No I got them all cut!

Last week, I finally got my hair cut after a little bit over two months. It is still weird for me that Marion, my stylist for about 25 years no longer cuts it. Even after 3 years or so later. I just thought it was silly for me to pay those prices to get my hair cut, and drive about an hour out of my way to do so. On the other hand, it also made me leery to have anyone else cut my hair. Which explains the one time I went over 4 months, and that was definitely the shaggiest I ever looked. I did go though, as I finally know what I want for the most part, and they keep notes. Before I would just tell Marion to cut it short, and let her go to work. No muss, no fuss, and I would be in and out in fifteen minutes.

The young lady who cut my hair this time I actually liked in that she actually taught me some things. At one point she was asked me if I wanted it "square or round." I asked her what she was talking about, and she told me the back of my hair. I let her know that I had never been asked that question before. Apparently a square look is a men's look. Some men want a rounded back, but it is considered more feminine. I really didn't care, because I never look back there. She cut it square since mine was pretty naturally square, and it looks cleaner that way and will grow out better.

I explained that a lot of the terms used and such are foreign to me with my previous years with Marion. She said she tries to teach her clients what to ask for, and to use the terms the hairstylist will use. That way everyone is on the same page when the cutting goes down. Just for when her clients move, or if she ends up moving away.

I like the was my hair ended up, and I asked her to take a lot off the top, and by gum she did. I was shocked how much she took, but I like it. Now I can wait two more months.

A Snow Day?

I don't know if you heard about the weather we had in the Dallas area last week or not...
Anyway, I actually made to work everyday except Friday. I freely admit I can't drive on the bad roads. In my neck of the woods we had a nice 2-3 inch layer of ice on the road. Also, driving a standard makes it worse, so hard to accelerate without spinning out. I go to work Tues-Thurs though, but when the icy roads got a nice 6 inch later of snow on top of it. I decided I really didn't need to be out on the roads. The weather really is an abnormality for us here. The meterologists say it is some of the coldest weather in 30 years or so. I can never remember it being this cold for this long. Yes even in just a four day stretch.

Then of course by 2PM Saturday it was 90% melted away. The amazing thing is that at my boss' house there was still a lot of ice on his front porch as of yesterday afternoon.

I went to a Super Bowl part Sunday, but really reeled in my drinking. Having done it a million times before, but I decided I didn't want to be hungover at work on Monday. When are we going to move the Super Bowl to Saturday?

As I write this we got more sleet and snow today. After being told of a "light dusting" We need to define those terms I think. So not that mound of ice on boss' porch has some sleet sitting on top of it. Awesome

Surrounding chauffeured

A quick hit I think. First, about a week ago I went to a bar called The Pub in McKinney, TX. I thought it was a pretty generic name, and made jokes like I drink The Beer, and later eat some of The Food. It was a pretty cool joint though. Me and my friends were seated at the bar, and for my lunch I had some shepherd's pie, actually made with lamb. It was pretty good if a bit on the salty side. What made this place for me though was this: they make their own pork rinds in house. They come out warm in a bog ol' brown paper bag. Get some of the Chulo hot sauce in a bowl, and dip the pork rinds in there. Oh, my goodness. The would start popping and cracking, and they tasted just terrific. I told one of my friends they were like Rice Krispies for adults. What made me laugh was about an hour later the group to my right got some pork rinds as well, and one the guys told his friends they were like Rice Krispies as well.

Catching up

This past Friday I caught up with some friends I haven't see a looong time. My friend Little Mike had his birthday the day before, and he was going to Trinity Hall Friday afternoon to celebrate. Let's knock Trinity Hall down to begin with. I had never been there before, but it was a really cool Irish pub with a decent selection of beers on tap, and whole slew in bottles (or cans). I didn't have any of the food, but everyone who tried it said it was pretty decent food, especially for bar food.

I had two Carlsbergs myself at first. Then I tried the Kilkenny Cream Ale, which was really good. It is a nitrogenated beer, made by makers of Guinness. I give it a hearty endorsement.

Besides that it was really fun to catch up with some of those guys and gals. I've only seen Mike, Roda, and Ann about 2 times in the last 4 years. Me, Mike, and two other guys joked that the four white guys were the first ones there and on time as per usual. Some of the people I hadn't seen it 6+ years: Sean, Rodney, Sun, Tammy, Duc, other Mike (sometimes Mexican Mike, our nicknames are sometimes very direct), Winnie, Ella May, and Betty. Plus, there are always new people I've never met before. Like Sun's boyfriend Don.

