Food

Recently I've noticed that food and beverage service has been sub par in recent months. A few examples:
I recently dined at a restaurant that serves many different types of cheesecake. The menu happens to be a novel so you can have whatever you are in the mood for at the time. I wanted chicken. I flipped to the Chicken chapter and there were the twenty choices in front of me. I know had the daunting task of choosing just one. I was not looking to spend a great deal of money, the choices instantly narrowed to 15 or so. Through descriptions and counsel from a friend who happens to be a connoisseur of this particular establishment the choice was narrowed to two. Two chicken dishes that I have forgotten the names of. One of the items was the restaurant's "most popular chicken dish." I had my two choices and was ready to make the selection after a simple question to our waiter.
The waiter was a tall, thin man in his late twenties or early thirties. Except for the first visit (the introduction), before he came to our table, he would have a cigarette. I was seated at the end of the booth and therefore had the pleasure of smelling fresh cigarette smoke every time he graced us with his presence. Perhaps we were the first table he visited in his rounds. He should try to mix it up and let everyone get the pleasant whiff. This cigarette break also made the service slow.
I had just one simple question to ask the waiter and my decision would be made. He came back, reeking of cigarettes and started taking orders. He came to me. The time had come to ask this question and make the decision that could make or break my dining experience. I asked of the two selections, "Which one do you think is better?" A simple question that I assumed would have a simple answer. The reply was simple however, it did not answer my question. "The [whatever] is our most popular chicken dish." was the answer I received. Wrong! I asked what he thought was better, not which dish was most popular. I told him that he did not answer my question and continued to repeat what I had asked. He did not know. I decided on the "most popular chicken dish." It was fine. I was unhappy though.
Yes, I can see how his answer was acceptable to some. One would think that because a dish is "most popular" it is the best tasting chicken dish. I don't think that is necessarily the case. It could be most popular because it has the most appetizing description on the menu. I don't recall ever having every chicken dish laid out in front of me and a survey provided. And I have never heard anybody mention that this establishment did that. If that were done with thousands of participants and the result was that this dish claiming to be the "most popular chicken dish" in fact was the most popular then the waiter's reply would have been acceptable.
I think that any waiter or waitress should have a knowledge of the menu. That doesn't mean solely a knowledge of what is written on the page itself (I can read, thank you) but an actual knowledge of the food itself. When I ask a question about taste, I want an answer about taste. I do not appreciate receiving the discussion from sales data that I have already read.

Last weekend I traveled on an airline. In order to cut losses with the rise in oil prices this particular airline has halted the free beverage service. Instead, if you want a refreshing can of pop, or even water two dollars is required. Fine. Alcohol is seven dollars. Whatever. Same as Tia's. I'm not happy with the service. The flight attendants don't really have to do anything on this airline. Unless a call button is pressed, they walk the isle four times throughout the flight. And depending on the size of the plane they may or may not take the beverage cart. When I heard them announce the prices for the drinks, I immediately decided that was not to buy a drink from them. Even if I were thirsty. No Way! So on their second trip down the isle (the first being before takeoff to check seat belts, tray tables, and seat backs) they were without the cart and the woman was asking everybody if they would like to "purchase a beverage."
The woman was older and had a fake little grin on her face. It looked like she was trying too hard to be nice and understanding. I don't know how else to describe that dumb face.
I had my earphones in and my head buried in my book during the flight. I was the only person in my entire row, the only reason for her to stop at my row was to ask the question. It seemed pretty apparent to me that I didn't want anything to do with purchasing a beverage. I saw her coming. I could tell she was receiving no after no after no. When she got her only order she immediately filled it and continued up the aisle. She was at the row in front of me and was denied. My turn. I thought I could just keep my head down and she would walk by. I was wrong. The earphones I have are amazing, they are sound isolating which means they are basically earplugs with sound coming out. I can't hear what anyone says with them on and the music playing. Here she came. She stood over me for roughly 30 seconds. She could have been saying something along the lines of, "excuse me sir." I have no idea. I kept my head down, not reading at this point, just waiting for her to pass. Nothing. She went nowhere. Finally, with some contempt, I looked up at her. She motioned to her ear. I unhappily removed an ear bud, listened to her ask if I'd like to purchase a beverage, responded no and dove back into my book. I understand that she was just doing her job but I think a flight attendant for this airline should realize that as soon as payment is required for a beverage that had been free for the 23 years I have been flying very few people would buy. In fact there was only one purchase on the entire flight. Just one. And not even pretzels.
I am okay with the airlines now charging for little things that used to be free. They need to stay in the black. On my return flight, they did not have enough change. I don't know how many people bought drinks, as I was near the front of the plane. They came over the loud speaker and asked if anybody had one dollar bills that they could exchange. Good grief. If you are going to have this service and make people buy these beverages for two dollars, you should have the change necessary. The man seated next to me responded to the call for ones. For some reason he was unable to get our call button to work until it they almost had enough. But he got it. The flight attendant came to our row and he asked how much she needed as he pulled out a stack a couple inches thick of paper money. I couldn't see the denominations, but I was able to determine that the man had a good amount of cash on his person. She only needed five. He obliged and told her that he had more if she needed it. The man must have been going to an establishment of questionable ethics with the intent of "making it rain" on women of ill fame. I was astounded.

