>jon<

I'm #1!!!

2009-01-23T14:00:00.002-05:00

Well, as of today (January 23, 2009) my blog profile is the number one search result for Google. There are other people that come up as well, boo-hiss...

Anyway, I'd rather some of the other things for me come up, like:

My Real Estate Website
My personal website
My Facebook page
My Homes For Atlanta website

It's nice to be #1!

Hehe,
-jonathan huff

Castleberry Loft For Sale

2008-05-06T08:46:00.003-04:00

I know I know, it's been a LONG time since I've blogged. But I'm realizing that real estate exposure on the web is necessary these days. Thus, here goes!

The Homes for Atlanta team with Keller Williams Realty Metro Atlanta proudly announces its newest listing: 146 Walker St, Atlanta, GA 30313. This property is a very spacious four floor loft with rooftop deck in the trendy Castleberry arts/warehouse district just south of downtown Atlanta.

For more information on this property please see our featured listings section or check out its custom website at http://www.146walker.com.

Also, be sure to check out all of our other great listings at www.HomesForAtlanta.com!
Check back soon for our new and improved website!

New website

2006-05-03T09:55:00.000-04:00

I created a new website for our house/personal stuff. I really like Apple's iWeb.

Let me know what you think:

Randy and Jon's website

What do you think?

Money lives on the other side of fear

2006-04-25T10:17:00.000-04:00

It's finally official - yesterday I submitted my resignation at Georgia Tech. My last day of employment there will be May 5.

Randy and I are so excited to be working together full time in real estate. YAY!!!

The title of my post is from "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" by Gary Keller. I started reading it last weekend. It's a pretty powerful quote...

I'm still here!

2006-04-17T12:17:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's been a month since I've posted. I'm sure my avid reader(s) will be glad I'm back. ;)

Anyway, Randy and I have just been busy busy. His mother and step dad visited last week and it seems we always have real estate work to do - that's a good thing.

One interesting thing that happened in the past month was that I got an email from Pheobe Allen's (my college art professor) husband. Turns out she and her husband are still in Louisiana and they recently created a website showcasing her work. Personally I think it's pretty good stuff!

Phoebe Allen Art Gallery

p.s. I'm not 100% sure how they found me, I'm assuming a Google search for her name came back with a link to my post...

An interesting Google search

2006-03-16T11:50:00.000-05:00

I occasionally search for myself on Google to see the results. I'm happy to say that most of the top hits are me - natch!

Google search for Jonathan Huff

Additionally, several of the photos in the "images" section of Google are either me or my house. :)

However, today I decided to also search for Jon Huff - not me!?!? I'll have to work on that:

Google search for Jon Huff

I did join the Xanga blogring for Jon Huff. Heh. One sort of funny/disturbing image that showed up is from Rootsweb.com. It's a death certificate for John Huff dated July 27, 1927:

John Huff death cert

It's not too clear, but doesn't the cause of death read "Died from drinking rubbing alcohol"???? Lord, I hope I go from something other than that - something like gin or whiskey. :)

What does Google return for you?

A cultural shift

2006-03-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was a cultural shift of sorts for Randy and me - a week in South Beach. Fun fun fun! The weather was awesome and we got to spend lots of time with friends from all over the country.

This morning on my way to work while listening to NPR I heard a heart warming story of a different kind of culture shift. After the story aired, I couldn't help but wonder how much better the world would be if more people were like the couple featured. In case you don't have time to read/listen to the story it basically centers around a South Korean couple who have been married 40 years. The central part of the piece featured the wife's insistence that her husband vocally express his love and happiness for her instead of taking the usual staid attitude of most South Korean men. Lovely actually.

A Cultural Shift: Learning to Say 'I Love You'

Viva Las Vegas!

2006-03-01T10:10:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you're all dying to know how Vegas was - right?

Well, we had a great time. We drank way too much, learned lots for our business, met agents around the country, gambled a little (slots) and saw lots of sights. My personal Las Vegas favorites:

The fountains at Bellagio

New York, New York Hotel

THEhotel at Mandalay Bay

The best part of THEhotel is the restaurant/bar in the top floor - Mix. Mandalay Bay/THEhotel is located at the southern end of the Las Vegas strip and the bar has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the strip. It's really quite spectacular. Additionally, the decor is very modern-hip-cool - FUN! Here are a few images from the bar.

Next week: New York, Paris and Venice

2006-02-17T15:34:00.000-05:00

Some of the sights I hope to see next week:

By now, I'm sure you've realized that we're only going to Las Vegas. But hey, I'm sure we'll ~~get drunk~~ have a good time. We're not staying at any of the aforementioned hotels, instead we're staying at Mandalay Bay.

The reason we're going out is for a Keller Williams conference which begins Monday. We're leaving tonight though (late), so we'll be able to see the city Saturday and Sunday before working Monday through Thursday. YAY!

Antler Chandelier

2006-02-08T16:15:00.000-05:00

An astute reader of my blog pointed out that a person with the same name as me makes chandeliers made from antlers. While not really the style I like, they're interesting. Check out:

Big Horn Designs Antler Art

Digital Age

2006-02-08T15:59:00.000-05:00

For the past couple of weeks I've occasionally been going to Georgia Tech's athletic center to use the cardio machines (in a lame attempt to shed fat before Winter Party). In order to make the best use of my time I always like to take an article, magazine or such to read while on the elliptical machine. I've noticed that I'm about the only person reading. The vast majority (probably 90% or more) have headphones on are are either listening to an iPod (or similar) or plugged into the cardio equipment for watching TV. (Each cardio machine has its own built-in LCD TV.)

I feel so... "old school" ;)

Oral hygiene

2006-02-07T14:34:00.000-05:00

Taking advice from some of our friends, Randy and I purchased Philips Sonicare toothbrushes last weekend.

WOW!

I'm amazed.

We also got drunk both Friday and Saturday night. Not so amazing. ;)

So Sad

2006-02-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

Hopefully this map will contain more red countries by the end of the year. We're planning a trip to Spain late this summer - and this time we mean it!!!

;)

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

"Dog-o-paws"

2006-02-02T11:56:00.000-05:00

Last night, Randy and I were watching a situation comedy ("sitcom") and one of the characters revealed that she had menopause. In the episode her son and husband were reading about menopause and said that some symptoms were mood swings and facial hair. Martha (our dog for readers who don't know) was sitting with us and I said "Martha do you have menopause?" (She has facial hair!!!) Then I quipped back as if it were Martha speaking "No, but I have dog-o-paws. Get it? Dog-o-paws!"

I don't know why really, but it struck both Randy and I as really funny. I think we laughed for 5 minutes.

Life is simple at times... :)

Phoebe Allen

2006-02-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

My first year of architecture school (I later changed majors to mathematics) was largely an art curriculum. I think the curriculum included one or two drafting (by hand, not CAD - it was the eighties!) classes. But mostly it was freehand drawing, art/architectural history and just plain old "art" (even though it had an "architecture" title). It was a "series" course like cal I, cal II, etc, but you had the same professor each term.

I was fortunate to have Phoebe Allen as my professor. Of course, when signing up for courses the summer before (using punch cards!) I certainly didn't know. However, upon getting to school and talking with some "upper" classmen (i.e. sophomores - *sigh*), I discovered that Phoebe Allen was the art/architecture professor. Students in Phoebe's class could mock the students in the other art class. While we used gouache and art paper to learn about color and spatial concepts, the students in the other class used water colors and construction paper - poor things! (A series of abstract paintings from that class is in my living room this day!)

