Free-For-All Friday 7/23/10
Decatur Metro | July 23, 2010Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here over the past week.
Comments close on Monday.
Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here over the past week.
Comments close on Monday.
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Anyone recommend an affordable electrician?
Would basically be fishing a few new lines, and replacing some deteriorating lines too.
Sorry in advance if I’m breaking some Free-for-all code of ethics.
What’s a brojo?
Jeremiah Zeis with On Call Electric 678-898-1635.
Marc Wolak, 770-873-7618.
My wife and I live in Forrest Hills and are expecting our first child any day now. She will be a stay at home mom and our local friends are childless so they work during the day. Can anyone recommend some activities for a new mom in Decatur / Avondale Estates where my wife can get out of the house and meet other moms? Thanks.
When the kid gets a little bigger, go to the round and round park at the corner of Nelson Ferry and Northern, by First Christian Church. It’s overpopulated with toddlers and parents, and I would assume a good place to meet other new parents ….
I did stroller exercise classes after i had my baby with Oh Baby! Fitness (which is in Decatur) It is a great way to get back in the swing of things and to meet tons of new moms who are local!
The park cranky refers to is great. Also, there are classes at Gymboree in Toco Hills that are pretty fun (once they are about walking). Any of the bouncy places are good (when they’re a little older), like Monkey Joes, etc. I heard good things about “mom ‘n me” excercise classes, but my wife never did those. Depending on your kid’s temperment, any coffee shop is a good way to get out. And in Decatur, nobody looks at you weird if you bring your kid to a pub. We would go to the round and round park, and then grab lunch and a beer at the pub across the street (now, The Marlay).
My strong recommendation is that your wife join at least one new Mom’s group. A new baby is life-changing and it can be quite disorienting initially. Not only is post-partum depression common but there’s also a natural reaction to post-partum mind-numbing exhaustion, constant nursing, and learning all new stuff. It ends up being wonderful but not instantaneously and a new Mom’s group or two is an essential support for many. Options include:
– DeKalb Medical has both a new Mom’s group and a breastfeeding group, I believe; you don’t have to have delivered there at all
– Oh Baby
– Pierce Yoga Institute (but you may be required to do their prenatal class too)
– Gymboree
– La Leche
– Moms and More
– Mocha Moms (for moms of color, I think)
No reason she can’t join more than one! You need a reason to get out of the house and it’s great to go somewhere where folks understand why it takes 2 hours just to get out–nurse baby, change baby, get self ready, get baby ready, whoops time to change baby again, get stroller, car seat, and diaper bag ready, whoops baby needs to nurse again, change baby, rush out of the house before anything else happens.
After ~ 6 months, there’s also The Music Class and YMCA Parent and Me Swim.
What she said. And my daughter babysits!!!
We just moved to Forrest Hills. Love the area. It’s the best bang for your buck of all Atlanta neighborhoods IMO in terms of safety/convenience/value
The new mom group and breastfeeding group at Dekalb Medical are fantastic – you do not have to have given birth there and they’re both free to attend. My kid is three and I am still friends with several moms I met at those groups.
There’s also a local email list that is very active: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/decaturmama
Congrats on the new baby!
Lots of good suggestions already, but I personally would like to welcome your wife to check out the DeKalb chapter of Mothers & More. We offer support and weekly activities for all moms regardless of work situation. Many of us are SAHMs and would be happy to show her the ropes. Our website is http://www.mothersandmoredekalb.org/
Dekalb Medical Center has a “New Mom’s Group” that meets once a week. It is a great way to meet stay at home moms. My kids are in school now and I’m still friends with the girls I met at this group!
I’ll be another vote for DeKalb Med new moms groups. It is incredibly helpful to have a peer group during those first weeks/months at home with that first baby .
I didn’t deliver at DeKalb but signed up for a new moms group there just before my oldest was born. The moms in the group were from many different neighborhoods on this side of town. I still keep in touch with a few of them. We often ran into other at high school sporting events. Our “babies” are now 18 and heading to college !