Lastly, last night I was at a catered event for work. There was a raw bar. Shrimp, oysters, and clams were the selections. The shrimp tasted like shrimp as expected. eating the clams was like eating salt water. Not the greatest taste in the world. I'm sure it would be different when cooked. The oysters, pretty much the same. The man tending to the bar seemed to think I had no knowledge of seafood and that I would not enjoy the taste of oysters. I asked what everything was, just for the sake of asking. He told me, and proceeded to give me a couple oysters after I had a few shrimp. He put cocktail sauce on them and said try it. I tried it, and he said, "See, tastes just like shrimp." I thought to myself, "No, it tastes just like cocktail sauce." I happen to know that oysters do not taste just like shrimp. But if hidden by a condescending chef and eaten by an ignorant patron, then yes. The oysters and shrimp tasted exactly the same. i decided I would have a little conversation with the man about the food. I proceeded to ask if the shrimp was farmed or wild. He responded by telling me that the shrimp was cooked at 500 degrees or something for some amount of time and that I had nothing to worry about, anything that was on the shrimp would have been burned off. I didn't really care for the answer I got. If I thought there was reason to worry about the safety of the food I wouldn't have eaten it, especially not before asking some questions. I told him that I wasn't worried about getting sick and asked again whether they were farmed or wild shrimp. He told me they were farmed and again told me that they are perfectly safe and I shouldn't worry about eating them. The man didn't listen. That is one thing that irks me very much. I then told him again that I was confident in the safety of his product and was only asking the question for reasons of taste. In my experience with shrimp, wild shrimp is far better than farmed. I don't know why, it just is. Again, the man told me the food was safe. What the hell! Listen. He then told me that everything he serves is farmed and that he always keeps the tags and if the FDA came up to the table he could whip the tags out and show them. Otherwise they would shut him down. He was still driving the point that the food was safe. He couldn't comprehend that I was okay with the food and was eating it regardless of my knowledge of weather it was truly safe or not. The rest of the event was great, open bar, some live music, and people.
I've had to do actual work for the last hour and therefore lost the train of thought about this. Basically for the first and last example here, they just needed to listen to the question and respond with the answer I was looking for. And if they didn't know, they should've said that. Oh well, hopefully my next dining experience will be a good one. Of course, I've had a good one here or there in the span of the last few months but those were particularly annoying. That is all.

"I don't know what that is..."

Totally high school: I went bowling with some chick I met in a bar and whooped her ass because she had never bowled the big ball before.  So she sucked at that.  I didn't bowl my greatest game because I haven't bowled in a while not because I couldn't function due to how striking this girl was (no pun intended...bowling, striking).  Let's just say that the beer goggles had taken effect that night at the bar.  I didn't remember her being only 5'0 tall, maybe shorter for one thing.  The good thing about bowling was that some old guy gave us a coupon for two free games.  I paid for the other two games, naturally.  It was more money than expected but whatever, I love bowling.  Man she was not good.

Bowling took all of half an hour.  As far as I was concerned the date could have been over but I decided to be nice.  As we walked out of the alley I noticed a hotel room next door.  "Want to get a room?" I asked jokingly.  She said no.

Then we were driving and passed a playground.  The girl said she likes playgrounds so we went.  There was also a beach that had great skipping rocks and no waves. Money!  I skipped rocks for an hour or so while we talked.  And now we get to the interesting part.  I don't know how it came up exactly oh wait I remember a little.  I was asking her what certain buildings were that we could see.  (Mind you, she grew up in South Boston)  We were looking at UMass and I asked what are those big red buildings and she responded "UMass...???" I knew I was in trouble.  So then pointed to the Pru and the Hancock and asked what they were.  She said "The Prudential and...I don't know that one."  A brief pause followed during which I gave her a look that said "are you kidding?"  Then she said "Hancock!"  Unbelievable.  Now thinking about it, it would have been funny if I grabbed her hand and put it on my cock.  Hancock > hand to cock.  She probably wouldn't have thought that was funny.  Then somehow the conversation went towards politics.  I asked her if she was Democrat or Republican to which she responded, "I don't know what that is." Jesus Christ!  I gave her yet another look of are you kidding me.  We talked for a little while and then left.  I took her home, went to Anna's, and deleted her number from my phone.

