You’re having guests for the weekend — what one local restaurant is at the top of the list for your visitors, and what dishes will you be recommending? (Links to the restaurant’s website always welcome, in case readers are ever in your area!)

I’m going to assume that money is no object, and recommend The Sun Dial Restaurant, Bar and View in Midtown Atlanta. It’s unusual for a restaurant to have a reference to the view in its name, but this one has a very good reason: it’s a rotating restaurant situated on the the top level of the Westin Peachtree Plaza, which is among the tallest buildings in Atlanta (at one point it was the tallest).

But if I were strictly recommending the view, I’d talk about the observation level in the same building which is also open to the public (and a lot cheaper to visit). I fell in love with this restaurant when, as a treat, I decided to go there for Sunday brunch with my mother one time while she was visiting.

The servers seated us at an outside table and, since it was a relatively quiet Sunday afternoon, were friendly and attentive. They even helped us identify some of the buildings as we rotated past them, and told us tidbits of local history. They also listened to our food preferences and made recommendations that both fit our desires and let us sample some local flavor (their menu is seasonal; I doubt the dishes we had are still served).

My mother recalls that brunch as a highlight of her visit, and it certainly was one of my favorite experiences. The food was well-made and the ambience wonderful, and the view simply cannot be beat.

The Sun Dial isn’t cheap — our tab for that brunch was about $60 for the two of us, and Sunday brunch is the least expensive meal they offer. But the food was top-notch and the service and location made it worth the money. Still, it’s certainly not a place I would suggest for a budget traveler, and I’ve only been back twice myself. But that doesn’t mean I would hesitate to recommend it if the situation were right.

akamarykate gave me six topics that make sense and one that seems random. But I don’t mind!

Travel — Love it, and don’t get to do enough of it.

When I was in high school, two of my teachers made a point of telling me that I would really benefit from traveling. To this day I haven’t figured out if they were telling me I was far too inexperienced and/or stuck in my own frame of reference and needed my horizons broadened, or if they were telling me they knew I liked learning new things and that travel was a good way to do it. I don’t pretend to have broad horizons, though I do object to the idea that I’m narrow minded.

The problem, more than anything, is money. Travel takes more of it than I often have. This being said, I’d jump at the chance for a job that required a lot of traveling. Thing is, I don’t have the skill set (or the interest in developing the skills) for the kinds of jobs that most often involve heavy travel. So I’ll likely just keep it as a leisure activity.

This being said, I’m still trying to figure out what big trip I’m going to give myself for my 40th birthday. I’ve promised myself something really extra special. I still have a couple of years left to save the money.

Favorite Songs — often depend on my mood and whatever I might have heard on the radio last. I have some favorite artists and favorite genres, and even favorite instruments (I love pianos) but not really any specific favorite songs.

How can you really pick a single favorite song anyway? Not every song is good for every situation. When I’m in traffic in the morning, I need something softer and gentler than when I’m in traffic in the afternoon. When I’m trying to write, I want something entirely different than when I’m trying to clean. And if I’m trying to sing, I’m far more interested in the singability of the song than its genre, composer, etc.

Not to mention that the only times I’ve ever not enjoyed a concert have not been related to the concert itself. And I’ve been to everything from pure classical to seedy C+W bars. Not a lot, but enough to claim a bit of experience in the matter.

Photography — there was a time I thought of turning pro. Now, I’m satisfied to be a talented amateur. One thing I learned when taking the classes at Emory is that I do not like working on assignment. That puts it too mildly, actually; the truth is that I despise it. But that’s part and parcel of being a professional photographer; you take the picture the client wants, not the picture you want to take.

I’m glad I took the classes, though, and still dream of going back and finishing up the two I need to complete the certificate series. I’ve learned a lot, and it has definitely improved my photography. I like knowing what’s going on and being able to apply what I’ve learned. I just want to do it my own way and on my own time.

The classes weren’t cheap, but they were a heck of a lot cheaper than, say, getting a degree in photography only to discover that I prefer being a hobbyist. And it’s still fun to talk picture taking even if you’re “not serious.” I’m serious enough to be appreciated by others who are also into photography, and I love looking at other people’s pictures and listening to their ideas.

