Friday, January 16, 2009

Satellite Dishes and the top 10 Things I Miss About Atlanta



Yesterday I noticed that a button on Josh's pants was shaped very much like a miniature satellite dish. I thought that all it needed was the Dish Network logo. I took care of that. So, I thought I'd share.












Also, as I was playing with Noah today, for some reason I started thinking about our trip back to Georgia that we made for Christmas and all the things that I realized I missed since moving here. So, once again, I thought I'd enlighten you all to the goings on in my mind.

10 Things I Miss About Atlanta

#10- Stop Lights on Wires
What is more exciting than sitting at an intersection at a stop light before a storm and watching the light itself danging around on a wire being blown around by the wind. The thought actually crosses your mind that it's very possible that this light might just fall right there in front of your car making for an excellent story to tell later. Here in Fresno, the lights are fastened very securely to poles. Now where is the fun in that?

#9 School Zones
In Atlanta they have school zone speed limit signs set up with lights on them. If the lights are flashing, you go the reduced speed. If the lights are off, you can keep going the normal speed. Here in Fresno, they apparently haven't ever heard of this concept. Here, the speed limit signs in the school zones just say "35 when children are present." No lights, not even a "between 7am-9am." First of all, I don't think the highschoolers appreciate this because they don't want anyone to think of them as children. More importantly, it isn't clear about when you can go 50mph, and when you have to go 35mph. What if there are kids at recess on the other side of the fence? Do you have to go 35mph then? Or what about at 5pm after school is out and there's one lonely kid walking on the sidewalk on their way to Granny's house? They really should be more specific.

#8- Lines AND Crosswalks
Here in Fresno there are no markings on the road for where you're supposed to stop when you come to a stoplight. There's just a cross walk. Some people, like my husband for example, are impatient when it comes to stoplights and just want to trip the sensor so that the light will change as soon as possible. In Atlanta, there would always be a line for where you should stop and where the sensor is and then past that, there would be the crosswalk. No one here in Fresno seems to have thought of this brilliant idea. They just have the crosswalk. The best part is, that the cops have been known to give tickets for having the front of your car blocking the crosswalk just a teeny tiny bit. If they would just put the lines on the roads, we'd be able to eliminate the problem of the crosswalk blocking.

#7- Highway signs
Let's say Josh and I are going out of town during lunch time. We're hungry, and woops, we don't have our GPS. We want to eat at Burger King. How are we going to know which exit to get off on to eat at a Burger King? You see, in Atlanta, we would know because there are signs before all the exits saying what fast food places are near the off ramp. It's an ingenious idea. Fresno should try it.


#6- Chicken
This is something Josh and I really miss about Atlanta. Chicken. Well, at least good chicken. See, in Atlanta there are two somewhat cheap restaurant chains that have very good chicken. Given, one of them, Chick-fil-a is starting to come out to CA. We recently got one here in Fresno, but there's only one. In Atlanta, you can't throw a
dead cat without hitting a Chick-fil-a. I haven't actually tried the flinging of the felines, but I'm pretty sure that it's an accurate assumption.

The other restaurant that hasn't yet made it's way to
CA is Zaxby's. It's amazing. When we were back in Atlanta for Christmas I think we ate there about every other day trying to get our Zaxby's fix. There is nothing like the Zax Snacks and Zax Sauce


#5- Curvy Roads
Here in Fresno, and the West in general, the roads are very
grid like. There are no surprises. Nothing. It's very boring. In Atlanta, and the East in general, the roads are curvy. You never know exactly which direction you're going and even if you do, you won't be going that same direction for very long. It's full of surprises. There are rarely times when you can sit at a light on the crosswalk and see the next intersection directly in front of you.

#4- Trees
Atlanta has a surplus of trees growing naturally. Fresno has much fewer trees which grow in rows. Trees are not supposed to be organized.













#3- Waffle House
Waffle House really doesn't have great food; it's just a staple of the South. They're everywhere. Remember the cat throwing? You
wouldn't even have to throw the cat to hit a Waffle House.
Just swing it in a large arc, and I think you'd hit a few of them.





#2- Gas Stations
Not all gas stations are created equal. In Atlanta, there are good gas stations. Nice gas stations. Even gas stations that are pleasant. The nice gas stations in Atlanta, Quick Trip, BP, and RaceTrack, not only have extra cheap gas, but are filled with wonderful things like milkshakes (thin, thick or extra thick), and several flavors of hot chocolate and cappochinos. Let's not forget the taquitos, hotdogs, and sandwiches. You can go into gas stations there and not feel like you have to be prepared to hit the floor when the gunman walks in. It's a nice feeling.

#1- Sweet Tea
Here in CA if I order a sweet tea I get a spoon, and usually get pointed to the sugar packets on the table. The exception is McDonalds, but their tea is beyond sweet. It is almost like a liquid tea-flavored jelly bean. It's still the closet thing there is to actual sweet tea in Fresno, so I've been known to drink it. You see, to make sweet tea, you have to put sugar in it while it's still HOT. This way, the sugar actually dissolves and doesn't just spin around in the glass doing its best imitation of a snow globe. I don't think it's that hard to do. In fact, I know it's not that hard to do. I do it every couple days myself and it takes a whopping 20 minutes to make. Including boiling the water, and steeping the tea bags. Is sweetened tea really too much to ask for? It's cold, refreshing, has anti-oxidants, and you have the option to have it with lemon or not. Why can't Californians understand this?

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