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March is upon us and with that my wife is now seven months pregnant. In a mere two months we’ll be parents and somehow we’ll have to make sure we don’t royally mess anything up, well I’ll have to make sure. I have no worries about Kellie at this point she’s been an awesome mom and she hasn’t even had to really even try! Watching her pregnancy after hearing all the horror stories from around the office womenfolk has given me some serious respect for my wife and how she’s been handling everything. She never ceases to amaze me!
Now Friday we planned to head out and catch dinner at Chapultepec Mexican Grill which was delicious as usual, honestly the best tamales I think it’s the sauce. Then a trip to Wal-mart which turned out to be pretty damn awesome. First we actually remembered to get a new lamp for the bedroom! We’ve been talking about buying a lamp so I could read upstairs while Kellie went to sleep for about two months now only we never remember to pick one up when we’re out. Well that’s done, off the list! Some further browsing and into the clearance we stumbled upon the awesome, MP Skywarp on sale for $30! Couldn’t pass it up and even had wifely approval to boot! w00t! We got home and sat down to watch some Archer before heading to bed. A very great start to the weekend.
Saturday arrived with us being extra bed lazy before heading out to Ed Voyles KIA and then lunch with Johnathon and Anna at the Real Chow Baby. Now I have sung the praises of the Ed Voyles team before when I purchased my car and I’d like to continue to do so however they let me down this time. I had my car detailed on Friday at the office. Clean, shiny, and not a spot on her when I turned her over to Ed Voyles. Only I got her back with some sorta greasy dried water spots all over the hood and windows. Dirty water? Oil bits? Who knows, but I was so cheesed off and really upset with the indifference I had received from the service manager that I simply drove off. I may take it back for it’s scheduled maintenance as required by the warranty but I doubt I’ll take it back for the basic service. Sorry Ed Voyles, that’s customer satisfaction for you. Lunch was however much better with an additional surprise that Ben was to join us. We sat and ate entirely too much food and had some chunky and deep conversations about Ben and Kristen’s moving and settling into a new home. Wish them the best, even if they will be living close to B****n. Ben had to go and rescue his dogs which left Kellie and I headed to Johnathon and Anna’s place. We hung out and watched some bad TV which included Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which sprung a deep and twisted debated about time travel, paradoxes, and machine intelligence between Johnathon and I. Silly really but it was all in good fun. Shortly after we parted company as we needed to now rescue our pooches and get some grub. We stopped at the Huddle House for some eats and then home to walk the dogs and head to bed.
Sunday after we climbed outta bed we tried to knock out the grocery shopping and lunch in one swoop! So a quick run to the Publix and then swung by the Dragon House and picked up our own little buffet. I think the delay in eating coupled with the lack of Chinese food in any recently amount of time led to this event, but mainly just eyes larger than my stomach to be honest. Once home we sat and watched some really bad movies such as Bruce&Lloyd: Out of Control before settled in for a nap and I cranked up some Modern Warfare 2. Didn’t take long before I was gaming with some buddies and kicking a lot of butt. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to dent the food while playing MW2. It was a great lazy way to spend the day and just recharge our batteries.
The weekend was a brisk and leisurely type we hope to improve on next weekend by doing practically nothing, but this one was pretty despite getting a dirty car back!
“Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
The week dragged along and the days were not always kinda, since Kellie and I were both getting over the crud and the weather was dreary as hell we couldn’t have been more ready for the weekend.
Friday came to a close and as I rode home I couldn’t wait to see my lovely wife, unknown to me her day had not gone so well. I arrived home to find my wife sitting on the couch in her ladybug apron with a look of disgusted defeat on her face, I inquired what was wrong and all I got was a sigh and the story of a faulty garlic powder container. None the less we had noodles and sausage, well I had sausage cause Kellie was still grumbling about garlic. No one went hungry and we sat down to catch up on our TV and just relax a little bit… although Kellie still claimed she could smell garlic.
Saturday arrived with some decent weather, brisk but with plenty of sunshine. We crawled out of bed later than intended and missed our targeted breakfast at TJ’s Bistro, and then a trip over to get a haircut. TJ’s was a pleasant find, the food was good but the overall experience was just average. We’ll add it to the list of places to kinda break up the familiarity but I don’t know if it would be a stand out option to say have a big group dinner at. After the haircut we headed to “our” Publix and proceeded to make household “food rich” as we stocked up on all sorts of food odds and ends. It was a productive trip and we honestly shouldn’t have to get to much more in the coming weeks as we stocked up on chicken our staple meat. After shopping we headed home, unloaded the grocery and sat down to some Breaking Bad Season 2 which is once again blowing our minds episode after episode. AMC really makes some great TV which is why I’m so excited about Walking Dead on this network! Can’t wait! We save the last three episodes of Breaking Bad for Sunday thinkin’ we’d get to them when we got home, that didn’t work out as we planned… Kellie still smelled garlic though.
Sunday, ah the big day of a little gathering for Ben as he is moving to Massachusetts! Thankfully not to Boston so my wife will still acknowledge his existence, hurray! The plan was to meet at Dave & Buster’s at 3pm which did happen however each group showed up in various states of Hungry or Not-Hungry so some of us sat down to eat before we consumed those in front of us, to be joined later by everyone else. We worked the tables out, management didn’t seem to mind so much. Man, I hadn’t been to a proper arcade in a long long time but it was just as noisy, warm, crowded, dark, and flashy as I remember it. Kellie was kinda bummed cause she couldn’t really play some of her favorite games not that she didn’t give it at least one try though… which convinced her it was a bad idea. A few hours and seventy-three hundred tickets later Ben laid hands to a shot glass and a copy Twilight Princess for the Wii, which they had to order however that works. We turned our sights to dinner at Wild Wing Cafe, where we accidentally soaked up tables in the trivia section. Our punishment was to be surrounded by music fevered trivia players some of whom looked like they may or may not have bathed that day. A few half heart’d guesses without signing up to play and we broke up the table and parted ways. Rolling in rather later for a Sunday night… yet Kellie still smelled garlic.
