Last Friday I went out to
lunch with some friends. There is a group of us at work and a guy who
used to work with us that meet up periodically to catch up with each
other and enjoy a meal together. We don't do it often so when we do,
it's a lot of fun. Someone suggested that we try Cafe Alana Shay, which
is yet another (I believe the fifth) restaurant that Chef James Boyce
has opened here in Huntsville. Soon after the suggestion was made, it
was decided that this was where we would dine and we made plans to meet
there at noon.
Cafe Alana Shay is located at the new Doubletree Suites (formerly the
Radisson) on South Memorial Parkway. Due to lunch hour traffic, I
allotted about 15 minutes from work to the restaurant and pulled out at
11:45 with three of my co-workers in tow. We arrived right at noon and
our friend R was already there talking with the hostess, K. I told K
that there was going to be eight of us and someone else said nine
because another person had been invited that I didn't know about. Long
story short, after waiting for quite a few minutes, she told us it would
be about 20 minutes before she could pull a few tables together for the
nine of us. So, I told her that we could sit at two or three tables
because some of us had to be back at 1:00. Long story short again, we
were finally seated at 12:20 - most of us at one big table and a couple
at a table right beside us.
We had some time to look at the menu while we were waiting and so we all
knew what we were going to order. When I looked around the restaurant,
it seemed that no one had their food, which was not a good sign and so I
told my friend J that we should probably get ours to go since he and I
were the ones that needed to be back by 1:00. K took all our orders and J
and I told her we needed ours to go.
In the meantime, K told us that she was getting chewed out because she
sat us at a table and that they were not supposed to seat a table of
more than four people without a reservation. If she had told us that
when we first arrived, we could have gone somewhere else and avoided
this whole experience. Our friend A arrived later than we did because he
had an errand to run and by the time he arrived we had already ordered.
He was told if he ordered that his food would take over an hour before
it was ready. Needless to say, he left.
About 12:30 or so I asked K if she could go ahead and bring our checks
so we could pay and wouldn't have to wait for them after the food
arrived. We paid and waited some more. Finally at 12:45, the manager
came out with four bags of boxed up food - each bag had two orders in
it. He laid it down on the table and said, here you go, it's all there.
Now, keep in mind that only J and I had ordered our food to go and yet,
they had boxed up everyone's food. Not only had they boxed it up, but it
wasn't labeled. So, we had to open every box and pass out the food. J
and I found our food and headed out the door and I drove as quickly as I
could to get him back to work for his 1:00 meeting. We made it back at
12:58.
As for the food - my fries were cold, which could be because I didn't
eat them when they first came out or because they were never that hot to
begin with - I'm not sure which but had they been hot they might have
been okay. They were kind of greasy as well which really surprised me. J
ate his fries as we headed back to work and commented that McDonald's
fries are better. I had ordered the Rueben ($9) and it was not the best
Reuben I've ever had. It had a ton of meat on it though, which is good
for those that enjoy a lot of meat on their sandwich. I actually took
some of it off. The meat was kind of tough, but Reuben's can be that way
sometimes. J had the steak sandwich and I have not heard from him on
how it was. My friend R had the burger and said it was fantastic - but
also said it could have been because of how hungry he was. A couple of
people went for the crab cakes and said they were good. Maybe I just
ordered the wrong entree. Not to mention that I was itchy the rest of
the afternoon - I think I might have just been paranoid that someone
poisoned my food.
The atmosphere at Cafe Alana Shay was also kind of strange. The lobby of
the Doubletree looks really nice now that it has been redone. It is
very modern and unlike something you would think of when you think of
Huntsville. The restaurant had grey tones with some bright green
accents. The crowd was mostly older women who most likely normally dine
at the country club. The background music was a techno dance remix that
seemed to be on a loop which was an odd contrast to the uppity decor and
clientele of the restaurant.
So, long story short, again, I will not be back to this restaurant. I
had really high hopes for this place, but after the way we were treated
and not catered to, there is no way I would ever return. Like I said,
all of this could have been avoided if K had told us we needed a
reservation and sent us on our way - it was a really disappointing
experience.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Past Few Days
Sorry for being such a sporadic blogger lately. Not only has the whole month of September been busy, but this past week had been kind of strange as well. As you know, Jackie and I were in Atlanta this past weekend, I was home for one day and then in Nashville for half a day for a doctor’s appointment. To top it off, it’s our fiscal year-end at work and so things there have been nuts as well. So, please forgive me and hopefully next week things will be back to normal.
Jackie and I returned home from our weekend getaway on Sunday and on the way home we stopped in Breman, Georgia to go to church with our friend Honey and her family. Yes, Honey is her real name. Honey and her family lived in Huntsville for about a year and went to church with me at Chase Park. They moved back to Georgia early this summer and so it was really great to visit with her if only for a short time.
