Chamblee54

PG was writing his four year post when he went to Avitable to copy his url. While there, PG read a list of rules for blogging. PG does not agree with all the Avitable rules, but it did get him to think. Before long, the PG rules for blogging were on the way. A running list was started, and before long there were thirty entries. Many of them were connected.
It occurred to PG that a lot of the general rules for living have a blogging connection. The ten commandments came to mind…in fact, it was a comment about the first commandment that got PG started. While killing or committing adultery might not happen, the admonishments against stealing, lying, and using the name of G-d improperly are highly relevant.
The first time PG heard the word blog, the dead tree publication was talking about Andrew Sullivan. A “Web log” at the time was called, quaintly, a vanity website. Mr. Sullivan is one of the leading players in the blogosphere today. PG suspects Mr. Sullivan gets is it right more than he does wrong, but needs to check the statistics.
If you want to write something, but don’t know what to write about, Andrew’s blog is a good place to look. He produces some original material, and recycles the work of others. There are several others like this, which you can find easily.
The first general group of rules can be summarized as “Just Do It“. You are not ending world hunger or ending war, you are writing for the internet. The more you write, the more you see to write about. If you keep the quantity up, the quality will take care of itself. The formula for writing is ass plus chair. You are doing this because you enjoy it. Don’t be hurt if everyone does not like your precious blog as much as you think they should.
PG had a job once where the management required a one hour clockout lunch every day. Soon, this became a time to write blog posts. Get the idea, and spit out five hundred words in fifteen minutes. It is not that tough to do, and you can edit, format, and add pictures later.
Blogging is a visual medium. The pictures and videos that you add add punch to the presentation. PG decided at some point that black fonts were obsolete, and that everything would be done in color. While this is not for everyone, it does add a touch to Chamblee54.

Once you have your basic post written, there are a few things you can do. Use short sentences and paragraphs. Look over you text, and eliminate words that don’t need to be there. Assume that the reader is lazy, and make reading your text interesting, easy, and fun.
Use spell check. That is important, and could be said again. Avoid profanity. When you cuss, you shift the readers attention from what you say to the words you use to say it. Use a link to show where you got your information. This is another biggie, for obvious reasons, including respect of other people’s material. And, once again, use spell check.
If you are lucky, people will leave comments at your blog. Comment moderation is a good thing, unless you want people selling generic viagra (in Russian) on your site. A person leaving a comment is doing you a favor. If they ask a tough question or disagree, it means they are paying attention,and taking you seriously.
In general, a blog owner has the right to delete anything not wanted on their blog. When you do this too much, you eliminate the diversity needed for a lively discussion. Of course, you might want nothing but your friends, who say how awesome you are.
When leaving comments, it is good to show courtesy. Do not say anything in a comment that you would not say if the person was standing in front of you. If the person does not use profanity in the blog, you should not use it in the comments. ( Profanity is to be avoided altogether. If you think a bit, you can find a better way to express yourself.)
Andrew Sullivan had a comment about this in “Why I Blog“. “Rudeness, in any case, isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a blogger. Being ignored is. Perhaps the nastiest thing one can do to a fellow blogger is to rip him apart and fail to provide a link.”
There is more to this blogging thing. The blogspot vs. wordpress issue. The technical aspects of basic html. The way to edit pictures, and how to make them fit the spot on the page. A lot of this the veteran blogger already knows, and the novice will find out soon enough. There is really only one thing that does not find any categories, but greatly upsets PG. This is Auto Start music players.
Some people have music players that start the second the page opens. If you are listening to something else you are out of luck. If you are at work, and a music box starts to play with profanity embedded lyrics…you get the picture. Please, for the sake of simple decency, make your music embed a manual start. Trust us, enough people will want to hear your music to click the start button on their own.

