Monday, April 07, 2008
Happy birthday to us!
| This year, my school is celebrating it's 50th birthday. This past weekend was the official celebration and the school and the city went all out. I am constantly amazed at the relationship between Wilmington and CFCC. The school loves the city and the city REALLY loves the school. We get all sorts of perks. Students and faculty get free parking in the big parking decks downtown, which may not seem like much until you see Wilmington's parking situation. I routinely have people, upon finding out I work for CFCC, tell me "their story." And they all have one. Either they went to CFCC, or their parent or child has gone. So this birthday wasn't just a celebration of the school it was a celebration of the city that supports us. Every department was put on notice that they would so something for the celebration. We would invite the city and surrounding counties to come visit our home and see what we do. Our department decided to do a big display on "Information Technology Over The Past 50 Years." For the past 3 weeks I have kicked myself almost daily for all of the "crap" I threw away when I moved up here. It would have been PERFECT. But we made due anyway.    On Thursday as we were hooking up and testing everything out everyone in the office gathered around as we hooked the 8-track to the amp and then the speakers. Charlie Pride and Conway Twitty never sounded so good! But then we were hit with a sudden conundrum. How do you turn off the 8 track? The amp had an obvious off switch, but the 8 track only had volume and balance knobs. Turning them all the way down didn't turn it off. We scratched our heads for a while. Being computer geeks we are trained to look for an off button or off switch, a graceful and clearly marked method to turn the power off. We joke in the office because Michelle can't ever figure out if she turned the coffee pot off, since it has an "Oh" and an I on it. (All computer geeks reading this are now laughing, since it's obviously a 1 and a Zero, being binary for On and Off.) We thought about just unplugging the 8 track. The ideas was also floated,"What if we just pull the tape out?" This of course goes against EVERYTHING you are taught about computers. You never EVER just unplug stuff, for fear of damaging the equipment. I was preparing to place an emergency call to Jimmy, the only other person I know with a working 8-track. (Ahh all those afternoons in the basement playing pool and darts and listening to the Eagles on the Hi-Fi!) Melissa just grabbed the tape and yanked it. Problems solved. Those crafty 1960's engineers.  Later this week I'll show you my portion of the display, of which I am quite proud, with one small exception that makes me sick to my stomach. More on that later. While we were having all sorts of Techno-Fun in our room, next door was the OST (Office Systems Technology) Department's display. I figured I better stop by since I am technically dual appointed to CIS and OST. OST teaches all of the typing and medical transcription classes on campus and their interactive display was a timed typing test. Those who know me know I avoid typing tests. I never listened to Ms. Cope in Business Ed in Middle School. My fingers never felt comfortable on the home keys, so they ran away from home a long time ago. Now they are homeless. In fact I only type with 5 fingers: index and thumb on both hands and middle finger on the right. (Why don't I use the middle finger on my left hand? Well I save that one to show to those who critique my typing!) I have long known I type very fast but my accuracy is poor. I also have to watch my fingers while I type making "copying" very slow, but "composition" (like this blog) flows very quickly. When Jarrett and I shared an office we'd both be typing at roughly the same speed. He'd be typing the correct way and I would be typing my dysfunctional way. Thankfully in the world of computers with spell check and "autocorrect" many (but not all) of my typos are easily or automatically fixed. However, since Blogger's spell check is barely functional you have experienced first hand my poor typing. During a lull in the festivities I wandered next door and was immediately attacked by the OST folks who wanted me to take the typing test. I protested and tried to sneak my way out, but they had the exit guarded. So I sat down and got the 15 second explanation of how it works. A book was placed in front of me with two paragraphs on it. I was told to hit tab when I was ready to start the 3 minute timed test, and then type what was on the page. I took a deep breath then started typing. When I had finished, I still had like 30 seconds left so I started looking around to ask how to stop the clock. Finally they came near enough I could ask them and they explained that I was supposed to just start over at the top and keep going. So that cost me about 15-20 seconds of my time. When I was done with my practice run, my score showed up on screen: 39 words per minute with 2 errors. My two errors were that I didn't know I was supposed to hit tab before each paragraph. When the results popped up there was a long pause followed by several comments of disbelief. I was then told that when I was ready for the official timed test I was to click a button and I could get started. This time they watched me.  