Pulled out of the garage and something sounded funny. Got out to close the garage door in the dark. Looked but didn’t see anything, so backing out realized my tire was flat. The lug nuts were too tight so I went to NAPA to get some Fix a Flat. NAPA was reorganizing their store so I had to go to Advance Auto, which didn’t open until 7:30. Back home the fix a flat didn’t work, so I drove on the flat tire up to the gas station. They put on the spare, and I made it to Tire Deals by 8:45 and work an hour later.
TECH / SYRACUSE: Cold walking from our car. Traffic from Buckhead to Midtown/Downtown was terrible at 6 pm – all routes were jammed: 85 south and the Connector, Peachtree, Spring, Juniper. Took 30 minutes to go 5 miles. Good thing the Braves are moving out of downtown. Lang’s brother-in-law was with us, the father of 2 sets of twins aged 5 and 2. Andrew is a big basketball fan and had brought his Syracuse friend with him. Good to see Andrew but I didn’t talk to him as much as I should have. Also saw GT senior / basketball marvel DJ.
Tech does seem to have a good team that for some reason keeps it close the whole game then wins or loses at the end. Like Reid says it could be the coaching. Seems like back in the day the field goal percentage was higher. Then again it always seemed like Dennis Scott missed a lot more than he took (unlike Mark Price). That point guard number ten was more judicious with his shots. Both teams shot poorly. Tech tries to slow the game down. They seem to be improved since last year and have played most games down to the wire and losing on the last shot. Wednesday they had the last shot and missed. Ralph Sampson’s son is on the team. His photo was on the pocket schedules, though he’s not a starter.
Meetings meetings meetings. Driving me crazy. Had one from 10 – 10:30 and another from 11 to 11:20 then a third from 1:15 – 2:05. Some people have to spend all day in meetings but us worker bees come out of those meetings with all our normal stuff to do, plus emails and quotes to research and phone calls to return. My customer has been off for Christmas since Dec 18 and I still have piles of work to do. I did take off 6 of the 20 days. People don’t report to me but for some reason I have to supervise and think for them and make sure their work gets done. Without the ability to fire them or give them raises I’m not sure how I am supposed to motivate them. Never used to have to do this. You’d think I’d get a raise with all this additional responsibility.
THURSDAY: Warmed up my car for 5 minutes this morning before leaving, while making my lunch and getting bundled up. Nice that I didn’t have to freeze so much. Emily was over with Anna and M was sleeping, so Ceil and I ate at the new Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Alpharetta. I had been given a gift card for Christmas and Ceil loves steak. First time either of us had been there. Ceil had the filet, a baked potato, and salad. I had stuffed chicken, salad, and sweet potato casserole. All very good. When our waitress packed up our leftovers she included a small cheesecake sample. The gift card was for $100.00 and I thought we would be well over it, so I handed the lady the gift card and my credit card. She came back looking confused. I thought we may have been given a gift card with zero value, but our bill had only come up to $99.50. I said I could tip in cash but instead the ran the credit card for one cent and I put the tip on there. Guess we should’ve ordered more!
It was a fancy place so I wore my sport coat. I thought Ceil was changing but she went in her grey cords and orange socks – but her long winter coat. Saw several men in jeans. One had on a grey sweatshirt. There was a good looking couple dressed nicely that could have been fashion models. Did not see Arthur Blank and Thomas Dimitrof interviewing a head coaching candidate.
On the way home I had to get air in the CRV tires (the low pressure light was on) and fill up with gas. Ceil fell asleep on the way home. I was worm out as well. When we got home I worked on the computer. This morning the alarm went off at 5:45. As I often do, I decided to stay in bed for another ten minutes. Not only did I fall back into a deep sleep but I also had a vivid dream.
Last year Reid and I picked all the bowl games and the worst record had to pay for dinner. I won and he and his wife took Ceil and me to Bonefish. I picked the team with the highest Saragin rating. This year I forgot my method and lost, so I’m on the hook for dinner. Biggest bet I ever made. This year is the Whitaker’s 50th anniversary so all 11 of them are going on a cruise. When their kids were young they’d go on cruises and all four would wear matching outfits. I suggested they do that this time.
Saturday Ceil and I may go with Matthew on a service project with his school. At the doctor this week he had lost 15 pounds. Just doesn’t eat. I think that woke him up.
See the story about the time capsule from the 1700’s? Cool that they will bury it back in the building. I love stuff like that. When we were renovating our kitchen in Morningside I stashed some items behind a wall we were closing in, creating a little time capsule. Forgot what I left – some worthless baseball cards. I know the house has been renovated, so I wonder if they found what I had left.
My friend Rob’s opinion of the Hawks: The Hawks are good - really good. I would compare them to the 2004 Pistons. The prevailing thought is that you can't win an NBA championship without a HOF caliber player as your centerpiece. That has been true for every season in the Bird/Magic era except for '04 when the Pistons won with a perfectly matched team that fully bought into the same concept.
I haven’t gotten into the NBA or the Hawks bandwagon yet but know I should. Most of my info comes tweets.
Smoltz: Lots of people were thinking four could be inducted this year. I watched the roundtable discussion on the MLB Network and have been reading DOB. I knew Biggio was on the cusp and could go either way and felt Smoltz wasn’t quite a lock, though he has about as much goodwill with the writers as any recent retiree. Smoltz should have an interesting speech, as well as a 2015 Braves bobblehead. Still waiting for that list of promotions to come out. My old roommate Tom says he’s going back to Cooperstown this July. He went last year as well. He lives near Louisville and attends lots of basketball games, concerts, and a few Reds games. Sounds like Johnny Pearce and his friend Marshal (friends of Charles Qualls) will wait until Chipper’s induction.
As popular as the NFL is, there’s much more discussion about the baseball HOF selections. The most discussed NFL HOF debate was resolved when punter Ray Guy was finally voted in. Now no one will care if another punter ever gets inducted. This morning on 680 they were saying Morten Andersen may make the HOF this year. No arguments about what team logo since no helmet on the bust. The NFL elects more per year than Cooperstown. I always say if I were sitting next to Peter King on an airplane I would talk to him about the HOF selection process. What was the deal with Curt Schilling? Anything?
I pinned a map of the USA on my office wall and immediately became less productive. Already re-mapped out a cost to coast 36 day driving tour of the MLB parks (weather and schedule permitting). Even calculated the cost of the trip.
Taco Bell: Will says those new dollar crunchwrap sliders are good, but I haven’t tried them.
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