Free-For-All Friday 11/15/13
Decatur Metro | November 15, 2013Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not yet 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 yet discussed here over the past week.
Comments close on Monday.
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Anyone know the source of the banging sound that seems to be coming from downtown Decatur for those of us on Garden Lane?
I hear it too – I’m in the neighborhood behind St. Thomas More. I figured it was either coming from construction at Ebster or 315 W. Ponce.
According to Commissioner Rader’s office it is an Atlanta Gas Light project. I called after the late night pounding they did on Monday night. They responded that no more late night noise should happen unless they needed to do a “pull back,” whatever that is. Questions or concerns can be directed to 404-584-3130 or .
Please make it stop. (I am in the great lakes)
I hear it on W Ponce as well. Maybe they are driving in some kind of foundation supports? Pilings? Not sure the correct term, but that is what it sounds like from here.
Likely pile drivers for the Beacon project.
Regarding that horrible noise, they would be doing that work before 7am? I couldn’t sleep over it. Am in Winnona Park.
They’re not supposed to start before 7AM, 9AM on Saturdays
Acardia at College Street–south side of Sams Crossing.
Sounded to me like it was coming from the drill site off Arcadia/Dekalb Industrial.
This noise is driving me INSANE. It’s like a giant faucet dripping, now a little slower, now a little faster. AGGGGH. What is it???
Pretty sure that’s the HDD rig on Arcadia. I drove right by it this morning.
It’s the drilling at College and Arcadia. They were making noise well into the night earlier this week.
That makes sense. It sounds like someone banging on a pipe, but far away.
I don’t care if you’re right. I’m still blaming it on Walmart.
Damn straight.
It’s either Beacon Hill or the 315 W. Ponce developments. When they drive piles at the latter, it actually sends shockwaves through our metal bed (on the second floor) making it impossible to sleep. But they haven’t been doing that for a couple weeks now. Mostly just dozers and backhoes and such. So probably Beacon Hill.
Thanks everyone for weighing in. It sounded like it was coming from inside our home and we totally freaked us out (we live on Garden). Glad to know there’s reason behind the madness.
I spent 10 minutes going around our house trying to figure out what the ominous clicking noise was- much relief to go to car and realize it was somewhere outside and east.
I believe it is coming from the gas line project at Sam’s Crossing. They are driving a large pipe under the Marta tracks.
It’s that librarian stamping books from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
/weird reference
We ate at Palookaville last night & were wondering what others thought. While we really enjoyed the entire experience, especially the fun atmosphere (Lost In Space was playing on the TVs) & the wonderful waiter, we thought that it was very overpriced for what we got. For example, with tip we walked out of there paying around $50 for two people. This included 2 corn dogs, a large french fry plate (no toppings), a beer, a Coke & two desserts (slice of cheesecake & a milkshake). I can think of several places in the Decatur area where two can fill up for way less than $50!
Also, this is not a place where one would want to go on even a semi-regular basis, as there wasn’t a vegetable in sight, except for the lettuce, tomato, onion that came on the burgers. So, nothing even resembling a healthy option. It would be nice to see something in the healthy category as their menu expands, just to have more options. And, another suggestion would be to add a veggie corndog as an option, as the only vegetarian food option on the menu was the french fries or tater tots.
Have you been to Palookaville? What did you think?
I haven’t been yet but am curious about how kid-friendly the place is. I REALLY want a good corn dog but will most likely have a 2 and 4 year old in tow. Of course we will be in the early dinner crowd (6:00). The write ups seem sort of hipster-ish. I just need to know if my kids are welcome or will bring the cool vibe down a few (a lot of) notches.
We were there around 6:30 & there were a TON of kids there, including a couple of babies that looked like newborns. VERY kit friendly! By 7:30 most of the kids were gone & it was mostly adults.
Worry not. Jim Stacy’s particular brand of hipsterism is exceedingly kid compatible… Might actually be more tolerable for the kids than for some adults, actually.
The Rolypoleon is vegetarian – it’s a pickle on a stick and this vegetarian loooooves it (have only had it at the truck though). I mean, it’s not “healthy” by a long shot, but it is there. They also are offering vegan milkshakes, which I think is pretty amazing, and I know from the Facebook page that there are plans to add more veg stuff too.
We ate there the other night and spoke to the owner. He said that they will eventually (if they don’t already by now) have a vegetable plate each night. He also said that he wants it to be a place where you can bring the kids, so despite any hipster-ish vibe, kids are not just welcome, but wanted.
We went last weekend and it was packed–an hour wait. We had three kids in tow, one of whom would live and die by corndogs if only his mother would let him have them three meals a day. It is very kid-friendly, but I was surprised that my son did not go crazy over his corndog. Also, I got the fries with poutine but the fries were soggy and cold. Not yum. The tater tots were delicious, though, and we got multiple baskets of them. All told we probably spent $70 for the five of us but we only drank water.
I thought it was great food for the price and enjoyed the retro environment BUT I was a little put off by the tense wait staff and the sit-down experience. I would rather pop in there, order a meal in line a la Skip’s Hot Dogs, pick my own seating, and pay a voluntary tip (which I do anyway).
It didn’t help that the people sitting next to me were not happy with the quality of their food–corndogs were burned and tater tots were cold.
We’ll come back later and order milkshakes at the counter. They looked yummy.
We went the other night with our three kids and everyone loved it. This is totally a family place. As others have noted it’s not exactly a healthy option, but it’s a great treat for every now and then.
Our waitress told us that they were adding to the menu soon and to check back – apparently there will be a lot more to offer than what is currently there, so maybe there will be some healthy options and/or entrees. But we thought it was great as is.
I’m Cobbophobic.
i remember those bumper stickers in the early 90s.
I think it’s time to bring them back.
anybody know what happened last night around 5:20 on College Avenue near the Ace Hardware? was it just a car wreck? I was on my way to pick up a pizza at Fellini’s and had to turn around and go the long way because firetrucks were blocking the road.
