It's like those French have the same name for everything

Wherein a bonus post. Don't get used to it.

What happens when a French company buys an American company? Other than corporate policy and procedures on the proper way to lock your grandparents in an unventilated apartment in August while you go on vacation? The corporate phone book changes!

Duh...

While the company will remain unnamed, these figures are real:

Jean-Luc = 155
Jean-Pierre = 172
Jean-Claude = 116
Jean-Marc = 142
Jean-Michel = 112
Jean-Francois = 143
Jean-Paul = 104
Jean-Louis = 80
Jean-Yves = 76
Jean-Christophe = 66
Jean-Philippe = 75

May 13, 2007 to June 2, 2007

Wherein I've been out of town, I'll be out of town, and the few days I'm in will be incredibly busy. So this will probably be all you get for awhile. Email me or leave a comment if there's something interesting/important/cool/weird I need to look at.

Things:

• Lost is still one of the best shows on television. Yes, they got off to a rocky start, but I think in retrospect this season's arc will look better than it did at the time we were watching.
  
• Two shots of Jamerson in a glass of ginger ale may be called a Big Ginger. Quite tasty with a twist of lime. Though I would say there was too much ginger ale as it pretty much covered the taste of alcohol.
  
• A conference of technical writers in Minneapolis should be labeled: "Could we be any whiter?"
  
• The answer is no.
  
• Sure, technically, the answer is yes, but there is no significant difference between .001 and .01, so I stand by my previous answer of no.
  
• Damn, there sure are a lot of Somalis in Minneapolis.
  
• Damn, there sure are a lot of businesses posting "We do not allow guns" signs on their doors. Too late, I realized I should have been taking pictures. I could have had a nice gallery of antigun signs.
  
• Despite taking a new camera with the intention of playing around with the features I took one picture.
  
• It was handy at lunch when it was the only means I had to show pictures of The Child.
  
• Despite hanging out with a generally fun bunch of people from around the country, I could not talk them into Hookers and Blow (see the previous post's comments for a link). So I missed them. This was a point of contention for the rest of the week and if we meet up in Philadelphia next year I will still be complaining about this.
  
• The Dakota Jazz Club did not have Apple-Brie soup on the menu. This is wrong. They will be sent a letter. I am now owed the recipe.
  
• Al's Breakfast rocks. Seriously hard.
  
• Memo to Northwest Airlines: as long as you're going to be NWA.com, you should play rap music. Because that's what we're all thinking.
  
• Memo to Northwest Airlines: Your website needs a giant blinking button that reads ETICKET. That's probably a common activity your customer wants to complete, so make it easy.
  
• Memo to all airlines: If listening to my iPod during takeoffs and landings will crash the plane then I suggest you build a better fucking plane.
  
• Met many nice folk from Redmond. Including one who was almost a dead ringer for Bill Gates.
  
• I drank many lattes from Dunn Bros. They were good. I'm done with Starbucks, no matter how much junk I put in it, it's still crap. I'll be fine with the occasional Seattle's Best latte while at Borders.
  
• Rise of the Celebretards: A-crotch-alypse Now. If you find yourself in Minneapolis this summer, go see this show at Dudley Riggs. Very foul and very funny.

May 6, 2007 to May 12, 2007

Wherein is to be determined later

Elevation opening soon

Wherein I break format for this important news

Late May, 2008 update: We were there for lunch a couple weeks ago and the menu has changed. There's a new chef and it looks like Richard Blais and Trail-Blais are no longer associated with Elevation. He's at Home.

December 17, 2007 update:

• Basically, I'm adding these updates because I've noticed I'm getting a lot of google links from people looking for "Blais" and Elevation. Hope this helps.
  
• Elevation Chophouse phone number: 770-485-7469
  
• At Atlanta Cuisine, see some recent photos and review/impressions in the Elevation rising? forum. We've been twice for dinner and the wife will be there Thursday for lunch. I suppose I'll get around to doing a review at some point; but for now, it's open and the food is very good.

December 8, 2007 update: Open, just got back from dinner. Wonderful. It'll be another week before they're open for lunch, but dinner is a go.

December 4, 2007 update: Not yet, We drove over Monday just in case. They look very close. Also tried calling the airport itself for a phone number without no luck.

November 29, 2007 update: should've done this awhile ago. Last I heard, it's scheduled to open Monday, December 3.




I knew Richard Blais had left Miami and was back in town, but the news just got better. Start here and read down. Richard Blais is opening up a new restaurant around the corner from us. Very nice. As a reminder, he left town last year just a week before we were supposed to have his tasting menu for The Wife's birthday. Still had a nice dinner at ONE.Midtown Kitchen, but it wasn't the same. Sounds like the new place might be open in time to make this year's birthday dinner. The Wife has probably emailed Mr. Blais for reservations, already.

A probable menu item, the restaurant's signature burger: eight ounces of freshly-ground 75/25 beef, seasoned and slow-cooked for a few hours, then finished on a sizzle plate or in a small pan over a wood fire. It will be served on a soft bun (think steamed Chinese-style) with homemade pickles (including plenty of fresh onion in the mix), mayonnaise made with rendered chorizo oil, and hand-cut fries tossed in chopped dill. To go with it: a seasonal milkshake (peach-white truffle malt was mentioned) flash blended with liquid nitrogen.

OH. OH. MY.

I'm surprised the local board hasn't had more of a discussion.

Welcome back Richard Blais, now when will our table be ready?



*************
Vocabulary lesson for nonAtlantans.

ITP: Inside the perimeter
OTP: Outside the perimeter

Look at a map of of Atlanta and you'll see it circled by I-285. That's called the perimeter. Inside the perimeter is downtown, Buckhead, and the cool parts of Dekalb county. It's urban and hip, as well as crime-ridden and overtaxed. Outside the perimeter is the white people only, homogenized suburbs, where people who are scared of "urban" live. In exchange for having to drive 30 minutes to a museum, we get large houses, large yards, and excellent schools. OTPers and ITPers hate each other and often violently rumble in Sandy Springs and Vinings, popular border crossings.

True story: Years ago we went to a book signing for David Sedaris. This was held at the Cumberland Barnes & Noble in Marietta and Marietta is outside the perimeter...mostly. David Sedaris does have a diverse group of fans, but I don't think it would be out of line to say that a large portion of his fanbase do not practice traditional male/female pairings. This was also not much after the 1996 Olympics and this. So this nice young man turns to The Wife and I and exclaims "This is my first time outside the perimeter and Cobb County isn't nearly as bad as I thought!" Ok, a couple of points,

1. He probably drove less than 15 miles to get there. On an Interstate, that was paved.
2. Technically, because of where the mall is located, he never crossed over I-285 and stayed inside the perimeter the whole time.

He acted like he expected to have to brave protestors just to get in the bookstore. Bet it never occured to him that he was as much a bigot as the people he feared he'd meet.