Georgia Aquarium...

On a lighter note, pics from the "largest" aquarium in the world!

It's the Law In Kennesaw

Stars and Bars. The Dirty South.

Upon inquiring to a colleague that I wished to see some "local color", I was pointed in the direction of Dent Myers and his shop "Wild Man Bills" (admission fee: 25 cents) in Kennesaw, GA, about 15-20 minutes north of Atlanta. So, some weeks ago, Jam and I headed out of town for our "mini road-trip". Take me away from the malls, these god-forsaken malls!!



Kennesaw has the nickname of "Gun Town, USA" due to a city ordinance passed in 1982 [Sec 34-1a] that requires every head of household to maintain a firearm with ammunition (wikipedia). The popular slogan "It's the Law in Kennesaw" has pretty much been the only thing to put this otherwise small little town on the map. Hey, you gotta use what you got.

Now maybe it was the fact that Mr. Myers was walking around with two firearms (loaded I assume;), or that there was active KKK literature laying around, or it could have been the adolescent delinquent dressed in a confederate uniform (probably an original from "The War of Northern Agression") talking about shooting yankees...but something, something, made us a little uneasy.



I must say the shop itself was in complete disarray and was more akin to an attic or garage sale, with all sorts of things scattered here and there. I kind of liked that. Different. Exploratory. But, there was also this real sense of coming to terms with such a dark part of history. Much of the material (which I won't mention here) in the shop was racist and evil, relics of an era that has passed, so I was hoping that it was more of a reflection than a promotion of that kind of backward thinking that unfortunately still persists today-although I still can't explain the KKK literature-or why the stuff was for sale. Who was buying that stuff? Maybe I ought not to venture far outside the Atlanta city limits!

I saw one mother and daughter there for her school project, doing some research on the civil war. Another older lady asked to hug Dent before she left, what was this some sort of cult? The whole thing felt strange, and after about 15 minutes, we decided it would be best to leave. As I was leaving one thing that struck me was a board of pictures of customers who had visited the shop in the past, all African-American. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. I don't know, but I did leave a creepy taste in my mouth!

HA. Poor Jam, she thought she was going to a "muesuem". But, in a sense, I guess it was. She asked an interesting question concerning racism and sterotypes, etc. "While it's important to teach children about racism etc (those who don't know their history are forced to repeat it--except in the case of Vietnam;), does it just implant the ideas/notions into their heads? Would they even know about racism if we didn't teach them about the past?". It's an interesting question.

Colbert breaks down Bush's Health Care Plan..

"It's so simple. Most people who can't afford health insurance also are too poor to owe taxes. But if you give them a deduction from the taxes they don't owe, they can use the money they're not getting back from what they haven't given to buy the health care they can't afford."

Brilliant!

Children of Men

..go watch it if you get the chance.

Tonaroo Too..

I shall try my best.

"As surprising as it is, I have actually had some requests from the ladies to join the crusade and take up the cross at Tonnaroo Too. As much as it pains me to say this, no women will be allowed at the conference. Of course there is an exception for the emergency contact. But assuming every limb stays attached, this will be a sausage fest in the glorious tradition of Ann
Arbor."

-Tondar.

God help us.

What's So Funny?

Over the past few months I've been told that I laugh in my sleep..a giggle, chuckle, a hoot..what's so funny? I wish I could remember my dreams better...

Heaven Isn't Too Far Away..

2.3 miles to be exact.

note to self:

...Don't write about Guinea Worm before sitting down for a nice speghetti dinner (Jam sweet talked the local Italian resturant owner and got us everything fo' free!) Snap!

5 Years Battling 3 Foot Worms in Pakistan

..that's a helluva bar story..one of my contractors mentioned that he had been stationed in Pakistan for 5 years as the executive director of Carter's Global 2000 Health Care Program to end Guinea Worm Disease (Dracunculiasis) in the country. I asked where he had been stationed and apparently him and a group of doctors traveled from village to village ultimately eradicting GWD..from Pakistan and later the most of the Asian continent. I guess the thing that kind of struck me was I was just calling this guy up to negotiate an agreement and out of the blue he's got these crazy, random stories of personnel being kidnapped in Balochistan and ending up in Bin-Laden terrorist camps (1990s), pulling 3 foot worms from people's legs, living side by side w/ the Maoists in Nepal and...lunch outside my building, on a cool but pleasant day.


People like that inspire.

fyi

papa bear o'reilly is on colbert tonight..

Old Man Winter..

Winter came and with it a certain Mr. Reith. He's so excited about "Wednesday Night Drinking". Apparently, this bar/restuarant just flat out stops selling food on Wednesday so patrons can simply enjoy a liquid dinner (e.g. "I'm drinkin' my dinner"). At least I got a head's up. On a side note, I slammed the car door a little too hard last night and the speaker fell out. Wires snapped and all. If that's what's happening on the outside, I do not care to know what's going on under the hood!

The list is out!

From March to July our team will be traveling to...Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Vietnam, Kenya, Trinidad, and South Africa. Not sure which places I'll get to go, but am excited nonetheless!

Singin' Songs About the Southland..