At any rate, Phoebe Allen was different. I think I was too naive to notice at the time, but now that I remember her it seems that she would have been more comfortable in a cosmopolitan place like Los Angeles and Miami. She sort of has a "Patsy Stone" flair about her - at least in presentation. There was a big rumor that she would add vodka to her Diet Coke before class. I honestly don't think she did, but given the town I wouldn't blame her. She drove a late 70's white Corvette with white leather interior - mint condition, of course.

What made me think of Phoebe Allen? This morning as I was quickly ironing my shirt, I remembered that she once asked me where I took my shirts to be pressed. She nearly had a shock on her face when I said "I iron them myself in my dorm room". I've always had an ego about ironing since.

June 7, 2007 update:
I should have added this like a year ago, but Phoebe's website is:
Phoebe Allen

Fabulous.

Sleepy

2006-01-31T16:32:00.000-05:00

There are so many meaning things I could blog about, such as:

The death of Coretta Scott King
Global Warming
The fun night (Saturday) Randy and I had at Jeff's cabin

But, as I sit here somewhat sleepy at work, I'm reminded of watching television last night. Specifically PBS. Right before the Antiques Roadshow started they mentioned a few companies who support the show. One was Lunesta, a sleep aid. I wondered, does that imply:

Lunesta thinks that most Antiques Roadshow viewers are insomniacs
-or-
Lunesta thinks that their product is a much better method to induce sleeping

OMG! So Sorry!!!

2006-01-30T17:02:00.000-05:00

Could you imagine if this were you:

Shoelace trip in museum

Building Moratorium

2006-01-23T11:30:00.000-05:00

Mayor Franklin issued a building moratorium for 5 neighborhoods in Atlanta last week. Although I understand the concern, I hope city leaders come up with an appropriate solution. Simply halting the construction of new homes will do little for the city.

Below is the text of an email I sent to City Council today:

Dear Councilmember :

As a 12 year resident of Atlanta and a homeowner in the city limits I am concerned about the current and possible future building moratoriums. I understand some resident's opposition to certain infill construction in their neighborhoods. However, I feel that a better method for dealing with new construction is with guidelines for appropriate height and/or proportions.

I think that one reason intown Atlanta has become a popular choice is that people are able to build larger homes with modern conveniences. Many families just would not consider living intown if their only choices were small bungalows with little room for the family. The possibility of building larger homes not only creates more family-friendly neighborhoods, it also creates value for current and future homeowners.

It is certainly easy to find examples of inappropriate infill housing. However, I think that it is just as easy to find infill housing that meets the needs of families yet blends with older neighborhoods. If Atlanta's intown neighborhoods were devoid of new construction, Atlanta's intown areas would still be in states of decline which were present in many areas in recent history.

Please consider the impact of a building moratorium on residents who need and want homes with space and modern conveniences.

Sincerely,

Play-Doh update

2006-01-19T09:11:00.000-05:00

It is possible to revive Play-Doh with water. YAY!

Poor little squirrel

2006-01-13T09:11:00.000-05:00

R.I.P.

Last night as I was driving home from work a squirrel darted out into the road in front of the car ahead of me. With nervous anticipation I watched as it crossed the path of the car and under the vehicle. I so hoped it would exit the other side unscathed, but alas, the car ran over the little fella. I was quite distraught and rather annoyed that the driver in front of me didn't even swerve to miss the squirrel. I mused that perhaps the driver didn't see it.

I know that squirrels are little more than furry rodents, but still, it just seems like a senseless death. Much more so when you factor that the driver probably didn't care. As I passed the scene I thought for a second that perhaps the squirrel wasn't hurt that much, but realistically, I knew his life was over.

I'm not a very religious person at all, but I actually found myself saying a little prayer for the squirrel - just that he would die fast with little pain. During this time NPR was broadcasting a story about the church fire in Chicago and they started playing some of the gospel music sang there. Hokey or not, I took it as a sign that the squirrel was in a better place.

In other news, my Play-Doh snowman at work completely dried out. I'm trying to resuscitate the Play-Doh by adding water to it in its container. We'll see if that works. ;)

Happy MLK weekend!

Wow - what a break!

2006-01-06T11:26:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a while since I've blogged. I wish I could say I was out of the country. ;)

Randy and I spent the holidays at home and it was grand. I always feel a little guilty for not going home to Arkansas for Christmas, but staying with Randy in Atlanta is just so nice. It's really the only time of the year I get a week at home.

Also, I always love spending New Year's Eve with friends. We almost always go out dancing/clubbing and this year was no different. We were at WetBar at midnight, then not long after that went to another dance party. What a night. :)

Christmas was also really good for us this year. Even after Randy said time after time that we wouldn't get much for Christmas, he did get me one present - an LCD TV. YAY! It's quite nice at 37 inches with an integrated HDTV tuner. We mounted it in the bookshelves of our living room and moved the old clunky tube TV to our bedroom. The LR looks so much nicer now. We're still working on the antenna issue... Lord how complex! We purchased one but it doesn't work too well. I didn't realize how different digital signals are from analog signals, but when it's right the picture is amazing - better than cable and it's over-the-air.

Anywho, I'm looking forward to one more holiday at Georgia Tech in January (MLK day), then it's a long stretch until Memorial day. We'll see if I work here that long...

2005-12-19T14:57:00.000-05:00

The holidays seem to be busy for nearly everyone. It's interesting to me how some years people plan parties and gatherings at the beginning of December yet in other years the events come later in the month. This year is definitely "late" for Randy and me. We had a couple parties last weekend - both fun! :) We have 5 holiday-related things this week - whew! I'm glad I don't work next week. :)

The other thing that keeps people busy this time of the year is shopping. YUM! For Randy and I, as I mentioned in a previous post, it was car shopping. I always love getting a new car, but almost always wish we could get something just a "little" nicer. We did buy a car last weekend, and although it could be "nicer" it's really the best car we've ever had and really MUCH nicer than we need. :) It's a 2001 BMW 530i. YAY! Here's a pic:

My new "store"

2005-12-15T16:15:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have nothing to spend your money on:

Homes for Atlanta

Enjoy!

Why engineers shouldn't name things

2005-12-11T18:00:00.001-05:00

An upcoming conference at Georgia Tech:

XXX Pan American Convention

Gosh, it's been a while since I've updated my blog. December has been a really busy month for Randy and me. :)

We hosted a "small" party at our house (maybe 50 people) on December 3. We "lit" (very unceremoniously) our tree at 9:05 p.m. Overall we have about 3500 lights in our house. I usually don't really like to decorate, but this year I wanted to - I think partly because I knew we wanted to have a party - gotta look good, ya know!

Then last night we helped host a big party (over 300 guests) at a friend's loft in Castleberry (a cool warehouse district just south of downtown Atlanta). We devoted several nights to help decorate for it - fun fun.

I think the last biggest news is that we've decided to buy a new (to us) car. The internet makes car shopping *SO* much easier. We've test driven 3 used cars - an Audi A6, Mercedes C Class and BMW 5 series. We've settled on the BMW. Overall we think it's sportier and we like the amenities. And, realistically, a 2001 or 2002 model is fairly affordable. Now we just have to find the right color combination. When we get one I'll post a pic.

Ta for now - off to a Keller Williams Holiday Party!

My Star Wars Personality

2005-11-23T15:48:00.000-05:00

Interesting...

Click to see my Star Wars Personality!!

I hope anyone reading this has a great Thanksgiving holiday and weekend!

(update 12/2/05: I just noticed I spelled "Star Wars" as "Startwars". Gee.)

My hometown in the news

2005-11-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

This is hilarious:

Yahoo! News:
Spanking Strippers

What I love the most is:
"Gruber ordered the paddle destroyed so it is not sold for a profit."

People just shouldn't have that much fun, eh?