There was a feature in the NY Daily News about the death of cursive writing. HT to JoemyG-d. It seems like it is no longer being taught. PG says good riddance.
Cursive refers to the flowing style of handwriting, where the letters are joined. It is from the French word cursif. This is derived from Medieval Latin cursivus, literally, running, from Latin cursus, past participle of currere to run
Cursive sounds like curse, or using bad language. Many people trying to read cursive will curse. The synonym for cuss, however, is from the middle english word curs.
At Ashford Park , print writing was taught in the first grade, and cursive in the third grade. PG learned cursive, and then promptly forgot. He prints when he needs to write, except for a signature. Printing is much, much easier to read.
Some say that with the decline of cursive, that old handwritten letters will be impossible to read. With many cursive writers, they already are. Some people have the patience to write beautifully, but many others scrawl. There is a cliche about doctor’s handwriting on prescriptions. One wonders how many lives have been lost because a pharmacist is not a mind reader.
There is a quote, attributed to an ancient Greek, that “When we start to write, we will lose our ability to remember”. There was grumbling when the printing press replaced hand copied scrolls, and when the typewriter came onto the scene. Whenever machinery advances into manual territory, someone is not going to like it.

PG got an email from Uzi, with a list of home remedies, and alternate product uses. Peanut butter has three alternative uses, which is one more than preparation H. No one ever made a preparation H and jelly sandwich.
To remove labels off glassware, rub with peanut butter. To remove ink from the face of dolls, treat with peanut butter. To get the scratches out of CD’s, use peanut butter, and wipe off with a coffee filter.
Peanuts were used by the Incas in 950 b.c. It probably didn’t take much imagination to grind the beans into a paste. To claim inventing peanut butter is like claiming to invent the knot.
In recent times, Dr. Ambrose Straub of St. Louis patented a peanut butter-making machine in 1903. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented a “Process of Preparing Nut Meal” in 1895. Kellogg served the patients at his Battle Creek Sanitarium peanut butter.
Joseph L. Rosenfield invented a churning process that made smooth peanut butter smooth. In 1928, Rosenfield licensed his invention to the Pond Company, the makers of Peter Pan peanut butter. In 1932, Rosenfield began making his own brand of peanut butter called Skippy.
Did someone say George Washington Carver? Dr. Carver discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut. However, Dr. Carver did not patent peanut butter, as he believed food products were all gifts from God. The Incas beat all of these men by 2800 years.
In 1976, a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia was elected President. It is also known the his brother Billy ran the family business, while Jimmy got mixed up in politics. While President, Mr. Carter was revealed to be a major user of Preparation H.
Now that we are confused about who invented peanut butter, the next question is, why butter? In The Netherlands, the product is called Pinda Kaas, or peanut cheese. It could as easily be mud, goo, or cream, as butter.
A google search on “why is peanut paste called peanut butter?” yielded an article about salmonella issues. Wikipedia sheds no light on the subject, but does mention that peanut butter is an effective bait for mouse traps.
Inventors.about.com has a page about “The history of peanut butter”. Portions of the text were copied into this post.

There is a nifty webcam up now. It shows the progress of a high rise going up now at 12th and Peachtree in midtown. The location of the camera itself is not certain, with the speculation centering on 999 Peachtree, two blocks south on Tenth Street.
A glance at the image reveals a curve in the road, between the two glass boxes under construction. Atlanta does not have wide, straight boulevards extending to the horizon. It is said that Atlanta did not build roads, but paved the cow paths.
People of a certain age will remember this area as “the strip”. The tenth street district was a neighborhood shopping area, up until the mid sixties. At some point, the old businesses started to move out and the hippies moved in. For a while, it was a festive party. Soon enough reality returned, and the area went into a crime filled decline.
The 999 complex is the neighborhood story in a nutshell. Before 1985, it was a block of small businesses. There was a hardware store, with the peace symbol set in tiles in the sidewalk. On Juniper Street stood the Langdon Court Apartments. They were named for PG’s great uncle Langdon Quin. Ru Paul used to stay there. He would sit out on a balcony, and wave to the traffic going by.
Across the street was a chinese restaurant, the House of Eng. A staircase on the side led to the Suzy Wong Lounge. Behind the building was an apartment building. It was one of the residences of Margaret Mitchell, while she wrote “Gone With The Wind”. She called it “the dump”, which was fairly accurate.
PG went to the House of Eng for lunch one day in 1985. He noticed that he was the only customer in the house, at 12:30 pm on a weekday. After finishing his lunch, PG knew why.
At some point, it was decided to build a high rise there. Heery was one of the equity partners, along with a law firm and an ad agency. The building was designed by Heery (duh).The ad agency folded before the building opened, followed within a couple of years by the law firm. Heery was sold to a British company. PG does not know who owns the building now.
Thank you Atlanta Time Machine for many of the photographs in this feature.

