Friday Five

The Week

Something very, very strange happened this week. So bizarre, in fact, that I’m still not sure that I’ve fully recovered from the shock. If I still seem a bit off, it’s gotta be fallout from this event that occurred on Monday morning.

This Monday morning… wow… it still just blows me away… But here goes…

This Monday morning I woke up in my own bed.

I know, I know – I’m more shocked by this than you are. Granted, things returned to normal fast enough as I flew out on Tuesday, but still.

Monday morning. My own bed.

Wow.

Needless to say^[1] I took full advantage of the weekend. Got in a fantastic 12 mile run with a couple of good friends. Went out to dinner with a couple of other friends. Actually made dinner at home on both Sunday and Monday nights. And even managed to expose Karin to Goonies for the first time.^[2]

My trip this week took me to a northern suburb of Atlanta. I’d been out here a few times before, although it had been a while. The best part (by far) was heading out to dinner at a place called The Iberian Pig with a good friend. It’s always nice to find both a great restaurant and enjoy it with even better company.

The Restaurant

I guess I have to go with Iberian Pig. It’s a non-traditional-yet-traditional tapas restaurant. The goal is to go with traditional items, but put their own twist on them. This style even bleeds down into their cocktail menu, which I recognized instantly when I saw an aviation on the menu^[3]. When I went to order the special manhattan on their menu^[4], the waiter directed me to an off-the-menu chef’s manhattan, made with High West Rendezvous Rye – an amazing rye^[5]. The waiter assured me it was the best manhattan on the planet. I don’t know that I’d quite go that far, but I’m here to tell you it certainly ranks right up there.

The food itself was almost all hits with just one miss. Unfortunately the miss was kind of a big one – the lamb ribs. They were just doused in barbecue sauce, making it near impossible to detect that you were actually eating lamb. Everything else was fantastic – the Spanish sausage, the teeny-tiny-tacos, the bacon wrapped dates, the goat cheese.

The service was absolutely spot-on. The waiter walked us through the menu, made great suggestions, and timed everything out perfectly. Despite the fact that we ordered about 8 different plates, we were never just inundated with plates. The waiter even pulled the water glasses off the table before refilling them, something rarely seen but I always appreciate.

The Travel Note

If I were to start a new website, I’d start one to rate airports on their efficiency in two areas – delivering checked bags to the carousel and getting visitors to the rental car area. Landing at an airport and not actually leaving the airport until a solid hour+ later is a huge frustration.

Atlanta certainly ranks up there in the time to rental car area. Between the shuttle from the satellite terminal to the main terminal, and then the shuttle to the rental car area, it’s a solid 40 minutes or more until you’re actually leaving the airport. FTL.

The Five

If you’re new here you may not have picked up on some of my quirks in writing style. Here are five little things you’ll see from time to time.

1. Tyops^[6]/Misspellings. Despite the fact that Karin always points me in the right direction, I’ve still yet to learn. As I say, I’m a developer – I don’t have to spell correctly, only consistently. Although I will say I know which your and there to use.
2. Parentheses. Again – I’m a developer. Seeing things in parentheses is just normal for me.
3. Footnotes.^[7]
4. Semicolons. The use of a semicolon is a lost art.
5. Conversational posting style. I type like I talk.

^[1] Why is it that people say “needless to say” and feel the need to still say it?
^[2] I don’t know how you can be a child of the 80’s and not seen Goonies. When we found out about this we needed to fix this problem right away.
^[3] Classic cocktail – very bright, nice for a warm day.
^[4] What else did you think I was going to order?
^[5] Ironically made in Utah.
^[6] I swear I just made the mistake while typing it and left it.
^[7] I love footnotes.