#Atlanta Process Servers

[trippiexlove]

Stone Cold Sinner

Author Note: Based on the song Stone Cold by Dess Dior

Warning: Smut, Bit of Angst, Bit of Fluff, Profanity, Adult Content, Praise.

Pairing: Jey Uso x Black OC (Ari Fletcher as FC)

Word Count: 3,397

Said he callin' from Atlanta, say he miss me....well, well, well

Guess he better send that private out to get me...

Expect this to be a long cold winter...

You fuckin' with a stone cold sinner...

Soriya walked into the restaurant where she was meeting her best friends. She looked around before spotting them as they waved her over. 

"Hey Y'all" she smiled as she greeted them. She quickly sat down, putting her purse beside her. The server came over to get her order before walking away. 

"Hey girl we haven't seen your ass in a while" Tiffany took a sip of her mimosa. 

"I know I've been busy as hell, what y'all been up to?" she said looking between her friends. 

"We're so close to closing this deal" Tiffany stated sitting her glass down. "Mr.Johnson said he's been talking to the higher ups and your girl may be getting a promotion "

"You deserve it, you been putting in a lot of work so it's about time" She looked over at her friend Breanna "How's my nephew doing?" 

Breanna playfully rolled her eyes "Getting on my nerves, his little ass starting to walk so he's just tearing up my house"

"Don't do my baby like that," she slight laughed, looking up as the server brought over her food and mimosa "Ima have to come get him and take him out somewhere"

"Girl you're more than welcome to keep his ass to" she joked as they all laughed. 

"Nah baby, the beauty of being an auntie is giving him right back to his parents" Soriya raised her glass before drinking some. 

"Speaking of that when are you going to make us aunties" Tiff sipped her mimosa as Soriya shook her head. 

"I'm not looking to have kids anytime soon, there's so much I want to do before then" She expressed to her friends. 

"Well you need to speed this process up we ready to be aunties" Bre said as Tiffany agreed. Soriya rolled her eyes playfully at her friends. Their conversation switched once the server brought their food over. 

Soriya waved bye to her girls, as they walked their separate ways to their cars. She connected her phone before pulling off to go home. 

After a few minutes of driving, the song she was listening to was replaced by her ringtone. J 🩵 came across the screen, making her smile instantly. 

She quickly pressed the green button before the call ended.  "Hey stranger" she greeted as the phone call connected.

She could hear the softness of his chuckle fill the car. "Don't do me like that baby, I just been busy. My ass just got back to Atlanta" 

"Mhm, but you still could've sent me a text" 

"Sounds like somebody missed me" the playfulness in his voice couldn't be missed, making Soriya slightly shake her head. 

"And what? You saying you ain't miss me?" Soriya stated with the same playfulness. 

"I do baby," she heard some slight shuffling in the background before he continued. "That's why I'm calling, you free this weekend?" 

"I could be" Soriya pulled into her driveway, putting her car in park. 

"Good, be at the airport tomorrow. I'll have that private waitin' for you. Bring that one outfit I like" 

She nodded as if he could see her "Ok I'll see you tomorrow" 

They hung up as she did a slight happy dance. She grabbed her purse before practically rushing into the house to start packing. 

The next afternoon Soriya was being dropped off to the familiar black jet. She got out as the driver grabbed her bags, loading them on the plane. 

She was greeted by Jenina, the stewardess, the two had become friends with how many times she flown on the plane. "Hey Nina" 

"Hey girl," she smiled as she brought her into a hug "it's been a minute since I've seen you"

Soriya laughed lowly "I've been busy working girl" 

"Mhmm, don't let it go this long again" she pointed towards her, playfully shaking her head.

"I won't I promise" Soriya quickly took her seat and it wasn't long before they were in the air. Jenina quickly served her a glass of champagne. 

riyaofficial_  8m

The flight wasn't long from Miami to Atlanta and they were landing within two hours. She stepped off the jet to see a black truck waiting for her. She said bye to Jenina as the driver loaded her bags in the car and they pulled off the tarmac. 

The traffic wasn't too bad as they were soon pulling up to a hotel within 45 minutes. The driver came over and opened her door for her, and grabbed the things. They walked through the lobby, checked in and made their way up the elevator. 

They got to the penthouse suite and the concierge brought her things to the room before quickly leaving out. Soriya smiled as she walked into the master suite seeing a huge bouquet of flowers with a note attached to it.  

We got reservations tonight. Be ready by 7 beautiful.

-J

She put the note down, checking the time to see it was just a little after 5. She went over to her bags, looking through it to find that outfit. Once she found it she placed it on the bed before walking into the large bathroom to start the shower.

She hopped in the shower quickly doing her routine before getting out. She sat at the vanity in the bathroom and started doing her makeup, which wasn't much. She grabbed her phone seeing it was now half past 6. 

She quickly curled her hair and threw on the outfit before she heard the door of the suite open and close. She fixed the straps on her heels before grabbing her purse walking out the room. When she walked into the living room she made eye contact with Josh. 

He took a moment looking her over. Clearly liking what he was seeing. He slowly walked over to her, standing only merely inches from from her. 

"Damn," he stated lowly, looking her up and down. He took her hands in his, slowly turning her around in a 360. When he turned her facing him, he immediately pulled her close, his hands laying comfortably on her backside. "You look good as fuck mama" 

Soriya took in his appearance, his cuban chain she got for him some time ago glistened in the light. "Thank you baby. I can say the same thing about you" 

"Ready to go?" she nodded her head as he took her hand, leading them out of the penthouse. They made it downstairs to the waiting black SUV with the same driver from earlier. He opened the door for her, letting her in first. Once he climbed in and shut the door the driver pulled off. 

They made the short drive to this exclusive restaurant. Josh got out, holding his hand out to help Soriya out the car. They walked hand in hand inside being greeted by the hostess. The hostess then lead them to their table before their server came to get their drink order. 

They both made small talk as they looked over the menu. The server came back over, placing their drinks in front of them. Giving her their order before she quickly dipped off again. 

Josh focused his gaze on Soriya. "So what been goin' on with you ma?" 

"Business is good, just dropped this new collection and it's going well" She smiled thinking about the success of her makeup business "almost sold out in the first week I was surprised."

"It should be no surprise. You know everything you do gon' comes out fire" his comment making the smile on Soriya's face widen. 

"Thank you baby." She shifted her attention. "What about you, though? What's been going on?"

Josh sighed leaning back in his seat. "Work been kickin' my ass for sure. Especially with it being WrestleMania season"

"But you're hyped, right?" she asked, a playful glint in her eyes.

"Hell yeah," he admitted, a grin spreading across his face. "I been wantin' this for a while now. I'm just happy they finally givin' me a shot at the World title" Their conversation was momentarily interrupted as the server delivered their food. They both murmured a Thanks as she walked away.

"Well I'm happy for you." Soriya said, her voice filled with genuine enthusiasm. "I'm gonna be screaming so loud when you win." 

"I appreciate that ma," Josh leaned up a bit adjusting himself "Yo, speaking of WrestleMania, I was wondering if you'd come. I really want you to meet my family."

Soriya's hand paused mid-air, her fork hovering over her plate. She met his gaze, searching for any hint of jest, but his eyes held only sincerity.

"To meet your family?" she repeated, more to herself than to him. "I don't know, Josh"

A flicker of confusion crossed his features. "What'chu mean, you don't know?"

"I mean," she slightly hesitated, trying to piece together her words. "I don't know if I should be meeting your family Josh. We're not even together for real. Wouldn't it be weird to introduce your family to someone who ain't your girl."

Josh scrunched his brows together "Who said you ain't my girl? Do you honestly think I treat just anyone the way I treat you?" he asked, his voice soft but firm. 

Soriya's eyes softened, her shoulders sagged a bit "I get what you're saying it's just that with everything that I've dealt with in the past it just made me wary of getting too close to someone. I've had to learn to protect myself" Her voice laced with vulnerability. 

Josh demeanor softened has he took ahold of her hands. Rubbing her knuckles with the pad of his thumb. "Soriya," he said, his voice low and sincere, "I'm serious about you. I know you've been hurt before, and I'd never do that to you. I'm not them. I want you to meet my family because you're important to me."

A wave of warmth washed over Soriya, threatening to overwhelm her. She blinked back a tear, her heart swelling. She nodded, unable to speak. Josh leaned in, capturing her lips in a tender, passionate kiss. After a moment, they broke apart, the unspoken understanding hanging in the air. They shifted the conversation, enjoying the rest of their dinner with lighter, more comfortable topics, the weight of their earlier exchange lingering beneath the surface.

The car ride to Josh's penthouse was a slow burn, a simmering tension that threatened to ignite at any moment. Every glance, every brush of their hands, amplified the anticipation. 

Waiting for the elevator felt like an exercise in restraint. Soriya could feel Josh's energy, a palpable force that made her breath catch in her throat. She wanted him just as fiercely, a secret she no longer cared to hide.

The elevator doors hissed open, and they stepped into the empty car. The moment the doors sealed shut, Josh's hands were on her, pushing her against the cool steel wall. A startled gasp escaped her lips. 

His mouth found hers, a possessive, urgent kiss that stole her breath. His hand cupped her chin, angling her face, while his other hand explored the curves of her body, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.

"Couldn't wait, huh?" she whispered, pulling back for a breath, her voice laced with playful challenge.

"Not a for damn second," he rasped, his eyes dark with desire. The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open to his floor.

He gripped her hand, his fingers tightening around hers, and pulled her down the long hallway. The tension crackled between them until they reached his door. He entered the code, and the door clicked open. 

The air inside thrummed with unspoken desire. Josh closed the distance, his lips meeting Soriya's in a kiss that was both demanding and tender. Her arms slid around his neck, drawing him in.

With a low groan, Josh swept her into his arms effortlessly, Soriya's legs automatically circling his waist. He carried her through the spacious living room, the soft glow of the hallway lights guiding their way to his bedroom. 

Josh sat on the edge of the bed, Soriya straddling his waist. She moaned into the kiss as his hands slid down her back, giving her backside a tight grip. She grind her hips against him, earning herself a groan out of him. 

He quickly flipped them over, , the movement fluid and charged. Separating only for a few moments while he took his shirt off. Throwing it across the room. He slid the bottom of her dress up, seeing the white lace thong she had on. He quickly tore that off throwing it behind him. 

He took one of her legs into his hands, leaving trails of kisses down to her inner thigh. He reached her intimate area that was already glistening for him. Soriya could feel the little tingles throughout her body as she watched, anticipating his next move. 

Josh kissed along her inner thigh to tease. He placed his large hands on the back of her thighs to spread her open even further. Giving Soriya one last look he flattened out his tongue before sending a long swipe in between her folds. A sharp, pleasurable gasp escaped Soriya, her back arching in a delicate curve. 

He took one of his hands, removing them from the back of her thigh, and began fondling with one of her breasts. His used his other hand, taking two of his fingers, and began slowly pumping in and out of her. His lips wrapped around her sensitive bundle of nerves. 

Soriya's moans heightened as the sensation sent a wave of pleasure through her. Her hand immediately finding their place within his curls. The sounds of her moans gave Josh motivation as he increased the strokes of his fingers, continuously grazing her spot which made her clench around his digits. 

"F-fuck Josh" she let out in a breathy moan. "Fuck baby I'm finna cum" 

He groan, sending a vibration through her. "Go head mama, make a mess on my face" He wrapped his lips around her clit again, increasing the stroke of his fingers. Soriya moaned loudly as her released near, crashing against her in waves. 

Her body shook as Josh didn't let up, riding out the wave with her. Once he pulled away he licked her essence off his fingers. His kissed up her abdomen, chest, and neck. Heat left after each kiss. Til he reached her lips and kissed her, sticking his tongue practically down her throat, Soriya tasting herself. 

The intensity of the kiss finally eased, his eyes, dark pools of desire, locked on hers. "Take this shit off," he rumbled, his voice a deep, commanding caress. The sound of his voice sent a wave of heat through Soriya, and she bit her lip, a silent acknowledgement of his request.

Slipping the dress over her head, putting it to the side, She caught how Josh's eyes seemed to look over her. Slow as if he wanted to savor this moment altogether.

