Food

Happy Valentines Day

We got up halfway early for a Saturday and had a nice romantic breakfast at the Waffle House because nothing says love quite like greasy short order food.

Once again, at our closest WH, there were more employees than customers and they were quite boisterous, but we didn’t let that detract from the experience. When the waitress brought over just our double order of scattered and smothered hash browns, as the cook in the background mumbled something about the waffle iron being unplugged, we didn’t let that spoil the mood either (we did get the pecan waffle while we still had half the potatoes left, so really, no harm.) We have vowed that next Valentines Day we will drive out by the Interstate, the Waffle House natural habitat, to see if we will have a nicer time.

I kid, but Waffle House really is on our short list for favorite breakfast places and it should be for you too.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 120

Missed It By That Much

We were up before the sun to hunt the wily Post Office. First stop was the Citadel in the dim light of the pre-dawn sky. We didn’t see any building that might fit, so we looped in around the parade ground and back out vowing to return later.

We then snagged the 2 others in “downtown” and headed to the city marina where there was supposed to be a neat place to have breakfast. Only trouble was there was no place to park if you didn’t have a sticker or $12, so over the Cooper River (Arthur Ravenel Jr) Bridge to Mount Pleasant vowing to find another place to eat.

The first Mount Pleasant Post Office was an easy find, followed by Isle of Palms and Sullivans Island, but on the final leg of the loop the second Mount Pleasant PO proved elusive. We had an address, 401 W Coleman Blvd, Suite A and as we traveled along watching the numbers go down some sort of space warping occurred and there was 400 numbers on the odd side of the street (which we wanted) and 600 numbers on the even side. We pulled a u-turn and slowly cruised looking for a Post Office. we found a strip shopping center with an address of 409 but then there was construction and the numbers were back in the 600’s. One more u-turn and further down the street with both sides having 400 numbers we found 401 in a small strip. Suite A was a nail salon with a blue mail box outside. I looked inside and could see no other evidence of postal activity and figured the PO had probably moved on, but I took some photos anyway.

Breakfast was at a small place that I’m sure has been a restaurant of some sort since the place was built in the 60s. There was a local crowd, the service was great and the food was adequate. When I pulled out of the restaurant to head back towards Charleston I passed a place that had small signs by the road for UPS, FedEx, etc. Thinking that maybe that is where the PO had moved to I pulled in and seeing a small USPS sticker on the door took some photos vowing to check on the interweb when we got back in for the day.

For the record, neither place is the Post Office, the second Mount Pleasant PO is now in a different location altogether, which we passed, but didn’t see. There is some internal debate as to whether to go back and take a picture of it. For one it is against a rule made in the beginning to create a list and follow it, no fair updating it, or it might be like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, once you are done it is time to start over and two it would mean yet another trip over the Cooper River Bridge which beside crossing back and forth to get these 4 Post Offices, we made a second trip with the top down for the express purpose of me taking pictures.

Then we made a third round trip to go over and find the terminal of the Charleston Water Taxi at Patriot’s Point so we could take a cheap boat trip, $8 per for a round trip, and get some photos of the Charleston waterfront sights, i.e. aircraft carrier, that bridge, cruise ship, aquarium, etc. Wouldn’t you know it, but the Water Taxi is closed for the season, opens next weekend. We got in the car to drive for lunch, but the fine print on the bottom of the card of the Mediterranean restaurant Donna had picked out was closed on Saturday. We ended up at a seafood place on Shem Creek that was very good, but I still think we would have preferred a gyro.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 110

Tips For A Northerner Moving South

I was cleaning out some old documents from the early 90s on my work computer this afternoon. There were even letters of resignation from the BMG and Columbia House CD Clubs. I came across this that some one had sent me way back when we moved from New Jersey to South Carolina. Republished here as a public service:

  • Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later how to use it.
  • If you forget a Southerner’s name, refer to him (or her) as “Bubba”. You have a 75% chance of being right.
  • Don’t be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store.
  • Do not buy food at the movie store.
  • People walk slower here.
  • If it can’t be fried in bacon grease, it ain’t worth cooking, let alone eating.
  • The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.
  • Don’t be worried that you don’t understand anyone. They don’t understand you either.
  • Get used to hearing, “You ain’t from around here, are you?”
  • Remember: “Y’all” is singular. “All y’all” is plural. “All y’all’s” is plural possessive.
  • The first Southern expression to creep into a transplanted Northerner’s vocabulary is the adjective “Big ol'”, as in “big ol’ truck” or “big ol’ boy”. Eighty-five percent begin their new southern influenced dialect with this expression. One hundred percent are in denial about it.
  • Be advised: The “He needed killin'” defense is valid here.
  • If you hear a Southerner exclaim, “Hey, y’all, watch this!” stay out of his way. These are likely the last words he will ever say.
  • If attending a funeral in the South, remember, we stay until the last shovel of dirt is thrown on and the tent is torn down.
  • Most Southerners do not use turn signals, and they ignore those who do. In fact, if you see a signal blinking on a car with a southern license plate, you may rest assured that it was on when the car was purchased.
  • As you are cursing the person driving 15 mph in a 55 mph zone, directly in the middle of the road, remember, many folks learned to drive on a model of vehicle known as John Deere, and this is the proper speed and lane position for the vehicle.
  • Northerners can be identified by the spit on the inside of their car’s windshield that comes from yelling at other drivers.
  • The winter wardrobe you always brought out in September can wait until November.
  • Just because you can drive on snow and ice does not mean we can. Stay home the two days of the year it snows.
  • If you do run your car into a ditch, don’t panic. Four men in the cab of a four wheel drive with a 12-pack of beer and a tow chain will be along shortly. Don’t try to help them. Just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
  • If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the most minuscule accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It does not matter if you need anything from the store, it is just something you’re supposed to do.
  • Florida is not considered a southern state. There are far more Yankees than Southerners living there.
  • In southern churches you will here the hymn, All Glory, Laud and Honor. You will also here expressions such as, “Laud, have mercy”,”Good Laud”, and “Laudy, Laudy, Laudy”.
  • You can ask a Southerner for directions, but unless you already know the positions of key hills, trees and rocks, you’re better off trying to find it yourself.
Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 96

