a server was shot in an armed robbery at the standard restaurant and bar on memorial drive in grant park early this morning. according to the report in the ajc, the server was shot after he had already handed the four armed robbers the money they demanded.

reports later today are out that the man died at grady hospital from gunshot wounds.

this happened two miles from my house. i guess it is a reminder that no matter how hip and cool these gentrified neighborhoods become, they are still in the middle of a city that has a big old crime problem it’s leaders don’t like to address (well, beyond changing street names.)

it’s also a reminder that the human capacity for evil is alive and well.

my thoughts and prayers are with the family of this victim and all who work at the standard. i am sure they are in shock.

i just got a “breaking news alert” from the atlanta journal-constitution that zoo atlanta has named the latest panda cub xi lan, or “atlanta’s joy.” this to complement sister mei lan.

leaving aside for the moment the ajc’s rather loose definition of what consists of breaking news, i have a question. are we required by virtue of contract to have to name these pandas with chinese names?

surely we could do better. maybe something highlighting atlanta’s rich hip-hop tradition, like “young pandizzle.” or “shawty pandah.”

or we could highlight atlanta’s rich sports tradition, maybe “the highlight panda” or “john rocker.”

i’m just sayin’.

Sorry. I’m not all that good at gallows humor.

Anyhow, the local news is all about local news in the form of the AJC cutting staff and WXIA’s news director stepping down.

Me? I get all my information from the internets and the watercooler (an actual watercooler who bears a resemblance to Wall-E).

I rarely watch the TV version (save for the weather, how Atlantan of me) and I occassionally link/blog the paper version, though I prefer CL’s reportage and their blogs.

a long time ago, i wrote a post expressing incredulity that someone would consider the krog street bridge an eyesore.

you would think that people who aren’t in to that kind of thing probably wouldn’t want to live in cabbagetown, where purple houses, eclectic yard decorations and yes, graffiti, rule the day.

but apparently they do. today’s ajc contains an article about a man who actually sat in a tree and staked out the railroad fence along wylie avenue. apparently at around 2:00 am he caught some kids who were about to paint something, jumped out of his tree and assaulted them.

insane.

my favorite line in the article tho:

In front of police officers, Bowman asked the young men what they were doing out there so late at night, Jaeger said.

“You were in a tree at 2:30 in the morning,” they replied, according to Jaeger.

Bowman could not be reached for comment.

i really suggest that mr. bowman pack his bags and head to alpharetta.

continuing with all things tornado;

doing some reading this morning i cam across this excellent map of the track of the downtown tornado.

(i was going to embed the map here, but we are still working through getting embedding to work, so i really encourage you to click the link. if we get it fixed, i will go back and embed it)

looking at it, i realized just how lucky i came. the tornado crossed over i-20 less than 1/4 of a mile from my house. instead of having no roof today, i am only missing some shingles, some siding and some flashing.

i am in toronto for a couple of day, but i am interested in how the cleanup is coming?