You’ll find out. thx for the tip J. Ass
I’m feeling grumpy about the City of Decatur revenue division. I just got a notice of an outstanding balance from a tax bill that my lender was supposed to pay from escrow in 2007. They messed up and sent it to the county instead. (I’m feeling really really grumpy about Flagstar Bank!) What bugs me about the City policy is that I didn’t have any notice on my City tax bill in 2008 or 2009 that there was a past balance due. In previous years, past balances (from when Flagstar made mistakes in 2004 and 2005) had always included on the tax bill. Not seeing them, I assumed the issues had been fixed. Now the interest penalties have been building for two and a half years. In the meantime, I’ve refinanced and I don’t know if I can get Flagstar to pay for their mistake since I’m no longer their customer. Anyone have experience with this sort of situation?
It occurs to me that all this could be avoided if Decatur tax collection went through the DeKalb system, the way City of Atlanta property taxes do. Then CofD taxes owed would be visible on the DeKalb property tax website. Has this ever been considered?
If you’re unable to get reliable answers in a timely fashion, you can always contact Bill Liss at 11alive to Make Things Happen or get CBS to ask the Tough Questions.
Because that’s exactly what we need! Why on earth would you call the media when you can walk inside and talk with someone? If that doesn’t work, talk with someone else. But don’t call in the media trucks to handle an issue that you can probably figure out with a little conversation.
But don’t call in the media trucks to handle an issue that you can probably figure out with a little conversation.
It was just a thought. It’s reassuring when one can contact the right people and get an issue resolved or clarified quickly and effectively. Still, I like the absurdity (or luxury) of even having a Bill Liss or Tough Questions do it for you.
We had something similar happen when we purchased our house in 2002. We closed right around when the first half of taxes were due, and a check was cut for the second half of the tax amount from the closing escrow. The City thought it was a duplicate payment for the first half, and refunded the $ to the seller. We found out years later that there was a balance when we got a call from the City saying that they were preparing a tax lien sale on our property. Fortunately, a couple of calls got everything straightened out.
I’ve heard a couple of other people have just received a past due tax bill for CofD. I wonder how many people are getting a notice like this?
That’s interesting – I wonder if they just realized that they haven’t been sending notices for the past two years. I talked with someone at City Hall who said that they changed systems in 2008 so that the regular tax bill would no longer reflect past due amounts on the account. She told me to take it up with my old mortgage holder, my previous mortgage holder told me to take it up with my new mortgage holder, which I haven’t done yet, but I’ve got a feeling I’ll be left holding the bag.
PSA- watch your escrow accounts like a hawk, folks!
We don’t want our taxes going through the county. But at least they didn’t foreclose, which they could have.
I pay my taxes myself, but then I have the best mortgage in the world
The best mortgage is one that is paid off.
FIVE MORE YEARS!
I just received a similar notice that I owe more than $500 in property taxes for the C of D for 2008. It’s definitely an error on the city’s part. I own my home outright, having paid off my mortgage several years ago. So my taxes aren’t paid through an escrow account; I actually write a check directly to the city. Also, I checked back over my records and I am paid in full. I have to say this hacks me off more than a little bit. It’s the city’s mistake, it’s a bit insulting (I pay my dang taxes in full and on time), and it’s a waste of my time to have to straighten this out next week.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
I wonder if the will change the time on the school speed limit signs in front of Renfroe Middle school this year?
The times have been wrong for at least three years. Why should it change this year? Maybe Bruce will do something about it?
How are you beating the heat this summer in Decatur?
I’m not. It is defeating me.
If you’re an imbiber like me, I suggest a St. Germain Cocktail. It’s a fantastic summer drink. Light, refreshing and scrumpdiliumptious. http://www.stgermain.fr/cocktails.php
Well rats. The computer security at work wont let me see what a St. Germain Cocktail and it’s Friday afternoon which would be perfect planning time for Happy Hour.
