As FM Fats pointed out in a previous comment, Kudzu.com just announced that Decatur’s Sydney Rhame won their Amazing Kids contest!  Here’s their blurb…

This contest is now closed! Congratulations to Sydney Rhame, our $1,000 grand prize winner. Check out the talented finalists below, and we look forward to your participation in our next contest!

Sydney is a singer-songwriter from Decatur, Ga. who began writing music and lyrics at the tender age of six.

Audiences are consistently surprised by her age (she just turned 11 on July 19) because of her hauntingly mature lyrics and voice as well as her 5’7″ height! She is also the lead singer of the all-girl pop/rock band, The Lock Outs.

Sydney is a passionate writer and actor, and has written two feature-length musicals and several plays. She loves playing volleyball and is a straight-A student.

When asked how she’d spend the Kudzu.com prize money, Rhame said, “Well, I’d like to get a cell phone since I’ll be in middle school next year, but I really do need to get a decent-sounding guitar.”

Congrats Sydney!  Spend that money wisely!

Bryan writes in…

Where do folks in Decatur go for group sports? Suppose I were new to town and wanted to play basketball or softball or ultimate frisbee or tag football or tennis or racketball or something along those lines. I am going on 47 years old, not interested in pretending to be an athlete or imagining myself to be 18, but enjoy playing sports with others. Are there good pick-up games to be had anywhere? Clubs or gyms only? I want to stay as close to Decatur as possible.

I’ll point out the obvious, the Rec, and leave the rest open to discussion.

Too bad walkscore.com doesn’t count how far it is to your nearest H1N1 vaccine test site.

The AJC reports this morning that Emory will holding two adult clinical trials for the H1N1 vaccine at the Emory Vaccine Center’s Hope Clinic in downtown Decatur sometime in early August.

Volunteers get $50 a visit with a total of 5 to 7 visits.

Photo Courtesy of Re-Nest

The Apartment Therapy junkie in our household noticed that the RainShine house was prominently featured on AT’s sister site Re-Nest yesterday, with a bevy of interior and exterior pics of the Decatur eco-home on Wilton Drive.

In that green-vein, The Decatur Minute noted yesterday that the city of Decatur, along with friendly arch-nemesis Alpharetta, won bronze-level certifications from the Atlanta Regional Commission for efforts towards environmental sustainability.  Cobb County was the only municipality to receive a silver certification (?!).

In response to the ARC announcement, District 2 City Commission candidate Kyle Williams tweeted “Step in the right direction #DecaturGA, now let’s pass ordinances providing green building incentives.”  I, for one, would be very interested in hearing more details on this proposal.

After the jump, you can read the ARC’s announcement detailing Decatur’s green efforts to-date that led to the certification. Read the rest of this entry »