Monday was Ladies’ Night Out where I had absolutely nothing planned for the ladies to do. We were supposed to stuff bears again, but there were no bears ready so we just chatted and ate instead. I left kind of early because I wanted to be sure and get home at a decent hour since I had to be up early the next morning.
On Tuesday, I woke at 4:00 a.m. to get a shower and ready myself for the drive the Nashville for my doctor’s appointment. My dad was kind enough to go with me and had said we should leave at 5:00 a.m. My appointment was at 8:00, but I was supposed to be there at 7:30. We ended up beating all the rush hour traffic and pulled into the parking garage at St. Thomas at 6:45 a.m. The appointment was uneventful and I don’t know anything from the visit quite yet. They took a few vials of blood and this weekend I have to collect my urine for 24 straight hours – sorry if that was too much information. My dad and I got back to Huntsville around 11:00 a.m. and I ran a few hours before coming home to nap and basically be unproductive the rest of the day.
The past couple of days have been pretty routine – work, church, work and errands. I did manage to take The Tide to the dog wash Thursday afternoon for a bath and a nail trim. She desperately needed the nail trim and had not been bathed since July so she was overdue. I also bought a couple of mums and pumpkins and mustered up the willpower to clean my porch and the chairs on the porch which were all pretty disgusting thanks to my hackberry tree which loves to drop sap everywhere. The porch needs to be pressure washed and repainted – that’s a chore for another weekend.
So, that pretty much sums things up. This weekend coming up Troy and Ashlyn are having birthday parties and on Monday I start my one month of Goga so there is sure to be something interesting to write about soon.
In the meantime, I hope you all have a great weekend and I hope to be a better blogger next week.
Jackie and I returned home from our weekend getaway on Sunday and on the way home we stopped in Breman, Georgia to go to church with our friend Honey and her family. Yes, Honey is her real name. Honey and her family lived in Huntsville for about a year and went to church with me at Chase Park. They moved back to Georgia early this summer and so it was really great to visit with her if only for a short time.
Monday was Ladies’ Night Out where I had absolutely nothing planned for the ladies to do. We were supposed to stuff bears again, but there were no bears ready so we just chatted and ate instead. I left kind of early because I wanted to be sure and get home at a decent hour since I had to be up early the next morning.
On Tuesday, I woke at 4:00 a.m. to get a shower and ready myself for the drive the Nashville for my doctor’s appointment. My dad was kind enough to go with me and had said we should leave at 5:00 a.m. My appointment was at 8:00, but I was supposed to be there at 7:30. We ended up beating all the rush hour traffic and pulled into the parking garage at St. Thomas at 6:45 a.m. The appointment was uneventful and I don’t know anything from the visit quite yet. They took a few vials of blood and this weekend I have to collect my urine for 24 straight hours – sorry if that was too much information. My dad and I got back to Huntsville around 11:00 a.m. and I ran a few hours before coming home to nap and basically be unproductive the rest of the day.
The past couple of days have been pretty routine – work, church, work and errands. I did manage to take The Tide to the dog wash Thursday afternoon for a bath and a nail trim. She desperately needed the nail trim and had not been bathed since July so she was overdue. I also bought a couple of mums and pumpkins and mustered up the willpower to clean my porch and the chairs on the porch which were all pretty disgusting thanks to my hackberry tree which loves to drop sap everywhere. The porch needs to be pressure washed and repainted – that’s a chore for another weekend.
So, that pretty much sums things up. This weekend coming up Troy and Ashlyn are having birthday parties and on Monday I start my one month of Goga so there is sure to be something interesting to write about soon.
In the meantime, I hope you all have a great weekend and I hope to be a better blogger next week.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Music Midtown 2012 – Part Two
On Saturday morning, I (not surprisingly since I am an early bird) woke up before Jackie. She got up an hour or so later and soon after we headed downstairs for breakfast. When I made the reservation for the hotel, I made sure and got the rate that included the breakfast buffet and I’m glad I did because it was delicious. We loaded our plates with all manner of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, grits, French toast, fresh fruit, etc. etc. When we were finished, the girl who waited on us told us we looked like we were ready to crawl back into bed – and we didn’t disagree because that was exactly our plan.
We spent the day watching football, napping, and just generally being lazy. When the maid came by to clean the room we told her there was no need in cleaning and could we just have some fresh towels. Finally, late in the afternoon we managed to crawl out of the bed and get ourselves ready for night number two of Music Midtown.
We decided to leave the hotel around 5:30. We wanted to stop by the CVS a couple of blocks from our hotel and buy some supplies. We purchased hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, and travel sized Kleenex – all for use in the port-o-potties. We did not want to risk a non-tissue port-o-potty experience again.