He leaned down bringing her back into a passionate kiss. Pulling away, his lips barely touching hers. "On all fours for me" 

She quickly got in position, arching her back perfectly just like she knew he liked it. Earning her a smack to her plump backside. Moaning at the contact. 

As she waited, she could her the sound of Josh unbuckling his belt and the soft thud his pants made when hitting the ground. Feeling the bed dip slightly behind her and Josh's hands grip her waist. 

Josh groan at the sight of her, running the padding of his thumb through her wetness. Soriya's body involuntarily pushed back against him, looking for some type of friction.

Josh laugh lowly, "who's impatient now" his voice laced him humor. 

She looked back at him, a smirk on her face "Don't be such a tease" 

Josh hummed in amusement, before slowly eased in. They both caught their breath as he stretched her out. Soriya thought she would be used to him by now, but everytime felt like the first. 

Josh's grip on her hips tightened as he inched slowly into her. Muttering profanities underneath his breath. Josh stilled his movement once he was all the way in, allowing her to get adjusted to him. When she began to along his length, he began pumping slowly. His strokes slowly increased in speed. "Fuck Riya," he moaned out as he continued his pace. 

She loved hearing him moan out her name. She started meeting his strokes. The sound of skin slapping skin was heard throughout the room, along with her moans. 

"Shit, you taking me so good baby" Josh moaned lowly. His hand smoothed down the curve of her back, gripping the back of her neck. He pulled her up, the coldness of his chain contrast with the heat of her skin.

"Look at yourself baby, look at how pretty you are taking all of me" Josh whispered in her ear. Soriya couldn't say anything as she looked at their reflection in the mirror across from the bed. "Who's my pretty girl?" Soriya's mind was too clouded to respond, earning a smack to her ass making her squeal out. "Who's my pretty girl Riya?" 

"Me," she gasped out with everything in her "I'm your pretty girl, baby I'm bout to cum"

Josh abruptly stopped, turning Soriya on her back. He lifted one leg on his shoulder before re-entering her at a relentless pace. Soriya closed her eyes throwing her head back, feeling that knot in her stomach grow stronger. 

Her eyes flew open who she felt Josh wrap his hand around the base of her throat, applying slight pressure. "I want you to look at me when you cum, you understand" She nodded her head, moaning out in response. 

He felt her clench around him, signaling she was on the edge of release. "Tell me who is it ma" when she didn't respond, he angled his hips, hitting a different spot, causing her to moan loudly "Hmm, tell me who is it and you better hold it til I say so"

Desperate for a release she cried out "it's yours" she took a deep gasp as the knot was becoming unbearable. 

Josh groaned deeply, feeling his own release nearing "That's it ma, let it out". That's all she needed to hear before she released. Her orgasm triggering Josh's as he continued to pump slowly, before dropping right next to her. 

After a few moments he heard her labored breathing, getting up to get a warm wash cloth wiping him and her off. Once he got back in bed he pulled her close to him before drifting off to sleep.

The weekend had come and gone. Filled with nothing but being tangled up in the sheets. Josh spoiled the fuck out of her, taking her on a shopping spree, letting her get whatever she wanted.

Soriya was sad about going back to Miami, knowing she won't be seeing Josh for a while since he'll be overseas doing shows for a few weeks. 

He decided to drop her off, so they were currently riding in his car. Her hands in his as he drove down the highway towards the airport. 

The car was quiet except for the hum of the engine and the music playing softly in the background. After an hour of sitting in Atlanta traffic, they finally pulled up to the private departure area. 

They stepped out, Josh handing her bags over to the airport worker to load onto the jet. He turned towards Soriya who had a visible pout on her face. 

He pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Don't look like that" Soriya rolled her eyes, earning a smack to her backside, hissing at the sting it left behind. "Don't roll your eyes at me" 

Soriya smacked her lips before looking into his eyes. "Ima miss you"

"Ima miss you too ma" he smiled giving her a quick peck to her lips "these few weeks gon' go by fast before you know it. Plus I'll see you at Mania, right?"

"Of course I wouldn't miss being there for your moment" Josh nodded, leaning down giving her another kiss. This one last a bit longer before they both pulled away. 

"I love you" he whispered. 

Soriya's heart swelled. "I love you too," she replied, giving him one last soft kiss before turning to board the jet. Settling into her seat, she watched as Josh's car disappeared from view, a sense of anticipation mingling with the sadness of their parting. She eagerly awaited the moment they would be together again.

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riyaoffical_ Forever having MY way ✨

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Part 2

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[realtalkingpoints]

From the piece:

Meanwhile, Willis has been subpoenaed to testify in Wade’s divorce proceedings. In a court filing obtained by The Post, a process server said he served a subpoena to Willis at her office in Atlanta on Monday morning.

[atlantagafamilylawyer]

Understanding Court Filings in Family Law: A Guide from an Atlanta, GA Family Lawyer

Court filings are an essential part of the legal process in family law cases, including divorce, child custody, alimony, and property division. In Atlanta, Georgia, filing the appropriate documents with the court is crucial for initiating legal proceedings, enforcing decisions, or seeking modifications to previous orders. Whether you are going through a divorce or handling a child custody dispute, understanding the court filing process can help you navigate your case more effectively.

What Are Court Filings in Family Law?

Court filings refer to the official documents that are submitted to the court to initiate, respond to, or modify a legal proceeding. In family law, these filings are crucial to formalize claims and requests, ensuring that the case is officially recognized and that the court can make rulings.

There are different types of court filings in family law, depending on the nature of the case:

Petitions: The first step in many family law cases is the filing of a petition. For example, in a divorce case, the person initiating the divorce would file a "Petition for Divorce." Similarly, in child custody disputes, the petition would outline the requesting party’s custody arrangement preferences.

Responses: After a petition is filed, the opposing party typically has a set period to file a response. The response outlines their position on the matter and may include counterclaims or requests for relief.

Motions: Motions are formal requests for the court to take action on a specific issue in the case. Common family law motions include those for temporary child custody, spousal support, or emergency orders of protection in cases of domestic violence.

Orders: After a judge considers the filings and the facts presented in a case, they issue orders that guide how a case will proceed. These orders may address temporary arrangements (such as custody or support) or the final resolution of a matter like property division or divorce settlement.

Decrees: In divorce cases, a final decree is issued by the court to officially dissolve the marriage and outline the terms of the divorce, including custody, alimony, child support, and asset division.

The Court Filing Process in Atlanta, GA

The process of filing family law documents with the court in Atlanta typically involves several steps:

Preparation of Documents: A family lawyer will help you prepare the necessary court filings, which require attention to detail and adherence to Georgia state laws and court rules. These documents must accurately reflect your legal claims, requests, and any relevant supporting information.

Filing with the Court: Once the necessary documents are prepared, they are filed with the appropriate court. In Georgia, family law cases are usually heard in the Superior Court of the county where one of the parties resides. Filing fees may apply, and these vary by county.

Service of Process: After the documents are filed, the other party must be served with copies of the filings. This step ensures that they are notified of the legal action being taken. Service can be completed through a process server, sheriff’s office, or sometimes through certified mail.

Court Hearings: Once the filings are submitted and served, the court may schedule hearings to address the issues outlined in the documents. During hearings, both parties present their arguments and evidence before a judge, who will make decisions based on the law and the best interests of any children involved.

Judgment and Final Orders: After the hearings, the court will issue a final judgment and order. In divorce cases, this might be a final decree that includes decisions on custody, support, and asset division. In custody or support cases, the judge may issue specific orders that both parties must comply with.

Why Are Court Filings Important?

Court filings are critical for several reasons:

Formalizing Legal Claims: Filings are the official way to bring a matter before the court. Without filing the appropriate documents, the court cannot take action or issue orders.

Timely Resolution: Proper and timely filings ensure that cases progress efficiently. For example, filing motions for temporary custody or support can help resolve urgent issues while the case is ongoing.

Ensuring Legal Rights: Court filings help ensure that your legal rights are recognized and enforced. Whether you are seeking a divorce, custody, or support, your filings establish the legal basis for your claims.

Compliance with Court Orders: After the judge issues a final order or judgment, it is binding. If you need modifications or enforcement of these orders, additional filings may be necessary.

Common Challenges in Court Filings

Filing court documents in a family law case can be complex, and errors can delay or even harm your case. Common challenges include:

Missing Deadlines: Failing to file documents on time can result in missed opportunities or delays.

Improper Filing: Family law cases require precise documentation. Incorrectly completed forms or missing supporting documents can lead to complications.

Legal Jargon: Family law involves complex legal language that can be difficult for non-lawyers to understand. Misinterpreting requirements can hurt your case.

Conclusion

Court filings are a fundamental part of family law cases in Atlanta, Georgia. Whether you are filing for divorce, seeking custody of your children, or requesting modifications to an existing order, understanding the filing process and ensuring that all necessary documents are submitted correctly is vital. A skilled family lawyer can guide you through the filing process, ensuring your case progresses smoothly and that your rights are protected every step of the way.

[ericmannsgeorgia-things-blog]

Eric Manns Deep Dives into Latest Networking Skills and Strategies

Today it is essential that network engineering professionals are well-versed with elements of modern network engineering, such as deploy-ability, scaling, availability, performance, and security. With advanced technologies and concepts there is a sea change in application of network engineering. The dynamic nature of internet and related industries necessitate that your network engineer is aware about significance of valuable insights such as network automation and other essential technologies to stay ahead in the competition. Eric Manns Atlanta is the leading senior network engineer mastering the art of network administration and management.

Indeed in the field of network engineering, there are several sets of tasks that network professionals engage in to ensure the smooth functioning of their client’s networks. These tasks encompass a range of areas, including deploy ability, scaling, IP fabric engineering, network security, services activation, operations, and others. Eric Manns Georgia ensures to stay abreast in all these areas that require specialized knowledge and skills to effectively manage and optimize business agility and ensure network availability and performance.

Eric Dewayne Manns Atlanta as experienced network engineer takes up the responsibility of network devices and components he ensures that all the equipment is properly installed and configured to align with the organization's specific business and technical requirements. Moreover he is aware about the significant tasks of physical deployment, rack space utilization, power requirements, cooling, and cable management. Eric Dewayne Manns Atlanta plans carefully and organizes the network in such a way that it can optimize space utilization and facilitate efficient maintenance and troubleshooting of these networks. 

Particularly as organizations expand their horizons the operations and the network must be able to seamlessly accommodate the addition of new servers, storage devices, or network components. Network engineer Eric Dewayne Manns Georgia facilitates the balancing without causing performance degradation or service interruptions. As the best network engineer he employ various techniques, such as horizontal scalability, virtualization, overlay networks, traffic engineering, and quality of service, to handle traffic growth effectively and distribute it across multiple devices. 

Without a doubt network security is the most critical aspect of network engineering, as organizations need to protect their networks from unauthorized access, data breaches, and other threats. Network engineer Eric Manns Georgia implements security measures such as firewalls, access control lists, intrusion prevention systems, and many other technologies, processes, and approaches to safeguard network infrastructure and data. He also ensures that the security policies are consistently enforced across the network, minimizing the risk of security vulnerabilities.

Eric Manns Network Engineer, Business Manager, Tech-Savvy, Weightlifting Aficionado and a Family Man with 5+years’ experience in desktop support, systems.

[darkmaga-returns]

by Brian Shilhavy Editor, Health Impact News

There have been reports in the Alternative Media the past couple of days about a large-scale cybersecurity exercise that is being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), on the same day as the U.S. National elections on November 5th.

I looked into this to find out the source of this information, and it appears the source is U.S. Senator Rand Paul, from Kentucky.

So I am publishing what Senator Rand Paul, the “Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee“, has written about this, and let our readers interpret what they think this means, with no comments from me.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2024

ICYMI: DR. PAUL REQUESTS INFORMATION ON DHS & CISA’S PARTICIPATION AT ELECTION DAY CYBERSECURITY CONFERENCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting additional information regarding DHS’s and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) attendance at a homeland security conference in Atlanta, Georgia and participation in a large-scale cybersecurity exercise on Election Day.

