So, you may have seen my status yesterday about my bad experience with Freecycle in Clairton. Here's what happened:
I'm collecting garage sale items for a charity sale at work, and I posted a wanted ad on Freecycle. I got a response from a woman in Clairton saying she had several boxes of "knock knacks" from flea markets. I should have known right then that she was nuts. However, I'm not one to turn down a generous offer, so I set up a pickup time and got her address.
Yesterday was the day of pickup, and I had another stop to make in Imperial, where I actually received a large amount of clean, quality items. I was happily making my way into the bowels of Jefferson Hills when Gladys (the GPS I borrowed from my mom) told me I had arrived at my destination. I look to see a small, run-down house with a fenced-in yard overflowing with plastic children's toys. I'm talking pools, playhouses - you name it. I didn't see any boxes, so I went down a small alley of sorts to the back of her house. Sitting there were about 10 boxes of items, and I knew I was in trouble from just the sight of it. A rusty water cooler, an old stained pair of black pants, and a box full of dirty miniature tea sets was all I could distinguish from the masses. My car was already pretty full from my first stop, so I decided to take a few boxes of her items, just because I said I would, even though I knew I'd probably have to get rid of them at home or at least scour my body with bleach and pumice stones after coming in contact with them. I briefly rummaged around to figure out what I could possibly salvage and also what I could fit in my car. After loading in three boxes and a bag, I went on my merry way, intending to e-mail this woman when I got home, thank her for her donations, and make up some excuse about not being able to return for the rest of the items. In my defense, this was a 45-minute drive for a ton of junk that really belongs in a dump rather than on a flea market table.
So, I get home an hour or so later, after making a pit stop at Giant Eagle on the way, and I open my mailbox to compose my apology letter when what do I see? Hmm...an e-mail entitled "garage sale items" written by Nikki Morsaint, junk provider herself. Here is the exact text of the e-mail:
you know, I went through a lot of trouble to get things ready for you. I took several hours away from my kids in order to have it ready for you, and then you don't even take it. Not only that, but you don't have thew decentcy to knock on my door and tell my to lug it all back downstairs again, let alone bother to help. I am so glad I could be of help to your fundraiser." (typos were all hers)
I was shocked. Is this woman seriously yelling at me for not taking her ten piles of crap? Is she a quadrapelegic? How could it have possibly taken her HOURS to haphazardly dump a bunch of old junk in boxes and toss them on her lawn? And in what world am I going to knock on somebody's door that I've never met, in a bad neighborhood, and offer to help her "lug" her 3-pound cardboard boxes back inside? In hindsight, it would have been better for me to ignore her entirely, but I have a hot temper when it comes to being insulted through e-mail, so I wrote her back and explained that she only told me she had "several" boxes and I didn't have room in my car. I said I was actually going to thank her, but so much for that idea. Needless to say, we had an e-mail fight for a sequence of about 5 back-and-forths, where she proceeded to say that I was a liar, I only took the "new" items, and she took off work for the day in order to get things ready for me. By the end of all of this, I was fuming. Her comments were not only absurd, but verging on insanity. Our e-mail rants eventually ended, but I did get a little comfort from the moderator of Freecycle who told me that this woman was off-base and had no right to complain that I could not take 10 boxes of stuff when she only claimed to have a few.
Eventually I got over this little tiff and moved on with my life...until...I saw THIS post on craigslist today:
I took the time to go through all of my items for this woman that was so in need of these items for a fundraiser. It turns out she only took the box of new stuff, so she actually did not want flea market items, she wanted new stuff. It is unfortunate that other people use fundraisers as a means to get new things. Anyways I now have 8 boxes of flea items with no where to put them. They are ready to go, email for address.
ARE YOU SERIOUS, WOMAN??? I would really like to organize some kind of campaign against her, like where lots of people respond to her ad for the items and then either don't show up, show up and only take one or two boxes, or show up and add MORE boxes of junk to her piles. However, that's my vengeful side talking. All I did was send her a response to her craigslist ad, asking why she's still saying rude and untrue things. She probably won't respond, and tomorrow this will all be under the bridge, but for now, please leave a comment to commiserate/sympathize. It'd make me feel better.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Emmy Blooper
While listening to the Emmys for best TV miniseries in the other room, I was looking at photos of celebrities on the red carpet. Look what an error I came across! I know actors probably hate it when fans call them by their characters' names, but they must hate it even more when even the media gets it wrong!
Can you make it out?
Can you make it out?
