Athens Christmas Parade Theme

The theme for the Athens Christmas Parade is “Run, Run Rudolph” this year.

The parade is put on annually by the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and the Athens Downtown Development Authority. The Parade of Lights goes on “rain or shine”. If severe weather makes conditions unsafe for participants and spectators, the parade might be cancelled.

Parade Route

The parade assembly shuts down all of Hancock Street from the Classic Center all the way down to Creature Comforts. There are a lot of groups in the parade, so if you are in the parade that is where you’ll go to find your people and get ready to walk.

The parade starts at the corner of Pulaski and Hancock, going down Pulaski to Clayton and then up Clayton street all the way up to Thomas St. where it will walk past the Classic Center. Then the route turns left onto Washington Street and ends up at City Hall where the tree will shine, it’s beautiful as always.

Parades are FUN! This one is also COLD!

It will be a good time, and thankfully the weather is a bit warmer than it has been the past few days because brr. The weather when I walked in the parade one year was so cold. So, make sure to bundle up if you’re going to stand there for an hour and watch the parade.

So go out tonight to see the Athens Christmas Parade: the Downtown Parade of Lights! It’ll be a memorable event regardless of what happens. I wonder if the live camel will make another appearance? There is always a wild story told on social media about antics the parade marchers get up to, the camel was spitting on people and being generally nasty so that’s the story I remember most.

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What is the Wild Rumpus Athens?

The Wild Rumpus is many things. It’s a big celebration of all the uniqueness Athens, Georgia has to offer, a gathering of the creative and carefree people who make Athens the best place to live in Georgia, hands down. Each year these wonderful people come together to express themselves freely through costume, dance, camaraderie, and fun.

Rumpus Rally Official Pre-Parade Meetup

From 5-8pm at the Creature Comforts Brewery the Rumpus Rally is the gathering spot for the parade to come. Now, I’ve been sober for going on five years but people do drink here, as it is at the Brewery and it is an open-container wristband location. It’s something about Athens that some love and some (like myself) wish there’d be less emphasis on. But there’s no escaping that Athens is a college town and with that comes a fair amount of alcohol-centered events.

But regardless of your sobriety, it’s a good time to people-watch, find friends, and mingle with other celebrants. Everyone is ready to have a good time, and you’ll find that they are approachable and friendly. Admire costumes, get pictures with favorites, and chat as people continue to gather in larger and larger crowds.

Wild Rumpus Downtown Parade

The Wild Rumpus Parade starts right at 8pm so don’t be late! You want to be there earlier than that anyway! The parade route is the same as last year. From the Creature Comforts Brewery, the route turns left onto Pulaski Street and goes down past the terminus of the event at the intersection of Washington Street and Pulaski and onto Clayton Street.

Street Bands

As you walk the parade route, you’ll see several musical acts performing along the way. The first you’ll encounter are the Captains of Revelry at the very start of the parade route, hyping people up to march along the route.

Next up will be El ChupaSKAbra, a local Athens Ska band self-described as Mexican Gringo Ska-Core. They perform on the corner of Pulaski and Clayton.

Just up the road, you’ll catch Fishbug, another local Athens band with a nice following. Beast Mode will be next, an Athens thrash/metal band that I am looking forward to seeing. Woah Nelly is next. I love their song Evangeline, available on Spotify. Nadia Vaeh is up next as you continue to walk, branded as poptimistic rock on her Instagram. Karma Kat will round out the bands performing on Clayton just before you turn the corner up College Avenue to Washington.

Father Werewolf performs on the corner of College Ave. and Washington St. as you turn the corner on the parade route. LibbaLoops + Bryant Perez and Jiig + Molly2Hott, Squallé, Trepid (featuring Grandfath3er) finish out the lineup of street performances as you enter the final stretch past fire spinners, Canopy trapeze artists and end the parade at the dance party of the year featuring the BOOTY BOYZ and FAIRIEZ in the street! The party goes from 8:15pm til 11pm. (and then there’s an afterparty)

Cut-throughs

If you’re not up for walking the whole parade route, never fear. The last few years I had to find a cut-through because I suffered from plantar fasciitis in my feet and walking long distances just wasn’t happening. If you turn onto N. Hull St you can cut through right to the end of the parade route and watch everyone come over the finish line. It’s as much fun people-watching as people finish the parade as it was to start out the parade in front of Creature Comforts.

