on being a schmuck.

I saw this thread on Lifehacker about being a good tipper and have to say I'm pretty embarrassed about the tipping habits listed in the comments.

20% is minimum. It's also a lot easier to calculate. If you're going the extra mile to figure out 15% (Divide the bill by 10 and then divide that amount by 2, then add them together) you are a schmuck. Just divide the bill by 10 and double it. Include drinks (they were served to you, weren't they?). Include tax (what's it going to do, bump your tip up a a dollar?). And round up for crissake.

By tipping less all you're doing is making the wait server mad. It's not constructive criticism. You just look like a schmuck that doesn't know how to tip. If you really have bad service and you can't give the server the benefit of the doubt (busy night, training, close relative passed away that morning), talk to the server or, if necessary, talk to the manager. Granted, I probably would never do this but poor tipping says nothing but "I'm cheap."

I pretty much adhere to this for everyone in the service industry when I'm tipping on top of a bill/fare. Attendants, carry out people, hotel service I can see tipping three, four, five dollars (depending on the estblishment) but restaurant service is 20% at least.

Also: If you split the check between people with cash and people with cards and play the "take the cash out, put the rest on the card(s)" game, make sure the people with cards tip on the WHOLE BILL. If it's one person, they should be tipping on the whole bill for everyone. If it's more than one person filling out receipts, make sure they collectively write enough tip in for the person to be paid properly. I'm told that whenever a server hears "take the cash out, put the rest on the card" they know they're getting a terrible tip due to confusion.

dear drivers.

Normal rain in Atlanta will inevitably fill up the gutters along the surface streets. When you see a pedestrian along the road, clinging to his jacket in order to keep his schoolwork dry while huddling under an umbrella that is probably too small for him, try not to hug the curb and send a wave of dirty rainwater crashing into him like he's on a fishing trawler in "The Perfect Storm" (the weather event, not the movie).

And I know some of you must do it for fun. It looks fun. And some of you do it to test out some fancy new tires. I get it. It's good to make sure your investment is working for you. But a wall of water was heading my way so big tonight that I thought I was shooting the Pipeline without a board.

Just think of the poor cats having to walk in that, hoping beyond hope they can come home at least 65% dry.

Regards,

Nick Campbell

wheels, man. wheels.

If you've seen a blue blur streaking through the streets of the city, I have a pretty exciting explanation for you. Well, it's not really a streak ... if you've seen a really tall kid struggle embarrassingly up and down the hills of Atlanta, I can tell you what that is. Nick Campbell is with bicycle.

Sean Kiskel asked me a long while ago, "Nick, why don't you get a bike?" My response: "I find walking to be more stately." And I still believe this. There's a quiet dignity in plodding along unassisted by locomotive technology. It gives you time to think, to run through your day, and, if you're like me, time to imagine what you'd say to Jon Stewart when he interviews you. But it takes FOREVER. I live a five minute drive east of downtown and, somehow, it takes me twenty to thirty minutes to walk to any amenity: grocery store, train station, movie theatre, etc. And it's only getting worse. In the time I've lived in this area (about three and a half years) at least seven housing developments have come up less than a mile from Unit N with no concrete addition of infrastructure. If you keep putting condos up on all the land around the area, how will you build the things you need to help sustain them (gas stations, grocery stores, etc)?

When Erica moved to her new place off a major road that was not at all bike-friendly, she blew the dust off the Blue Devil (a blue mountain bike we bought together many years previous) and gave it to me to store. Now I use it. Jess saw my helmet earlier this week* and said my using a bike was rendering her world crumbled. But I get to places in a third of the time, sweating an equal amount (I'm still drenched in salt and my own filth but all at once while biking instead of steadily over a long period of time while walking) but still giving me more time to sit and watch Boy Meets World. Oh, that Rider Strong.

I'm probably not going to ride in Critical Mass and I'm not going to get all into my bike and talk about it like it's my nephew. I see this bike more like how people who buy jalopies their friends laugh at explain their hoopties: "It gets me from point A to point B." And it gets me there faster than my ADIDAS alone can.

* Jess saw me earlier this week at McCray's while we watched Katie perform live acoustic music. You should come and check her out Sundays at 8ish. She plays her own music and a few covers and she told me that if enough people come she'll cover "Thunder Kiss '65" by White Zombie. Or was it "Leggy Blonde" by The Flight of the Conchords? I can't remember.

sono? so? no. so no.

Can we all please agree to completely ignore this trend of SoNo? Seriously.

The area south of North Ave and north of Ralph McGill (Peachtree and Piedmont only) can not dub itself a bastardization of SoHo. I mean, outside of a couple bars (O'Terrill's, Django), the Shakespeare Tavern, Chicken and Waffles, The Civic Center and a Publix, what's this area have to offer that it needs a new stupid name? Nothing. Also, do I need to remind every one that this name is completely stupid? I first saw this on a billboard for a condo development. Now I'm seeing it on the "district guides" scattered throughout downtown. It's completely ridiculous.

So, let's just all try to ignore this foolishness and, maybe, when we turn back around, the pro-SoNo residents will feel shame. My hopes are that this will fade away into nothing more than blips on the City of Atlanta's hopeless branding scheme.

Laugh with me and then ignore it forever: http://www.sonoatlanta.com.
PS: The domain has to be sonoatlanta.com to clarify that it is not one of its predecessors such of SoNo, CT (South Norfolk).