Archive for July, 2010

Paul and I went to the World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium today. We had a blast. I took a bunch of pictures of Coke merch, and Paul took a bunch of pictures of beautiful fish and sharks. (These might show up on Y2K in the next few days.)

It was hard to choose a picture for today, but I figured World of Coca-Cola deserved the honor because we waited in line for more than an hour just to get in the building.

Mmm ... the tasting room

Tickets to World of Coca-Cola are $15, and let’s not play coy: The tasting room alone is worth the price of admission. I visited Coca-Cola Olympic City during the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, so I’d experienced a smaller version of the tasting room at the Coke Pavilion. But it was a new experience for Paul, and he made it clear from the get-go that we could skip all the other exhibits and head straight for the tasting room. (We did visit half the exhibits, for the record, and I have the pics — including a couple Paul took of the water treatment room — to prove it.)

If you’ve never been to WOCC, let me explain the tasting room: There’s a large room filled with stations representing various continents. Each station has fountains serving Coca-Cola products from that region. Throngs of people crowd around the fountains and try things such as Fanta Exotica and Inca Kola. Kids never change; they just mix everything together and pretend it’s drinkable. I tried about 20 things and Paul tried about 10 — he’s less adventurous than me.

Now, if you have been to WOCC, you know about Beverly, and you know why it was so mean of me to tell Paul — with a straight face, no less — that he should try it. I was halfway across the room at a different station, but I could see the look on his face, and it was priceless. Children were staring. (For those unfamiliar with Beverly, it’s a very bitter, quinine-based apertif from Italy. More here.)

Both of us definitely got our fill of Coke products. And, hey, we got free bottles from the small, on-site bottling plant to take home as souvenirs! (We bought a few things, too. My loot included a four-pack of lip balms flavored like Coke products.)

The aquarium was equally fun, but in a totally different way. Being able to walk under the exhibits — I mean, watching whale sharks, etc., swim over you — is mindblowingly beautiful.

Overall, a really fun day. And, hey, Paul’s first taste of icy-cold Beverly! Because quinine fluoresces, he’s already asking how he can get some to take back to the lab. There’s no vacation from science!

By the time you read this, I’ll be sitting back and relaxing in the car, letting Paul drive all the way to Atlanta.

“But, Kate,” you say, “you’re so Type A! And you hate not being behind the wheel!” Yes, this is true, my hypothetically argumentative friend. But I stayed up late, I’m sleepy, and he promised I could catch some zzz’s during the entire drive. Awesome.

The embodiment of ^_^

We’ve got to pack a few things and get the housesitter set up before we go, so I don’t think we’ll be rolling into Atlanta till about midnight. No matter. This is vaca. No 6 a.m. alarm clock.

Nearly two weeks have passed, and my foot’s still swollen.

I’m not complaining for the sake of complaining. I’m complaining because we’re leaving for Atlanta tomorrow afternoon, and I have one pair of shoes that fit: aqua blue flip-flops. I can’t fit in my biggest pair of Birkenstocks buckled on the loosest hole. And I certainly can’t fit in my sneakers.

So tonight, I went to my local outdoors store to look at their KEENs and Chacos. And you know what? None of them fit. Not even the infinitely adjustable Chacos. (Try on a pair if you’re ever in the market for hiking-style sandals. They’re completely customizable, and I would definitely buy a pair after my swelling goes down.)

I have a high instep already, so it’s hard to find comfy shoes. But when the guy saw my foot and said, “That’s really, really swollen,” I knew I was out of luck. Sure enough, I left the store empty-handed.

That made me angry, like Hulk:

I got Tiny-Head Hulk here in my Happy Meal. Press a button on his back and he smashes things, such as walnuts. This makes him much more functional than the Littlest Pet Shop ''cat'' (they all look alike to me) in my last Happy Meal.

TL;DR: I’ll be sightseeing Atlanta in flip-flops.