We then took MARTA to Midtown and began our trek to the park. We had seen a Jason’s Deli in the area the night before and had made plans to eat our dinner there. When we got off MARTA, there was a man standing outside just rambling on about nothing and was saying crazy things like, “Don’t step in front of me or I’ll punch you out.” I got a big laugh out of this – Jackie apparently didn’t see the guy, which is a shame. While we were walking towards the park/Jason’s Deli, there was a black guy walking in the crowd with really tall hair like from the 1980s (remember Kid Play?). He said, “No autographs, please, I’m the Fresh Prince’s son.” Oh, sweet mercy, that caused me to laugh really loud. A few minutes later (now, keep in mind we are walking down the street with hundreds of people) someone who was driving, rolled down the window and yelled, “Hey, what’s going on?” Clearly he lived in Atlanta and didn’t have a clue there was a music festival taking place in his own city.
We made it to Jason’s Deli where we were expecting a large crowd, but surprisingly not many people had the same plan we did and the restaurant was pretty empty. We ordered and ate our food and enjoyed one last use of a real toilet before heading to the park and the land of the port-o-potty.
After dinner, we headed to the park and on the way passed a lady who was talking on the phone and crying. Needless to say, we saw all kinds of situations over the weekend. We entered the park around 7:30 or so and Florence and the Machine was playing. After Florence, a band called Girl Talk came on and they were basically a remix rap band and not anything like what Jackie and I were expecting. We were quite anxious for them to finish up in fact. We made use of the port-o-potties around 8:15 and then headed towards the stage where Pearl Jam would be playing.
Pearl Jam came on at exactly 9:00 p.m. It was obvious they were unable to have a sound check earlier in the day because the sound was not so great for the first few songs, but eventually was worked out and sounded much better by the end of the night. We were kind of towards the back when the show started but kept moving closer and closer and ended up with a pretty good spot.
Here’s the thing with outdoor concerts, especially ones that last all day – by the end of the night everyone is drunk and chatting it up as if they were sitting on their sofa at home. There were so many conversations going on around us and it was more than slightly annoying. Other than the random conversations taking place around us and the crazy drunk people, the show was enjoyable. Jackie and I had both worn black tops and we were bumped into more than one time and each time someone ran into us they looked at us like it was our fault. Clearly we were invisible to everyone around us and apparently should not have worn black.
The Pearl Jam show was awesome. I had sent them a message on Twitter a few months ago and then again a few weeks ago asking them to play “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter in a Small Town,” which is one of my favorite songs of theirs. It was the third song in the first set and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t break down in tears. I grabbed Jackie and screamed, “They’re playing my request!” and then the waterworks came. Y'all I have loved Pearl Jam since I was 14 years old and sometimes the emotion of being at a live show is more than a little overwhelming. I couldn’t stop crying for at least two songs. All I could think of was that 14 year old girl who had 1,000 hopes and dreams and who plastered her junior high and high school locker with photos of Pearl Jam and it was just a little more than I could handle for those few moments.
With about two minutes left to play (remember the stupid city ordinance that required the band to end at 11:00 p.m.), Eddie Vedder said they had two more minutes and one more song and they were going to sing it as fast as they could. In proper Pearl Jam fashion, they ended on “Keep on Rockin’ In The Free World” and with that, the show and Music Midtown 2012 came to an end.
This particular night we were much wiser and decided to exit the same way we came in. This turned out to be a much quicker way back to the hotel than the crazy route we had taken the night before. It was kind of strange to see 50,000 people walking down the street to the MARTA station. As we were leaving, I was really thirsty and dreaming of a Diet Coke when I heard someone yell “Free Coke” they were giving out free Coke Zeros and I ran over to get one which in turn ended up scaring Jackie because I didn’t tell her I was going to grab one and when she turned around I was gone. We obviously found each other again in the mass of people. We encountered all sorts of interesting situations on the way back to the hotel. I forgot to mention that on Friday night we were walking behind a girl who peed her pants, bless her heart. Guess she had a wee bit too much to drink. Saturday, there was a couple behind us who were arguing. There is never a dull moment walking in a crowd of hundreds and thousands of people.
We made it back to the hotel around midnight or a little after, but not before stopping by a statue that was a on the way back to our hotel. We saw it every time we left the hotel and we were wondering who is this man with the outstretch hands. Jackie said he looked like he was saying, “My people!” So, we stopped by to see if there was a plaque or something telling folks who this man was. There was no plaque, but I took Jackie’s photo with him. When we got back to the hotel, I asked the guy at the desk if he knew who the man was and he didn’t. He surely thought we were crazy for wanting to know.
We headed up to our room and soon went to bed to get a few hours sleep before heading out the next morning. It was a fantastic weekend. We both were itching for a little road trip getaway and it was just a perfect outing for these two music lovers.
We spent the day watching football, napping, and just generally being lazy. When the maid came by to clean the room we told her there was no need in cleaning and could we just have some fresh towels. Finally, late in the afternoon we managed to crawl out of the bed and get ourselves ready for night number two of Music Midtown.