A photo dump of the sights from Rumpus will be posted after the big night! I hope you get the chance to experience the Wild Rumpus Athens at least once in your life!

The post Wild Rumpus Athens 2024 appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

Porchfest has 200+ Concerts

With over 200 shows happening on one day, the streets of historic Athens turn into fun, music-filled corridors filled with people walking, biking, riding on their golf carts, and driving to their next location. The number of shows fills this spreadsheet! It’s pretty spectacular to me that something like this happens, totally for free, annually in Athens.

Historic Athens

The venues are peppered throughout historic neighborhoods in Athens: Normaltown, Reece Hancock, Cobbham, Buena Vista Heights, Boulevard, Newtown, and Pulaski Heights. While this might seem like a fairly large area, this walking in this part of Athens is extremely pleasant. There are a few hills, but if you choose wisely you can navigate the streets without having to trek up too many of Athens’ hills. For the trek downtown from Cobbham and Normaltown, I suggest a stroll through Buena Vista Heights on Boulevard instead of Prince Ave. Prince is such a busy vehicle corridor that it’s less pedestrian friendly.

Bikes are the Best

I strongly encourage a bicycle for Porchfest. It’s the best way to get from place to place, especially since some of the neighborhoods are fairly long walks apart. Driving is hit or miss, some places will have some parking available but this is predominantly a walking/biking event, so if you drive you might be looking for parking a lot.

Boulevard gets BUSY during Porchfest

Do not try to drive on Boulevard East of Chase Street. Boulevard hosts two events on Sunday, which happen concurrently. The whole of Boulevard between Chase St. and Barber St. gets shut down for the massive street party, concerts, and the Boo-le-Bark contest and parade.

Multiple concerts are going on as the famous Boo-le-Bark parade goes down the street. It’s a blast, if not a little chaotic with a bunch of people packed onto the streets. Author note: Make sure to come back to Boulevard on Halloween, as it’s such a cool street to go Trick-or-Treating on. Catch the Ghosties and sing Karaoke in the yard, and marvel at the throngs of people in their costumes! It’s my favorite.

Boo-le-Bark on Boulevard

The Boo-le-Bark on Boulevard happens at the same time as Porchfest, and it can get the most packed on Boulevard. Last year I made the mistake of getting stuck on a side street in my car and had to wait to even be able to turn around to get back on Nantahala. I was also looking for my son and walking the length of Boulevard in an absolute crush of people looking for him only to find out he was in Pulaski Heights for another show. Teens.

Click here to view the interactive map of the many locations for concerts this weekend. Come out and catch some live music!

Summary

Porchfest happens in 7 historic Athens neighborhoods and features 200+ musical shows all for free. Come out and experience the fun for yourself!

Athens is a great place to live. Support the arts, Athens, and me with this affiliate link:

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Flooding from Hurricane Helene

Inland, flooding was the worst threat that Helene brought to the Southeast. Helene dumped rain on an area that had already had 24 – 48 hours of rain before the storm came. This exacerbated the issues because the ground was already saturated. And it really made things horrible in a lot of places.

North Carolina / Tennesee Impacts

Unfortunately, Western North Carolina got the worst of the flooding. Western North Carolina is devastated, entire communities flooded, roads washed away and now needing to shovel tons of dirt and debris before cleanup can even begin.

Hurricane Helene Impacts Athens

Athens got lucky. For a while, it looked like the storm was tracking West, which meant we would get the hardest edge of the storm, the Eastern part. But it tracked East and Athens was largely spared from the strongest gusts of wind. But places like Agusta, GA, and Greenville, SC got that part of the storm. And North of those places? Well, I am so, so sorry for the hell those people have gone through since Thursday.

The image below shows the line the storm took, and everywhere to the East has much worse damage and power outages than to the West. Athens-Clarke County is circled on the map to show just how lucky we in Athens got. Just a little track West and we would have been much worse off. Like I said, we got lucky.

Southeast Impacts

1.5 million+ people have no power across the Southeast. Maybe for a while, too. Some people in Agusta, GA won’t have power restored until Saturday. Places in North Carolina won’t have power or water for longer. People on well water don’t have water without power. City water systems are inundated and will take a lot of time to repair and get back online. So many trees are down, and so many houses and other properties are damaged. It’s hard to understand the full scope of the destruction.