My errors are almost exclusively due to hitting the space bar too soon or too late, or poorly timeD sHifting. Basically these are the only operations that require BOTH of my hands to work together. One hand certainly knows what the other is doing, it just doesn't care. When I finished the test there was a round of applause and I was congratulated by all of the OST instructors. I was given my complimentary certificate and I went on my way. It was only 15 minutes later I found out that I had the fastest speed so far. At that point several other instructors decided they were going to go try and beat it. Somehow I had accidentally started a competition. I guess they didn't want to answer my Yar's Revenge challenge. (Chicken! Bawk Bawk!) At the end of the day I was called back in to the OST room where I was informed I had the fastest speed in the Faculty category. There was also an under-18 category, a student category, and then a non-student category. Since I had won in my category, I got the prize: a gift card to Office Depot. (I think it's $10.) So now it is official and documented. I type like crap, but I type like crap really really fast. But lest I allow my crushing victory to go to my head I placed a call to Courtney. Courtney is a medical transcriptionist, AKA a hired gun. The faster she types the more she earns. When she types it sounds like a machine gun going off. Computer keyboards cower in fear and run and hide when she enters the room. Courtney says she doesn't know how fast she types. I suspect she may be modest. Or perhaps she's so fast she doesn't register on regulation equipment. Perhaps they need to bring in a radar gun. She offered to take a typing test if I would find her one online, but I suspect I am going to pass on that offer. I don't want to lose my prized Office Depot gift card. Yeah, I may be chicken (bawk! bawk!) but I bet I could kick her butt in Yar's Revenge!  |
Labels: CFCC, Middle Ga Tech, Wilmington
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Feathered Friends
| Since my recent trip to the Murrell's Inlet Krystal for a taste of the new Saucy Chiks and to acquire a Krystal Chik Calendar, I just haven't been able to stop thinking about chiks! this week it finally dawned on me why. With Thanksgiving (aka Turkey Day) swiftly approaching, it is only fair to have a Poultry Oddessey (yes I meant to spell it like that!). This evenings post will be the first in about a week long series on all that if toothless, two footed, and tasty. When I returned to Macon last month, I stopped by my old school to visit friends. While I was there I felt I had to inform them: Cape Fear's geese are smarter than Middle Ga Tech's geese. Of course they demanded proof. Before I give my proof of our geese's smarts I need to explain the whole goose situation. AT MGTC they have a water retention pond on campus, like you see in most large construction sites these days. For years there's always been a few geese who spend a portion of the summer at the pond. Raising their little ones and basically enjoying the weather. Well apparently word got out because one year we had roughly 20 geese hanging out at the pond. I found it to be quite refreshing to have wildlife hanging out on our campus. The school however, did not agree. Apparently the geese "got in the way." At one point they decided to put up a "Geese Crossing" sign. Two problems: the picture on the sign is clearly a duck, not a goose and second, geese cannot read. The sign only resulted in humans cracking jokes. (And one human wondering how easy it would be to steal the sign.) Then one day during class change the geese were scattered across one of the road out of campus blocking traffic. That evening (after most everyone had left) the local wildlife exterminators were doing a drive by on the campus to assess the situation. Don't worry, they did not poison the geese. They instead put up metal posts around the retention pond and ran string between the posts at roughly 8" and about 24" off the ground. Apparently in one of the worst ironies in the natural world: Geese can't duck. With the height of the srings the geese could no longer get to the pond so they left and moved down the street. You can see the poles in this picture of the (goose free) pond from last month:  Fast forward to July. My first day driving to CFCC and I find that we have 4 large retention ponds, one at each corner of the north campus. And we have TONS of geese.  This was a relatively light day. Usually there's 30 or 40 geese.  I asked security what the proper procedure was if the geese get in my way. He said they'll usually move, if not, just honk your horn and they'll get up. He then told me they had them trained. I asked him how they trained geese and his reply was very simple:  This guy waddled right out of my way as I was leaving campus. When I was working on the base, some days I would stand out in the parking lot and watch the F-15s do "touch and goes". This is where they tale off, fly a long loop then come back in to land, and immediately crank the engines back up and do it again. I get the same sort of thing here at CFCC. If you get out there early enough in the morning you can occasionally catch the geese as they're switching ponds. They'll take off from one pond, form thir classic V formation, do a very big long loop, and then come back down near another of our retention ponds. While the constant honking sound doesn't compare to the deep rumbling in your chest from a roaring F-15 engine, I am sure the neighbors appreciate the difference. The down side to our rather large collection of geese is the goose poop. Apparently they only like to poop on sidewalks, not in the grass. So about once a week the ground keepers are out with brooms and dust bins sweeping up the goose poop. I spared you pictures of the goose poo. But lets just say if you ever pooped on by one of our well fed campus geese in flight, you're pretty much done for the day. While the geese dominate our campus there are a few stray ducks here and there.  