Garlic smells aside the weekend was a blast! Hope everyone we got together with Sunday had a good time as well and we’ll see the usual suspects on Wednesday!
“Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.”
- Buddha
Friday night started the weekend off in the right direction…. with a trip to Taco Mac in Peachtree City for some chicken wings! Chris and I hadn’t been to Taco Mac in quite a while so it was a welcome treat for me, especially because my husband broke down and let me have something that I’d been missing — some delicious queso dip! Early on in my pregnancy, the doctor told me I couldn’t have any non-pasteurized cheeses or dairy products and lo and behold, that means 99% of the restaurant queso dips. Well, now that I’m closer to end once and a while I tend to cheat a bit. And it was oh so cheesy worth it! With bellies full of chicken wings, queso and nacho chips, we wandered off in search of adventure.
Which we found further down Highway 74 at an impromptu stop at Ross and Target. The stop at Ross was complete impulse on my part and Chris was more than glad to browse the aisles with me. We found some old Transformers: Universe figures (we picked up Sharkticon) and a really cute newborn Winnie the Pooh 3 piece outfit for Ripley. Gotta love Ross, baby clothes for $5.99 is the bomb!
Other finds at Ross…
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Blast from the past!
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Rudeboyz racer!
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A Legend turned into a deluxe.
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Never seen a Brave and the Bold toy!
~Chris
Next was a quick stop next door at Target. Being preggers, I’d been desiring yet slightly hesitant about purchasing clothes because 1.) I feel like the Goodyear blimp and 2.) I’ve been very self-conscious about the expanding belly/waistline. So YIPPY for Target’s plus size department…. I found two really cute casual shirts that actually looked nice on the cheap and were husband approved (aka — Did not make me look stupid/fat). One of the many things I love about my husband is that he will be 100% honest with me when trying on clothes. If stuff does not look right, too tight, not me, etc… he will give me his honest opinion and I like that he has pride in my appearance. We picked up a couple more odds-n-ends…. We found a Transformers:Animated Voyager class Lockdown for $4.98 (insanely cheap!) and also some tire cleaner and rags for the new car. Then zoom zoom…. back in the Optima and home to catch up on some T.V.
Saturday morning came way too fast as Chris had to be up early for a work jaunt to Stone Mountain for Bennett’s annual Symposium. With my husband off to work on a Saturday (BLAH!), I spent most of the morning generally missing him while doing laundry, house cleaning, bathing the doggies and watching bad horrible movies on FX (House Bunny, Epic Movie and the Comebacks…. SO BAD!). But my saving grace came around 4pm when John Wallom and his friend Kim came to squire me off to Stone Mountain in anticipation of meeting Chris for dinner when he got paroled, ie… off from work at 5pm. John, Kim and I walked around the old Stone Mountain village where they have various restaurants, shops, a theater and some craft exhibits. After picking up some yummy fudge and some caramel-corn like snackfood, Chris met up with us at the Glass blowing station where we checked out a demo. (Enter lots of jokes involving the “Glory Hole”, the 2400* glass oven that is the centerpiece of the Glass shop…. let the fun ensue. Thankfully for us, not a whole lot of kids around to hear our conversation, mostly because Chris scared them away). After we’d had enough of the Glory Hole, we ended up at Miss Katie’s which is a Southern food restaurant in the village. We started off with some awesome fried pickles, onion petals and sweet potato fries. Then just prior to dinner, you had to catch your own “tossed rolls”. No joke here, the waitress actually THROWS them at you and you have to catch them. I showed off my mad skills and caught mine and Chris’s… the only problem is that the waitress doesn’t tell you they are blazing hot and covered with molten butter resulting in 3rd degree burns. Food consumed and bill paid, we decided to head off to catch Shutter Island at the AMC in Morrow. I personally was disappointed, especially after hearing many good things about this movie. It was a visually beautiful film, very artsy but with one of those lame ass M.Night Shamaylan type twists at the end. To me, the trailer and what the actual movie ended up being were two different things. But the company was great and it ended up being a very enjoyable Saturday.
— WARNING — SPOILER ALERT — WARNING —
Shutter Island get 2 out of 5 lobotomies! This movie was visually stunning and the photography was amazing. The scenes were creepy and very well done for the mood each was trying to present. However paired with a predictable plot and repetitive musical score you almost think you’ve joined the nut house right along with the over the top characters. Leonardo DiCaprio would be lost without his supporting co-star Mark Ruffalo who’s character is merely a vehicle for the miserable plot that you can practically call before they even step off the boat!
I think a lot of viewer disappointment could have been diminished if this film had receive appropriate marketing as a drama over being some form of horror film. A disappointing film from Scorsese after so many unforgettable ones.
~Chris
Sunday started out a bit lazy…. Chris made me some chocolate chip pancakes (my hubby makes some mean pancakes… screw you IHOP!!) and we lolly-gagged for a while while he updated his ship missions on EVE. We got a call around noon from Masako asking if we’d like to take a trip to the Real Chow Baby. If anyone knows me, then you’ll know that Chow Baby is my Achilles heel…. I can never say NO to all-you-can-eat Stir-Fry. We decided to meet up at the Cumberland Mall in Cobb County around 3ish to kill some time and make the trip Chow Baby a dinner run since they didn’t open until 5pm. Chris and I showered and headed up early to hit the mall for a bit of shopping before James, Masako, John and Kim met up with us. I finally found some Puma’s that I liked and had been aching to purchase for my recently swollen feet and Chris got them for me without a second thought. This is the part of the story that I will mention that Chris was in a somewhat foul mood…. Not at me in any way mind you, but I think with losing his Saturday to a company event, he was just tired of being around crowds of people and the thought of only having a one day weekend was grating on him. A stop into the GameStop store in the mall gave him a chance to vent some frustration on the poor, unwitting and dumb late 30’s something clerk who appeared that he only left the basement to go to work. Chris made him fully aware that Star Trek online was NOT all that it was cracked up to be and to top it off he could shove his $25 used copy of Mass Effect up his butt for as we sauntered out**.
