Whatever

You Would Think I Would Learn

There is a new Italian restaurant in town that took over the spot where a Chinese place was for the longest time. In between these two it was a Thai place, but for less than a year. The nice thing about this location is it is in a shopping center that is walkable for us, a little less than a mile away from home.

Now that they have been open for a little over a month and the crowds have died down, we went there for dinner tonight. We didn’t walk, but maybe next time. And the next time will be at least another month or more away though, because they still haven’t worked out all the kinks.

The hostess offered us a table, but there were several empty booths and we requested one. This stopped her in her tracks. I’m sure she was trying to steer us towards the tables to be fair about wait staff distribution, but she was literally paralyzed, couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. A waiter was there and whispered something to her and then seated us at one of the booths. After not too long our waiter arrived and took our drink order, two waters. As we usually do, we didn’t let him get away, and gave him our dinner order right then as well. Two small garden salads and a 14″ supreme pizza. He seemed in a rush. After he left us he took a pizza order from the table behind us and then there was a big gap. No waters. The guy who seated us noticed and asked if we had ordered drinks and we replied positively, he rushed off too. About a minute later our waiter arrived with the glasses of water and remarked about the sloooow ice machine.

I counted 6 waiters or waitresses and about 35 diners, not too bad a ratio, but all of the wait staff seemed to be in a big hurry when they moved and it still seemed that not a lot was getting done fast. Our salads arrived and they were the right size for a small and had a nice mixture of different lettuces and vegetables. Then there was a long wait for the pie. A few couples that came in after us and ordered spaghetti or ravioli or whatever got served well before us. Across the restaurant a pizza was served to a table, but a short time later was returned to the kitchen. From where we were, we couldn’t hear what the issue was, but the one person of the group who got a meal was served and the rest of his party had to settle for watching him eat.

More waiting. Dinners came out of the kitchen frequently, but no pizzas. Finally, because Donna could see the kitchen exit, she said here comes one. Maybe it is ours. Nope, it stops at the table behind us. Our orders went in at the same time, so it will be a non-issue as long as our pizza is not too far behind. The guy behind us says, this isn’t the pizza I ordered, so the waiter returns to the kitchen with it. Donna goes over to him and asks what the problem was. He replies, “It looked delicious, but there was too much stuff on it.” She tells him, “It was probably ours as we ordered a Supreme.”

Sure enough, the waiter returns within moments and brings us our pizza. Worth the wait. There is heaping helpings of mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, ham, sausage, onions, bell peppers, olives and mushrooms on a crisp not too thin crust. The only thing lacking was it needed a little bit more sauce.

Good salad, good pie, less than a mile away, if they get their service smoothed out, Ferrando’s may have met his match.

In spite of a brief detour back into the kitchen, the pizza was served piping hot. So hot that I burned the top of my mouth in a couple places on the first few bites. After all the years of eating pizza, I still manage to burn the top of my mouth on melted mozzarella or boiling sauce 80% of the time. You would think I would learn.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 487

Internet Withdrawal

Hot TatersTonight we are relaxing in Unit B-327 of the Hilton Head Beach and Tennis Resort. If the sun was still up we would have a great view of the beach, but it is 8:00 PM in November and pretty much all we can see is the blue glow of the largest swimming pool on the island. There are over 50 crystal clear cable channels to choose from, but no Internet access. What? Whatever will I do? Blog to a text file and upload it a day late from a hot spot somewhere on the island.

On our way down we took the scenic, AKA long, way here and picked up 4 Post Offices. First stop was a return trip to Ehrhardt. The first time we attempted the PO in this town a festival filling the main street and blocking access to the place thwarted us. This afternoon worked out great as I got to park right up front and the sun even cooperated in being behind me. Next were two (out of the three total) Walterboro Post Offices we had left to do. The first time in town we got the main downtown PO easy, but a big wreck on I-95 prevented any attempt on these northern two. One is a little country store in Canadys where not only can you mail a package, but you can feast on hot taters and chicken or buy bait and tackle. As far as the USPS is concerned this is a Walterboro Post Office with a zip code of 29488-5753, but the defiant sign outside the Penny Pincher Mart says it is the Post Office for Canadys, SC 29433. We somehow missed the Jacksonboro Post Office (could have been the vague Google map), but did manage to find our way to Green Pond.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 479

Liquid Sunshine

May not be big news where you are, but it rained here today.

