Rants

Can I Get A Meal?

We arrived in Martinsville, VA about 12:30 PM and stopped at the Holiday Inn Express to see if per chance we could check in. We could and did. Donna had a hankering for Chik-fil-A and we wondered aloud what the odds were that we could find one in this town. The helpful desk clerk said take a right out of the parking lot, at the second light go left and the mall is on your left about a mile down the road.

The mall was an older one, built probably during the hay-day of malls, in the early 80’s. There was no food court, just a fast pizza place and the Chik-fil-A. The Chik-fil-A was packed and the lines were long. Turns out it wasn’t so much the lines to order, but they were people who had already placed an order and were waiting on their food. Trying to politely decipher which was which was impossible. We considered leaving to find someplace to go, but figured a short wait wouldn’t be too bad. Not too long after we decided to stay a clerk called out, “I’ll help the next one in line.” I started towards her, but a woman came from nowhere and proceeded to order her lunch. Donna and I looked at one another and promptly did an about face and headed for our car.

Back towards the hotel there were a few places, so we headed that way. We spotted an Applebee’s, but hesitated. We like the food, but dislike them because they separate the smoking and non-smoking sections by an imaginary line and a thin railing. To make matters worse the bar and smoking section are on a lower level making a nice chimney effect to draw the exhaled smoke and smell right into the non-smoking section. Deciding to give them a chance anyway because we were getting hungry. I got into the turn lane and waited for the arrow. Looking left there was an entrance to a steak place to the right of Applebee’s that was closed, so I made a U-turn and got in the right lane looking for the other entrance only to realize that the entrance I saw was for both places. I drove a quarter of a mile back the wrong way, U-turned again, returned to the original light and waited for the green arrow again. The hostess seated us against the wall on one in response to our request to be as far from the smoking section as possible. Maybe it was just inattentiveness or perhaps we had broken an unwritten hostess rule by requesting special seating, but there we sat ignored. After no one came over to greet us or take a drink order within the first couple of minutes, using the silent communication that married couples develop in time, we discussed leaving with just a glance. I said out loud, “Wait here comes a waitress, if she isn’t ours, we’ll leave.” She paraded slowly by without so much as a glance our way. We headed for our car once again.

Up ahead was a Ryan’s Steakhouse, complete with a woman out front in a poorly made cow costume waving at the drivers as they blew past her at 55 MPH. Unfortunately our survival instincts overrode our good sense and we pulled in, even though we knew what was in store for us inside. Both of us really didn’t want steak for lunch so we chose to dine on the Mega-Bar. What started out as a simple salad bar 10 years ago, has transmogrified into a buffet of immense proportions which includes every thing you could possibly think of, except salad. The variety of fried food stuffs is only out numbered by the quantity of vegetables that have been cooked and swimming in butter or prepared with animal fat as a seasoning. To be honest there was the makings of a tossed salad to be had, but by the time I found it, I was so full of chicken wings, fried okra, etc. to not want any.

W & L Trident Sweatshirt

The first year we visited our friends after they moved to Lexington, VA I stopped into a local screenprint/sporting clothing store, Sayre, and picked up a navy blue hooded sweatshirt with a large white Washington & Lee trident logo on the front. I literally wore that sweatshirt out in the ensuing 5 years. Every time we have been back since, I stop in and look for a replacement sweatshirt, with no luck yet. Every time I ask about when they might have some in, the response is always the same, “We will be getting some new stuff in for the fall/winter/spring, check back then.” And every time I leave empty-handed and disappointed. This time I went ahead and bought a white T with the logo on the back, but it is just not the same. Sigh…

Fuddrucker’s For Dinner

Way back in the 80’s when they first started appearing on the landscape, Fuddruckers were the be-all-to-end-all of hamburger places. I remember when the first opened a store in New Orleans there were signs posted outside that said, No Photography Allowed, so no one would steal their decorating idea of leaving empty food cases arranged around the place.

Well it is twenty years later and the bloom is off the rose. The burger I was served was good, but not up to my memory and certainly not the “Worlds Best” with which they billed themselves. Which is why perhaps some truth nazis made them paint over that particular phrase on the awning outside the door.

If you click on the link to the company’s site you will find that they still use the slogan “Worlds Best Hamburgers” in their logos and I presume advertising. The one we ate at in Columbia, SC looked way run down and probably hasn’t been changed or updated since it opened. Makes me want to go to a different one and see if perhaps it was just this particular restaurant, but I probably won’t as there is usually plenty of other places that I would rather eat.

Mr. Fix-it Strikes Again

Today was day two of my air-conditioning repair marathon. After the filter replacement, I’d walked around the house holding my hand near all the outlets to feel if we were getting cool air out of them. Found one, the one near the back wall of our bedroom, that was not really working. Damn, no wonder our bedroom has been warmer than normal for a while. Shown a flashlight down there and it looked like the ductwork had fallen off the register.

It figures it would have to be this one, as it is almost the furthest one from the little door into the crawl space under the house. I got on some old clothes, grabbed the flashlight and a roll of duct tape. Crawled around on my belly like a dog soldier creeping up on enemy lines and dodged other ducts and pipes like bullets and tracers to get to where I needed to be. The actual repair went pretty fast and smooth. Duct tape is a marvelous tool and I have used it for a hundred different things, but this was the first time I actually used it for its intended purpose.

It’s A Wonder That Any Air Got Through At All

Something, I’m not sure what, triggered my memory to change the filter in the central air conditioning unit today. I remembered that I hadn’t changed it in a while, a long while, but couldn’t remember exactly when. It was probably more than a year ago judging by how dirty that sucker was. Next month’s power bill will probably be 20% less…

Stuck Being A Thousandaire

Well, two winning tickets to the powerball game were sold, unfortunately neither was one of the 18 tickets we held for our group buy at work. Just to be sure I asked the fellow at work who was buying the tickets did he take a trip to Missouri or Pennsylvania to buy this week. He said no.

The jackpot for this coming Saturday is only $10 million, hardly worth the effort to go to the store and buy a ticket.

How Does He Concentrate?

Sitting here blogging and watching my beloved Red Sox play the Blue Jays in a window in the upper right. The centerfield camera shows the angle that the pitcher gets as he is throwing to the plate. They are playing in Toronto and there are some seats at playing field level that must have their own waitress to get them their refreshments. I can’t help but think that must be distracting to have her walking back and forth delivering nachos and beers and whatnot back there while the he is winding up.

I know she is distracting me as she looks pretty good in my little fuzzy window.