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Funny People
Just another funny thing Guy said that I felt like I wanted to post here.
I was trying to plan a week-long promotion at work revolving around the number 2. I wanted to do a sale or bargain each day like "20% off," "buy 2, get one free," etc. I ran out of variations on the number 2, so I was asking Guy for help. I said I could do "double" something, and he helpfully suggested that maybe everyone could pay double that day to come to day care. Not quite the promotional deal. There was a long silence, and I asked him why he wasn't suggesting anything else, and he just said, "I don't know. All I can think of is "double chicken."
Of course it makes no sense, but it made me laugh.
I was trying to plan a week-long promotion at work revolving around the number 2. I wanted to do a sale or bargain each day like "20% off," "buy 2, get one free," etc. I ran out of variations on the number 2, so I was asking Guy for help. I said I could do "double" something, and he helpfully suggested that maybe everyone could pay double that day to come to day care. Not quite the promotional deal. There was a long silence, and I asked him why he wasn't suggesting anything else, and he just said, "I don't know. All I can think of is "double chicken."
Of course it makes no sense, but it made me laugh.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Am I Well-Read?
BBC Book List
BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?
Instructions:
Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible x
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Total: 2
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier X
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faul
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger X
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Total: 1
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky X
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Total: 3
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein X
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Total: 4
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving X
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Total: 4
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Total: 0
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Duas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Total: 0
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Total: 1
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom X
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Total: 1
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Total: 3
Total: 19
Instructions:
Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible x
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Total: 2
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier X
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faul
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger X
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Total: 1
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky X
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Total: 3
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein X
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Total: 4
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving X
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Total: 4
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Total: 0
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Duas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Total: 0
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante X
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Total: 1
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom X
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Total: 1
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Total: 3
Total: 19
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Happy Birthday To Ya
I would just like to wish my biggest blog fan a happy birthday. I won't name any names, Jerod, but you sure are getting old!
Have a good one, brotha.
Have a good one, brotha.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
4 Years
You may remember the anniversary poem that Guy wrote for me last year. Well, I got a new one this year, so before I thank him for it, I decided to post it on here. :)
One year ago when I wrote you that poem,
We had one less beast living in our home.
I questioned if a child or a dog would come next,
which you answered by sending Lola in a text.
Thus the Tarberts began rollin' four deep,
and you received scratches whilst trying to sleep.
In need of a break from our two demon pets,
you booked us a trip and we hopped on a jet.
They say, "We're the town with the great football team,"
but now that we've seen it, we know what they mean!
Perched way up high inside Raymond James,
we rooted the Stillers toward 6-time world fame!
The Disney week pales when compared to that win,
but it still was fun and I'd do it again.
Although, it was costly. Where'd we get the money?
Did you sell a kidney or do something else funny?
You quit the Sharp Edge, and, good riddance, what a crock!
Although I do miss excuses to drink Gulden Draak.
Now you answer phones, be creative, and blog,
all for the South Hills' luckiest dogs!
You're finally doing something you love.
For once your work days fit you like a glove.
Not much ahs changed for me in this past year,
just doing I.T. and sitting on my rear.
So congrats to us both, we've made it to four;
Here's to the past and to many more!
Yay for Guy the poet!
One year ago when I wrote you that poem,
We had one less beast living in our home.
I questioned if a child or a dog would come next,
which you answered by sending Lola in a text.
Thus the Tarberts began rollin' four deep,
and you received scratches whilst trying to sleep.
In need of a break from our two demon pets,
you booked us a trip and we hopped on a jet.
They say, "We're the town with the great football team,"
but now that we've seen it, we know what they mean!
Perched way up high inside Raymond James,
we rooted the Stillers toward 6-time world fame!
The Disney week pales when compared to that win,
but it still was fun and I'd do it again.
Although, it was costly. Where'd we get the money?
Did you sell a kidney or do something else funny?
You quit the Sharp Edge, and, good riddance, what a crock!
Although I do miss excuses to drink Gulden Draak.
Now you answer phones, be creative, and blog,
all for the South Hills' luckiest dogs!
You're finally doing something you love.
For once your work days fit you like a glove.
Not much ahs changed for me in this past year,
just doing I.T. and sitting on my rear.
So congrats to us both, we've made it to four;
Here's to the past and to many more!
Yay for Guy the poet!
