The video played at the Engauge Digital Holiday Party 2009:
By the way, Coke, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Home Depot are our clients 
Archive for the ‘Atlanta’ Category
These are the people I work with…
Monday, January 12th, 2009Snow In Atlanta
Sunday, January 20th, 2008
For the second time in a week, it snowed in Atlanta …and with accumulation. For those of you back in Ohio, I can’t overstate what a monumental event this is down here. You’d think the apocalypse is upon us at the first sign of a snowflake. Grocery stores run out of bread and milk, schools shut down and traffic slows to a crawl.
Earlier in the week, it started snowing close to rush hour. Not good. The first mile or so going home took about 45 minutes. Yesterday (Saturday) it snowed even more, with a bit more accumulation. Here are some pics. It’s about half gone already today, but it was pretty cool.
One Year In Atlanta
Saturday, December 1st, 2007
Today marks our one year anniversary in Atlanta. Exactly one year ago today, Murray was riding shotgun with me in a rental truck, bound for Georgia.
Honestly, it doesn’t feel like it’s been all that long. And there still hasn’t been a single day I’ve regretted our decision to move. Yes, we do really miss friends and family. But with the phone, email, the blogs and regular trips back to Ohio, it’s made it a lot easier to get used to.
Looking back on the year, I think we’ve accomplished (and learned) a lot, and I look forward to seeing what our future holds. We did already renew our apartment lease, but to be honest, the commute is getting longer and longer, and I’m not sure how much longer I want to spend 9 hours a week in the car. We’re considering moving closer to town, but we’ve only begun talking about it. So we might still be here a while longer.
Not really sure yet what we’ll do to mark the occasion. Maybe just dinner and a movie. Here’s to another great year coming up!
UPDATE: So we ended up marking the day by redeeming a couple passes at the Midtown Art and saw “No Country For Old Men”. Pretty good Coen Brothers movie, if not a bit a bit unexpected. Then we went over to Atlantic Station to see their big tree, and their scheduled nightly snow. The snow wasn’t all that impressive, but I guess if you don’t see it very often, it’s still cool. The kids seemed to like it. Then we ate at the Cheesecake Bistro, which wasn’t too bad.
My First Football Game
Saturday, November 17th, 2007
Today I went to my first real football game (not counting the one high school game I’d ever gone too). My boss took me to the UGA (aka the Georgia Bulldogs) vs Kentucky game and it was pretty amazing.
Like the baseball game, you really don’t get a sense of what it’s like watching it on television. Our seats were right on the 50-yard-line, only 25 rows back, and the weather was darn near perfect. And best of all…we won! See some photos here.
Now I just need to get to a hockey game
Fright Fest = Lame
Sunday, October 28th, 2007
So yesterday we finally made it back to Six Flags for their Fright Fest extravaganza. Our expectation was all built around our experience with Halloweekends at Cedar Point, where they had the entire park themed out for Halloween, and had at least 4-5 haunted attractions, some converted from existing rides. We figured Six Flags’ Fright Fest would be the same, maybe even better. Wrong.
When we first got up to the front gates, there was some organ music playing, but absolutely no other theming at that point. Once we got in, the main area inside the gates had a really cool Fright Fest sign with skeletons and was really well done. There was also an animatronic organist and the fountain was dyed blood red. So far so good.
But once we started walking around, the theming was pretty spotty. A few tombstones here, some cobwebs there. But huge portions of the park had nothing. For instance, the entire Gotham City section had no indication it was even Halloween.
So then we made our way to the haunted house we’d seen on earlier visits, hoping this would redeem them. As we approached, I noticed the line only had like 10 people in it, which was odd, since the park was packed, and there were long lines for everything.
Then we noticed why. In front of the attraction, there was a ticket booth. They were charging TEN BUCKS a person for the haunted house!!! We just stood there in total shock. Keep in mind, that Cedar Point NEVER charged extra for their haunted houses.
So we didn’t even go in. I figured I’d spent good money on a season pass, and a season PARKING pass to not be charged extra for something that should’ve been free.
So we ended up spending a grand total of an hour there and left feeling pretty disappointed. Note to Six Flags: send a couple people to Cedar Point’s Halloweekends to see how it’s really done.
Mom Comes To Atlanta
Sunday, October 28th, 2007
Last week, Mom and Parke came down for almost a week to visit. We did a ton of stuff and I think (hope) everyone had a great time. Our first day, we went over to Historic Norcross and had lunch at a cafe located in an old train station. And two trains passed right by it while we were there. Frankly, the best part of the cafe is the sign in the men’s bathroom: “Do not put cigarette butts in the urinal. It makes them soggy and hard to light.”
Then we walked around town a bit and went in a couple shops, like ‘Taste of Britain‘, which is run by an actual British couple, and is filled with all kinds of stuff from the UK.
On Friday, we went north a bit to the Mall of Georgia. Honestly, it’s a nice mall and everything, but with all the malls we have closer to us, there was nothing really spectacular about it. But they have a couple nice collectibles stores, and a Starbucks on every floor, so it’s not all bad.
Then we went to a couple scrapbooking stores for mom, but not without several runarounds by our wonderful GPS. That little gadget is still probably one of the best investments ever, but sometimes I just want to chuck it through the windshield.
