Last night in Birmingham, we stopped by two bars separated by a block and a half. One was called Blue Martini and was packed with a crowd of ritzy men and women probably “going out” for the last time. The second was more like a pub with flickering lights and all but more warm and cozy like a tavern. I probably fit right in between somewhere out in the cold. But after leaving the tavern, we discovered this gem (it was actually called GEM):

It had all the elements an authorized site should have: the signage, being named GEM, and being in Birmingham. I think once a store gets this designation, it might as well close up shop since it has reached the nirvana all boutiques try to achieve.

Then, after a nice 12 hour nap and a sluggish awakening, there was an annoying sound that was really similar to a really loud pager but wasn’t coming from my apartment. Maybe something was wrong with my tank. Nope. Checked the hallway. Whoa, there was smoke. Uh oh. Called the security box. “Fire on the 3rd floor, everything under control…” Should I believe them? Hmm. Too much smoke to go down. So I went on the balcony for 5 minutes and these things pulled up just in time since I couldn’t stand the cold anymore and went back in.

Wow. First real building fire. Fire, smoke, firetrucks, firemen with oxygen tanks, the whole nine. What was sort of amusing about the whole thing was that they spent the first half of the week “updating and testing” the emergency intercom system. They even woke me up one morning testing the thing. I didn’t hear the intercom at all this afternoon. There must be a sign by the button to operate it, “Do not use for small fires.” Or maybe the button was on the 3rd floor.