PG couldn’t decide whether to go on the beltway hike. The weather radar showed a lot of green and yellow moving into Atlanta. Finally, at 9am, he decided to take the plunge. When he called Angel to confirm the hike was going ahead, the sun came out.
PG got to the West End station first, but did not have to wait long. The other seven hikers arrived shortly. The first part of the walk was down West Whitehall Street. Native PG remembers when Whitehall went all the way to five points. The hike made a slight detour to see part of the beltline site. It is a kudzu study center at the moment.
The sixteen legs moved past Adair Park, and down Allene Street. This is where they first walked on railroad tracks. The story is that, while this is an active track, it only gets about one train a month. This is the same story as the walk a few weeks ago, where there were four trains to go by. The end of Allene Street was the first time anyone heard thunder. Unfriendly clouds appeared at the end of the horizon.
The first bridge was over Stewart Avenue Metropolitan Parkway. No one felt the need to go down to street level. As the crew moved down the tracks, a few drops of rain arrived. On the left appeared a large tract of unused land, waiting for development. In the distance was the overpass for i75-i85. Angel said ” we can take shelter under the freeway, and the bottom dropped out.
After taking a break under the freeway, the rain slacked off and the hike continued. They went over Pryor Street, on a vintage bridge. As they approached the tunnel under McDonough Boulevard, the rain was back. This tunnel was a joy to walk through, a high arch lined with bricks.
The good news is that the rain showers, though sometimes intense, did not last more than a few minutes. The tracks went by the site of Stanton Park, another project the future is waiting for. The rain returned again, and the hikers took shelter in an abandoned city warehouse.
After the clouds passed the third time, the sun came out. Before long, the problem was heat from the sun, compounded by soggy clothes. Going south of Grant Park, PG could see condos in the distance. Somewhere behind Girls High, the group got off of the tracks and moved onto the Glenwood Road Connector to cross i-20.
Passing through a development off Glenwood Road, the team stopped for a break at a coffee shop. Back on the path, there was one last stretch of old railroad land on the other side of Memorial Drive. Soon, this was impassible, and the crew walked around it on a side street. Angel showed where he had been attacked by bees while trying to clear some of the weedage.
By this time, PG was struggling. The heat and the long walk left him feeling ragged. To his delight, before long the Inman Park Marta Station appeared. The bench in the air conditioned train felt so good.

There used to be a chinese restaurant, on the Atlanta Highway, called Hunan House. One night, a few people shared a flaming volcano, and formed a band. The b52’s played their first show at a valentines day party in 1977. They were named for a bouffant hairstyle, which resembled the front of a b52 airplane.
The b52’s were Ricky Wilson, his sister Cindy, Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider III, and Keith Strickland. The Wilsons and Mr. Strickland were from Athens. Miss Pierson and Mr. Schneider were from New Jersey.
Fred had lived in Atlanta before he moved to Athens. He stayed in an apartment on Monroe Drive, across from S&M clutch and brake company. PG knew some of his neighbors, and once rested his feet on a rug, formerly owned by Fred Schneider.
Somebody had connections, and The b52’s were playing shows in New York before long. They released a 45 on db records, “Rock Lobster” and “52 girls”. The first of the girls mentioned…there are only 23 named…is Effie. There was a famous whorehouse in Athens named Effies.
One night, they played a show at the Big Dipper, on Ponce de Leon Avenue. The Big Dipper was a former Maryland Fried Chicken, and is now a veterinary clinic. After the show, either Kate or Cindy was in the parking lot, talking to a local character named Beulah. As was his way, Beulah was talking about Mick Jagger this, Mick Jagger that. Finally, Kate had enough. ” Fuck Mick Jagger. One day Mick Jagger will come see me, me, me.”
The b52’s were a fun band. Ricky had an unusual style on guitar, and Kate played a farfisa organ. The girls always wore big hair wigs. Fred was somewhere up front singing.
On Labor Day, 1978, PG saw the b52’s in Piedmont Park. There was a third girl that day, Wendy, who wore an inflatable beach float, and danced. The only songs PG is sure they did were “Downtown” and “Rock Lobster”. A few months later, PG saw the b52’s at the Agora ballroom. The Brains opened.
Sometime in late 1979, the eponymous first album came out. It became a hit, with dance clubs all over playing “Planet Claire”, “Dance this mess around”, and “6060-842”. In the summer of 1980, PG talked with a former Athenian in a hostel in Cannon Beach, Oregon. He mentioned that Cindy was the only heterosexual in the band.
The years went by, and more albums were released. On October 12, 1985, Ricky Wilson died of AIDS. He is buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery, behind Sanford Stadium in Athens. He sold bus tickets at the Grayhound station in downtown Athens before he hit the bigtime.
The band continues to this day. At some point, “Love Shack” was released, and became a hit. It is probably the best known b52’s song today.