Lastly, we have a shopping center just down College Rd. from campus with another retention pond and that pond happes to have a couple of swans in it.  So lets see, we have geese, we have ducks, and we have swans. If someone had the time, guts, and motivation, they could have a right tasty Thanksgiving feast and not have to go too far. (For the record I'm going to my parents for Thanksgiving and they're supplying the fowl.) But this does bring up an interesting idea I'll address tomorrow. So migrate back this way tomorrow evening my friends. There's plenty of poultry to come!  |
Labels: CFCC, Chiks, Macon, Middle Ga Tech
Thursday, August 02, 2007
ETB back in Brunswick
The weather in Brunswick wasn't bad when I arrived, but it wasn't long after Jen arrived that the bottom fell out.  The crowd didn't seem as big as last time, but we figured the weather was keeping folks away. Better for us, worse for the bar. We got some dinner while we waited for the show. If you happen to get by the Bourbon Street, try the wings. They're excellent. It's not the sauce that makes them so good it's how they're cooked. They have a nice crispy crust on the outside, letting you know they've been cooked fresh and cooked right. A Bourbon Street steak sandwich and a few beverages and I was ready to go. The band was amazing as usual. As I said previously, Matt their last bass player is gone and they now have Greg, who adds some new songs to their playlist. He sang really well, and he as well as the rest of the band assured us it would only get better. Greg said he just joined up last minute so they hadn't really worked out many songs, plus with the brutal touring schedule these guys do, his voice was suffering. I personally had no complaints. The band was amazing as usual.   by JasonJ1052 As I said, this show was amazing. Oddly enough there were no less than 3 people taken out of the bar. That was a bit high considering the smaller than usual crowd. One apparently had done a face plant in the girls bathroom, and at least one had WAY too much to drink. The best I can figure is with the new school year starting up there's a lot of college kids who haven't learned to drink yet. It's a marathon, people, not a sprint. People who try to sprint a marathon wind up being the bodies piled up just past the 1 mile marker. The evening was slightly tainted by sadness for me though. When I told the guys I had drive 6 hours from Wilmington instead of the usual 4 from Macon they were impressed. Considering they'd just driven like 11 hours from Key West and would be back on the road for like 11 more hours after the show, I fail to see how 6 hours could be at all impressive. But then I had to break the news that I now live in Wilmington and this was likely my last Brunswick trip. They always play Brunswick on the Monday after they are in Key West. In fact they announced their next Brunswick show is the first Friday in December. If you're in the area, you should make plans to go. If not for you, then for me. (Tell em Jason from Macon sent you!) Since I am back to teaching at a real school, I will almost never get a Monday off. Unless it is Christmas or Summer Vacation, or Thanksgiving or Spring break, I'll be in class. Even if I get out of class in time to make the show I'll never get home in time and in any shape for my Tuesday class. I plan to work this coming summer to get ahead of the game financially. And since I have more or less missed the past 5 or 6 Thanksgivings away from my parents, I suspect they'd disown me if I missed this year. And I have been working on a trip back to middle GA for Christmas Vacation. That leaves Spring Break. Since I have friends and family up and down the east coast, I can combine visits with friends and family with a concert trip. If the guys are up in PA in their usual haunts (around Harrisburg, PA) I could go visit my brother in northern VA, and my friend Heidi who is also in the area, and then throw in a trip up to PA, 2 hours away. Possibly convincing my friend Adriana to hop over from Brooklyn for a visit and a show. The guys in the band told me that Hardware Bar and Crocodile Rock are THE places to see them if I get up there. If they happen to be on one of their "vacation tours" in Key West, FL or Put-In-Bay, Ohio, then that might be financially out of my reach for this spring, but perhaps next year. But there's another option. I am trying to find places for them to play between Key West and PA. Sort of like they do in Brunswick. I may have one in Waycross, GA, but that doesn't help ME anymore here in NC. So now I'll be scoping out places in Wilmington. I floated Myrtle beach and it's new House of Blues by Mike and he said they checked and apparently ETB isn't "big enough" for HOB. I say bull poop. I've been to shows at the HOB in Atlanta many years ago (when Atlanta still had one). ETB is plenty big enough for HOB. The only bands that make a habit of playing HOB are has been bands. Perhaps ETB is just too progressive for HOB? Anyway, as you can see, I am in a tight spot. If you have suggestions for places thay would be open to a rowdy fun amazing band, let me know, or I can get you the phone number and address of their booking agents, or put you in touch with Mike. If you'd like a sample of their music let me know. They have some on their website www.emilystoybox.com as well as their MySpace page www.myspace.com/etbsucks. So that's my rant for today. The dual purposes of my Brunswick trip: Krystals and ETB were both overwhelming successes. Come back tomorrow for the road report. Oh and I am sure you're wondering how the new Krystals worked out today:  |