Its raining in Beantown too, making for a messy game one of the MLB Championship Series. Posting may be light for the next 5 to 9 days as my normal blogging time coincides with the TV broadcasting of the FRS and the Colorado Rockies. Plus I can barely concentrate long enough to post something without any distractions…

As much as I’d like to see the Red Sox score tons of runs and win a World Series game, I don’t really want that to happen so in the morning I’ll see a sports headline that reads, “Sox Rocks Rox.” Whatever the score of a Boston win, I can bet somewhere, that that will appear in print.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 455

One Cheek Landing Redux

Unlike a year ago, I wasn’t on rollerblades his time. I was on a ladder, so my fall was from 5-6 feet instead of 3.

I was on the roof of the house blowing off the little branches shed from the trees and the hickory nut carcasses left behind from squirrel meals with a leaf blower. When it was time to come down, I got on the ladder carefully, as always, to keep my weight centered so as not to tip sideways. After two steps down the ladder feet slipped backwards and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the deck on top of the now horizontal aluminum extension ladder. My left cheek hit the I-beam stile and took the full force of the landing. Oooouch!

I sat, mostly leaning right cheek way, for a few minutes collecting my thoughts on a chair on the porch. I then got up and finished blowing off the deck and then the driveway (company’s coming you know.)

It hurts to sit on it (naturally) and 90 degree bends are not real comfortable, but I’m probably alright. Standing and walking feels nearly fine. But that side is pretty swollen right now, so I’m sitting on a pack of ice while I type this. We’ll see what it feels like in the morning, and whatever happens, I know that area will be looking multi-hued from the shorter wavelength of the visible light spectrum in a couple days.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 448

You Can Dance If You Want To, But I Don’t Have To Watch

Because the FRS have the evening off I had nothing better to do than watch a little tube. We started to watch Fever Pitch and made it a whole 34 minutes before shutting it off. Part of the problem was the whole language problem you see, it was not the Drew Barymore / Jimmy Fallon American version, but the original British movie. Maybe if they had American English sub-titles…

From there I started to watch a Law & Order episode that was about 5 minutes in. I had seen it before, but as usual didn’t remember the ending, so I watched it through. Beautiful thing of it is, that in another year or so if I stumble on that episode again, I’ll have forgotten it again, so the ending will be a surprise. Again.

Right after that, TNT segued right into another L & O episode. This one I hadn’t seen, so I watched it for the first time. It started out with a thinly disguised re-hashing of that poor Cubs fan in 2004 who tried to catch a foul ball and was then subsequently blamed for them not making the playoffs. It later turned into a whole corrupt police officer and DNA clearing a wrongly accused murder, yada, yada, yada. Beautiful thing of it is that in another year or so if I stumble on that episode again, I’ll have forgotten it, so the ending will be a surprise. Again.

Two hours of TV was enough, even when it is “good” TV, so I handed the remote to Donna and picked up a book. She started channel checking while I read with one eye and watched the flashing images with my other. She paused on something I didn’t recognize, (The TV listings say it was Supernatural, but I can’t confirm or deny that because I am not familiar with the show.) and I looked up for a second and said that I thought that a couple of the people in it looked familiar. She tired of whatever it was and clicked to the next channel. Two people were salsa dancing? It was Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance? I made a smart aleck crack like, “There’s something I *don’t* want to be familiar with.” She laughed and changed the channel. Wouldn’t you know it but the next channel was PBS and they were showing Live From Lincoln Center : “Mozart Dances” The Mark Morris Dance Group performs… We both looked at each other and thought the same sarcastic thought, only I voiced it, “Now there is something I *want* to be familiar with.”