We decided to leave the hotel around 5:30. We wanted to stop by the CVS a couple of blocks from our hotel and buy some supplies. We purchased hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, and travel sized Kleenex – all for use in the port-o-potties. We did not want to risk a non-tissue port-o-potty experience again.
We then took MARTA to Midtown and began our trek to the park. We had seen a Jason’s Deli in the area the night before and had made plans to eat our dinner there. When we got off MARTA, there was a man standing outside just rambling on about nothing and was saying crazy things like, “Don’t step in front of me or I’ll punch you out.” I got a big laugh out of this – Jackie apparently didn’t see the guy, which is a shame. While we were walking towards the park/Jason’s Deli, there was a black guy walking in the crowd with really tall hair like from the 1980s (remember Kid Play?). He said, “No autographs, please, I’m the Fresh Prince’s son.” Oh, sweet mercy, that caused me to laugh really loud. A few minutes later (now, keep in mind we are walking down the street with hundreds of people) someone who was driving, rolled down the window and yelled, “Hey, what’s going on?” Clearly he lived in Atlanta and didn’t have a clue there was a music festival taking place in his own city.
We made it to Jason’s Deli where we were expecting a large crowd, but surprisingly not many people had the same plan we did and the restaurant was pretty empty. We ordered and ate our food and enjoyed one last use of a real toilet before heading to the park and the land of the port-o-potty.
After dinner, we headed to the park and on the way passed a lady who was talking on the phone and crying. Needless to say, we saw all kinds of situations over the weekend. We entered the park around 7:30 or so and Florence and the Machine was playing. After Florence, a band called Girl Talk came on and they were basically a remix rap band and not anything like what Jackie and I were expecting. We were quite anxious for them to finish up in fact. We made use of the port-o-potties around 8:15 and then headed towards the stage where Pearl Jam would be playing.
Pearl Jam came on at exactly 9:00 p.m. It was obvious they were unable to have a sound check earlier in the day because the sound was not so great for the first few songs, but eventually was worked out and sounded much better by the end of the night. We were kind of towards the back when the show started but kept moving closer and closer and ended up with a pretty good spot.
Here’s the thing with outdoor concerts, especially ones that last all day – by the end of the night everyone is drunk and chatting it up as if they were sitting on their sofa at home. There were so many conversations going on around us and it was more than slightly annoying. Other than the random conversations taking place around us and the crazy drunk people, the show was enjoyable. Jackie and I had both worn black tops and we were bumped into more than one time and each time someone ran into us they looked at us like it was our fault. Clearly we were invisible to everyone around us and apparently should not have worn black.
The Pearl Jam show was awesome. I had sent them a message on Twitter a few months ago and then again a few weeks ago asking them to play “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter in a Small Town,” which is one of my favorite songs of theirs. It was the third song in the first set and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t break down in tears. I grabbed Jackie and screamed, “They’re playing my request!” and then the waterworks came. Y'all I have loved Pearl Jam since I was 14 years old and sometimes the emotion of being at a live show is more than a little overwhelming. I couldn’t stop crying for at least two songs. All I could think of was that 14 year old girl who had 1,000 hopes and dreams and who plastered her junior high and high school locker with photos of Pearl Jam and it was just a little more than I could handle for those few moments.
With about two minutes left to play (remember the stupid city ordinance that required the band to end at 11:00 p.m.), Eddie Vedder said they had two more minutes and one more song and they were going to sing it as fast as they could. In proper Pearl Jam fashion, they ended on “Keep on Rockin’ In The Free World” and with that, the show and Music Midtown 2012 came to an end.
This particular night we were much wiser and decided to exit the same way we came in. This turned out to be a much quicker way back to the hotel than the crazy route we had taken the night before. It was kind of strange to see 50,000 people walking down the street to the MARTA station. As we were leaving, I was really thirsty and dreaming of a Diet Coke when I heard someone yell “Free Coke” they were giving out free Coke Zeros and I ran over to get one which in turn ended up scaring Jackie because I didn’t tell her I was going to grab one and when she turned around I was gone. We obviously found each other again in the mass of people. We encountered all sorts of interesting situations on the way back to the hotel. I forgot to mention that on Friday night we were walking behind a girl who peed her pants, bless her heart. Guess she had a wee bit too much to drink. Saturday, there was a couple behind us who were arguing. There is never a dull moment walking in a crowd of hundreds and thousands of people.
We made it back to the hotel around midnight or a little after, but not before stopping by a statue that was a on the way back to our hotel. We saw it every time we left the hotel and we were wondering who is this man with the outstretch hands. Jackie said he looked like he was saying, “My people!” So, we stopped by to see if there was a plaque or something telling folks who this man was. There was no plaque, but I took Jackie’s photo with him. When we got back to the hotel, I asked the guy at the desk if he knew who the man was and he didn’t. He surely thought we were crazy for wanting to know.