A quickie

2005-11-18T08:55:00.000-05:00

For those of you who happen to have too much time...

Devil Ducky

Enjoy!

What's old is new again

2005-11-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

The theme for last weekend seemed to be "renew". Friday night we went to dinner then to Wetbar (a.k.a. blu) for their grand reopening. Overall the club is great. They've certainly added some nice touches. One thing that I'm not sure will work is the "private" VIP room with a $1000/year cost. We'll see. Drinks for the night: bourbon & 7up at home, margaritas at dinner, gin and tonic at Wetbar.

Saturday morning (after several aspirins) we went to the groundbreaking ceremony for Kirkwood Station. We have waited years and years for Kirkwood's "Downtown" district to redevelop so we're very excited to see this happen. Afterwards we worked on insulating the staircase in the back of our house.

Saturday night we watched some TV then went over to Bill and Andy's to hang out in their hot tub. They've had it over a year, but it was our first time to relax in it. I think it has about a thousand jets! Drinks: wine with dinner, gin and tonic in the hot tub

Sunday morning we went to breakfast at Radial Cafe in Candler park with Bill, Andy, Damion, Todd and Scott. Although Randy and I have been there lots, it was Bill and Andy's first time.

Sunday afternoon we finished up the insulation work and cleaned some. Then we went to Kathy's to meet about the Kristmas party. Then we went to Blake's! Out at a bar on a Sunday night! Drinks: beer while working on the house, wine with dinner, bourbon and 7up at Kathy's, gin and tonic at Blake's

The final old/new realization is that I'm old but I drank last weekend as if I were new. Ha!

Associated

2005-11-10T15:50:00.000-05:00

Here's an example of why you shouldn't put "Associated" in your email address:

That's what shows up in my mail client as the "From" address. It just strikes me as, funny. ;)

Good for Atlanta

2005-11-09T10:57:00.000-05:00

I do enjoy Atlanta quite a bit, even though there are times when I wish it were more cosmopolitan. Over all though I do think there are many nice things here and the potential for much more. I think this has been a very good year for Atlanta due to several significant projects:

The opening of Atlantic Station. This is the kind of development intown/midtown has needed for a long time. I hope its effect reaches in to Midtown's growth over the past several years. It would be great to have more shops/restaurants stretching between Ponce and Tenth streets.

The expansion of the High Museum. Since Atlanta in general is lacking in museums, the recent opening of the expansion at the High is much appreciated. The original building, designed by Richard Meier, has been restored to original designs in places (like the atrium). The large addition by architect Renzo Piano will open to the public in a few days. Nice.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's new Symphony Center is another welcomed piece to the city's arts (and architecture) scene. The structure and accompanying skyscraper, Symphony Tower, were designed by famed architect Santiago Calatrava. Although there are many nice structures in the city, few have the style and panache of the Symphony Center and Tower.

The Georgia Aquarium will open this month, and ground has broken next door for a new World of Coke. These will be great additions/attractions for downtown Atlanta. Additionally in this area Ivan Allen Plaza is currently under construction and will feature office buildings, condo towers and a hotel. And, Ivan Allen Boulevard (which used to be a hodge-podge of one way streets) was opened which connect the west side and east side of downtown very nicely.

On a smaller yet still substantial scale, Glenwood Park in East Atlanta opened this year. The development is a great mix of housing (single family, townhomes and condos), retail and office spaces.

Additionally, the Beltline just passed its first big hurdle when the City Council voted to create a tax allocation district to help fund the project. The project really promised to change the way Atlanta residents interact with the city.

If you're familiar with Atlanta, you might agree with me that a monorail stretching from the Georgia World Congress Center to Georgia Tech to Atlantic Station then into Midtown would be a fun transportation idea. I know those things rarely amount to much more than a government funded tourist attraction though... Maybe one of these years...

Hello Kitty

2005-11-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or do you also think the number of products that are "Hello Kitty" themed is just amazing. Now, I would never turn down a pair of "Hello Kitty" slippers or cell phone, but I have seen some rather odd products, such as:

Hello Kitty Massager

Hello Kitty iPod mini

Long list of odd products

Enjoy!

sex!

2005-10-27T14:54:00.000-04:00

No, not that kind. Sex as in gender.

I took this "test" at BBC's Science and Nature website. My "personal brain score" looks to be something like 25 towards male. I'm not exactly sure what that means, though there is a lengthy explanation that follows (which I haven't read - natch).

I did score 12 out of 12 in the "3D Shapes" test. Basically you match up shapes as they are spun around various axes. I was happy to get 100% on that. ;)

Here's my score pictorially:

HGTV Debut

2005-10-26T15:23:00.000-04:00

So Randy and I had our HGTV debut last Sunday. I was happy with the segment - we didn't look too hokey. However, those who know us and our house pretty well know that some elements they included in the show aren't really important, most notably the book return. It's merely sitting in the back yard by our shed and is basically a hunk o' junk to us. Oh well.

Also, I have to say they did decide to include some moments which need explaining - most notably when I was trying to play piano. That was something I was loathe to do in the first place. I very very rarely even try to play piano, much less on camera. Nonetheless, a more appropriate phrase would have been "I don't remember how to play this piece of music" instead of the dumbfounded "I forgot what I was playing!" Sheesh! Oh well.

A coworker made a DVD of the episode. I'm going to try to make an mpeg (or something) of our segment. We'll see. :)

Oh, also, I say it's our HGTV debut because we have had a few occasions of "stardom" in our lives... I was on CNN's Talk Back Live years ago with a preacher who was campaigning against gays in our (his) neighborhood. The same storm brought us a few spots on the local news channels as well. Celebs - not - heh.

Now you can call me Scooter

2005-10-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

How... interesting (and fun):

Scooter!

You scored 57 Mood and 42 Energy!

You are cheery, energetic and achievement oriented. You are a hard worker and you are proud of your accomplishments.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 38% on Mood
You scored higher than 5% on Energy

Link: The Muppet Personality Test written by TheLadyEve on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Update!!!

2005-10-21T09:25:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've blogged. Randy and I have been SO busy the past several weeks.

The month of October is filled with not only our birthdays, but the birthdays of several of our friends. Did you know more people have October 5 as their birthday over any other day? That's hearsay, not factually internet research.

Additionally, today is the ten year anniversary of our commitment ceremony. :) Gosh, it was a lovely day - much like today's weather here in Atlanta. Sunny and warm, but not too hot. We served white wine spritzers, had a small ceremony then our friend DJ'd while we danced the night... such a nice day. I'm obviously waxing nostalgic here, so I'll move on...

Anyway, last Friday was Randy's birthday and we went to Casa Grande for dinner with friends. Lots of margaritas were consumed. Then Saturday we went to the Fabulous Fox! to see ABBA: The Music. Fun.

This weekend we'll be working again - real estate stuff. We enjoy it though. Also, Sunday night we'll be on HGTV's reZONED, 9:30 PM Eastern Time. We haven't seen the segment - I so hope we don't look like idiots.

Box wine

2005-10-13T16:53:00.000-04:00

I love reading newspapers. There always seems to be tidbits of information to gather and I like to know what's happening in the world. As a frugal gay man, I usually read the sale papers (if any) first. You never know when Target is going to have the perfect quilt on sale!

One nice thing about a paper is that the articles are short, and often all you need to do is read the title to get a feel for what's happening. So, if you're crunched for time (like I usually am), yet desire to stay up to date, scanning the paper is great. Here are a few catchy titles in today's AJC:

Passengers tattle on pilot after joyride in stolen jet (ha!)

Back to the moon (interesting...)

Apple iPod makes leap to video (yay!)

New box wines give off sweet smell of success (need I say more? I'm off to the store!)