That is why I don't want to meet girls in bars.

Also, did you see the woman at the Red Sox game who MO'ed with the woman sitting next to her while the woman sideline reporter was talking?  It was really funny.  They were cougars.

Cali

I would move to California just for the chance of meeting Natalie.

Results

There were no results. I made the slightest move to see if there were any bites. As far as I could tell there were not. Who knows why, could have been the dirt bag in the chair behind or the other guy. It doesn't really matter, nothing would have come of it anyway.

120 busch lights,5 blueberry vodka bottles, 5 growlers and more in three days

Nantucket is a very glutinous island. It is where I spent my Memorial Day weekend.
Surprisingly the traffic down to Hyannis wasn't bad and the ferry to the island was not as crowded as we expected, there was plenty of space to hang around. While Vickie and I waited for the others in Hyannis we decided we would get some food due to the time of day. It was somewhere between five and six in the evening. Ice cream was first. Two of the most delicious ice creams I have tasted. I went with the Milky Way ice cream while Vickie went with the Pomegranate Chip. Yes, we were unsure of it too until we tasted it. Best described as an explosion in the mouth, the ice cream was pomegranate with chocolate chips. We decided that we would follow the ice cream with a proper dinner of hot dogs seeing as how Hot Diggity yDog was next door. I went with the Chicago Cubs Dog that was an attempt at a Chicago style dog. Not a great attempt but I must applaud the effort.
The ferry ride was uneventful and went by smoothly, partly thanks to the rum and cokes we enjoyed about half was across the bay. When we arrived we said our hellos and the nine of us went straight to the house and broke out the first of the four 30's. Roughly 11:00PM. Due to an oversight it was necessary to play beer pong with bowls. Harder than you might think. Drunk...bed.
Saturday. Egg sandwiches for breakfast and off to the brewery and distillery. Cisco brewery beer tasting and 888 Vodka tasting. Both great and always a good time. It started to get a little chilly around midday so we decided to bypass the beach and hang out back at the house. Btw, 3 growlers and many bottles of blueberry vodka were purchased. We arrived at the house and somehow the first bottle of vodka was cracked open. Pour that in some lemonade and you have one hell of a drink. We drank and played Croquette for the day. We were all a little tipsy by the time we had to start showering to go have drinks with a friend's parents. If you have never taken a true outdoor shower you are missing out. One of the times I showered in that puppy was one of the few times that my penis has seen direct sunlight. After cocktails it was back to the house to start up the BBQ. Burgers, steak, and sausages were on the menu along with salad, baked beans, and potato salad. Pretty good dinner. Some things got a little burnt due to impatience with the grill. Oh well. Time for more drink...or so we thought. A show was suggested to get people in the mood. It is a show called "Three Sheets" and it is very cool. The host travels around the world and learns about drinking cultures. There is a drinking game associated with the show. That was fun and it was over. Some people went to play beer pong (cups were found in a cabinet, oops) and somebody got the great idea to turn on the office on DVD and that was that. A little partying occurred but not much. A needed break yet still a late night seeing as how dinner was not consumed until 9:30.
Sunday was interesting. Awake and breakfast eaten after a game of Croquette, it was decided that we would have a Floralia since most of us missed it this year. Floralia is Conn's spring day of drinking and music. It was a late start for Floralia but a good one none the less. A couple of our host's friends stopped by for a little while. Two girls and one guy. Unsure of the relationships to the guy I was not yet prepared to serve up any macaroni. One girl better looking than the other I was hoping she was free. The three of them left after a little while, we would see them later for dinner. The day continued with some outdoor beer pong that didn't happen. Six people were the only ones who were going to play so it was decided that we attempt a new game that was presented to us. (I won two games of Croquette, it is a great game and I wish I had a lawn here to play.) This new game, called Civil War, was tremendously fun. Three people aside, three cups per person, four ping pong balls and six beers. The point of the game, like most others containing cups and balls, is to deplete the opposing team's cups. There is no break in the action, you shoot when you have the ball. The only time that you cannot shoot is when you've been hit, that is, a ping pong has landed in your cup. Three hits and you are out. We played many rounds of that until some were unable to continue due to an abundance of beer and alcohol in the system.
The decision was made earlier in the day that we would head to town to find something to eat for dinner. We were notified that we were invited out for drinks again by our friend's parents, we happily obliged. We arrived to find a fifth bottle of blueberry vodka waiting for us to demolish. We did and it was off to eat pizza. We met the two girls from earlier at the pizzeria. During the day I had ascertained that they both were not dating that guy...put on your hairnets and grab your ladles. Before we sat down I needed the bathroom. I finished, zipped up and came out to two separate tables where no choice could be made. I was assigned to a table with my Conn friends. Fine, no serving of mac and cheese but good times anyway. Post meal, some of us went back to the house to have a bonfire on the beach while our two friends who usually live on island during the summers went to a bar to hang out with a bunch of people they haven't seen in a while. Understandable. Ladles racked and Hairnets tossed in the garbage, it didn't look like anything was going to be served. Bonfire was pretty dumb. Could have been cooler but some people wanted to leave sooner than I. I had just found the best wood that would have kept it going for another hour but as I returned with it, there was sand being tossed onto the fire. Time to go. Oh well.
On a side note, one of my biggest pet peeves is the use of a flashlight at night when unnecessary. If one would allow their eyes to adjust to the ambient light they would find that you can see fine. Seeing stars becomes more difficult and seeing anything other than what's in the light is impossible.
Back to the house, timing was good. Our two friends were there and were about to come find us. My friends smoke a lot of weed and they decided to smoke. Another friend and I went to see about another party where the two girls were. Back in action? We ended up bringing the girls back with us and some other guy who turned out to be from Illinois and goes to school with Fiona. Who's Fiona? A gal from high school. I found him to be a bit of an idiot.
The majority of people went to smoke on the porch. I did not. I picked up my wood spoon to taste the macaroni, and to see if anybody was hungry. Hard to read, some looks of potential interest but no bites. (The reasoning could have been the guy, the one that I think was hitting on the girl. The cock block if you will.) The smokers returned and by that time it was getting late. Some people wanted to play some sort of drinking game, I opted to watch the cool show we found Saturday night. The Internet was not working so we couldn't watch. Juno was put on and I was happy to watch, seeing as how I was next to the person I wanted to be next to on the couch. I had not seen Juno, the other opportunity I had to see it was in theaters. I messed that up by going at the wrong time so I saw Rambo instead. Anyway, we watched Juno, some people got board and left. That included the guy. A 'friend' who I really don't like(long story) set up behind us on a chair, how unfortunate. Small portions would have to be served, if any. All of a sudden she grabbed a blanket. Who's testing who here? I saw the blanket and excitedly said something like, "oooooo." She offered to share. What now? You know as well as I do...
What will happen next? Will I make a successful move? Will my plans be thwarted by guy I despise? Or will I win the lottery?

