Over the past few days, I’ve noticed a sizable uptick in the number of folks clicking over to look for Beer Festival tickets on the TicketAlternative site.  Undoubtedly, seconds after leaving the safe confines of Decatur Metro, their dreams of being sloppy-drunk on the Square in the early afternoon come crashing down when they learn what I’ve already stated…the event is sold out.

What’s a beer-loving procrastinator with lots of disposable-income to do?  Well heck, that’s easy!  Just hop on over to Craigslist and offer to pay double the face value for a single ticket!

Don’t believe me?  Just click here to see all the folks currently willing to pay a hefty premium for the event.

And its only Tuesday.

Oh how I love this photo.  Take THAT corn subsidies!

In this week’s New York Times Magazine “Food Issue”, Michael Pollan writes an open letter to the next President of the United States restating his case for total reformation of the food industrial complex.

Anyone who has read his “Omnivore’s Dilemma” will notice that much of the article is little more than a summation of the book’s argument, slightly updated for 2008.  But for those that hear words like “slow food” and “organic” and think its an exclusively liberal, yuppie enterprise, I would challenge you to take a few minutes to read the 9-page article (yes, 9 pages) and then tell me that there’s not also quite a bit of conservative and libertarian thought embedded in the idea too.

At the local level, we already have a wide selection of CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) delivering around town, an organic farmer’s market, the Oakhurst Community Garden, farm-to-table restaurants that promote local eating, and a city commission that is currently pursuing the idea of allowing residents to farm small parcels of city-owned land that aren’t really usable for anything else.

What else can we be doing to lessen our dependence on the oil-based food industry?

Here’s a question that popped into my mind…what’s CSD’s lunch menu look like these days?  Well, here’s the October menu for the elementary schools…corn dogs?

The AJC reports that the city will soon come a knockin’, asking residents in public meetings, “What should become of the Rec Center now that basketball games will be played at the new DHS gym?”  The city is paying LP3 Architects $44,000 to hold public meetings and come up with a master plan for the building.

The only qualification seems to be that the facility needs to support “Active Living”.

So with that very board qualifier in mind, whatcha thnk?

Oh…and here are the other Rec Center-related things that bond project money will go towards…

“Renovation of the building will provide for expanded programming rooms, upgraded mechanical systems, an air conditioned gym and more efficient office space. The master planning process will allow input from a variety of stakeholders in the community to assure that we develop an efficient space that meets a wide variety of recreational needs in the community.”

A good friend ‘o mine runs a lot of programs out at Camp Twin Lakes.  Its a great camp with a great cause, just out I-20.

The guys at Whit’s End write in…

Whit’s End is now carrying Partners Cards that will benefit Camp Twin Lakes.  This card costs $60, and when used November 1-9 at over 500 shops and restaurants in the greater Atlanta area, (including Whit’s End and many others in Decatur), shoppers and diners can save 20% on non sale items or their dining bill.  Camp Twin Lakes is a not-for-profit organization offering year-round recreational, therapeutic, and educational programs for children with serious illnesses and life challenges.  100% of the sale of the card goes directly to Camp Twin Lakes.