Finally had the time and health to make it out of Atlanta for a weekend! Friday night Jam and I met up with none other than LA's most promising Inspector General: Mr. F. Giancola, who was on travel in Charleston for the week. Saturday we headed down the coast (not exactly PCH:) and into Savannah. Now, I've never been to South Carolina before, or anywhere in Georgia outside Atlanta, but I gotta say both Charleston and Savannah exceeded my expectations, especially the later. The weather was great, the people lots of fun, and the bars packed with patrons and live music all day (and night) long.



I'm always amazed at these little cool places (e.g. Savannah) that are kind of under the radar.
When you visit you think to yourself, "why isn't this place more popular?". Then you thank god it isn't.

To The Coast!

After listening to international tax law for 8 hours (and being told to put my red passport in the vomit bag and puke if I'm on a plane that gets hijacked;), I'm home for the long weekend. Jam and I are packing up and heading to the coast (its in the blood now) to see some sea and hopefully feel some warmth!



Happy early Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Rainy Night In Georgia...

This goes out to you, Tondar. PBR in the Gomberg House. This one song probably explains why the football players (and their groupies) never ventured any further down the hall:) Damn I missed those rainy nights;) It's nice to have them back.



-You know I kinda like it when it rains like that..
-You like that?
-Brings back some memories from a looooong time ago
-It does, it does..
-Remember how the rain used to sound?
-It just makes you wanna you know sometimes just sit back and go lah-dah-dah dah da-da
-Yeah it makes me want to but I can't, Sam
-Come on, you can do it, try try try
-But I can tell you this, I remember how that rain used to sound on that tin roof back home
-Yeah do that deep thing I like to hear you do
-aghhhhhhhhhhhh thats it, thats the one right there
-AYyyy
-AH BROOKLYN WHERE ARE YOU SON?!?!
-Sam, I think I'm gettin wet
-All over the world!
-CONWAY!

He's Got a Ticket to Ride..

so thursday started off normal enough:

-drag myself out of bed and to work, a little late
-stop off at a nice thai restaurant for lunch with coworkers..had some duck breast..amazing
-finish work, head home
-notice my stomach is feeling a little upset
-i eat a little risotto and chicken that jam had cooked (fyi: she never got sick from that either)
-go to the gym and i get on the tread mill and have to stop and get off..never happens.
-at this point i go to the bathroom
-get back on the mill realize i have to quit after just a mile
-walk home confused and start feeling nauseous, figured I had violated the "wait 30 minutes before running after risotto" rule
-in the next hour it was like all the demons that had possessed my body in India, Pakistan, and Mexico, came out inside me. Chills, sweats, all the things that can be expected from drinking water from a drainage pipe in New Delhi..
-fine enough, been through this before, buck up. I drink some water, complain about some cramping, joke that it's my time of the month, and curl up in a ball like I want to die..
-about 10 minutes later I have the urge to hurl and darted to the kitchen (don't ask me why, seemed nicer than the bathroom). At that point things got a little crazy. I started having really severe heat flashes, couldn't breathe, and started blacking out. Did I get a little Polonium 210 seasoning in my Duck Breast? Now Jam is watching me go through this entire spastic episode and completely freaked out (and rightfully so) and I was about 2 seconds away from smashing my head all over some nice granite countertops. For those who have never blacked out, all I can remember is the edges of my sight turning black and some goofy animated vision of a top-gun pilot experiencing "the Gs".
-i wobble around tell jam I'm blacking out, I'm COMPLETELY drenched in sweat, and I can't breathe. She tells me to lay on the couch and I tell her, "Call 9-11". We're new to the area have no idea where the hospitals are (incidently, the EMT told me that the three things you should always know about your new place of residency are: grocery store, 24 hour pharmacy, and the hospital..NOT: work, the bank, and the Irish bar.)
-Here comes the ambulance. Now things are getting surreal. Is this all happening? How did this go downhill so fast?? And why did I pick tonight of all nights to wear that free-t-shirt I got at the "Hustler" Store on Hollywood Blvd?? I'm sure it complimented those sandals I bought for Prashant's wedding in India just fine. What a wreck. I have to admit the ambulance ride (my first), is the way to go. Instead of having to haul your wasted ass in the car and then sit in the "waiting area" for an hour, just get the ambulance, they give you IVs right away and a stretcher ride right to your own room!
-Anyway, 3-4 hours later and some bags of IVs, I was stabilized and released from the ER. I had suffered from "severe dehydration".
-They have no idea if it was food poisoning (my co-worker also had the duck breast and suffered no ill fate) or just a bug. I'm going with the latter.
-These past few days I've just had a really bad fever and have been extremely tired. Some bug. Either that or they need to start grading these resturants around here.

Some Thursday.

Last King of Scotland

Went and saw The Last King of Scotland last week. I'm not sure if it actually really touched on the real life of Idi Amin or what actually went on under his regime (I'm gonna say they left a little bit out:), but I do know now that if ever in Uganda, let's say doing some humanitarian work in a remote village, uh, you might want to think twice about taking that job with the President who recently came to power in a coup. And if you do accidently forget not to take the job with the mentally "unstable" President, be sure not to knock up one of his many wives, especially if you are white and everyone else is black. It's a dead give-away.

All that aside, I have to say it was an entertaining movie (some parts slightly disturbing) if you ignore that it's supposed to be "based on real facts" ...Forest Whitaker owned Amin in this movie.