The letter notes over the past several months, foreign adversaries have sought to undermine confidence in our election through a series of cyberattacks aimed at the electoral process. The American public is appropriately concerned with the integrity of our election system. However, rather than monitoring cyberthreats that may occur relative to the election, senior federal officials plan to spend Election Day participating in a four-hour “Critical Infrastructure Tabletop” led by CISA staff, followed by a networking reception.

You can read the full letter HERE or below:

Dear Secretary Mayorkas:

As Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, I write to request additional information regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) participation at a cybersecurity conference in Atlanta, Georgia on Election Day. 

Over the past several months, foreign adversaries have sought to undermine confidence in our election through a series of cyberattacks aimed at the electoral process. Those efforts have included incursions into campaign infrastructure, hacks into government servers, and attempts to interfere with the electoral process more generally. Just last month, federal authorities announced that Iranian intelligence services had successfully hacked into President Donald Trump’s campaign servers and turned over sensitive documents to associates of the Biden-Harris campaign. 

The American public is appropriately concerned with the integrity of our election system. Fair and free elections are a hallmark of our democracy. Yet, the American people’s confidence in the value of their vote is dependent upon faith in the election infrastructure on which ballots are cast. However, I have recently become aware that a delegation of senior leadership of DHS, CISA, FBI, and various other federal agencies plan to spend Election Day and several days thereafter in Atlanta, Georgia at a homeland and cybersecurity conference hosted by the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA). Rather than monitoring cyberthreats that may occur relative to the election, senior federal officials plan to spend Election Day participating in a four-hour “Critical Infrastructure Tabletop” led by CISA staff, followed by a networking reception. Federal officials are also expected to participate in a “large scale cybersecurity exercise” on Election Day.

[eunicemiddleton421]

Can private investigators get text messages?

Nowadays, anyone who owns a cellphone knows how to send and delete text messages. But are they deleted, and can a private investigator get text messages? The answer may surprise you!

Cell phones today are getting better by the minute. Hundreds of new phones are released, thousands of new apps are released, and many are messaging apps. People download and use these apps every day without caring about who or what tracking features are built into these apps. The most common messaging apps used today are:

WhatsApp

Facebook Messenger

Weixin/WeChat

QQ

Telegram

Snapchat

People use these apps daily and most people feel comfortable knowing that the apps themselves are tracking their communications. What they don't always know is that these applications store their communications, so when you delete your communication with someone it's often stored somewhere within the app or on a server.

Can a private investigator track text messages?

Private investigators are skilled at gathering information, whether using manual surveillance or covert surveillance techniques or digitally extracting data from cell phones and computers. There are many ways a private investigator can track text messages and here are some examples:

Can a private investigator track my text messages?

 If you compose a text message and then don't send it, it is often saved as a draft. This means it's stored on your phone and a private investigator can extract that message using advanced cellphone forensics techniques. If you decide you're going to delete that draft, your phone will probably mark it as "gone," but the remnants of it still remain on your phone. A private investigator equipped with sophisticated forensic tools and techniques will be able to uncover these documents.

Can I send a private investigator-track text message?

If you send someone a text message there are now two ways a private investigator can track that text message. Your phone will have a trace/track of it and the receiver's phone will have a trace/track of it. If you decide to delete a text message on your phone, you have no way of knowing or being sure that the person you sent it to will eventually delete it. They may tell you they deleted it, but can you really be sure?

Can a private investigator track text messages I received but deleted? 

Again, the private investigator has several digital forensics tools to uncover messages you think you deleted from your phone. And, if you think about it, your phone always has a record of the message. Your phone had to receive the message to display it to you. So, the phone will have a copy of that message, and the private investigator can track/trace this text message.

Can a private investigator track text messages if I reset my phone? 

In many cases, they can. Phones are like mini-computers that fit in your hand. Just resetting the phone will scramble your phone data to make it look like a new phone. The data is still on your phone, but recovering the deleted text message will require more advanced digital forensics.

How else can a private investigator track text messages?

Well, a private investigator working with a competent attorney will be able to work with that attorney to obtain text messages from the phone company using a process known as "discovery." While not all phone carriers release the content of text messages, almost all apps will gladly hand over both sides of a conversation if they receive a subpoena.

If you are looking for affordable licensed private investigators in Atlanta with 20 years of experience in text message tracking and assisting individuals, attorneys, and corporations feel free to contact us here. You can also view a portion of our extensive client list here, and see what real clients say about Eagle Investigative Services, a private investigator in Atlanta, Georgia.

[bubblesthetherapyfish]

probably almost at the end?

*grabs Cahciua* YOU!!!!!

wait we dont have zip lines in the source

oh i guess we do but they're Not Called That

erenville's now getting the whole "we lost someone but the narrative's forcing us to to keep going without processing it" bit

we saw this coming but ough it's still rough to think about

damn this is like hit video game final fantasy xv where you had a gondola ride and everybody liked it

wol looks so peaceful for once

aww this reminds me of seeing fountains like that in atlanta

....uhhhh fuck this game it's for babies uhhh fhgjklbljknlfg

im fine

im soooo fine

i dont think i can do this

the way the buildings fall apart when you look past them even a little

okay let's go

ohhh god

the silence.....

is this gonna be like the abandoned theme park in forgotten land that gives me depression

help raha's dialogue when you talk about the pixies

will i get a moment with everyone like with g'raha

hi otis

but we both are cats already though 😭

little beepo's misery is increasing, im little beepo

the bunny fates??? 😭

it's The Arena from Kirby

o- oh...

oh krile

ohhhh fuck me

i sure have carried many objects before

what are you up to catboy

BRO INHALED THAT SHIT

wuk lamat is me going to any attraction ever

maya.....

"somewhat" dfkjhgkdj

i love this zone a lot

IIFA TREE MENTION!!!!!!!!!

is it an armadillo or...?

the goddamn echevore

capybaras???

they both have completely different theories about why the capybaras can fly djfhgdj

it's like being a kid and going on the last ride before you have to go home with your family, except your mom is going to fucking die too

ouhg.......

this game is fucking destroying me again, more news at 12

let's go.....

if sphene turns into something like hydaelyn im gonna piss my pants

please be kind to me server lag

oh my god it really is alexandria holy fuck

SERVER LAG IS NOT BEING KIND AAAAAUGH

i give up for today

okay im back with a lot less lag

also i didn't even notice im on the Dawntrail quest 😭

help this first boss is fucked up even without lag

these noises are sososo scary

I FUCKING DIED TWICE

4th time's the charm.... 😬

oh no we're in a suspiciously trial shaped room

SHE PUT THEM IN THE TRASH FOLDER NOOOOOO

I COUNTER WITH A FRUIT GUMMY

finally my queue popped

EVERY BOSS IN THIS EXPAC IS DESIGNED TO GIVE ME A FUCKING HEART ATTACK i need to lie down

o7

we all fuckin faceplanted

damn....

live footage of me taking a walk with my irl family

alphy leaves estinien to die 2024 colorized

i think that was a really nice and heartfelt expac for a setting that was more relaxed, i think there's only a couple small things here and there that i didn't like with the story which is really solid

and wuk lamat is such a good character with really amazing voice acting, even though she's pretty cheerful most of the time she really came through with anger and sadness too

i like how the duties really challenged me and made me sit the fuck up and focus, honestly i really wish i could do EX/savage this tier

aside from the ending theme (which im just extremely neutral on) i think the music was great this time, usually i only really love the themes for 1-2 zones per expac but this time i went crazy for nearly all of them

overall it doesn't have as much of the issues as previous expacs where the story felt rushed, there's some weirdness here and there but its not too bad

ALSO THE VANGUARD THEME IS SO GOOD

wait im curious does anything play in living memory now or is it just quiet forever?

.....are we getting any meanwhiles or

im plotting my next move >:)

YAYYYYY ALPACA!!!!!!

THE ARENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

7.0 time

jumpscared by new quest jingle

WHAT THE HELL

my mouth looks so different when it's open 😭

my lips are so tiny

sirensong sea 2?

wave goodbye to your fucking children you bitch!!!!!!!

alright im gonna pause to fantasia

yeah im just changing the lips (and finally getting my lion tail yippee)

hello person with green hair who won't be an important character for sure

my fucking load times boy

whoa another motion sickness friend!!!!

holy shit that line read was so funny

it's raining cats and dogs and even horses here

yeah i've done leviathan 2000 times already

i got so caught up in enjoying the new city i forgot to write anything 🌮

"crunchy"

MY FUCKING TACOOOOOOOOOSSSSSS

the way krile says tacos like she's never pronounced it before (she hasn't)

damn they hittin us with the "set aside sufficient time" already?

HEY I KNOW THAT GUY

when did my wife get here and why didn't he say anything

go off babygirl

oh that's a sweet nickname

ewwww

i like this catboy he's got good sense

krile my beloved

THAT'S A LOTTA FUCKIN PEOPLE

*remembers my catboy* nah im good

im so curious about zoraal ja ja

oh the echo??

aww she's happy even with a few people cheering for her

okay byeee

looks like split paths coming up?

oh huh it actually locks you out of the other now

BLUE QUESTS

outta my way gayboy i got unlocks

i am once again starting an expansion off by buying a cat minion

this trading segment is so fun

i like this hot pink bitch named breakfast

what the fuck is that an hq alpaca

whoa erenville smiled

AGAIN WITH THE FIREWOOD

my son will never know peace

i hope the hanu ate good while we were gone

so ive done the pelupelu half of the quests and the blue questline. i think i really like the pelupelu, it's interesting to see a culture based around business that's different from ul'dah and im excited to unlock their society quests. im also curious about zoraal ja ja's motivations, i can kinda understand his whole thing of wanting to teach the people a lesson but im sure there's more to it i haven't seen yet

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 16, 2023

Heather Cox Richardson

Yesterday, Tamar Hallerman and Bill Rankin of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, investigating the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election in that state, heard yet another recording of former president Trump pushing a key lawmaker—in this case, Georgia House speaker David Ralston—to convene a special session of the legislature to overturn Biden’s victory.

One juror recalled that Ralston “basically cut the president off. He said, ‘I will do everything in my power that I think is appropriate.’ … He just basically took the wind out of the sails.” Ralston, who died last November, did not call a special session.

This is the third such recorded call. One was with Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, and another was with the lead investigator in Raffensperger’s office. Ralston had reported the call, but it was not public knowledge that there was a recording of it.

Hallerman and Rankin interviewed five members of the grand jury, which met for 8 months and heard testimony from 75 witnesses. The jurors praised the elections system, and one said, “I tell my wife if every person in America knew every single word of information we knew, this country would not be divided as it is right now.” Another said: “A lot’s gonna come out sooner or later…. And it’s gonna be massive. It’s gonna be massive.”

The special grand jury recommended Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis indict people involved in the attempt to overturn the election. The cases are now in her hands.

Yesterday, prosecutors in New York met with Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress whom Trump allegedly paid $130,000 to keep their sexual liaison quiet. Also yesterday, Trump fixer Michael Cohen testified before a grand jury about the hush-money payment. Cohen’s testimony suggests that Manhattan district attorney Alvin L. Bragg is considering an indictment on a felony charge for misrepresenting the nature of that payment.

Trump has a new lawyer in that case, Joe Tacopina, who has been making the rounds on television shows to insist that Trump isn’t guilty. Tacopina’s job isn’t easy, and he is not necessarily helping, telling MSNBC’s Ari Melber that Trump didn’t actually lie about the hush payment when he lied about it because he was not under oath and he didn’t want to violate a confidentiality agreement.

Also in New York, Trump has asked a judge to delay the $250 million civil case against him, his three oldest children, and the Trump Organization, for manipulating asset valuations to get bank loans and avoid taxes. New York attorney general Letitia James, who brought the suit, said the defendants had had plenty of time to prepare and that Trump is trying to move the case into the election season, at which point he will insist it must be delayed again.

Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid, Kristen Holmes, and Casey Gannon of CNN reported today that the federal grand jury investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents has interviewed dozens of Mar-a-Lago staff, from servers to attorneys. Special Counsel Jack Smith continues to try to get Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran to testify after prosecutors learned that on June 24, 2022, Trump and Corcoran spoke on the phone as Trump had been ordered to produce the missing documents and the surveillance tapes of the area.

