I gotta say, Atlanta metro may actually be designed by an insane person, and it's only getting worse. While driving to my motel Thursday night, I ended up driving to the wrong Sullivan Road in College Park, GA. There's actually two sections. One contains all the hotels, one is apparently empty, being developed. In fact, the only thing on that section of Sullivan Road is a 15-foot high column of fire. Now you'd think, if you had a 15-foot column of fire in your town, you'd at least have somebody watching it, or it would be fenced off, or something. But no. This was just a column of fire off on its own. Even worse, upon seeing it, I could only come up with two explanations: witches' sabbath, or smelting. When I finally got to the hotel, I asked about the column of fire, and they were more concerned about their not being a sign for the Super 8 at the exit, which caused me to find the column of fire. Personally, I think you'd have better luck with a nice blue sign "ATTRACTIONS: Column of Blue Hellfire -> 0.3"

I also discovered my main screwup for the weekend, I put all the things I needed for my laptop in my luggage, except the one thing I wanted to check at the Super8, my wireless card. Having chosen the motel because it was available there, I had to kick myself for not doing it. This kind of blew my plans for Friday, as I was trying to run into Richard, my old teammate. Lacking email, I couldn't get his response to my email, and without web access, I had no way to get driving directions. Oh, well.

Instead, Friday morning saw me doing the World of Coca-Cola tour. I may have additional pictures on this later, but it's about what I figured. Yeah, it's propaganda, but the free all-you-can-drink is probably worth the price of admission. Oddities of the trip:
The opening video, with 19th century drawings, was crying out for someone to scream "Brilliant!" at every turn.
I entered the tour situated after a party of Buddhist monks, and before a school class. Just a very odd combination of viewpoints going through on a Friday morning, and that truly manifested itself during the free tasting room.
Comedy bronze: My noting the rack of flags above the world cola stations included Paraguay. And yes, they had placed two different decals on each side of the flag.
Comedy silver: Watching Buddhist monks go nuts for the taste of Japan's Vegeta-beta, think Apricot Hi-C.
Comedy gold: My facial reaction to Beverly, the Italian aperitif, which was basically indistinguishable from tonic water.
Comedy platinum: Lying in wait while a crazed gang of fourth graders, working their way down the line, finally hit Beverly. I'm not a vengeful man, but that was certainly satisfying to watch.
If memory serves me, during Mark's tour of the world of Coke, he got to taste some of the same one I had, and I think we are in agreement on the improvement that replacing America's Fanta lemon with the Israeli version.

Well, we did it again. Go figure. Only two losses all weekend, and I managed to get through all my standard food orders, though I'll probably be down to carrots and elm bark for the rest of the week. Even my attempts to be mildly healthy (Sonic Sunrise) backfired, the combination of orange juice, and cherry limeade was only interpreted as a desperate cry for vodka. The Waffle House sausage melt was probably not a good idea at all, and of course, the annual Sticky Fingers run is not going to contribute to good health. The only good thing to come from my diet this weekend was a quality neologism. "Accounts of one's consumption of meat: Carniporn."


The weekend in notes and quotes:
Suggested future team name: For Unlawful Cornell Knowledge
"Sonofabitch, that IS Boba Fett."
"Futility is not an officially recognized statistic."
"You see some packets are edited more than others."
"'pants-wetting horror' is not, nor will ever be, a giveaway."
"but I was so sure."
"I don't know how, but I somehow conflated Anne Tyler and Anne Perry, and neither is related to Steve."

Craig, after I basically 30'd something solo: "Was there anything else you could have answered if it was in that question?"
Me: "No."
Craig: "Then it's a good bonus."

"I can name...lesbians." (in response to a leadin mentioning lesbian reality show contestants. The pause was everything.)

"She's a triple threat." (Mike, upon hearing that someone was both a lesbian AND has an artificial limb.)

Our mascot for the weekend was a bear, suitable for baby use, but kept safe inside two levels of bags during the tournament to prevent any possible contamination. The Hermetically Sealed Bear, hereafter to be referred to as HSB, was delivered successfully after the tournament. Attached photos see bear, bear's target for future protection, and the happy parents. (1|2) Said baby has already grown to like the bear, or at least see it as a sleep aid. Within thirty minutes of grasping said bear, baby was out cold. I'm not sure what it is within the design of that bear that makes it a sleep aid, but it seems to work universally.