Today is tuesday. Those people entities in Russia that send spam messages to this blog may disagree. Tuesday is one seventh of reality.
There is a phrase in some circles, “suicide tuesday”. It seems like some people, who chemically enhance their weekends, come crashing down on tuesday. The result is not always pleasant.
To PG, tuesday is an evil day. You are through monday, but have four more days until your weekend. Tuesday is a day of intense reality, with no easy escape. Unless you are on the DOL direct deposit plan, where tuesday is just another day.
In some hispanic cultures, Tuesday is considered an unlucky day. There is a saying “En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques,” meaning, “On Tuesday, neither get married nor begin a journey.”
Elections are traditionally held on tuesday. In november, it is the first tuesday after a monday. The evil that is done on this day is balanced by the relief of the campaigns being over. According to wikipedia “Tuesday was the earliest day of the week which was practical for polling in the early nineteenth century: citizens might have to travel for a whole day to cast their vote, and would not wish to leave on Sunday which was a day of worship for the great majority of them.”
This may be part of why carnival season ends on Mardi Gras, or fat tuesday. It is the day before ash wednesday, or the start of Lent. This is too catholic for PG to comprehend.
Nine Eleven was on a tuesday. D day was on a tuesday. A key day in the Stock Market crash of 1929 was October 29, or black tuesday. In theory, one seventh of all events happen on a tuesday.

It was five years ago tomorrow. A friday like any other, which meant a spell of chaos at Redo blue. Things were starting to clear up about five, and PG had one more chore before he got out. A lady came in with a drawing, and PG groused that this was ten more minutes he would have to stay. That ten minutes may have saved his life.
There was a new school in Gwinnett County, and Redo was printing the plans. On this day it was a preliminary printing. The consultants were sending their work to the printer, who would assemble it. As is the custom, one of the engineers didn’t have their work on time.
Finally, the missing drawings came in an email. PG was going to run a copy of each, and assemble the set to scan and print monday morning. When working with electronic files, it is a mystery whether they will work. PG sent them to the printer, and stood, with his back to the front of the store, watching the first print come out.
PG saw a flash of white light, and heard a loud boom. He jumped up, and made some goofy sounds. There was no pain, and PG realized he was not hurt.
To get out of his work station, PG needed to walk by the front of the store. He looked through an opening and saw the front of a taxi in the lobby. Broken glass was everywhere, but no one had been standing in the lobby. ( The lobby usually had people in it, so this was a miracle) If PG had not had that 5 o’clock customer, he might have been walking out the door when the taxi hit.
West Peachtree Street and Fourth Street was the scene of this incident. West Peachtree had four lanes, and a traffic light every few hundred feet. The speed of the taxi was estimated at 75 mph. The passenger in the back suffered a broken leg. PG later saw a puddle of pink fluid under the taxi, and gasped until he recognized it as transmission fluid.
Once PG realized that it was not a bomb, he calmed down. There was a piece of the taxi that had been knocked off, which PG scooped up as a souvenir. PG called 911, and was told that help was on the way. A person had been counting money on a table, and ran out the door when he heard the boom. PG took some prints on the table, and placed it over the money. PG would be punished for this action on Tuesday.
There wasn’t a lot left for PG to do, but he was reluctant to leave. Finally, after the police and emergency personnel had come and gone, and the construction crew called in, PG left for the night.
People like to say what they would do in a situation. The blowhards of the world get off on that. They forget to include the details.
In the case of the taxi crash at Redo Blue, where you were standing made all the difference. If PG had been where the front counter man was counting money, he would have done the same thing, i.e. get out of the building as quickly as possible. But, where PG stood at the moment of impact, he had to walk by the spot where the taxi entered the building. He saw that there was nothing to fear, and started to make himself useful. There was not much that he could do. PG was not a hero, but did not need to be ashamed.