My friend Dee Dee gave me a pair of earrings tonight. It’s so thoughtful when a friend says, “I thought of you when I saw this and wanted you to have it.” Johanna left a beautiful flower headband on my doorknob recently under the same premise. I buy things for my friends too, but I leave them in little piles here until I see them again. I have at least a month’s worth of gifts for Johanna in my den. And I could walk to her place to drop them off, if I could walk.

Anyway, back to Dee Dee. I’d heard she was going out of town this weekend, so when I saw her, I asked about it. Our convo went something like this:

Dee Dee: “I’m taking my daughter to Atlanta.”
Me: “No way! I’m going to Atlanta too!”
Dee Dee: “We’re leaving tomorrow and coming back Sunday around 4.”
Me: “Me too!”
Dee Dee: “Are you going to the aquarium?
Me: “YES!
Dee Dee: “What day?”
Me: “Saturday!”
Dee Dee: “Me too!”

I guess it’s good we figured this out in advance; it would have been really weird running into her there, you know? Synchronicity is a wonderful thing. Dee Dee says there’s no such thing as coincidences.

So … I have great earrings but no shoes. What’s a travelin’ girl to do? Any suggestions?

Memphis Pizza Cafe lovin’ tonight:

This is a Cajun Chicken Supreme without the supreme: no green peppers (eww) and no mushrooms (double -- no, triple -- eww).

Paul and I are taking a celebratory trip to Atlanta this weekend. (I don’t feel unsafe saying that, as we have both an alarm system and a housesitter to love on our Fred-Kitty and Joe-Kitty.) It’s in honor of our anniversary (a few weeks late), the start of the school year (a few weeks early) and my new job (right on time).

Why Atlanta? Because Paul’s never been. Seriously. So I booked us a room at a swanky, four-star hotel Downtown, and we’re going to spend a couple of days wandering around Centennial Park, the Georgia Aquarium — largest aquarium in the world — CNN headquarters, the Turner store (Cartoon Network and Adult Swim swag ahoy!) … and the World of Coca-Cola, natch. That place is awesome, and I couldn’t take Paul to Atlanta without taking him there.

My foot is still too swollen to fit in shoes, but I’m not letting that stop me. I’m going to buy some Tevas or KEENs, strap ‘em on and go. Time to load up on podcasts and hit the open road!

… Well, I guess I have to get through two more days of work first. But that’s not a problem. Today worked out splendidly.

I got my Oatmeal mug in the mail the other day. (If you’re unfamiliar with The Oatmeal — and, specifically, “15(ish) Things Worth Knowing About Coffee,” visit it immediately. Well, visit it after you read this post and leave a comment. The Oatmeal is a wondrous thing indeed.)

''Imma give u an adrenaline sandwich k?''

I’m going to need lots of caffeine, stat, as TDN hired me back today as associate editor! I’ll have many of the job duties I had before I moved to Charleston, with two big differences: 20 percent of my job will continue to be in IT (which is where I’ve been temping since May) and — drum roll, please — I’ll be in charge of all the social media: Facebook, Twitter, website and blog. Holy moly.

It’s a lot of work (read: I’m feeling a little overwhelmed), but come on — editing, data mining and QA, social media … this job was made for me. (No, really. It pretty much was.)

I don’t think I made any secret of how much I missed TDN while I lived in Charleston. Not many companies tailor jobs to play off a person’s strengths, but that’s what I had. I talked about it all the time. I remember a friend once saying, “OK, I get it! You had the best job and the best coworkers and the best environment and the best benefits, and you’re never going to find another place like it. You’ve told me! But you might as well get used to the fact you’re not there anymore and move on, already.”

He told me to quit holding out for another “perfect job” because “most people don’t get that opportunity once, much less twice.” But I did hold out (and Paul was very understanding, and we scraped by on one salary), and now I’ve come full circle: I’m back in Memphis — near my family and friends — and hired back to my “perfect job” just four days shy of the two-year anniversary of when I left.

Mathematical!