Best Place(s) to Write — I’ve found a few here in Atlanta. There’s a Waffle House near where I work that has started to claim me as their “writer girl” (I show up about once a week). There’s a McDonald’s in Roswell with an unusual-for-fast-food ambience that works well for me. There’s a hotel bar down by the airport that I really like, but because it’s expensive and all the way on the other side of town, I don’t get there often.

I like quiet places to write and would enjoy libraries except that they don’t allow food and drink, and while food is optional when I’m writing, I do prefer having something to sip on. The folks at the Waffle House know that I like it when they keep my tea fresh and the McDonald’s allows free refills on the same visit. I also like places that have people but aren’t super-crowded, which rules out a lot of coffee shops for me — the one that I have found, plays the music a bit too loud. Coffee shops often feel like they’re trying too hard anyway.

I wish I could find a place that wasn’t an eatery and would just let me have a glass of water. My waistline does too. For now, though, I just look around for places and when I find one, stick with it.

Twitter — ah, Twitter. I love it for the ease of use. I hate it for encouraging the routine massacring of the English language.

I love it for being able to keep up with people without having to page through reams and reams of writing. I hate it for creating a situation that makes me think in brief thoughts instead of fully developed concepts.

I love it for its versatility and the relative ease with which it integrates with other social media applications. I hate it for taking over the online world.

I guess you could say it’s a love-hate relationship, except that now that I’ve been sucked in to using Twitter, I have no reason to think I’ll stop. I use it in far too many different ways.

Thunderstorms — a couple of years ago I signed off at work by telling a co-worker that there was a thunderstorm coming and I wanted to go outside and stand in it. He thought I was very strange. Why would anyone want to go outside and get wet and windblown?

He had a point, but I love thunderstorms anyway. Given a choice, I’d rather experience them from a place like a porch as opposed to being in them without shelter, but I have so many pleasant memories of thunderstorms that I can barely stand having to stay completely inside for one. That I routinely do it as an adult is primarily a comment about my ability to distract myself.

I’ve been through enough severe weather that I have a healthy respect for thunderstorms and the things that can come with them. That’s actually a part of what makes them so very interesting to me. The weather’s actually making itself known, and the science behind it is relatively easy to comprehend. The thing is, all the science in the world can’t capture the sheer exhilaration of a thunderstorm. That’s one reason I don’t always think about science when I think about weather.

Snack Foods — the less I say about them, the better. I’m addicted, and I’ll admit it. I can even tell you the reasons why.

The first is because of my hyposmia; my severely reduced sense of smell means that I often cannot detect nuances in food. Snack foods tend to be very salty or very sweet. Those are two things I can detect, so it makes the food more “interesting” to my senses. That leaves me liking it more than I like other foods.

The second reason is convenience. When I’m only trying to feed myself, cooking seems like an extraordinary inefficient use of my time. It’s faster to just grab something and go…and snack foods lend themselves to this situation far too easily for safety’s sake.

I’m sure snack food makers are aware of at least the second situation, if not the first. In other words, I’m well aware that I’m the victim of marketers when it comes to my food choices. I’ve been trying to be more aware of that, and have had some success, but at this point snack foods are just too much of a habit for me to completely give them up.

Wow. That was more words than I thought it would be.

What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?

I have to choose only one? Or is the purpose of this question perhaps to motivate a person into doing just that, as a way of prioritizing?

In that case, I suppose I would select finishing college. I’m coming up on my twentieth high school reunion (not this year, but soon) and in those twenty years that goal has never really quite gone away. There have been several times I’ve chosen not to go back or continue and there was a long period when college didn’t pass a cost-benefit analysis — I wasn’t at all certain I’d increase my income enough to offset the cost of student loan payments.

That last reason went away with my job at Intuit, and that fact is one of the larger reasons I finally decided to go ahead and do it. Life won’t be fun for me financially for the next three to five years, but I’m hoping to come out of it on the other side with a degree.

Money held me back, and I do worry about the student loan payments — but I believe that removing the higher income I’d had has given me a different outlook that may lead to a different outcome. I’ll know in a few years.

Who was the worst boss you’ve ever had? Did you ever get your revenge?

I won’t name names or give specific details; that would be a bad idea for several reasons. But I don’t have trouble identifying my worst boss when asked the question.

