Starbucks who?

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when the Orchard Park Starbucks location closed.

But a new banner announces a new tenant for JavaU New York Butcher Shop that little spot on the corner between Jett Ferry and Mt. Vernon.

A Google search didn't turn up anything about this particular company so comments are welcome with more info.  Such as, is this a local shop, a local chain, or a growing regional/national chain.

Let's not forget Dunwoody Bakery also has high-end coffee available in a very comfy setting with all the amenities you need to go along w/ your cup 'o joe.  I snapped this shot below while looking for zucchini bread.  

While on the subject of coffee, I can't help but think of breakfast.  Saturday mornings.  And not having to trek into Sandy Springs or Norcross for chicken biscuits that my husband kids beg for.  The coffee isn't bad either.  The building is finished, the staff is hired, the Facebook promotions are rolling ahead.  The finishing touches are being added to the exterior as of this morning.

New pavement without crumbles, check.  Double drive-thru without taking over the entire parking lot, check.  Clear pedestrian crosswalks, check.  The beginnings of al fresco dining, check.  Spiffy new landscaping, check.  New Chick-fil-A location in Dunwoody's Williamsburg shopping area without having to brawl over zoning designation:  gold star.  Grand opening on May 2.  I'll be picking up chicken biscuits and big coffees in my slippers and pajama bottoms first thing on May 4.

Electronic Billboards are Coming to Dunwoody

Despite legal action and community fights, Dunwoody is about to receive electronic billboards all over the city.

In fact, many Dunwoody-area businesses have already started using them for advertising.

Ta-daaaaa!  (Gotcha!!!)
Miniature billboards such as the one above found in SOHO Office in Orchard Park are the brainchild of Chuck Renfroe, an advertising and traditional billboard specialist who found a way to place billboard advertising at a level where consumers will see it, without violating zoning ordinances or pissing off neighborhoods.

My first reaction, one day, when I stopped off to check my mail, was, "Hey wow!  What is that???"  The little screen was captivating and it sat discreetly on the service counter at the back of SOHO Office.  Apparently, a number of brick-and-mortar storefronts are hosting these billboards and the buzz is growing.

I immediately snapped the two pictures above, went straight home, blew off my "to do" list and got right on the phone to Chuck to learn more.  Chuck has mini billboards all over the North Atlanta metro region with rates and packages affordable for anyone.

In fact, I rented space in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs myself, almost on the spot.

Contact Chuck at dunwoodybillboards.com for information on how to create an advertisement for his billboard network, or to host a billboard in your establishment.  Tell him I sent you and I showed him some love on the DWG blog!

Fundraiser for Tripp Halstead in Brook Run Park in Dunwoody

Cornhole Tournament at Brook Run Park on April 27  11 AM to 3 PM

Registration Information

Registration Fee: $60 per team
Limited to the first 32 teams, each team has 2 players
Double Elimination Tournament

First Place Prize
Weekend Stay at Loews Hotel Midtown Atlanta
$85 dinner coupon at the restaurant Eleven at the Loews Hotel plus $100 cash.

Raffle
We will be having a raffle throughout the day of the event with several prizes to be given away. This list will be growing over the next few weeks.

Prizes
A one night stay at Atlanta Hilton and breakfast
A custom set of cornhole boards

Where

Brook Run Park, Dunwoody GA
4770 North Peachtree Road
Dunwoody, Georgia 30338

Driving Directions

Contact

Claire Smith
Sunshine on a Ranney Day
Claire@sunshineonaranneyday.com
Phone: (770) 364-6740
http://www.sunshineonaranneyday.com

Bill Williams
Bill's Woodworks
http://www.bwwoodworks.com


Like many moms and dads, I've been following the progress of Tripp Halstead, who had a traumatic brain injury when a tree limb fell on him at his daycare during Hurricane Sandy.  My son is Tripp's age, I can't help but stay up to date with him via Facebook and pull for him too.

The Halsteads have benefited from the organization Sunhine on a Ranney Day.  They have been hosting local fundraisers to assist the family with astronomical expenses.

My cornhole skills stink but I'm taking my family out to Brook Run on April 27.  Let's show some Dunwoody support for this family fighting for their son because it's what we would want our community to do if we were saving our own children.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKING: ABC's "Shark Tank" to hold open auditions in Atlanta

Dunwoody has its fair share of entrepreneurs and this casting call could be your big break.