We headed up to our room and soon went to bed to get a few hours sleep before heading out the next morning. It was a fantastic weekend. We both were itching for a little road trip getaway and it was just a perfect outing for these two music lovers.
Just a few people were there on Saturday night
Jackie and Me at the Concert Saturday
Can't you tell, it's Pearl Jam!
My people!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Music Midtown 2012 - Part One
It seems like only yesterday that Jackie and I were making big plans for September 2012 and now, the month is almost gone and we have had so much fun! This past weekend, we took a road trip over to Atlanta for Music Midtown 2012. Back earlier this year when Eddie Vedder (lead singer of Pearl Jam for those of you who may not know, um, Erika) rescheduled his solo tour, I had asked Jackie about going to see him in Memphis - the only catch was that the concert is on the night before Thanksgiving. We seriously contemplated it and then, Jackie's superior Google skills discovered Music Midtown where Pearl Jam would be playing on Saturday night and The Avett Brothers and Foo Fighters would be playing on Friday night - a perfect line-up if you ask me. It was less than a week later that we had our weekend passes in hand - this was way back in May and the countdown began.
Friday morning I had a doctor's appointment after which I loaded up The Tide, swung by the VBC to buy another set of concert tickets, and then dropped The Tide off at my parents' house where she was to stay the weekend. I then headed to Jackie's house and we were on the road to Atlanta a few minutes after 11:00 a.m. The ride over to Atlanta wasn't too bad. Jackie drove the first leg of the trip and we stopped a couple of times to stretch our legs and take use of the facilities. I did have to call my dad once about directions - since Jackie was driving and I wasn't paying attention and I told her to take a wrong turn. At the second stop, I took over driving into the city. Traffic was really great on I-20 but when it was time to get on I-75, the traffic was backed up. Thankfully we only had to go a couple of miles until our exit and we arrived at our hotel about 4:00 Atlanta time, along with everyone else; there was quite a line to check in. We finally got checked in and went up to our hotel room. When we got on the elevator a guy was on there and asked us if we were in town for the concert. We asked him to hit the 10th floor button for us and he said, "Top Floor, Heard That." Needless to say, it became a catch phrase for us the remainder of the weekend.
We unpacked, changed clothes, put on make-up, freshened up, etc. etc. and headed out to find a place to eat some dinner. We settled on Jalapeno Charlies (Which I kept wanting to call Jalapeno Chedders) and ate outside on the balcony. I had tacos and Jackie had enchiladas - both of which were good. We then went back to the hotel to gear up for an evening of music. I packed my purse with all the essentials including acid reducer medicine which gave us a good laugh. Jackie said you know you're in your 30s when you make sure you have acid reducer for a concert.
We left the hotel at 6:00 to go to the concert. We walked up to the MARTA station and a lady that worked there was helping all us concert goers buy passes. When the machine gave us change in the form of $1 coins, the lady would pull them out, hand them to us, and told us to use them to buy beers, liquor, souvenirs, whatever we needed, which cracked us up. We weren't that sure which train to get on so we followed some guy in a straw hat who looked like he was going to the concert. He wasn't the only one, there were others as well and we all got on the train and it was the right one. We took the train to Midtown and then had to walk about one mile to get to the park. There were people all along the way with their coolers selling $1 waters. You were allowed to bring in one bottle of water (unopened) into the park. So we each bought one because it was hot and we figured we might benefit from that $1 price as opposed to outrageous price once we were in the park.
We finally made it to the park about 7:00 - the Avett Brothers were starting at 7:30 so we made our way towards their stage and listened to their show, which was just as good as expected. They played a lot of our favorites and some songs from the new album as well. We took a bathroom break towards the end of their set. There were quite a few port-o-potties, but there were even more people and so there was always a line. They were also pretty gross, especially towards the end of the night, as there were a lot of drink folks needing to take a pee. After the Avett Brothers show, we hit the port-o-potties again because, well, better safe than sorry.
The Foo Fighters show started at 9:00 on the dot, while we were at the port-o-potties. We managed to find a good spot once we made it over to that stage. The sound was incredible and Dave Grohl put on a fantastic show. He was absolutely hilarious when he was talking and his singing, well, it was just as awesome as I had hoped. Thanks to some ridiculous Atlanta city ordinance, the show had to end at 11:00 p.m. on the nose so there was no encore and they played for only two hours - I was expecting at least three - I guess the city ordinance must be pretty strict.
We decided to leave out of a different entrance than the one we came in which was a big mistake because we ended up walking about three miles, or at least it felt like three miles. I thought I was going to have to lay down in the street from exhaustion at one point. We finally made it to a MARTA station and took the next train back to Peachtree Station downtown and then walked the three blocks to our hotel. After taking quick showers, we called it a night and got ready to do it all over again Saturday.