Hurricane Helene and Loss of Life

The death toll is at 125 people dead from the effects of Hurricane Helene. This includes people in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and more. At least 40 people have died in Asheville, NC, and its surrounding area. That area is also almost completely inaccessible by car. My heart goes out to everyone affected by Helene, it’s been such a horrible thing to watch play out.

Advanced Warning of Hurricane Helene

Some people have been saying that there was not enough warning from officials. But that’s not true. I saw it all! There was a ton of warning, even posts that very clearly said how bad it could be. So those saying that there wasn’t enough warning that this event could be so bad probably saw the warnings but didn’t have any way to fathom just how bad it was going to be. It’s easy to tune out weather forecasts after so many of the time there’s a lot of hype before an event and it turns out to be not so bad. A boy who cried wolf type situation. When weather events are sensationalized over and over it’s so easy for people to brush them off. Unfortunately, they shouldn’t have brushed these warnings off this time.

Sometimes I post about local issues like Hurricane Helene. I mostly post MM Romance Reviews, about the games I play and my hobbies like crocheting and knitting. But an unprecedented event like Hurricane Helene merits a post about it.

The post Hurricane Helene appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

The Emotional Repercussions of Perpetual Threats at School

A journal post

So, a different sort of post is once again coming at you, my readers, this one about school safety. And I know that most people come here to read a certain type of thing. I have my romance review readers, my crochet and knitting fiber friends, and gaming people who peruse my journal on any given day. So when I post about something off-topic, it’s hard to find a place to stick posts like these. But this is still my personal blog so I will from time to time post about something that’s just on my mind.

School Safety and School Threats

Readers who have been with me a while know that I am a teacher in my day job and also that I live in Georgia, pretty close to Winder-Barrow and Apalachee High School. Since the school shooting there on the 4th of September everyone in my district has been on edge.

Schools should be a safe place. But the reality, one that students know, is that schools are not always safe. Because of the threats, many students at my school stayed home on Friday, be it out of fear or just to be safe. Completely valid reasons, to me. In other counties, I’m sure it was the same.

What’s sick about the aftermath of what happened in Winder-Barrow is that other threats poured in all over the place. Especially on Thursday and Friday of that week, threats were peppering social media. News sites reported students being arrested and charged with making threats all over the Southeast. The high school in Gwinnett County I attended was named. Another threat specifically mentioned the middle school where I teach. In Franklin County, an hour north of us even closed the high school on Friday the 6th because of threats and photos circulating around. Scary, too close to home, shit. Pardon my language.

School Safety Drills

Everyone knows that having drills prepares people for actual emergencies. The goal is to keep school safety at the forefront of everyone’s minds. We have regular, monthly fire drills and severe weather drills throughout the school year. The era of active shooters though, has necessitated the introduction of lockdown drills that happen to prepare students and teachers for the horrible possibility of something happening at their school.

When a lockdown drill happens at a school, the community and stakeholders are told in advance so that everyone, and I mean everyone, knows that it is a DRILL and not a real emergency. This is to assuage students, parents, and community members completely viable panic when we simulate the events that we’ve seen play out again and again and again in schools across the country.

Just going through the motions, it’s impossible to stop yourself from imagining how it would feel to be in that school if something were actually happening. It’s horrible. Thoughts going full steam, heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, it’s a horrible event to even conceptually prepare for.

So, Friday the 13th

Getting to the point here. Yesterday was Friday the 13th and for some people that’s a day of ill omen. Inauspicious. Bad luck. It was a normal, if not a bit squirrely day at school. Middle school students are at the best of times chaotic little beings barely self-aware enough to focus for a lesson. At the worst of times, well, chaotic is their starting point.

It was 7th period. After a chaotic class of an end-of-unit test, begging my class to finish the work sessions I will be grading in the next few days, and to do SOMETHING academic in the last few minutes of class to further their development into articulate humans at some point in their future, it finally it was time for dismissal. Friday antsy is a different type of antsiness.

Then, right at dismissal the red strobe light goes off, and a voice comes over the speakers that we are going into lockdown. The voice instructs us to turn off the lights, lock the door (already locked) and get into hiding. Most chilling, the statements finishes with the words ‘prepare to defend’. Yikes.

We never, ever go into hard lockdown without a warning. Unless it’s like, the real deal. Like I said, when we have a lockdown drill it is always with lots of advance warning to us, students and parents so everyone knows it is a drill.