After getting my husband a smoothie, he seemed to get to feelin’ better which was good just as J,J,M & K came walking up. We wandered the mall for a bit longer then headed across the street to the Cobb Galleria center to sit and wait for Chow Baby to open. We sat around and cut up for a bit in the main sitting area of the Galleria/Mall then we saw the line start forming for the restaurant to open. We were seated then attacked the stir-fry bar with gusto for about an hour until by bowl two (or three) we all started to feel overfull. We sat around and chatted a bit more until we realized that the place was filled with people waiting for tables, then said some goodbyes and headed home for the night. Chris and I relaxed for a bit then headed to bed dreading the onset of Monday morning and the work week ahead.
Overall, it seemed like a very short weekend (even to me!) but the nice weather seemed to brighten some spirits with the hope of Spring on the way. Hopefully, next weekend will be just as nice and I’ll actually get to spend two whole days with my hubby!
**The clerk behind the counter was saying Star Trek Online was awesome and addicting, which is fine it’s an MMO and everyone has their fave but his comparison for it being so was by using Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Which is definitely not an MMO nor a strong basis to say a game is better than. To top it off he did totally jack up the price on the last used copy of Mass Effect in the store cause I happened to ask for it. I’ll just get a new copy for $20 OR hit the GameStop locally for the $14 copy I saw, jerk.
“He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.”
- Buddha
Ah a three day weekend! Well… not so much. Friday morning arrives and we’re off! To the doctor for me, the Fulton County tax office for my new car tag, an oil change for Kellie’s Escape, and somewhere in there grab a bit of lunch. The doctor’s office was actually some good stuff as I found out that I’ve lost another thirty pounds which is always good news. After that we headed back towards Peachtree City to get Kellie’s oil changed, while we waited we sat down to Athena’s which was a great lil’hole in the wall Greek and pizzeria place. The food was cook to order and was fresh and tasty. Service was also very pleasant. Stuffed and satisfied we headed back to Tires Plus @ Peachtree City to pick up the Escape which rolled off the lift just as we literally rounded the corner. Perfect timing! Then we ran to the Fulton County Tax office to get my new car tag where the real fun began. First a line to get a number, then sitting and waiting for your number to be called. Awesome. About two and a half hours later tag in hand we head out into the… snow?! Yep, the snow which we drove through to finally get home and try to stay warm and stay in.
We woke Saturday to a few inches of snow, nothing really stuck to the road but plenty stuck to roofs, trees, and lawns. Georgia was a traditional winter wonderland by way of miracle snow fall at least til about one in the afternoon. We got up and got ready to head to Dad’s house despite, the highly unlikely, road way issues. Dad’s PC die on him and he needed a hand moving data from it to a new one. On the way over we stopped for a quick bite at Dairy Queen by wifely request. Now let me just say that when I usually visit a DQ they are crummy, run down, and well just generally old. This one despite being ten years old look fresh and new, service was friendly, and the food was impressive. I think this DQ may just be the exception to the rule but let me know if you find any other surprising gems along the fast food places I’m sure they are out there!
Once we got to Dad’s we chit-chatted before getting started on his PC. This took longer than expected as Dad’s previous computer and new computer have about ten years of technology growth between them. As the day ran on we tagged along to join Dad & Becky for dinner with Stacy (my sister) and her friend’s son Bryce. So we traveled over to Tokyo Steakhouse, apparently we weren’t the only ones with a Japanese craving as several folks from my company and elsewhere were floating about the place. Everything was delicious with the exception of one lobster tail. Far, far to salty a critter for my tastes. From dinner we headed back to Pop’s to wrap up his PC issue before returning home.
Now Sunday came and here was Valentine’s Day! I awoke to cards, yes cards plural, and gifts. My wife had found a lovely limited edition print titled “Robot Love” on Shanalogic by Lynette May that really just screamed us, which she framed quite nicely. It’s a great piece of art and is now a deeply sentimental piece of my property! Now I’m told Little Ripley found a USS Enterprise on clearance at Wal-mart for me, such a smart unborn shopper! Although I know this is a day dreaded by some and feared by others I still take it upon myself to try and make it a fun and memorable day for Kellie and I plus with the baby coming I’ve now got to do so with a bit more budget in mind. Of course there would be a card, flowers to her office during the week (women love to show off to other women), but I really needed something to do on true Valentine’s Day that would be fun, inexpensive, and memorable. God bless Groupon! Not only did they have a sweet deal it was for something that fit the bill perfectly for fun and memorable!
Which was Whirl Atlanta where we would take a lovely ride in their shiny helicopter!
 Raven Heli @ Whirl Atlanta
Now I know Barbara (my mother in-law) is going to kill me, but seeing and hearing Kellie giggle like a five year old is totally worth it! She was completely surprised and much like I had thought completely up for taking a ride into the wild blue yonder! It was a blast to fly over Marietta, across the small Kennesaw Mountain, the edge of Dobbins Air force base, and back! Most of our time was spent staring out the windows or at each other like two kids at Christmas.
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Raven Heli @ Whirl Atlanta
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Take off!
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Hovering just over the runway!
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There are a lot of instruments…
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Kennesaw Mountains
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Where we don’t wanna end up.
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Dobbins Airforce Base
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My lovely with the air field behind her.
