I’m going to take the rest of the week off from the blog and try to recharge the ol’ mental batteries.  I’ve been a basketcase since coming back from vacation and am in a rotten attitude.  The past few week’s worth of subpar blog entries are a testament to that.  Plan on a new post on Monday, assuming I can get out of this funk which has simply rotted my brain and made me a miserable, unmotivated mope.  I don't want this blog to be a pity party for my unhappiness (not to be confused with anger or ranting, which can cause good writing) so I won't expose you to this side of me if I can help it.

To add a twist to the tributes to George Carlin today, I offer you a list of dirty words he’s not allowed to say, depending on where he is currently residing.

If he’s in Heaven (which, if anyone knows his routine, he’d be surprised as hell if he wound up there), then St. Peter handed him a list of 7 words/phrases he is not allowed to use:

1. Goddamn

While I gave a thumbs down to southern cheese styles yesterday (of the string and cottage variety), I figured I’d throw a few bouquets to certain southern foods which are out-of-this-world great.  Much like the things I learned to crave in Chicago (deep dish pizza and Chicago-style hot dogs – both of which I can get down here), the items I’ve listed aren’t exactly what we would consider healthy.  Consider these Guilty Pleasures and I am Guilty as charged, even though I rarely have them due to not wanting to be 300 pounds.

I wanted to give a heads up for anyone reading my blog with the Safari browser that not all my entries appear on the home page for whatever reason.  As someone who made the switch to the Superior Operating System (AKA Mac OS X) a few years after I started this blog, there have been several incompatible issues since the blog has .NET code which is Microsoft-centric.  In fact, I’m forced to post anything using Internet Explorer since there are even some issues the software has with Firefox.  I won't bore you with the technical details; rather I just wanted to make everyone aware.

Not much time to write today but I did want to show a picture (courtesy of the NY Times) I’ve been holding on to since the Pope visited New York City a few months ago.  Who knew the Pope was a connoisseur of pimp shoes?

Yesterday I posted a few examples of newer houses in the neighborhood that I thought fit in with the zeitgeist of the neighborhood.  Today I'm giving examples of ones that swung and missed.  Again, this is totally subjective so what I like doesn’t translate to what everyone else likes.  Take my critiques with a grain of salt.

First up has nothing to do with the house structure itself.  This bungalow was one of the smallest houses in the area until the new owners ...

Today yours truly is going to play the role of local Architectural Critic.  Actually most of my comments are going to be positive, as Decatur residents really “get it” in terms of smart growth and also the rehabbing of old bungalows.  It’s one of Atlanta’s oldest suburbs and is the first suburb you hit heading east from Atlanta.  This means there are a ...

Some of the beer-based blogs I read have been participating in asking head brewers what four people they would like to sit down and have dinner with – past or present, living or deceased.  I figured I’d bite and give my list (The General from my blog also suggested this topic).  While there are living people that I would like to have a dinner conversation with, I decided to only include deceased people from the past 200 years since this is a fantasy list anyway.

Even in the midst of these sleepless nights thanks to our restless daughters and stressful days due to work deadlines, I have to remind myself how spoiled we can be.  My battery in my car key remote died the other week and I found myself not realizing how convenient it is to have that.  Besides the fact that it’s handy to have if you don’t recall exactly where you parked your car, it’s convenient to have it ready for you to open if you’re caught in a downpour.  For the few days where I had to manually insert the key into the door, not to mention I had to get into the car if I wanted to open the trunk since there is no external key entry for it, I realized how much we take little things like that for granted.< ...