Anyone have a good recommendation for a flatscreen TV installer? Specifically, it would be going up over a fireplace, so would need installation on brick. Thanks!
Is it a fireplace that gets used a lot? If so, the heat will shorten the life of the tv, or so I’ve been told.
Also, not sure if you’ve thought about how you’re going to feed content to said TV (gonna have to get cable/sat, Blu-ray/DVD, etc. to it), but running cable through existing brick is difficult to impossible so either plan on having the boxes sitting on your mantel or you may have to come up with some creative (read: messy and/or expensive) solutions.
I’d also suggest sitting in the spot where you will most often be watching the TV mounted there and just try staring up at it for a while. See if your neck gets tired. I have a lot of friends who mounted their TVs over their fireplace because it looked nice from design standpoint but didn’t consider what a painful/awkward viewing experience it was going to be and ended up moving it.
we abandoned a fireplace mount b/c of the heat concern and a quote of $1200 to run the wires through the plaster and brick
Good morning, Is there a reason why the police and fire vehicles have their siren full blast at 3am with absolutely NO vehicles on the road? This is a common practice on Candler, it’s a nuisance and not necessary.
And the Amber Alert on my iPhone that woke me up at 5:41 a.m. Scared the bejeezus outta me.
You can turn those off. A weather advisory alert scared me one day and almost caused a wreck.
Me too. I mean c’mon already, the amber alerts can wait until 8 am or thereabouts.
That’s appalling! I don’t think you would feel that way if your child was missing.
Relax. All I said was it woke me up and scared me.
As important as a child is, Amber Alerts are rarely used as intended. I can not remember a single instance in which the situation is not a child custody dispute. No matter how wrongful the actions may be, I think embarrassing the known party with public discussion of a family dispute causes embarrassment to an unstable person that endangers the child, IMO. Even the case last night concerned a babysitter in whose care the child was placed. She converted her lawful temporary custody of the child into an attempt to run away. She needs to be in jail, but getting her there requires more thought than an invitation to the media. IMO
For safety reasons. It’s easy for you, standing on the side of the road, able to look forward and back, to see there aren’t any vehicles or pedestrians or cyclists. However, if you’re rolling down the road at speed limit and maybe then some, keeping one ear tuned to the radio to develop the situation awareness at the scene (is your route shut down? are there evolving hazards? is the first hydrant dry and later arriving units are needed to hook up on an earlier hydrant? is the the perpetrator still on scene or possibly fleeing in your direction? are the first units telling everyone to slow down because things are under control? etc.) and trying to control a rolling toolbox that doesn’t exactly handle or stop like a family car, you’re going to follow department policy which is to use your lights and siren. To not do so puts lives at needless risk. There’s probably a good legal defense reason for doing it, too.
I have to disagree, I moved here from a city four times the size of City of Decatur and they do not use the siren when it is not needed especially at 3am in the morning.
Just be glad you don’t live near a hospital.
Unfortunately, I buried the essence of my response too deep, but to answer your question about why they run lights and siren, it is “department policy”. The reason for the policy is for safety. It sounds like your former city had a different policy, but DeKalb Public Safety (at least) is going to run sirens when responding emergency because that is required by their Standard Operating Procedures that all firefighters have to abide by or be, ahem, fired.
I would much rather have the sirens & lights *ON*. In fact, over the years I have called the non-emergency number several times over police cars rocketing down Mead Road at 40+ mph with no sirens or lights on. This is dangerous. Period. There is a school and a playground on Mead not to mention that there are several areas where two cars cannot pass each other if folks are parked along the street. – which is always the case. When one is driving on the road and sees another car coming towards them or approaching from behind there are expectations that that other vehicle is travelling the speed limit and with reasonable caution. If that other vehicle is a police car responding to an emergency and travelling at what would otherwise be a ticketable speed for any other driver then it darned well should have at least the lights on. (and quite likely it’s siren, also). By the way, I have noticed a decrease in how often this happens. (Thanks Decatur PD!)
I’m about to cut cable TV to save some money and am wondering what folks use to watch shows/sports. Does anyone recommend Roku? Chromecast? Something else? I don’t have the need for a gaming system.
Also, since I’m ditching Comcast, what do people do for stand-alone, high-speed internet?
Thanks for any suggestions!
Did it 7 mos ago. Roku is great and we get good OTA reception. I also tried Aereo for Local Tv, but didnt really like the interface. You can get it free for first month and check it out.
I am big college football fan so really miss ESPN, Pac 12 Network and Fox Sports this time of year, but it is survivable. That being said, find a buddy that still has cable, get their login and password and stream ESPN via the internet for some games.
We use U-verse for internet — note they gave us a special deal when we cancelled TV service, I bet Comsuck will do the same if you threaten to ditch them altogether.
Go Bears!
1) I do recommend ROKU. We use Hulu Plus on it. A friend has Apple TV and gets even more channels (ESPN) with streaming from her Iphone.
2) Going price-point rate for non-tv cable decent speeds 6mbps–$40-$45. It really frustrates me to pay this much. You can probably pick up a 6-12 month $30 or less deal if you google it.
If you’re a sports fan then cutting the cable is never going to work for you. You can get stuff over-the-air via antenna from the broadcast networks, but ESPN/TNT/NBC Sports and now Fox Sports are there to keep you as a cable customer.
I don’t know if everyone heard, but Comcast just came out with a barebones HBO package that includes 10 basic channels and internet streaming for $50 a month. Might be worth a look.
If only they had a sports package. We so rarely watch TV shows live anymore, but won’t give up cable b/c of football.
