I love the smell of recession in the morning

Last night me and the mrs went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner at Cumberland Mall in prestigious (I'm using Realtor speak here) Vinings area of Atlanta. Last time we were there was this past summer and we waited over an hour for a table. Last night the wait was less than 10 minutes, didn't even have a chance to finish my beer at the bar before getting seated.

Guess a lot of those 18% VISAs and MasterCards are starting to hit the limit. Without the HELOC funny money available either, those $8 pieces of cake and $9 margaritas aren't as attractive anymore to $30K millionaire set.

Sat outside and also noticed that unlike the previous visit, the $6 valet parking was rather slow. 4 valets sitting around doing not a hell of a lot. Compare this to last summer when the valet area was overflowing with the P.I.M.P.ed up Benzos, BMWs and of course the ever popular in Atlanta 11MPG Range Rovers (cost $75K, worth $35K 2 years later). I suspect once again that with $4 gas and the credit spigot shut off, the $30K Mil set is holding tight.

While I can see the cool factor of rolling up in the P.I.M.Ped up Rover to the club or fancy shmancy restaurant in the city, why would anyone care about doing so at a suburban mall? I parked about 100 feet from the entrance to the restaurant. I could see my car from where I was eating. When I was done, it took all of 2 minutes to walk to my car. Had I used the valet, it would have taken them 3 times as long for one of them to run to the car and bring it to me. All that with the added bonus of having an illegal alien, most likely with a fake driver licence, drive my car and take a quick look at my registration which has my name and address on it.