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Best Dish Ever
We even flew over the Big Chicken, well known Atlanta landmark for sure, which the pilot then used as a reference point on his return flight. Trust me hearing a pilot says “One mile north of the Big Chicken” is much funnier when your a passenger. If you and your significant other are of the adventure-some variety or at the very least like to test the waters once in a while taking a helicopter flight together is a pretty amazing time. I would highly recommend it. Although our day didn’t stop there as we had reservations for Elevation Chophouse right there at the airport! Where we proceeded to try out the Bleu Cheese and Chips (above), some of their home made BBQ pulled pork, Virginia Ham-Hash, Calamari, and other vittles. Everything was delicious, fresh, well seasoned and just a really great treat in general. We watched planes and our helicopter take off while chatting and eating through large windows that gave you full view of the entire air field. It was just fantastic! The best part still being my lovely smiling and laughing without a care. It was a damn good time.
The rest of Sunday was spent driving and visiting a few shops including a Target we spotted on the way up. Where we purchased a few house hold odds and end plus the appropriate number of Transformers to send off for the Mail-in Exclusive they have coming up. A strange and random purchase but awesome none the less. When we got home we realized how tuckered out we were so we settled down to watching some Breaking Bad. Now we’re behind on this but this show is completely off the wall while still being something you could totally see happening to a point. We may be behind now but I see us catching up rather rapidly as Kellie and I both love the show at this point.
The weekend was a blast and this won’t be Valentine’s Day I’ll forget anytime soon. Hope everyone else had a good time in the snow and was safe over the weekend!
“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
What exactly did we get up to this weekend, well let’s see…
Friday night I arrived home after an adventure-less detour due too, well I dunno what cause I couldn’t see anything but barrels and the ROAD CLOSED sign. No news station reported anything so I’m at a complete loss. However all was not a waste as I rolled in to the homestead for homemade tacos which we happily munched on before we sat down to catch up to the stuff off the DVR. The Fringe finale was spot on what I had been hoping for since the second part of season two started, I felt sadness about having to wait for season three until the promo came up for a April first opener… I dunno if they were setting me up for an early April Fools or not but I’m hopeful of the latter. We also watched the latest episode of Archer and if you have not seen this show find a way to watch it! It’s hilarious, wrong and totally politically incorrect but so damn hilarious. After that Kellie hit the hay and I sat up to finish the Lost premiere finally, much to Kellie’s disapproval. I have to say just wow… wow. No spoilers, not til we are further along.
We awoke Saturday with some loose plans to hit Olive Garden for some lunch and then Burlington to locate me a new belt. We decided to call John, James, and Masako to see if they wished to join us. Which they did! Lunch was tasty and enjoyable, plus while we are there were some last minute plans to have a Super Bowl gathering at John, James, and Masako’s house put together. After lunch Kellie and I headed to Burlington while the James & Masako headed home to get groceries for their own evening events, John to hang out and wait on us for an impromptu Southlake Mall outing for cookies, hey the wife and unborn child get what they want! While at the mall we hit a few shoe stores for the missus and then the Babbages where I picked up Blood Bowl for the Xbox 360 for a mere $28! I was excited as I was convinced this would never make it to the console so happy to be wrong! Even though we had shopped til Kellie was about to drop we still went to Best Buy to check into the “buy 2 get 1 free” Platinum Xbox 360 titles. We rarely buy anything on release day and usually by the more popular titles used, so $40 for 3 new games is a bargain! Alas they only had Bioshock which Kellie promptly picked up as she’s had her eye on playing it for quite a while. Shopping done and much loot had we dropped John off and headed home. I played some Blood Bowl right away and it was everything I thought it would be while Kellie was quickly bored and ready to shoot something. So I released her on to Rapture, where she instantly slayed and murder various baddies in the name of self-defense we swear! The game’s atmosphere is intense however so Kellie limited her play time a bit.
Ah Sunday arrived and we had a whole day to be lazy and do whatever til about 5:30 when we had to pick up the chicken wings and get over to JJ&M’s house for the Super Bowl. We crafted some horrible snacky breakfast and sat down to watch Whip It! directed by Drew Barrymoore and starring Ellen Page. Very cute, funny, heart warming, if somewhat predictable story. After the movie I hit the shower and told the missus I was taking her car to get McDonald’s, another horrible yet tasty idea. Taking her car however was trickery as I took a detour to the touch-less car wash and vacuum stand at the nearby BP to clean it’s filthy hide! Mud, dirt, fur, tree debris, it was either in the car or on it! So a nice vacuum, a good wipe down, and then a tour through the wash. Shiny and new… well looking like new. Hurrah!
After we ate and Kellie got ready we headed to Publix for some beverages and then to H.J. Wings & Things to pick up the Super Bowl bounty! It was smooth sailing to JJ&M’s place where we all realized that we had not thought to invite Ben, phone call and persuasion later Ben was on his way. John also introduce us to his friend Kim. She fit in right in with the rest of our bunch and was moving right along with jokes, conversations, and general picking we all do! Was a pleasure to meet her, just hope we didn’t scare her too much. We gathered food which there was in abundance! Nacho chips with meaty cheese sauce, chips with 2 types of dip, Reese cup brownies, veggie sticks, and a hundred chicken wings! We tried to put a good dent in them but I think John, James, and Masako may be eating a few for lunch this week. Grub in hand we settled down to the watch the game a few us for the Colts and a few for the Saints, although neither camp were die-hard fans of either team we all just choose someone to root for. The game was a good one, but seem to move by pretty damn fast! The Saint’s put on a show after the first half and walked off with their first Super Bowl win ever. Go Saints! Please note I’m not the sports fan of the house, that would be my lovely wife but I can still enjoy a game with funny commercials in it. 
For being mostly unplanned or thrown together last minute the weekend was a real blast!
WARNING REVIEW BELOW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!