I cut the land line phone and Cable TV over a year ago. I have Comcast for internet access and it works well. AT&T did not work for us because we stream everything in HD. I have two Samsung smart TVs and they have all the apps. Hulu is great because all the show are available the next day in HD, it also has all the kids content commercial free. We tried Nextflix for 6 months and it was a waste of money because the content is very old. We have a free landline phone with one of these devices, works like a charm. VoIP Telephone Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LO098O/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I also purchase an antenna for live TV and it works well but we do not watch live TV or sports. I have two kids and they are a hand full. Mohu Leaf Paper-Thin Indoor HDTV Antenna
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QK7HI8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Do you have any issues with the Sansung streaming HD movies? I bought a Vizio last year, and ended up wiring it direclty to the router b/c HD movies would take forever to download and constantly buffer (which is due to the amount of devices on wi-fi in my house at any given time and/or the TV itself). But, other than that, I have been happy with the Vizio.
I also had buffering problem when on Wifi even with the best wifi router in the industry.
I ended wiring the TV’s to a Powerline networking solutions.
“We tried Nextflix for 6 months and it was a waste of money because the content is very old.”
Except, of course, for their own programming, which is going to be their future. Can also be a good way for newbies to catch up on a show (all of the Mad Men episodes, for example.)
We cut cable about a year ago – we have Apple TV (rarely use that b/c Roku is just so much more user friendly and therefore “seems” faster, and we are amazon prime members) and Roku and subscribe to Netflix and Hulu Plus and as noted am an Amazon Prime member which gets you lots of movies and TV shows. Agree on the comment that Netflix is worth it for its programming alone – Orange is the New Black for example. That said, I also have used Netflix to “serial” watch seasons of shows I never watched (Downton Abbey and Parenthood) – Netflix and Hulu Plus cost about $14 a month total. Have the several Leaf Antennas, and they work great for live TV.
The Obi is going to stop supporting Google Voice this coming May.
http://blog.obihai.com/2013/10/important-message-about-google-voice.html
We currently use this setup and love it since we don’t get a very good cell signal in our house. Does anyone know of another free/cheap VOIP setup?
Do you happen to have an unused Magic Jack device around? If so, GVJack is an app that will convert it so you can use Google Voice on any phone, for a one-time fee (I think I paid 12.95). I did this with a Magic Jack I hadn’t used in 3 or 4 years. Rarely use it, but it works ok when I do.
Thanks. As Brad mentioned, I read that there’s a Watch ESPN channel on Roku and some other systems. I think you still need a comcast ID to access it though. Live Sports is the thing I need to figure out before I pull the trigger and cut cable for good.
Yeah, there are ESPN, HBO, etc. apps on cellphones, streaming boxes and just about every device you can name, but the barrier to entry is they verify you pay for those channels via a cable or satellite provider before you can use them so they’re not really a viable option if your goal is cutting the cord.
Though I hear of a lot of people cheating (stealing?) with the HBO app by using someone else’s password.
I would appalled to hear of anyone with a family member who gets a comcast package that includes the channels that you would want to stream, either through a dedicated device as mentioned above, or on a laptop or desktop, or using an app on a tablet or smartphone.
Once such a reprobate or miscreant was certain that their mother-in-law gets the channels in question, on merely needs to secure her comcast.net username and password, and log in as a “remote” user, both on comcast’s website and that of — say ESPN or NBCSports.
I let my parents use my Hulu Plus and Netflix logins (and justify it to myself with the knowledge that we use it a lot when we’re over there and they don’t use it much on their own). But I would honestly have a moral issue with regularly accessing paid content this way, even if given permission by the subscriber in question. It’s not a whole lot different than patching into a neighbor’s cable.
If you’re going to cut the cord, cut the cord. This just feels like leeching off of others to maintain what one already has without paying what it costs.
The content providers all are aware it is going on and for now, are not concerned with it as the cost of monitoring and addressing is much higher than trying to re-negotiate contracts with providers or police end users. There have been lots of good articles on it — WSJ had several if I recall correctly.
Sorry, it was a NYT article…
“No TV? No Subscription? No Problem”, April 6, 2013
Do the companies, particularly HBO, view this as especially problematic? I hesitated before asking, worried that any inquiries would prompt a crackdown, with the result that I’d become the most-hated person on the Internet.
But to the collective relief of nearly everyone I know, the companies with whom I spoke seemed to have little to no interest in curbing our sharing behavior — in part because they can’t. They have little ability to track and curtail their customers who are sharing account information, according to Jeff Cusson, senior vice president for corporate affairs at HBO. And, he said, the network doesn’t view the sharing “as a pervasive problem at this time.”
According to HBO, 6.5 million of its 30 million subscribers have signed up for HBO Go. When I asked Mr. Cusson if the network would consider figuring out a way to capture and monetize those slippery users who were piggybacking on others’ accounts, he declined to speculate on what might be possible.
“The best business approach at the time is in the business model that we currently have,” he said.
In other words, it isn’t financially viable for HBO to offer a cheaper, digital-only subscription, either sold separately or bundled to an Internet service. So, to a point, account sharing is allowed.
Fair enough, but my point did not pertain to worries about getting caught. It was about the morality of it. If “will I get caught?” was our only barometer of right and wrong, this world would be a far scarier place. Sadly, that probably is the only question that matters for a lot of folks. Not for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I know Comcast and its brethren are not exactly bastions of morality in their own right. But I also chafe at the idea that some of us accept that we only get to consume what we can actually pay for, while others have no problem taking everything they can get without feeling obligated to compensate the provider. It is a form of stealing, no matter how one attempts to blur the line.
Your criticism is partly correct.
As noted above, content providers are agnostic about shared accounts. They’d rather have my money, but one of the metrics they provide advertisers is about how much of their content is streamed. I help them in that column.
I am, however, ripping off the cable company. Since they are semi-monopolistic scumbags who don’t allow subscribers to opt out of paying for Fox News or MSNBC, I’m OK with it.
HBO does not sell advertising. The speculation among industry analysts is that HBO tolerates low levels of piracy (theft) of their content is that it may lead to additional subscriptions as people become hooked on the high quality like Game of Thrones.
