Pub Run

We participated in the 4th Annual Spring Sting Pub Run a couple of weeks ago. Yes, you are reading that correctly, we ran from bar to bar. The pub run was started to celebrate a friend of ours who was stung by a sting ray and fully recovered. Once she was able to move around again, they decided what better way to celebrate than to drink and run, just because we can.

Each leg of the run is about a mile with a one leg where you just have to hop across the square, as seen above.

Even Atlanta

Even Atlanta gets a little snow!

However, the city just about shuts down and all the bread and milk immediately leave the shelves.

Dogwood Festival

The Dogwood Festival takes place each year in Atlanta in Piedmont Park, which is right in the heart of the city. Steven and I spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon looking through the hundreds of vendor tents and eating some good ole food includling a funnel cake.

The open space in this picture is called the oval. It has several soccer and baseball fields that can be rented and used for league play. Our kickball team spent the first part of the season playing here. You have great views of the city skyline while you are playing.

Limited Gas...Long Lines

Atlanta has an extreme gasoline shortage. Due to the hurricane damage in the gulf and along the coast, the pipe lines are not running at full capacity. Two weekends ago we began to see bags on pumps and stations that removed their gas prices, indicating that they were all out. Fast forward to now and you are lucky if you pass two stations on any route that have gas to offer. Even if they have gas, it is usually limited to one kind and is mostly unleaded.

I bought gas on Thursday evening at about 9:30 and only had to wait a few moments. The station was packed, but still moving rather well. Just a few days later there were lines backed onto the streets and cops controlling traffic in and out of station parking lots. Most stations that have gas are only allowing cars to come in one entrance and then are directing cars to pumps as they clear. We have heard stories of people waiting in line for an hour, limits of $30, people yelling and honking at one another, etc. I probably have until about Thursday before I need to fill up and I am planning on getting up really early to get gas and then going back home to get ready.

While their is an actual shortage of gas coming into the city, most of the problem is steming from people panicing. People are filling up before neccessary and if they are allowed they are filling up several of those red gas canisters for later. If people would just hold off until they needed it, the situation would not be quite so bad.

A Georgia Home - Part II

Here it is at last. A few of our fellow bloggers have been anxiously awaiting the unveiling of my new apartment in Atlanta. It is really not all that exciting, but I must say that it is much better than my last apartment in Philadelphia. It was cute, but because of its size and lack of amenities, it made me a little stir crazy.

This is the living area as viewed from the kitchen. The front door is to the right and the bedroom is to the left. There is also a door that leads out to the balcony to the left of the window.

This is the kitchen as viewed from the foyer. The living area is to the right.

This is the bathroom as viewed from the bedroom. The closet is to the left just before you reach the doorway.

So there it is! Now everyone will have to come to visit and see it in person.

Finding a New Job

At the beginning of the summer I began looking at job opportunities in Atlanta and then in July I began applying for positions and anxiously awaiting word. I had no idea when I began, that it would be such a long and frustrating process. Many would say, "that is just the way it is." "It takes a long time and you just can't expect a quick turn around." I must say that I have been more than a little spoiled. My interships during graduate school as well as my first job out of graduate school fell easily into my lap with a limited amount of effort on my end. Even my jobs before that and the part time position that I held during my first year, all came easily. Maybe I was just always in the right place at the right time or the competition was just so limited that I always managed my way to the top of the pile.

I have no clue at this point how many resumes I submitted. I know that I had to be well over 50 and that may be a conservative number. I will have to go back and count all of my cover letters that I have saved. From all of that, I only had three somewhat positive responses. That is a measly 4 - 6% return rate. Very sad! I seriously began to question my abilities and if I was even where I needed to be as a professional in order to find a job that I wanted. I do realize that some of the jobs I was either over qualified for or under qulaified for, the non profit job arena is much more limiting than the corporate, I only had a year of experience and I was living 700 miles from my potential new home, but come on.

After 6 months I decided that I needed to get closer and took a temp position at a consulting firm in Atlanta. I figured that would at least improve my chances - being that there was no longer 700 miles between me and my potential dream job. At the end of February I began the interview process with a company based out of Columbia, SC with a branch in Atlanta. I am now happy to report that after almost 9 months of constant searching I have accepted a job offer as a Grants Strategist with a for-profit grants consulting firm. Their main focus is on large (over 1 million) federal education grants. I will be helping clients through the granting process and then providing technical assistance on the back end of the grant (post-award). It is a really exciting small company that does a lot for its employees. I will have a large learning curve with this job and it will truly challenge me, but it should be a lot of fun and will allow me to learn a lot more about grants, especially large ones. My largest grant award at this point is $450,000. Jumping to the million dollar range is huge. I will also be traveling to Columbia as much as once a month and as little as every other month. I will get to stop by to see mom and dad quite a bit!

I start during the third week in April and am looking forward to a long career with them. I do not want to go through this process again any time soon!!

A Georgia Home - Part I

After living in a box in Philadelphia, I have come to appreciate a few basic household amenities, which I would now (after being deprived for over two years) also define as luxuries. Being able to do the basic every day tasks with ease makes these common household appliances some of the best inventions.

I absolutely adore my dishwasher. Not only did both of my apartments in Philly lack dishwashers, but they also lacked the needed counter space to do anything. You can imagine how much space was left once the drying rack was on the counter. Mom told Steven a story this weekend about my love of washing dishes when I was little. She would set me up in the kitchen while she was cooking and I would wash already clean dishes and make a huge mess. I am not sure where this passion went, but I can tell you that I no longer find pleasure in washing dishes and love that this machine does it all for me.

Not only do I have a dishwasher, but I also have a full size stove that all of my cooking dishes fit into. In order to demonstrate the difference...my pizza stone would not fit into my old stove with the metal rack under it. Without the rack, it would barely slide into the stove. You can imagine how much fun it was to pull out at the end.

Last, but not least, is the ice maker. A number of people would attest to my dislike of refilling the ice tray. I am not sure what it is, maybe it is the tediousness of the task or the fact that it is never ending, but I would constantly leave the ice trays empty until I completely ran out. Diet Coke is just not the same without ice and it was always a sad day to drink it out of the can. It was a vicious circle that has now come to the end with this handy kitchen appliance.

It truly is the simple things in life! Next up on A Georgia Home...a bigger picture of what the new apartment looks like.

East Palisades

We decided to take a short Saturday hike along the East Palisades trail located in the Chattahoochee National Forest. It is a short and easy trail that gives you a feel of being out of the city while being located right in the middle of Atlanta. The trail's name refers to the high, steep cliffs that run along the river. You begin up top and hike down into the gorge where you can easily walk out onto the rocks in the river (a lot easier due to our lack of rain). The granite palisades were often called the Delvils' stairsteps by boatman in the 19th century because they were "the devil" to navigate. We had a great time and hope to bring visitors along next time.