, emotion stirring, tear jerker that will amazingly appeal to fans of both teams – yet offend none.

The Falcons have the #1 rushing offense in the league … The Eagles have a sneaky Defensive Coordinator who surely will not be fooled by Vick’s pump fakes…

If the Eagles lose – they’ll be the Buffalo Bills of the Playoffs …

If the Falcons lose – the familiar “Mike Vick isn’t a QB” chatter will resurface …

It is going to be a close game – won by the team that Plays to Win the Game…

Go Birds!

I’ve been kind of looking forward to going to Two: urban licks (so much so that I decided last week that my next serious date would be there, if possible), but this article in AccessAtlanta makes me want re-think that. I mean, it only got two stars and though that does mean that it “merits a drive if you’re looking for this kind of dining” I’m just not sure if it can be first date worthy any more. As anyone been there? Ought I put this kind of stock in their review? Keep in my mind that I really do like One: midtown kitchen. Or perhaps you have other suggestions?