So, you have been wondering...where have I been?!  Well...I am not entirely sure I can explain that.  I have been dating...what did we call him?  I can't remember his craftily crafted nickname.  But he has been pretty stellar.  He is an amazing cook and when he opens his own place, I will most certainly blog about it.  Lamb tenderloin and Chilean sea bass...mmm!  I am not really sure where it is headed.  But then, am I ever?

In other news, I haven't really been out and about much in Atlanta.  The inefficiency that is called MARTA has a lot to do with that.  Well, that, and the fact that I do not have a car to facilitate my eating out habits.  I mean, Mr. Man cooks for me, what more could I possibly want to eat?  And my friend-making habits...gone!

Seriously though, I feel like I have completely let down my audience by not having much to blog about.  I am working and I love it.  I love my job, my boss, my coworkers, my office, my snack drawer, my cats, the fact that my cats can hang out on the porch, Little Chica Malbec, Mr. Man, Ben E. King, Audrey Hepburn, my couches, my apartment, the fact that I will be going to NYC next weekend, Mr. Man...oh, wait, I mentioned that already.  I really do need to remember his craftily crafted nickname.

I did meet a fellow resident of my apartment complex today at the bus stop.  Her name is Nancy and she is from Beijing.  She is a grad student at GSU and we are going to the DMV together tomorrow.  How funny is that?  I met her just this morning, in fact.  How even funnier is that?  What perplexes me even more is, why am I listening to Taylor Swift and enjoying it?  I must be drunk.  I am totally blaming that on Little Chica.

Shame on you, Little Chica!

For a Malbec that you can purchase at the Target Greatlands across the street, this is actually pretty good.  I am already on bottle 2 for the week.  

Well, it is a Friday night.  Mr. Man (or whatever his craftily crafted nickname is) is at the High Museum (I am pretty sure this museum has something to do with drugs) with a coworker.  I am home with Little Chica and the cats, obviously.  Perhaps this is a sign that I should finish unpacking, instead of focusing on...whatever it is that I am purportedly focusing on.  Blogging, I guess.

There you have it.  My life, in ATL.  

Stats, Stat! A tale of college football kickoff weekend

This weekend was the oh so glorious, much anticipated, long awaited college football kickoff weekend!  Football season, in my opinion, far surpasses Christmas as the hap-happiest time of the year.  By far.  What other time of year can I sit on my couch for endless hours, riveted by amazing fetes of athleticism, anticipating the effectiveness of the play, withstand the suspense of a 50 yard field goal attempt and unleash my pent up furies on any opponent by yelling vociferously and in an unladylike manner?  When and where else am I going to find such an excellent collection of the finest specimens of black men, well muscled and vying for my affections through their athletic efforts, all in one place?  Christmas in August for me!

I am a Big Ten supporter, through and through, and finding my Wolverines' games on tele here in SEC territory might prove somewhat more difficult than normal.  I did, however, discover Stats, a sports bar in the downtown Atlanta area.  I walked about 1.2 miles to see my beloved Wolverines in this, their fourth season with Rich Rod at the helm.  With baited breath, I walked every step, hoping they would turn out in awesome force, rather than the weakened team they have been in the last few years.  

Rich Rod must have known his ass is on the line and his head on the gauntlet.  They looked great!  But I only saw half of the game, and here is why:

UNC and LSU fans were abundant, to say the least, as they met on Saturday night at the Georgia Dome.  When I called Stats to see if they were playing UM v. UConn game, I got an immediate response.  It took the girl a few minutes to verify, but she was pretty pleasant and told me to come in asap to get a table because they were so packed.

Even though it was 1:45 and the game wasn't until 3:30pm, I decided to walk down there (I figured it would take me close to a half hour, depending on how slow I wanted to walk which depended how hot it was outside).  It was indeed packed when I arrived.  Or so I thought.  During the next few hours, I would come to realize what exactly "packed" means.