I understand that people hate their cable companies, but knowlingly and purposely stealing content that is for sale is also negatively impacting the content creators, many of whom are your Decatur neighbors who work at CNN, Cartoon Network, TNT, etc. If you’re cool with that then so be it.
I don’t think your characterization of the content I’m stealing as being “for sale” is totally accurate. If I pay for ESPN and NBC Sports by getting the right cable package, I’m also sending money to Fox News, among other bits of garbage. That’s my issue.
Fox Soccer lets me pay them directly to stream their content. I’m happy to do so.
If ESPN or NBC Sports set up a “stream-only” service, they’d have my credit card number in a matter of hours.
Golazo,
Tee Russ is right. Theft is theft, and you are defending it for the worst possible reason (because you hate Fox News). It’s appalling to me that you believe this is acceptable behavior. What’s worse is that you proudly state your transgressions on a blog. Shameful.
“I don’t know if everyone heard, but Comcast just came out with a barebones HBO package that includes 10 basic channels and internet streaming for $50 a month. Might be worth a look.”
Wow. That’s what we pay for middle-of-the-speed range internet alone with Uverse.. Will have to look into that, since apparently HBO is not going to offer HBOGO as a standalone app outside of cable subscriptions.
I have had quite a bit of experience with tv-sans-cable over the past year or so, so here is my two cents:
First, I’m gonna assume you have a HDTV. Assuming that, do you also have a blu-ray player? If not, that can be a good way to stream Netflix and other services while also adding blu-ray capability. The players cost about the same as a Roku, albeit most have fewer streaming apps than Roku. But almost all of them have the key streaming apps like Netflix, HuluPlus, Vudu, etc. Blu-ray is worth it if you watch a lot of movies.
If you have no interest in blu-ray, then one of the Roku devices is, imo, your best bet (I know some prefer Apple tv, but I haven’t tried it.). Roku has tons of streaming apps (though most of them are of little interest to most people), is easy to use, and is a good value. The various models ($60-$100) are differentiated by connectivity and HD type: 720P vs 1080P, ethernet vs. wireless (in a switch from the usual, an ethernet enabled device will cost a bit more than the wifi only.) Roku is a great product. The only thing it lacks is the ability to stream Youtube from it, which brings me to the other device you asked about….
If you want to get the simplest, absolute cheapest streaming device, then the Chromecast ($35) might be the answer. I snagged one of these when they were practically giving them away as part of a Netflix cross-promotion. The key difference between the Chromecast and the other devices is that your smartphone, tablet, or laptop serves as the interface and remote control. If you’ve seen the ads, the Chromecast looks a bit like a flashdrive, except it plugs into the HDMI port(you have to have such a port for it to work) on your tv. The ads are a bit misleading though, because on most tvs you will also have to plug an included USB cable into a USB port in order to power the Chromecast. At the moment, Chromecast only supports Netflix, HuluPlus, GooglePlay, and Youtube. That last, I’ve found, is the coolest thing about Chromecast. You can find a Youtube video on your phone (Panda twins are frequently the stars in my house), push one button on your phone (or table or laptop) and voila, the video is streaming on your tv. You can actually “cast” anything from your laptop to your tv with the Chromecast, but only the above listed services are optimized for it. Other video will be glitchy.
Bottom line: I’d go with the Roku as the overall best device to start streaming and cut the cord on cable, though I would consider a bluray player if you don’t already have one and watch movies a lot (and if you have a largish tv, at least 40 inches, to see the improvement if picture). The Chromecast is neat, but fairly limited for now. It would be worth it to pay a bit more for an entry level Roku and its greater number of streaming apps.
You didn’t ask, but if you need an antenna for local channels and can’t do an outdoor one, I’d recommend the Mohu Leaf. Made a big difference in our reception.
Sorry if this was long-winded. Feel free to tell me if anything was confusing.
A correction to the above: I wrote that you can stream anything from your laptop to your tv using the Chromecast. That should have been anything within a Chrome browser.
Thanks, brianc. Great info. I do have a 32″ HDTV and don’t have blu-ray yet. It looks like Roku might be the way to go. For my TV there probably wouldn’t be a noticeable difference between the 720p and 1080p options, right?
Unless you are sitting really close to the TV, there should be little, if any, noticeable difference b/t 720p and 1080p on a 32″ TV.
FWIW, I would buy a Roku over a Blu-Ray unless you have a bunch of old Blu-Rays or DVDs around that you still watch, or you intend to buy Blu-Ray discs. I don’t know of a single place to rent one.
“I don’t know of a single place to rent one.”
For those, like me, who still get discs in the mail from Netflix, they charge 2 bucks a month extra for getting blu-rays instead of dvds. I believe the RedBox machines also have a few blurays. But with a 32inch tv, you’re not gonna see much improvement over a standard dvd. I’d go with the Roku.
BTW, I went yesterday to the last Blockbuster around here (Norcross, didn’t even know it was there until last week’s news that their remaining stores were closing) and bought about a dozen previously viewed blurays. Most were 7 bucks or less.
Yeah, I wouldn’t worry about 1080P at all, even if your tv supports 1080P. It might even be worse for streaming if you don’t have sufficient download speeds. 6 mbps is probably good enough for 720P high def.
The Roku and the Apple TV are the best known of the streaming boxes, and are good at what they do, but there are others out there that may be more useful to you depending on your needs. Chromecast is nifty, but too limited in the services it carries, and I don’t want to have to tie up my laptop/tablet, etc. to watch something on my TV.
I ended up getting my parents a WDTV (Western Digital makes it) because it actually includes several more streaming services (e.g., you can stream YouTube on it, but also Hulu, Netflix, etc. etc.) than the aforementioned options. They love it.
If you are in any way inclined to use a game console for this, that’s generally the best option because they seem to be more easily upgradable than the standalone boxes and add services more frequently. But certainly not worth purchasing one just for streaming.
“Chromecast is nifty, but too limited in the services it carries, and I don’t want to have to tie up my laptop/tablet, etc. to watch something on my TV.”