Saturday morning, PG woke up. Before long he was trolling the internet. He stopped by the Corey Lynxx youtube page. There was a video called “re:Are you Gay”. The sound quality is horrible, although he does have light on his face in this video. Asking Corey if he is gay is like asking him if he is from the south.
The Re: in the title means it is a response to something. In this case, the original “Are You Gay” is from a lady with the handle Spricket24. It seems like she was in a club one night, and a man was hitting on her. She looked at his pink cowboy boots and asked ” Are you gay?”. Later, the pink cowboy came to her table and was rude. The AYG? video has inspired 77 video replies, and been viewed 126k times. A reply called “Lesbian Toe Sucking” has been viewed 125k times.
PG had too much free time, and he went to the Spricket24 youtube page. S24 is a young lady from Minneapolis named Karen Alloy. PG did not think it noteworthy that her videos are shot from the neck up. Then he saw her twitter feed. This has been edited..
01. just uploaded a pic of me & LuLu on 13 hours ago
02. she squeaks in her sleep heheheabout 14 hours ago
03. sitting at the hospital is boring….about 14 hours ago
04. She scratched her face! Poor thing!about 17 hours ago
05. I could stare at her all day long. :) I’m SOOO happy!about 17 hours ago
06. my eyes are getting heavy… where my baby at?!4:39 AM Jul 17th
07. Holy shit! I heard a woman go “AHHHHH!” and then I heard a baby go “Waaaa” right after! A new baby people! LOL!4:29 AM Jul 17th
08. It made me feel stronger, more able, and def more loved! It was wonderful and FYI- you made me cry! <3 <3 <3 <34:26 AM Jul 17th
09. Thank you to everyone who supported me and showed their love for me during this whole process- especially last night! <34:25 AM Jul 17th
10. I got SOME sleep- but I’m awake like it’s Christmas morning and I have the best toy in the world to play with- my baby!4:23 AM Jul 17th
11. I just beeped the nurse and said, “Hi. Can I have my baby?” and she started laughing! Sooo funny!4:21 AM Jul 17th
12. Getting some more pain meds then back to sleep. Just nursed LuLu – she’s so adorable! <32:26 AM Jul 17th
13. 8 lbs 12 oz10:50 PM Jul 16th
14. LuLu born at 11:22 pm10:50 PM Jul 16th
15. iz numb cannot feel legs yea7:34 PM Jul 16th
16. getting the epidural soon :)6:33 PM Jul 16th
17. My water broke6:32 PM Jul 16th
18. my contractions are off the chart! LOL! They go all the way up on the monitor past the line! I’m still chilling thou :)4:29 PM Jul 16th
19. Ouchie! Ouchie! Ouchie!4:13 PM Jul 16th
20. Well the nurse said she’s coming back in 2 hours to break my water. hahaha Let’s get this started! :)3:10 PM Jul 16th
21. Having some painful contractions :)2:25 PM Jul 16th
22. Been awake now for awhile2:25 PM Jul 16th
23. I’m going to take a nap :)11:23 AM Jul 16th
24. video from the hospital http://bit.ly/vaFYf9:26 AM Jul 16th
25. In a room- in a gown- it’s coming soon- with a clown! bahahaha I’m on drugs!8:33 AM Jul 16th
26. I’ll tweet when I’m actually there and I know for sure it’s happening! HAHAHA geeze.6:41 AM Jul 16th
27. yea! Going back to the hospital! I have a 10 am induction now – it’s on the books! :D6:26 AM Jul 16th