http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs Jim Osterman, with a few education- and work-related interruptions along the way, has lived in Sandy Springs since 1962. en-us spoole@ajc.com 2008-05-19T09:03:29-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Jim Osterman, with a few education- and work-related interruptions along the way, has lived in Sandy Springs since 1962. http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/05/19/should_some_res.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs There is a restaurant - not in our city — catching some flak because they have adopted a no-kids under six policy. Their feeling is adults want a place where they can dine in peace and quiet. The owners of... 3966903@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-05-19T09:03:29-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/05/12/cyclists_and_mo.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs A lot of us have been venting our spleen lately over the way cyclists and motorists share our roads. From reading some of the comments there’s a lot of bad blood doing a slow boil. The cyclists think the drivers... 3792903@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-05-12T08:52:59-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/05/05/gas_prices_have.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs The price of gas has put many people in that “someone should” mode, as in “someone should do something about the price of gas.” The person saying that usually has no idea who that person is, and certainly not what... 3614203@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-05-05T07:51:48-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/04/28/has_sandy_sprin.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs Unless something radical happens our neighbors in Dunwoody will vote this summer on becoming a city, the way we did here in Sandy Springs almost three years ago. The whole thing reminds me of those days when I was a... 3439603@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-04-28T08:14:10-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/04/21/memories_of_the.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs The new elementary school in town is in the process - among other things - of choosing a name, school colors and a mascot. Obviously not the weightiest of decisions that will be made, but one that will lodge in... 3260603@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-04-21T08:45:42-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/04/15/do_you_know_wha.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs Now and again I’ve fussed and fumed like an old scold over the lack of enough of us getting involved and knowing what’s going on around town. I think it’s a safe bet more Sandy Springsteens know the status of... 3116303@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-04-15T07:24:31-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/04/07/catching_up_wit.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs We have one of those clocks in the house that sets itself according to some massive time-keeping device so we always have the ultimate correct time. Part of its claim is that it constantly monitors and resets itself so it’s... 2922403@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-04-07T07:53:35-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/03/31/what_has_change.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs When the passage of time can be marked in decades it’s always good to assess how things are going, even when the event being looked at represents a dark time. This spring it will have been 40 years since civil... 2752903@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-03-31T08:30:24-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/03/24/is_sandy_spring_1.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs When this blog started a few years ago one of the things we were seeing around our little town was the introduction of the McMansion phenomena — older homes razed and replaced by bigger/newer/fancier. The lot had more value than... 2591303@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-03-24T07:33:01-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/03/17/time_to_address.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs The Sandy Springs Police Department recently began asking us to help them identify places around town where homeless people are living - usually thick wooded areas. The reason the police are gathering this information is because of a connection between... 2435503@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-03-17T07:43:25-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/03/10/are_societys_va.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs Something seems a little out of kilter. There’s been a lot of talk about a possible draft pick for the Falcons who has, at the tender age of 20, fathered two kids with two different mothers (he’s is not married... 2247403@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-03-10T09:07:32-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/03/03/nothing_to_love.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs Sex had a good run last week - as a topic in the news, I mean. A church in a Florida publicly encouraged its married members to engage on conjugal gymnastics every day for a month. It had something to... 2055702@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-03-03T08:51:23-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/02/25/time_to_grow_up.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs These words caught my eye in the Sunday paper a week ago: “In Sandy Springs, four police officers quit directing traffic in school zones because of their concerns over drivers, mostly adults, talking on cell phones and not paying attention.”... 1861802@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-02-25T07:43:11-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/02/18/in_hoppla_over.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs Quick - can anybody tell me what local offices and initiatives will be on the ballot this November? Anybody? Bueller? The late Speaker of the House of Representatives “Tip” O’Neill once stated that “All politics is local.” Unless we’re talking... 1671902@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-02-18T07:01:53-05:00 http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/entries/2008/02/11/reality_bites_a.html?cxntfid=blogs_around_sandy_springs Last week I got the letter I’ve been expecting for years. It’s the one every parent eventually gets from the Department of Chronological Change/Reality Bites Division. It read: Dear Mr. Osterman: According to our records as of Feb. 5, 2008... 1519402@http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/aroundss/ Jim Osterman 2008-02-11T08:26:16-05:00