Cheers!

Strange new addiction

2005-10-10T17:16:00.000-04:00

The "Strange New Products" site has become one of my favorite daily reads.

*Anyone* with a pet would probably LOVE these: Sticky Sheets

How much lunch could you pack in this???

This isn't from SNP, but they look pretty fun. I *really* doubt they are as comfortable as current white fuzzy slippers: Brightfeet lighted slippers

Pushing the sun, pulling the moon

2005-10-07T15:21:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit behind with posting... as if you noticed... ;)

Anyway, last weekend three of my high school friends along with their families visited Randy and me. We call it our "Mini-Reunion". We decided to try to visit together once a year after our ten year high school reunion. It really is nice to keep in touch with friends.

Fortunately it was warm enough to get in the pool. I'm sure that will be our last splash this year. Well, not counting the hot tub. ;)

When everyone got in town Friday we went to Tijuana Garage for dinner. Yummy! Margaritas! We were pretty reserved over the weekend, though we did have several empty bottles by Sunday (see pic). Honest, I didn't finish any bottles all by myself. :)

Most everyone left Sunday, but happyboogie and her husband stayed until Monday afternoon. Randy had to work Monday, so happyboogie, her husband and I went to tour the Fabulous Fox Theatre (see my previous post). Over the years Randy and I have been to events in all of the event spaces, but it was certainly cool to take a behind the scenes tour and snap some cool photos. One of the most interesting facts we learned was that the building was constructed in 18 months! They must have not had labor laws back then.

I really like the picture of the staircase - looks so foreign (to me).

The decor for the building is Egyptian/Moorish and is quite stunning. In the Egyptian ballroom are many elements copied directly from Egyptian designs and beliefs. One that I thought was pretty cool was a scarab beetle "pushing the sun and pulling the moon". Interesting, eh?

This weekend Randy and I will be going to Youth Pride's Tenth Anniversary celebration. Fortunately there will be an open bar. YAY!

Fabulous!

2005-09-23T08:43:00.000-04:00

(Do you notice that many of my blog titles end with an exclamation point? Really, I'm not flamboyant in person. Just the internet. !!! Anyway, on to my post...)

Last night we were fortunate enough to get free tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. We sat in the orchestra level, right section, around the midpoint of the section. Really nice seats. :)

So, anyway, I was reminded once again of the theatre's grandness. (We were there in August for Star Wars - see post.) Since the show is set in the amazing Paris Opera House, the stage designers built an opulent facade reminiscent of the Opera House. Given that the Fox is pretty opulent itself, the facade looked right at home.

At any rate, through much of the show I thought about how we (i.e. Americans) are usually entertained - movies. And more often we just watch a movie at home. That's nice and very convenient, but in my opinion lacks the joie de vivre of a live performance. (I know my friend happyboogie will agree.) We are so used to amazing special effects and edits that produce near perfect movies that we forget the talent and hard work that goes into a live production. It's easy (well, maybe not easy, but certainly easier) to create mesmerizing scenes and action with digital effects, but isn't it more creative to be able to create illusions with just plain old props and lighting?

Live performances are great - hopefully Randy and I will be able to go to many more... :)

So gay!

2005-09-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

This morning in the locker room at the gym I noticed a magazine on the bench. The back cover was facing up and it was just an ad for vodka or some liquor. It was pretty cool looking (of course) so I thought I'd turn over the magazine to see what it was. I wasn't familiar with the title at all and at first I thought it was just an ordinary (or perhaps hip) publication.

Upon closer examination, I wondered why there were scantily clad guys on the cover. So, of course, I started to thumb through the issue and noticed several articles with more pictures of scantily clad guys... One article had a photo of a guy's bare butt with another guy "spanking" him with a ruler (it was apparently some "back to school" issue).

Anyway, I said to myself "This is just so gay - SO GAY!" Nothing against being gay, of course, but I sometimes wonder if these free weekly publications go just a bit too far. (The magazine was "Next Magazine, The hippest guide to
gay New York.")

I of course took the free publication with me.

Upcoming birthday

2005-09-21T15:51:00.000-04:00

OK, here's another gift idea:

Candy G-String

LOL. Just kidding.

How rude!

2005-09-21T14:54:00.000-04:00

Pet peeve: n, something which bothers, annoys, irritate, riles and/or enrages. (my definition)

I've realized that my pet peeves generally boil down to rude people. Those people out there who either by wit or dim-wit do something which adversely impacts ME! I always find it amazing when people decide to do something which by any logical standard would be considered rude.

For instance, yesterday on my way home from work, I was exiting the freeway. The exit ramp is rather long and starts off as two lanes, then condenses to one. Occasionally, (and yesterday this was the case), traffic builds up at the end of the ramp as it joins several other lanes of traffic. It was at that junction that I noticed a driver passing all the traffic behind me by driving on the shoulder. That is just so amazingly annoying to me. As if that driver didn't need to follow traffic rules and sit there with the rest of us. To add to my ire, of course someone let the "shoulder driver" back onto the road when the light turned green.

Another thing that annoys me is people who litter. I've seen at least two occasions at the gym where people have left chewing gum (used) some place other than the trash - how gross!

My short list:

Lousy drivers
Litterers
People who take up two parking spaces
People who cut in line
People who rant about others in blogs!

Shock and Awe

2005-09-16T13:41:00.000-04:00

I have so far tried to steer clear of political posts. Politics have a way of bringing out the worst (and occasionally the best) in people. I will admit that I am ~~liberal~~ progressive in my political views and thus almost always agree with Democrats as opposed to Republicans. Some facts which contribute to my views include:

Tax cuts for the wealthy (e.g. the "Death" tax)

Exorbitant deficit spending (isn't that supposed to be from Democrats???)

Questionable relationships between high level officials and corporations (Halliburton, Texas oil companies)

The growing divide between the rich and the poor

I honestly believe that Republican fiscal policies directly contribute to the last item in my list. Over the past 20 years or so, corporations have paid fewer (i.e. in percentages) taxes, wealthy people have seen their tax brackets lowered (and on average have "saved" MUCH more than the average American) and workers at the top have seen wages rise while workers at the bottom have seen wages decline. The fact that America is the richest country in the world, but still has so much poverty is amazing. Yet, so many people feel "sorry" for wealthy Americans who "pay too much" in taxes. What an ingenious spin!!!

So, it was with shock and awe that I heard on NPR yesterday that Bush waived federal requirements that contractors pay prevailing wages. WTF??? If nothing else, the Katrina tragedy exposed the amount of poverty in the Gulf Coast region of the country. Could this do anything other than propagate that poverty? Do you think any of the corporations (e.g. Halliburton) are going to pay their CEO's less?

States I've visited

2005-09-16T10:44:00.001-04:00

This is interesting:

create your own visited states map

Gay Gospel Pop Duo????

2005-09-12T14:13:00.000-04:00

Um, you do the math, but to me this just doesn't add up:

Jason and deMarco

Upcoming birthday

2005-09-08T16:03:00.000-04:00

I (unfortunately) have a birthday coming up, I would love one of these. Especially if you can find a big green frog to show me how to ride it. Be sure to check out the video, it's quite long though...

Tomorrow I'll try to bring my camera to work and post a few pictures from last weekend.

My Dream Vacation

2005-09-02T15:18:00.000-04:00

I think about vacation - a lot! The thought of visiting and experiencing other cultures seems very fascinating to me. And the thought of not being at work for a while of course entices me that much more.

Randy and I have been fortunately enough to have some really nice vacations, but as with many things in life, you never have too many. We've had great times with friends in Mexico, Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, Charleston on the beach and numerous American cities. We've of course also been on vacations alone, though we do tend to go with friends. Randy is always looking for something to do, while I'm usually satiated by sitting by a pool (or the ocean) and reading (and drinking, obviously).