St. Germain is a cordial from France made from elderflower. It’s slightly sweet and has a wonderful aroma. St. Germain is mainly used in the creation of other cocktails. Though I’m sure some enjoy it chilled. A St. Germain cocktail is 2 shots of dry white wine or sparkling wine, 1.5 shots of St. Germain and 2 shots of club soda. It’s served over iced or I also like to strain it with ice and serve it in a chilled wine glass. I picked up a bottle of St. Germain at Green’s the other night.
My My, that sounds like just the thing.
1. Gazpacho
2. dip in the pool
My son (12 years old) loves to play Pokemon cards, but I don’t understand them at all. I have to drive almost 30 miles to Lawrenceville so he can meet with other kids to play. Do any of your kids play Pokemon and want to get together in Decatur?
My 12 year old son and his 10 year old brother are into Pokemon too, but they don’t know how to play the card game I don’t think. They’re WAY into the DS games though. Shoot me an email and maybe we can get them together? (carolnorton@earthlink.net)
I know this is left field, but please keep your shoes on and feet on the floor when in a restaurant. It’s not your living room folks.
Will do.
I’m with you, but you’re fighting a losing cause. Most people have no regard for anything but their own comfort at every possible moment. It’d be nice if businesses enforced these sorts of rules. But when you can wear a t-shirt, cargo shorts, baseball cap and crocs and still get seated at places like Rathbun Steak (yes, I’ve seen it), standards are pretty much dead.
Hey, I watched a woman CHANGE HER TODDLER’S DIAPER on the patio at Little Azio last year. Not infant, not newborn, toddler.
That should be illegal, frankly. Maybe it already is.
Maybe after that incident they just decided to shut the place down.
Or maybe they’re weren’t profitable.
They weren’t.* One shouldn’t drink and post, methinks.
Why are you already drunk?
Why aren’t you?
Last time I got drunk I got pregnant. I am still recovering.
Oh my god! I have been dodging bullets since high school?!
That is horrifying. That “woman” should have been ask to leave. And I am pretty damn sure that was a health code violation.
Heck, I would have asked her to leave….
I will politely ask you to put your shoes on and/or put your feet on the floor. If you don’t comply then I will ask you to leave. If you want to talk rudley to me or my staff same goes.
I’m going to start a trend that should have never been lost.
So wait a minute, you own a place where people are disrobing and not for tips?
Ate at Isabella’s Cafe the other night. The miniature corn muffins that come with the meal are FANTASTIC! So is the warm chocolate cake with ice cream. We also liked the macaroni and cheese, spinach and mango salad, and the fried sweet potato nuggets. I would really recommend eating there. My only caution is that it’s not a particularly kid-oriented menu although we found items that worked for us.
I haven’t seen this mentioned on here yet, but I might have missed it. The German Bakery has a big OPENING SOON sign in the window. It’s been there for a couple weeks now. Anyone heard anything? Same people, better finances, maybe?
I thought they had permanently closed the business due to retirement. Would love for them to reopen.
Yes, where did you see this?
Where is/was this bakery? I’ve missed it entirely. Thanks.
Really? The German Bakery that was off of Lawrenceville Hwy near the Home Depot? I loved that place, and heard it had closed.
Does anyone have any idea when the Decatur Diner plans to open? They seem stuck in some sort of “Coming Soon” time warp.
I overheard a woman who *seemed* to be part of diner (but hey, could’ve been some random lady) saying it would open the last week of July. But don’t hold me to it!
I’ve been wondering that too. Still curious who is going to go to this diner in the wee hours of the morning.
The same types of people that go to Waffle House in the wee hours of the morning. And, believe me, there are plenty.
Really, too much though has been made about the 24 hour thing. If you stay open late enough (say Midnight or 2AM) and you are open for breakfast (6AM) there are probably certain efficiencies of scale to just being open 24 hours rather than shutting down, cleaning up, closing and then starting all over again with the opening a few hours later.
Why not just stay open?
Now if they would just EVER ACTUALLY OPEN!
And what’s with the green awning. Wasn’t it mentioned months ago that was being replaced with something else?
I heard from one of the new waitresses that the diner will be opening at the end of July. Re Looney and MC… shoes on, feet on the floor, AND kids in their seats and I won’t “look at you weird” in a pub!