Labels: Bacon, Cheese, Macon, Middle Ga Tech, Wilmington
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Jason takes Chattanooga (part 1)
| With a week of planning I was eager to hit the road on Friday morning. I had a few phone calls and some business to take care of, but managed to roll out of here about noon. I purposely ate a very light breakfast, knowing I would need plenty of room for the next 2 or 3 meals once I got to the new Krystal in Chattanooga. I had chosen a hotel based on price, distance, and amenities. In that order of priority. My first difficulty was in the realization that the new Krystal is not yet listed in the Krystal.com store locator. A little more digging on the web and I found the correct address: 5401 Brainerd Rd. I centered my hotel search on that and found a cheap hotel 4 miles away with a fridge and microwave. I felt I'd probably be taking leftovers home and those would be essential. In hindsight, I chose poorly. I never used the fridge or microwave. In addition I was across the interstate from one Krystal and had to drive past another Krystal en route to the Brainerd Rd store. Click here My hotel was right across the interstate from location F. I had to drive past the krystal at location C. Koincidentally enough, that's where Linda showed me the Krystal Kruiser last April. The new Krystal is obviously at location A on the map. I tried to check into my hotel upon arrival. I stress the word "tried." The lobby was locked and a sign on one door in the entry way said to "ring the bell for service." There was no bell but there was a buzzer. That didn't work. Then I noticed another sign on the other locked door saying "dial 0 for service." There was a rather beat up phone on the wall so I picked it up and dialed 0. I heard a phone inside the office, 3 feet away, ring, and then I was greeted with a busy signal. I am unsure why I would need to call someone 3 feet away from me, but then again, I have never managed a hotel. After waiting 5 minutes, I started getting creative. I noticed the phone would allow me to call an outside number, so I dialed the full 7 digit number for the hotel. essentially calling the front desk from the entry way. It rang for 5 minutes. I was preparing to use the phone to call the national chain's 800 number when someone finally arrived. She said she was "in the back." How far "back" you can go in a hotel office I don't know. She then told me my room would be ready in 15 minutes. I decided it was a good time to head to the Krystal for lunch, and I was on my way. Four miles and a lot of traffic later and I see it:   Taking advantage of the situation, I pulled my truck right up to one of the "closed" spots to take some photos:   Friday late lunch: The toasters: BLT, Grilled Cheese and bacon, Philly. (I passed on the reuben and corned beef and swiss), Mac and Cheese bites (bottom of the middle section), and a Chocolate Milkquake. They had Saurkraut listed in a way it appeared you added it to the Mac and Cheese bites. I discovered later it was to add to your chili pups. Friday dinner (aka the chicken meal): Grilled Chik, Chik'n Stick'ns, Chicken Wings. Three flavors of slushie (Lemon, Grape and Cherry) I tried Lemon at this meal. Saturday early lunch: Rockslides (with oreos, reeses, M&Ms or butterfingers), I went with Butterfinger, two Saucy Chiks (simply because I'd run out of new non-dessert items), and a grape Slushie. Also on the menu were several things I never got around to because my lactose intolerant stomach veto'd them: Smoothies (orange, berry, citrus, mango) Ice cream cups and cones (with toppings) Orange Sherbet freeze, Coke or Rootbeer float. Apple pie or brownie bites Sunday. You can aslo get "favor shots" added to your soft drink. All this in addition to the regular Krystal menu. I did notice a lack of new breakfast items, and an amazing abundance of dessert items. Since I was unable to try everything on the menu, I suppose another trip will be in order in the future. For those who wish to have their very own "Krystal experience" please Email me and I can give you advice. For example, there is a Quality Inn at 5505 Brainerd Rd. that is walking distance from the Krystal. There is a CVS between the Krystal and Quality Inn, just in case you need Tums. My next trip up, I will probably be staying there. The Quality Inn, not the CVS. So the next few days will feature a meal by meal recap, along with pictures. Then the special follow up of odd and interesting things seen along the way. Let me assure you the Krystal Koincidences abound! |
Labels: Bacon, Cheese, Chiks, Chili, Middle Ga Tech, Pups
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Cinco de Jason!