Recently, I've thought that traveling by train would be a great experience. I think it would be cool to travel through the Rocky Mountains. I would definitely want to have a room with a bed rather than sit in a seat for the trip (which can be days, depending on how long you could devote to the trip). My friend, happyboogie went on a train adventure with her husband a few years ago so I'll have to grill her about it when she visits next month. When I mentioned train travel to Randy at the gym this morning, his response was "I'll fly and meet you there." He'd be bored off his ass. (Who wants to come with me?)

Randy and I actually have lots of dream vacations. We've been on one cruise and had a blast. We would both like to go on another. But, we've never been to Europe and would really like to go. Probably either Spain (Barcelona) or Germany (Berlin?). We'll see.

Until then, I'll just enjoy this mini-vacation weekend and be happy I don't have to come to work Monday. :)

Rebuilding New Orleans

2005-09-01T12:43:00.000-04:00

Randy, friends and I brought up the question of whether or not New Orleans should rebuild. I mean, if you look at the situation logically, (well, with my logic) on the surface if you take away sentimental value, it might appear that it makes more economic sense to not rebuild. I'm sure that some of the people who live in the area won't return, and others may wish they hadn't. Indeed, I'm afraid it will take years for the city to return to normalcy.

However, my initial reaction was "Yes, I'd like N.O. to rebuild - they have 24-hour bars!" That, along with Mardi Gras, Gay Halloween, Bourbon Street and the French Quarter seem like enough reason to rebuild. Unless they were all transplanted some other place... Atlanta? HA! We've had our stint with 24-hour bars. I was sad to see them go.

So, anyway, back to economics. As I was listening to NPR this morning, I began to realize that the city of New Orleans is pretty important economically. Located at the mouth of the Mississippi River, it serves as one of the biggest shipping ports in the country. Thus, commerce could be adversely affected with its disappearance. Also, as we're seeing nationwide now, the supply of fuel is directly dependent on N.O. and the Gulf in general.

With that said, I'll add that I'm far from an expert on economics. On the other hand, I do pride myself with knowledge of libations. And with that I'll toast to the rebuilding of New Orleans!

1050 pound pig!!! - UPDATE!

2005-08-31T12:38:00.000-04:00

(update - see picture below!)

Last weekend Randy and I traveled up to Minnesota for his great aunt's memorial service. Certainly a somber purpose for a visit, but in our usual fashion we still had a great time. The service was Saturday, but we went up Thursday night and stayed with a friend in Minneapolis for two nights before driving up to Saint Cloud (big metropolis - heh) for the memorial.

On the flight to MSP, we fortunately had drink coupons. What a blessing those are. We both decided to order "doubles" so we wouldn't have to call the flight attendant back for a second round. Randy chose gin and I chose red wine. I felt a little bit like a lush as the wine bottles (1/4 of 750ml) looked so big... I actually thought for a second that I might only drink one - right.

When we got to MSP our friend Sid picked us up at the airport (which must have the longest distances to walk of any major airport - hrmph!). We dropped off our luggage at his place then headed over to Nochee, a trendy bar downtown. It was fun and had 2-4-1 UV Vodka martinis. Randy and I, being gin drinkers, didn't partake. However, Sid ordered a couple and they were quite tasty. After Nochee, we made it over to The Saloon, which was busy even on Thursday because it was their 18&up night. (I guess the "youngins" can stay out late - ha!) I guess I drank quite a few gin&tonics as the end of the night is a bit blurry for me. Surprise. (Bob, not *nearly* as blurry as going out in MKE last Labor Day!!!)

Friday during the day we went to the MN State Fair. I can't even remember the last time I went to a State Fair, but it had to be back in Arkansas... Let's just say, sometime in the 80's. ;)

Some of the more memorable things we saw/did:

Haunted House

Bob's Snake Zoo

Drank lots of beer

Ate cotton candy

Ate fried cheese curds (a first for me)

Life-sized heads carved out of butter

1050 pound pig!

Baby pigs - so cute!

Cows, horses, sheep, rabbits and other varmints

The fair was really quite fun. Also, you can get nearly anything edible "on a stick", more than likely, additionally fried. We saw fried candy bars, oreos, cheese, etc. They even had "spaghetti on a stick". Ingenious.

Friday night was early to bed due to the beer making us drowsy and the fact that we needed to be at a car rental place at 8 AM. Yikes!

The rest of the weekend was spent in St. Cloud hanging out with Randy's family at the Days Inn and, you guessed, once again consuming as much beer as we could find. ;) Randy's great aunt will be missed, but I'm sure she is happy to know that her friends and family laughed and cried, and drank thinking of her.

But can you do it with one hand???

2005-08-24T15:40:00.000-04:00

If you think driving while talking on a mobile phone is a good idea, try this:

Simply dial up someone as you're walking into, say, a grocery store then start shopping.

If you're like me, you'll find that you can't really find the products you want while having a meaningful conversation. So, applying this logic to driving, I would surmise that you if you drive 'n' talk, you won't really pay enough attention to driving.

That's my public service announcement for the day. Enjoy!

It's cool, but...

2005-08-23T12:17:00.000-04:00

If I had oodles of money, I'd be tempted to buy this "Watercraft" for my pool. It's very James Bond-ish, eh?

If you're reading this, and you have oodles of money, I'd be happy with four teak chaise lounges. ;)

Is it just hotter this summer????

2005-08-22T08:14:00.000-04:00

I just looked at my electric bill - R&I used 4298 KWH (29 days) last month, as opposed to 2921 KWH (32 days) last year - WOW!

Or, maybe in our old age we just want the doublewide cooler. ;) I do admit it's awesome to walk inside from the sweltering heat and humidity to a cool and dry environment... Lord, I do sound old. ha!

Red Red Wine....

2005-08-19T11:39:00.000-04:00

I suppose any of you who read my blog by now think I must have a pretty boring life, eh?

Well, the truth is, I'm always drunk. (just kidding)

Randy and I do though, drink wine often. Nearly every day. YUM! I often wonder what the people who empty our recycling bin think each week. Perhaps they just think we have friends over for wine often. ;) A while back I was at Publix on a Saturday afternoon purchasing a case of beer and three or four bottles of wine and the cashier said something like "Having a party?". As if. "No, this is for me. Thanks!"

With that said, I would add that we actually really enjoy ~~cheap~~ inexpensive wine. There really are some nice wines which are very affordable and have a nice taste and aroma. One of our favorites is Papio. Around here, Papio is sold for around $4/bottle (cheap! eh?) and we often buy it by the case and get a 10% discount. I would also recommend Barefoot Wines. Personally, I would recommend against Vendagio and Casarsa. They are closer to red wine vinegar. BLECH!

Nonetheless, we do occasionally splurge for nicer bottles of wine. Although the "cheap" bottles are certainly drinkable, you'll find that many wines in the $12-$17/bottle price range will have less of a bite, more aroma and an overall smoother taste. Some that I like are Bogle, Fat Bastard, and one I discovered last Thanksgiving, Steele Wines, specifically their Shooting Star variety. I would love to order a case of Shooting Star Merlot (or Cabernet Sauvignon) - at $12/bottle online a BARGAIN! - but Georgia's arcane shipping laws won't allow them to ship here. (I believe wineries who do not distribute here can ship here - *sigh*.)

Fortunately, Randy picked up a case at the Farmer's market last week. YAY!