Friday morning I had a doctor's appointment after which I loaded up The Tide, swung by the VBC to buy another set of concert tickets, and then dropped The Tide off at my parents' house where she was to stay the weekend. I then headed to Jackie's house and we were on the road to Atlanta a few minutes after 11:00 a.m. The ride over to Atlanta wasn't too bad. Jackie drove the first leg of the trip and we stopped a couple of times to stretch our legs and take use of the facilities. I did have to call my dad once about directions - since Jackie was driving and I wasn't paying attention and I told her to take a wrong turn. At the second stop, I took over driving into the city. Traffic was really great on I-20 but when it was time to get on I-75, the traffic was backed up. Thankfully we only had to go a couple of miles until our exit and we arrived at our hotel about 4:00 Atlanta time, along with everyone else; there was quite a line to check in. We finally got checked in and went up to our hotel room. When we got on the elevator a guy was on there and asked us if we were in town for the concert. We asked him to hit the 10th floor button for us and he said, "Top Floor, Heard That." Needless to say, it became a catch phrase for us the remainder of the weekend.
We unpacked, changed clothes, put on make-up, freshened up, etc. etc. and headed out to find a place to eat some dinner. We settled on Jalapeno Charlies (Which I kept wanting to call Jalapeno Chedders) and ate outside on the balcony. I had tacos and Jackie had enchiladas - both of which were good. We then went back to the hotel to gear up for an evening of music. I packed my purse with all the essentials including acid reducer medicine which gave us a good laugh. Jackie said you know you're in your 30s when you make sure you have acid reducer for a concert.
We left the hotel at 6:00 to go to the concert. We walked up to the MARTA station and a lady that worked there was helping all us concert goers buy passes. When the machine gave us change in the form of $1 coins, the lady would pull them out, hand them to us, and told us to use them to buy beers, liquor, souvenirs, whatever we needed, which cracked us up. We weren't that sure which train to get on so we followed some guy in a straw hat who looked like he was going to the concert. He wasn't the only one, there were others as well and we all got on the train and it was the right one. We took the train to Midtown and then had to walk about one mile to get to the park. There were people all along the way with their coolers selling $1 waters. You were allowed to bring in one bottle of water (unopened) into the park. So we each bought one because it was hot and we figured we might benefit from that $1 price as opposed to outrageous price once we were in the park.
We finally made it to the park about 7:00 - the Avett Brothers were starting at 7:30 so we made our way towards their stage and listened to their show, which was just as good as expected. They played a lot of our favorites and some songs from the new album as well. We took a bathroom break towards the end of their set. There were quite a few port-o-potties, but there were even more people and so there was always a line. They were also pretty gross, especially towards the end of the night, as there were a lot of drink folks needing to take a pee. After the Avett Brothers show, we hit the port-o-potties again because, well, better safe than sorry.
The Foo Fighters show started at 9:00 on the dot, while we were at the port-o-potties. We managed to find a good spot once we made it over to that stage. The sound was incredible and Dave Grohl put on a fantastic show. He was absolutely hilarious when he was talking and his singing, well, it was just as awesome as I had hoped. Thanks to some ridiculous Atlanta city ordinance, the show had to end at 11:00 p.m. on the nose so there was no encore and they played for only two hours - I was expecting at least three - I guess the city ordinance must be pretty strict.
We decided to leave out of a different entrance than the one we came in which was a big mistake because we ended up walking about three miles, or at least it felt like three miles. I thought I was going to have to lay down in the street from exhaustion at one point. We finally made it to a MARTA station and took the next train back to Peachtree Station downtown and then walked the three blocks to our hotel. After taking quick showers, we called it a night and got ready to do it all over again Saturday.
The entrance to the park
Foo Fighters - Great shot, huh?
I took some photos on Friday with my camera but haven't downloaded them yet. I will post those as soon as I have a chance to download them. Some of those turned out better than the ones I took with my phone.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Working at the Polls - September 18, 2012
So, I had my
first experience working at the precinct. Since it was a special election to
vote on an amendment to the Alabama constitution, I did not expect a high voter
turnout and I was correct in my assessment. The total number of voters for the
day was 330. At 11:00 a.m. the count was
108. Although it was a slow day, it was a steady day as there was almost always
one person voting. It seems like when one person left, another one would
arrive.
I woke up at
5:00 a.m. which really wasn’t that much earlier than my normal wake-up time,
although I did not have the privilege of hitting snooze. I took a shower,
grabbed my things and headed out the door within the hour, arriving at the
precinct at 6:00 a.m. I had baked some pumpkin muffins the night before and
brought those in for everyone. The inspector for our place brought in some
sausage biscuits and others brought snacks as well. We got everything set up
and signed and got ourselves sworn in and then opened the polls at precisely
7:00 a.m. We had one lady waiting on us
to open the doors.