Prosecutors want Corcoran to have to testify despite the attorney-client privilege he claims, using the “crime-fraud exception,” which means that discussions that aided a crime cannot be kept secret.

In the face of this mounting legal pressure, Trump took to video to demand: “The State Department, the defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services, and all of the rest need to be completely overhauled and reconstituted to fire the deep staters.” Then, he said, his people need to finish the process he began of “fundamentally revaluating [sic] NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.” “[T]he greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia,” he said, but “some of the horrible USA-hating people that represent us.”

This speech was not simply a defense of Russia and its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. In his attempt to undermine the legal cases against him, Trump has endorsed the “post-liberal order” whose adherents reject the American institutions that defend democracy. In their formulation, American institutions they do not control—“the State Department, the defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services, and all of the rest,” for example—are corrupt because they defend the ideas of equality before the law, a free press, religious freedom, and so on. They must be torn down and taken over by true believers who will use the state to enforce their “Christian nationalism.”

In that formulation, the FBI and the Department of Justice are persecuting good Americans who were trying to protect the country on January 6, 2021. And yesterday, Zoe Tillman of Bloomberg reported that Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., sent a letter on October 28 last year to Chief Judge Beryl Howell warning that as many as 1,200 more people could still face charges in connection with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Today, the House Republicans announced an investigation, run by Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), into the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. The January 6th committee asked Loudermilk to talk to it voluntarily to explain why he gave a tour of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021, a time when the coronavirus had ended public tours. One of the people on that tour showed up on a video the next day threatening lawmakers.

Loudermilk told Scott MacFarlane and Rebecca Kaplan of CBS News that Americans have “very little confidence” in the report of the January 6th committee, “[a]nd there’s good reason. I mean, you even consider what they did to me, the false allegations that they made against me regarding the constituents that I had in my office in the office buildings—accusing me of giving reconnaissance tours.”

Loudermilk, who chairs the House Administration subcommittee on Oversight, says his committee will work “aggressively” to explain why Capitol security failed on January 6 and will seek interviews with people involved, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). He says his panel will “be honest, show the truth, show both sides.” Representative Norma Torres (D-CA), the top Democrat on the panel, notes that Loudermilk has not informed the Democrats even of the dates on which the committee is supposed to meet.

Politico’s Heidi Przybyla today reported on a February 2023 “bootcamp” for Republican staffers to learn how to investigate the Biden administration. The camp was sponsored by right-wing organizations including the Conservative Partnership Institute, which is led by Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and other right-wing leaders and which raised $45 million in 2021 alone. Sessions included “Deposing/Interviewing a Witness” and “Managing the News Cycle.”

At one of those investigations yesterday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who sits on the Homeland Security committee, said she intended to divulge classified information, saying: “I’m not gonna be confidential because I think people deserve to know.” She claimed that drug cartels had left an explosive device on the border; U.S. Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz later posted a picture of the “device” and said it was “a duct-taped ball filled with sand that wasn’t deemed a threat to agents/public.”

Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues to administer.

Today, Sanofi, the third major producer of insulin in the United States, announced it will cap prices for insulin at $35 a month. Sanofi, Eli Lilly, and Novo Nordisk produce 90% of the insulin in the U.S. The producers have faced pressure after the Inflation Reduction Act lowered the monthly cost of insulin to $35 a month for those on Medicare.

—LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[From comments :: “Wild how Putin just assumed Trump would win one way or another and Ukraine would have been an easy acquisition. NATO and our State Department would have been dismantled.Scary to think this evil is still so prevalent in our government with the help of Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon lurking around the back doors.”]

[searchingwardrobes]

Valentine Throwbacks: Day 5

This is another one that was written for the Valentine’s Day Prompts back in 2018. This was for Day One: Secret Admirer. I’m posting it last because it has a part two which I’ll post later.

I really wanted it to be Emma who is the secret admirer because all the fics I've read in this genre has Killian as the secret admirer. So I was going through the Chick-fil-A drive thru, mulling over how closed-off Emma could actually do that, and . . . well, this happened. I didn’t realize when I wrote this that the kind of drive thru at our Chick-fil-A was a prototype and not found anywhere else. Basically, instead of driving up to a window, there’s this open area where they just walk out and give you your food.

**Please note: I have made no attempts to hide that this story takes place at a Chick-fil-A. I have tagged it accordingly here and on Ao3. If you have a problem with Chick-fil-A, please just skip this story.**

Summary: Emma Swan is slightly embarrassed to admit that she sometimes goes through the Chick-fil-A drive thru twice a day. She's even more embarrassed to admit she's leaving anonymous notes for the owner-operator, Killian Jones.

Nominated for Best Captain Swan Modern AU One-Shot in the OUAT Fandom Awards 2018

Rated: G

Words: about 3k

Also on Ao3

Tagging: @snowbellewells​​​​ @whimsicallyenchantedrose​​​​ @kmomof4​​​​ @let-it-raines​​​​ @teamhook​​​​ @bethacaciakay​​​​ @xhookswenchx​​​​ @tiganasummertree​​​​ @shireness-says​​​​ @stahlop​​​​ @scientificapricot​​​​ @welllpthisishappening​​​​ @resident-of-storybrooke​​​​ @thislassishooked​​​​ @ilovemesomekillianjones​​​​ @kday426​​​​ @ekr032-blog-blog​​​​ @lfh1226-linda​​​​ @ultraluckycatnd​​​​ @nikkiemms @optomisticgirl​​​​ @profdanglaisstuff​​​​ @carpedzem​​​​ @ohmakemeahercules​​​​ @branlovestowrite​​​​ @superchocovian​​​​ @sherlockwhovian​​​​ @vvbooklady1256​​​​ @hollyethecurious​​​​ @winterbaby89​​​​ @delirious-latenight-laughs​​​​ @jennjenn615​​​​ @snidgetsafan​​​​ @xsajx​​​​​ @itsfabianadocarmo​​​​ @spartanguard​​​​ @hookedonapirate​

Emma Swan was not a people person. It was for this reason that the Chick-fil-A drive-thru wasn’t her sort of thing. You had to talk – face to face – with at least four people just to get your food. And they asked for your name at the beginning of the entire process. Then everyone afterwards actually used it, with a mega-watt smile on their faces. And Emma Swan never would understand the Southern phenomenon of tacking “Miss” on the front of a person’s first name. Miss Swan, she understood. Miss Emma? Not so much.

But she had to hand it to those cheery employees walking up and down the line with their i-Pads. They were efficient. Which was one of the reasons Emma put aside her anti-social ways on her way to work. No matter how much of a hurry she was in, she could count on Chick-fil-A. She could be in and out of that line in five minutes flat.

Then there was the coffee. Sustainably sourced by local farmers. Or something. There was a big poster about it in the lobby. All Emma knew was that it was damn good, especially for a fast food place. And then there were chickin-minis. She had Mary Margaret to blame for getting her hooked on those. Or more accurately, her four year old son Leo. Tiny nuggets wrapped in tiny fluffy biscuits. Where had those been all her life? It was her new favorite food. Okay, breakfast food. Grilled cheese and onion rings still held the one and two spot.

So she gladly put up with the bright smiles and the over-the-top hospitality for a decent breakfast a couple of times a week. Or three. Okay, four max.

But she was not going to be one of those people who had drunk the kool-aid and made odes to how wonderful Chick-fil-A was on You Tube. And then Mary Margaret had to go and introduce her to the sweet iced tea.

“You can’t re-locate to Georgia and not drink sweet tea,” she had argued with Emma while practically shoving the straw in her mouth.

“So what next, MM? I have to start monogramming my towels?”

But she had begrudgingly took a sip anyway, and there was no turning back. Then she discovered the lemonade, and the cookies and cream milk shake. Some days, she was hearing “It’s been a pleasure to serve you, Miss Emma” twice in twelve hours.

She was one “Eat Mor Chikin” cow from making a You Tube video while holding a Styrofoam cup with a red straw.

To make her obsession even more embarrassing, it led – albeit indirectly – to her being an actual- to-God secret admirer. Who left anonymous love notes. Seriously. What had she become?

Killian Jones, according to his name tag, was the owner-operator of Emma’s neighborhood Chick-fil-A. She had figured immediately that he wasn’t just a regular burger- er – chicken sandwich flipper because he was wearing slacks and a navy blue button down shirt – no tie. His chest hair must need plenty of breathing room because he always had at least the first five buttons of his shirt undone (not that she was counting or anything). The first morning they met, he hadn’t started out on the best foot, inadvertently insulting her food preferences.

When he handed Emma her food, Killian Jones had leaned over slightly to glance in her back seat, simultaneously handing her a coupon.

“We’re doing a special promotion today. Would your little one like a gift card for a free cone?”

His words sort of trailed off when he saw that the backseat was empty. Emma had barked out a wry laugh.

“Uh, there’s no kid back there. Sorry.”

“My apologies,” he muttered as he stood quickly, his face flaming and his hand lifting to rest behind his ear, “I just assumed. You ordered the chicken minis, and usually people get those for their kids . . . “

Normally, Emma would have been insulted, but he seemed so genuinely embarrassed, that she simply chuckled. “Well, I have been told that I have the appetite of a twelve year old.”

The smile that he gave her was lopsided and almost sinful. He arched a very expressive brow, and leaned towards her open window with a conspiratorial whisper. “I must admit, I rather fancy them myself. I mean, they’re chicken nuggets in little biscuits. What’s not to love?”

“I know, right? It’s revolutionary.”

They gazed at one another way longer than necessary, threatening to bring imbalance to the well-oiled drive thru machine. Killian blinked, as if suddenly remembering where he was, awkwardly cleared his throat, and then handed Emma her coffee.

“It’s been a pleasure to serve you. God bless.”

In a slight daze, Emma took the coffee, noting the brush of his fingers against hers like she was some fifteen year old with a crush. It wasn’t until she was driving away that his accent registered with hers. Instead of a southern drawl, it had been a lilting Irish accent.

Intriguing.

********************************************************

Later that day, Emma’s hand literally shook as she took the Styrofoam cup of lemonade from the drive thru. For a brief moment, she considered chickening out – pun completely intended – but then shook off her fear and resolutely snatched the envelope from the passenger seat of her Bug.

“Could you give this to your owner-operator?”

“Okay,” the girl server said with a smile and a nod as she took the note, “we always like to hear how we can better serve our customers. Is there anything I can do to make your experience here better?”

“Oh,no!” Emma said quickly, making a quick slashing motion with her hand. “It isn’t a complaint. Quite the opposite actually. Just . . . “ she nervously bit her lower lip, “don’t tell him my name or . . . anything. Okay?”

The girl gave a slightly different smile this time as she pocketed the note. “Sure thing, ma’am.”

Emma couldn’t tell if the smile was just relief or a kind of knowing. Maybe the girl thought it was Emma giving her boss her phone number. Maybe women were frequently passing notes to Killian Jones. She wouldn’t be surprised. Emma’s face flamed red as she drove away.

It wasn’t like it was that kind of note. All it said was, “You made a hectic morning bearable. Thank you.” For a company that emphasized customer service so much, it was really just a thumbs up for a job well done. Like a positive review on Amazon. Nothing more.

********************************************************

Killian Jones was there again when Emma stopped to get a quick breakfast. This time, he arched a knowing brow when her yellow Bug pulled up to the curb.

“Ah, Miss Emma Swan once again. Your chicken minis, m’lady, and I must say, a fine dining choice for a woman of mature tastes.”

He gave a mock bow as he passed the bag through the window, and Emma was mortified when a giggle made its way past her lips. He waggled his eyebrows at her, to which she rolled her eyes. Yet, he had remembered her.

She cleared her throat as she took the bag, and then asked him, “I was wondering about the accent. Isn’t it the wrong one?”

At first, he furrowed his brow. “The wrong one . . . oh! You mean, as in, why don’t I go around saying mornin’ ma’am, or ya’ll have a good day now?”