Once you start streaming a video from one of the supported services, you can use your tablet/phone/laptop for something else or turn it off. But you will need it for some remote functions, to pause, rewind, etc. With the supported services, the video is streamed directly to the Chromecast from your wifi, NOT from your laptop, etc. But if you are streaming non-supported video from your laptop’s Chrome browser, that video IS streaming from your laptop to the Chromecast, which is part of the reason the streaming quality is not as good as with the supported services.
After reading through all these responses, I understand why we still have an ancient non-HDTV television and Comcast. I do not understand a high percentage of the language in the posts. Are there consultants who can help the ignorant and inexperienced make a good choice?
Personally, I would get an HDTV before I would even consider switching to Internet tv. A lot of the new streaming devices don’t even have the connections for non-HDTVs anymore, though I suppose you could use some kind of adapter.
Agreed. Plus, if you are willing to spend a little more, a lot of TVs have streaming capabilities and have apps for Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc.
Thirded. The vast majority of HDTVs these days have all of this streaming stuff built in. We have a late model Samsung and it does a nifty job of not only managing all of those streaming sources and integrating it with your existing cable/sat so you can search everything at once, which is handy.
+1 All I hear is blahblahblah TV, blahblahblah cable, blahblahblah. I just want to watch tv past the local channels and have internet access. Don’t care about sports or gaming or streaming whatevers. Why is tv getting complicated again?
Sounds like the Comcast package TeeRuss mentioned elsewhere would be right for you.
We cut the cord a few months ago. We had AT&T for internet. They sent us a letter saying we went over our allowed data. You’ll be charged $10 for every incremental 50GB of usage beyond your plan. I have heard Comcast is also putting a cap on data.
We have been using Clear. It’s not always the fastest, it seems to get bogged down at times. But there is no cap on data, right now.
The newer roku also has a headphone jack in the remote which is an awesome feature for keeping 2 people happy in a “silent” room.
Anxious also to hear tv options. Love my roku for movies and tv series, and easy to install and use. I have it with amazon prime, but you can use hulu, Netflix
Another option for non-cable/satellite folks is the XBox One that is coming out next week. It is basically an all-in-one system that manages all of your various streaming services and hardware in one menu.
Try a digital converter box and an antenna. You can get all of the local channels, PBS, a weather channel on 11-2, MeTV with oldies like Lost in Space and Gilligan’s Island, and lots of other channels and audio channels too. No cost for service.
Heads up!! There is a new crosswalk aim front of Jimmy Johns. On two occasions, I have witnessed car screeches and on another occasion I yelled at a driver who blew past me as I was crossing. In my opinion, the pedestrians are not visible due to cars and foliage blocking the view.
Congrats to Decatur High, #973 on Newsweek’s list of 2000 best public high schools nationwide: http://mag.newsweek.com/2013/05/06/america-s-best-high-schools.html
978
I agree with congratulations. Some high faluting high schools in high faluting parts of the country didn’t make it on the list at all.
I do think we should change the mission of DHS to be “one of the top 20 districts in the country”. It may have been inspirational and prestigious at one point but its unrealistic and CSD will always fall way short. Even accounting for the fact the methodology and metrics of Newsweek’s ranking aren’t perfect, and of course a high school is only one part of a system’s overall ranking, #978 is far away from a rank of #20. A goal to be among the top 200 districts in the country and top 20 districts in Georgia has more of a chance of success and would still be quite prestigious. According to this ranking, DHS is #23 (if my hasty count is right) in Georgia so we should be able to get into the top 20 with just a bit more effort and persistence. When it comes to goals, I’m partial to reachable ones. Perfection can be the enemy of good.
For comparison’s sake, are there rankings of the private schools in the area?
Not in this ranking system. My very superficial scan of ranking systems tells me that you have to take any of them with a grain of salt. DHS didn’t even get a score in the US News & World Report for reasons I don’t understand. It wasn’t eligible somehow?
All the more reason that I don’t like our goal of being in the top 20 school systems in the country. By what measure? Newsweek? USNWR? DM votes? I haven’t seen this specified.
This would be a good topic for School Leadership Teams. Let’s poll parents, teachers, and current and recent high school students and find out what measures they care about. For example, in none of the ranking systems do I see anything about the student:counselor ratio or parent-teacher conferences after elementary school. In CSD, a student could easily go from 6th through 12th grade with only 2 mandatory meetings with high school counselors and no parent-teacher meetings at all. However, the few meetings I have had with counselors and teachers have been INCREDIBLY valuable. I wish we could increase the staffing so that every student has a few more of these.
“you have to take any of them with a grain of salt. DHS didn’t even get a score in the US News & World Report for reasons I don’t understand. It wasn’t eligible somehow?”
I get the feeling that many of the metrics by which schools are ranked nationally are chosen to support one trend in perception or another. I know private schools engage in so much lobbying it is ridiculous. Paideia, the school from which I graduated many years ago, for example, had mastered its image among the Ivy League.( For the two years I was there, it was a genuinely great education.) I think these days the same obsessive flavor is manifest in the rankings game before the eyes of potential students.
Yes, and I hear that every Paideia senior has an assigned college counselor to help them with the college application process. (This could be urban legend but it sounds plausible.) Meanwhile, the three DHS counselors have college counseling as only one of their hundred critical duties including discipline problems, social and behavior issues, IEPs/504 plans, suicide prevention, gang prevention, academic failure, truancy, response to trauma, child and sexual abuse reporting, and teen-age angst. (I’m probably forgetting ten other top activities.)
But we’re better than them in sports!
” I hear that every Paideia senior has an assigned college counselor to help them with the college application process. (This could be urban legend but it sounds plausible.)”
Don’t you mean suburban legend (I beg your pardon, it is a private school)
I can assure you it is an understatement, rather than a legend.
Understand, I graduated at the end of the ’80’s, but I feel that the school does great things for the kids, if for the wrong reasons: The collective hubris of the founder and those dyed-in-the-wool.