Overall the
day went really well. The people that I worked with were all in their 70s and 80s
and were nice, at times a little annoying but overall nice. My biggest peeve I
think was that when they were in the middle of a conversation and a voter
walked in they would just keep on talking. I was the only person to say hello
to the voter coming in the door. Unless, of course, they knew the person and
then they would talk so loud and wouldn’t quit talking which would make it
frustrating for the next person to come in because they would be ready to vote
but couldn’t get up to the table for all the fellowshipping taking place.
I had been
told by the inspector that we would be ordering Steak-Out for lunch which I was
looking forward to since I really like Steak-Out. Then when it came time to
order, the inspector suggested Mullins – a place I’m pretty sure he eats at
every day. His wife passed away earlier this year and I guess it’s as close to
home cooked as it gets for when, which is just terrible. I said I was going to
order from Steak-Out because I am not the biggest fan of Mullins. It’s one of
those greasy joints I have to be in the mood for. So, in the end everyone ended
up ordering Steak-Out.
My precinct
is at Jackson Way Baptist Church and they have a day care there and a kitchen
staff which I assume cooks for the daycare. At any rate, one of the kitchen
workers, Ruby, brought us some ice cream cake for dessert; it was quite yummy.
The
afternoon seemed to go by a bit faster as there were more voters coming in,
especially when people started to get off work. We didn’t have too many crazy
situations for which I was thankful. We did have one guy vote who we were all
pretty sure was drunk – yes, drunk Americans can vote as long as they have
proper ID! We had three ballots that had to be spoiled, or thrown out, because
people messed up on their voting. We had a few people on the inactive voters
list and had to ask them to update their information – all of whom said they
had voted within the past year. That inactive voters list is kind of convoluted.
When the
polls closed at 7:00 p.m. we took down the signs and started putting everything
together. In general, it should have been an easy process but at times it was
so frustrating I thought I might lose my patience. All of the people I worked
with have worked an election before and it should have been simple for them. To
say I had to take over more than once is an understatement. We finally got
everything sealed up and in the trunk of the inspector’s car and off to the
courthouse.
Here are
some observations from my day:
- An ID is required to vote in Alabama and while the majority of people come with ID in hand, you would be amazed at how many people walk up and then pull out their ID – which always takes a LONG time.
- It is annoying when people point to their name on the voter registration page – patience please! The lady working the pages is older and the pages kind of stick together.
- A lot of people have no idea where to put there ballot once they walk up to the machine
- Some people don’t know how to draw a line on their ballot to vote.
- A lot of people have complained about the fact that we are having a special election– spending too much money – and that the amendment vote should have been on the ballot in November.
- I became increasingly frustrated at my co-workers who would, instead of making a simple phone call to the board of registrars, would instead hash out a situation for about five minutes – loudly!
- Some of the workers left to go let their dogs out or check on the house or pick up the paper, all of which are not allowed. I’m 100% sure you are supposed to stay at your polling location throughout the entire time the polls are open.
As
mentioned, it was a good day and it provided a nice break from the norm. I’m
really looking forward to working in November because I have no doubt there
will be a big turnout and that should provide for lots of interesting blogging
material.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
A Slow September Weekend
So, I'm thinking of quitting the blog....okay, not really; but, seriously the comments have been a barren wasteland as of late which isn't very motivating to keep on writing. If it weren't for Erika, I probably would quit. She was out sick recently and there were no comments at all which was very discouraging. So, please leave a comment if you have a chance. I read them all and I am very thankful when you all take the time to say hello or comment on what is or isn't going on in my life.
As far as the month of September is concerned, this past weekend was rather relaxing. I got the yard work done on Thursday night and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be the last time of the season, even though I know in my heart of hearts that it won't be.
Friday night I went out to the MA game with my dad and brother and it ended up being quite boring as the Mustangs won 55-0. We left early because I think we were all bored. It was homecoming and my cousin Bennett was on the homecoming court. Sadly, he didn't win king, although I don't think he cared one way or the other. My brother enjoyed his first Friday night of freedom by contemplating what to buy at the concession stand and making sure he got the most value for his money. He was holding out for the fourth quarter call of half price hot dogs, but we left before any half priced food was served, if it was at all. He did enjoy an order and a half (my half) of nachos.
Saturday morning the company I work for held a 5K walk/run. I'm sure I've mentioned it before but we have a program at work where we accumulate points for wellness exams and physical activities, etc. and then receive a discount on the amount we pay for insurance. So, this 5K was worth 250 points and there were a lot of people there - well, at least a lot more than I expected to see. I walked because my running days are far behind me thanks to bad knees and shin splints. My friend Matt ran the course and then came back to walk with me. Wasn't that nice? He tried to get me to run the rest but I really had to pee (just being honest here people) and so that was not going to happen. Guess I shouldn't have made a Starbucks run before the race.