Creatures of habit

2005-08-16T14:27:00.000-04:00

There are 2 or 3 routes I take to work every day depending on whether or not Randy and I make it to the gym, and which gym we go to. That's pretty normal I suppose. One thing I find interesting though, is that on my non-gym route I frequently follow the same red Cadillac CTS (personalized license plate). I suppose you might not be that surprised by that given that we are creatures of habit, but, given that Atlanta is home to some 4+ million people I think it's fairly interesting that I frequently see the same vehicles or people. With the red Cadillac lady, I assume it boils down to the fact that we're both aiming to arrive at work so closely to 8 AM that our timing coincides very often. Quite amazing though given the number of traffic lights and such.

There is something comforting in those occurrences though. It's kind of reassuring to know your surroundings.

Does that make us all (well, most of us) boring? Many people do believe that variety is the spice of life. Perhaps I should find something new that I could do everyday! ;) (blog??? - ha!)

A long time ago...

2005-08-11T13:14:00.000-04:00

In a state far far away (well, 550+/- miles) I watched Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope. (I didn't realize until my web search just now that the "original" Star Wars movie was subtitled "A New Hope" - interesting.) I, along with many other kids was mesmerized with the film. My brother and I had gobs of Star Wars toys - action figures, X-wing fighters, etc. We even had the "Deathstar" with the trash bin and monster. It had little pieces of foam for trash. Endless hours of FUN!

At any rate, what reminds me of all that is that Randy and I went to the "Fabulous Fox" theatre Tuesday night to watch Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. It was great! One of these days, when we have both time *and* an uber-cool home theatre of our own, I want to get the entire set of movies to watch over several weekends. It would be very interesting to see the original trilogy produced with today's special effects. I can remember folks clamoring over the effects back in the seventies - (eek! Did I say that???). Now they look like a high school movie project made with iMovie and a digital video camera. Amazing. (I mean, I could have made that in high school with today's tools... you believe me, right???)

Here's a picture of one of the Storm Trooper's walking around while we were waiting for the film to start:

Fun, eh?

cha cha cha CHIA!

2005-08-04T12:22:00.000-04:00

For several years Randy and I have gone to a small Christmas party at a friend's place and we have a "white elephant" gift exchange (I don't remember if we followed those rules, but I do remember there was quite a bit of discussion about them...). The gifts are always based on a theme. We all really have fun with it, as you can imagine.

Anyway, the theme for last Christmas was "The 80s" - FUN! The gift I got was a Chia Garfield. Since I never had one as a kid I thought it was a hoot. Also, I had wanted something green in my office for a while and thought the Chia would certainly do the trick. Given that I am *not* a plant person, it's also nearly the only kind of plant I could keep alive - "Chias" only live a short time anyway, right? Who knows???? (I am also fairly good with "Lucky Bamboo", as long as it's in a clear container so I can see when it needs water.)

So... I'm sure you're wondering why I'm writing about the Chia Garfield now, eh? One word: Procrastination. ;)

Last week I *finally* took the time to put the damn thing together. Since I'm not really a plant person, it was OK. Here's a look at the initial planting:

And here's how it looks today - glorious, eh???

I hope it brings me wealth and fortunes!

Martha van Gogh

2005-08-01T18:36:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday Randy and I were about to head out to Joining Hearts, a charity dance party. I was drying my hair and Randy was in the front of the house. Then I heard him running to the back yelling "A dog just bit Martha's (our dog) ear off!!!" I was like OMG!!! WHAT???

So, we grabbed some towels and went outside. Martha had been out front running by the fence and barking at dog's, etc. A lady was walking our neighbor's dog and Martha stuck her head through the fence and he bit!!! EEK!!!! He did indeed bite off about an inch of her ear flap. :( She hardly noticed...

We bandaged her up and called a veterinary friend who got us some antibiotics. After doctoring her up as best we could, we did make it to the dance party and had a great time. :)

On Sunday we took here to the clinic where our friend works and he doctored her professionally. He had to sedate her and trim the ear. :( Here's a pic.

So, her new name is Martha van Gogh - remarkable resemblance, eh?

Image of van Gogh from ArtRoots.com.

So, it's Joanne Silburner

2005-07-28T08:25:00.000-04:00

Do you ever hear a phrase or sentence and you're not quite sure where the syllables split into words?

I listen to NPR on my daily commute and often there is a story by commentator Joanne Silburner. I always asked myself though, is it "Jo Ansilburner" or "Joanne Silburner"? It seems that the likelihood of either would be about the same...

I finally looked it up on NPR - the reporter's name is indeed Joanne Silburner. It's funny the things that catch our attention at times...

Here's a link to one of her stories.

mmmm, i love sushi and candy!!!

2005-07-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

Gee, I haven't blogged in, um... a while. I've been really busy with work. *sigh* Life would be so much fun if I didn't have to work! Though, I probably wouldn't be blogging if that were the case. ;)

Anyway, so a week ago today was Randy's last day of employment at his "full" time job, so we/his old company hosted a going away party at our house. The people who work at Randy's previous company are all fun (i.e. drink a lot) so the party was fun. Of course, it was more fun when the correct tap for the keg was retrieved from the package store. ;)

One fun thing I did for the party was make some sushi - but not just any kind of sushi. Earlier that week I read a web article about Candy Sushi. YUM! The article also mentioned Twinkies Sushi; the temptation to make the delicacy on my own was just too great and I was off to Publix, hunting aisle by aisle for the delicious little golden snack cakes. (They were, strangely enough, tucked away on a shelf leading to the hallway to the restrooms... weird...) Anyway, the sushi was fun to make (thanks Todd and Damion!), and even more fun to eat. The picture at the right is a re-creation Randy and I made the next day. ;)

I certainly recommend experimenting on your own. Oh, and if you feel some weird desire to send me something "Kooki", I would be much obliged!

It's been raining for a year

2005-07-15T16:13:00.000-04:00

here in Atlanta. Well, not really of course, but seems like it.
wait... haven't I already posted this???

since it's raining RIGHT NOW (and I think it has some every day for the past week!), I felt the post deserved a re-run.

*sigh*

Gator serving chicken

2005-07-12T14:50:00.000-04:00

Those of you who've hung out with Randy and I for a while will know why the following few pictures are kind of funny.

For those of you who are wondering, the pictures are comical because we met a guy from Alabama a few years ago whose nickname is "Gator". Funny (kind of), eh? I have a picture of him at Atlanta's Pride festival with a sign in the background that read something like "Gator on a Stick" - heh. If I can dig it up, I'll post it.

Incidentally, the "Gator serving chicken" bar-be-que was in Candler Park, a neighborhood just north of ours.

Crazy Crackers

2005-07-06T11:48:00.000-04:00

I have a penchant for snacking. I suppose many Americans do (judging from the wastes of most Americans, but that's another post, natch). So that my ~~waste~~waist doesn't find itself on the same trajectory as many of my fellow citizens, I have decreased the amount of snacks consumed in the past few months.

I do however, try to keep a sleeve of Fat Free Saltines in a drawer at my office. I can't help it! They are just SO light and crispy! Just the right amount of salt and oh so versatile. Saltines are a tasty addition to meals as well as snacks. I rarely eat a bowl of soup without them. Usually though, it's peanut butter smeared on top of a cracker as an afternoon break from hunger. YUM! It was with shock and horror that I opened our kitchen cabinet a few weeks ago to discover that the peanut butter was gone. In retrospect that was probably a good thing. ;)

As if you were even mildly interested, here are the various concoctions I consume fairly often:

Saltine with peanut butter

Saltine with yellow mustard (it's good, trust me)

Saltine with tuna and mayo

Saltine with butter (rare, my mother introduced this to me last Christmas)

Saltine with honey(again, rare, but actually pretty tasty)

How's that for more than you wanted to know? What are your crazy snack habits???