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Arby's Oddities
My new commute to work involves driving past two Arby's restaurants, and I am somewhat ashamed to say that I eat at one of them at least once a week. Aside from enjoying my occasional roast-beast sandwich and jamocha shake, I have noticed a few strange things about Arby's. First of all, they have signage on their counter that advertises "sides" for your meals. It lists: hash browns, jalapeno poppers, cup of cheese. It all sounds normal until you get to the "cup of cheese." Now, I realize that this is probably cheese to dip your poppers or possibly even your curly fries in, but should a cup of cheese really be considered a side? Maybe they list it as a side so they can justify charging the same price as they would for a legitimate add-on to a meal, but it just bothers me.
Secondly, I have noticed that both Arby's (Arby'ses?) have posted small signs near the road that say "Bag of Ice - 99 cents." Is business really that bad that Arby's has to sell water during the summer to stay out of the red? What would compel a person to swing by their local Arby's seeking a bag of ice? I guess 99 cents is a good price as far as bags of ice go, but there still seems to be something fishy about this particular item for sale.
In other fast-food news, Guy was amazed that no one removed the "g" from the sign at McDonald's for the new Angus burger.
Secondly, I have noticed that both Arby's (Arby'ses?) have posted small signs near the road that say "Bag of Ice - 99 cents." Is business really that bad that Arby's has to sell water during the summer to stay out of the red? What would compel a person to swing by their local Arby's seeking a bag of ice? I guess 99 cents is a good price as far as bags of ice go, but there still seems to be something fishy about this particular item for sale.
In other fast-food news, Guy was amazed that no one removed the "g" from the sign at McDonald's for the new Angus burger.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
If I Were a Rich Man
I've come to realize over the years of my adulthood that unless I win the lottery, I will probably never be rich. And I rarely play the lottery, therefore my chances of hitting a jackpot are slim to none (not that they'd be much better even if I did play the lottery). Most of the time, I'm okay with the idea of a future with not a lot of money. However, there are sometimes when an opportunity arises in life that requires a lot of money to fulfill, and those are the times I envy the mega-rich. For instance, the other day, my mom's friend got in contact with her to ask if any of her kids would be interested in purchasing a season ticket license for the Steelers. Now, if you live in Pittsburgh, or another city where football is popular, you know the difficulty of obtaining a season ticket license. I am on the waiting list for season tickets, but I don't think I'll reach the top for another 40 years, if ever. So, when my mom told me of the offer, I obviously asked for more details. And here they were: the seat license cost over 10 grand, and the actual season tickets were another 1,500 or so. I don't even have 10 grand in the bank, even if I were to have a moment of temporary insanity where I would spend my savings on the Steelers. So, obviously I had to pass up the opportunity, and it was/is quite disappointing. Hopefully in a few days or so, though, with my mind being boggled from the insanity that is LOST, as well as a few other thoughts streaming through my mind, I will get over the disappointment and get back to the status quo.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
He's Just a Boy Who Can't Say No
I called Guy on my way home from work today, only to hear some devastating news. Someone from Bethel Park football called and convinced Guy to buy yet another book full of pizza coupons. We bought a book last year and have barely used any of it because either the coupons entail buying a huge amount of pizza or you have to pick the pizza up (or it's from a gross pizza place like Italian Village). So, after chastising Guy for essentially wasting $24.95, I decided to let him off the hook. After all, I know he has trouble turning people down when they solicit him. However, my solution to the problem would be to encourage Guy to sharpen his nay-saying skills to prepare him for his inevitable future encounters with people who want to sell him something he doesn't need. His solution? He's never going to answer the phone ever again.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Family Feud
I was watching Family Feud, as I typically do when I'm home around noon, and the question was: Name a famous "Joe." Answers on the board included Joe Montana, Joe Dimaggio, Joe the Plumber, and Joe Namath.
When the host was revealing the answers that the feuding families didn't guess, the last one he revealed was "Joe Biden." At that point, the camera cut to a blonde lady on one of the teams who proceeded to scrunch up her face and mouth, "Who's that??"
And I'm willing to be she voted for Obama.
When the host was revealing the answers that the feuding families didn't guess, the last one he revealed was "Joe Biden." At that point, the camera cut to a blonde lady on one of the teams who proceeded to scrunch up her face and mouth, "Who's that??"
And I'm willing to be she voted for Obama.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Update
I'm only working 4-8 on Friday, 4/18, just in case anyone was planning on coming during the afternoon.