| Five years ago today was my first day for Middle Georgia Tech, where I currently work. It's hard to believe its been that long (and yet that short) ago. It was a rather chaotic time for me back then and I still remember it very well. I had left Mercer after 2000-01 expecting to finish my masters degree and easily find a job teaching somewhere. Sadly, 9/11 dried up a huge amount of technology jobs and many of those people fled to the security of an education job. So from the summer of '01 until January of 2002 I was without a job. Money was getting tight and job prospects were few and far between. I actually had gotten rejected for one job because I had a masters degree. In a period of one week, three teaching jobs opened. One at Central Georgia Tech here in Macon, one at Griffin Tech in Griffin, GA, and another with MGTC. I applied for all of them. The CGTC job would have been the most convenient since I already live in Macon, but during the interview it quickly became clear they were looking for something other than me. They needed an IT type person with hardware and networking skills. I am a software guy. I had to hand deliver my resume to the Griffin job to make the deadline, and the drive from Macon to Griffin convinced me I didn't want the job. Griffin is in the middle of nowhere, contrary to how it may appear on the map. When I arrived home from dropping off my resume I had a phone message from Jarrett at MGTC asking to call and set up an interview. You've heard Jarrett's name here many times before. I set up an interview for the next morning, and met with Kimber and Don for an interview. You've heard Kimber's name before as well. The interview went well and they offered me the job on the spot. I took it, expecting to maybe last a year or so, until I found another job or started my PhD. It is now 5 years later. While I may still work for the same company, my job has changed several times over the years. I have been a computer applications instructor, computer programming instructor, computer based training (CBT) course developer, staff development instructor, avionics instructor, aircraft maint. instructor, and today it became official that I'll be managing the CBT training center for Robins AFB. Oddly enough I will be running the CBT lab that will use the CBTs I helped develop 2 years ago. Due to contract demands I am not 100% free from the classroom, so I will continue teaching all sorts of odd and utterly non-computer related classes like Corrosion Control, FOD, Sheet Metal Math, and soon I'll be taking on Weapons & Explosive Safety. Sadly, I won't be allowed to blow stuff up in that class, but trust me, I could. I will, however, be doing some Mr. Wizard corrosion experiments/demonstrations in the Corrosion Control class. (Anyone wanna see what I can do to two nails with a battery and a rubber band?) Since my first day was on January 31st, our personal director was annoyed that I would carry one extra line item on my paycheck for the entire year. She wanted them to hold off my official first day of work til Feb 1st. Kimber and I still laugh about that. Looking back to my calendar from 2002, I got quite a chuckle when I realized that Jan 31st, my first day on the job was... you guessed it... Thursday. Krystal Koincidences abound! Speaking of Krystal Thursdays, I went plain jane with a #1 combo today. But tune in tomorrow to see what I did with the rest of the Krystals in the bag! |
Labels: Macon, Mercer, Middle Ga Tech, Warner Robins
Monday, July 24, 2006
Chirp Chirp Chirp
| OK, so the title is supposed to be lick crickets chirping because it's been so darn quiet around it. I am sure some would interpret that Chirping at a Krystal Chik combo (3 chiks, fries and a Coke). While that wasn't my intention, I do believe I now know what's for dinner! Sorry, getting off track. I honestly don't have a good reason for not posting lately. Well I have a good reason but I'm not tell you. Bite me! I do however, have a couple of great reasons to make this quick post before I run off and hunt down some tasty Chiks. First off: where I work they send out 2 news letters. One goes to all students, faculty, and local industry. They also print a billion copies and scatter them everywhere. That is called the Tech Times, and serves to let our community know how awesome our students are and what our school offers to students and local industry. The second newsletter is sent my email to faculty and staff only. Perhaps to students, but I don't believe so. It's called "MGTC at Your PC." In past issues they've included interviews our employees have done in the local paper: "10 Questions with..." Well, I do understand how important it is to know what those crazy professors are doing at the school around the corner, all the articles seemed a bit stuff to me. How could I fix this? That's right. I emailed and asked if I could submit my Macon Telegraph article to be printed as well as this blog's address. While