The Journalist - YUM!

2005-07-06T10:11:00.000-04:00

One of the reasons I enjoy listening to NPR is the little nuggets of information often passed along in their reporting. Usually it's new vocabulary. However, this morning it was something near and dear to my heart - a new drink! YAY!

This morning, as I was driving (very late) to work, Frank Deford opened his sports segment with a recipe for a drink - The Journalist. (To be honest, that's the only thing I remember, or care about from his story - HA!) At any rate, the drink is made with gin, which is my favorite - YUM. There is a discrepancy between Frank's recipe and the one I found on the web - Frank's rendition replaces triple sec with Cointreau. Many people probably wouldn't notice that much of a difference, but doesn't adding Cointreau to your drink make it sound that much better? (See Santiago post) I'll go with the Cointreau version. Now I have a ~~reason~~ excuse to buy Cointreau. :)

In other news:
Randy and I (along with a small group of friends) were able to enjoy our pool for the first time this summer. Seems that so far this year, we've either been working or it was raining. At any rate, trayb and the BF were in town and we hosted a small party Sunday afternoon by the pool. It's nearly embarrassing to think of how little we did for the event (open a few bags of chips, stock the fridge with beer, buy mixers, that was about it!), however, I think everyone had a good time. Afternoons by the pool with great friends who know where to find beer and mixers without asking are times we live for. :)

The weekend ended watching fireworks in downtown Atlanta from the rooftop of Miss Kathy's amazing loft. I'll try to post a picture when I download them from my camera...

Hi, I'm Jon but you can call me Santiago Cabrera

2005-06-30T15:17:00.000-04:00

I think American names just a bit dull. Especially when compared to the exotic sounding foreign names.

A few nights ago Randy and I were watching Entertainment Tonight (yeah, yeah, it's on after ABC News), and there was a segment on the upcoming series "Empire" about Julius Caesar. Octavius is portrayed by Santiago Cabrera. When they mentioned his name I was like, "Hmm, my name is Jon Huff" or "My name is Santiago Cabrera" - which sounds better? Gee, all you have to do is utter "Santiago Cabrera" and you think of someone exotic and alluring. Fortunately, the actor doesn't disappoint. ;)

Another tasty sounding name is Estaban Cortazar. He's a teenage world- renowned fashion designer. Typical.

From now on, you can refer to me as Santiago Cabrera and Randy will be Estaban Cortazar. Ha!

Hello Moto - my new RAZR

2005-06-22T17:14:00.000-04:00

Randy and I finally upgraded to modern mobile phones! (Interesting that such a young industry has changed so much!) Obviously you can see that I chose Motorola's fairly new V3-RAZR. It is quite a change from my old Samsung R225 (which, though basic is a good phone).

Though having a flashy phone with cool abilities was enticement itself, one of the biggest reasons I chose the RAZR is that it has Bluetooth and syncs wirelessly with Apple's Mac OS X - Tiger. I didn't realize that I had to use Tiger until this morning when I gleefully opened the Bluetooth device finder on my desktop, paired with the phone and then with horror realized that contact syncing wasn't available! A quick Google search confirmed my hunch: that I must upgrade to Tiger (i.e. 10.4). That's something I've ~~needed~~ wanted to do for a while anyway, so the shiny new phone was enough to force me into upgrading.

A few hours later I had a brand new install of Tiger and all my contacts loaded on my phone with barely touching the phone or keyboard. Ah, technology! Love it - when it works!

(I'm sure some of you will not think "Hmm, now there's no reason he doesn't call me ~~more often~~ at all!" I'll try to do better...)

Glenwood Park

2005-06-21T15:07:00.000-04:00

At lunch today Randy and I visited one of this year's Southern Living Idea Houses. It's a wonderful new home situated in the new Glenwood Park development in East Atlanta. Although it's new construction, it has traditional southern architectural features like a large front porch, backyard veranda and upstairs sleeping porch. It is spacious but not forbidding. I could easily see a family (or Randy and me, natch) utilize the entire house.

Aside from its simple grandeur, perhaps what makes the home more appealing is its construction. It is built to be "green". That is, it is built to be very energy efficient and utilizes environmentally friendly building products. You can read more about the home's construction techniques at Southface.

If you are interested in redevelopment, construction, real estate or just simply want to see a great new home, I think the $10 admission to tour the home is worth it.

92.8%

2005-06-16T10:54:00.000-04:00

I passed the state real estate exam!!!

YAY!

Rain, rain, go away

2005-06-10T23:21:00.000-04:00

Come again another day!!!

Lord, it seems that whenever we'll have a chance to lie out at the pool the weather won't cooperate!!! I'm sure it will rain tomorrow. Blech! I must admit that part of the problem is that we are also busy with real estate; that's a ~~good~~ GREAT hindrance for getting to the pool, as you can imagine. I know I seem to harp on real estate stuff often, but we are very happy to be moving in that direction.

I guess at 35 I'm ready for a career change, to put it mildly. I don't know if I'm too old for one or too young! (Too young I'm sure!!!!) Tuesday the 14th I take the state real estate exam. (Incidentally, for those of you from my home town, June 14 is Greg Robinson's birthday, the son of "Sheriff HotDog"-cum-congressman Tommy Robinson. Funny the things you remember from childhood. He was a neighbor, but I degress...) So, assuming that I pass the state exam, I will be a full fledged Real Estate agent next Tuesday. I'm quite excited about it actually. I know, you're going - YAY?? heh. Randy and I are really looking forward to it.

So, tonight Randy and I are at a friend's cabin in north Georgia. We decided a small break was earned. We got up here this evening and will be going home tomorrow morning (it's about 1.5 hour drive). We brought our little girl, Martha. She loves it!!!

We'll be home tomorrow morning and will work on the office (see "It's been raining for a year") again. Actually it will be nice to have that done so we won't have an air hose (for the pneumatic nailer, natch) running from the basement across the foyer to the office, in addition to the network cable across the living room, etc... :) We're so butch!!!

OK, back to friends (and copious amounts of red wine - YUM!). 'Nuff blogging on a Friday night in the woods.

Out of the office

2005-06-07T14:39:00.000-04:00

I'm at a conference here in Atlanta (Buckhead) for a few days. It's obvious to see that I blog most while I'm at work (on break, of course). The conference is fairly useful. I've attended several interesting seminars. Blah.

I'll be back in the office Thursday. I'll try to write something interesting then.

Until then, go read about Apple's upcoming switch to Intel! Pretty big news if you're an IT geek. ;)

It's been raining for a year

2005-06-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

here in Atlanta. Well, not really of course, but seems like it. It was sunny last weekend on Saturday but Randy and I weren't home. Then it rained Sunday and Monday (Memorial day). Then more rain Tuesday and Wednesday. Oh well. Today is dry (so far) but cloudy... At least it's cool. :)

So, no cookouts or pool parties for Memorial day weekend. No lying by the pool. No working in the yard (yay!). Randy and I did, however, work inside the house. The current project is installing a murphy bed in the front ~~bedroom~~ office so that we can use the room as an office more effectively. Fun, eh? We actually enjoy that kind of stuff. However, after working like 5 or 6 hours, it does kind of drag... And of course, as with any project at our house, there is always more to do than we plan. In this case, we needed to rewire the receptacles, move two light switches, run audio cables (for whole house audio, natch) and run ethernet and coax cable. Additionally, since we're recycling pieces of old bookshelves, in addition to using a murphy bed salvaged from a friend's condo, the construction of the bed cabinet was strenuous, at times... We're not finished yet but hope to be soon.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I passed my real estate class final. I am now scheduled to take the State exam June 14 in Macon, GA. WHEE!

