Recently in Check it out! Category

Montgomery, Alabama seems to be 10 years behind the rest of the country on restaurants and retailers (we just got our first Target, Best Buy, and PetSmart a few years ago.) While good restaurants spring up periodically, they are usually shut down with a year or two, victims of the "it's too pricey" syndrome this city seems to have. A few manage to hang around (La Jolla, Dawsons, Casa Napoli, The Olive Room, Vintage Year, City Grill) but we consistently lose great restaurants for lack of business (Felix's, Copeland's, Serrano.) We like good food and will even occasionally drive to Birmingham, Atlanta, or (less frequently) Mobile or Pensacola to hit favorite restaurants of ours, but life is changing and I'd rather go around the corner than across state lines to find good food.

Without further ado, 23 21 Restaurants I'd Like To See Come To The Montgomery/Prattville, Alabama Area:

1. Copelands: After a failed attempt on south East Boulevard, perhaps they could be convinced to try again, perhaps on the east side this time. It appears that Copeland's has now pulled of Alabama altogether (Montgomery, Birmingham, and Mobile) and has also left Pensacola. Nearest Copelands is now in Atlanta. Oh yeah, and bring back the Pork LaBoucherie. A guy can wish, right?
2. P.F. Chang's: Excellent, affordable American-Chinese cuisine, nice decor. Good quality Chinese food.
3. Red Robin: This might actually happen as a new RR recently opened in Newnan, GA. Excellent hamburgers and sandwiches, endless fries. We're now have a Red Robin at Eastchase! Note: In my experiences (I've been 10 times sinece they opened) the Montgomery Red Robin has serious problems with consistency of service, food quality and dining experience. You may get lucky, but don't expect your usual Red Robin experience at this location.
4. Bennigan's: Traditional American fare, sandwiches, soups with an Irish flavor. Good neighborhood bar and restaurant. Bankrupt 2008
5. El Chico: American-Mex, but better than any of the flavor-deprived Mexican being served in this town today, nearest ones are in Mobile and Nashville.
6. Other Raving Brands franchises: We already got multiple Moe's (now run by a different company) and (supposedly) a Doc Green's on the way (what happened there?). How about Mama Fu's Noodles, Planet Smoothie, and Shane's Rib Shack, maybe a Boneheads, or a Flying Biscuit?
7. In-And-Out Burger: Excellent West Coast burger chain, always smiling, gracious staff and prompt service of great food. Imagine!
8. Old Chicago: Great pizza and well over 110 beer choices.
9. Baja Fresh: The franchise recently entered and exited the Atlanta market, so Montgomery luring this consistently flavorful and fresh Mex star is probably a long shot.
10. Mimi's Cafe: French-inspired american food. (coming to EastChase in Winter 2008)
11. Noodles & Co.: Various noodle entrees, from Mac and Cheese to Asian noodle dishes. Same idea as Mama Fu's, a noodle house.
12. Houlihan's: Several locations in Atlanta
13. Cozymel's Mexican Restaurant:: Great chicken and carnitas fajitas. Steak fajitas were so-so. Nearest one might be Memphis
14. Bahama Breeze: Island food and drink. Long lines/wait, get there early. Birmingham or Atlanta
15. Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy: Great Mexican food, all around. Memphis/KC/OKC are the closest ones.
16. Houston's: Up-scale sit-down American dining in a beautiful decor. Several locations in Atlanta.
17. Uno Chicago Grill: Chicagoland dining with new creative twists. Formerly Pizzeria Uno.
18. On the Border: Good chain Mexican. Recently closed in Birmingham.
19. Buca di Beppo: Southern Italian food served family-style in large, delicious portions. So clean they take you on a tour through the kitchen on your way to your seat.
20. Qdoba Mexican Grill: Similar to Moe's and Chipotle, San Francisco-style burritos with tons of flavor and spice.
21. First Watch: A small chain of health-conscious and delicious breakfast treats in a relaxing environment
22. Marie Callendar's: Home-cooked comfort food and great pies.
23. Cheesecake Factory: Great cheesecake (50 different varieties and a highly diverse menu including Asian, Mexican, Italian, American, Cajun, and Spanish choices to meet everyone's needs. Their menu is a small book. The nearest ones are in Birmingham and Atlanta.