No Warning This Time

But there was none of that. So, I motion my class to the corner of the classroom where there is a little alcove. We scuttle over, turn off the lights, and get silent. Most of us get silent. Some kids’ natural reaction is to giggle and laugh, but there was an honest undercurrent of fear, nervousness, and anxiety fueling those little laughs. I might have muttered a curse word at them to be freaking quiet because I didn’t know what the hell was going on.

When I say the school got silent I mean woah it was silent. A few students had been in the bathroom and the bang of the stall doors was loud enough to make me jump. My heart was

So we huddle in the corner and stay as silent as 7th graders can be. And then we wait. And wait. It might have just been a few minutes but it felt like an actual eternity. I was checking my phone for texts, and emails. Just checking for anything. Kids were understandably texting their parents. I was afraid that something was happening in the front office because there wasn’t any announcement over the intercom.

School Safety Means… An Accidental Lockdown

The thing is, it was an accident. You know that because there was not another news story about another shooting happening at another school. And that’s the best outcome, of course. But even though it was only an accidental lockdown, it was so fucking traumatic for everyone.

Finally, when someone came on the intercom, their response was so nonchalant and blasé. “Oopsie everything good, let’s dismiss.” Another announcement was made later by our mighty principal (who I love!) to further explain what happened. Something also went out to parents. But I know teachers were also reeling.

I deeply appreciate my assistant principal sending a feedback request to teachers so we could unpack some of our feelings following the events. She’s new this year but I love her as AP. On a side note, good admin is so very important for schools, and that includes issues of school safety.

How Could an Accidental Lockdown Happen?

The thing is, the system worked like it was supposed to. We have the same Centigix badges that Apalachee High School has. In fact, I heard that Barrow County saw that Clarke was using them so that’s one of the reasons they got a contract with the company.

So every employee in the school has a badge with an emergency button on it. Which means every employee is capable of triggering that hard lockdown. School safety is in everyone’s hands. They’re not super easy to push, and to trigger a lockdown the button has to be pushed a lot of times for a hard lockdown to be triggered. But people, in the heat of the moment, are not infallible.

If something happens in our classroom, we push the button. Three times gets admin running. If the button gets pushed a certain number of times though, the system automatically trips over to some auto process where it calls the police and switches the hard lockdown alarm.

Honestly, when we first got the badges a few years ago, I was concerned it was going to be me who accidentally triggered the lockdown. But the buttons are not super easy to push, you have to intend to push them. And I am happy to have the badges. They’ve been proven effective. But I guess people are freaking out in the moment and it can be easy to push the button too many times.

Traumatizing

It was really too much for that to have happened at the end of the school day on Friday afternoon. Like my adrenaline was pumping. It honestly took me a few hours before my heartbeat and breathing felt normal again. School safety should be a baseline condition. It’s tragic it’s not. There’s no way to describe what it feels like to consider that whatever is happening might be an actual emergent event, and I hope to everything in the universe that I never have to experience that happening in a school I work in for real.

Normal Posts

I have a few normal posts in the pipeline. I’ve finished most of the ARCs I was reading this week and have reviews drafted for them. I’ll be posting them through this coming week, so look forward to that, my MM Romance readers.

The post School Safety: appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

Tragedy at Apalachee High School

The shooting that happened at Apalachee High School yesterday is beyond horrific. Every school shooting is horrible. As a teacher, I freeze with fear when I think about it happening again. And every time, I think about what would happen if it happened in my school, in my community.

Well, Winder is a mere 30 minutes from my house. I am a teacher in Georgia in Athens-Clarke County. Barrow is a neighboring county. So the horrible shooting that happened yesterday at Apalachee High School did happen in a community directly adjacent to my community. And that makes it hit different. It makes it more real. I’m rattled, shocked, and so very sad that it happened here. It really, really can happen anywhere now.

Politics

I am a lifelong Democrat and have lived in Georgia for the majority of my life, currently in a blue sea surrounded by an ocean of red. I’m a proud liberal and have only gotten more progressively liberal over the years. I remember my father used to always insist that I would become more conservative as I learned how the world works and well, jokes on him I guess. The opposite has happened.

Not interested

I don’t mind that this journal is an echo chamber. Nor do I invite voices from the other side of the aisle to any debate. I am not interested in talking to anyone who wants to spout right-wing talking points to me about how guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

Because I don’t want to hear it. Something has to change.