It was really a trip to see Duc again after all of this time. He was perhaps one of the most wheels off, crazy assed dudes I know. In the intervening years he got married, has two kids, has a job as an office manager, and he quit smoking. Wow, for some a lot has changed.

A good night, truly

Struggling for a title

New Year's: Well my New Year's Eve was pretty failed as my plans got canceled at about 9PM. by that point I just said "Screw it" and decided to not do anything. I still had people trying to get me to go over to their house or drive up to Winstar (a casino). Instead I just sat in front of the TV and watched a marathon of Lockup on MSNBC. I did at least stay up to midnight. I haven't before.

Karma: As some of you may or may not know I used to do volunteer work for the Hero Initiative. Well since there hasn't been a show near me that they have been at I haven't really done anything to support them lately. Well this year I decided to actually join them with a membership. I looked at the options and plunked down that money for the Bronze membership. 29 bucks, no problem. Just a few hours later I got an e-mail from the guy who runs the charity saying he was bumping me up to the Silver membership. Which I thought was very kind of him, and totally unnecessary. If you are a comic fan at all, I would highly recommend supporting them in some way. A donation, and they put out several books a year that are really fun. Like a collection of all of the Stan's Soapbox from I think 1968-1980.

Milling About

Saturday, my friend Jake had his annual party at his house. Jake is the guy who runs the comic book shop I go to, and we get along great. It is one of the few parties that I am guaranteed to get wasted at, as Jake and his girlfriend are kind enough to let me sleep over. Anyways, pretty much the who point of this post was watching this one guy hit on this one girl, and the crap he was saying.

He was saying stuff like this:
"That movie had some of the best cinematography I have ever seen."
"My favorite composer is doing the score of that movie."
"I like that scarf on you, it makes you look like an aviator."

I just wanted to jump up and tell him, "Dude, you are so full of sh*t!" I didn't though. I held my tongue. I was pretty proud of myself. A few years ago I probably would have ripped him.

Other highlights:
A dude picking up an acoustic guitar and doing a very neat version of Chubby Checker's "Let's Twist Again". I thought it was funny.
Talking to a kid who used to play college football at Utah State. He quit fairly early, because even at rinky-dink Utah State it was "no longer a game. It was a career."

The absolute lowlight was when I finally left Sunday morning. Apparently it was the day of the White Rock Lake marathon. I drove around for 45 minutes before I finally found a way out, and escaped. I tried north first, and then west. I knew east would be no good as that was the direction of White Rock Lake. I finally got headed south, and kept going south, while constantly looking to the west, and seeing I was still hemmed in. I finally made it to a highway and got home. It was not a fun drive. A fun night though.

so long...

Well, over the Labor Day Weekend, my former boss, Kazy passed away. I still don't think I have fully processed it yet. He was found in the store laying on the counch after 11 AM last Tuesday, which meant they employees were working there for over and hour before they discovered the body. They went looking for him, because he hadn't called them yet, and they were concerned.

So, there was a bunch of madness on Tuesday. That evening I was fielding phone calls, texts, and messages on Facebook while trying to draft a team in Fantasy Football.

We always had a volatile relationship. Seeing as how my tenure at the store didn't end well (I ended up being fired). I did work there for 12 years though including the entirety of my 20s and I always loved and respected the man. So, I felt I should at least pay my last respect by going to his funeral.

One at the funeral it was packed, and I was running a bit behind. I did meet an old co-worker there, and everyone else was to nervous (scared?) to walk by everyone to sit in the overflow seating, so I led that group over there. The actual ceremony was unlike one I have been to before. The minister only said a few words, while butchering all of the Japanese names, and then opened up the podium for some eulogies. We got 4 pretty solid ones from people who knew Kazy from different times or interests.

Afterwards there was the social gathering in the back which was another surreal time for me. Sure, it was sad, but it was also neat seeing a bunch of people I hadn't seen in literally years. Old co-workers, customers, and friends. I felt like I was running for office I shook so many hands and hugged so many people. I was surprised that his daughter seemed to be handling it better than his son. He was understandably pretty out of it.

