Reinventing the Wheel

It's hot. I love summer, and I love living in Atlanta, and I even love summer in Atlanta, but it's hot. Unusually hot. When it's a hundred degrees during the day, you can count on it being in the high seventies at night. Of course that's fine by me; hot summer nights are my favorite time to go topless in my del Sol.

(The magnetic number on the side is from a road rally we did back in July. No Speed Racer illusions here.)

Last night I was driving back from a friend's house at about eleven at night. Dark country roads, half moon on a cloudy night, a warm breeze as I cruise my way home. It sounds cliche, but every time I take the top of that car it makes me smile. We've had Sunny for most of eight years now, and the novelty still hasn't worn off.

I always wanted a convertible, even when I was a kid. As it happens, I never got to ride in one until my first date with my wife. We've driven Sunny to Miami and back, to our hotel the night of our wedding, down the Blue Ridge Parkway, and on countless road trips through the Georgia mountains. She's eleven years old, has almost a hundred and sixty thousand miles, and is still going strong.

I auditioned to be a contestant on "Jeopardy!" a few months ago. A friend warned me that I'd be asked what I'd do with the money should I win. Of course, knowing me, I'll pay off debt and be responsible, but that's not a good interview answer. When the time came, I told the story of our del Sol, and that I'd like to use the money to repaint and reupholster and restore her. The interviewer asked why we wouldn't just buy a new car. It's obvious he's never been in love with an automobile.

I see del Sols fairly frequently around Atlanta. In fact, there's another one here in our apartment complex. It could just be that it's a distinct looking car, and therefore you tend to remember one when you spot one. I probably saw a hundred Celicas today; I don't remember any one of them. When the newest del Sols are now ten years old, however, seeing them so readily speaks to the loyalty they inspire. We get offers from people wanting to buy Sunny from us on the order of once a month. And while some people may think our average condition 1996 Honda del Sol is worth a couple of grand at best, in my heart Sunny's priceless.

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I live in the suburbs. I work in the suburbs. It's not unusual for weeks to go by that I don't go inside the perimeter. This weekend, though, I played hard, I did most of it in the city, and it was fantastic.

Friday night started with my college friend Matt's birthday party. We had dinner at Buca di Beppo, one of a chain of family style Italian restaurants. From there, we went to see Greg Proops at a comedy club. I was expecting him to be funny, but I wasn't expecting him to be hilarious. The style of his standup is much like Dennis Miller's: ranting diatribes full of pop culture references. In fact, we got tonight's Team Trivia name from his show: "Six Flags Over Stupid." Wish us luck.

Saturday Mischelle (another friend from college) and I walked four and a half miles and lifted weights at the YMCA. We then went down to Keith's (friend of a college friend, long ago absorbed into the clique) place and had fantastic fajitas at Chili's.

Quick aside: Chili's has jumped on board the miniature-desserts-in-shot-glasses bandwagon, to great success. Next time you're there, by all means indulge. We tried the chocolate and the apple cinnamon; both were surprisingly good.

From there, we took the train down to Piedmont Park and played frisbee on the lawn. Picture this: a beautiful sunny day, a band playing live music in the distance, a beautiful lawn, bare feet, friends and an Aerobie. It was heaven, and makes me wonder why we haven't already spent years doing it.

Once back at Keith's place, we jumped in the pool, cleaned up, then headed back into Midtown for dinner and another show. Dinner was at The Vortex, known for having some of the best burgers in Atlanta. The burger wasn't bad, but the sweet potato french fries were amazing. We killed some time by strolling down to an ice cream shop, then headed back to the Vortex's lounge to catch The Lucky Yates Show. Lucky has a monthly staged talk show and invites local celebrities to come chat. Saturday Alton Brown, the host of "Good Eats," was one of his guests. "GE" is one of my favorite television shows, and a lot of my cooking techniques are learned from him. The show was a blast, and we're already looking forward to next month's installment.

Sunday started with Mischelle and I running 5K in Decatur around the Dekalb Farmers Market. We stopped in to grab some produce, then I headed home to cook. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, but made plenty of food for this week. I'm trying to get into the habit of making extra portions and taking them for lunch instead of eating out.

Sunday wrapped up in Stone Mountain at the Atlanta Rollergirls championship (Camille will be so pleased). One of my coworkers is a derby girl, and has been inviting us all year to come see her skate. The bout was really exciting, and was evenly matched all evening. Though college football is my favorite spectator sport, I'll watch a close game of just about anything.

Now I'm off to start my last week at my current job. I just landed a new position and am really eager to get started with them. Four more days of work and a long weekend to celebrate are in front of me.

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So there's this new rhythm game coming out for the Wii next week called "Boogie." I'm a sucker for Dance Dance Revolution and its cousins, so this sounds right up my alley. I hit the web to find some videos, trying to see how the game works. In the process, I found this trailer for the game:

(Don't play this unless you want to find yourself in my predicament)