It’s a gun issue. I don’t care what anyone has to say. Less access to guns, in a way that makes sense, is the only path forward.

Distanced Myself

I used to be a political blogger. I am appalled at the atmosphere of the current political sphere and have largely distanced myself from it, for my own mental health. But I stand strong here, on this issue. Guns are the issue. Mental health is the issue. Too much access to guns and not enough access to mental healthcare. Guess who votes for more access to guns and actively votes against making it easier to access mental health care?

Change

Yeah, it’s time to change. I hope that if there’s any one good thing that can come out of this horrible situation in Georgia it will be that more voters in Georgia will see that change has to happen, now. No one else needs to go to school or work and not come home at the end of the day because of mass school shooting events. Please. the only way it will stop is if voters vote the gun-loving, only-offer-prayers politicians out of office.

This is two posts in a row of more serious content, but usually, I post much lighter fare. I hope my readers will understand why the last few posts were necessary.

The post Apalachee High School, My Thoughts are With You appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

Update 9/30/24

Update: My post garnered some attention and someone from AccGov contacted me. They let me know that the septic tank issue has been forwarded to the GA Dept. of Public Health’s Environmental Health Division.

Not Stormwater’s Problem

So it turns out that it’s not even the Stormwater Management Program’s issue to begin with. The polluted water flowing into the creek behind our house is what I immediately focused on, which prompted my post in the first place. However once I spoke with some neighbors, I reported the issue to Code Enforcement at AccGov. They promptly emailed me to confirm that they would look into the issue. Someone came out the next day. A few weeks has passed since. Cue my surprise when I saw someone contacted me here, on my blog. My blog primarily focuses on other things. So this is a completely different post, one where I enthusiastically did some investigative reporting on a hyper-local issue.

So thank you, AccGov employee for taking the time to contact me, someone who is only a low-stakes neighbor, regarding the septic tank issue. I hope that it gets handled soon. The neighbors can smell the sewage when they flush, and the soap when they do laundry or shower… basically, we can smell it all. And I just can’t help but worry about all the things seeping into the ground and the waterways from the open septic tank. It’s a gross, environmentally troubling, issue to have in the neighborhood.

What is the Stormwater Management Program?

Created in 2004 by the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission, the Stormwater Management Program maintains county compliance with the Clean Water Act. The purpose of the program is to address the pollutants and toxins that flow directly into the water. Before its creation, stormwater management was funded by property taxes. However, over a third of Athens-Clarke County is owned by the University of Georgia, an organization that does not pay property tax. According to the ACCGov website

A utility fee is considered to be more equitable than property tax because owners of tax-exempt properties, such as churches, non-profit organizations, and the University of Georgia pay into the fund.

For the record, I’m strongly in agreement. I am 100% fine paying this fee and I’m 100% on board with the rate increase they announced earlier this year. I want the water in my area to be monitored and cleaned, and I think every citizen of the county should be aware of the pollutants that could be flowing into the water. And it does, indeed, flow.

ACC Stormwater Program Rate Increase

The Stormwater Management Program instituted a rate increase in July 2024, the first of its kind since the creation of the program in 2005. They promise that with the rate increase comes an increased level of service. So here is my personal request to see that increased service in my immediate locality.

Increased Services from The ACC Stormwater Management Program

I reported pollution and flooding concerns on August 4th, 2024, and haven’t seen any mitigation to the issues I reported. Those issues are relatively minor, less minor when it rains and we have standing water on our streets because the ditches that flow into the storm drains are blocked with leaves, trash, and debris.

Update: On Wednesday, September 5th there were crews on my road to address the debris in the ditches and to clear culverts. I appreciate that, Stormwater Management!

A Bigger Stormwater Runoff Problem

Yesterday I met a new neighbor and we had an interesting conversation about their rental property. Information revealed to me is far more problematic than some leaves in the ditches. Something that I think the Stormwater Management Program will want to do something about much faster than dealing with some leaves blocking a storm runoff ditch.

Rental Property with Septic Issues

My neighbor’s rental has an open hole to their septic tank in their front yard. Every time they shower, flush the toilet, or god forbid it rains, that septic tank overflows and seeps into their yard. Said sewage then flows down the neighboring driveway, across the street, into the stormwater drains and then straight into the watershed creek that runs behind the houses on my side of the street.