Whip It! – Give 3.5 out of 5 busted bloody noses! This is a traditional lost young girl story told in a very nontraditional way. Bliss is a social misfit with a mother who wants her to be the champion beauty queen, surprise! Now Bliss could go through the ugly duckling to swan story or maybe even find that she’s smart and she doesn’t need to be pretty. No Bliss joins a Roller Derby league so she can raise her self-esteem by destroying other women on the track!
There are some twists on the usual ideas of what is right and wrong with the world, but the overall morale is that you can follow your dreams, fuck up, and still be happy about it, cause hey that’s life. From the single mother giving sage advice, the failed dreamer still living and doing, to the real screw ups coming together to make something of themselves these snapshots of various stages of life get presented as the backdrop for Bliss’s story as each are all potential out comes for Bliss herself.
There is no shiny glossy ending to the story but more the feeling of a complete chapter out of Bliss’s life. Drew Barrymore directs this film and for it being her first time out really does a fantastic job in delivering a twisted take on an old story instead of trying to stomp independent womanhood and super feminism down the audience’s throats.
“One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.“
– Robert A. Heinlein
**Comments without registration have been enabled. Sorry about that.
 The car that gave me 'hot hatch' obsession... We started thinking about a new car at the beginning of last year and throughout the year we’d talk about various things the new car would have to have and what I would want in a new vehicle. Now understand I drove a 2000 Ford Focus for just about a decade, a decade! So I got use to small and tight when turning, cornering, and just generally running down the road. The Focus was a 4-cylinder 2.0 Liter engine that produced about 130 horse power. It was light and put all 130 horses to real good use. I loved my car and to be honest I found it hard to think of a car that could really replace it, but the new car would have some different roles to fill besides just looks and being fun to drive. As we are having our first child the next new vehicle had to be family oriented which meant a minimum of a 4 door car with friendly (read cheap) cost in maintenance and fuel. Also standing 6′ 2″ and being a pretty big guy getting in/out and riding comfortably was also a concern.
Now I had been looking at cars for a bit (read always) and liked the look of a few models notably the Honda Civic, the Mazda3, the 2010 Ford Taurus, Fusion, and Focus. Each had their pros and cons, some very quickly became out of our price range with further research, and some where just well unknown. So we hit the streets…
We looked at Honda first checking out the 09′ Civic, the 09′ Fit, the 09′ CR-V, and an 09′ Accord. The Civic sat so low I was climbing in and out using the roof as a handle. It wasn’t a very comfortable for sure. The CR-V was nice but I just didn’t care for it myself plus with my driving the gas mileage wasn’t what I expected to be doing in a new vehicle. The Fit… the Fit was horrible. The car was simply built for the hipster teen or trendy grandmother. No man alive so be driving a Fit. The Accord was a better comfort level but had this jutting dashboard thing going on with a gazillion buttons usually with 2 or 3 functions a piece. Yeah I didn’t need more distractions while driving trust me, just ask Kellie! 
Shortly after our improvised Honda outing I stopped by a Ford dealership during a work lunch and browsed the models on the lot but after massive sticker shock simply drove off. Nothing I saw or viewed would get me anywhere near their price point on any model they currently make. However I did see a new 2010 Mazda3 in their used lot, which in itself wasn’t a good sign for the model, and went to give it a viewing and seat test. Wasn’t going to happen. Low front roof and tiny doors made it next to impossible to get in comfortably and the back seat was like a ledge with next to no leg room. I was disappointed as the car looks amazing and honestly had a number of features for a great price point. At this point I shelved the car hunt as the Focus was still running rather well and I hadn’t found anything that I really like. I simply carried on with the Focus until KIA announced the 2010 KIA Forte and plastered the TV with ads. So I immediately took notice. For the price and standard features it was a really great deal, but I had my concerns as it was of all things a KIA. I checked out some online reviews and notes from car sites but nothing made me really jump at it and soon I had left it and move on without a second thought. That is until my trusty Focus started giving me some fits.
The Focus was running well and for being ten years old and having about 170,000 miles on it I considered myself pretty lucky, but then I started having chronic stalls. Red light, stop sign, waiting for another car to turn, if I lingered at a stand still for just ten seconds I’d start to get a stutter, ten seconds more and I was dead in the water. So Kellie and I started talking again about what to do about a new car, and I dredge up the KIA Forte and said we should go take a look. Although it still took us a few weeks to get to a KIA dealership and the Focus just grew worse and worse.
We finally took one Sunday and visited the Union City KIA dealership. We were met by a man, whose name I couldn’t even pronounce, who followed us around the lot without any suggestions or knowledge of his vehicles. He couldn’t even tell year of the make and model without consulting the window sticker. We walked by a dark blue/black car whose model I couldn’t tell. Turns out it was an ‘09 Optima SX with a V6. I tried out the seat, checked out the interior and the features and honestly it was a nice lookin’ car. Then we moved onto the Fortes which come in a four door and coupe model. The coupe model looks amazing, but we were on a future family car mission 4 doors or more required. The Forte had a nice but much more simple interior, but was just about as loaded with features. So we took them both for a spin. The Optima was firm and steady, more of a cruising vehicle. The engine had plenty of get up and go, and was very responsive. The Forte was a little more aggressive in the acceleration and handled more like my old Focus: light, tight, and agile. As for looks the Forte was indeed a more aggressive styling over the Optima but both looked very modern and sporty. The difference in the two I can only express as maturity; the Forte was a young persons car, inexpensive, fun to drive, and a little unrefined. The Optima had the more refined features and felt like a car for an adult, an adult that still knew how to have a good time. After we took a ride we got some pricing and talked some numbers, what little talking there was. Nothing came to anything we liked so we walked, but the KIA Optima had impressed me quite a bit. As for the dealership please do yourself a favor and avoid it like it kicked your dog! Not only were the employees unhelpful and bordering on rude but now we’re getting some suspicious mail concerning loan inquires (which we are keeping a serious eye on!), do yourself a favor just find another dealership to deal with.