Next up, was the Weather Channel. There was a meteorologist in a parking lot in San Antonio standing in a dry parking lot waving his hands vaguely stage left telling us how much water used to be there. Riveting. That’s when I left the room.

With apologies to Men Without Hats: We Can’t Dance If We Want To

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 333

Memorable Camcorder

JVC GR-D770Every year the company holds a service awards banquet and the employees who are celebrating any 5 year increment anniversary get a gift, plus a nice steak dinner for them and their spouse, followed by a DJ with dancing.

Donna and I went for our 5 year anniversary and have not gone back for the past three. The main reason is the building where they hold it allows smoking in the bar area where you have to go to get your alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. The bar is a separate room, but with all the traffic in and out for drinks, you might as well leave the door open. Another reason is the food, it is the usual fare for 150 people, fatty rib-eye steaks, baked potatoes in aluminum foil and a green over cooked vegetable. The HR department does a nice job with all the work that goes into something like this and a lot of people really enjoy the event, but it is just not our cup of tea.

The gifts are chosen from a catalog from a company that specializes in just that thing and is approved by the corporate office, everybody in Emerson chooses from the same catalog. The gifts increase in value as you advance through the 5-year increments. At five years I selected a wooden pen & pencil set, at 10 years I got a nice looking gold plated plastic wall clock (that is keeping perfect time in the garage) and for the life of me I don’t remember what I got at fifteen years. This year I was probably going to end up with anther forgettable gift as well, there were probably 2 dozen items to choose from, but like the event itself, there was nothing in there that was my cup of tea. Then I had an idea. Why not get the camcorder and give it to Donna’s brother and his wife. They have a new baby and it would be perfect for them to capture those precious moments.

When we visited them in May I asked them if they had a camcorder. To which I got the unexpected reply of, “Yes.” It was too late to change my gift choice, I was getting a camcorder. This year’s award banquet was last Saturday night, so Monday morning I got a letter of congratulations and a small box containing a JVC GR-D770. Great, now what am I going to do with this thing, I certainly have no need (or desire) for a camcorder. Giving it as a gift to a relative seemed OK, but somehow selling it on eBay seems ungrateful.

Whatever happens, I will remember my 20-year award unlike the forgotten fifteenth.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 303

Carolina Car Trek

Intimate AnimalAiken had it’s Horseplay with painted horses and now Darlington County has it’s painted cars. While looking for the Post Office in Lamar, SC we noticed a painted car in front of the Library. Later in the weekend we noticed a couple more cars around. So when we got home, we looked on the internet and discovered that it was new this summer – Carolina Car Trek. There is even a contest involved that can win you a 2008 Darlington Raceway Package (whatever that is.)

I had to give a little blood this morning for my cholesterol check next week, so I had to not eat breakfast at home. This meant a stop at the New Moon Cafe for eats on the way in to work. Cranberry Peacan Muffin for me and an Everything Bagel for her.

Meal Cost: $2.89
Tip Jar: 11¢
Spent Today: $3.00
Year to Date: $1512.70
Meals out, 86 of a possible 591

A couple of new links on the sidebar tonight, 1) A New Miata? in 143 days and B) Spenser?s Crime Buster Rules.

I found another place that is raffling off a new Miata, or MX-5 as Mazda would have you call it, the International Motor Racing Research Center. The IMRRC is in Watkins Glen, NY and they are selling just 2,500 chances on a 2007 Touring Package car. $35 each, two for $60 or a quartet for a C-note. I opted to take 4 chances at getting a new Miata about 1,088 days sooner than planned.

After finishing re-reading Spenser book #3 and finding another rule, I broke down and created a page for Spenser’s Crime Buster Rules. I only have 32 more books to go to get all of the rest (if there are any more…)

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
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