Based on the BBC and NTN hit, "Dragon's Den", entrepreneurs try to persuade millionaire investors to buy in on their product or company.  Whether they gain the trust (and investment) of the "Sharks", participants are guaranteed a huge nationwide audience.

CASTING CALL AUDITION SCHEDULE:

SUNDAY, APRIL 14th

THE FOX THEATRE

660 Peachtree St. NE

Atlanta, GA 30308

11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. -- Numbered Wristbands Distributed

12:00 p.m. -- Interviews Begin

More info from the show's official site is here:  http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/casting

(Especially read the terms of use - very important when discussing your invention or business idea before a national audience.)

Who's going to represent Dunwoody to the Sharks?

INTRODUCING: 2013 Greater Perimeter Business Expo

www.gpbe.org

The Greater Perimeter Business Expo is back for 2013 and is again a joint effort between the Sandy Springs and Dunwoody chambers.  Sponsorships affordable for a wide range of businesses are still available, as are display booths in the ballroom at Crowne Plaza Ravinia.  This Expo is one of the best annual networking events in the area.  You learn a lot about your neighbors and the city around you when meeting them in a business environment, eye-to-eye.

This website is a significant upgrade from the original launched last year.  First, it is the Dunwoody Chamber's first step into Drupal 7.  Drupal is an extraordinary powerful open-source content management system (CMS) whose advantages include fine granularity of permissions.  (That means you can set up your site so each user or group of users you designate has different abilities to access different functions, or to have different experiences with content.)  This latest stable version of Drupal has built-in code that makes slideshows (like the sponsor filmstrip above) easier to install and maintain.  Unlike most Joomla and WordPress extensions/plugins, it isn't hard to have more than one slideshow or other animated feature.

The other major improvement is the site design:  it still reflects the original, but was updated to the most current design trends.  This theme is optimized as much for a tablet/iPad as for a desktop or laptop.

Finally, I didn't forget the smartphones!  It's not enough to design for horizontal rectangular screens anymore. Site visitors may use anything from an iPhone to a 60-inch TV screen.  There are several ways to accommodate this wide variety of screen sizes and proportions.  In this site, I used the latest technique called "responsive design".  That means the server where the site resides can "read" the screen size that is viewing it, then rearrange the elements and font size to fit.  You can access all of the same information and function as comfortably on your phone as on any other device.

Here's a simulation of how this same site looks on an iPhone:

The following is intended for my fellow web geeks and ChamberMaster users.

As of this date, ChamberMaster's SEO-optimized content modules are not compatible with Drupal 7.  D7 has javascript libraries included in core that make image/content sliders easier to install and optimize jQuery animated navigation associated with mobile devices.  However, there's a trade-off:  It is no longer possible to copy/paste or otherwise insert JavaScript of any kind into a Drupal page.  Not even one little line, even from Google or similar libraries.    So ChamberMaster's SEO-optimized modules will end up breaking your theme and navigation entirely, because they function by inserting JavaScript into the page.

Adding additional JavaScript requires including the script in an external file and declaring it in a theme, or referencing it in a module.  You can declare a javascrript in either the theme's .INFO file, or in the functions.php directory, to load the script on every page.  Or, download and install the "Javascript Libraries" module and your javascript can be called on a per page basis.  With the module, you can even load the script after the footer and speed up your page load time.

I've already been on the phone to Micronet to explain the conflict and the solution.  (SamC.?  Buddy?  You listening?)  To make ChamberMaster modules compatible with D7, the javscript will have to be exported to external files and referenced in the integration code.  Then the user would need a list of those scripts and reference them in their site's theme (or the Libraries module) while following the usual ChamberMaster page integration instructions.  I tried this with individual "plugins" like the search function and main business directory and it works when you edit the inserted code individually and build/reference your own .JS files.

Sitting in my chair, it's simple, if detailed, but I have no idea what Micronet would have to go through to modify their code for Drupal compatibility without fouling up another internal function on their side.  In theory, this should work equally well on Joomla, WordPress, SiteFinity, Expression Engine, and other CMS.  Those would not have to have the javascript referenced in their theme, as long as the ChamberMaster module references the location locally.