Emma giggled again at his horrible impression of a Southern accent and shook her head. “Yeah, that’s what I mean. Your accent is . . . Irish?”

“Aye. And if you’re wondering how I ended up in Atlanta, well, the short version is I came across the pond as a kid.”

Emma nodded. It was about all she was going to get. She was sitting in a drive thru with at least half a dozen other cars behind her. So she simply nodded, tilted her head in a way that was only slightly flirtatious and said, “I like it.”

*****************************************************

The rest of the day sucked, to put it bluntly. The scumbag she was staking out took hours to show up, she twisted her ankle chasing him down, and she never did get to eat lunch. So today was a cookies and cream milkshake type of day.

And today the note she asked the girl at the drive thru to pass along to Killian Jones said, “I’m glad you moved here. It’s a long way from Ireland, but . . . welcome home – I hope.”

******************************************************

“Is that required?”

On this particular morning, it was pretty cold outside, and Killian had kept his banter at a minimum as he handed Emma her order. So maybe she was grasping at straws for a little interaction. Or maybe it was a legitimate question.

“Is what required?” he asked, both eyebrows jumping slightly.

“God bless,” Emma clarified, “everyone here says it. Is it company policy or something?”

Killian shrugged, “Sort of. I mean, not officially. You can’t make someone use religious language, of course. But we’re encouraged to if it’s something we believe in.” He pulled the collection of necklaces he always wore around his neck free from his pea coat and scarf. He grasped a pendant shaped like a cross and waved it at Emma. “And I’m a good Irish Catholic boy.”

The smile he gave her belied his words, especially when his tongue darted out to swipe at his bottom lip. Emma cocked her head to the side and gave him a teasing smile.

“Not so sure you’re always a good boy.”

He leaned down, lowering his voice to a timbre that did something to Emma’s insides. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Emma rolled her eyes as he leaned back with a triumphant grin. Then his features became suddenly sincere.

“However, Swan, I do wish you every blessing. I mean that.”

**************************************************

The cold weather made it a “second cup of coffee in the afternoon” sort of day. But she had brought in a skip so easily she could have done it blind-folded, her little nephew Leo stopped by her office with a picture he drew of the two of them in preschool, and Mary Margaret insisted she come over that night for David’s famous chili.

And Killian Jones wished her every blessing.

On today’s note, Emma wrote, “You make me smile. That’s rare. Thank you. (Or should I say, God bless?)”

She had hesitated including that last line. After all, she didn’t want to give herself away. But was there any harm in dropping a hint or two? She shook her head, sealed the envelope, and passed it off to the girl who received all of her notes for Killian. Emma now knew her name – Holly.

And did Holly just wink when she took her note?

*************************************************

“Lovely as always, Miss Swan.”

Killian’s hand lingered as he passed Emma her coffee. She blinked and opened her mouth to say something, and –

Jumped a foot in the air when the SUV behind her honked. She and Killian both laughed, and he shuffled backwards, his face turning red. His smile was a broad one that dimpled both cheeks and crinkled the corners of his eyes.

That day, Emma’s note read, “I find myself looking forward to your smiles. You’ve got a great one, but you’ve probably heard that before. Anyway, just wanted to let you know it always brightens my day.”

**************************************************

Today it was raining, and yet the employees of Chick-fil-A were still there, bravely traversing the drive-thru line in ponchos, their i-Pads encased in water proof plastic. Killian stood huddled beneath the awning at the service door, in a thick navy blue raincoat. Raindrops had gathered on his eyelashes, making the blue of his eyes sparkle in the gray misty haze of the Georgia rain.

“Wow,” Emma quipped when he handed her the to-go bag, “this is dedication. And still telling me, it’s a pleasure to serve you.”

His eyes seemed to light up even more as he smiled at her. “For you, Swan, it is more than a pleasure.��

That day, her note read, “Your blue eyes make a rainy day a little brighter.”

It was the most blatantly flirtatious note she had left, but she no longer cared.

************************************************

“Your accent is the wrong one too, you know.”

Emma smiled broadly as she leaned against the open window of her Bug. Killian made no move to give her her food, swinging the bag idly in his hand. She shrugged.

“Yeah, I moved around a lot growing up. Minnesota. Portland. I moved here a few months ago. I had been living in Tallahassee, but my foster sister wanted me here to be close to family. There’s way more work here in bail bonds anyway.”

Killian nodded as he handed her the bag of chicken minis and her coffee. “Well, Swan, welcome home . . . I hope.”

He winked before turning his back to receive the next order. Emma’s jaw dropped, but she had the sense to ease out of the line and onto the highway.

Did he know? To test it out, her note to him that day read, “I’ve never really felt at home anywhere. This is getting close. You’ve helped make it feel that way.”

**************************************************

Emma was only half listening to Mary Margaret as she set the table in her and David’s eat-in kitchen. Their house was small, but quaint, and was in a great neighborhood. They had been willing to buy a smaller house rather than keep renting in the apartment complex, knowing the back yard and park down the street were better for Leo. It worked out for Emma too, as she spent way more time here than in her lonely one bedroom apartment.

Mary Margaret was lecturing Emma about something – probably about how she ought to be more social – but Emma’s mind was on Killian Jones. Had he gotten her latest note yet? Would he figure out who she was? If so, would he think she was a total stalker?

“ . . . so since you keep giving me excuses, I just decided to ask Killian over for dinner tonight.”

The name tore Emma immediately from her daydreaming. “I’m sorry? What did you say?”

Mary Margaret shook her head at Emma. “I said set one more place because I invited that guy I told you about over for dinner.”

Emma set down the stack of forks she had been laying at each place and waved both hands back and forth. “Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You said his name was, what?”

Mary Margaret had been going on and on about her and David’s former neighbor at the apartments and how he would be perfect for Emma. But surely that couldn’t be the same Killian as her drive-thru Killian. Could it? Okay, so Killian wasn’t exactly a common name . . .

“Killian Jones,” Mary Margaret answered with an exasperated sigh.

Emma shook her head rapidly. “Killian Jones? What . . . what does he do for a living?”

Mary Margaret grabbed the forks Emma had abandoned. “He’s the owner-operator of the Chick-fil-A near here. I was going to introduce you the day you went with me and Leo, but Killian was at some training thing at corporate.”

Emma grabbed the back of a chair as the room started to spin. Crap. She had to go and open herself up in that damn note today. And Mary Margaret just had to invite him over for dinner, tonight of all nights.

This was going to be interesting.

*****************************************************

Killian was just as surprised as she was when he arrived at the Nolans. Apparently, Mary Margaret had gushed on about her “sister,” but had failed to mention a name. They told Mary Margaret and David about their interactions in the drive thru, and everyone had a good laugh about it. What a small world! How ironic! That sort of thing. Killian seemed no different than normal. Maybe he hadn’t gotten the note yet?

Emma, on the other hand, was wound tight. Maybe things had been more comfortable between them when there was a car door and a time restraint. Or maybe it was all those stupid notes hanging over Emma’s head. Whatever it was, it made Emma’s face feel like it was stuck in a perpetual blush. She couldn’t think of a damn thing to say, and Mary Margaret and David were not-so-subtly trying to play matchmaker as they attempted to steer the conversation Emma’s way. But all she could do was give one word answers and stare at her plate.

“Well,” Killian said with a satisfied sigh, “I can’t tell you Mary Margaret how delicious this was. Working at a restaurant all day, the last thing I feel like doing when I get home is cook. This was amazing, really.”

Mary Margaret beamed at his compliment. “Well, we are pleased to have you. You should come over more often. We miss you. Right, David?”

“Yeah,” David chuckled, shoving Killian’s shoulder, “I’ve got no one to watch hockey games with anymore. It’s not really a popular sport around here.”

“The notes were from me,” Emma blurted out.

Everyone immediately fell silent at Emma’s completely out of context outburst. Except for Leo, who ran his fork across his plate with a loud screech and demanded to know what was for dessert.

Emma lifted her gaze from her lap to meet Killian’s. “The notes that kept arriving at Chick-fil-A in the afternoons? They were all from me.” She let out a long, shaky breath.

“I know,” was all Killian said in response.

Emma’s eyes widened. “I – I thought you might. When did you figure it out?”

He chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I suspected, or hoped, it was you from the start. You see, every note corresponded with our morning interactions. But of course, today confirmed it. I was testing you by quoting one of your notes, and then when the note this afternoon was about home . . . “

He trailed off, a grin splitting his face.

“You hoped it was me from the start?”

He nodded, and Emma just sat there grinning right back at him like a fool. Mary Margaret hurriedly jumped from the table, scooping up Leo.

“Hey!” the little boy protested. “What about dessert?”

“We’ll eat cookies in front of the TV,” Mary Margaret muttered in response, “David, now.”

Killian and Emma chuckled as their matchmakers hurried from the kitchen. Emma felt as nervous as she had been back in junior high when she went to her first school dance. Killian rose from his seat across from her and came to take the seat beside her. They both shifted their chairs to be a little closer.

“I felt something between us the moment I first saw you,” Killian said.

“You mean when you offered my non-existent kid a free ice cream cone?”

Killian chuckled and ducked his head. How a man could be so sexy, cocky, and bashful all at the same time was incredibly endearing. He lifted his eyes to meet hers, a silent question passing between them. Emma nodded imperceptibly as they both leaned towards one another. When Killian’s lips met hers, the contact was charged with an intense attraction she had never felt before.

Except when his fingers had brushed hers in the drive thru.

Those fingers now carded through her hair as she tilted her head to deepen the kiss. His lips were soft against hers, but his kisses were firm and passionate. His other hand came up to gently caress her face, his thumb tracing her jaw and coming to rest on her chin. Emma pulled back, giving him a shy smile, which he returned. Then they resumed kissing, their tongues entwined in a dance so perfect, it felt as if they had been molded to fit together. When they finally parted, they were breathing heavily. Emma rested her forehead against his and sighed in complete contentment.

“Emma,” he murmured. God, she loved the way he said her name!

“Yeah,” she mumbled back dreamily.

“It’s definitely been a pleasure to serve you.”

[themicrosoftpartnerusa-blog]

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INDY Daily: UNC Hired Hubert Davis to Coach Its Men's Basketball Team

It’s Tuesday, April 6

Thank you to this week's sponsor, the Durham County Library. Check out their Library Fest this week which includes a community reading program, with selected reads for every age and the chance to engage with authors and illustrators. They also have programs highlighting their STEAM and business offerings, humanities programming, local history collection, and more.

Don't forget to vote now for your favorite Triangle businesses!  INDY Week's Best of the Triangle nominating period is live and runs through 4/25.

Good morning, readers.

You may have gathered that I do not follow sports closely.

Exhibit A, I mixed up Villanova with Vanderbilt yesterday as the school at which former Tar Heel player Jerry Stackhouse is head coach of the men's basketball team. For the record, Stackhouse is head coach at Vanderbilt; thank you to all the readers and UNC fans (and one Vanderbilt alum) who kindly emailed to point out this mistake.

So, not being well versed in college athletics and the processes that power them, I was surprised to learn yesterday, mere days after Coach Roy Williams announced his retirement, that UNC Athletics was ready to announce his replacement. This is a pretty different scenario from, say, when the City of Raleigh's police chief announced her retirement, and, three months later, just around the time she's supposed to have her last day of work, the city starts the process of putting out a request for proposals to find an outside consultant to assist city leaders with the national search which will likely take many months more. (I digress.)

Turns out, all UNC needs is a list of recommendations from Roy and boom; a coach is hired. And not just any coach—UNC hired one of its own.

Hubert Davis is a former Tar Heel player and currently an assistant coach for the UNC men's team. He'll also be the first Black head coach in the team's history. His resume includes over a decade spent playing in the NBA, a seven-year stint as an analyst for ESPN, and head of UNC's junior varsity men's team as well as director of the team's clinics and charities. And we'll no doubt learn even more about Davis during a news conference this afternoon.

Though we've established that I'm far from an authority on such matters, Davis sounds like a pretty good choice to lead the team to me. I'd be curious to hear what you think; email me!