 I hit the internet and dug up information on the KIA Optima. I have to say what I found I liked. The reliability on the vehicle had trended upward sharply since 2006 redesign. The model I liked came with a V6 or a 4 cylinder both the same liters. Overall KIA with the help of their sister company Hyundai had come quite a long ways since their 2004 launch. During my info hunt I stumbled over onto Edmunds.com for some information and found I could contact all the KIA dealerships online with an inquiry for a particular make and model car. So I sent out an inquiry to over ten dealerships in Georgia looking for a ‘09 Optima SX. Not ten minutes later my inbox swelled with offers, discounts, promises, and details on various cars. So I did the best thing I could think of, I turned them against one another to get the best deal. Winner got my business plain and simple, so long as it was an honest and up front deal when we got there I might just get a new car. This is where Daryl Nesmith from Ed Voyle’s KIA steps in. His email set the price on a 09′ Optima SX that was honestly a steal as presented, after a little back and forth the deal only got sweeter! So we hammered out some financing numbers, to make sure we weren’t wasting either of our time, and I told him I would come up and give it a ride. This was a 4 Cylinder model and the power was so close I couldn’t tell a difference between it and the V6. After the ride we talked some additional pricing and financing only to come out with an extend warranty, less money down, and a great price just like I had been emailed and then some! Kellie and I were both very happy with our experience at Ed Voyle’s and would recommend them to others in the future.
While we had started talking about a new car over a year ago it took just a few weeks to hunt down what we liked and knew would fit our needs. It didn’t hurt that the purchase was an absolute steal!
Things I learned about Car Shopping
- Never give them a monthly payment price your willing to pay. They will use this to play the numbers and you’ll end up paying more than you thought you had bargained for!
- Also get the whole picture of the deal:
- Total Price w/ Tax, Tag, & Title
- how long is the loan term 48, 60, 72 months?
- What is the APR?
- What if any additional fees are included in the price?
- Visit more than one dealership whether online or in person.
- Do your home work. If you know what you like find out what the MSRP is and the Factory Invoice price is. Check for Factory Rebates.
- Know the difference between MSRP and Factory Invoice price: MSRP is the suggested retail price by the manufacturer, Factory Invoice is the price the dealer has to pay for that car. Everything in between is negotiable.
- And the most important thing you should know: You can always say NO. Whether there an hour or half a day if the deal isn’t what you like or is outside your comfort level simply walk away. They may contact you with a better offer or you can take your information from one visit to another to work out a better deal. They want to sale, doesn’t mean you have to buy!
“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”
- Buddha
Usually I make my husband do all the weekend updates, but figured this week “What the heck, give it a shot”…. so here goes, your Templeman family weekly update, Kellie-style!
Friday night was most welcomed for the both of us, it had been a long week where Chris had pulled a few longer-than normal days filled with some various problems that had developed with computers/software at the office. My husband arrived home with a few surprise bags filled with goodies from Publix — some 2L of diet soda, a few bags of chips, two kinds of french onion chip dip, cheese Bagel Bites (for me!), and some Weight Watcher microwave dinners that had been on sale and had been bringing for his weekly at work brown-bag lunches. We sat down to “stir-Friday”…. most appropriately named as I had whipped up a delicious chicken stir-fry for our dinner and an added bonus for Chris that he had not been expecting…. I had also baked him a cake for dessert, yellow cake with a yummy whipped milk chocolate icing.
With full bellies, we landed us on the couch for a while where we caught up on some DVR’d TV and after a while my husband decided to sit at the computer and crunch out his taxes. With Government refunds assured, we headed up to bed for sleep…..ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz.
Saturday we awoke rather early, lollygagged for a while then had a quick cake-y breakfast and awaited the arrival of James and Masako to the homestead for our planned group outing to Vortex. If you haven’t been to the Vortex, it’s a “need-to-visit-at-least once” kind of place if you love burgers. Not only do they have unique and delicious burgers, but their portion sizes are on the larger side and if you leave hungry it’s your own fault. We made it to midtown and waited on the arrival of Ben, Kristin, Johnathan and Anna.
Once our party had arrived, we were seated and the lunch madness ensued. Burgers of all kinds were consumed…. the collection included a Yokohama Mama (terriyaki, pineapple) for Masako, a Buffalo Blu burger (w/ med-rare Bison patty) for Chris, three standard cheeseburgers for James, Johnny and Anna and a buffalo chicken wrap for me. Ben and Kristin went all out and shared the Double Bypass…. a half-pound burger that is smothered with 3 fried eggs, a whole pig’s worth of bacon strips, 6 slices of cheese and all this is sandwiched between TWO grilled cheese sandwiches. Needless to say, no one went away hungry! After lunch, Ben and Kristin had packing/moving things to accomplish as this is Kristin’s last week in the ATL and starts her new job in Boston soon so we bid them adieu. The remaining 6 of us decided to head up to the Perimeter mall to walk around and possibly do some shopping.
James, Masako, Chris and I arrived at the Perimeter Mall and waited for Johnny and Anna to meet us. We walked around and mostly window shopped until the call (and smell) of delicious chocolate chip cookies and Starbucks coffee swayed us into some purchases. After walking off the lunch lag for a few hours, we headed over to Johnny and Anna’s apartment for a bit since James and Masako hadn’t seen it yet. A short 10 min ride to their apartment turned into a 35-40 min epic roadtrip though an expensive section of Dunwoody after I prompted my husband to take the wrong way down Ashford-Dunwoody road out of the mall parking lot. My iPhone GPS did not help me very much in the navigation department. Eventually, Chris found our way back to the direction we should have been heading and we arrived at the apartment unscathed except for my brother-in-law’s jokes about my sense of direction. We all sat, chatted and relaxed for a bit until once again our stomach’s demanded some attention and a plan formed for a Chinese food outing.