Yeah, they are mostly chains. Some people seem to get hung up about that. These are the good chains, not the ones that make you roll your eyes when you see them. If any 4 of these came to town, I'd be much happier about the dining scene in Montgomery.

I figure we could afford to lose some T.G.I.Friday's, Ruby Tuesday, Chili's, Applebee's, and O'Charley's, we'd have room for some new, good restaurants.

Photo Gallery >> Barber Vintage Motorsports Musuem
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Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum (and, in fact, the entire Barber Motorsports Park) is a jewel in the crown of Birmingham, Alabama. It should be on the top of any motorized sports enthusiast's to-do list when visiting Birmingham. They have an excellent collection of motorcycles from all eras and all manufacturers. There are approximately 750+ motorcycles and a approximately 40 or 50 sports and racing cars on display at any given point. They are beautifully restored and displayed open-air in the spacious facility. Northeast Birmingham, approximately 2 miles east of the junction of I-20 and I-459. Follow I-20 past I-459, take the first exit past the junction (Leeds), turn right and the facility is on your right about 1 mile down the road. Admission is $15 for adults, and well worth it.

I've gone to the museum the past two weekends and had a great time. The basement "paddock" area is usually closed to the public, but was open this past weekend, so I got to stroll and shoot some angles you can't normally get.

More photos from Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum

A satellite shot of the facility from Google Maps

<pander>Now, if I can just get someone from Barber to take me behind-the-scenes, or to the warehouse my journey will be complete...</pander>

You cannot  further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot  help the poor man by destroying the rich.

You cannot  lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot  help small men by tearing down big men.

You cannot  keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

You cannot  bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot  strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot  establish security on borrowed money.

You cannot  build character and courage by taking away one's initiative and independence.

You cannot  help someone permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

-- Rev. William John Henry Boetcker (1873-1962)

Dow 9,625.28
S&P 500 1,005.75
Nasdaq 1,780.12

Hard drive storage: $0.10/GB
(Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB (1500GB ) 7200RPM/32MB for $149.99 via TigerDirect on November 4, 2008)

Solid-state hard drive storage: $3.63/GB
(OCZ 128GB SATA II MLC Solid State Drive for $464.99 via ZipZoomFly on November 4, 2008)

Flash memory: $2.62/GB
(Patriot 16GB SDHC Card for $41.99 via ZipZoomFly on November 4, 2008)

Highest interest rate savings with minimal deposit requirements: 4.00%
(CNB Bank Directvia money-rates.com on November 4, 2008)

Gallon of gas: $2.358
(US National Average, pulled from Gas Buddy on November 4, 2008)

I didn't see this anywhere in the owner's manual, so I thought I'd jot this down for the other XTi owners (not sure about the XSi, but I'll bet this feature is on most Rebels from the last generation or two.). Once you've chosen an Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) range, you can use the Aperture/Exposure compensation button (Av +/-) on the back of the camera in combination with the main dial to "slide" your chosen AEB range up and down the EV scale ( -2..1..0..1..+2 ). You'll be centering your AEB range within the range of -2 and +2EV, so if you are using -1/+1EV AEB centered on -2EV, your range would be -3EV to -1EV. With -2/+2 EV AEB range, you can go from -4EV to +4 EV.

Now the nagging question: Canon, why limit us to only 3 exposures in AEB? There doesn't seem to be a reason we could have 5 or 7 or some other configurable number of exposures? Also, why not allow us to select a wider AEB range? When shooting for HDR, I need to take consecutive shots without moving the camera. I'm already using a tripod and wireless remote, but if I want more than -2/+2EV, I have to stop, change the settings (thus moving the camera) then continue, hoping I didn't move the camera too much and complicating post-processing. Why not allow -3/+3EV or -4/+4EV spreads on the AEB range (keep in mind my earlier suggestion of more AEB exposures in a given range.)

The Alabama Nature Center at Lanark is a 350-acre wildlife preserve that serves as the headquarters of the Alabama Wildlife Federation. It is located between Millbrook, AL and Prattville, AL, just north and east of exit 179 (Cobbs Ford Road) on I-65. The facility is currently only open to the public one weekend a month (the third weekend.)