For more information, resources, and promotional opportunities please contact sales@indyweek.com

Like the INDY Daily? Share it with your friends and ask them to subscribe!

Orange County

Read The News & Observer's Hubert Davis coverage here, here, here, and here.

A new bill from first-term Republican lawmaker Sen. Jim Perry of Kinston seeks to bar lobbyists from being appointed to UNC's Board of Governors. Currently, three board members are lobbyists: Thom Goolsby, Reggie Holley, and David Powers.

Here's more on the UNC clinic that's helping people dealing with persistent long-COVID symptoms.

The Orange County Health Department is moving its COVID testing site from the UNC R7 parking lot on 725 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the Southern Human Services Center at 2501 Homestead Road. The vendor is Optum Server.

Carrboro's Town Council is discussing a downtown "slow zone."

Durham County

Durham police chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis is one of eight candidates being considered to head up the Memphis police department, according to the City of Memphis's website. She's served as police chief in Durham since June of 2016 after relocating from Atlanta and is credited with improving the relationships between officers and residents.

Wake County

Wake County's school board will discuss what returning to school in the fall will look like for students, teachers, and parents at its meeting this afternoon. Wake families have to decide this month if they want to keep their students in all-virtual learning for the fall. Watch the meeting here.

RPD is an investigating an incident of an officer pinning a teen to the ground. The Raleigh police officer says 15-year-old Diego Muir refused to comply when asked if he could be searched for weapons. Muir's cousin caught the officer on video grabbing Muir from behind the back, restraining his arms, and pushing him to the ground. The officer then sits with his knee pinning the boy's arm to the ground while he radioes for help, according to WRAL.

Elsewhere

North Carolina Democrats are hopeful that this could be the year that Republicans who control the General Assembly finally agree to expand Medicaid. The move could happen under a legislative plan called "Close the Coverage Gap" and would bring healthcare to between 700,000 and 800,000 North Carolinians. The federal American Rescue Plan has made the incentive for expanding Medicaid coverage basically to good to refuse for the 12 states who still haven't done so. North Carolina could lose out on $2.4 billion in federal money if it doesn't expand Medicaid. And, as a recent poll found, Medicaid expansion enjoys broad bipartisan support in the state.

Gov. Roy Cooper nominated Pamela Brewington Cashwell to head the Department of Administration. Cashwell, currently a senior policy advisor at the Department of Public Safety, is the first Native American woman nominated to lead a cabinet agency. She will need to be confirmed by the state Senate. 

There's a bipartisan push to end the practice of shackling pregnant inmates being held in North Carolina's jails and prisons when they go into labor. Lawmakers are expected to file a bill in the coming days.

Wilberdean Shirley, one of the original owners of the iconic Wilber's Barbecue in Goldsboro, died at age 90.

Statewide COVID-19 by the numbers: Monday, April 5

1,054 New lab-confirmed cases (922,560 total; seven-day average trending down)

907 Current hospitalizations reported (seven-day average going down; 12,173 total deaths, +37 over Thursday)

13,289 Completed tests (11.50 million total; most recent positive rate was 6.0 percent)

5,210,271 Total vaccinations administered (State data not updated daily)

Today's weather Warm and mostly sunny with highs in the upper 70s to low 80s.

Song of the day Stand Up-Performed by Cynthia Erivo A Grammy and Oscar-nominated track from last year's Harriet Tubman biopic Harriet, "Stand Up" was co-produced by Gabe Fox-Peck, a Durham resident and one-third of the local hip hop trio Young Bull.

— Jane Porter— Send me an email | Find me on Twitter

If you’d like to advertise your business to the Daily's 33,000-plus subscribers, please contact John Hurld at jhurld@indyweek.com.

Love the INDY Daily? Support it by joining the INDY Press Club.

[revisionaryhistory]

Three Days ~ 3

AO3

~*~Sebastian~*~

I straightened my clothes when I got out of the SUV. I realize my first impression is already shot to hell, but I'm attempting to make up some ground. In front of her door I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths before knocking. I tried to re-frame my sudden nervousness as excitement. When she opened the door two things happened. My mouth started to water and my jeans shrank at least one size.

I went with it. "You look beautiful." I kept my voice soft and smiled.

The peach shirt and white jacket set off her eyes and slightly tanned skin. I liked the slight swell of her breasts showing out the top of her shirt. Just sexy enough. I mean, I have nothing against naked breasts, rather like them, but this was a good first date look. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much. And there's time and place for more. This wasn't it.

Emma smiled and put her hand on my bicep, "Thank you. You clean up nicely."

I laughed, "I didn't really pack for a dinner date."

"I thought you might be limited, so I went with jeans."

My head jerked a little in surprise. "That's really nice. Thank you." I had to stop myself from staring. I'm not sure what I'm more amazed by: her kindness or the ease with which she speaks about her thought process. She says it like it's no big deal, but it is. Or maybe I'm more jaded than I thought. I snapped myself out of my thoughts, "Ready to go?" She nodded and I put my hand on her lower back, leading her to the vehicle.

I started backing out and remembered I didn't know where we were going. I put on the brake, rested my hands on the steering wheel, and looked over, "Which way? Where we going?"

"I had two ideas. In town there's a pub. Typical pub food. Bar on one side. Restaurant on the other. Probably live music, but its not loud on the restaurant side. Or about five miles north there's a place on the river with outdoor tables. They specialize in ribs and barbecue, but have everything from steak to seafood."

"Outside on the river sounds good. Nice night for it." I pointed at the navigation screen. "You put it in. Then we can talk without getting lost."

She laughed, "Are you sure we haven't met before? I'd completely get talking and forget to tell you where to turn."

"I think I'd remember." I smiled and watched her press the buttons. Her nails where longer than her fingertips. Long enough to feel, but not so long as to do damage. I should probably stop thinking like that or my my pants are going to shrink more.

"How is the moving going?"

"Good. They hired movers for the actual move. I'm here to shift boxes to other rooms, hook up electronics, and hang things. I think mom used the move as an excuse to get me to visit. When my step-dad retired they moved upstate. Now they're closer again, so it'll be easier."

"Are you an only child?"

"I am. Mom and I left Romania when I was eight then moved to New York when I was twelve." I didn't know if she knew my history or not. It was very vain to think she'd googled and read interviews. I wasn't sure if she was a fan. I liked how my job wasn't part of the conversation. That couldn’t last, but it was nice for now. "What about you?"

“I have an identical twin. Amelia.”

I don't think she was done talking, but I burst in. “That's so cool. Emiliana and Amelia. Did you switch around to fuck with teachers and boyfriends?”

An evil grin crossed her face. “All the time. Our parents mostly. They could never tell us apart. They tell this story about how my dad was so sleep deprived that he forgot to put on our color coded booties and they're not one hundred percent sure which one we really are.”

“Oh fuck! Priceless.”

“Once we hit our junior year Amy cut her hair and started dying it red. If we wanted to pull anything off we had to pull our hair up and shove on a hat. She's got a daughter now and since we're identical twins Katie is genetically my daughter too.”

My mouth dropped open, "I'd never thought of that." I raised my eyebrows, "Never been out with a mom before."

"First time for everything."

We laughed and conversation was easy the rest of the short drive. She pointed out the river walk and restaurant as we drove across the bridge. I was thinking an after dinner stroll was a good idea.

It was early enough that getting a table by the water wasn't a problem. Either the time or the hostess recognized me. She sat us in the corner of the deck with water on both sides. It was a beautiful view. My date and the scenery. Date was better. Before the hostess left she looked at me, "I'll send your server right over, Mr. Stan."

I guess that answers that.

There was a drink menu on the table. I picked it up and looked at Emma, "Do you drink?" She nodded and I handed her the menu. "A beer on the water sounds good."

The server showed up, took our drink orders, and by the time she brought our beers we were ready to order. There was a lull in conversation between discussing the menu and whatever was going to come next. We both took a drink to fill the space. I pulled at the label on my bottle nervously. "What do you for a living?" I knew I was opening the door for the same question, but it was the next logical topic.

"I teach first grade."

I never had a teacher who looked like her. "Why first?" I liked finding out why people made the choices they did.

"I like teaching the little people to read. Kindergartners are too squirrelly. There's a lot of time just teaching them how to be in school. Lots of crying in Kindergarten. Fifth graders are starting to be smart asses."

I nearly spit my beer across the table.

She laughed and handed me a napkin from the dispenser on the table, "They are! The hormones are starting to kick in. No thank you. Third and fourth are assessment years and it's all about getting them ready. Second is this weird hybrid where you're reteaching what they missed in first and getting their basic skills ready for third." She took a drink and continued. "First graders are perfect. They get so excited when they can put sounds together to make words and then read the words in a book. Or when they figure out three plus two is the same as counting three stars and two stars, figuring out the algorithm. I love teaching them to subitize. That’s knowing how many things there are without counting them. We play songs and games. Their little faces light up and they're so proud of themselves. The ones who struggle. It's hard to figure out how to help them and keep their confidence up. They break my heart." She put her hand over hers.

Her love of what she did was obvious. I couldn't remember talking to a teacher after I left school. My teachers just tortured me with homework, papers, projects, and group work. I shook my head, "Until right this second I had never thought of a teacher being excited about their students learning."

"You either had shitty teachers or hated school."

"Both." I looked up, searching my memory. "Leaving Romania was good, but I didn't speak anything but Romanian. I was a good student, but when we moved to Vienna I had to start over. I couldn't communicate. I couldn't read. It was hard. Mom threw a fit because my teachers used the language issue to not push me. She wasn’t having it. Then we moved here and it was starting over again. I was in that awkward stage, had at least three chins, didn't have any friends, and could barely speak English."

She cringed, "I don’t like your teachers. You have to work harder. There's always kids with stories. Whether they’re new, or a parent has died, or they don't speak English, or they've been abused, or they’re just different. You have to work harder to find a way to connect with them and be different for them. You have to have the relationship to help them learn. I'm not going to lie, sometimes you don't like a kid, but that's the job. You're the adult. Figure out how to make it work."

"Yeah, I didn't have teachers like you. It got better. Puberty helped and so did partying." I smirked around my beer bottle as I drank. "My teachers didn't look like you either. Would have paid more attention if they had. Well, maybe not paid attention, but enjoyed class more."

Her shoulders raised a little and one side of her mouth curled up, "Want me to teach you to read or something, Seb?"

"Now there's a loaded question." She’s still figuring out what to call me. Fuck.  I might be sad when she figures it out and sticks to one name.

Luckily or unluckily our appetizers arrived. The flirting was fun, but we’re early into dinner. Lots of time for flirting. Good to mix it up.

We'd ordered a sampler. I picked up one of the fried pickles, "There's a place in Atlanta where these are called frickle pickles."

"I grew up in Alpharetta."

"Did you? I've spent a lot of time in Atlanta." I kept going without even thinking. "The Marvel movies filmed there and most of Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be filmed there." I stopped with a pickle about to my mouth. "Umm."

"There's the elephant in the room." Emma popped a french fry covered in cheese and bacon in her mouth.

I chewed my pickle slowly to buy a little time. What for I don't know. It's awkward. I wiped off my hands and finished my beer. "I was enjoying ignoring the elephant." I leaned forward onto the table. "I liked just being a guy on a date."

"You still are." The look on her face was showed she was amused.

I liked that she wasn’t taking the topic seriously. I'm pissed I brought it up. We were doing fine getting to know each other without the complications of what I do. No one explains that part to you in acting school. You just learn about the craft, business, and what not to do an audition. They don't teach you about someone posting a picture of you laying shirtless in the park. You're doing what everyone else is doing, but if you were anyone else no one would care about you laying in the park getting some sun. This is why actors, and models, and sports stars date other actors, and models, and sports stars. All of those things which become a normal part of your life are normal for them too. It's not normal to other people. And until I mentioned filming in Atlanta I was having a damn fine time being a guy helping his parents move.

I want to fucking scream.

I drummed my fingers beside the plate. "I liked being the homeless guy you met in the baking aisle."

She frowned and put her hand over mine, "I didn't think you were homeless. There's a rehab facility up the road. I thought you were an addict stopping for chocolate before checking in. To help with the withdrawal."