We arrived at China Delight, a well hidden restaurant in Chamblee not too far from Johnny and Anna’s apartment. Originally thinking it was going to be a buffet, we walked in to a well decorated and upscale sit-down type atmosphere and one of the best Chinese dinners I’ve ever had in my life. All the food was fresh to order, it was brought to the table steaming and in large portions. I don’t really remember the specifics of what everyone ate (I was so focused on digging into my own General Tso’s chicken at that point!) and we left there with ample left-overs. We headed back to Fairburn to relieve the pooches after a full day of activities out and retired to bed tired and happy.
Dinner Orders were the following: Johnathon – Sesame chicken, Anna – Cashew nut chicken, James – Mongolian chicken, Masako – Seafood combination with pan fried noodles, Kellie – General Tso’s chicken, Chris – Combination Hot pot, Kellie & I also shared a serving of their pork fried rice. Everyone cleaned plates or carried it home, no food was turned away or wasted.
- Chris
Sunday started out lazy as Chris and I slept in a bit, started some laundry and caught up on on a few episodes of Castle that we had missed. Around 2pm we headed out to do some shopping, only to find out that the brand spankin’ new Kia had a flat tire on the rear driver’s side. My husband jumped right into repair mode, pumped up the flat and found a nail sticking right out of the center of it. We inflated it and drove down to Peachtree City, where we dropped off the car at Tires Plus for a patch job. Since we had some time to blow, we walked over to the PTC Wal-Mart…. which in my opinion is by far the best Wal-Mart around as it’s cleaner, more organized and much friendlier than the others close to us. We picked up some odds-n-ends then stopped for a quickie snack in the in-store McDonald’s. We left hauling a few bags of stuff back down the golf-cart path to re-claim the car, which luckily for us cost us nothing to repair since we’re “Preferred customers”. Another quick stop at Target for more odds-n-ends, we rescheduled our grocery trip to Publix for later in the week and then we headed back home for a snacky DiGiorno pizza dinner. A little later Chris joined my brother Randy and our friend Ron online for some guy time to shoot some mofo’s up in MW2. I relaxed on the couch, watched the husband shoot-em-up for a while and finished the laundry before heading off to bed.
Another fun-filled weekend is in the books (Many thanks for the Fries for hanging with us on Sat!) and the cycle starts anew on Monday….. Already looking forward to next weekend!!
“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.“
- Buddha
The week had been a long one for myself, Kellie had MLK Jr. Day off and then had an appointment Wednesday for a Baby checkup. Everything is moving along well with the future wee-one and everything came back healthy and normal. My wife is doing an amazing job carrying our child, I know it can’t be easy but she rarely has an ill mood or even a complaint. It just reminds every day how awesome the woman I married truly is.
The weekend was most welcomed and we took Friday evening to make some delicious pasta for dinner before cuddling up to catch up on a few of our regular shows like Fringe. We headed to bed full and tired. Saturday had a simple plan but turned into quite a full day, much to our surprise!
We woke Saturday and shared some quality time together before braving the rainy and dreary world we woke up too. The weather was cold and wet, two of the wife’s least favorite conditions, but we got on the road and head to Ed Voyle’s KIA to get the car looked. There were a few items I felt where worth getting looked at since it is a new car: glove box light didn’t work, head lights had condensation in them after the drive home, and I thought the alignment was odd. Nothing serious or deal breaking just minor things… all of which just ended up being New Car Owner Paranoia. Since it would be at least an hour for them to check out all the non-issues (/facepalm) and we were both getting rather hungry. So we had their shuttle run us down to Cumberland Mall, this is a really nice mall without the snooty feel of say Lenox or Phipps. We ran down the food court and end up having Chinese food from Tokyo Express (a hibachi style and Chinese food mall stall) which was really damn good! After scarfing down our eats we headed into the mall for some browsing. Game Stop, Fan Zone, several different shoe places, Spencers, and several other shops til we came to Helzburg Diamonds. Now with Valentine’s Day coming up I had been looking around for a gift. I had settled on a nice piece of simple jewelry as Kellie isn’t about the flash she’s more about the class and style of the piece. I had been looking since before Christmas but everything I thought she would like was way out of my workable budget. Then we were shown some pieces at Helzburg and she fell in love with this wonderful Asian styled pendent with a cluster of diamonds. I thought for a moment about being sneaky and coming back to get it to give to her, but I could see how much she loved it and how much she would really hate to part with it so I simply said “We’ll take it.” Of course the chain was something simple so I had us look for one that was more sturdy and a lil’prettier than the one included. All in all it’s a beautiful piece of jewelry BUT the important part is that my beautiful wife simply loves it! This isn’t normally how I operate for giving gifts but in this case it worked out for the best. We still have plans I put together to celebrate Valentine’s Day as well so we’ll just call it a Valentine’s pre-cursor!
We ended our mall visit with a seat outside waiting for the shuttle to take us back to our new ride. Jim the shop manager was very polite and patient with me as he went over what they had checked out which was there was absolutely nothing wrong: the glove box works with the headlights or parking lights on, the headlights had condensation cause of severe cold but if it happened and the water stayed come back in, and the pull was actually me. Yep, I ride to the left of the road, the middle of the road humps for water run off, the new car is slightly wider than my old one and me riding so close I was being gently nudge to the right off the road hump. All news to me, but the best part: no charge and a clean automotive bill of health!
