Saturday in Atlanta and Griffin

Yesterday morning, I was given the task of driving up to Dunwoody to meet with Kate at the Apple store to give her her operating discs for her computer. As it turned out, this was unnecessary, since the 'it' person at the apple store was able to replace the hard drive on her computer without charge and she was able to install the software onto her computer when she arrived at home. So it was somewhat of a wasted trip as far as I am concerned.

Nevertheless, we were able to encounter a group of Asian gentleman who were offering a demonstration of a massage chair that I assume they were selling. Or perhaps they were selling massages. At any rate, we came upon the men, gathering together while someone in their group had a patron ensconced in one of the massage chairs, his body moving rythmically up and back into the machine, while one of the guys was massaging his lower back up and back from behind. It was all rather oddly sexual in nature, and we ignored the guys so that we could continue on downstairs toward a Starbucks.

Unfortunately, our route was interrupted by some Eastern European men at a kiosk who were selling cloth bags filled with spices and herbs as a catch-all remedy for virtually everything. After being subjected to a come-on for several minutes, we politely said our "no thank yous" and continued on to Starbucks.

At Starbucks, Kate ordered a chai latte (spiced tea with milk) and I ordered a cup of tea. The clerk at the Starbucks was incredulous at my order and wanted to make sure that I understood that the tea I ordered only came in the form of a hot beverage. I assured her that I was aware of this and she completed my order.

As we wound our way through the mall back to our cars, we ascended the stairs again to avoid the "Russian Mafia" with the herbal bags on the lower level and then crossed over to the right side of the inner walk way to avoid the Asian porn on the second level. All in all, quite an unusual journey. Perhaps the basis for a short story retelling of the Journey of Odysseus.

As I left the neighborhood in which I grew up, I noticed that several more houses in the neighborhood had been torn down to make way for a newer, bigger, more expensive house. This phenomena is unusual to me. What causes "the market" to think that it is better to tear down some suitable house in order to build a cheaper made, more expensive, more dramatic home on the same site.

My neighborhood, or rather my parent's neighborhood, has been very stable and upwardly appreciating in value since we first moved there, a nice upper middle class neighborhood placed in the middle of woods which once housed a tree nursery. There really isn't any reason, other than the absence of nearby vacant land upon which to build, for the developers and builders of North Atlanta to need to tear down perfectly good houses to replace them with more modernly appointed houses. The neighborhood is not depreciating. The houses are well kept in the main. And it is an example of a neighborhood which could continue on into the future, as a place where people want to move in and take care of their investments.

But one of the current trends is this desire to take the house and land, tear down the suitable house, and replace it with some kind of overly dramatic, often architecturally bastardized box which often reminds one of something a toddler might design with his box of building blocks. I have seen this architecture develop all over the south side of Atlanta, in Henry, Fayette, Coweta counties. Nothing proportional, nothing symetrical, a lot of sad colors, built on very small lots which barely contain the house.

I am all in favor of freedom. The freedom to pursue one's happiness and desires is perhaps the fundamental building block of this country. But it would be nice if there was more planning, more open space preserved, more restraint. Unfortunately, they never ask me and I am clearly not in charge.

Moan, moan, moan.