After the race I stopped by the mall as I had some reward dollars to spend at one of the stores and am in desperate need of a new pair of khaki pants. Sadly, the store had no khaki pants; but, I did get a new pair of black pants (also needed), two shirts, a pair of leggings, a pair of sunglasses and a lip glass all for $58. I originally was planning on just getting the pants and two shirts as I thought they would total $100 and I needed to spend $100 in order to use my 50 reward dollars. The pants ended up being on sale and then so did everything else, I just kept adding things until my total reached $100. Turns out I got a lot more than I bargained for!
Saturday afternoon The Tide and I headed over to my parents house to watch the Alabama-Arkansas game and when we arrived the cable was out. It was only working on the one TV in my dad's office. He managed to hook up the TV in the den to the cable box in his office and that's how we were able to watch the game. My brother cooked some chicken wings which were really good and I hope to try and replicate myself someday soon; after the game burgers were grilled and I left with a full belly which is always a good thing.
Sunday was the usual, church, lunch with Jackie and her family, a trip to Publix, a nap, and evening church service. I did manage to get a little cleaning in as well. Jackie and I are headed to Atlanta this weekend coming up and so Sunday night I was looking up directions to the hotel when I started reading a lot of bad reviews about the hotel I had booked and started panicking. I ended up booking another hotel and cancelling my original reservation. The new reservation is at the Holiday Inn and the room is a little more expensive, but after reading all the terrible reviews about the first place, I think we are going to be a lot better off. I don't know how I missed all the bad reviews when I originally booked our room back in May.
So, here we are at Monday and tonight brings with it another Zumba and Goga outing with Jackie and Jan. I am really looking forward to it! Tomorrow I will have the day off from my regular job and will be working at my voting precinct for the special election. I'm sure that experience will bring something of interest to tell you about!
As far as the month of September is concerned, this past weekend was rather relaxing. I got the yard work done on Thursday night and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be the last time of the season, even though I know in my heart of hearts that it won't be.
Friday night I went out to the MA game with my dad and brother and it ended up being quite boring as the Mustangs won 55-0. We left early because I think we were all bored. It was homecoming and my cousin Bennett was on the homecoming court. Sadly, he didn't win king, although I don't think he cared one way or the other. My brother enjoyed his first Friday night of freedom by contemplating what to buy at the concession stand and making sure he got the most value for his money. He was holding out for the fourth quarter call of half price hot dogs, but we left before any half priced food was served, if it was at all. He did enjoy an order and a half (my half) of nachos.
Saturday morning the company I work for held a 5K walk/run. I'm sure I've mentioned it before but we have a program at work where we accumulate points for wellness exams and physical activities, etc. and then receive a discount on the amount we pay for insurance. So, this 5K was worth 250 points and there were a lot of people there - well, at least a lot more than I expected to see. I walked because my running days are far behind me thanks to bad knees and shin splints. My friend Matt ran the course and then came back to walk with me. Wasn't that nice? He tried to get me to run the rest but I really had to pee (just being honest here people) and so that was not going to happen. Guess I shouldn't have made a Starbucks run before the race.
After the race I stopped by the mall as I had some reward dollars to spend at one of the stores and am in desperate need of a new pair of khaki pants. Sadly, the store had no khaki pants; but, I did get a new pair of black pants (also needed), two shirts, a pair of leggings, a pair of sunglasses and a lip glass all for $58. I originally was planning on just getting the pants and two shirts as I thought they would total $100 and I needed to spend $100 in order to use my 50 reward dollars. The pants ended up being on sale and then so did everything else, I just kept adding things until my total reached $100. Turns out I got a lot more than I bargained for!
Saturday afternoon The Tide and I headed over to my parents house to watch the Alabama-Arkansas game and when we arrived the cable was out. It was only working on the one TV in my dad's office. He managed to hook up the TV in the den to the cable box in his office and that's how we were able to watch the game. My brother cooked some chicken wings which were really good and I hope to try and replicate myself someday soon; after the game burgers were grilled and I left with a full belly which is always a good thing.
Sunday was the usual, church, lunch with Jackie and her family, a trip to Publix, a nap, and evening church service. I did manage to get a little cleaning in as well. Jackie and I are headed to Atlanta this weekend coming up and so Sunday night I was looking up directions to the hotel when I started reading a lot of bad reviews about the hotel I had booked and started panicking. I ended up booking another hotel and cancelling my original reservation. The new reservation is at the Holiday Inn and the room is a little more expensive, but after reading all the terrible reviews about the first place, I think we are going to be a lot better off. I don't know how I missed all the bad reviews when I originally booked our room back in May.
So, here we are at Monday and tonight brings with it another Zumba and Goga outing with Jackie and Jan. I am really looking forward to it! Tomorrow I will have the day off from my regular job and will be working at my voting precinct for the special election. I'm sure that experience will bring something of interest to tell you about!
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