2007 Atlanta Scandinavian Festival

When I was a student, I got used to seeing unusual things at my university, Atlanta’s castle-esque Oglethorpe. Sitting in the cafeteria and noticing someone outside dressed up in full medieval regalia seemed perfectly natural considering the architectual details of our campus. Having the Georgia Shakespeare Festival (it’s an actual theater) on campus didn’t help, and I think gamers and other groups often liked to meet at our campus just for the ambiance (not the world’s most amazing, but something special for strip-mall saturated Atlanta). I didn’t even know the Celtic Festival used our grounds until one morning I woke up to the baaing of sheep. Yes, on the grassy knoll outside my dorm, I thereupon saw a flock of sheep and a shaggy dog milling about. Again, a unique morning sighting for Atlanta dwellers. Upon further investgating the tents and ornamently dressed strangers, I then realized a Celtic festival was indeed in my front lawn, complete with a sheep herding competeition.

Now this weekend Oglethorpe played host to the Scandinavian festival. Though it wasn’t huge, it did its best to showcase Icelanidic, Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian culture. Live music of varying sorts filled the stage, and even a little folk dancing in between. If you did some hunting, you could get free samples of Glogg (lovely mulled wine) and lots of baked goods. I recommend Danish Delights from husband/wife team in Lawrenceville (yay for independent bakeries!).

Of course, a Scandinavian Festival can’t be without a few viking helmets and endorsements from Ikea. But hey, I got 2 free dinner coupons to the Swedish flat-pack designers, so maybe I’ll stop over there for a little trend research. Anyway, with such lovely weather, the 2007 Atlanta Scandinavian Festival gave us some cultural entertainment for the weekend and emptied my pockets a bit more than I’d like. But that’s the nature of festivals, I suppose, and I’m not going to have a chance to do any traveling there for at least another year and half (yes, I’m justifying it). Just stay away from the grumpy metal smithing guy. He went off on a 3 year old who touched some of his stuff while he stepped away. I was kinda surprised the parents didn’t react, as the kid looked utterly shocked after getting chewed out. Get rid of the metal smither and next year a good time can be had by all.

National Squirrel Awareness Week

Yes, it is that time, National Squirrel Awareness Week. This festive time, October 7-13 is not to be confused with Squirrel Appreciaton Day, January 21.

According to Animal Insider, “Animals everywhere are expected to take part in the festivities by learning about squirrel behavior, engaging in community-building activities like visiting neighborhood bird feeders and taunting labradors.”

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the week and give an extra friendly hello to your fuzzy tailed friends as they celebrate this special time.

2 under 10 - Dekalb Farmer’s Market

In my current time of financial dispair, I’ve decided to start posting things to do in the ATL for 2 people for under $10.

Yes, things are tight, and when trying to find amusement for two people with the same bank account, things are very limiting. Try going to a show, two tickets, possibly parking price, for under $10. Difficult. So, one must keep an eye out for the free concerts, interesting festivals, cheap cafes, and places to explore that don’t charge an outrageous admission fee.

When hearing what some of my classmates get to do on their breaks, I feel like I’m the most boring person in the world. However, my finances must be shared between two people and a mortgage, in addition to tuition, and daddy isn’t going to buy me a plane ticket or pay for my credit card. So a little creativity is in order to find things to do, and maybe it’s better this way - it pushes me to do things I wouldn’t normally think to do, and I’ve ended up seeing some parts of this town that I haven’t bothered to visit before.

So, to get off in the right direction, go to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market. Recycle your papers ad boxes first at their big center, then reward yourself with a cappuccino ($1.25 for a large, then get two cups to share between two people). Drink, people watch., and go look at the purple cauliflower. Check out the liquor section for packaging inspiration. Go back and people watch. Buy a lobster if on sale. We got one for $7.50 last time. Go home, cook, and feel like a king. You’re eating lobster for dinner!

World Freedom Atlas

An interesting site, the World Freedom Atlas - see who’s doing well and not so well in the world of political choice and personal rights.  Of course, it can be rather predictable, but at least things look better in Mongolia than I assumed.

…”designed for social scientists, journalists, NGO/IGO workers & others who wish to have a better understanding of issues of freedom, democracy, human rights & good governance between 1990 & 2006″

Pre-Bauhaus Europe

If anyone out there has any information on this time period, please do pass it on! Even Wikipedia draws a blank!

I need to write a 20 page research paper on it by Friday, so I’m trying to get a grip of at least the dates as a jumping off point. And you thought design school was all about drawing doodles and playing with photoshop? I only had to write one such research paper at my liberal arts university, and I had a much longer period of time to do it.

Mucho thanks to anyone who has a bit of info to share.

Not this Bauhaus, the other one….

Squirrel Hygiene

I checked my search terms today, and not to beat a dead horse, was surprised.  It seems after my last post, in which I mentioned a few past weird search terms including “do squirrels bathe?”, 4 more people came to my site today after typing this very phrase in a search engine.  Are there really that many people on one particular day that care that much about squirrel hygiene?  What’s even more odd, I’m #2 on Google for this search term.  That means, that there were probably more people who searched about the bathing habits of squirrels today, but four were not satisfied with the first choice and thus came here.

Well, I’m glad that people out there care about the bathing habits of squirrels, and if I ever hear anything interesting about this subject, I’ll be sure to post.