BTW - how did I get the event registration integrated into the GPBE site?  IFrame tags on the main registration page, lightboxes for breakfast and lunch registrations.  Not the most elegant solution, but it does work.  And with the new color/style management system in the admin side of ChamberMaster, it matches the rest of the site easily enough.  The Drupal 7 upgrade of the Dunwoody Chamber website is on hold until this conflict is resolved.

Birth of a New Dunwoody Tradition?

The Dunwoody Preservation Trust washed the Farmhouse in blue in honor of Autism Awareness Month.

(John's blog post on the subject.)

Why should the Empire State Building have all the fun?  Like Light Up Dunwoody, and the Fourth of July parade, our City's icon can be used to celebrate all kinds of events and commemorations that bring our diverse community together.

Is there any chance the DPT can make the Farmhouse lighting a regular event?  Red, white, and blue for July 4 and other national holidays?  Yellow for Lemonade Days?  (Only half kidding....)  With some forethought and planning the Farmhouse, a symbol of Dunwoody's past, could be used to make relevant statements about Dunwoody today.

Great idea, DPT!

INTRODUCING: The new RikEmmett.com

It's been a while since I've posted - here's why.  This project was an intense labor of love.

I got a call one evening from Rik Emmett (formerly of Triumph, now flying solo) inquiring if I would be willing to assume command of his website and other online resources.

Can I get a "hell, yeah"!

Rik's site is a combination of ecommerce and social networking.  Much of his discography is available for sale via download, in addition to books and videos.  There is also a subscriber-based fan network, performance date listings and other information.

One of the rarely-discussed aspects of webmastering and website development is the fact that taking over someone else's website and upgrading it can be a greater challenge than just creating a new one from scratch.  This site is a case in point.

The original rikemmett.com went live in 1996 and had experienced three different webmasters (all major fans on a slight budget or fan-enthusiasm basis) and the presence I was to upgrade was a patchwork of different kinds of technology that evolved over eight years.  They included static HTML files, an outdated phpBB bulletin board program with many custom modifications in the source code, an obsolete mailing list code, and a very outdated WordPress installation.  The databases had not been reviewed or cleaned of old or spam data since at least 2004.  The subscription aspect of the site did not integrate with the main website, the database had become corrupted, and the program was failing - users were seeing obvious errors and security holes were allowing spammers to infiltrate.  The hosting company site wasn't what I call "user friendly", either.

Ever see one of those "Hoarders" shows?  The first step in this process is the same:  assess what's here, try to figure out what previous programmers had done, then decide (quickly, before everything caves in) what should stay, what needs a good cleaning, what should be tossed on the spot, and what should be built fresh.

The final product needed to look as similar as possible to the one I inherited, but with an updated, widget-enabled WordPress theme.  All of the old graphics were going to be retained.  Brand new highly interactive theme, essentially created from scratch, using recycled images from the previous version.  All of the page content was imported into the new install and new plugins were added to drive such features as an interactive photo gallery (as opposed to a manually-created page with pictures).  Next was an upgraded ecommerce plugin.  The ecommerce solution is unique in that "add to cart" buttons and a shopping cart can be placed anywhere within the site, not just within a designated "store".  Then the mailing list was moved to MailChimp for better maintenance and guarantee of delivery of online newsletters.

The biggest innovations I brought to the table were new membership management and integration of the bulletin board with the website.  Previously, renewal notifications and subscription expiration was highly unreliable.  The current solution displays member status and expiration dates clearly in a user panel and settings for delivering notices are managed via the main dashboard.  Subscription payments are managed through the same shopping cart that manages the digital downloads and other merchandise.

After trying Wordpress-based plugin bbPress numerous times without success, I decided to keep the bulletin board in phpBB.  I discovered a plugin that I highly recommend entitled WP United.  This plugin keeps the bulletin board and main website databases separate, but allows the bulletin board to be integrated into a WordPress page and allows for logins and other bulletin board content to appear where needed.  (see below).  The result is a useful and comfortable home page for logged in subscribers with key content included from the bulletin board alongside other members-only information.

The final result is a comprehensive system where all elements and features can be managed from one dashboard and do not require manual editing of a page's source code or separate control panels for various functions.  That means when I get a phone call or email from Toronto asking for an update, it's fast and easy to do:  the fans get what they're waiting for quickly, my boss is happy, and it costs less money to keep it maintained and updated with frequent, fresh content.