And yet, DHS students still get into Ivy League schools every year (along with many other fine institutions all over the continent). Go figure.
Yes, but not as many as you’d think given that they are all deemed gifted back in elementary school!
I have no idea what that means (except the smiley face part, which I’m assuming means you come in peace).
When my children were little, I was astounded to see how many students were deemed gifted in CSD. I kept thinking–if they are all gifted, then what the heck is the meaning of gifted? Then I would look at DHS graduation and see that, even among the white student sub-group–the group with the most economic privilege, the distribution of SAT scores was okay but certainly not a high proportion in the gifted range. Ditto for where students went to college (but I realize that’s a more complex measure and isn’t just comprised of intellectual capability). I have decided that we really aren’t very good at discerning the gifted from the ordinarily bright, eager, interested, and capable at the elementary school level.
AHID – I’m going to go ahead and disagree with you. You’re making assumptions and assessments that don’t necessarily correlate from beginning to end. A gifted kid is not necessarily expected to score high on the SAT or end up at Harvard. Gifted does not always equal academic high-achiever, sometimes it’s just the opposite. There are plenty of tools to assess the CSD gifted program, and we should assess it thoroughly and constantly. But only looking at the SAT and college choice of the gifted students really isn’t going to tell you much about the assessment process in elementary school. Too much noise.
I’m not sure that the parents lobbying to get their children into the gifted program have that nuanced view of giftedness. Some of them seem to see a straight line going from Links to prestigious college to high income. If only life were that simple… Or maybe thank goodness it’s not.
Agree that giftedness encompasses a heterogeneous group of students just like learning disabilities do. And some gifted children have learning disabilities and vice versa. And college is more complex than a stratified ranking system. The important thing is for a high school student to find a college that is a good fit for them, not that they go to the most prestigious college they can get into. A bad fit can have short- or long-term consequences for any student, no matter who they are.
Oh, and the sports: The school’s first mascot was the Pi symbol. Yes I mean, as in 3.1415927 . Just how athletic could they have been?
I would like to think that a strong soccer tradition began when I transferred from Woodward Academy. Since I was not much of a basketball player they tend to struggle to this day.
Wow, I didn’t know about the first mascot being π. I love it. Man, I might have considered sending my kids to Paideia way back when if I’d known about this. Or have they gone to the other side and now have some typical mascot like the Panthers?
Their mascot has been a python since sometime before my day. I was the token “preppy” who realized that they still did not get it on that note.
Math was certainly a strong point. Out of my class of some thirty people, 60 percent were accepted to either Ivy League or Oberlin conservatory.
Well they get some points for not using Bulldogs, Tigers, Wildcats, or Lions. And Paideia Pythons is alliterative. But π was much better.
A mascot who can only run in a circle isn’t a very useful one except for the track team.
They do tend to drop the baton, however.
Um, Paideia def stronger in soccer. And ultimate frisbee They have some serious sports programs these days.
Paideia basketball was pretty good for a while (and may be still for all I know), but Decatur stopped playing them after Carter Wilson found out they were actively recruiting our middle school players. Not very neighborly.
I could see that happening. I myself, was softly recruited from another school as a soccer player in a time long, long ago. These days, “not too neighborly” is a good description for a lot about Paideia. Except for a focus upon ethnic diversity back when it was counter-cultural, Paideia has excelled in elitism, lending to it’s adherents the good and the bad.
That’s not the experience we have had with Paideia.
altmod,
I am interested in another perspective. Are you disagreeing with my positive or negative points about Paideia?
I am trying to scan how DHS was ranked in relation to other Atlanta area HS. Did we rank highest ITP?
No, Chamblee was higher but by a negligible few points.
If one were to roll up to Kimball House on a Friday night, just how crushing should one expect the crowd to be?
A waitress at MAR recently said they are getting a lot of spillover from Kimball House on Fridays and Saturdays because people do not want to wait 1.5 hours for a table. When we ventured to KH, we were lucky enough to snag a couple of bar seats on a Friday. After watching the show, I’m certain we had the best seats in the whole place.
Only ate there once but there was a killer line on a Monday night. We settled for bar seats too. Based on that extremely limited data, I’d expect major crushing unless you were at the door when it opened.
My one Friday experience soon after opening was enough to keep me away since. So take that for what it’s worth.
I was there last Friday from 5PM until almost 9. Traffic peaked in the 7:30-8 window, when it was truly standing room only. By 9, it’s relatively easy to get into again. Lesson: show up early and stay late.
I do not know about rolling up to the Kimball House, but my ex brother in law once rolled INTO it. Well before it was the Kimball, he was trying to teach a younger guy to drive. They jumped a curb, got airborne, and crashed through the doors of the Depot. I just know he had no trouble getting in that Friday night.
True story, I swear.
Went to Kimball for the first time last friday. It was loud! It also took forever to get our drinks (~20 minutes). I can think of better ways to spend the evening (and the money…)
Went to Kimball House Friday evening, early-5:30 ish. Bar was already full, but took a couple seats at the counter on the divider between the bar proper and the dining tables. Had delicious oysters, didn’t wait too long for a couple Moscow Mules. By the time we ate our oysters, all tables were full, so we strolled across the street to nearly empty MAR Coastal.
Previous comments on this blog have mentioned the hipster fashion at Kimball House. On our visit, the bar patrons seemed to primarily favor fleece and sporty wool type wear. But, we left around 6:15/30 so maybe it was too early for hipsters.
A few notes about MAR: someone mentioned here that the place is under new management. We asked about this. The owners have not changed, but a new manager has been hired. While MAR was almost empty when we arrived, probably ten tables came in after we were seated. I agree with others who have characterized MAR as under-appreciated. We love that place–the Ceviche MAR is amazing, as is the octopus appetizer that has smoked paprika. The space is beautiful and the open wood fired oven is almost like having a fireplace!