A side note before I get started: if you know me “in real life,” you may recognize this person anyway. Please respect both our privacy and refrain from identifying her. She doesn’t deserve that, because I believe she honestly thought she was being a good boss.

That’s right; I’m sympathetic. She had tried for years to have children before finally accepting that she couldn’t. Had she succeeded, her children likely would have been my age — and, following a divorce and remarriage, she did end up with a step-daughter who was born the same year I was…but who was definitely not the daughter she would have imagined. There was a lot of conflict between her and the step-daughter and, while I never was so crass as to ask, I suspect it may have led to no small amount of conflict with her husband as well.

But my sympathy only extends to a point. She tried to mentor me even though I wasn’t particularly interested, and her version of “mentor” meant that she frequently went so far as to try and explicitly (as in, she actually said it) tell me what and hwo to think. Those who know me, know that while I’ll accept being told how to act and will listen when told why I should act that way, I will react extremely negatively toward being told how or what to think.

In addition, this boss frequently made comments about my age, to the point that I considered the environment to be reverse-ageism. She also, after having tangled with her step-daughter or with a problem employee who happened to be about my age, made general comments about how awful my generation was. It drove me up a wall on a regular basis, particularly when she proceeded to accuse me of having a bad attitude because I wouldn’t actively agree with her. (I’m really rather proud of the fact that I only flat-out spoke up in disagreement a handful of times.)

But I managed to stick it out for a while, and it’s a job and an experience I’m not sorry to have had. And we’re both older; she’s now retired, and I’ve moved so far beyond her that I don’t think I ever even could go back. I can also explain why the job itself was a positive experience.

As far as revenge? That’s not my style. I’ve done so well, and improved so much, since that particular job that I consider that all the revenge I need. We didn’t stay in contact after I left that job, but I genuinely hope she’s happy in her retirement — and that she is in a place where she doesn’t have to routinely encounter any generation except her own.

How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?

Because I’m not everyone; I’m only myself. If everyone were exactly like me, the world wouldn’t just be boring. It would reflect both my strengths and weaknesses at a level that created a skewed and, quite frankly, scary place.

The idea of taking sheer delight in the differences between people and cultures was ingrained in me before I was old enough to walk and talk. I don’t think my parents were wrong to do that; rather the contrary, in fact. As a whole, the people of the world tend to balance each other out in terms of similarities and differences.

I wouldn’t have it any other way. The differences are one of the things that make me happy.

What’s something you know you do differently than most people?

This may sound like a silly answer, but it’s a real one: I tie my shoes differently than most people.

My hand-eye coordination is just barely at normal, and I had already been moved up a year in school by the time my classmates got to the traditional age when they learn to do things like tie their own shoes. So I was pressured to do something a little early, and it was something that I likely wasn’t quite ready for in terms of physical development.

What this meant was that, no matter how many times anyone showed me the traditional method for tying shoes, I just could not remember it or, sometimes, even manage to do it. Fortunately, my mother knew about a simpler method, which I was able to do the first time she showed me (and able to remember after just three or four repetitions).

I’ve since learned the traditional method and can do it, but because the simpler method works just as well, I never had any motivation to switch. This was only reinforced when, after several incidents of tripping over my own shoelaces, I got myself into the habit of double-tying. Since I’ve started double-tying, I’ve only very rarely had a shoelace come untied — and I’ve never had an issue that could be traced to use of the simpler method of single-tying.

So why fix what isn’t broken? Most people don’t even notice, even if they do see me tie my shoes.

What is your LEAST favorite movie of all time, and why?

Two words: Pure Country. If ever I needed a brain scrub, it was after that movie got inflicted on me. Unfortunately, it has happened more than once so I’ve not been entirely successful getting it out of my head.

I am a fan of Kyle Chandler, but his appearance in this movie isn’t enough to counteract its awfulness. It’s nothing more than a bunch of clichés piled on top of each other, narrow-minded assumptions about the way society should be, and repetitive music. There’s even a character that speaks in nothing but stupid metaphors!

The worst thing about this movie is the number of people who think it’s wonderful and, even worse, take it as Gospel. “Have you ever seen the way it was done in Pure Country? That’s the right way and the way I want to do it.”

Yes, I have actually heard that come out of people’s mouths. More than once, in fact.

Oh goodness — get me out of there! I don’t mind pride in being a “redneck” but that takes it overboard (to put it mildly). I wish Pure Country had never been made.

