"TIMBER!"

two years ago when nancy and i were choosing between our current house and the one next to ours, we (or more me) chose our house because of the 100+ yr old oak tree in the front of the house. one thing i hate about new developments in Atlanta is that they get rid of all the mature trees before they build. also, it is especially hard to find within city limits with mature trees all around.

well this past summer, late summer, the leafs of our big oak tree in the front started to brown. at first i was hoping that it was not dead because of the drought and wanted to wait till next spring to do anything with the tree, hoping it will come back. during the past month or two the small branches and barks started to fall. the last thing i wanted is to have a lawsuit, or worse, the trees falls to our house (taylor's room faces the front) or to our neighbors.

i asked some friends to see if they can recommend some tree companies. i got 5 quotes around thanksgiving and was ready to hire the cheapest one - found out two weeks later they went out of business. not good. then we went with our 2nd choice and was able to talk the price down (being chinese). they really did a great job - everything was cut down safely and cleaned up nicely. they had to get like 8 men out here, along with a crane and trucks because of the size of the tree. it wasn't cheap, so don't be offended if you receive a small christmas gift from us this year, if any. so sad.. about the tree being gone.

they grinded the stump yesterday, i need to go rake now.

ketchup

i cannot believe dolce group stole my idea. they just opened 'ketchup' in east LA. anyone know how i can get a painting similar to the one they got in that restaurant (see gallery)?

.mac

sorry i haven't been blogging much lately. i've been real busy at work. for the past week i've been pondering about what to do with all the pictures i posted and shared on the web now that imagastation is going away.

i will probably transfer all my photos to shutterfly as imagestation is offering to do. looking at flickr, seems like it's pretty neat, but not so sure that if the free account is suitable. hmm.. should i be cheap like mike where i only post the best pics on flickr and use a free account somewhere else? or pay $25 for flickr pro account?

man, looking at .mac i am very intrigued. for the past few months i've been playing with iphoto more on my mac and just been able to use a lot of its neat features. it's got web photo/movie gallery, web hosting incl blogging, email/group emails, idisk, backup, and it syncs between your iphoto to the gallery automatically (and to your other macs or iphone). hmm.. iphone. but do i want to pay $99 a year? haha.

imagestation

omg, found out earlier this week that imagestation.com is going away. i've been using imagestation all these time. i do have the option of transferring all my pictures to shutterfly. but still this really sucks - i think i have to relink all my pictures in this blog to shutterfly.

anyone is using shutterfly? any feedback? i know many of you use Flickr - maybe i will sign one up. is Flickr the best option out there?

8-5.5

another useless and random itk.. the man in the pic above is the tallest person in the world, standing tall at 8 feet 5.5 inches. apparently his "growth spurt started at age 14 after a brain operation apparently stimulated his pituitary gland," according to the ajc article.

3.3 out of 100

if you come to our house via I-285, you would have to cross this bridge to get from cobb to fulton/city of atlanta to our house. from this ajc article, this bridge crossing over the chattachoochee river was rated 3.3 out of 100. needless to say i took I-75 home instead yesterday. with all the trucks crossing this 64-yr old bridge, come to our house via I-285 at your own risk. haha.

raising gas tax

i should trade in my car for the yaris liftback. check out this article about gas tax. it's true.. when we went to italy earlier this year, almost ALL the cars out there are tiny and prob gas efficient. instead, cars here in america are getting bigger..

don't turn off your AC

as gas prices are inching closer to $4 a gallon, cnn money posted an article on 4 gas-saving myths. i also read somewhere else that with cars built today, there is no point to warm up your cars before driving off in the morning.

moving to alaska?

cnn money just came out with an article today on the tax friendly places of 2007. atlanta and georgia didn't do so good. hmm.. alaska..

just to update on the TAD funding, there's an online petition - please sign and help support NW Atlanta. you don't have to live in the district to sign.

KFC

"Korean Fried Chicken" that is. not so sure why i am posting this article i read. another useless ITK. nancy was craving for some last night before she went to bed. it's only 10am.. i am getting hungry.

watch out mike..

the first red flag applies to you. here's a link to an article to the 5 tax audit red flags by the IRS.

be like mike

want more pay for your job? cnn money has an article for the top 10 paying jobs where demand exceeds supply. staff accountant and financial analyst are #9 and #10. whoa i need to work for someone else.

they also have an article on 10 best jobs in america.

the year of the golden pig?

lunar calendar new year (or 'chinese new year') is on Feb. 18 this year which is also the year of the 'pig' (one of 12 zodiac animals). found out today from this article that some fortunetellers call this year 'the year of the golden pig', which only comes around once every 600 years. newborns were believed to bring wealth and great fortune. we are going to be RICH! haha.. j/k.

it's not too late to have a golden pig of your own.. for you married ppl out there. haha.

check out this article too.

nancy on tv!

nancy is famous! if you miss nancy on tv last year, here is a link to Atlanta & Company show on local Atlanta channel 11Alive, while representing her current gig at Perfect Wedding Cake.

regular unleaded

jeff finally gave in. we got a MINIVAN. well it was sort of a compromise in a SUV that jeff wanted and a bulky minivan that nancy wanted. we traded in the 2-door prelude and got the mazda 5 (a sporty/compact minivan with sliding doors and 3-row seats if needed) right before the new year. it's a little funky looking.

this website has a pretty good video review of the vehicle:
http://www.drivingtelevision.com/clips/311/01HH311.wmv

this give us more space that we will definitely need in about 6 months.