Mike and JB,
Hmmm, I wonder if I know you. I live in Forrest Hills also and I’m on the board. Looks like it’s time to start a parents’ group- look for info in the FHNA newsletter.
Who serves the best cheeseburger in Decatur?
Steinbecks
Here’s 58 other opinions to confuse you –
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2010/06/17/the-best-burger/
To summarize the thread, it seems in Decatur, though some places might be a bit over-rated, all the burgers are good.
JR Hembree Enterprises. 404 427 6399. Ask for Rod Hembree. Fantastic local electrician and all around good guy. Also an expert in installing home generators if you’re in the market for one.
yes, yes, that’s all well and good, but…can this Hembree feller do cheeseburgers or not?
A friend of mine has a great carriage house for rent in the heart of Decatur near the Marta Station.
Here is the Craigslist listing.
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/apa/1857543175.html
Me
Guys, gotta add my shout-out to everyone else’s who’s gone to Garlic Thai & Sushi and has enjoyed it– we went there for the 2nd time tonight, and I have to say we loved everything we had! (The Zen Green Tea martini is dangerously easy to suck down in multiples of 3 or 4…just sayin’.) Honest-to-goodness delicious sushi– so refreshing on a hot night when you just can’t bear the thought of anything cooked. Come out & support them, Decatur– they’re great!
Cuba- We were just there tonight and they are awesome! I highly recommend the mango mojito as well!. I hope Garlic sticks around for a while.
I also recommend the DeKalb Medical New moms group. It’s in the Wellness Center on N. Decatur. Especially great for newborns, but goes on through 12 mo. I went 12 yrs ago and am still friends with people I met there. (some dads too!) After 12 mo we formed a playgroup…
I very much liked the food at Garlic Thai recently too, but unfortunately I was under the impression it was kid friendly and so took my toddler there at 6pm on a Friday night – I won’t be doing that again. I don’t know what made me think it was kid friendly, maybe the fact that people were comparing it to the ultra kid friendly Amaryn’s Thai Bowl (I have been looking for an alternative to Amaryn’s since the health score dropped to 80 and so I was excited to try Garlic Thai), or maybe it was all the high chairs stacked up inside, or maybe it was the crayons they gave us when we arrived, or maybe it was the fact that it was a casual-ish restaurant in kid-friendly Decatur at 6pm!!! Our kid was being well-behaved, just talking a bit too loudly and stuff and one couple asked to be moved and one couple gave us dirty looks. We tried to ignore these uppity people, but since there were no other kids in there (I suppose that should have been the giveaway right?) we started to feel a bit self conscious. Of course, I’m sure our kid picked up on this (or maybe we started overly shushing him beyond what anyone could expect from a toddler), so he got a bit stressed and frustrated and started to act up a little bit…. Of course if it was no place for a well behaved toddler then it was definitely no place for a stressed toddler, so we quickly got to-go boxes for our meals and very much enjoyed our food in our living room! Won’t be going back though….
Why punish a restaurant you liked if it was some other patrons that bugged you? If the other patrons do the same because you bugged them, next thing you know we’ll have another closed business.
There’s uppity folks all over, but a limited number of good restaurants…
Sorry, have to punish it. Am not rich enough to go out for dinner and not enjoy it…
Those “uppity” people may be just like you – not rich enough to go out to dinner and not enjoy it because a toddler is “talking too loudly and stuff” . They might even being paying a babysitter at home in order to enjoy a toddler talk-free date night.
Can we please not start a kids/no kids in restaurant discussion? It’s been so overdone!
Wow. Just a tip: if your child is so loud that people go so far as to ask to move, then you are the problem. I worked in restaurants for years and can attest to who is typically -99.9% of the time- at fault in these situations. Step back for a second and look what you wrote. You blame everyone but yourself for your poor experience. When your child is that rowdy, sometimes it better to take the child outside for a minute to remove it from the situation. That’s what we do and it usually works. The fact that you blame the restaurant and the other diners for the fact that they didn’t endure your little darling’s noise really bothers me as a parent of a toddler. A little self examination never hurts anyone.
