Atlanta On My Mind (Weeknotes #25-11)

Here’s what happened during the week of March 10–16, 2025.

Happenings

It was spring break for both daughters. The older, who lives at home, traveled to Colorado to do some hiking in the mountains. The younger, who is away at school came home.
We had some landscaping done, including thinning some foliage, moving some shrubs around, and leveling and overseeding the lawn. Now it’s muddy and I have to mess about with sprinklers.
My Battle of the Blooms origami flower showdown continues. Because I didn’t plan well for our weekend trip (see below) I had to jump ahead to the Round of 16 before all 32 blooms were introduced. I’m going to try to the last four out next week though and get back on track.
Thanks to @cygnoir, I learned about these fun ways to illustrate and share your Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). I especially like the Type Heads and Stress Heads. Here are mine:

Thanks to R Scott Jones for introducing me to 368 Chickens, an amusing (and seemingly impossible-to-win) game.

Atlanta Trip

My wife and I took our younger daughter for a long weekend to Atlanta. We’d never been to the city and thought it would be a fun place to visit and see what we could see. We were not disappointed.

We stayed at the Westin Peachtree, which is the fifth-tallest building in Atlanta. Our room was on the 62nd floor, which was both interesting and a little unnerving. I’m not sure I could live in a highrise after staying there—at least, not that high up.
On Thursday we visited the World of Coca-Cola, which comprises a museum of memorabilia and a tasting room where you can sample Coca-Cola flavors from around the world. There were something like 48 different soft drinks on offer so I didn’t even come close to trying them all. But of those I did sample, my favorites were Stoney Ginger Beer (Tanzania), Beverly (Italy), Cucumber Sprite (Romania), Bonbon Anglais (Madagascar), and Melon Frosty Fanta (Thailand). I cannot recommend the Sour Plum Fanta (China).
We ate at some pretty great restaurants while were in Atlanta, including
- Bellina Alimentari, a wonderful Italian restaurant in Ponce City Market. I recommend the Pasta Pomodoro and the Negroni Viola.
- Atlanta Breakfast Club, a great place to start the day with some Chicken and Waffles or Biscuits and Black Pepper Gravy. And don’t forget the Cinnamon Rolls.
- Der Biergarten, authentic German fare, including käsespätzle and jägerschnitzel, that beats anything we have here in Columbus. (But don’t tell the folks in our German Village neighborhood!) And of course there was the obligatory stein of Paulaner Märtzen!
We hired a driver to take us on a tour of the city, and we got to see and learn a bit about some of the neighborhoods including Sweet Auburn, Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, and Little Five Points.
On Friday we walked the Beltline from Ponce City Market to Piedmont Park, then explored the beautiful Atlanta Botanical Garden.
On Saturday we visited the Georgia Aquarium, where we saw some pretty spectacular enclosures. I would not want to run into a whale shark in the wild!

This photo doesn’t do justice to the size of the Whale Shark, which is about 25 feet long. The Manta Ray is also pretty big.

The trip was a big success. We enjoyed visiting a new city and we learned a lot.

Reading

(Mar 11) “Volkswagen brings back physical controls for essential cabin functions” by Alfonso Maruccia (TechSpot)

Watching

Working our way through season 3 of Hacks.
Watched some college basketball over the weekend too.

That’s it from this end. How’s things in your neck of the woods?