On Saturday, it was up to Duluth for some general running around. I was very happy I got to show off my favorite store, Fry’s Electronics. Other stops were Jo-Ann Fabrics (fun) and a Christmas shop. Then back over closer to home for dinner at Macaroni Grill.
On Sunday, we went on a driving tour of Atlanta, starting with showing them my commute to work. Being Sunday, I was able to give them a tour of my offices. Then we went through Midtown and then over to downtown and parked in a garage to do some walking around. We walked around the inside of CNN Center, walked all the way around Centennial Olympic Park, and down around the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola. All that stuff is packed within the same few blocks, which is also where Phillips Arena is located, for things like hockey games. I think the Georgia Dome is right around there someplace, but I didn’t see it.
Then on the way back, we went via 400 so we could show them the Northpoint Mall in Alpharetta, which is closer to the apartment and has become our mall of choice.
On Monday, we went to the Atlanta Zoo. It rained that morning and was kind of cool, but it didn’t rain at all while we were there. So being sort of overcast, and a Monday, we practically had the place to ourselves. And because it was cooler, almost every animal was out, as opposed to the summer when all they want to do is lay around. We finally got to see the baby panda, and that day was Dumati the orangutan’s first birthday. We even got cake! Overall, we were pretty impressed with the zoo, and Brenda and I became members so we could go back as many times as we wanted for a year. Looking forward to doing more photography there, especially after I get a new lens for the Nikon.
So those are the highlights. I think everyone had a good time, and hopefully others will want to come down as well (Brenda’s mom, I’m looking in your direction).
What’s Happening To Me?
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007
We’re witnessing a very strange phenomenon since moving to Atlanta. I’m actually developing an interest in sports.
…I’ll allow you some time to pick yourselves off the floor….
Better? Good. So before we came to Atlanta, I had almost zero interest in sports of any kind. I thought baseball was “okay”, so much as I could actually understand it. Football was another matter. None of it made any sense. Pass interference? I thought that was the whole point? Knock that dude down.
But ever since my boss took us all to a Braves game, I’ve started to get more and more interested. So much so that I’ve been caught actually watching entire football games. Brenda was at first very worried, and wondered if maybe I had been snatched by aliens and my body replaced by some sort of pod person. I’m still not sure she’s convinced otherwise.
I think this is all because I’d never lived someplace that had its own teams. Granted, I was in a state that had pro football and baseball teams. But they were hours away, so it’s not quite the same as when your own town has baseball, football and hockey teams.
I’m definitely still learning as I go. So much of football still seems obtuse to me. Maybe I can find a ‘Football for Dummies’ book. But I’m getting the hang of it.
If you are doubting any of this, I actually know that a Falcons game starts today at 4:15. How bad is that?
Six Flags Scouting
Sunday, July 1st, 2007
We just got back from our first visit to Six Flags Over Georgia. Luckily, we’re so close to the park, we can decide to go pretty much on a whim. It was supposed to be a little cooler today, so after breakfast at iHop we decided to head over and check it out.
The drive takes anywhere from 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic, which is about how long it takes me to get to work. So if feels like just a hop, skip and a jump. That makes it nice because you don’t have to feel like you’ve got to make this huge day out of it. So with a season pass, you can go whenever you feel like it and ride a few rides, eat a funnel cake and go home.
Today we didn’t even ride anything, but the train. This was mostly a scouting expedition for when Kelly and Julie come down in a couple weeks. We wanted to already know how to get their and the basic layout of the park, which I think we accomplished.
But I tell ya, sweet merciful crap, it was HOT. I typed that in all-caps because there’s not yet such a thing as super-caps. When we got back to the car at about 4:45, the thermometer said 97. Luckily, there are lots of areas with shade, but still. And don’t think they don’t capitalize on that. A bottle of water is $3.50 apiece, and we ended up buying four bottles.
My first impressions of the park are pretty good. Mind you, I compare everything to Cedar Point. The theming is the best part. They have Warner Brothers and DC Comics, which means you’ll see character theming with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and all the Looney Toons Characters. Plus, Batman, Superman, The Flash and a lot of other DC Comics characters. I got my picture taken with Bugs Bunny and the Batmobile! Check out the photos!
The park seems pretty well laid out, but we just need to get acquainted with the map a little more. And there seems to be a good variety of rides, from what we’ve seen. I do like that most of their “thrill” rides don’t try to be the tallest and fastest, a trend I’ve gotten sort of tired of with Cedar Point. Six Flags’ rides just seem fun.
At any rate, this was just a dry run, and I hope to actually ride a bunch of stuff very soon.
My Daily Commute
Friday, June 8th, 2007
So I had a bunch of photos left on the disposable camera I used at the ball game and needed to get rid of ‘em. So I decided to document my daily commute. So here are some shots following my daily route home every day.
Game Photos
Friday, June 8th, 2007
Finally got my photos developed from our first Braves game. I was pretty impressed that Eckerd drug store was able to process the film an make a photo cd on the spot. Took ten minutes and cost three bucks!
I’d say they came out pretty well for being taken with a disposable camera.