Daily thoughts by a guy that doesn't like to think deeply too often!

Monday, July 30, 2007

AJC Review


BEST BITE:


Fresh baked cookies at Flying Biscuit

By Meridith Ford

The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 07/27/2007


If the bakery shelves at Flying Biscuit Cafe in Candler Park (yes, the original) are bare of peanut butter cookies, there's likely to be a riot among the locals. These cookies defy nature —- chewy on the inside, crisp at the edges and chock-full of large bits and pieces of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. OK, so calm down: There's always an oatmeal raisin waiting in the wings. Or chocolate chip. The cookies here (all of 'em) are as big as Moon Pies, baked fresh and will remind you that most of life's stickier issues can be erased with a glass of milk and a big bite of something sweet.
Flying Biscuit Cafe, 1655 McLendon Ave. N.E., 404-687-8888, and 1001 Piedmont Ave., 404-874-8887, www.flyingbiscuit.com

Water Lilly!


Here's a close-up of the water lilly in my pond. It finally came into full bloom yesterday and I think it's incredible!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Spoils




Yesterday's cooking demo went great-- we had a packed house and did a "Southern Picnic" theme: Oven-Fried Chicken, Organic Potato Salad, Strawberry Shortcake & Lemonade. Delia does such a great job entertaining the crowd as she cooks. I can really see her being the next Paula Deen. Delia's new cookbook is scheduled to be released in a couple of months and she's already getting offers to go on a book-signing tour. Now we just need to get her on some talk shows-- Ellen, Leno, etc and she'll be on her way to becoming a celebrity spokesperson! After the demo, the store manager gave me another piece of Calphalon cookware-- a 6.5 quart stock pot-- my set is now complete!




After the demo, we ran into the Indigo Girls! They were in Atlanta doing a concert at the Botanical Gardens last night. We were in traffic and they were in the car next to us. Delia and the Girls go way back-- Emily was the financier behind the Biscuits first store. They rolled down their window and Delia rolled down hers and they chatted for a moment before traffic started moving again and we lost each other. How cool to see some actual celebrities, driving their own car enroute to the concert venue! I wish I'd had my camera with me!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Run Vick, Run!


BB8 Update


"Big Brother 8" fans are mourning the loss of Mike. He was evicted from the house this week, but he walked out with his head held high. I'll miss Mike, not only because he was so easy on the eyes, but he seemed to be a genuinley nice person. I guess it's true that nice people can't survive in that house-- you've got to be a cunning and coniving player to advance to the finals. Good luck, Mike. You'll be missed.


Like the Phoenix Rising from the Ashes...






... my pond is thriving again! I haven't replaced the fish yet, but the plants seem to have recovered. I even got a bloom on one of the water lillies this week! It's beautiful, too-- a pale pink flower that reminds me of the reason I built the pond to begin with. I'm not looking at the pond with disgust anymore-- now I look at it as a sign of hope. The little bloom reminds me that you can flourish, even after you've hit rock bottom! Who would ever think that life lessons could be learned from a hole full of water and a couple of plants! Anyway, I had the water tested at Petsmart and they said it's fine. I'll add a couple of fish to the pond soon.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Wild Animal Population Decreases...


I've lived in this house for over 7 years and I've never seen a raccoon. Today I saw 2-- and they were both dead in my backyard. I don't want to name names, but I can pretty much figure out which of my dogs is to blame for these deaths. I have a full time gaurd dog/ exterminator in my backyard, and she will not allow any visitors. Poor raccoons--

:(

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

A Twisted Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste...


