......A Good Day at the Office

If you have a business in Athens, you're going to get asked to play in charity golf tournaments. If you have a decent golfer in your office, you'll find that you start getting asked to play about every week, especially in the Fall. We happen to have a two handicapper at our office, so of course, everyone in town suddenly wants your office (or more specifically, your ringer) to join their team for a fund raiser.

While there is some truth to the old adage that "a bad day on the golf course beats a good day at the office every time," I will add this axiom: A business day on the golf course makes for long nights and early mornings for those in the client service business. And whether you're in the office or not, you might wind up spending what should be a relaxing day on the course on your cell phone instead dealing with pressing issues.

So when I got an e-mail today announcing the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce's "Non-Tournament" Tournament fund raiser, I had to laugh. It's a great idea -- get the sponsors, have the party, do the socializing, but let everyone get some work done that day anyway. Here's what Chamber President Doc Eldridge had to say:

"A funny thing developed as people began to respond. The majority of you said they they were happy to do a tee sponsorship for $100, but PLEASE, don't ask me or my staff to take another day off from work and play in yet another golf tournament. There are at least 8 other tournaments within the next few weeks, and you like the rest of us have gotten worn out on spring and fall golf tournaments."

Kudos to Doc Eldridge for some creative thinking. Perhaps we could have a Golden Tee Machine brought in for the party and have have some Wii Golf for a mini-tournament anyway (video below). Chamber Press Release follows.
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This year golfers and businesses participating in the Chamber’s final fund raising event of the year won’t have to worry about Tee-times. Businesses won’t spend time figuring out who will be manning the store and who will be representing the company on the golf course. Players won’t be scrambling at the last minute to arrange a fourth, and nobody will be up all night finagling how to fit one more event-- and another golf tournament-- into an already typical and event filled season known as Fall in Athens.

There are even more benefits of the tournament this year: No worry about the weather. No worry about missed work. Even no worry about fudging on a handicap. In fact, no tournament. Just a celebratory scoring party for a job well done.

This year’s 4^th Annual Paul Miller Classic Golf Tournament will be a NON Tournament.

The day promises to have all the trappings of a major tournament, complete with tee sponsors, which keep coming in, says Chamber President and CEO Doc Eldridge. Members can end a productive day at work with a Scoring Party held in the Chamber’s comfortable and all-weather board room with drinks and hors d’œuvres to celebrate a productive day.

The event was started four years ago as a tribute to Paul Miller, the Chamber’s economic development director for some 20 years. “Paul brought business people together to plan how to make Athens a better place to live,” says Eldridge. “The tournament was begun to bring people together for a time of sport, fellowship and dreams for the future of the Athens area. We are continuing that tradition on Tuesday, October 7 with the Paul Miller Classic Golf Non Tournament. Instead of a day on the golf course, we’ll have the opportunity after work, traditionally the time when those manning the office joined the golfers.” All sponsors, says Eldridge, will be included in the scoring party.

There are other benefits as well. “With the virtual golf tournament, tee sponsors multiply exposure potentials. “Typically, the tee signs only reach the players, roughly 70 to 80,” says Eldridge, who adds that the players often are more interested in their game than the signs that decorate the course. “By having a non tournament tournament, we are increasing exposure to nearly 160,000 by combining the circulation of the Sunday page and e-mails to our many members in the coming weeks,” says Eldridge.

Businesses or individuals interested in sponsoring a tee may contact the Chamber at 706-549-6800, or simply email Doc at doc@athensga.com.

Athens Multi-Modal Station up for Big Award

Athens' own multi-modal station -- which serves as a bus transfer station and downtown hub while it waits on the eventual arrival of the Brain Train -- is up for one of Atlanta's most prestigious real estate awards.

On September 18 local leaders will find out if the station earns the Urban Land Institute's Development of Excellence award for the southern region. Interestingly, another past finalist for the award from Athens is the restored Hodgson Oil Building, which now houses UGA's communications and police departments. The Hodgson Oil Building is just a stone's throw from the multi-modal station.

See the video here....