Love MAR. The owners are first class citizens of our city and the food and service are excellent. A truly unique dining destination.
Looking for a kids’ dentist. Anyone familiar with Rebecca Barkley or Shannon Parris? Any other recommendations? Thanks!
Use the force!
The fluoride is strong in this one. But Darth Mom is insisting on professional care.
Dr. Jonathan Eaton on LaVista. I swear his hygienists were pre-school teachers in their previous lives.
+1
Sorry ’bout the restaurant. ;0
+1
+1 His hygienists are wonderful! My 4 yr old is always excited to go because of the prizes she gets to pick out throughout the visit.
Dr. Barkley retired last year..we still haven’t chosen a replacement
I’m an anti-dentite, myself.
But Obama said we could keep our teeth!
Next you’ll be saying they should have their own schools…
They do have their own schools!
Segregation is an ugly beast.
Dr. Elise Ashpole isn’t strictly a kid’s dentist, but she saw my kids and she’s a great dentist. She’s near the Toco Hills library.
Dr. Ashpole takes care of my entire family, young and old. She and her staff are great.
Love Dr. Ashpole! I want to be her friend and drink wine with her…assuming she drinks wine…but I bet she does. She’s a great dentist and is very fair with her assessments, treatments and costs!
Dr. Barkley retired about a year ago.
Dr. Ashpole is the best. My kids want to see the dentist more often! And we go every 6 months. The hygeniests are all great with kids. I love Kimberly best, but she is hard to get an appointment with. They are all really friendly and super with kids and adults.
Dr. Wesley Powell by Northlake Mall. Been going to him for 2 years and my son loves them. Very kid oriented and really friendly staff.
+1 for Dr. Powell
Another +1 for Wesley Powell. Recommended by our pediatrician and we’ve been going for almost 10 years.
Francis Schafer, DDS on the corner of Clairmont and North Dectur is great with our kids. DOwn the row from the Fed Ex store, in the corner.
+1000 – Dr. Shaeffer is great with kids, and he’s also a terrific dentist.
Anyone looking for a history tutor
Anyone else hear the fireworks on Friday night? Where were those coming from? Sounded like they were north of Decatur.
We heard them in the northwest corner of Decatur and one of us saw a few lights over the trees, looking north.
I am glad you mentioned that. First the pops this morning and now mystery fireworks.
They were from Patel Plaza – Revolution Day celebration supposedly.
The Decatur High School Close Up Club’s “Rake&Run” is tomorrow. This is one of the many fundraisers the club has to raise funds so that all students who want to participate in Close Up (closeup.org) can do so. Rake&Run is when teams of students and their adult chaperones rake and bag leaves at homes around Decatur and then “run” (usually drive but I did see them walk from one house to another on several occasions in the past) to the next job. This is a free service for Decatur homeowners but donations were always appreciated. I bring this to your attention because during dinner this evening (Savage Pizza in Avondale- Excellent as always!), the teacher sponsor of the club, Mr. Chris Curtis, called me needing rakes and tarps. “How many homeowners do you have signed up?”, I asked. He told me over forty. I smiled and offered my collection of rakes and tarps for this good cause. So if you see some pitiful high school students carrying rakes tomorrow afternoon, say something nice like, “Good Job” or “Keep Up the Good Work”, and “We’re Proud of You”! But it’s also important to know that these trips cost thousands of dollars ($1,700 per student). Some parents can write a check for the entire amount but my experience was that most students needed help paying for the trip. Please contact Mr. Curtis at if you can help in anyway. Thanks.
Mr. B, you’re the GREATEST! Just FYI, I have an account with the Atlanta Community Tool Bank, where you can rent lots of rakes and stuff for projects like this. Your group can probably get their own account, too.
Thanks Diane. One of the rakes I have most likely belongs to your family. I always thought that students “mistakenly” left rakes in the hope of avoiding future “willing work” assignments around the house. I have close to twenty rakes and other tools left from previous R&Rs.
FYI- Mrs Curtis sent me a text late Saturday evening that the club worked at 90% of the homes on the schedule and received around $2000 in donations. DM has a nice pic of the group at the start of the day in front of the high school. Thanks Decatur for a great Rake&Run! The DHS Close Up Club appreciates your generosity.
What a great idea. I do not have any of the tools you mentioned, but do you know if they would benefit from the addition of a gas powered “weed eater/trimmer? Perhaps they could expand their services. It is a STIHL and very reliable.
Anyone know where Southern Tier PUMKING is available on tap?
Their website has a “beer finder” you can use to find what they have available in your area.
Venturing out of Decatur today to Old 4th Ward Park. Anything to check out at Ponce City Market?
You can check out a lot of construction. The parking pad adjoining Dancing Goats has been restored.
Anyone ever been to Goats on the Roof in Tiger, Ga?
Yes. It is delightfully cheesy. I would not make a special trip, but if you are passing through with kids and need a break, it’s a fun stop for little ones.
I will never forget the first time I saw that. I about slammed on the brakes and caused a wreck, saying to myself, “What the heck was that!!!” Only after I got off the exit and came back around to the place was I sure someone had not spiked my coffee.
An update for anyone who was following this:
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2013/10/09/some-residents-displeased-with-safe-routes-project-that-would-move-glennwood-school-entrance/
Update 10/9/13: I called Amanda Thompson and spoke with her earlier today. She clarified some of the aspects of the project. It seems that while everyone I spoke with at GDOT referred to the “traffic problem” at the intersection, the original purpose was to create a safer intersection for pedestrians and bicyclists, which is of course a great goal.
If moving the driveway is the only or best way to accomplish that, then we will certainly reevaluate our position.
The concerns about bus loading remain, but hopefully we will be able to address them. The goal of our petition was not to disrupt the entire project but to work on this one piece that involves the driveway.
I am hopeful that increased communication between the city, the community, and the school system will work toward everyone’s benefit.
