From battery park

That’s the World Trade Center in the back, with people selling 9/11 and FDNY merchandise in front.  There’s some kind of poignant, critical, somber point on society I’m supposed to make here, but I don’t know what it would be.

Yep, thats us. It was cold.

I don’t know what these are for.

This is apparently where Law & Order takes place.

We visited a pretty cool bar, called Swift

Bokeh!

The drinks were delicious though.

Then we visited the Museum of Modern Art.

Then our final evening, thanks to Dave, we got a night at the Waldorf Astoria.  It was pretty nice.  The breakfast buffet was a reasonable $95 per person.

All in all it was an awesome vacation.  We ate a ton of pizza, bagels, and cheesecake… but on the other hand, we walked about 27 miles, so they offset I think.

Testing out the lights beforehand

We appear to have put more lights in the middle.

Now in Technicolor

Bokeh

Pit lane

Up close

This might be a Ferrari

Thumbs up

Oh its completely stock

The other Ferrari

Time to go home

This was my first trip to Road Atlanta.  I brought a camera, and earplugs.  Things to bring next time:

- Beer

- A cooler to put the beer in

- A tent to put the cooler in

- A trailer to transport the tent and cooler

- And a golf cart.  My calves are killing me.

Bell Peppers, Jalapenos, Chili Peppers, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Hawthorn Peppers.

What I need is an IV bag on wheels like in hospitals that can pump a continuous flow of this sweet, delicious nectar straight into my fucking blood stream.

Yeah, its japanese ok.  And yeah, its a milky white color, and maybe it even does have a bit of condensed milk product in it.  So what the hell do you care?  You’ve never even tried it.  It’s citrusy and not too sweet and tastes like Taylor Swift’s tears and I have to drive 45 minutes to the Farmers Market to buy it.  If the Calpico in my fridge could some how find gainful employment in a lucrative career with 401k matching, I’d marry it and spend the rest of my life with it and be perfectly happy with the tax breaks and there’s nothing you can do about it except be jealous.

What really infuriates me is that etymologically, it just doesn’t make any sense.  Without quite realizing it, I think we all know exactly what its usage and meaning really are.  People are putting “just sayin” at the end of potentially offensive sentences in some vain effort to throw off any responsibility for what they just said. Its cheap, its a cop out, and its got to stop.  It’s like people want to disagree with someone but don’t have the balls to actually stand by what they say.

Example.  “Your shoes are ugly as hell.  Just sayin.”

I fully understand what the phrase means, and why people attach it to the end of the sentence.  I just don’t understand why THOSE two words have come to have that meaning.  Just sayin?  Just sayin WHAT?  How in the world did “just sayin” come to mean “whatever I just said, was probably somewhat offensive, but don’t be offended towards me, as I hereby absolve myself from any responsibility for the words that just came out of my own mouth”.

Its idiotic.  If you want to be a dick to someone’s face, just do it.  Tell them their shoes are ugly, and face the repercussions.    Or at a bare minimum, fall back on a phrase that actually uses words that have to do with the meaning you’re going for, such as “Not to be rude, but” (I’m going to be rude anyway).  Or even Talledega Night’s “With all due respect” phrasing at least approaches directly the idea that you’re about to say something disrespectful.

“Just sayin” on the other hand, is a vapid, pointless, weasly crap-sandwich of a phrase that people seriously gotta stop using.  Just cause it grinds my gears, put it to rest along with the rest of the last decade.

My advice to anyone thinking of running something like this for the first time:  DON’T FREAKING DO IT

I got a blood blister the size of Fulton County covering my entire left foot.  I did something to my hip while trying to pour some gatorade on my face and twisted that all out of whack.  Then the combination of those two things apparently made me run with such an awkward stride that all my weight was smacking down on my right arch — 6 days later I still can’t walk without limping.

Oh but I got a freaking medal that says “Finisher”, awesome.

Penthouse 20th floor of the building, 14′ ceilings, granite/stainless/hardwoods, floor to ceiling windows, etc.  Only a few years old.

I still really don’t relish the idea of paying 4.8% interest on hundreds of thousands of dollars… but I imagine the bottom of the worst real estate crash in my lifetime is probably the best time to buy, plus the tax credit, plus interest rates are at an all time low.  I’m still getting moved in, but I like it.

The view is probably my favorite part.

So yeah.  Guess I won’t be moving for a while … which is fine with me.  Hate moving.

First win against a top 5 ranked team at Bobby Dodd since 1962.  Back in my day, though, we tore down *both* goal posts.