Prince Happenings

At Jackson Spalding, we're proud to be a part of the Bottleworks community on Prince Avenue. Our location offers a lot of benefits -- we're in a great old mixed-use complex, it's in a beautiful and historic neighborhood, we can walk downtown relatively easily, sidewalks abound, the neighbors are great, parking is easy and we have a lot of wonderful dining choices (Big City Bread, The Grit, 237 Prince, and Siri Thai to name a few).

However, some positive changes are afoot on the Prince Avenue corridor that will make it an even better area. Since Athens loves to talk about Prince, we thought we would post an update here.

First of all, McChesney Capital, the company that owns the Foundry Park Inn and is involved with several other local real estate projects, recently acquired most of the Bottleworks (several homes and offices are individually owned). Several changes are already underway or complete, including a new website, newly landscaped and renovated internal courtyard (pictured above) and improved landscaping. Plans were also recently approved by Athens Historic Preservation Commission that will allow the owners to install dramatic new signage, lighting, and landscaping throughout. Parking will also be improved, traffic flow adjusted and better directional signage installed.

According to the building's new managers, the goal is to make the Bottleworks a destination in Athens and to raise its profile. Potential new tenants being targeted include a 75+ seat upscale American restaurant concept, a new coffee shop facing Prince, a pub with outdoor dining in the new courtyard, and a variety of retail and office space users.

Across the street, Taqueria del Sol is rehabbing an old service station into one of its wonderful fast casual Mexican offerings (see picture). For all of us Atlanta ex-pats, this is exciting news. Taqueria is well known for the food-that-makes-waiting-in-a-line-out-the-door-worth-it at its three Atlanta locations, where it offers a mix of fresh mex and wonderful cuisine. While this has been reported minimally locally, in the Inbox's opinion, this could significantly alter the dining dynamic of Prince and bring more young professionals, families and students onto Prince for their evening meals, which is a good thing.

At any rate, that's the latest from 237 Prince Avenue -- anything else going on that we should know about?

A New Perspective on Dirt

If you're staying in town for this Labor Day weekend, be sure to check out Perspectives, the 6th annual pottery exhibit and sale hosted by Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation. Fifty potters will be displaying and selling their work, starting with the opening gala Friday night. Admission for the gala is $5, but starting Saturday, the sale and exhibit are free and open to the public. The whole affair takes place at the OCAF complex in downtown Watkinsville off School Street - with the exception of some of the studio tours.

If you're going out of town this weekend, you'll still have an opportunity to get the dirt. I collect pottery, so I'll probably make multiple visits to the show over its three-week span from August 29-September 7 when it's open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. I'm especially looking forward to seeing work from Kelly King (shown here) again - her pottery caught my eye at last year's show. I remember her exhibition piece being particularly spectacular, and I'm planning to add more of her art to my collection.

With more than 4,500 pieces on display or for sale, it's the state's largest pottery extravaganza. The exhibit includes 140 pieces, one from each participating potter plus collections from seven Georgia potters entitled "Another View: Pots and Sculpture."

Each year, it seems like the potters raise the bar, getting more and more inventive with forms, colors, glazes, etchings and interpretations. Trust me - this perspective is worth seeing.

Taking the Plunge in Beijing

As I write this, I'm thinking fondly of a soft couch where I could take a nap. The Beijing Olympics - rolling on through Day 7 - has me up well past a reasonable bedtime to keep up with the action. What can you do when they keep putting Michael Phelps in the pool around 11:30?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to pull for the hometown hero early in the primetime broadcast. UGA diver Chris Colwill and diving partner Jevon Tarintino performed in last night's synchronized 3m diving competition. The synchro event involves six rounds of dives. Athletes receive two sets of scores, the first based on technical execution of the dives and the second on the pair's synchronization.

And when they say synchronization, they mean it. Pairs are judged on every hand movement, maintaining the same height coming off the board, folding into tucks and twists at the same time, and rotating through the air at the same rate. If you've watched, you also know - as commentator Cynthia Potter points out every chance she gets - that participants must enter the water at the same time and with the same trajectory. This is no bellyflop contest, either. Splashing is highly frowned upon.