11/16/13 update:
Several meetings have occurred since my last post. In my phone call with Amanda Thompson, I learned that the original purpose of the project was to enhance bicyclist and pedestrian safety. Viewing it through that lens does change things a bit. Personally, I still believe that this was much more of an issue back in 2006 when they were first looking at it, but it does soften my position. I’m not an engineer (at all!) so I’m deferring John Madajewski’s (COD Senior Engineer) expertise in the matter. I believe I am correct in saying that he came up with the original concept plan for the intersection, and that GDOT simply worked off his plans.
From my phone call with Amanda Thompson, it became clear that this was very much a COD project and that GDOT was simply in charge of the construction. This would have been very helpful information to have had earlier, since I had spent the majority of my time in the last few months talking to people at GDOT. Perhaps all of the conflict could have been avoided with better communication between the COD and CSD at the start of this project.
The next day,10/10, there was a very large meeting in which COD officials, GDOT engineers, Dianna Watson, Dr. Kiawana Kennedy, Simone Elder, Jason Ware and I met to discuss the issues. We aired our concerns about the effects of the project on the bus loading, as well as the timing of the construction. Amanda Thompson presented the information from the original project proposal, and details on how it improved pedestrian and bicyclist safety. GDOT had already selected a contractor for the project and notified us that the preconstruction/coordinator meeting was scheduled for 10/22. (A summary of the meeting provided by the city is available upon request.)
Glennwood Principal Dianna Watson, Jason Ware, John Madajewski and I met in front of Glennwood on 10/21 to talk about possible options for small alterations to the plans and bus loading options. Mr. Madajewski proposed loading 2 buses in a pull-off area on Ponce de Leon similar to how they load at FAVE and Oakhurst. We considered this option, but later it was rejected by Simone Elder as being unsafe. (Simone Elder was out of town at a conference and unable to attend the meeting in person.)
Jason Ware and I attended the preconstruction/coordinator meeting at GDOT offices on 10/22. Also in attendance were Hugh Saxon, David Junger, John Maximuk, and John Madajewski from COD. Jason Ware again shared CSD’s concerns. The contractors were given a list of dates that school was out on breaks, as well as the testing schedule, however no specific agreements on a timeline were made. For any changes to be made, the City of Decatur would have to request them from GDOT, and then GDOT would go to the contractor. Right now, the City does not appear to support substantial changes to either the original plan or timeline.
*Update: the city has managed to move the construction to the summer vacation months. We really appreciate this effort to accommodate the school’s needs. (Thanks to everyone who signed the petition; I know this played an important role in showing the city how much this meant to us!)*
The current issue is still figuring out how exactly the buses will load. This will require cooperation between the COD and CSD and some creative engineering.
I am not currently pursuing using the petition to completely stop this part of the project. This is for a few reasons. The first is that I have appreciated Mr. Madajewski’s efforts to understand our concerns and help us work through them. I am hopeful we’ll be able to come up with a plan that has minimal impact. Also, viewing this through the lens of pedestrian and bicyclist safety, I do concede that there is the potential for improvements with the realignment of the intersection. Lastly, there are needed improvements slated to occur at Sycamore Place and Commerce Dr that are part of this grant and will potentially be derailed if we object to this project. I do feel that the petition served an important purpose in showing the city that our neighborhood was involved and vocal about this project, which gave us a seat at the table so to speak, so thank you for your support!
I am happy to talk with anyone further who would like more details about anything I’ve written here, or who has further concerns. I also understand that although I started the petition, it is now a community document. If anyone else feels strongly about this and wants to use the petition, please let me know and I’ll give you all the details you’ll need to know to enter the fray.
Thanks!
Any recommendations for a pediatric sports medicine orthopedist, or podiatrist? A child gymnast in our household is having an increasing number of foot-related aches/issues, aggravated at the gym as well as when out running.
(yes I can ask her pediatrician, but the pediatrician isn’t exactly local in the Decatur-sense of the word!)
We had a great experience with Jeffrey Webb. He diagnosed my then-10 year old son with an autoimmune disease. Our pediatrician (and we) thought was he had a long-standing injury from running the Peachtree Road Race. Nice guy and smart.
http://www.emoryhealthcare.org/physicians/w/webb-jeffrey.html
We have child gymnasts with injuries and have used Stephanie Martin at Performance Athletics. She is the only fellowship-trained pediatric sports medicine orthopedist in the state of Georgia. She has a great bedside manner and is very good at managing the injury. She also has an office on North Decatur.
Wow, great tip.
Children’s Orthopedics near 400 and the Perimeter has worked for us. Dr. Marshall there has a good reputation for sports medicine but we never can get an appointment with him. Dr. Kroll also does sports medicine there and we’ve liked him. There’s one physician in that group that we have not liked but I’m not going to post that name. You may need a referral to physical therapy. If so, there’s a lot of good options around Decatur; we pick by how convenient and available the appointments are.
Any opinions on best place to buy a turkey for a traditional oven-roasted stuffed turkey? Is it worth it to reserve a turkey at a specialty meat shop like Sawicki’s, Oakhurst Market, or Shield’s? Or is a cheaper turkey from the grocery store just about as good? Not doing anything fancy with the turkey at all, just stuffing, roasting, and basting. Not too worried about food safety because our family style is to slowly cook the heck out of a turkey over many hours.
Fresh is better than frozen IMO. But I’m always after a small one (8 lbs or less) and finding one at the right time can be tricky. I’ve had great success w/ fresh birds from Costco. Would be willing to bet fresh from the supermarket (or price club) is as good as fresh from a specialty market. Unless you get into genuine free-range territory, they’re all coming out of fairly industrialized poultry farming and processing that none of us want to spend much time thinking about.
Thanks! This is how I was leaning and it’s great to get expert opinion confirming my approach! To me, 90% of the value of a turkey is how good it makes the house smell and another 5% is the turkey soup you can make afterwards. I hate to expend a lot of money on the short time it’s on the Thanksgiving table unless it’s really worth it.