A few days ago, I was standing in the sun room looking out the window to my backyard. King and Clara were playing in their usual style. Suddenly, King had to take a whiz-- he galloped closer to the window (for some reason he doesn't run, he actually gallops and prances!) and proceeded to squat and do his business. For some reason this bothers me. He is almost three years old and he has never hiked his leg to pee. It's always a squat. I'm sure that he assumes this position because he was raised amongst female dogs and he just follows their actions. People have told me that it's my fault because I had him neutered too early-- I think he was less than 4 months old. But at the time, I was following the vet's advice-- he wanted King neutered ASAP, due to the fact that he and his litter mates were bottle fed and never had any mother's milk... without the protein injections from Mom, the litter would have lessened immune systems and neutering/spaying would help them in that department. I didn't understand the reasoning, but followed the advice. So as I was standing there watching my little boy squat in the backyard, all I could think was "I shouldn't have gotten him circumcised so soon". Then it hit me, I was saying circumcised, instead of neutered. The next thought that passed my twisted brain was-- I wonder if anyone ever had their dog circumcised? I thought about creating a new character in Keisha's family that I could blog about-- a Great Aunt that was so Jewish that she had her dog circumcised when he turned 12-- this is the stuff B-movies are made of! Can you imagine a cast of rednecks (picture the cast of "Sordid Lives") sitting in the vet's waiting room during the operation, along with their rich redneck Great Aunt-- pacing the floor and debating whether or not it was a good idea to have Scrappy cut? To me, this sounds funny-- but then again, I have a pretty twisted mind!

Monday, July 23, 2007

La Dolce Gilda!

One of the saddest moments in TV history-- saying goodbye to Gilda Radner. About a week after Gilda died, SNL played a black and white, 60 second film as a tribute to her. It might've been a replay from a previous show, but it took on a new meaning that night. I've searched and searched to find the video clip online, but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere. The best I can do is a SNL transcript, without the video, or the violin playing in the background, it might not mean anything to anyone else but me:


Gilda Radner
: You're still following me? Stop! Leave me alone! [ walks away, then turns around and smiles] I'm just teasing. Come here. Come.. closer. You know I love you, my little monkeys. But leave me my dreams. Dreams are like paper, they tear so easily. I love to play. But every time I play.. you win. Ciao. [ she walks away ]

[ a mime holding a balloon opens his coat to reveal a paper heart glued to his chest, then releases his balloon into the air ]

[ fade to black ]

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Breakfast for Babies, July 24th



Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, July 24th The Flying Biscuit Café Midtown and Candler Park locations will donate 20% of sales generated that day to the March of Dimes to help improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. As the leading national health organization dedicated to saving babies’ lives, the March of Dimes conducts and funds programs of research, community services, education and advocacy. The Foundation has a 68-year track record of success in saving millions of babies from death and disability and bringing people together to solve complex health challenges.

94.4 The Bull will be on site at our Midtown location helping us promote the event from 7am-10am. The Bull’s very own Lance Houston will be doing live call-ins from the Biscuit!

Help support Breakfast for Babies by coming by for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

There is also a Toll free Number open on Tuesday, July 24th from 6am – 11pm (1-866-MOD BABY) (1-866-663-2229) if you’d like to make a donation.

Hope to see you there!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Creative Loafing Ad

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Makin' Mr. Warhol Proud!


Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Wow! I Never Knew!


The first Waffle House restaurant opened on Labor Day in 1955 in Decatur, GA, just down the street from the original Flying Biscuit!

Over the period of 52 years, they have opened almost 1500 locations! May we be so lucky!

A City of Concern...


When I got home from work last night, I found a note on my door that a detective from the "Major Crimes Division" had been by my house to investigate the fish killing that occurred in my pond the previous morning. I also found that I had a voice mail from a different detective concerning the goldfish, and later emails from the Police Captain and a City Council member. It seems the entire police force has taken this case on!

Shortly after dinner, two investigators arrived at my house (maybe the ones that left the note earlier?). They asked me a few questions and looked at the pond. It turns out that I had met both of these officers a couple of weeks ago at Dairy Queen. They had asked me about my car wrap and about the Flying Biscuit while I was waiting for my to-go banana split! We were like old friends! Next the officers started canvasing the neighborhood. They knocked on doors, they stopped people that drove by, they questioned the kids that bicycled past my house. They went at it for at least two hours- but no information was available. After each neighbor was questioned, they would make a B-line to my house to ask me what happened. Each of them would stand there gazing down at my pond, at the one barely surviving goldfish, and just shake their heads and question how any person could do something like this. My front yard began to look like a memorial service. Flocks of neighbors stood around shaking their heads while the police were continuing their investigation further down the street.We got so caught up in the moment, that I think most of us forgot that we were mourning some goldfish.