Driveways and roads are some of those impervious structures the Stormwater Management Program takes note of, and I’m sure they would want to know about an open septic tank seeping into the Middle Oconee. Code Enforcement would also be very interested in investigating this, I’m sure.

UPDATE: I hope that, at the same time as Stormwater crews were on site to mitigate the ditches and culverts, someone from Code Enforcement was there to investigate the septic tank issue in the yard across from my house!

At the Mercy of a Well-Known Landlord

My neighbors are renters. They are at the mercy of their landlord. Surprisingly, they told me the person who owns the house they are renting is a well-known former Athens mayor. As landlord, she told the renters that the inspector said it was totally okay to have an open hole to their septic tank fully chilling in their front yard. No one has come to fix it. And the landlord doesn’t plan to fix it, from what the neighbor said.

If I were paying close to $2000 a month in rent and I had an open hole to a septic tank seeping sewage into my yard I would be beyond pissed. I cannot fathom how a house inspector said it was okay for that to be going on. I can’t imagine that they didn’t tell the owner that this problem needed to be immediately and actively mitigated. It’s been like that for a while, so in my opinion, it should have been fixed months ago.

Soon To-Be Listed Property

The house next to them, the one that has the sewage leaking onto their driveway and down into the street that drains into the Middle Oconee River tributary? It’s been renovated and is nearly finished, by the looks of it. So the owner of that house will be trying to rent or sell that one soon, too. I don’t believe that raw sewage seeping down the driveway is going to be a real selling point to potential renters or buyers.

Rent in Athens, Georgia is very, very expensive. And I would never agree to the rent required if I knew there was septic tank sludge running down my driveway from the neighbor’s open septic tank hole that was totally okay according to the landlord.

Stormwater on My Street

Water runoff on my street is a big deal. Let me tell you why. A creek runs behind my house, and it flows directly into the Middle Oconee River. I think the open septic tank in my neighbor’s yard is exactly the sort of problem the Stormwater Management Program was created for. If not them, then the water department, my district commissioner, someone needs to know that this is happening and that the sewage is running directly into the Middle Oconee River.

The Upper Oconee Watershed

The Oconee River is a major river system in Georgia. The Upper Oconee Watershed Network, a 501(c)3 organization that advocates and monitors the watershed offers this information about the river:

The Oconee River system is one of Georgia’s 14 Major River Basins. The Upper Oconee River Watershed begins near Gainesville, Georgia and ends at Lake Sinclair near Milledgeville. The headwaters of the North Oconee are located just south of Lula, GA. The Middle Oconee begins Northeast of Braselton. The Upper Oconee Watershed drains all or part of the following counties: Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Greene, Gwinnett, Hall, Hancock, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Madison, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Putnam, and Winston. The Middle and North Oconee Rivers converge just South of Athens to form the Oconee River which meets the Ocmulgee River to form the Altamaha River and eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Conners et al

Conners et al. (2001) conducted a survey that measured, among other things, the levels of Fecal Coliform present in the Oconee at several locations along the river in 2001, including Ben Burton Park, where the stream from my house converges into the Middle Oconee River.

Spring Fecal Coliform levels at Ben Burton Park were 300 CFU/100mL, nearing the 400 CFU/100mL water quality standard.

Summer Fecal Coliform levels at Ben Burton Park were 740 CFU/100mL, exceeding the 400 CFU/100mL water quality standard.

Fall Fecal Coliform levels at Ben Burton Park were the best result, at <20 CFU/100mL

Winter Fecal Coliform levels at Ben Burton Park were the worst: >2000 CFU/100mL, far exceeding 400 CFU/100mL.

Old Data

These data were collected in 2001. According to the 2000 census 166,079 people lived in Athens-Clarke County at that time. The 2020 census reported a population of 215,479 in Athens-Clarke County. That means in the 20 year period from 2000 census to the 2020 census the population increased 49,400 people. If a similar study were conducted today, what fecal loads would they report?

Stormwater Management Program, Ball is In Your Court

I sure hope someone at the ACCGov Stormwater Management Program sees this post. What’s more, I’m definitely posting it to social media too. Indeed, this is your purpose, your raison d’être. Because of this, I implore you to figure out who is in charge of mitigating this toxic septic issue on my street. Please contact me to learn the addresses involved, or better yet check your email because I already emailed you.

I mostly blog about other things like gaming, post book reviews, etc. Since I don’t often post about local issues I hope my readers will understand that this is important.