At least now I know of a restaurant I can go to at 6 pm on a Friday where at least one angel will not be “talking a bit too loudly and stuff”!
Seriously, Mom, Nellie may be a bit direct as usual, but do you think you and your precious one were not even a teensy, weensy, part of the overall problem? I can only imagine what the “stuff” you refer to entails but I’m guessing it is what led the “uppity people” to give you “dirty looks”.
If anything, you should have been commending the Garlic Thai folks for not kicking you out after you ruined the dining experience for the other patrons. And I hope, but unfortunately highly doubt, that you left a tripled or quadrupled tip for the server who was at that point destined to be shortchanged by the folks who had to put up with the “stuff”.
But then again, what do I know, I’m just an uppity childless yahoo…
And here’s my tip, as someone who has dined in restaurants for going on 38 years: people with children, the children themselves, and people without children can be raging jerks when they eat out. I have no idea what the deal was in this particular instance, but I have witnessed many a child-phobic adult over-react to a perfectly behaved toddler sitting near them. I have seen parents allow some pretty appalling behavior by their children. I have seen grown adults act like children. And just to spread the blame around, I’ve also seen food-service workers, on occasion, act like jerks to patrons, both old and young. While it’s always a great idea to encourage introspection, I think it’s pretty hard to definitively judge what went down here.
Wow! I had not even noticed this comment before piggy-backing Nellie’s comment below. You had to “PUNISH” it? Punish what, exactly? The restaurant? The one who gave you a high chair and crayons with which to amuse your child? The restaurant that went out of it’s way to accomodate ALL of it’s paying customers by moving the other folks away from your demon spawn?
I mean, what did you want to happen? Do you think they should have thrown out the uppity patrons who gave you dirty looks, or just the ones who had the audacity to ask to be moved so that they could try to eat their (delicious
) food in semi-peace and comfort?
The best part of all this is that even the perceived mistreatment you received was from the other customers. I can only guess that the next time these folks are deciding where to go eat dinner, there’s a good chance they say to themselves something along the lines of “Damn, the food at Garlic Thai was scrumpdillyicious, but there’s no way I can put up with a wailing hellion interrupting my dinner after such a long day at work, so let’s try someplace else.” And now that you are both boycotting the (delicious
) food at Garlic Thai, there’s an even better chance that you end up at the same place again. And that would be, as Alanis Morisette might have sang, just a little ironic!
I really do love Decatur, but I find myself rolling my eyes and telling people to get the heck over themselves more and more everyday. Isn’t it time to finally build that fence and enact some Arizona-style local legislation to keep the invading horde of entitlement at bay?!?
See why I was being so DIRECT?
Yes. Yes, I do.
Girl, if you ever stop being DIRECT, we’re gonna come looking for the person who has obviously stolen the identity of our Nelliebelle!
JT, from another “childless yahoo”, I couldn’t have said it better. I had to read localmom’s comments twice before it actually sank in that she’s “punishing” the restaurant for something over which they had absolutely NO control (heck, she even says she feels good about “making other parents of toddlers aware” of the “problem”). It’s people like this that make both childfree folks & parents who have some common sense chafe with frustration when we’re on the receiving end of their over-entitled thoughtlessness.
Also I feel like I owe it to fellow decatur parents out there to let them know what to expect at Garlic Thai…
I’m sorry, I have to strongly disagree with you. You are criticizing the restaurant for the actions of some of it’s patrons, which is completely unfair. To pin this on the establishment is patently inappropriate. As a Decatur parent of a special needs child, I certainly understand the need to find kid-friendly places to eat, but there is absolutely nothing here to suggest that Garlic Thai is not welcoming to kids. Place the blame where it belongs.
Did the management ask you to leave? Did anyone working there give you the slightest indication you weren’t welcome? If not, then this has nothing to do with owing it to “parents out there to let them know what to expect at Garlic Thai…”
The Garlic Thai staff were great, just wanted to let people know that it is attracting people who are eating at 6pm and expecting no kids to be there (maybe it’s the decor or something that is attracting these people), so you should bear this in mind if you are taking toddlers there in the near future… I will personally bear this in mind by finding a different restaurant – others may just try nights other than Fri/Sat, others may have a different strategy… I feel good for making people aware so no-one gets a surprise.
this is a joke, right? you cannot be serious.