Actually, I think we were mourning the state of humanity more. The fact that a person could deliberately kill living animals is a sad reflection on society. It wasn't the death of the fish, it was the death of trust. It was the loss of a feeling of security-- if someone could do this to my fish, what's to stop them from doing this to the dogs next door, or the cats down the street, or the widow down the block? I think that's what we mourned the most. I think that's what brought the neighbors to my yard-- we needed to feel the security of being around our friends and neighbors. To somehow make sense of the unsensable.



Today, there were no notes on the door, no emails, no phone calls. No neighbors stopped by to shake their heads. Life goes on, I guess. Except for the remaining goldfish that's been fighting to breath in my pond for the past 48 hours. At some point today, he lost the fight and moved on as well.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Mass Murder on Westwood Ave


I went out to feed the fish this morning and I couldn't believe what I saw... all of the fish were dead. I checked on them last night and they all seemed fine.

I grabbed my net and began to remove the bodies. That's when I smelled it-- gasoline! Someone poured gas into my pond overnight. Why would anyone do something like that? Anyone that knows me or even drives down my street on a regular basis would surely recognize how much this pond has meant to me over the past few months. I'm out there everyday working on it, and it's about the only thing in my life that's brought me happiness and serenity lately. Just pure evil.

I emptied the pond, and in the process found 1 surviving fish. He doesn't look too good, either. After I removed all of the water, I scrubbed the liner down and re-filled the pond with fresh water. I also replaced the filters in the pump. Hopefully I did all I could to restore the pond to a liveable habitat. This just sucks! I can't believe that anyone could be so cruel.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

One for the Road

Bette Midler on the last episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In this she sang: One For My Baby. She left Johnny in tears after she sang this song. Enjoy.

Excuse Me--- I Tooted!


Please forgive me for "tooting my own horn"! I've learned that there are very few people in this world that will toot your horn for you-- often you have to do it yourself!


What the heck am I talking about? I reached a goal today, and I couldn't be happier! As of today, I have sold more catering in 2007 than I did in all of 2006! Total catering sales for 2006 were $73,813.51. So far this year I have sold $74,018.02! Plus, I still have over 5 months to go! I would really like to double last years sales and I think I have a chance of pulling it off! The bar is set pretty high-- can I do it?

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Lady Bird Johnson


Former U.S. first lady Lady Bird Johnson has died in Texas at the age of 94, less than two weeks after leaving hospital, a family spokeswoman said on Wednesday.


Facts about former first lady Lady Bird Johnson:


* Claudia Alta Taylor, born in Karnack, Texas, on December 22, 1912, was 2 years old when her family's maid came up with her nickname, saying the girl was "purty as a lady bird."
* She graduated from the University of Texas in 1934 with degrees in arts and journalism and intentions to become a reporter. She met Lyndon B. Johnson, then a congressional aide in Washington, that same year and he proposed marriage to her on their first date. She thought he was joking but they were married two months later.
* Lady Bird always played a major role in Johnson family finances, providing $10,000, part of an inheritance from her mother, to Lyndon's first congressional campaign. She also used inheritance money to buy an Austin radio station for $17,500 in 1942, starting what grew into a multimillion-dollar communications company.
* She faced often hostile crowds in 1964 when she went on a four-day, eight-state train tour of the U.S. South, delivering 47 speeches on behalf of the landmark Civil Rights Act and other programs being pushed by her husband.
* Beautifying America was her pet cause. She lobbied for the Highway Beautification Act, which encouraged planting of wildflowers on public land and regulation of billboards on federal highways. She and actress Helen Hayes established the National Wildflower Research Center in Austin, Texas, in 1982 on Johnson's 70th birthday. The center was renamed for the former first lady in 1998.
* Johnson chronicled some of her Washington time in the book "A White House Diary" and also co-authored "Wildflowers Across America."
* Vice President Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird were riding in the Dallas motorcade two cars behind President John Kennedy on November 23, 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated.
* Lyndon Johnson died in 1973; they had two daughters, Lynda Bird and Luci Baines.

Not Again!!!