Anyways, rest in peace Kazy. You definitely deserve it.

If it feels good, do it.

Call me: I've been contemplating getting a phone for a couple of months now for two main reasons. 1. I want one with a keyboard for texting. 2. The battery life on my current phone has gone to crap. I usually get my new phones directly from AT&T's website. So, my plan of action on Friday was this: find a phone with a keyboard (duh), and one that was free*. After perusing my options I decided on the Palm Pixi Plus. It got stellar reviews, but the main complaint is that the battery life seems a little low, but I think I can live with that. The keyboard was the main thing. When I placed the order I got huge notice saying there are no deliveries on weekends or holidays, so imagine my surprise when I got home Saturday and it was already in. Score one for me!

*Free after you sign a 2 year commitment, but that is no biggie for me. I wasn't planning on leaving anyways.

Gatekeeper: As I have mentioned before, I work out of my boss' house. This school year his neighborhood has decided to keep the gates to the neighborhood closed. And man is that screwing some people up.

First, they made this decision then end of last school year, and the the first day they kept the gates closed? The first day summer vacation. Good one. Then last week I was going to eat lunch, and as I left two cars drove by expecting to cut through and one lady just stood there staring at the gate and keeping me from turning into the street. When I cam back from lunch, another lady almost took the gate all, and came to a screeching halt when she didn't realize the gate would be closed.

The thought that occurred to me this week is school busing. I don't know where they go now to pick the kids up. Last year I would drive by three different locations in the neighborhood that had pick-ups for the kids, and now I wonder were they go, or if their parents are forced to drop them off at school now. Hmmm.


Thank you: I got a nice compliment from my roommate a week or so ago. I do enjoy watching a lot of the cooking "reality" shows: Hell's Kitchen, Iron Chef America, and Top Chef. I don't watch them every week, but if I catch them on I will watch them. anyways, my roommate told me,"You know these people make all of these sauces, and foams, stuff. But you make food I would actually eat."

UFO Spotting

Last week 2 friends of mine, Steve and his cousin Paul, came up to Dallas to visit for the weekend. Friday night he hung out with me and another friend of our, Sam. Saturday was going to be family day. After some negotiations for dinner (we agreed not eat eat dinner together) we finally decided to meet at the Flying Saucer. If someone wanted me to take them to the best place to drink beer it would be the Flying Saucer. They probably have a couple of hundred different beers available. It is the only place I know of in Dallas that has Newcastle on tap.

About 10 minutes after I arrived the power was knocked out for about 30 seconds due to the very unseasonable July thunderstorm. I was of course the first one there, even though I was the furthest away. Driving in the rain. During rush hour. It was great to see the guys again even if we are pretty lame now. Every discussion begins:
"What have you been up to?"
"Work. How about you?"
"Work."

We had a pretty good time for a couple of hours. The Steve and Paul decided they were ready to go to the topless bar. Which, there reason for going, amused me. Together they blamed another cousin who wasn't there as being the one who really wanted to go. When Paul went to the restroom Steve said it was actually Paul who was pushing to go. When Steve went, Paul said it was Steve. Now, I have nothing against those places, and I have been known to go to them before. But, I knew the one they were going to was a skank bar, plus I didn't relish the thought of driving back to my place about an hour a way after we were done with wet roads and drunk drivers. Not to mention the cost of going to one of those places. So, men and Sam went to another, more upscale bar, BJs to finally get some eat and chit-chat at bit more. Sam wouldn't have been able to go to the topless bars anyways since he forgot his wallet and would not have been able to get in.

A pretty fun Friday night to catch up with some good friends.

Minister Singh

Mallrats: The other day I was at the Dallas mall, Northpark Mall for the first time in about 5 years or so (I was killing time waiting for my comic book shop to open). You can't walk into the place without feeling like money is just being sucked right out of your wallet. It doesn't have security guards inside, they have Dallas police officers there. I did like the idea of getting my car washed while doing some shopping if I so desired, I didn't desire. Sometimes they have a piano player there. It isn't the biggest mall around, but it has to have the highest ratio of jewelery stores of the Metroplex. I counted 13 myself.

The shop that actually got me to go inside? The toy store that had both a Batman and Superman plastic statue. It was a neat place that even had some of the old original Star Wars in a glass case along the back wall.