Ticket to Salvation

2005-05-27T14:52:00.000-04:00

I took (and passed) my real estate school final this morning (I scored 86%, 75% is the minimum). Whew! Memorial Day weekend will be much more enjoyable now. It's been a long time since I've had to take a 152 question multiple choice test. I'm not looking forward to the next. It's quite interesting to compare the amount of effort that goes into getting a real estate license vs. college graduation. The real estate course is a 75 hour course, which equates to about 3 semester hours. In comparison, after 5 years in undergraduate school I had amassed about 180 hours of college credit. Graduate school added another ~24 quarter hours of credit. In a way, I think that's one reason I didn't want to be a real estate agent... Even now, I don't think being an agent is my ticket to salvation, but I do think it will allow me and Randy to move into areas we really enjoy (real estate being one of them).

After grading I got a report on the number of questions I answered correctly for each section of the exam. I answered 100% for math - natch. The lowest section was government (do you know who administers the Fair Businesses Practices Act in your state?). I definitely will study more before taking the State exam, but definitely feel more confident now. :)

Shotgun Wedding???

2005-05-25T12:34:00.000-04:00

I originally thought I would steer clear of any posts relating to politics... but...

The recent agreement between the Democrats and Republicans over filibusters/court nominees/nuclear option is just too much to pass. I suppose the good thing is that the two had a meeting of the minds and moved forward, and I'm sure most people around the country will see it that way. However, what I think will be overlooked is the reason the agreement was needed in the first place.

That reason is simply that the Republicans wanted to change the rules, yet again. It seems that the Republican mantra has become "if you can't win outright, just change the rules." It all goes back to 2000 when the Supreme court effectively decided the election. Then they changed the rules regarding ethics investigations to help Tom DeLay. More recently Congressional Republicans used Terry Schiavo as a pawn in their political gaming and stepped in with little or no legal foundation. Very recently, the Republicans wanted to exercise a parliamentary maneuver to stifle filibusters so that Democrats couldn't block Bush's political nominations.

Congress' recent actions have helped it earn the lowest approval rating since 1997. Call it what you want, but I think the recent "marriage" between the Democrats and Republicans over the filibuster issue is more of a shotgun wedding than a holy matrimony.

Update: May 27 New poll on Bush, Congress

Happy Birthday!

2005-05-24T15:32:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in an earlier post, I spent most of the day Saturday in a Real Estate cram course (9AM-4PM) - whew! *Lots* of tests and review - but well worth it. I *very* much needed it.

That night Randy and I went to dinner with friends (at Vinocity) to celebrate Scott's upcoming 30th birthday (oh, to be young again!). We finally got to meet his long time friends Liz and Freddie (from out of state). A great time was had by all, but don't assume too much from the martini pic - I only had two! We've learned our lesson (too many times)... But that's another story.

Afterwards we all trekked over to Jason's new condo at Carlysle Heights - fab! He's done a great job decorating in just three weeks. And to think what our place looks like after 10 years!!! Gee!

At any rate, we left early so I could sleep and go to class again on Sunday - whee! I'm planning on taking the school exam this Friday. I'll keep you posted.

p.s. As several of the people at dinner Saturday night are avid bloggers, we discussed the frequent masking of identity on blog's by referring to people with either initials or their online moniker (e.g. "midtown shuffle"). Although I made use of actual names, I will in the future make use of online identities when available.

TGIF!

2005-05-20T08:30:00.000-04:00

I am *always* elated for Fridays - of course!

Unfortunately though, I will be in a Real Estate "cram course" all day Saturday and Sunday. The fact that the weekend weather forecast is awesome makes that suck even more so. I guess that's what I get for taking 6+ months to finish the online course. C'est la Vie!

Things I won't get to do this weekend:

1. Get drunk tonight.
2. Relax at my pool Saturday afternoon (and drink!).
3. Go to Phil's pool party Sunday afternoon.
4. Clean house (as if).
5. Blog! (right)

Actually, missing #3 isn't too bad since I'm the ~~fattest~~ heaviest I've ever been - 140 pounds! Yikes!

I'm sure that somehow, I'll manage to squeeze in some fun even with the classes... Randy and I have a gift for that.

Go Google yourself!

2005-05-18T11:22:00.000-04:00

A somewhat unrelated article I was reading on the internet prompted me to go look up my name on Google. To my surprise (I'm so modest), 5 of the top 10 results were indeed for me. Yay!

Speaking of names, my friend trayb mentioned a very cool web application they other day which displays the popularity of the top 1000 names over the last century or so. When I was born, Jonathan was number 81. Check it out.

Here we go

2005-05-17T15:16:00.000-04:00

After much consideration I decided to start a blog. Probably my greatest reservation is that I won't update it often enough to be interesting... However, it seems there is always something interesting in my life to talk about, and I'm actually much better with written communication (that is, more likely to email/instant message than anything else) so, here goes...

Update on a few things in my life:

Work-related:
I've completed about 90% of the work needed to get my real estate license. My partner, Randy got his license last summer and has enjoyed moving into the real estate industry. Our goal is for us both to be working in the industry full time. Yay! :)

The Library
About two weeks HGTV filmed at our house for an upcoming episode.. (Actually, High Noon Productions did the filming and will create the segment for the show.) We don't know when the show will air, we don't even know the name of the show! The show may be called Rezoned, or they may give it a different name before the season starts. Regardless of the name, the show is based on Building Character and focuses on converted spaces. They filmed for probably 8 hours and will condense that into a 5 minute segment, so hopefully they'll choose the times when we're not making fools of ourselves... we'll see.

Additionally, last weekend (May 14 and 15), our neighborhood Kirkwood, had a Spring Fling and Tour of Homes. Our house was on the tour again and it was a lot of ~~work~~ fun. It's always nice to meet people who visited the library as kids and for them to say we've done a great job with renovations, etc. Next year though, we're planning to enjoy the festival and tour as attendees. ;)

Mmmm k, nuff for the first post...

>jon<

I'm #1!!!

Castleberry Loft For Sale

New website

Money lives on the other side of fear

I'm still here!

An interesting Google search

A cultural shift

Viva Las Vegas!

Next week: New York, Paris and Venice

Antler Chandelier

Digital Age

Oral hygiene

So Sad

"Dog-o-paws"

Phoebe Allen

Sleepy

OMG! So Sorry!!!

Building Moratorium

Play-Doh update

Poor little squirrel

Wow - what a break!

My new "store"

Why engineers shouldn't name things

My Star Wars Personality

My hometown in the news

A quickie

What's old is new again

Associated

Good for Atlanta

Hello Kitty

sex!

HGTV Debut

Now you can call me Scooter

Update!!!

Box wine

Strange new addiction

Pushing the sun, pulling the moon

Fabulous!

So gay!

Upcoming birthday

How rude!

Shock and Awe

States I've visited

Gay Gospel Pop Duo????

Upcoming birthday

My Dream Vacation

Rebuilding New Orleans

1050 pound pig!!! - UPDATE!

But can you do it with one hand???

It's cool, but...

Is it just hotter this summer????

Red Red Wine....

Creatures of habit

A long time ago...

cha cha cha CHIA!

Martha van Gogh

So, it's Joanne Silburner

mmmm, i love sushi *and* candy!!!

It's been raining for a year

Gator serving chicken

Crazy Crackers

The Journalist - YUM!

Hi, I'm Jon but you can call me Santiago Cabrera

Hello Moto - my new RAZR

Glenwood Park

92.8%

Rain, rain, go away

Out of the office

It's been raining for a year

Ticket to Salvation

Shotgun Wedding???

Happy Birthday!

TGIF!

Go Google yourself!

Here we go

mmmm, i love sushi and candy!!!