"Big Brother" started again last week-- I can't believe that I'm going to get sucked into this again-- for the 8th year! It is a good show-- very interesting-- but why does it have to air 3 nights a week? They start off with a schedule like Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 8:00pm. Within a couple of weeks, Julie Chen (the host) will announce at the end of the show "be sure to tune in Saturday at our special time 9:30pm". On the next show, Julie will tells us that the Friday episode will be moved to 8:30pm. By the end of the season it's probably best just to leave your TV tuned to CBS 24/7 or you'll miss the finale. All I can say is thank God for Tivo!






I've only seen 1 episode of this season so far, and I am already totally against one of the players, Joe (not pictured here). He needs to be kicked out of the house ASAP. He is the biggest, gayest drama queen on the planet. I really want him gone soon, or there will be a miserable three months in my future. He gives gays a bad name! Second in line on my wishlist is that jen (also not pictured here), will follow Joe out the door the following week. She's his equal when it comes to drama. In the episode that I saw, she was upset over one of the pictures that was taken of her. It was a very nice picture, I didn't see anything wrong with it. Well, she cried and cried and went into hysterics because it was such a bad picture. The rest of the houseguests tried to comfort her, but she was inconsoleable! I'm sure they were all thinking "what a crazy bitch-- let's vote her off first!".





Grand Opening Party Re-Visit



Here are a couple of the pics that were taken the night of the Buckhead Flying Biscuit's Grand Opening party! In the car with me are (left to right): Molly Gunn (Raving Brands), Q100's Jeff Dauler (FB co-owner), John Slocum (FB co-owner), Kempten Roberts of Green Olive Media, Shonna Domitrivitch (Raving Brands), Delia Champion (FB Founder), Elizabeth Moore (Green Olive Media).


Maybe this will be a tradition at the Grand Opening parties in the future?? All of the new franchisees pile in the car with Delia, our PR firm and me! That cool be a cool section to ad to the Flying Biscuit scrapbook! Two more stores are scheduled to open in August (East Cobb and Charlotte, NC), and another in September (Buckhead, Terminus Building).


Saturday, July 07, 2007

All I want for the 4th...



I swear on my father's grave that this story is 100% true. You can't make this stuff up!!!




After the road race on the 4th of July, I met my family at Shane's Rib Shack for lunch. Afterwards, we decided to go for a walk in Edgewood shopping center. We ended up in Petco so that Joel could buy some treats for his dog, Lucy. For some reason, this visit to the pet store become more like a visit to the zoo. As a family, we toured the entire store, looking at each animal. We saw a cage full of finches and I confessed that I had always wanted a finch. Joel pointed out that they were only $17.99, so it wasn't like I had a dream that was unobtainable. Next we went to the fish department. We were looking at the goldfish and Mom mockingly confessed that she's always wanted a goldfish. Once again, Joel pointed out that they ranged in prices from 12 to 29 cents, and if she really wanted a goldfish he would buy her one. She declined, saying that it was just a lifetime dream, but she couldn't commit to taking care of a goldfish.




Somehow, we ended up in the rodent section. We were watching the ferrets play in their cage when all of a sudden we noticed a woman and her son standing near us. I'm not sure if there are any trailer parks in the Candler Park/ Inman Park/Kirkwood area, but I feel certain that this woman walked to the store from whatever mobile home that she currently dwells in. She was pure white trash- she had the wardrobe and everything: white "wife beater" T-shirt, no bra, tattoos, missing teeth and flip-flop shoes. I didn't get her name, but I'll call her Candy. Candy told us that ferrets "is sweet animals". Having lived with ferrets in the past I agreed with her. Except for the fact that they stink, and that they like to use their sharp nails and teeth on human feet, they are delightful pets. Suddenly, Candy turned to her son and gave an anxious look-- apparently she had spent all the time that she could at this pet store. Maybe she was in a hurry to buy a lotto ticket. Maybe the dollar store was having a two-for-one special. Who knows. Candy told her son "You better hurry up and pick out which rat you want for the Fourth of July!". She told us that she buys him a rat each year for the Fourth. "We done got 3 at home already, but they're all male. We keep trying to find a female so we can mate 'em and sale 'em back to the pet store and make a profit." These people are trying to breed rats to make money? How much could you possibly make by selling baby rats? Next door at Lowe's, they are selling rat poison and mouse traps and every other method of killing the very thing that she hoped to reproduce! Within a few minutes we were all in the checkout line- us with our dog treats, them with their rat-in-a-box. Here's hoping that Candy's dream came true and she was able to finally purchase a female rat to fulfill her dream of getting rich in the rodent industry.

