outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

Apparently the powers that be feel that there are not enough wine bars around here. VaVino got renamed Erotica, Siip is moving to the other end of the mall, and Crush will open this weekend in Belmont.

What is up with the names of these places? What should we name the next few? Sniff. Spit. Swallow. Hmm…

Meanwhile, I think all life has been crushed out of me. My entire goal for the day was to get up, get things done at work, and then go running at the gym. I did the first. The second was the daily nightmare. During the day I went and bought milk so I could eat cereal. I also went and bought some wine (the main thread of this story). I didn’t want to carry both things home, so I grabbed the wine. I would get the milk after the gym.

Well…I got home and just don’t have the energy to go to the gym. I’d rather just curl up in a ball in a corner with a blanket. Since I didn’t go to the gym I decided to eat some cereal. I have no milk. Oh well…cereal with water. No gym. Nothing productive. I’m getting so out of shape and putting on the pounds. Tomorrow I’ll be trying to do the same three things. How many will I get done?

I think I need something they will sell at Crush. Or maybe I just need some Crush.

Kikis lunchtime adventure will be wrapping things up next week. If you want one last chance for a good fresh juice or a wrap, be sure to get there before turkey gets served.

Best of luck!

Has Atomic Burrito served one too many? Chatter around the fire pit seems to indicate they are getting ready to close up shop. I wonder what will move in there in 2008. Liquid? Oh wait…that was before AB.

As the unbearably hot summer rolled on, the number of my posts dwindled down to nothing. How can anyone survive in the south? Summer is brutal. It is hot. It sucks all creativity out of humans. Our drought has been going on so long that we can no longer use water. No car washing. No water at restaurants (unless you beg). No watering dying plants in your yard. No fountains. No swimming pools. I really wonder why nothing has been done since our last drought four? years ago. The locals say plans are being made for a decade from now. Is that helpful? What about the next five years? One can only hope a hurricane drifts up here…of course if the wind blows the power goes.

Fall has trickled in. Over the weekend we had our first day under 90 in many moons. The other exciting thing is that the UVA students have returned. Many parents were with their kids this morning at the local malls buying them a wealth of “necessary” things. What mom and dad didn’t know is that their kids were out partying last night. Parties were going on all over town. Pills were flying. Alcohol was pouring. Things were getting torched. In Belmont there was a rather large party. Eventually four police cars appeared. Thirty minutes later things had quieted down and local residents got to sleep before 3am.

I feel sorry for the local police at this time of the year. UVA consists of about 18,000 students and 19,000 employees. During the summer that number is miniscule. In one day a wealth of criminalistic behavior appears. Due to lack of funding there is absolutely no way they can deal with it all. Since C-Ville consists of about 22,000 people (the city loves to include students in the population totals so they can get additional funds) the influx is crushing. All I know is I want some sleep tonite. I hope the parties have ended. Either C-Ville should give up and just tell UVA to provide all security, or UVA should realize that C-Ville is just the outlying dorm, and send some security out here. As for cameras to prevent crime in the historic downtown area…the tribal elders have decided to “think about it” for awhile before anything happens. Perhaps they will just live off interest on the 2.3 million sitting around to improve the mall rather than actually trying to improve it. What about updating the sign that says Subway? How much would that cost?

I signed up for the Richmond Marathon which is in November. The DC marathon sold out before I could enter. Will I get to run by some “The South Will Rise Again” statues while running the marathon there? I’m still wondering if I can survive a full marathon. Not hopeful at this point.

Before my b-day this year I bought an iPod nano with the Nike+Sensor (but not Nike shoes, just a little holder to put it on my New Balance). This toy is so much fun. I love being able to track the distance/time of every run I do. I’m using the online Nike site so I can see every run, weekly totals, monthly totals, etc. I also took a peek at the XML files that get stored on my iPod. Far more info available in those files, but haven’t really had the energy to look any closer. I did 11 miles this weekend. Next weekend I’m going for a 12.5 mile run. Slowly building up my distance.

Preseason football has cranked up. The Fins are 2-0 and both games had a duplicate finish. The Fins future QB drove for the winning touchdown at the end and was successful on a two point conversion to give them a one point victory. As always…I’m a bit delusional and think the Fins can make it to the Super Bowl.

I have a feeling the UVA fans are also delusional and think they will have a good team. They aren’t in the top 25, but did get a few votes (how many were by people named Groh?). I have a feeling Groh is enjoying his $1mil/year more than coaching at this point of his career. The best thing UVA has going for them is that their schedule is trivial. If they can’t win seven games AND a bowl game…

Blogging is rolling along again. It may take me awhile to get going once again…but I’m still around. I put up a new poll…asking about your favorite local news source (online of course…is there another way?). I know what my answer is already. Should anything else be included? Let me know and I’ll put it up there as a choice.

Everyone has to keep eating…even when blogging…right? So I have at least one restaurant rumor. Who goes to Kiki’s? I heard through the grapevine that they might be getting just a bit short on the cash side of things.

I still haven’t gotten around to digging through my Aritni 2007 photos. The worst part about this village is that if you don’t work seven days a week, fourteen hours a day you can’t afford to eat…so free time is severely limited. One of these days. Perhaps I should listen to more music…very relaxing….right? At least for these unlucky seven.

Will a smoking ban in restaurants really happen here in smoke-infested Virginia? Kaine (our Democratic governor) wants to pass it, and today John Warner (our Republican senator) came out and said he wanted a ban as well.

I’ve vote for both those guys forever if they get this passed before I leave this southern smoke-fille state (I fear they may try to do one of those “ban in 2050″ sort of maneuvers).

Go Kaine. Go Warner. Ban smoking.

The latest restaurant news includes the reopening of The Nook. Once again you can get all that good fried stuff with mayo on it. One of the new items on the menu is a $10 slice of meatloaf. That must be some really good meatloaf.

Over in Belmont the Belmont BBQ joint has now opened up. Something tells me it will do pretty well.