I’m pretty sure that what this really means is that it’s attracting people who want to eat at 6 pm but who aren’t expecting it to be toddler-free, rather, free from toddlers who’re allowed to put up such a fuss that one needs to move away from them. I can only speak for myself, and say that whilst I myself am childfree, I don’t expect toddlers to be stock-still and/or silent when out in public– I do, however, expect their parents to at least exercise some common sense & take the little one out for a claming break when s/he gets overly loud & fussy. I don’t know of ANY restaurant (other than Chuck-E-Cheese & its like) that expects less. I’m sure you don’t mean to come across as cluelessly thoughtless, and I commend you for getting your meal to go when it was obvious that your little one couldn’t be pacified, but honestly– to “warn” other patrons about the restaurant when it could control neither your child’s actions nor its customers’ reactions to them? That’s a bit much.
Since when did it become ok for people with kids to expect the world should be like their family den? When I was a child, on the very rare occasions I was taken out to eat it would be Mcdonalds or maybe Pizza Hut. Even there, my parents would not have tolerated the things I see all the time in “adult” restaurants, i.e. children running around and screaming, throwing food on the floor, etc.
Sometime in the last couple of decades children have become some sort of license to entitlement, as if parents are special just for being parents and they should be able to allow their kids to go anywhere they go. Sigh…this is one of the few topics where I feel like a grumpy old-timer.
Went to Garlic Thai on a Thursday a little after seven (fairly recently). There were at least 3 tables with kids of various ages. We didn’t have our kids with us but it was fine. If people want eat at 6pm in Decatur they should expect kids almost everywhere. Eat later if you don’t want to be around kids:-) By the time we were eating our entree all the tables with kids were finishing up. Not that the kids were a problem.
My dog wants me to say that she loves the Big Daddy dog biscuits from the Decatur Farmers Market.
Our dog says “I concur.”
Whatever happened to the DM commenter who posted as his dog all the time? That always made me laugh.
And then one day someone replied “Is someone on here now posting as their dog?”. That was even funnier and I can’t really explain why.
Meow.
Ruh roh!
I think Altmod’s dog should post, as he/she seems to have an excellent vocabulary. I can honestly say I’ve never ever heard any dog use the word “concur” before….
Now my dog says to say that he developed his mental acuity by making challenging decisions like the one he describes on his twitter account. . . . He’s such a tech geek.
http://twitter.com/colethedog
Funny. My dogs both saw the video and said “Idiot! I would have grabbed the food off both plates before they even knew what happened!”
Well, how ’bout it, altmod? Let Cole have his own post here– we’ve got practically everyone else, now we need the canine point of view on this blog!
All this Garlic Thai talk is making me SO hungry for their soft-shell crab. Evidently there’s a lot of thin-skinned human crabs there too, with and without kids. Lighten up uppity patrons who want perfect dining and toddler parents who want the world to apprecate how good their toddler actually is. Garlic Thai’s outdoor patio ambience is a bit ambigous. The patio next to the sidewalk and road suggests casual dining, family friendly, shorts and sandals,and lots of noise. But the menu, prices, linen napkins, tablecloths, flowers suggest quiet, elegant dining, babysitter night. It’s confusing, oh well. Stop being crabby and order the crab! Hopefully, all this controversy will be good as a promotion for Garlic Thai.
Can anyone recommend a good take out Indian food place?
Zyka. I think it’s the most underrated restaurant in the Decatur area.
Mirch Masala kicks Zyka’s ass. But then again, from what someone I know who actually knows these things claims, Zyka is more Pakastani in preparation and Mirch Masala is traditional north Indian so it’s just a preference thing, I guess, since I have no idea what that means. Zyka is also more affordable.
I just finished a Tikka Masala from Mirch Masala and I may send Mr. Nellie for another this afternoon…..