I also saw an Original Soup Man stand there. This sign made me chuckle: "The Soup ThatMmade Seinfeld Famous" Sure thing buddy.

Father's Day: This year I think I finally got a winning present for my dad. It was a scanner that has a special tray to scan slides and film from a 35mm camera. My dad was pretty excited to get, even if he has "about 1000 slides" to scan now. I set it up for him, and scanned in the first two batches, and it looked really good. I figure it is a project he can work on and avoid the 100 degree heat.

A Movie: Monday I was flipping around and found a movie called The Night of the White Pants. I first turned it on to see Selma Blair, who is the quintessential girl next door type. I was watching it and my ears perked up when I heard one character say his band was playing at a club called the Double Wide. I thought, "Does this take place in Dallas?" Once they showed the place I knew it was. We get a decent amount of films and television filmed here, but unless it is a JFK movie very little actually has taken place in Dallas since the old TV show. It was a neat little movie, and I really like movies that take place over the course of about a 24 hour period. IE Dazed and Confused, American Graffiti, and Suburbia.

Sports: A local sports radio guy has decided to give soccer a full seasons chance to capture his attention. He is a better than than me. He blog post is here.

All Fantasy, All of the Time

The Faire: The past weekend I went to Scarborough Faire for the first time a few years. As per usual it was a ton of fun. They have some incredible food there (a lot of people really dig their turkey legs). I had a rogue sandwich (a brisket like sandwich), a spinach pocket (think creamed spinach inside a pastry) and of course the very traditional Renaissance fare: the root beer float. I also looking at all of the shops that have a ton of handcrafted items. What red-blooded American male wouldn't want to take a gander at the swords there?

I watched a couple of shows. The highlight being The One Flaming Idiot, who does a really funny show. He used to be part of the Flaming Idiots, a trio who left a few years back to take their show elsewhere. The other two left the show to pursue other employment. There was also Don Juan and Miguel. Which Don Juan had a walking cast, which he also had the last time I was there.

Which brings me to the part that is a little bit sad. I've been going to the Faire for about 20 years now, and there are so many of the people involved who are doing it then who are still there now. These people just travel around from festival to festival to put on their acts, and some of them are looking pretty haggard. Who knows how long they were performing before I even went there. Something these guys are looking pretty haggard now. I can't imagine it is very easy life to maintain. I can't imagine doing one of their acts several times a day on the weekend in full Renaissance gear in May in Texas. I was burning up wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Still it is a lot of fun. Some friends even bought some contraband alcohol there.

RPGing: Well for the first time in 8? 9? 10? years I am slinging dice again in a RPG (role-playing game). My all-time favorite was and always will be Champions, but my friend running the game wants something a little bit easier to play as he is getting his wife to start playing. So, for the first time in about 15 years or so I am actually playing Dungeons & Dragons. The 4th edition rules which is quite a bit different from the last time I played (which was second edition or so).

From what I have seen the changes are for the better. More hitpoints for the players is always good of course. Magic-users in general start out a lot more robust. They were fairly useless in the early levels and I am glad to see they have buffed them up. Also every class just gets a lot more utility which I like.

I also liked the program a friend of mine had to creat the characters. It had all of the texts, plus stuff from the magazines to aid in building you character. Pretty sweet.

Homeowners with

Well, first things first. I'd like to ask everyone for their thoughts, prayers, or whatever for my cousin Rich. I just learned over the weekend that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma at the age of 41. The doctors are very hopeful that they are getting to it early enough.

My aunt was in town and I enjoyed listening to her and my dad talk as I always learn something new about my dad. Like, he belonged to 4-H when he was younger and actually had a cow that won the grand champion ribbon three years in a row until they were forced to sell her. I also learned that at one point in time Texas Industries had airplanes (little prop planes) that their employees with a pilot's license could rent.

I've mentioned it before and I will mention it again Marlo's House in Garland, TX is awesome. I absolutely love their food.

Finally ex-major leaguer and current Dallas radio personality, Mike Bacsik is an idiot. Although how long he remains in Dallas radio is to be determined

UPDATE: Mike Bacsik fired by Cumulus Media

Would you like fries with that?

A couple of food related topics.

