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August 2007
Found: One lazy afternoon at park
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This past weekend was pretty lazy for me. I was sick and tired of hearing about Michael Vick and all the usual rigmarole. My brain needed a day off. What to do?
My girlfriend and I went to explore Duluth, to see what Duluth was like during the day.
We started off with lunch at The Soda Shop on Hill Street, bordering the town center park. I had a sandwich, and my girlfriend had a salad. I really, really wanted some ice cream, but they didn’t have anything low sugar. I am diabetic, and I had already used by my weekly sugar allowance, so I enjoyed, with zeal, what turned out to be a very good sandwich.
Then, we moved on to the Main Street coffee shop. I had such a good experience last time, I had to try and see if I would have a similar experience. The young man working at the counter was very helpful, very polite, and obviously a sales executive in training. We shared a light conversation, and learned about some of the nuances of what goes into making a good barista. And yes, the coffee again was excellent.
We then went out to the park, sat on a swinging bench and watched people. The fountain in the square was at full blast, and kids were darting in between the jets of water, keeping cool, laughing and having a good time. There are various people walking under the shade of the leaves, and a few walking dogs. Did you know that the city of Duluth provides little baggies at the entrance of the park, so that conscientious pet owners can clean up after their dogs? What a novel idea.
An impromptu game of whiffleball started on the grass. A group of teenagers came out of the soda shop, brandishing cameras and making their friends pose for them. Various couples and intermittent singles sat on some of the other benches, watching, and moving on. A new clock chimed 4 o’clock, which got me a little by surprise. I hadn’t been expecting that, but I thought it was a pretty cool thing, almost a Norman Rockwell experience.
So yes, it was lazy and boring. But that’s kind of my point. We had talked the previous week about taking a drive somewhere and leaving the city behind us. We talked about Helen, Dahlonega, Hiawassee. By the time we got to putting a plan into action, though, we had wasted enough of the day that neither one of us was all they eager to make a trek. Little did we realize that our own back yard provided exactly the kind of relief and experience for which we were both looking.
Does your town provide you a quiet place to go for a lazy Saturday
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Cell phones and express lines
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now I’ve seen everything.
I was at the Publix on Peachtree Industrial on Sunday. The registers were busy, but I was fortunate enough to get in line behind one lady who was, like me, purchasing only a few items. Friends and neighbors, beware of the short lines.
As I got in line behind her, I noticed that she was talking on a cell phone. Mistake number one. In situations like this, I usually start scanning the other counters, seeing if I could leave this line and move into another. Seeing nothing else available, and noting that another person had moved into line behind me, I figured that I would just wait it out.
The cashier had finished her scanning, and announced the total to the customer. The customer, engrossed in her conversation, did not acknowledge the cashier’s request. The cashier announced the total again. Still, there was no response from customer.
Eventually, the cashier tapped the customer on the arm and politely indicated that she was ready. The customer held her finger up in the air, as if to say “wait a minute,” took her time, then ended her call, put the cell phone in her purse, and then closed it up.
She then turned her attention to the cashier, who patiently and politely reminded the customer of the total. So, the customer opens the purse that she just closed, fidgets around in her purse for her checkbook, opens the checkbook, fidgets around for a pen, finds it, starts writing, finds the pen out of ink. She starts rummaging around again in her purse for another pen. The cashier says, “Here, I have a pen.” The customer replied, “No, that’s okay, I have a pen here, give me a second.” She eventually did find another pen, wrote her check, filled out the register in her checkbook, got a receipt, but the receipt in her checkbook, closed the checkbook, put the checkbook back in her purse, fidgeted around for her car keys, found her car keys, then closed the purse. She started to walk away, but stopped after three steps, and came back to the counter to get the bags of groceries.
There ought to be a law that says if you are not ready to pay for your bill at the time the cashier is ready, then you should be bumped to the back of the line, and wait your turn until you get back to the cashier. There are other things that it could think of (and actually did). That would make this point more effective, but that’s a start. We could all stand to be a little more courteous and aware of the people around us.
Did you have any customer service tales of woe?
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Tips for beating the heat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Man, it’s hot!,” my friend Todd said the other day.
We had been enjoying a frosty beverage at the watering hole, doing everything within our power to escape the maddening heat and humidity. “I grew up in Tampa, and I don’t remember it ever being this stifling.”
I remember the heat wave back in 1980. I was 15 years old at the time. Atlanta was just as frenetic, if not quite so populous. Every day was 98, 99, 100°. There was no respite at night. The one good thing is that it seemed too hot for the mosquitoes, so we only had to deal with the oppressive humidity.
“You know, with all the Southerners having grown up in this neck of the woods, one would think that we would have all kinds of remedies to help ward off the heat,” I said.
“Heck, without air-conditioning, I wonder how many of us would even be in the South right now,” Todd replied. I reminded myself that being Floridian is not the same thing as being a Southerner, so I let it pass. “Do you think anybody has any tricks of the trade for dealing with this heat?”
There is a device in manufacturing called a swamp cooler. Without going into too much detail, I can tell you how to make a small version for yourself. You need a salad bowl, a lot of ice, and an oscillating fan. Put the ice in the bowl, and set the bowl in front of a fan. Turn the fan on. The fan will blow the melting ice and water into your face, offering a cooling respite from the heat. The more ice, the bigger the fan, the better the opportunity to get cool. I must caution you, though, not to use too big of a fan. Otherwise, your book will be ruined.
So I ask you, friends and neighbors, what are some of your tricks to help you keep cool during these dog days of summer?
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Crime increasing, comfort decreasing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was talking with my mom the other day, catching up with what has been going on in our busy lives. I mentioned Valente Carbajal-Otero and Erix Eliaser Vallecillo-Matute, the two men who were murdered at the apartment at Promenade at Berkeley, located on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard last week. The killings are the first in the city of Duluth since June 14, 2004.
“You know, that happened just down the street from me,” I said.
“Really? I didn’t realize it was that close. That’s just a little past the Publix, isn’t it?”
“That’s the one,” I replied. “That’s where my friend Leala used to live. My friend Richard used to live there as well, back when it was Northwood Lakes apartment, right when it first opened. That was almost 15, maybe 20 years ago, I think.”
“Oh dear,” she said. “I hope it’s not turning into Norcross. My dear Norcross. Has it been that long?”
We moved north to Duluth from Norcross 20 years ago. Norcross was then what Duluth is starting to become now. The congestion on Pleasant Hill Road is reminiscent of the congestion on Jimmy Carter Boulevard back in the day. New neighborhoods were going up left and right. Increased traffic was choking and strangling the lifeblood of the two lane roads at Spalding Drive and Winters Chapel Road.
You can sign up free for scangwinnett.com, and they will send you daily e-mails of the people who have been arrested within a specified ZIP code. I have watched over the last couple of years the changes in the number of people who have graced the reservation list into Sheriff Conway’s Concrete Inn (aka the Gwinnett Detention Center), and I have noticed the list of names increasing on a daily basis. Traffic violations mostly, but more and more there are cases of shoplifting, drugs, and assault.
It’s logical to assume that, as the population increases, so will the crime rate. It’s statistics and probability. The more people inhabit an area, the more targets become available to more people who want to take advantage of them. Because of this, I am not ready to say that Duluth is ready become the next backdrop for Hollywood’s next great action blockbuster.
I am, however, more willing to lock my door at night. I am more willing to lock my car door when I enter a store. I glance around a little more frequently when I walk alone down the sidewalk. And, like my mother, I resent the loss of innocence.
Do you feel more wary in your community than you used to?
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