the KLHOF may not technically be "academic" it is certainly a great achievement and with (currently) only 40 people in the ENTIRE US in it, I think it's worth the school advertising. If nothing else it shows the school has diversity and a sense of humor. (Sense of humor is lacking in higher education these days, by the way.) It took perhaps 2 minutes before the reply came back: ABSOLUTELY! So watch this space closely. I think the next edition comes out in August or Sept. I'll be sure to put a copy up so y'all can see. I can't wait to see the reaction among the intelligencia. Now for the Really Big News. I just got an email from Tiffany the Krystal Web Goddess and one of the mods over at Krystal-lover blog. On their site she gave a few sneak peeks and hints about up coming news on krystal.com. Well it's coming and it's amazing! She says it is supposed to be unleashed on the universe tomorrow at noon. OK perhaps I embellished a bit with the whole "unleashed on the universe" part. But go ahead and plan to set aside part of your day to play at Krystal.com. I've lost track of how many times I have said "Holy CRAP!" in the past hour. And I'm sure to have web envy here soon. Maybe I can convince the folks at work to turn our entire department loose on my web site. Well, ok.. maybe getting in a cool-web-site fight with a MARKETING department (armed with tasty Krystals no less) is a bad idea. Anyway, I should be back to posting tasty Krystal tidbits in the next couple of days. Trying to sort out some offline stuff for now. (Apparently you can't use Krystal coupons to make your car payment. Darn it!) |
Labels: Chiks, Macon, Middle Ga Tech
Monday, July 10, 2006
Hostile Workplace
As we all know I work for Middle GA Tech, and that places me firmly in Burgatory. Yes I know there's a Krystal 5 miles away, but that 5 miles is a war zone:
There is a rather large student breakroom with many vending machines of all shapes and sizes over in C building, a short walk from where I am. One afternoon while looking in the frozen food vending machine at a tasty looking Nestle Crunch ice cream pop, I noticed something that scared the appetite out of me.  How sad it is that our students are willing (or forced?) to shell out 75 cents per burger for frozen White Castles that they then must microwave before they can eat them. For that $1.50 if we have a Krystal next door you could get 3 hot, steamy and fresh burgers. Plus, bring your laptop and enjoy free Wi-Fi internet and avoid the draconian campus firewall that blocks things for unknown reasons. (Porn I can understand blocking, but blocking the Smithsonian? Blocking me from sites because they are "programming" web sites? Hello? I teach computer PROGRAMMING! Off topic, I know, just a personal gripe.) I am at a loss for how to rid my campus of this barely edible vermin. I thought of buying them all and throwing them in the trash, but then that would signal to the vendors that "Students must love these lets stock twice as much!" I can't reach into the machine and extract them. (not that I tried, mind you.) I suspect taping a notice to the machine stating that "Buying WC burgers funds Iraqi Terrorists" might just get me unwanted attention from Homeland Security. I also checked and I am not allowed to flunk students for eating them. (Darn employee handbook!) I considered posting a notice on the machine saying "I licked one of the WC burgers and put it back. Ya feeling lucky today?" But somehow that just seems wrong. So I am out of ideas. Any suggestions you have on how to get these Krystal Imposters out of my school, I welcome. The safety and security of our students depends on it!  |
Labels: Middle Ga Tech
Monday, May 01, 2006
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
| Ok, so today was perhaps the most chaotic day I have had in a life time. Car trouble, chaos at work, missing appointments, UGH! How could the day possibly be saved? Yup, you guessed it, a well timed phone call! As I stagger into the house I check my messages and what do I hear? "Hi Jason, this is Ed Grisamore with from the Macon Telegraph. I hope your day is going well. I wanted to call and talk to you a bit about this award you've gotten from Krystal..." For those who don't know, Ed Grisamore is a legend around these parts. For those from the Atlanta area, Ed is Macon's verion of Lewis Grizzard. Southern fried, good ol guy, who writes the best, most touching stories in the paper. He's worth buying the paper for, all by himself. I've already been interviewed by two TV stations and that alone has blown me away. Getting in the paper takes things to another level, but Ed Grisamore? HOLY COW!!! I have actually met Mr. Grisamore (it sounds funny in my head to say that, since everyone calls him Ed). If you go hit his web site you can read all about him: www.grisamore.com and you can read a lot of his columns on the Telegraph's site. On his site you can read about a few of his books, one