I'm tired and am going to sleep, will continue tomorrow after work. Stay tuned!

Nothing

The past few weeks have been relatively uneventful. Yes, I started my job and what a job it is. For one week I have been paid to read a book. I finished one and am now on to the next. I sit in an electrical closet in the basement of a research facility and read. My boss, the super, has moved to an other job site and left me to run what is left of this one. Sadly there isn't much else to do other than read. On occasion, I will receive a phone call from the boss asking how things are going and I give him the report. I also get to boss around people older and more experienced than I, I don't often. One guy was slow so I had to push him to get the ceiling finished. He did in a timely fashion. I am a glorified babysitter. Thankfully this job is coming to an end. Supposedly I will be out of there on Monday and over to the next site. I doubt this will happen only because there are supposed to be three or four subs in on Monday and there is no way they will all be able to get their work done. Something will not work out and I will be stuck there for yet another day. And that is that.
The only other thing that has happened in the last few weeks was the acquisition of the latest hot video game. Is it wrong that I smile while mowing pedestrians down? Killing 10 or 15 in a row. And then there is the rush of running from the cops with 5 or 6 stars. It's nearly impossible but so gratifying when you get away. It took me a few days to find the hookers, and you can still beat them up and take back the money you spent on their services. Good times.
Even the weekends have been uneventful. Friday nights have been pretty slow, even Saturday nights. We haven't had the best rounds of trivia. We didn't even play this week, next week might not happen either.
I've turned focus to the tv and have nothing else to say.

What now?

To be completely honest I have no idea what I am doing. I think that went well tonight but I don't know. But what do I do now. I probably should have figured this stuff out in high school or college...oops. So hard to read. Why does it have to be that way?
Anyway, the green line sucks, there was a disabled train just past Boylston so they made us get out of the train. People were pretty upset, I was not. A little walk across the park is no big deal for me but they had to walk to Park and get on another train going where ever they were going. Sorry peepes. What happens next? Only time will tell. That is all.