The Fourth...

I didn't brave the crowd to witness the fireworks in person this year. I decided to stay home and watch from my front yard. I've got a great view of the downtown East Point skyline from my street. So the other night I was sitting in the front yard when the show began. What I saw was incredible. All of a sudden, I was distracted by something... a dog! This was the fastest dog I've ever seen-- it was running up and down Westwood like a Greyhound in a race! I was amazed! After a moment, it I realized that this was one of my dogs! Clara had somehow gotten out of the fence and she was darting up and down the street. I called her name and opened the back gate. Within seconds she was back in the yard, safe and secure. Suddenly, Shelby came running from the garage to meet us. I tried to put Shelby in the house, but the back door was locked and I didn't want to leave Clara alone in fear that she'd jump the fence again. So the three of us rode out the rest of the fireworks show together, huddled on the back steps. As the girls panted and hyperventilated with each explosion, I verbally reassured them that it was almost over, and warned them of the upcoming finale. Clara even nuzzled her way beside me on the steps and allowed me to pet her for the first time in 3 years! She was terrified and needed all of the comforting she could get. As soon as the fireworks were over, life returned to normal. Clara has kept her distance ever since, but she hasn't tried to jump the fence again! Shelby recovered as well.

Fun with Numbers!


Today is July 07th, 2007. Otherwise known as 07/07/07. Everyone is making a big deal about this, I guess because 7 is supposed to be a luck number. I don't remember anyone making a big deal last year when the calendar read 06/06/06-- even though according to the Book of Revelation the mark of the beast is 666!


It is kind of cool when you think about it-- next year we'll have 08/08/08-- then 09/09/09, 10/10/10, 11/11/11 and 12/12/12. After that, phenomenons such as this will not occur in our lifetimes.


The coolest date/time that I can remember occur ed last year on April 5th, at 1:23pm... if you combined the time with the date you got 01:23 04/05/06.


I've always been scared of 08/08. I used to have a recurring dream that I saw my gravestone and beneath my name was my birth date, along with my death date of August 8th. In my dreams, I never saw the year, just August 8th. I've been scared of August 8th every year for about 20 years! I'm sure I'll be a mess next year when the numbers are all aligned as 08/08/08!


Until then, today is all about 7's. It's a lucky day and a good omen! Enjoy the day!

Pond Closed Due to Maintenance...

The pond has been looking pretty bad lately. I think it's a combination of a cheap filter system, too many fish and overfeeding. The cheap filter system couldn't keep up with the amount of waste in the water, so it shut down Friday morning. I took the system apart and cleaned it, but it still didn't work. Today I went to Lowe's and bought a heavy duty filter system. Before installing it, I emptied most of the water from the pond-- it was a nasty job! The water was dark, dark green-- almost black! I refilled the pond with fresh water and added the chlorine remover, before installing the new filter system. It still looks pretty nasty, but hopefully it'll clear up after the water is all cycled through the filter in a few hours. My new plan is to remove a couple of buckets of water each day and replace it with clean water. Hopefully I'll keep ahead of the overpopulation problem by supplying fresh water daily. I'm not complaining about having so many fish- I love seeing the pond full. I just need to do a better job at maintaining the quality of the water.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Funny!


"My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took
her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said,
'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.'"
--Paula Poundstone

Finally!

As some of you may know, I've been negotiating with the parent company for several months now. The negotiations are finally over and I got pretty much everything that I asked for. Part of my negotiation was for a commission on all of the catering sales. Today it was confirmed that I will receive the amount that I requested. The only problem is that I will only get paid on the sales when payment is received. A lot of my big accounts are on a 30 day billing cycle, so I won't be eligable for that commission until I get their checks 30 days later. The commission payment will be on my paycheck, so that adds up to another 2 weeks before I will actually see the money that I earned. I know that in the long run, this will be a good thing. Once the money starts coming in, it will be great. 'Til then, I'll need to tighten my financial belt a little. But overall, the news is great.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

The Fleet (seen at the Peachtree today)
















"The Biscuiteers!" (Road Race 07/04/07)