Well, it’s been a pretty busy week since Christmas Day.

Friday, December 26th

Worked a half-day on Friday. I would have taken it off completely, but I was the only person on my team who was going to be in the office, since eloran was still in Cleveland visiting relatives and the rest of the crowd was taking holiday leave over the weekend as well. I actually got everything I wanted to accomplish done by 10am, but I spent the next 4 hours just checking on the health of things and making sure everything was running smoothly. I then came home to clean out the car and make the guest bed before going to pick up my houseguests from the airport.

I was worried that I was running a little late, since just before I left the house I found out their plane had landed a half-hour early, and I was leaving the house right at that time (I should have been on the road a half-hour before). As luck would have it, though, I arrived at the receiving area at Hartsfield just in time to spot mokatiki, pola_bear, and filceolaire coming up the escalator. We fetched their baggage and went back to the car, and were out of the airport within 20 minutes. I don’t think I could have planned it any better. 🙂

We got back home and everyone settled down for a bit of chat while we waited for kitanzi to get home, then ate dinner and watched a bit of Coupling, which Joe had never caught, and then settled down for a evening of rest and relaxation.

Saturday, December 27

The guests wanted to play tourist, so we all eventually got ourselves dressed and out the door. First stop was a local second-hand bookshop, where I managed to not buy too much for a change, and everyone else found a little something they wanted. We then adjourned to Cheeburger Cheeburger for a gigantic meal of cheeseburgers, onion rings, and milkshakes. filceolaire was daring enough to consume the “Famous Pounder”, a 20oz burger that got his picture taken and posted on the Wall of Fame. I think I could manage one of those if I skipped all the extras, but with onion rings and milkshake, it’s more than I can handle.

We then elected to simply drive down into the city via the scenic route. We went down GA Hwy 9 (Roswell Road) through Sandy Springs and into the Buckhead area, and then down to 14th street before turning around and heading back up Peachtree to Peidmont Road, where we stopped at Oxford Comics. Again, I spent less than I’m used to (only $80 this time), and the mokatiki found a great deal of Anime she wanted, so it was a good trip.

We headed back up to Alpharetta after finishing this up, fixed up some dinner, and settled down to watch the first few hours of Firefly, which our guests had never seen. It’s obviously a hit, since at the end of each episode, a chorus of “another one!” rings out. Warms the heart, it does. 🙂 We watched about four hours that night, and then went off to slumber

Sunday, December 28

Again in the spirit of being a good tour guide, we took our guests down to the Atlanta Cyclorama and Zoo Atlanta. The Cyclorama is always just awe inspiring, even after having seen it before.

The Zoo was, as usual, a lot of fun. One of the highlights of the afternoon was over in the African Savannah section, where one of the giraffes had wandered right up to drink from the moat that separates the habitat area from the fence line where the observers are standing. He couldn’t have been more than 10 feet away, and it was a great opportunity to really get a look at him. (One day, I won’t forget to take the camera when we go to the zoo!).

We had Nathan’s hotdogs and lemonade for lunch, wandered about the Zoo for hours, stopped into the gift shop on the way out where I bought mokatiki a plush zebra, and finally headed home, tired and happy, to watch more Firefly.

Monday and Tuesday, December 29-30

kitanzi and I had to work both of these days, but we left the houseguests enough directions to get into town via transit if they wanted. (Note to those familiar with Atlanta’s excuse for mass transit: no, it’s not really any better. But there *is* an express bus that stops about a mile from my apartment which goes directly to the North Springs train station, so it’s not as bad as it could be.)

You can read all about the guests exploits in their journals, especially filceolaire, who has been keeping quite a good travelogue so far.