I threw my head back and laughed hard. "Even better!" I turned my hand over, holding her fingers, and rubbing my thumb over her soft skin. "Can I go back to being that guy?"

“You're still the sweet guy running errands for his mom. The one I waited for at the check out. Before I knew his name or recognized him."

My eyes were wide and I was doing that thing I do where I'm licking my lips and playing with my tongue. That can mean lots of things. Right now is intrigued with a side of slightly nervous.

"It's going to be hard to get to know you if you don't tell me about your friends and what you do with your downtime."

She had a good point. I wasn't sure what my plan had been. Her talking about herself all night wasn't going to work. "I can do that. Talk about my friends."

Things have gotten more complicated. Not for the reason I expected. We've pretty much worked around the how do I be an ordinary man with a not so ordinary job problem. Now the problem is I'm holding her hand. It's soft and warm and I don't want to let go. I want to stay touching her. I can not figure out how we're going to eat.

[edgerdesert82-blog]

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[blog-theninehertz]

How To Choose Mobile App Development Company In Atlanta

Choosing an Awesome Mobile App Development Company in Atlanta

Mobile phones were previously used only for common usage. But coming to modern times, they have evolved into the ultimate medium for creating text, voice, image and video communications. You can also use the mobile phone to view movies, television, access the internet, play games, interact with GPS, read augmented reality messages and respond to the barcode.

The growth of mobile technology has also created a demand for mobile applications which serve as the key to both customer expansion and innovation. Mobile apps have found increased acceptance in the fields of socio-economic growth, entertainment, communication, monitoring vital signs of patients, crowd-sourcing political and social events, delivering education, etc.

Earlier, phones were only used for communicating. The mobile apps are either pre-installed in the phones at manufacturing platforms or delivered as web-based apps through client-side or server-side processing. Users spend 90% of their mobile browsing time in scanning apps. With 1.5 billion users using tablets and 3 billion-plus people using smartphones as of 2019, the importance of mobile app development is growing tremendously. Today we are going to discuss how you can select a mobile app development company in Atlanta for turning your ideas into a beautiful reality.

How Can a Mobile App Benefit Your Business?

Mobile applications can serve a variety of purposes like giving information on user accounts, booking form and prices apart from access to search features, messengers, etc. Mobile applications can help business houses provide all this information in a detailed yet easily accessible form to end-users. For doing this, you can opt for push notifications which establish direct interaction. It also becomes possible to advise the end-users easily about the latest developments in products and services.

No business can gain success if end customers are unable to reach them with queries and concerns. This is why it is necessary to have a help desk function which can establish easy communication between business houses and customers.

The growth of mobile technology has empowered various devices such as smart rings, smartwatches, Google Glass, etc for making our lives easier. However, a mobile app development can help in maintaining control over the operations of all these tech-enabled tools and also pave the path for their future improvement.

Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store receive a large number of web traffic daily. Having a properly optimized application can help businesses in attracting more downloads, get a backlink from high authority pages and route highly-targeted traffic towards your website.

The growth of digitization has helped businesses in transcending geographical barriers to bring a larger number of customers under their reach. It has also helped in reducing the expenses lodged under marketing overheard as everything is being done digitally and with minimal human intervention.

Mobile applications tend to increase client satisfaction as they feel closer to the business than ever before. Regular updates and troubleshoots make them feel cared for and this, in turn, increases the goodwill of the business.

Read full article originally published on Mobile App Development Company in Atlanta

[suchagiantnerd]

48 Books, 1 Year

I was just two books shy of my annual goal of 50! You can blame the combination of my adorable newborn, who refused to nap anywhere except on me, and Hallmark Christmas movie season, during which I abandon books for chaste kisses between 30-somethings who behave like tweens at places called the Mistletoe Inn (which are really in Almonte, Ontario). 

Without further ado, as Zuma from Paw Patrol says, “Let’s dive in!”

1. Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes / Nathan H. Lents

We have too many bones! We have to rely too much on our diet for survival! We suffer from too many cognitive biases! Reading about our design flaws was kind of interesting, but the best part of this book were the few pages toward the end about the possibility of alien life. Specifically this quote: "...some current estimates predict that the universe harbours around seventy-five million civilizations." WHAT?! This possibility more than anything else I've ever heard or read gives me a better idea of how infinite the universe really is.

2. The Fiery Cross / Diana Gabaldon

Compared to the first four books in the Outlander series, this fifth book is a real snooze. The characters are becoming more and more unlikeable. They're so self-centered and unaware of their privilege in the time and place they're living. Gabaldon's depictions of the Mohawk tribe and other First Nations characters (which I'm reading through her character's opinions of things) are pretty racist. The enslaved people at one character's plantation are also described as being well taken care of and I just.... can't. I think this is the end of my affair with Outlander.

3. Educated / Tara Westover

This memoir was a wild ride. Tara Westover grew up in a survivalist, ultra-religious family in rural Idaho. She didn’t go to school and was often mislead about the outside world by her father. She and her siblings were also routinely put in physical danger working in their father’s junkyard as their lives were “in god’s hands”, and when they were inevitably injured, they weren’t taken to the hospital or a doctor, but left to be treated by their healer mother. Thanks to her sheer intelligence and determination (and some support from her older brother), Tara goes to university and shares with us the culture shock of straddling two very different worlds. My non-fiction book club LOVED this read, we talked about it for a long, long time.

4. Imbolc: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for St. Brigid’s Day / Carl F. Neal

Continuing with my witchy education, I learned all about the first sabbat of the new year, Imbolc.

5. Super Sad True Love Story / Gary Shteyngart

This in-the-very-near-future dystopian novel got my heart racing during a few exciting moments, but overall, I couldn’t immerse myself fully because of the MISOGYNY. I think the author might not like women and the things women like (or the things he thinks they like?) In this near future, all the dudes are into finance or are media celeb wannabes, while all the women work in high-end retail. And onion-skin jeans are the new trend for women - they are essentially see-through. Gary….we don’t…want that? We don’t even want low-rise jeans to come back.

6. The Wanderers / Meg Howrey

Helen, Yoshi and Sergei are the three astronauts selected by a for-profit space exploration company to man the world’s first mission to Mars. But before they get the green light, they have to endure a 17-month simulation. In addition to getting insight into the simulation from all three astronauts via rotating narrators, we also hear from the astronauts’ family members and other employees monitoring the sim. At times tense, at times thoughtful, this book is an incisive read about what makes explorers willing to leave behind everything they love the most in the world.

7. Zone One / Colson Whitehead

The zombie apocalypse has already happened, and Mark is one of the survivors working to secure and clean up Zone One, an area of Manhattan. During his hours and hours of boring shifts populated by a few harrowing minutes here and there, the reader is privy to Mark’s memories of the apocalypse itself and how he eventually wound up on this work crew. Mark is a pretty likeable, yet average guy rather than the standard zombie genre heroes, and as a result, his experiences also feel like a more plausible reality than those of the genre.

8. Homegoing / Yaa Gyasi

One of my favourite reads of the year, this novel is the definition of “sweeping epic”. The story starts off with two half-sisters (who don’t even know about each other’s existence) living in 18th-century Ghana. One sister marries a white man and stays in Ghana, living a life of privilege, while the other is sold into slavery and taken to America on a slave ship. This gigantic split in the family tree kicks off two parallel and vastly different narratives spanning EIGHT generations, ending with two 20-somethings in the present day. I remain in awe of Gyasi’s talent, and was enthralled throughout the entire book.

9. Sweetbitter / Stephanie Danler

Tess moves to New York City right out of school (and seemingly has no ties to her previous life - this bothered me, I wanted to know more about her past) and immediately lands a job at a beloved (though a little tired) fancy restaurant. Seemingly loosely based on Danler’s own experiences as a server, I got a real feel for the insular, incestuous, chaotic life in “the industry”. Tess navigates tensions between the kitchen and the front of house, falls for the resident bad-boy bartender, and positions herself as the mentee of the older and more glamorous head server, who may not be everything she seems. This is a juicy coming-of-age novel.

10. The Autobiography of Gucci Mane / Gucci Mane and Neil Martinez-Belkin

Gucci Mane is one of Atlanta’s hottest musicians, having helped bring trap music to the mainstream. I’d never heard of him until I read this book because I’m white and old! But not knowing him didn’t make this read any less interesting. In between wild facts (if you don’t get your music into the Atlanta strip clubs, your music isn’t making it out of Atlanta) and wilder escapades (Gucci holing himself up in his studio, armed to the teeth, in a fit of paranoia one night) Gucci Mane paints on honest picture of a determined, talented artist fighting to break free of a cycle of systemic racism and poverty.

11. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer / Michelle McNamara

McNamara was a journalist and true crime enthusiast who took it upon herself to try and solve the mystery of the Golden State Killer’s identity. Amazingly, her interest in this case also sparked other people’s interest in looking back at it, eventually leading to the arrest of the killer (though tragically, McNamara died a few months before the arrest and would never know how her obsession helped to capture him). This is a modern true crime classic and a riveting read.

12. A Great Reckoning / Louise Penny

The 12th novel in Penny’s Inspector Gamache mystery series sees our hero starting a new job teaching cadets at Quebec’s police academy. Of course, someone is murdered, and Gamache and his team work to dig the rot out of the institution, uncovering a killer in the process.

13. Any Man / Amber Tamblyn

Yes, this novel is by THAT Amber Tamblyn, star of “The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants”! Anyway, this book is a tad bit darker, and follows five men who’ve been victimized by the female serial rapist, who calls herself Maude. Going into this read I though that it might be some sort of revenge fantasy, but dudes, not to worry - we really feel awful for the male victims and see them in all their complexity. Perhaps, if more men read this book, they might better understand the trauma female and non-binary victims go through? That would require men to read books by women though. Guys? GUYS???

14. Ostara: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for the Spring Equinox / Kerri Connor

Yet another witchy read providing more information about this Spring sabbat. 

15. Scarborough / Catherine Hernandez

This novel takes place in OUR Scarborough! Following the lives of a number of residents (adults and children alike), the plot centres around the families attending an Ontario Early Years program as well as the program facilitator. Hernandez looks at the ways poverty, mental illness, addiction, race, and homophobia intersect within this very multicultural neighbourhood. It’s very sad, but there are also many sweet and caring moments between the children and within each of the families.

16. The Glitch / Elisabeth Cohen

Shelley Stone (kind of a fictional Sheryl Sandberg type) is the CEO of Conch, a successful Silicon Valley company. Like many of these over-the-top real-life tech execs, Shelley has a wild schedule full of business meetings, exercise, networking and parenting, leaving her almost no time to rest. While on an overseas business trip, she meets a younger woman also named Shelley Stone, who may or may not be her younger self. Is Shelley losing it? This is a dark comedy poking fun at tech start-up culture and the lie that we can have it all.

17. The Thirteenth Tale / Diane Setterfield

This is my kind of book! A young and inexperienced bookworm is handpicked to write the biography of an aging famous author, Vida Wynter. Summoned to her sprawling country home around Christmastime, the biographer is absolutely enthralled by Vida’s tales of a crumbling gothic estate and an eccentric family left too long to their own whims. Looking for a dark, twisty fairytale? This read’s for you.

18. Love & Misadventure / Lang Leav

Leav’s book of poems looked appealing, but for me, her collection fell short. I felt like I was reading a teenager’s poetry notebook (which I’m not criticizing, I love that teen girls write poetry, and surprise, surprise - so did I - but I’m too old for this kind of writing now).

19. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows / Balli Kaur Jaswal

Hooo boy, my book club loved this one! Hoping to get a job more aligned with her literary interests, Nikki, the 20-something daughter of Indian immigrants to Britain, takes a job teaching writing at the community centre in London’s biggest Punjabi neighbourhood. The students are all older Punjabi women who don’t have much to do and because of their “widow” status have been somewhat sidelined within their community. Without anyone around to censor or judge them, the widows start sharing their own erotic fantasies with each other, each tale wilder than the last. As Nikki gets to know them better, she gains some direction in life and starts a romance of her own. (It should be noted that in addition to this lovely plot, there is a sub plot revolving around a possible honour killing in the community. For me, the juxtaposition of these two plots was odd, but not odd enough that it ruined the book.)