We had some loose plans going with James & Masako so we called them up and headed their way from the north side of town. We came up with a plan for dinner and John came along with us as we headed out to try Thai Heaven. The restaurant was this nice little hole in the wall type place in Hapeville. The service was friendly and the food was good, it wasn’t an amazing meal but definitely a nice place to settle in and relax with in a no pressure environment. After the meal and a bit of conversation we headed back to John, James & Masako’s place to watch The Hangover which was just as funny as the original theatre viewing. After the movie we had been out of the house for almost twelve hours so it was time to boogie home to release the fur-kids before they exploded! So we said our good byes and headed to the homestead. It had been a really good day out and to end it with our friends was a pleasant and unexpected bonus!
Sunday was a day stolen by the rain, wind, and darkness. The baby had been keeping Kellie up at night so by Sunday she was still sleepy and just wanting to lay down however Sunday is our new shopping day for groceries and she also need her medicine refilled. So I told her I would go out and get the shopping done while she laid down for a nap. Little did I know the storm was going to get worse. By the time I walked into Publix the down dropped out from the sky, I figured by the time I got done shopping it would die down a bit. Oh man was I wrong. By the time I got home and got the groceries in from the car my coat weighed about fifteen more pounds soaking wet, my shoes where mobile puddles, and I’m pretty sure I had gotten myself a week’s worth of showers. Kellie was up when I got home, said she didn’t sleep well with me not there, and took a peak out the back door with a joke, “Is that a trout?” Honestly I could believe it with the river that was moving through the back yard. Groceries away and snacky dinner settled in our tummies we relaxed the rest of the evening.
We enjoyed ourselves and the company of our friends despite the weather. I’m hoping we can continue the streak myself.
“May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live.“
– Robert A. Heinlein
Friday was having dinner and enjoying much of our DVR’d programming. Leverage is back and fantastic, Fringe is getting up to speed (the Season 1 leftover was a bit confusing), and I’m sure we’ll be knee deep in other programming by March. We had plans for Saturday thanks to the internet for working through several KIA dealerships to find a good deal that we needed to give a test drive…
So we awoke Saturday to head to Ed Voyle’s KIA. We had worked with our wonderful internet rep Daryl on a 4cycl. 09′ KIA Optima SX and with the pricing he was offering we had to go give it a spin! Little did we know that it was to be a promotional powerhouse there due to the new opening of the KIA plant in Westpoint, GA and the new 2011 Sorento. They had V103 there, Hawks cheerleaders, Sky Hawk performers, and Harry Hawk the mascot were running around handing out shirts, tickets, and other odds and ends. It was just crazy! We did however get to give the car a test drive and well we found that the 4 cycl. was every bit of car the V6 was. We sat down with finance and well we ended up getting it…
 Our new car! After the purchase we had to find a place to eat, Kellie and Ripley were starving and I think I honestly I could have lost a hand or limb while we tried to locate Don Pablo’s where Kellie was determined to have a Chicken Caesar salad. I didn’t think much of Don Pablo’s to be honest. The food was bland and mostly draped in just cheese. My tamales looked like twinkies covered in Krystal’s chili sauce, and tasted about as good. However their Sweet Cornbread was amazing, next time I’ll just order something simple cause they seem to do that well or just try Kellie’s salad recommendation. After getting stuffed we headed out to my Dad’s to show off the new wheels and hang out for a bit. We got home tired and drained, sleep was most welcomed.
Sunday we got up to do some shopping and run a few errands, only we didn’t get to those til that afternoon. We sat down and watched Clan of the Cave Bear at Kellie’s request. I have not seen this movie since I was like eleven, and let me just say there is some violent scenes I really did not remember as a child. While watching the film I was trying to think what kind of atmosphere was around during the time this movie was made, I mean what made a studio make a film about a developing homosapien and it’s hardships? All imagined mostly by grand theories of the time I’m sure… but how did this come about? I can’t really think of anything it compares too even today… After some poking around I came across of all things the Wiki entry for the film and lo’ and behold it was based on a book that was part one of a series of books. Learn something new every day!
After the movie we got washed up and headed out for a haircut for each of us, a delicious meal at Kabab Grill, and then to Target and Publix for some weekly shopping. We got home and stayed in for the evening and just relaxed. Kellie commented that with a new car in the drive way and our lil’bundle on the way that our lil’list of life goals has nothing on it at the moment. So we’re going to sit down and work up what to do next, with I’m sure plenty of curve balls from Ripley!
“Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
A lovely weekend was had and we spent Saturday (yes the whole Saturday) celebrating my Dad’s birthday! We have a grand day on Saturday, even my brother Jonathon came down and hung out with us for a while. We went to Mr. Fuji for the awesome hibachi lunch and then back to the house for some gaming and talking. It was really nice to just sit as a family cutting up and talking with one another. However my brother did get a sobering phone call about a co-worker who had been battling cancer last year. Seems that she had a relapse and new cancer growth start very fiercely, she was told she didn’t have but three days left. My brother was very upset, I haven’t seen that kind of emotion from him in a long time. I learned later on the next week that she had passed and he was to attend her services. 2009 was not a great year for vitality and healthy for many people and it seemed to reach out and claim just one more that had thought she had made it. My heart goes out to her family and to my brother, of course, who obviously thought she was a great person.
Sunday started out with some laziness and laying about only to end with some mild productivity. We headed out to do some shopping and also go and test drive some cars at a KIA dealership. We went looking how I’d fit and ride in a Forte, but we came across a 09′ Optima. Now the Optima looks like a standard family sedan with a lil’bit of styling, on the interior you get a great bit of style, refinement, and features not usually present on a car priced at $19,900. We both liked the car after a test spin, but held back our excitement til we dealt with some numbers. The numbers at KIA Union City were well… unknown. We were presented with a monthly payment but no terms. No APR, no number of months, no final price tag, just this size-able payment on both a Forta and an Optima. We walked, but the car stuck with us… research and more dealers would have to be contacted.
Overall the weekend was surprising in many ways both good and bad, but that’s how life is, I guess, it gives us our incredible highs before bringing us back to the smooth chill of reality.
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