Last week on the radio station I regularly listen to (1310 the Ticket), they had some huge burritos in there for lunch and there was one left over. They asked one host, Norm Hitzges, if he would eat one on Friday, it was Wednesday when they asked. He said maybe he would, and two of the hosts pledged $250 bucks each to his favorite charity. He then agreed to it. It wasn't just a three day old burrito, he ate. They left it out at room temperature until Norm ate it Friday. He ate it on the air, and said it still tasted really good. While he was eating it people called in donated more money, and he ended up raising over $3000 for the Austin Street Centre. It is a charity I have actually donated to before. Austin Street Centre is a homeless shelter than runs only on private donations. Very cool that a man can eat a three day old burrito and raise that much for charity. Monday, Norm said he never felt ill after wards.

In other food stuff kind of things. My roommate told me he was going to start eating more fish, even though he hates fish. I asked him why. "To lose weight," he replied. I told him maybe he shouldn't go to Whataburger up to 5, yes 5 times a week. We all know how to lose weight, its all about want to. I sure as heck can stand to drop some weight, but I haven't gotten to the point of wanting to make the effort.

Script quickly

As you all know yesterday was April Fool's and that day always reminds me of my personal favorite prank. I love it because it totally fooled me, and I am usually pretty decent at sniffing them out. It was the early to mid '90s and the Dallas Mavericks were the worst team in the NBA. I was watching the local new station and in the normal newscast they had breaking news. The Dallas Mavericks had just traded for David Robinson. Holy cow! This was a complete game changer. The Mavs just got one of the dominant players in the NBA.

They sold it so perfectly too. It occurred so naturally in the news cast. No one gave it away. David Robinson was in on it to. They showed him giving an interview about the trade and how happy he was coming to the Mavericks. I was almost jumped up out of the recliner with joy. Then at the end of the interviews, Robinson turns to the camera and says, "April Fools!" I would have been mad if it hadn't worked so perfectly. I also think it worked so well, because you weren't inundated with practical jokes like you are now with so many on the web. Plus, it was so rare for a TV station to pull something like that. I found it hysterical.

Well maybe I was a little bitter.

Word in the Butterfly

Cooking: I got an immersion blender for my birthday this month, and I used that last week to make some split pea soup. I just had a general idea on how to make it, so I was kind of winging it. My real problem was how much liquid to use. I kept adding more as I was cooking it. Then I went a bit crazy with the blender and didn't have any chunks of peas in it (I added some carrots and ham after the blending and cooked it longer). The taste I actually liked a lot, but instead of soup it was more of a pea paste. Whenever I reheated it, I dilute it with some water, and that really made it more appetizing. Otherwise it looked like I was eating baby vomit or something. I am excited to blend more stuff up, and it is a lot easier to clean than a regular blender.


Gaming: In my video game playing life. I haven't gotten EA NCAA College Football in a number of years, but I did get the 2010 version. Playing it in HD, the graphics are incredibly awesome. I've played it and after a play I was thinking to myself, "Man, that looked like a facemask." Sure enough the flag comes out. That is pretty cool. The recruiting in the game is pretty in depth. You have different pitches to give the recruits, you get limited time each week to call them, there is off season recruiting as well. I swear sometimes I spend more time recruiting than playing the actual game.

You to can institute change: I asked a manger at my local Kroger's a couple of weeks go why they only have a couple of bottles of Red Hook ESB on the shelf for the pick sic, six pack, and never full six packs of the beer. Well just last week they now carry six packs, I would like to think that I made some small impact locally. If only to get me inebriated.

Stance Limit

Work stuff: I don't talk about my work much, but this time I am. Today I had one of those problems that I hate, in that I really am powerless to solve it besides just making phone calls. Plus, there are just so many layers to it. It goes like this:
1. A sales rep thinks they are missing a shoe.
2. They call their home office.
3. The home office calls me.
4. I have to find the original order and then call the company I ordered the item from.
5. They find the order, track it, and then give me the info.
6. I then call the company's home office.
7. They then call the rep.

That is the basics some times there are more layers (IE. my boss gets the call and then he gives me the info, and I give it all back to him). Today's though was a huge cluster that I finally deduced that the company I order the hoes from never got the order, which was good because I also discovered that our customer ordered half of the shoes to go to the wrong sales rep. I think I could have spent those 2 hours doing something more productive. It was a total beating.

