We’re #1!

Oh, and 350 robberies in 12 months is pretty darn close to one a day. Way to go Atlantans (who attempt to rob banks)!

I wonder if this number includes credit unions. Hopefully, my money is safe.

Anyone ever witnessed a bank heist? Was it as cinematic as you thought it would be?

okay, granted i stole the idea from metroblogging los angeles, but it sounded like fun so why the hell not.

basically i am looking for your help to choose atlanta’s grinch of the year.

the idea is to pick any individual or group who has impacted a cross section of atlanta, or the city as a whole, in any negative way. they define “grinch” or “scrooge.”

some suggestions to get the ball rolling could include mike ‘the dog fighter’ vick, the army corps of ‘protect the oysters’ engineers, bobby ‘defectin’ to arkansas’ petrino, sonny ‘pray for rain’ perdue, the atlanta narcotics squad, etc.

anyway, you get the idea. leave your nominations in the comments between now and new year’s eve. the metblog writers will pick the five finalists and in the first week of the year we’ll ballot by comments.

okay, nominations are now open.

Head to the Young Blood gallery on Glenwood Avenue tonight and you’ll walk into the middle of the Handmade Holiday Market, featuring local vendors like Re: Paper, Cabbagetown Clay and Glass Works, Honeydoux, Love Yu, The Belligerent Monkey, Patina, Rinse Bath and Body Co., and Whimsy Press. Free food and drinks to boot, so you know you want to go. While there, pick up some holiday gifts for those friends and relatives so hard to please that you still haven’t figured out what to get them. These handmade shows are built for pleasant surprises.

got a tip from dave over at extraface via suggest-a-story that the vortex has stopped selling the southern favorite pimento cheese sandwich.

could it be true i wondered?

an email to vortex owner michael benoit confirmed that indeed the pimento cheese sandwich was dropped from the menu in november. according to benoit the pimento cheese was only being ordered by a few diehards and was the only item the vortex had to throw away.

benoit writes:

No one was more distraught than local celebrity, and man-about-town,
Lucky Yates (Dad’s Garage Theater, Good Eats, The Lucky Yates Show,
former Dames Aflame MC). He was definitely one of the diehards. But
even he has come to love some of the new additions to the menu,
including the Elvis Burger, the Double Bypass, the Fiery Italian Sub,
and the Quesadilla with chorizo added (that one’s a secret).

so there you have it. no more pimento cheese, but if you think the elvis burger might be to your taste you can check out the new menu at www.thevortexbarandgrill.com.

Can I, or can I not, get a Fat Tire in Atlanta?

Used to live in Denver, drank Fat Tire, loved it, lived it, but have kind of blocked it out in pain and frustration and overwhelming loss.

Someone mentioned Fat Tire today, and now I have a hankering. Help a girl out.

Yesterday I had a post all queued up about the Hawks season so far. They’d reached .500 (10-10) had reeled off 3 straight wins – the last against one of the East’s hottest teams, Orlando – and they seemed ready to make the leap to the next level.

Then this happened:

My wife and I were actually watching live as Raptors guard TJ Ford stole a ball and went in for a layup when rookie Hawk Al Horford fouled him hard in the face, sending Ford to the floor where he struck his head against the court.

My synopsis doesn’t really do it justice. Watch the video. I saw it live and I could hardly believe it.

It really sucks for TJ, a talented young player who already missed an entire season (2004-2005) with back and neck problems. Our thoughts and prayers are with TJ and his family.

Poor guy got the business end of a lazy defensive effort by an equally young and talented, though inconsistent, big man in Al Horford. Yet another reason (for me, anyway) to hate Florida Gators. Horford was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul.

This is a big turning point for the Hawks. How do they overcome this event and the loss of their streak? And what about Toronto?

Oh, and since we’re on sports, the Falcons lost head coach Bobby Petrino to the University of Arkansas.

Is it Baseball season yet? How are the Thrashers even doing?

The EARL is doing The Happenstance again this year. Musicians sign up and then are randomly distributed into bands, who then rehearse and come up with 20 minute sets to be played that night. I love the spontaneity of the whole thing. Hope i can make it out to check out the results.

When: Dec. 15th
Where: The Earl
Why: For charity (Habitat, Atlanta Community Food Bank, and New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund)

as i walked into the office this morning i gave the security guard at the desk my obligatory, “how you doing today?”

his response, rather than the usual “well,” was, “a hell of a lot better than arthur blank.”

and you gotta say even with billions you almost have to feel bad for the week the guy is having.

first the qb he bet his franchise on and once pushed around in a wheelchair is sentenced to 23 months in prison in what has to be the most spectacular fall of any professional athelete.

then you go on tv to talk about it and say something that almost instantly gets the race card going.

and then finally your coach quits with no warning and shows up the next day in ARKANSAS of all places, taking another job.

which i guess all goes to show that it’s probably a million times easier to build a multi-national retail corporation than raise the atlanta falcons to prominence.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (I still haven’t gotten used to that mouthful of a name) is now offering flu shots at Concourse C. The shots are administered by the AeroClinic, which I did not realize existed until today.

The clinic is staffed daily from 7:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. The fee for a flu shot is $35 for passengers (it’s a reduced $25 for airport employees). They also accept Medicare and Medicaid for low income and elderly passengers.

We all know that when you’re talking about more than 85 million people passing through a place (like Hartsfield), you’re going to have a lot of germies. While I’m choosing not to get a flu shot this year, I can see this service being really convenient for people who travel a lot or are traveling through Atlanta and want to get a boost of protection against the flu.

For more info on AeroClinic, visit their Web site.

wow.

i wore shorts all day sunday.

i took the dogs for a walk last night at 9:30 pm through the east atlanta villiage and wore shorts.

a quick check of weather.com tells me i can pretty much wear shorts around all week if i want.

people in my office are seriously bitching about it. they want winter and christmas-y weather. i was with ‘em in theory but now i don’t want it to stop.

how about ya’ll? doing anything to enjoy the spring in december?