85,000 Tourist Trolleys

Just about 5 miles outside the touristy St. Augustine, Florida the Emperor passed by 85,000 miles. We stopped in for a brief visit and all those ubiquitous trolleys were nearly empty of tourists. We parked in the lot of the Fountain of Youth, but were too cheap to spend the $7.50 each to get in, so we asked for a tourist map of the town so we could find our way around. We parked at the visitor’s center and the next place we were too cheap to pay admission ($6 ea.) into was the famous Castillo de San Marcos. We did take the walk all the way around the perimeter of the fort and that was good enough for us.

We then wandered the old city and almost didn’t need to eat lunch as a couple of the restaurants had people handing out free samples to entice us into eating there. The pizza nearly had us, but we ended up at Casa Maya and we’re glad we did, the food was fantastic.

Tonight we are staying at the Longboard Inn, a B&B in New Smyrna Beach (I wonder where the old one went?) It is only a few dollars more expensive compared to the Holiday Inn Express outside of Savannah we stayed at last night, but the breakfast will be leaps and bounds better (cinnamon bun excepted.)

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 62

Tricia Tanaka is Dead

The number 57 is my favorite number and episode 57 of 82 has to be my favorite LOST episode. And that is partly because my favorite character is Hurley and this episode is about him. The first thing we get is a flashback that shows Hurley suffers from the same fate as most our our survivors do, father issues, to wit, he leaves him and his mother at an early age. Off-island we get a bribed psychic and a meteor destroying a fast food restaurant.

While on-island Hurley, with Vincent the dog’s help, discovers an overturned VW van leftover from Dharma. The van’s mummified driver is removed, along with some flat, warm Dharma beer, and Hurley tries to start it – no go, dead battery. But with Charlie riding shotgun, he get Sawyer and Jin to push them down a steep hill to get the van started. It does, and when it does, the 8-track player does too and Three Dog Night’s Shambala blasts from the speakers.

The Federalist Papers

Normally in my circle of office mates, the conversations that fill up the large gaps between actual engineering work consists of sports or movies or food, but with the recent presidential election there has been a lot of chatter about politics. In a recent discussion my immediate supervisor asked me where I kept my copy of the Constitution so he could prove one point or another. I replied that I didn’t have one, but could Google him up one if he desired. He said, “Never mind, I’ll go get mine.” “You have one?” I asked. He said sure, it is in the back of my copy of The Federalist Papers.

Now I’m sure I must have learned about these papers somewhere in my admittedly dodgy educational experience, but couldn’t come up with what they were. He came back and handed me a normal sized paperback, that seemed substantially weighty (like Krispy Kreme doughnuts) and was full of 85 letters to the editor sort of essays, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay in 1787-78 to explain the need for and explain why the state of New York should ratify the proposed Constitution.

To say that deficiencies may be provided for by requisitions upon the States, is on the one hand to acknowledge that this system cannot be depended upon, and on the other hand to depend upon it for every thing beyond a certain limit. Those who have carefully attended to its vices and deformities as they have been exhibited by experience or delineated in the course of these papers, must feel invincible repugnancy to trusting the national interests in any degree to its operation. Its inevitable tendency, whenever it is brought into activity, must be to enfeeble the Union, and sow the seeds of discord and contention between the federal head and its members, and between the members themselves.

That is but a small excerpt from #30, Concerning the General Power of Taxation, and now I can see why the book felt so heavy.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 32

Couldn’t Do It

We came home from work, packed our bags and packed them in the car because we were heading off to HHI for the weekend right after the MMC monthly meeting. This month we were meeting at Rae’s Coastal Cafe in Augusta and because the food and atmosphere are so good there we always get a big turn out. Tonight was no exception, there were 15 people in attendance. The Club was no the only large party in the place at that hour either, there were two more (with one right behind us), so the normally quiet place was booming. So much so that conversation was only just possible with your immediate neighbor and only by practically shouting.

Large groups equals long wait for service and an extended dining time, crowded restaurant equals too much noise to hold a meeting, so by the time everyone had finished eating, we regrouped outside and had a short meeting it was well past 8:30. We knew we would get to HHI late, but with at least a 3 hour drive from Augusta we were looking a very late night.

Because we were in Georgia and the easiest way to get to where we were going was to go back into South Carolina and pass close by home we chickened out and decided to sleep in our own bed.

Started up, went down, still down.
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