Other stuff: I talked to a cousin I haven't talked to in a few months. I was shocked to discover that her father (my uncle, natch) has throat cancer. My cousin quit her job to take care of him for the past 2 months (she is a nurse). Now that he has gotten a little bit better, she has gone back to work. If that wasn't bad enough for her, the day she got back home her boyfriend broke up with her. On top of that they still lease and apartment together which makes the whole thing super-weird.


NCAA Basketball: Just a quick shout out, and a hearty congratulations to the Baylor Men's basketball team for making the sweet sixteen. I never thought that program would survive after the scandal back in 2003. What a turn around by head coach Scott Drew.

A staple for a nutritious breakfast

This past weekend I went to the great city of Austin, TX. One, to go the the STAPLE comic book convention which focuses on the independent comics. Two, just to get away for the weekend. It had been over 2 1/2 years since the last time I left the DFW area, and that was great. The were supposed to be a group of us going, but it ended up being just me and my friend who runs the comic book shop I go to (even his girlfriend bailed less than a week to go). Quick tangent it was going to cost more to change my room from a queen to two double beds than the hotel room would cost (we got around it by someone sleeping on the recliner).

I was running behind myself and when I showed up my friend, Jake, wanted to drop off some packages at the post office. The first one had no power so then we had to go to another one. After a few more delays we ended up leaving about an hour or more later than I had wanted to leave. A mandatory stop on a road trip to Austin is to stop either on the way there or the way back in West, Texas at Czech Stop to get some kolaches and other pastries there. They are awesome, we stopped on the way down. I had a very nutritious lunch of cream cheese kolaches and pecan rolls.

The hour delay really killed us once we hit Austin as the Friday afternoon traffic was in full effect, and Austin has grown so quickly they only have one major highway to handle it. We drove past one Ramada Inn and I told my friend, "I bet that is our hotel."
"No, man, the exit didn't Koenig on it anywhere." Which was the flaw in the directions I had, they said to exit Koenig,but the exit sign does have that name on there, it is FM 2222. Well we had to drive almost all the way through Austin at 15 MPH before I convinced my friend I was right. Eventually we made it back to hotel.

We both had a friend or two living in Austin, and what was really great was one of Jake's friends (John)lived about two miles away from the hotel. We went out that night to quite a few bars. The last one I remember (I wasn't driving) was Barflies when we pulled into the parking lot to begin with we were waved off by three police cars. We parked around the corner and went in anyways. We ended up crashing at John's house. I was lucky and got the couch. Jake slept on a hardwood floor.

Saturday, we had what was essentially brunch at a place called Ruby's BBQ. I had a brisket and sausage sandwich with slaw on it, with some home fries. It was awesome. I loved when I placed my order: The guy asked if I wanted creamy or vinegary slaw on my sandwich, and I told him creamy. He looked at me, nodded, and said "You bet you do."

Then we went to STAPLE for a few hours and it was a lot of fun. I will probably go into more details on the at the Captain Comics Board. I will say meeting Guy Davis was a pure highlight. There is also more and more female creators out there, and Monica Gallagher takes the prize for hottest person there. Oh my goodness. I bought something from her for that alone. The weirdest moment was when someone told me that "Travis" is one of his favorite names. He even mentioned how weird it was to say that to me.

We went out again that night. I was happy that my friend Larry came out with us as well, having only seen him once before in the past 15 years or so. We ended up at one club, and we were told that it was the CD release for a group. We were outside were they had the stage and the DJ ended up being one of Public Enemy's DJs which perked my ears up. He was spinning some tunes, and I was looking around and noticed there were a lot of lesbians there. It ended up being, I guess, a lesbian hip-hop duo, God-dess and She. To tell the truth, they were pretty good. I really liked what they did. God-dess was rapping and Jake asked me if the She was going to be the "hype woman" of the group. Of course I didn't know. Man, could she sing, she was great. She sang one song acapella. Later she sang one of my favorites: Michael Jackson's PYT.

I took easy that night, as I didn't want to drive home hungover, as I have done that many times before from Austin and it sucked. The rest of the night was uneventful. We left later than I wanted to Sunday as well, and I drove in the rain all the way back.

