I just finished my first round of follow-up with the police to find out if in fact a woman was raped on the street 1.5 blocks from my house last night.

Do you think the city was helpful? You tell me:

I called the Zone 3 Precinct Office (Phone: (404) 624-0674) but was told that I have to call back at 10PM tonight to talk to morning shift supervisor Sgt. Smith.

So I have to wait a minimum of 10 hours to find out if there’s a rapist on the loose in my neighborhood? Of course, it’s not like he’d rape anyone before 10 anyway.

I called the APD’s public affairs office as well. They said call Zone 3 because they don’t know. Why would I think that Public Affairs have any information to help me, a member of the public? How silly of me.

So I left a message with my City Council Member, Joyce Shepard. Her number is (404) 330-6053. I haven’t heard back yet.

If you live in Southwest Atlanta and want to help — Call those numbers yourself and ask what happened to the naked woman who ran through Capitol View last night screaming “Help Me.” We deserve to know if there’s a rapist on the loose attacking woman who are walking down the street.

This morning at 2:15A, at my home in Southwest Atlanta’s Capitol View neighborhood, we were awoken by the sound of someone screaming and banging on my front door.

By the time I got dressed and put my contact lenses on, the screamer/banger was walking away. My housemate managed to look outside the window. She saw a disturbing sight. Walking away from my house was a completely naked, skinny, white woman, with blonde hair. She appeared to be alone.
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A while back, Karsh brought up the ASO’s performace of Dear Friends: Music of Final Fantasy. I did not attend, but today we have Video Game blog Kotaku opining “Do Video Game Concerts Revive Concert Going?” and the AJC claiming “ASO lures younger audience with sounds of ‘Final Fantasy’”

I have three questions:
1) Did you attend the performance?
2) Did the inclusion of this type of concert make you more or less likely to attend future ASO performaces?
3) Did you make any musical or video game purchase based on this concert?

Maybe classical music lovers will listen to anything. Maybe this performance did bring in a new audience. Maybe it helped both the music-lovers and gamers. Only the comments will tell.

My personal opinion is that including “new classics” such as music from films and video games is a great way to de-mystify and popularize the traditionally stuffy realm of classical music. If it helps sell tickets, CDs or games it’s a good thing. Maybe I’ll catch the next performance. ;-)

Pursuant to Kendall’s post, I’ve been checking out the online Sports Illustrated gallery of legendary draft busts. Strangely, the Hawks’ most famous mistake, Jon Koncak, ranks only 14th on the list.

(More after the cut, but it’s ACC-related, not so much Atlanta-related.)
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Since my open letter to Billy Knight circa May 24, 2005, the Hawks organization seems to be taking heed.

Mike Woodson was on 790 yesterday speaking highly of players whose names I recognized!!
Billy Knight non answered several questions on WSB!!!

All of the talking heads seem remarkably upbeat and positive, one going as far as to say “The 2005 NBA draft is going to be THE defining moment for this organization, who they select this year will make or break this club!”
A bit dramatic? Definitely! But that’s what they do…

I’ll be in front of my television at 7:30 praying for one of these guys!

So my boyfriend and I now have two dogs. We expect trouble the first time the border collie/cocker spaniel mix tries to herd the black Lab, but so far so good.

Having acquired a second dog, and thus twenty new dog nails, I’m looking for a recommendation for a dog groomer ITP. I can always take the ladies to my vet (Pets Are People Too, on Piedmont just south of Monroe, and I recommend them; they’re awfully sweet, and Hope, the border collie, sailed through her spaying last November with nary a whimper) but if there’s a particularly well-liked, well-respected doggie beauty service out there, I’d love to hear about it.

It’s been months since I looked at The Sunday Paper website (personally, I think it’s poorly designed), but I went today and noticed that, if you register, you can leave comments on the stories. For example, one could leave a comment on Lisa Baron’s… uh… interesting and only slightly comprehensible writings. I thought the My ‘Lanta crew might enjoy that.

My dad is in Atlanta visiting until Tuesday below I’ve compiled the most ‘poignant’ statements he’s made since his arrival:

Random Observations from Daddy Meeks:

The Airport:
That’s just too much airport going on in there. It took me almost as long to get to my bags as it did for me to get to Atlanta.
There were 5 “orientals” (A father and his sons) sitting in the concourse with their Vaio laptops and Vuitton luggage … that’s MONEY! That dude could have been a billionaire for all I know.

The traffic:
I think this is the entire city of Buffalo right here on this expressway!
How do they do it sitting in this for 2 hours a day?

Atlantic Station:
Wow..this is perfect. Why don’t you buy something down here? Impressive! IKEA …you can furnish your whole house in that one store – GREAT!
After passing by the Beazer Homes signage promoting the new single family houses
600’s – 800’s? is that 600 THOUSAND? For a house with no yard? I wish I might pay 600THOUSANDFORAHOUSEONASLABINTHEMIDDLEOFTOWNJUSTTOSAYILIVEINTOWN REDAMNDICULOUS….
How much do those apartments rent for?

The new 1180 Peachtree building going up at P’tree and 14th:
Will you look at that?
Wow, that’s something isn’t it?
I’m going to have to take a ride in that elevator next time I come down to visit!
When is it going to be finished?

Fat Matt’s Rib Shack:
I’d have a gut like both of my brothers if I lived down here. Good ribs even without the sauce

Woman walking down the street in red formal gown with date near the Woodruff Arts Center:
Beautiful dress, but they still look country!

and last but not least (for now, that is…):

Gay Pride:
Is it Gay week in all the big cities? It’s going on in NYC too. Al Sharpton is marching in the parade. I didn’t know Sharpton was gay. ( I swear I’m not making that one up)
You’re not gay are you? (I get that question from both of the folks every visit … )

I’m taking him to Turner Field, Underground (they ALWAYS wanna go there), Centennial Park, ESPNZone and Iris for dinner this evening…

Sundays can mean only one thing… A trip to Turner Field to see the Braves, this time taking on the surprise contenders for the American League East Division, the Baltimore Orioles. The Braves went into this match looking for a sweep of the Orioles, and get their 5th win in the last six games as they try to pull themselves closer to the National League East leaders, the Washington Nationals.

It was a pretty wet day as it drizzled for the entire game, luckily there was no rain delays, and, despite a slew of injuries, the Braves went on to win with a comfortable score of 8-1, mainly due to John Smoltz’s pitching, Andrew Jones’ fielding and hitting and Rafael Furcal’s hitting also, but it was a great all-round team performance with everyone doing their part.

Smoltz was the undoubted star of the game though, he pitched the entire game, striking out 7 Orioles, this gave him him 2,487 career strikeouts, thus passing Don Drysdale for 27th place on the all-time list, while holding them to a single run (a Rafael Palmero solo homer in the 5th) and only 5 hits… He even managed to get an RBI double in his last at bat, so not a sloppy afternoon’s work for a guy who was a closer the last few years…

Here was the view from our seats, a pretty miserable grey sky with most of Atlanta hidden by clouds and rain, next up is the July 4th game against the Chicago Cubs…

Some exciting new laws take effect in Georgia on Friday, July 1.
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