Thanks for reading!  There are more web updates on the way!

Everything I Need to Know About Working in Public I Learned From Snow White

Not all people in power are good.

Not all people in power are evil.

The difference is the good ones focus on their goals; the bad ones focus on themselves.

Getting the job done often involves putting your crown aside and doing manual labor.  Humility is not humiliation.

Don't consider any of your constituents beneath you.  You never know when you will rely on them in your hour of need.  Take good care of them.

Having pure intentions makes you a threat to the selfish.  Don't bother trying to understand that or reason with them.  Jealousy puts them beyond reason.

When an adversary is bound and determined to take you down, they may succeed.  Stay classy, no matter what happens and they will end up destroying themselves.  Retribution (or "justice") isn't worth the effort.

Happy endings do happen.  Stay true to the positive influence you want to make, even through the hard times and you'll make them happen.

Heyward, I need some of these signs.  You know where I live.  How much do you want for them?

Thank you, Nancy, for keeping your eyes on the prize of rooting out the corruption and waste in the DeKalb School Board.  It's OK if someone else takes the next step.

Nancy Jester's Resignation blog post

For clarity, I wanted to resign from the board in advance of the hearing in February, but refrained from doing so because of the pending court case. If the ruling had gone the other way, the remaining board members would have remained on the board and they would select my successor. I wanted to prevent that. I am more comfortable with the Governor and his team selecting my replacement. Additionally, it is a matter of public record that I voted “no” on February 1st, to the hiring of the attorney to pursue the board’s legal challenges in the first place. I did not support in any way, the filing of legal action and I expressed my opposition in board meetings. Because the court has vacated their previous stay, the board members subject to the Governor’s executive order are now, no longer on the board. Once the Governor appoints new members, the board will have a quorum and be able to meet. At that point, the board will be able to make decisions regarding the use of district resources.

Dunwoody Parents Concerned About Quality Education (on Facebook)

Concerned Parents of Dunwoody

Interim DeKalb Super Michael Thurmond reschedules meeting with Dunwoody Homeowners Association

Sunday, March 10, 2013
7:30 PM
Kingsley Swim and Racquet Club
2325 N. Peachtree Way
Dunwoody, GA 30338

DeKalb Interim Super Michael Thurmond will not be at DHA tonight

Update per DHA via Facebook:
Interim Super Thurmond will not be attending tonight.
Attempts at rescheduling are in progress.




Board Meeting

Date: March 3, 2013
Time: 7:00 PM

DeKalb Cultural Arts Center (Room 4)
5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road
Dunwoody, GA 30338

AGENDA

Announcements and introduction of distinguished visitors
Approval of minutes for February 2013
Presentation and discussion with DCSS Interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond (tentative, based on his travel plans. Will re-schedule to April, if necessary)
Presentation from Matt Hagan, Regency Centers
Presentation and discussion with Michael Starling, City of Dunwoody Director of Economic Development
Discussion of DHA Resolution to support Rep. Tom Taylor’s HB486
Discussion of Summer Concert Series
Dunwoody Preservation Trust – Lemonade Days Sponsorship Votes as needed on any motions during Board only session

Adjourn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First, let's see if he shows up.

Second, what could he possibly say not just to DHA members' faces, but to Tom, Fran, Nancy, Terry, and everyone else willing to acknowledge that the county is a millstone around our necks, that we should trust the people who voted to hire him?

Third, show up early to get a seat.  The room is tiny and will be packed.

Schools - Now What?

GA State BOE recommends removal of DeKalb school board.  (All but the 3 most recently elected).



Public Forum: Improving Public Education in Dunwoody

Hosted by Dunwoody Parents Concerned about Quality Education, Inc.
Kingswood United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall

Sunday, March 3, 2013
4:00 - 5:00 pm

Dunwoody residents interested in improving the quality of education in Dunwoody schools will share information on accreditation, legislative efforts, alternatives to the current public school district, and potential actions. The presentation will feature representatives from city and state government, local public education advocates, and a discussion session for participants to share their ideas and concerns.

For more information, contact Allegra Johnson (ajwigwam@bellsouth.net).

DeKalb Schools and BOE: T minus 11 hours to deadline