20. Beltane: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for May Day / Melanie Marquis

Beltane marks the start of the summer season in the witches’ year, and I learned all about how to ring it in, WITCH STYLE.

21. Summer of Salt / Katrina Leno

This book is essentially Practical Magic for teens, with a queer protagonist. All that to say, it’s enjoyable and sweet and a win for #RepresentationMatters, but it wasn’t a surprising or fresh story.

22. Too Like the Lightning / Ada Palmer

This is the first in the Terra Ignota quartet of novels, which is (I think) speculative fiction with maybe a touch of fantasy and a touch of sci-fi and a touch of theology and certainly a lot of philosophical ruminating too. I both really enjoyed it and felt so stupid while reading it. As a lifelong bookworm who doesn’t shy away from difficult reads, I almost never feel stupid while reading, but this book got me. The world building is next level and as soon as you think you’ve found your footing, Palmer pulls the rug out from under you and you’re left both stunned and excited about her latest plot twist. Interested in finding out what a future society grouped into ‘nations’ by interests and passions (instead of geographical borders and ethnicity) might be like? Palmer takes a hearty stab at it here.

23. The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay and Disaster / Sarah Krasnostein

When Sarah Krasnostein met Sandra Pankhurst, she knew she had to write her biography (or something like it - this book is part biography, part love letter, part reckoning). And rightly so, as Sandra has led quite a life. She grew up ostracized within her own home by her immediate family, married and had children very young, came out as a trans woman and begin living as her authentic self (but abandoning her own young family in the process), took to sex work and lived through a vicious assault, married again, and started up her own successful company cleaning uncleanable spaces - the apartments of hoarders, the houses of recluses, the condos in which people ended their own lives. Sandra is the definition of resilience, but all her traumas (both the things people have done to her and the things she’s done to others) have left their mark, as Krasnostein discovers as she delicately probes the recesses of Sandra’s brain.

24. Becoming / Michelle Obama

My favourite things about any memoir from an ultra-famous person are the random facts that surprise you along the way. In this book, it was learning that all American presidents travel with a supply of their blood type in the event of an assassination attempt. I mean OF COURSE they would, but that had never occurred to me. I also appreciated Michelle opening up about her fertility struggles, the difficult decision to put her career on hold to support Barack’s dreams, and the challenge of living in the spotlight with two young children that you hope to keep down to earth. Overall, I think Michelle was as candid as someone in her position can be at this point in her life.

25 and 26. Seven Surrenders, The Will to Battle / Ada Palmer

I decided to challenge myself and stick with Palmer’s challenging Terra Ignota series, also reading the second and third instalments (I think the fourth is due to be released this year). I don’t know what to say, other than the world-building continues to be incredible and this futuristic society is on the bring of something entirely new.

27. Even Vampires Get the Blues / Kate MacAlister

This novel wins for “cheesiest read of the year”. When a gorgeous half-elf detective (you read that right) meets a centuries-old sexy Scottish vampire, sparks fly! Oh yeah, and they’re looking for some ancient thing in between having sex.

28. A Case of Exploding Mangoes / Mohammed Hanif

A piece of historical fiction based on the real-life suspicious plane crash in 1988 that killed many of Pakistan’s top military brass, this novel lays out many possible culprits (including a crow that ate too many mangoes). It’s a dark comedy taking aim at the paranoia of dictators and the boredom and bureaucracy of the military (and Bin Laden makes a cameo at a party).

29. Salvage the Bones / Jesmyn Ward

This novel takes place in the steaming hot days before Hurricane Katrina hits the Mississippi coast. The air is still and stifling and Esch’s life in the small town of Bois Sauvage feels even more stifled. Esch is 14 and pregnant and hasn’t told anyone yet. Her father is a heavy drinker and her three brothers are busy with their own problems. But as the storm approaches, the family circles around each other in preparation for the storm. This is a jarring and moving read made more visceral by the fact that the author herself survived Katrina. It’s also an occasionally violent book, and there are particularly long passages about dog-fighting (a hobby of one of the brothers). The dog lovers in my book club found it hard to get through, consider this your warning!

30. Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay / Phoebe Robinson

A collection of essays in the new style aka writing multiple pages on a topic as though you were texting your best friend about it (#ImFineWithThisNewStyleByTheWay #Accessible), Robinson discusses love, friendship, being a Black woman in Hollywood, being plus-ish-size in Hollywood, and Julia Roberts teaching her how to swim (and guys, Julia IS as nice in real life as we’d all hoped she was!) Who is Robinson? Comedy fans will likely know her already, but I only knew her as one of the stars of the Netflix film Ibiza (which I enjoyed). This is a fun, easy read!

31. Midsummer: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for Litha / Deborah Blake

After reading this book, I charged my crystals under the midsummer sun!

32. Fingersmith / Sarah Waters

So many twists! So many turns! So many hidden motives and long-held secrets! Think Oliver Twist meets Parasite meets Lost! (Full disclosure, I haven’t seen Parasite yet, I’m just going off all the chatter about it). Sue is a con artist orphan in old-timey London. When the mysterious “Gentleman” arrives at her makeshift family’s flat with a proposal for the con of all cons, Sue is quickly thrust into a role as the servant for another young woman, Maud, living alone with her eccentric uncle in a country estate. As Sue settles into her act, the lines between what she’s pretending at and what she’s really feeling start to blur, and nothing is quite what it seems. This book is JUICY!

33. Rest Play Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One) / Deborah MacNamara, PhD

I read approximately one parenting book a year, and this was this year’s winner. As my eldest approached her third birthday, we started seeing bigger and bigger emotions and I wasn’t sure how to handle them respectfully and gently. This book gave me a general roadmap for acknowledging her feelings, sitting through them with her, and the concept of “collecting” your child to prevent tantrums from happening or to help calm them down afterward. I’ll be using this approach for the next few years!

34. Lughnasadh: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for Lammas / Melanie Marquis

And with this read, I’ve now read about the entire witch’s year. SO MOTE IT BE.

35. In Cold Blood / Truman Capote

How had I not read this until now? This true-crime account that kicked off the modern genre was rich in detail, compassionate to the victims, and dug deep into the psyche of the killers. The descriptions of the midwest countryside and the changing seasons also reminded me of Keith Morrison’s voiceovers on Dateline. Is Capote his inspiration?

36. I’m Afraid of Men / Vivek Shraya

A quick, short set of musings from trans musician and writer Shraya still packs an emotional punch. She writes about love and loss, toxic masculinity, breaking free of gender norms, and what it’s like to exist as a trans woman.

37. The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You / Elaine N. Aron, PhD

Having long thought I might be a highly sensitive person (lots of us are!), I decided to learn more about how to better cope with stressful situations when I don’t have enough alone time or when things are too loud or when I get rattled by having too much to do any of the other myriad things that shift me into panic mode. Though some of the advice is a bit too new-agey for me (talking to your inner child, etc), some of it was practical and useful.

38. Swamplandia! / Karen Russell

The family-run alligator wrestling theme park, Swamplandia, is swimming in debt and about to close. The widowed father leaves the everglades for the mainland in a last-ditch attempt to drum up some money, leaving the three children to fend for themselves. A dark coming-of-age tale that blends magic realism, a ghost story, the absurd and a dangerous boat trip to the centre of the swamplands, this novel examines a fractured family mourning its matriarch in different ways.

39. A Mind Spread Out on the Ground / Alicia Elliott

This is a beautiful collection of personal essays brimming with vulnerability, passion, and fury. Elliott, the daughter of a Haudenosaunee father and a white mother, shares her experiences growing up poor in a family struggling with mental illness, addiction and racism. Topics touch on food scarcity, a never-ending battle with lice, parenthood and the importance of hearing from traditionally marginalized voices in literature. 

40. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay / Elena Ferrante

The third novel in Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet sees Elena and Lila move from their early twenties into their thirties and deal with a riot of issues - growing careers, changing political beliefs, the challenges of motherhood and romantic relationships, and existing as strong-willed, intelligent women in 1960s and 70s Italy. I’ll definitely finish the series soon.

41. Half-Blood Blues / Esi Edugyan

A small group of American and German jazz musicians working on a record find themselves holed up in Paris as the Germans begin their occupation in WW2. Hiero, the youngest and most talented member of the group, goes out one morning for milk and is arrested by the Germans, never to be heard from again. Fifty years later, the surviving members of the band go to Berlin for the opening night of a documentary about the jazz scene from that era, and soon find themselves on a road trip through the European countryside to find out what really became of Hiero all those years ago. Edugyan’s novel is a piercing examination of jealousy, ambition, friendship, race and guilt. And features a cameo by Louis Armstrong!

42. A Serial Killer’s Daughter: My Story of Faith, Love and Overcoming / Kerri Rawson

So Brad and I had just finished watching season 2 of Mindhunter, and as I browse through a neighbourhood little library, I spot this book and the serial killer in question is the BTK Killer! Naturally, I had to read it. What I didn’t realize is that this is actually a Christian book, so Rawson does write a lot about struggling with her belief in God and finding her way back to Him, etc. But there are also chapters more fitting with the true crime and memoir genres that I equally enjoyed and was creeped out by.

43. The Night Ocean / Paul La Farge

This is another book that made me feel somewhat stupid as a reader. I just know there are details or tidbits that completely went over my head that would likely enrich a better reader’s experience. In broad strokes, the novel is about a failed marriage between a psychiatrist and a writer who became dangerously obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft and the rumours that swirled around him and his social circle. The writer’s obsession takes him away from his marriage and everything else, and eventually it looks like he ends his own life. The psychiatrist is doubtful (no body was found) and she starts to follow him down the same rabbit hole. At times tense, at times funny, at times sad, I enjoyed the supposed world of Lovecraft and his fans and peers, but again, I’m sure there are deeper musings here that I couldn’t reach.

44. Glass Houses / Louise Penny

The 13th novel in Penny’s Inspector Gamache mystery series sees our hero taking big risks to fight the opioid crisis in Quebec. He and his team focus on catching the big crime boss smuggling drugs across the border from Vermont, endangering his beloved town of Three Pines in the process. 

45. The Bone Houses / Emily Lloyd-Jones

My Halloween read for the year, this dark fairytale of a YA novel was perfect for the season. Since her parents died, Ryn has taken over the family business - grave digging - to support herself and her siblings. As the gravedigger, she knows better than most that due to an old curse, the dead in the forest surrounding her village don’t always stay dead. But as more of the forest dead start appearing (and acting more violently than usual), Ryn and an unexpected companion (yes, a charming young man cause there’s got to be a romance!) travel to the heart of the forest to put a stop to the curse once and for all.

46. The Witches Are Coming / Lindy West

Another blazing hot set of essays from my favourite funny feminist take on Trump, abortion rights, #MeToo, and more importantly Adam Sandler and Dateline. As always, Lindy, please be my best friend?

47. Know My Name / Chanel Miller

This memoir is HEAVY but so, so needed. Recently, Chanel Miller decided to come forward publicly and share that she was the victim of Brock Turner’s sexual assault. She got the courage to do so after she posted her blistering and beautiful victim impact statement on social media and it went viral. Miller’s memoir is a must-read, highlighting the incredible and awful lengths victims have to go to to see any modicum of justice brought against their attackers. Miller dealt with professional ineptitude from police and legal professionals, victim-blaming, victim-shaming, depression and anxiety, the inability to hold down a job, and still managed to come out the other side of this trial intact. And in the midst of all the horror, she writes beautifully about her support system - her family, boyfriend and friends - and about the millions of strangers around the world who saw themselves in her experience.

48. Christmas Ghost Stories: A Collection of Winter Tales / Mark Onspaugh

Ghosts AND Christmas? Yes please! This quirky collection features a wide array of festively spooky tales. You want the ghost of Anne Boleyn trapped in a Christmas ornament? You got it! What about the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future drinking together in a bar? Yup, that’s here too! 

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So, what were my top picks of the year, the books that stuck with me the most? In no particular order:

Educated

Homegoing

The Wanderers

Know My Name

Scarborough