If you are a nature buff, a photographer, or just like to catch some fresh air, you should take some time out of your weekend to visit and explore the facility. They've got over 5 miles of beautifully-built walking trails organized in 3 loops around the property. They are all marked with interpretive signs about the flora and fauna you'll see around you.

Price is currently $4/adult/day and $2/child (3-9)/day. Kids under 3 are free. They also have season pass pricing.

(Every third weekend of the month)
Saturday 8:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Directions and more information can be found at the following link.

Alabama Nature Center @ Lanark

Photo Gallery >> Lanark
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I'm sick of (so-called) experts predicting $4/gallon or $5/gallon gas. Now that prices are dropping the headlines read $3/gallon gas by end of Summer. I'll leave it up to you to determine whether or not I'm an expert, but if words have as much effect as it appears on market forces:

I predict that gas will be $1.50 or lower by December 2008.
(The average price of gas in Montgomery is $3.59 on August 7, 2008.)

We've got a new high school going in near our house, way out in the country north of Prattville, Alabama. There has been a lot of buzz about naming the new school after the (old) Marbury High School which this school will be replacing. There's been online petitions and a regular stream of articles in the local weekly paper talking about community, memories, provenance, etc.

It seems to me that building a new school is an excellent change to brainstorm, involve the community, get creative and come up with a new name for a new school. Instead everyone seemed to get stuck in nostalgia.

The (old) Marbury High School is in Marbury, a very small community in rural central Alabama. The (new) Marbury High School in not in Marbury, it is not even near Marbury. It's 8.5 - 10 miles from Marbury to the new school site depending on your route. The new school does find itself in the community of Pine Level, Alabama.

Why not rename the current Marbury High School to Marbury School (it is destined to become the new middle school) and give the new school a new name that reflects something about its new location, an honored member of the education community, or some famous individual (president, governor, etc.)?

That's my two cents, now I'll sit back and wait for the first sporting event at the school where the visiting team erroneously goes to the old school because they didn't even know there was a new school...

• (new) Marbury High School construction project page from Cooper Brothers Construction
• (new ) Marbury High School construction photos from Cooper Brothers Construction

This is my yearly report of what crime was reported on a day in Montgomery, Alabama. My original tally was for a Thursday in late June, so I'll keep with that just to minimize variables.

On Thursday, June 19, 2008, there were:

11 Vehicle Burglaries
21 Burglaries
5 Vehicle Thefts
9 Thefts
2 Robbery
1 Domestic Violence Assault
1 Assault

reported in Montgomery, Alabama (est. population 202,000).

The estimated value of goods stolen on this one day total $85,789 with an additional $3,910 worth of damage to personal property (vehicles, homes) in the commission of these crimes. Total damages/loss from crimes committed on this day: $89,699. These are just the reported crimes, for one day. Assume those numbers are a representative sample and multiply out those numbers over the course of a week (~$627,893), a month (~$2,735,820), or a year (~$32,762,560) as it pleases you. The real picture might be slightly better or slightly worse, but the picture is ugly anyway you slice it. This is simply a tally of the crimes reported in the Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery Crime Reports section.

A recent e-mail mail from a headhunter to my monster e-mail address...

Hi David,

Hope you are doing in the best of the mood!!
I came across your resume on the job site and i feel it's a good
match for your skill's. If you feel the same do send me your most
updated profile asap, so that we can have the ball rolling.

For immediate update send your resume to ahtesham32@gmail.com. (Because nothing says professionalism like using a GMail account for your corporate e-mail)

Title: Tivoli Consultant
Location: Endicott, NY (Lockeed Martin, perhaps?)
Length: 3 Months+

Description:
Our client is looking for High Level TIVOLI consultant.

Regards,
xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx
LMNOP Technology Inc. (changed)
" Committed to Human Excellence Through IT " (What?)
Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Why are there so many two-bit headhunter outfits in NJ?

Apparently Monster is going the way of Ebay. Remember dotcoms, enough scam business on your service will turn your whole service irrelevant to your legitimate clients. Maybe headhunting has just got that scummy.