Colwill and Tarantino had a disastrous fourth round dive, ending up perpendicular to each other as they twisted. (Colwill is on the far side in this photo.) They recovered with a solid dive in the fifth round, and held the third spot going into the final round behind the dominating Chinese team and the German pair. Hopes for a bronze medal for the U.S. team were high. Colwill and Tarantino looked good in the air, but one over rotated and the angles of entry ended up messy - and splashes erupted in opposite direction. The error resulted in disappointing execution scores and opened the door for the Ukrainian team to scoop up the third metal position. Though I'm no expert, I thought the Ukrainians had equal problems on their entry and that Colwill and Tarantino executed the dive more precisely - especially in terms of synchro. But maybe that's just my Bulldog bias.

Colwill, who is hearing-impaired, put in a marvelous performance, and the fourth place finish, though disappointing, is still a noteworthy accomplishment when you consider the field of play. Colwill will start preliminary qualifications for the individual 3m springboard on Monday. Tune in and prepare to be amazed. Splashing not welcome.

PHOTO: GREG PEARSON / GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Surveying The Athens Landscape

Athens is a perfect place if you enjoy well-landscaped environments. The University of Georgia boasts its own marked arboretum, the president's garden and test gardens full of specimen trees, shrubs and flowers on the main campus. Or visit the State Botanical Gardens, where you can easily get your fill of gorgeous landscaped environments full of unusual plants and trees.

For the more inspired searcher (like myself), one can also find some of the nation's best wholesale and retail nurseries in the region. Some of my favorite retailers are Goodness Grows (Lexington), Thyme after Thyme (Winterville), Cofer's (Athens), Outdoor Specialty (Watkinsville), Land Arts (Monroe), Pinebush Nursery (Ila), and Thomas' Orchard (Watkinsville). These nurseries feature everything from new cultivars of plants that have emerged from research at UGA by legendary professors like Dr. Michael Dirr and Dr. Allan Armitage to old favorites found on the side of the road released to the world by Athens entrepreneurs. Without these nurseries and their operators, the communities of Northeast Georgia would not be nearly as green.

Indeed, when the local watering bans came down last year, I was one of a few locals who decried the impact they had on the landscape industry, which deserve better treatment by our local governments given the jobs and economic benefits they create, never mind the aesthetic impact and strong use of rural land in our "greenbelts."

But perhaps the most spectacular gardens in Athens and surrounding can be found in a variety of private homes. One of the most impressive is featured in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This is the garden of UGA's legendary Coach Vince Dooley, who now officially qualifies as Athens' most famous gardener.

Coach Dooley's gardens feature a range of rare plants, old favorites, and new introductions in what looks like an amazing setting. Be sure to click on the link and check out the photos, story and video. As an amateur plantsman, I'm excited to hear that Coach Dooley and Dr. Dirr are also planning to include a number of rare plants at the new plaza that will honor Coach Dooley that is being installed near the track on Lumpkin.

Coach -- any chance a reporter from the Inbox can get a preview? Let us know!

Photo credits: AJC

Update: UGA and the Georgia Research Alliance have also announced the recruitment of an eminent scholar who happens to be a tree expert to UGA. Good news for trees and gardeners. The Research Alliance is a Jackson Spalding client.

What Nt 2 Do

Back in April, Brian posted some tips for job seekers on the how to get employers' attention with your follow-up thank yous after an interview. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article about the new phenomenon of texting your thanks after an interview. The article, cleverly entitled "Thanks for the IView. I Wud 'Heart' to Work 4 U!" also chronicles how some interviewees are seeking out potential interviewers on social networking sites and trying to make "friends" prior to meeting.

I feel like the underlying message in some articles like this (although this one doesn't convey it overly much) is that the texting/Twittering/Facebooking masses are "the way things are" and anyone who gives the New Media Revolution any push-back is old and dated.

And while the means of the message are debatable - I, like Brian, still prefer a handwritten note that shows some thought and consideration - the message is not up for debate. Candidates genuinely interested in a job opportunity should say so in a manner and via a medium that indicates their professionalism. A misspelled ill-conceived text sent on the fly does not say "detail-oriented." I still stand by the notion that how you deliver your message has as much meaning as the message itself. While I'm growing to respect e-mail messages, too, I think it'll be a long time before "Thx 4 ur time" impresses me much.