Death in the Afternoon

We found an awesome Mexican restaurant called El Toro. I don't mean awesome in the sense that the food is really good, but awesome in the sense that they play conjunto music, the staff barely speaks English and the food is crazy greasy. Traci mentioned that it reminds her of every other greasy spoon in San Antonio, and I have to agree. The only real complaint that I had was that they are stuck in the Georgia "cheese dip" conundrum, which I just don't understand.

For a photo of their cool "El Toro" sign, check out Traci's blog,

Atlanta and my job remain pretty uneventful, as I only started doing real work (as opposed to catching up on administrative issues) this week. Today I should be driving around looking for an apartment, but I will remain lazy until after the hot part of the day ends. Guess I'l be driving around at 2 am then.

The housing situation here is odd. There's plenty of stuff online, but everyone I know who has lived here a long time keeps telling me not to rely on either the paper or the alternative weekly, but to drive around and see what's out there. The big problem is that "nice" is very relative in this town when it comes to housing. It's the old "good block, bad block" routine. Just last week Traci got accosted by the most put togther junkie in the world; it's hard to say whether or not a street or neighborhood is a good place to live without actually being there and walking around, which, again, not always that safe. There is a certain urge to stay in Decatur, but only because I'm getting to know the area and it is definitely a nice place to live. It's over a 30 minute commute to work though, and I am all about the shorter drive or the use of public transportation (there's MARTA in Decatur, but no park-and-ride, you have to leave your shit on the street and, yeah, no fuckin' way).

To all my friends in Austin: I bought some tickets and okayed it with work, and I will be home on the morning of Friday, September 28? 29? Whatever the last Friday in September is. I'll be there until Sunday evening, and I'll hopefully arrange a little Crown excursion. Probably not a good idea to expect a private audience with my ladyship, 'cause y'all know that most of my time will be spent with Mooky. By that point in time I won't have been kissed in nearly two months, which is both a tragic and painful circumstance. Ah, two years of this, nice.