The post Stormwater Management Program appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

While out and about, I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with the artist behind some amazing glass jewelry. When I searched up her jewelry business I was blown away! Get that pun? Hah, I know it’s horrible but come on, I had to.

Glass Jewelry is HOT

I love glass jewelry, because it’s catches the light and plays with it, and the jewelry transforms when you look at it from a different angle. If I had one of the glass rings that is on the site I would just be staring at it all day, I know that for a fact.

I enjoyed talking with the creator when I met her at the dog park. She’s an incredibly witty person to talk to and loves dogs, so once I spent a few minutes talking to her I had to see what sort of glass jewelry she had for sale. And I was not disappointed.

Studio Mod Glass

Her Studio is Studio Mod Glass or Studio MG based in Athens, Georgia. Supporting local Athens artists is something I am passionate about, because it helps to maintain the artistic vibe and grassroots community that Athens has spent decades fostering and developing. So hey, locals: I know some of you will look through the shop and find something they just have to have.

Personal Favorites

My favorites on the site? I have several and I’m happy to share. I absolutely adore this Three Square Element necklace. The lines are so clean and the colors of this particular necklace are bright, cheerful and elegant. I love the whole Space Balls collection, those little guys are so colorful and eye catching! And also.. the metal jewelry. I really love that. The next section has more about this selection!

Metal Jewelry

There is also a section on the website for some incredible metal jewelry that is honestly more my style. The spiral necklaces and earrings are on my wish list!

The post Glass Jewelry by Local Athens Studio appeared first on Fae’s Journal.

I am going to eat Korean BBQ for my 44th birthday. I love Korean BBQ. SO much. Korean BBQ is one of my favorite dining experiences because it’s intimate and you cook and eat right at the table.

I always feel like going to Korean BBQ is a special occasion. It really is, though. Just expensive enough to make it special.

Our favorite Korean BBQ place is D92 Athens, which has all you can eat KBBQ for two price points: One at 29.99 and a more premium selection of meats for $34.99. We have gotten both and whichever one you choose there are so many delicious choices!

General All You Can Eat Policies

There are a few policies you have to keep in mind before you go.

• You cannot take meat that you didn’t eat in a to-go box. You gotta eat it in the restaurant!
• There is a time limit on how long you can eat from the time you first order. It’s 2 hours
• Everyone at your table has to get the same menu choice. Like some people can’t choose the premium and others get the regular. It’s a communal dining style so that just wouldn’t work.
• If you leave a bunch of meat that you ordered but couldn’t finish there might be a $10 fee added to your bill. Because it’s wasteful otherwise! Only order what you know you are going to eat!

What happens at Korean BBQ?

If you haven’t ever been to Korean BBQ it might seem a little intimidating to not know what to expect. But they will take care of you if it is your first time at a KBBQ place. You sit at a table with a circular grill in the center of the table. Assuming you’re doing the All You Can Eat (AYCE), you first order your choice of meats and they’ll fire up the grill so you can get started!

They’ll bring a variety of banchan, or side dishes, that you’ll eat along with the meats that you cook on the grill. Depending on the restaurant, you might get a wide variety of banchan. Side dishes are an important part of Korean meals, so expect at the very least kimchi, soybean sprouts, fish cakes, pickled radishes, lettuce wraps, and usually more. My favorite are the pickled radishes, mmm they are so good. If you want to learn more about banchan, this book for banchan recipes on Amazon looks incredible!

Around the perimeter of the grill there are usually little receptacles for some common things: Corn with cheese, steamed eggs, mushrooms or other vegetables.

And then you’ll grill. You are usually asked if you want them to grill for you, or if you feel comfortable grilling your own food. I usually grill my own but if it’s your first time there is nothing wrong with them coming by to flip your meats over. After they’re mostly done, you’ll cut the meat up into small bite sized pieces that people can start grabbing! Easy as that!

I sometimes try to fiddle with the gas if the flame is a bit high and almost always I end up putting the grill out. So embarrassing! It’s not really, just say hey I need help my grill went out and they will help you.

Sometimes meat can burn if the flame is on too high, so watch for it and learn from my lesson and ASK them if they can adjust the flame. Those things are temperamental.

Go and Try Korean BBQ

If you haven’t ever had Korean BBQ you should really go and experience it at least a few times. It’s the best! And my favorite thing to do on my birthday!

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