Pickles

The MMC met for our monthly dinner, with a shouted over the din meeting, at Pickles Grill & Cafe in Martinez, GA. We had like 20 people there (18 more than showed up for the last event) and they put us at one long table (which is a strange predilection for this group), so conversation was possible with only the nearest 5 people. The others got nothing more than a wave.

With a name like Pickles you knew they had fried pickles as an appetizer, so I tried some.

My first experience with fried pickles occurred at Razzoo’s and it went a little like this: pickle chip number one made me wonder who thought up this vile food item, number two didn’t taste half bad and numbers 3 through 30 were great. Those guys were crinkle cut dill chips not much bigger around than a nickle and were a perfect one bite sized, easily popped into your mouth.

The offerings from Pickles were large dill pickles french cut style so that they came out about the size of a flattened Pringle. When you bit into it there was no way for your bite to cut and separate the pickle so you ended up with half the coating and the whole pickle slice in your mouth and half the coating still in your hand. Cutting them into smaller pieces fared only marginally better because the coating would fall off in the dipping sauce…

The hazards of eating with a group of 20 are many and we caught nearly everyone. If they were trying to serve all of us at one time, it failed. We got about 3 or 4 dishes served and then it would take about five more minutes for the next wave. Diner #1 was about done eating when diner #20 got their meal. If they were just trying to get the orders out as they were ready, that failed as well, as our pork chops were luke cold and the couple across from us got a rare steak in place of the medium well they requested. Those that requested loaded baked potatoes (smallest baked spuds I’ve seen served at a restaurant) only got them semi-loaded. We got the cheese, bacon bits and scallions, but no butter and sour cream while someone else got just the opposite.

They at least split the checks for us without adding an automatic 18% tip, but at least three couples bills were off in one way or another. The menu was varied and interesting and the food did taste good, so I’m betting that if you went as a couple or maybe two couples the dining experience would have been a whole lot better. I know this, if we were to ever go back to Pickles I won’t be ordering the fried pickles.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1082

10 Commandments, 3 Laws or a Golden Rule

From Exodus 20:1-17 in the New King James Version of the Christian bible.

  1. You shall have no other gods before me.
  2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
  3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
  4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
  5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. You shall not commit adultery.
  8. You shall not steal.
  9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  10. You shall not covet your neighbor?s house; you shall not covet your neighbor?s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor?s.?

Penn Jillette’s 10 Commandments for atheists:

  1. The highest ideals are human intelligence, creativity and love. Respect these above all.
  2. Do not put things or even ideas above other human beings.
  3. Say what you mean, even when talking to yourself.
  4. Put aside some time to rest and think.
  5. Be there for your family. Love your parents, your partner, and your children.
  6. Respect and protect all human life.
  7. Keep your promises.
  8. Don’t steal.
  9. Don’t lie.
  10. Don’t waste too much time wishing, hoping, and being envious; it’ll make you bugnutty.

Issac Asmimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, humanized:

  1. A human may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  2. A human must obey the laws given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  3. A human must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

The Golden Rule:

  1. One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.
Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1080

New Header Image

Changed the header image to one of the photos taken last weekend at the J Strom Thurmond Dam. I have a somewhat similar shot of the Emperor, but not similar enough to do a rotating banner.

I guess if we drove both cars up there, put the camera on a tripod, marked the spot and systematically took two photos, drove both cars home, edited the photos – nah, not worth it. I guess I will have to put a Miata photo up here sometime again though, what with the domain name I have.

Wait a minute, maybe mr-sonata.net is available…

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1079

Seriously?

At 9:45 our doorbell rings. I know what it is, so don’t even flinch. Donna just couldn’t stand not knowing, so she opens the front door. There stands a 12-14 year old, not in costume. She asks, “What?” He just stands there, I guess waiting for us to offer him some candy. It doesn’t happen. Donna just shuts the door and walks away shaking her head in disbelief.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1078

New New Beetle

Volkswagen revamped its Beetle model making it lower, wider, less rounded and dropped the dash vase in an effort to appeal more to men. Way to go VW! And offering it in baby blue will really help bring in the male buyers as well. There was one other of the new New Beetles on the lot we parked in while geocaching today, it was painted in another favorite guy color, light yellow.

We traveled to Brazil, China, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Ontario & Yakutsk before getting lost in Mongolia and calling it quits for the day.

8,000 Pieces of Risky Business

Spent the day looking for more of those caches in the RISK Series. We found Argentina, Central America, Greenland, Iceland, North Africa, Northern Europe, Northwest Territory, Ural, Western Australia & Secret Mission #1. Twenty five down and twenty one to go.

If we had traveled to all those places we might have had to drive the Sonata more than the 8,000 miles it now has on its odometer.

123,000 Hz

Well, it’s happened again. Changing the accessory belts on the Emperor has resulted in belts squealing at a high pitched 123,00Hz. This time it is both belts. Yesterday evening when we were coming back from the mall one of them just started squealing for no apparent reason. It lasted for about a minute before I pushed in the clutch and it shut up.

Today on the way home from work, for a test, I hit the A/C and was greeted with a nice squeal, later tonight I got a squeal when making a tight turn, so the second belt that runs the power steering pump is a bit loose too.

As I pulled into the driveway this afternoon the odometer hit the 123,000 mile mark.

Guess we are going back to see Steve on Monday.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1077