named "Once Upon a Whoopee" about the old Macon Whoopees hockey team back in the early 70's. He wrote it with Bill Buckley, who was very involved in the team back then. If you've been to my site more than a couple of times you'll know I am a rabid hockey fan, and was a devoted fan of Macon's two most recent teams: the Macon Whoopee, and the Macon Trax. The Macon Whoopee were named in honor of the 1970's Macon Whoopees (the old team name had an 's' the newer team did not). Ed wrote the book during the years when the Macon Whoopee played and I met him at two different autograph sessions for the book. I got his signature along with about 4 or 5 of the 1970's Whoopees players. Lets face it, Ed is a legend and I am having trouble sitting still right now. If you read over some of Ed's articles in the paper you'll see he find some of the most interesting people in middle Georgia to write about. Which leaves me wondering about me. Suddenly, I now feel massive pressure to be interesting. Ugh! Being interesting on command is not a skill they teach in college! Anyway, I returned his call and got his voice mail, so hopefully I'll talk to him later tonight or tomorrow. I am going to try to see about meeting him for the interview. (Would it be too cliche to meet at Krystal?) In all honesty, I think I want my picture with him more than he could possibly want his picture with me! I am contemplating letting him print my Krystal Stuffing recipe in the paper so everyone can enjoy it. But I have been looking at reworking the recipe a bit to make it even more tasty. Yes, I know, you're wondering how it could be possible to make stuffing made out of Krystals even MORE tasty. Well, I have lofty goals my friends, lofty goals! If I get my new and improved version tested in time I'll see if Mr. Grisamore wants it. STOP THE PRESSES!!! |
Labels: Hockey, Macon, Middle Ga Tech, Recipe
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Nothing New
| I know it's been a while since I posted anything up. Many reasons for that among them occupational chaos, and it's "All Quiet On The Krystal Front." The occupational chaos has resulted in my office moving about 20 miles which places me on the verge of Burgatory. The following is a map, taken directly from Krystal.com Store Locator. The big yellow dot is where I used to work. The big green dot is where I work now. Coincidently, I live right where the letter M is in Macon at the top of the screen. The red dots are Krystal restaurants. (Please be aware the colored dots and writing are only on the map, they don't show up in the real world.) While I still have ample opportunities to get Krystals on the way home, it appears bringing Krystals to my coworkers will require a minor road trip.  The intersection just a hair's width from the green dot is Houston Lake Rd and Hwy 96. At that intersection is a BP gas station with an attached restaurant called Waffle King (think Waffle House). Waffle King closed a while back, so the place sits for sale and unused. It's already got what it takes to be a restaurant right there. It's a perfect location for a Krystal, similar to the one attached to the Marathon gas station on Hwy 247 (the red dot just north of the yellow dot). Why is this a good location? First off there's no Krystal within 10 miles. While there is a handfull of restaurants nearby, they cannot compare to Krystal. But the best selling point is its proximity to where I work, Middle Georgia Technical College. The big green dot. MGTC has students there from as early as 5 or 6am until as late at 11pm. Hungry students want good food, and Krystal is the ultimate student food. That area of the state is one of the fastest growing in the country, and that intersection in particular is getting bigger every day. (That actual intersection finally finished being expanded, though it took them about 10 years it seems.) And of course my favorite reason to put a Krystal there: it's really close to where I work. No one ever said the Krystal Kid wasn't a little selfish, ya'll! Edit- I almost forgot, another great reason to build near MGTC. The school blocks almost every website known to man on their wireless internet. Making research almost impossible. (I had a speech to do on hockey last week and couldn't do any research since all sorts websites are blocked.) Krystal resaurants are wireless hotspots, so students can escape campus to gather at Krystal to do their research on their laptops, having fun and eating good food, while they study. I know it works, Krystals helped me through my thesis. -End of edit In an effort to boost my nonexistant super suggestion power, I went to Krystal yesterday to recharge with the fabled Chili Cheese Krystal. It's not technically on the menu, but it is available. Krystal will happily put chili and/or cheese on anything you want. I don't advise putting chili or cheese on your Coke or the Lemon icebox pie.   |
Labels: Cheese, Chili, KLHOF, Macon, Middle Ga Tech