If you had to relocate to another city, what would you miss most about the place you’re leaving behind[?]

I wouldn’t miss Atlanta for Atlanta. It really hasn’t made all that unique of an impression on me. But I would miss some of the things I have in Atlanta, not all of which are tangible. Depending on where I was going, I might also miss a few things that aren’t specific to Atlanta but are specific to the geographic location.

This question hits a little close as I write this, because my “fall back position” if I run out of money during unemployment involves moving back to Raleigh. I don’t want to do that. The reason I’m trying not to do it is because I like the life I have here in Atlanta. Oh, it could be better — and I’m working to make it that way — but my house is here (and I’m loving home ownership) and my immediate educational plans involve schools in the metro.

It would also be something of a personal defeat. This is the first time I’ve really been completely on my own. People tell me I’ve already proven I can make it because I will get to the five-year mark in a couple of weeks, but time doesn’t always equal success.

So I’d miss living in Atlanta. But not really because of anything specific to Atlanta, beyond the fact that I’ve specific plans involving local locations. (There are schools in Raleigh, and in many other cities, where I could accomplish the same educational goals. There are also homes to buy practically everywhere.) I’d miss it because of what it’s meant.

Depending on where I went, I might also miss things that are actually more about the South, such as the climate and the local traditions. I’ve lived in the South almost all of my life, and there would be culture shock if I moved to a different geographic region. While I enjoy diversity and new experience, I do like having familiarity to fall back on when things get confusing.

(This being said, I’ve wondered if a couple of years in some place like California might do me some good. But that’s beside the point of this post, and I likely wouldn’t stay there permanently.)

Although I’ve been in Atlanta for a while and, if I get my wish, will be for a while longer, I don’t plan to live here for the rest of my life. Eventually there will come a time to move on, and while I don’t yet know where I’ll go, I’m pretty sure I already know how I’ll view my time spent here: as a good part of my life, but one I won’t really miss.

If you were given the opportunity to spend two weeks in any country in the world free of charge, which country would you choose, and why?

The United States! No, really, I mean that.

I’m assuming that the underlying intent of this question involves a vacation, and there is an incredible amount of my own country that I have not yet had a chance to see. If money were no object, I would love to take a two-week road trip. In my case, I’d primarily stay west of the Mississippi River but that is because it’s farther from home and, thus, has more that I haven’t seen (meaning more to explore).

This is one of the things I love best about my country. It’s so large and diverse that you could quite literally spend a lifetime exploring it and not see all there is to see.

All that being said, I have nothing against international travel and would gladly take the opportunity if it were offered. Dreams I’ve had have included hiking in both Bermuda and Costa Rica; taking a train vacation through Europe; and visiting Australia and New Zealand. (Even Antarctica might be fun.)

I’ve developed a trend of taking a “big” vacation about every five years. So far, I’ve been to Seattle and Hawaii. The next five-year interval falls at about the time I’ll graduate from college, and I’ve already promised myself a graduation trip as the celebration. I haven’t yet decided where it will be. Part of me leans toward going outside of the United States this time, but there’s another part of me that reminds me I still have a lot yet to see in my own country.

In case you’re wondering: yes, I have been outside the United States. But only for a total of about ten days. Six or seven of them were in Antigua in the mid-1980s. Four were in Toronto in 2000; and I spent part of a day in Vancouver in 2006.

When Emily was still a kitten, there were several hair-greying incidents that were likely attributable to her intent to conquer my taller furniture, the windows and various counter-tops. The worst one earned a blog post of its own, but there were several that didn’t get blogged since they were comparatively minor.

I eventually got used to it. Dorothy, who still has Emily’s sister Scribbles (and their mother, Ginger), dubbed the activity “skydiving” after Scribbles pulled a couple of similar stunts.

This armoire conveyed with the condo I bought in December, so it’s relatively new to the house. I haven’t seen Emily skydiving off it yet, but she scrambles down via furniture whenever I walk in the room. It took me several tries to get a picture since I had to sneak up on her.

But I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that skydiving is already going on when I’m not around; Emily’s pretty good at the “don’t get caught doing” parts of rules. If there’s no skydiving yet, I imagine there will be soon.

Photo: Checking Out the View, uploaded by airnos