Stats is a pretty big place with multiple levels and rooms.  When you arrive, they check your ID and give you a wristband.  They have girls selling canned Bud Lite and Miller Lite in a few places around the place so that you don't have to wait at the bar and can quickly get a drink in your hand.  This is pretty efficient.  I paid $5 for a 16 oz. Miller Lite.  After looking at the bar, I figured I would be better off grabbing something at one of these kiosks than trying to get a bartender's attention at the bar.  

It is pretty much standing room only, even at the bar (no stools or chairs), unless you are one of the lucky few who arrived early enough to get a table.  I stood near the stairs to the deck upstairs which you can pay $5 to go sit in the blazing hot sun.  This proved to be a bad location because I kept getting bumped around.  I finally spotted a spot at the bar and inserted myself.

I had a hard time getting service when I wanted it, because it was so, so busy.  There was a particular guy bartender that pretty much ignored me and I had to work to get his attention to get a menu.  Finally, I got one and a good bartender would have kept on eye on me, to see if I wanted to order something.  But, he didn't.  I am fairly certain that the loads of loaded LSU fans who were giving $5 tips for 4 glasses of (free) water were his priority.  In the end, there was a nice lady bartender who made sure I was okay and so I tipped her nicely.  

So I realize that the UM game was not the showcase game that day, so I had to deal with only one screen, about 3 screens to the left of the one directly in front of me.  I also had to crane my neck a little more than was comfortable after a few hours, but that is just the deal when you go to some of these places.  I only stayed for the first half of the game because I, a petite lady, kept getting squished and more squished.  Obnoxious LSU fans who were twice my size kept encroaching on my space, and while I stood my ground, not moving when their asses, elbows and shoulders were shoved into me, I had had enough after a few hours.  

In general, I think Stats would be a fun place to pre-game and watch a bunch of games, if you are with a bunch of people.  On my own, I was less than enthusiastic about watching my game with a bunch of asses, elbows and shoulders in my face.  

And of course, my Wolverines were looking quite good and I hear they were even better in the second half.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they do against Brian Kelly's Notre Dame next weekend...

Milestone: First HotPants Date

So.  HotPants.  My first Atlanta dating adventure occurred on Tuesday evening.  Eight and a half hours later, I declared it an Epic First Date.  As you can imagine, EFD is a rare designation in the land of dating.  Especially for me. 

Have I mentioned I do not have a car? MARTA is my mane mode of transportation, and I admit I was a little embarrassed to tell my date this.  We agreed to meet at the Lindbergh MARTA station, then after the date he would drive me to the ghetto-tel (ghetto-hotel, get it?! ha ha).  I packed my work bag with well, work, because I thought we would probably just have dinner and a drink, check each other out, ask each other awkward questions, self-conciously share stories about our crazy families and then go home.  Wrong.

This is the short version: Dinner at Taco Mac, we played pool next door while quiz night was underway, Fado and a drive around the Midtown/Buckhead area, some other place and then he dropped me off at the hotel.

The cute version: Dinner at Taco Mac, he taught me how to play pool and he totally loved my smack talk (even though I have no idea how to play pool), then he drove me around to sight-see and show me where he lived, we had a drink at Fado where he told me he thought I was pretty great, then we went to some little place and sat outside, he ordered food too because I think he knew I could be a little bit of a light-weight, we talked and talked and then he told me he thought I was pretty and finally he took me home around 2:30am and gave me a big hug after telling me we had to hang out again when he got back into town on Sunday.  I told him to call me if he got bored over the next few days at home.  At 3am, I got a phone call and he said, "Um, I guess I got bored..." So cute.  Then we talked for almost another hour.  

So, obviously, the date was awesome.  I had a chance to check out some of the places around town.  My handsome date, whom we will call...Oz...told me that this whole section of Buckhead used to be just clubs and more clubs.  Then, the powers that were in Buckhead decided that they wanted to change the scene there, so they tore it all down and now they are sort of trying to build the Streets of Buckhead.  Sadly, all it is right now is about 5 cranes and some half built stuff.  Apparently it has been in this condition for about the last 3 years or so. And now it's just a dead, no man's land.  It totally sounded like something that would happen in Cincinnati.  And that is not a compliment. 

Buckhead, you need to get your act together on this one.