From Home

Well, by brother was in town for about a week, to visit, and it was his birthday. I was originally going to meet him, his girlfriend, and a couple of other friends Thursday night, but that got nixed when we got record breaking snow here. So, we weren't able to get together until Friday night, his actual birthday. We all went to dinner with my dad and step-mom. We ate at the terrific Marlo's House which is a Mennonite restaurant. I am amazed at how quickly the sole cook back there gets food out on just a 4 burner stove. The food there is excellent.

Saturday is were things took a turn for the worst. Here a group of six of us went to the French restaurant Bonnie Ruth's. Now I don't mind if there is long dinner that grows organically from conversation and what not. This was not one of those times. This was three hours just wasted. A little rest give from time to time for waitstaff is to order an ice tea w/o lemon, and see how well they pay attention.. This time it came with the lemon, a little warning.
The highlights:

• I never, ever got any water
• Well over an hour to get our appetizer
• Over an hour for my brother's girlfriend to get her glass of wine
• A friend dropped his fork before we got our entrees. We got tired of waiting for the waiter to bring a new one once the meal did arrive we got our own.
• They ran out of creme brulee. Which they were going to give one free to my brother, nothing offered to replace it.
• We were offered free champagne cocktails for our trouble. We never got them.
• THIS JUST IN: The bastards double charged my card. I just found this out like 5 minutes ago.

My brother and his girlfriend spent Saturday night at another friend's house, so we could get together easily on Sunday. We ate breakfast at the Original Pancake House (it was awesome), and then we went and saw The Wolfman. Which was awful, one of the worst movies I have payed for in a long time. Boring, cliched, etc, etc.

Monday was the last night I would see my brother before he went back to California. It was a nother family dinner at Babes Chicken House. I had never been before, but had heard rave reviews of it. Those were well deserved. You don't get a menu really. The waitress gives you a list of the 6 or 7 entrees they have available. You order your entree, and then every side dish they have is brought to your table family style and is all-you-can eat. I had the (very well reviewed) fried chicken, and I gotta say it was the best restaurant fried chicken I have ever had. Once you are done you can take your leftover entree home, but you can't take any of the sides. I still got away with the leftover biscuits.

Well, it was good to see my brother, I hope I can visit him again soon. It has been to long since I have been to San Fran.

Wasting Time

Just a few notes. I hope everyone enjoyed to Super Bowl. I know I did. I watched the game at a friends house. Won 25 bucks, drank too much (didn't drive), and ate too little (just a kid sized bowl of chili). I wanted the Colts to win, but it wasn't like I was pissed of the the Saints won. I do get tired of trying to be guilted into rooting for them because of Katrina. You watch enough sports and you learn everyone has a sad story. That is half of the Olympics and a third of College Game Day.

A bit of sad news. For everyone planning to come to Dallas for the NBA All-Star game, it grieves me to report that there are no more Lamborghinis available to rent.

A story that really made my blood boil

Alpaca Breeders

The other day, my boss gave me a very nice compliment,"Travis, I don't day this often enough, but I never have to tell you anything twice. You always take care of whatever I need immediately. I don't have to follow up with you." Which was very flattering. There is a reason I work this way though, at every job I have had. I am a master procrastinator. If I don't take care of my work as soon as I can I will slough off and I may just wait a day or two to take care of what I need to. I simply can't wait or it won't get done. When I was in high school I would always be "sick" the day before a research paper was do. I would then do all of my research and and writing the day I missed. I wait till the day before my inspection runs out on my car before I get that taken care of. That explains that.

A quick Dallas Cowboys note. Wade Phillips was given a contract extension this week, and I have heard a more than a few people on the radio claim what a great job he has done here. Even going so far as to malign what Bill Parcells did for the team.
"Look at Wade's record, it is better than Bill Parcells'"
"Bill Parcells didn't win a playoff game."

Now I am no great fan of Tuna, BUT does no one remember the team that Bill Parcells took over? They had three straight 5-11 seasons. He had Quincy Carter for his QB (an NFL career rating of 71.7), and he still made it to the playoffs that year. He also had Troy Hambrick (who?) as his number 1 rusher, and Terry Glenn as the lead receiver (754 yds for the year). Parcells built up the team, and he was the one who convinced Jerry Jones to keep Tony Romo. So let's give Parcells a little credit shall we?