A Breakfast Haven
If, like me, you love good breakfast food, you need to eat at the Dor-Stop in Dormont. It's right on Potomac avenue, off of West Liberty. Parking is not as easy to find as the restaurant itself, but if you park on the street a short way down from the diner, at least you'll burn off some of the large amounts of calories you are sure to consume during your meal.
Jess and I went there for breakfast around 10:30 this morning. It was packed! We had to put our name in, and we waited about ten minutes before two seats opened up at the counter, but other people waited a lot longer than us. Tip -- if you go to the Dor-Stop, go with a small number of people or be willing to split up. They don't have a lot of seating options for groups larger than four people, and if you want to stick together, your wait will be much longer.
When we sat down at the counter, we were greeted by a friendly man in the apron who we determined was the owner because his picture was in a newspaper article on the wall. He was very nice, asking where we were from, if it was our first time there, how we had heard about it, etc. When our waitress came, I ordered oatmeal chocolate-chip pancakes, and Jess ordered one pumpkin and one oatmeal pancake. They have lots of neat options for pancake mix-ins, like bananas and walnuts, and they also have raspberry-stuffed french toast. Or, for those of you who prefer a savory breakfast, the menu has lots of options for omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, and more.
Our food arrived within ten minutes, and, boy, was it worth the wait. The pancakes were covered in butter and powdered sugar, and we helped ourselves to a squeeze bottle of syrup that was on the counter. My meal cost 8.39 for three pancakes and a side of bacon. Not too shabby.
If you want to try out the Dor-Stop, I would highly recommend it. Check out their website and menu here. The owner told us that their least busy times are around 8:00 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., but my guess is that things never quite slow down at this gem of a diner.
Jess and I went there for breakfast around 10:30 this morning. It was packed! We had to put our name in, and we waited about ten minutes before two seats opened up at the counter, but other people waited a lot longer than us. Tip -- if you go to the Dor-Stop, go with a small number of people or be willing to split up. They don't have a lot of seating options for groups larger than four people, and if you want to stick together, your wait will be much longer.
When we sat down at the counter, we were greeted by a friendly man in the apron who we determined was the owner because his picture was in a newspaper article on the wall. He was very nice, asking where we were from, if it was our first time there, how we had heard about it, etc. When our waitress came, I ordered oatmeal chocolate-chip pancakes, and Jess ordered one pumpkin and one oatmeal pancake. They have lots of neat options for pancake mix-ins, like bananas and walnuts, and they also have raspberry-stuffed french toast. Or, for those of you who prefer a savory breakfast, the menu has lots of options for omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, and more.
Our food arrived within ten minutes, and, boy, was it worth the wait. The pancakes were covered in butter and powdered sugar, and we helped ourselves to a squeeze bottle of syrup that was on the counter. My meal cost 8.39 for three pancakes and a side of bacon. Not too shabby.
If you want to try out the Dor-Stop, I would highly recommend it. Check out their website and menu here. The owner told us that their least busy times are around 8:00 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., but my guess is that things never quite slow down at this gem of a diner.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Help Me Help You
As some of you may know, next week is my last week as a full-time server at the Sharp Edge before I start working at Camp Bow Wow. There's a slim chance that I might keep a shift here or there at the restaurant, but I'm hoping I won't have to. Anyway, if you'd like to come visit me before I'm finished in the waitressing world, here are my shifts for the next two weeks:
Tuesday, 4/7 - 4-8 p.m.
Wednesday, 4/8 - 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Thursday, 4/9 - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, 4/10 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Tuesday, 4/14 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Wednesday, 4/15 - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, 4/17 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturday (LAST DAY!!) - 4 - 8 p.m.
As always, end times are approximate, so your best bet is to come somewhere in the middle of a shift. And I'll be able to pay more attention to you if you come on a weekday rather than a weekend. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, 4/7 - 4-8 p.m.
Wednesday, 4/8 - 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Thursday, 4/9 - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, 4/10 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Tuesday, 4/14 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Wednesday, 4/15 - 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday, 4/17 - 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturday (LAST DAY!!) - 4 - 8 p.m.
As always, end times are approximate, so your best bet is to come somewhere in the middle of a shift. And I'll be able to pay more attention to you if you come on a weekday rather than a weekend. Hope to see you there!
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Anatomy of a Restaurant Patron, Part Four - Seating Arrangements
As with any job, being an insider allows you to be privy to certain tidbits of information that the public does not know. At a restaurant, some of these tidbits are seemingly common sense, but I've heard the same comments over and over so many times, that I feel it is necessary to explain a few things.
First, servers are usually assigned sections of the restaurant, consisting of four to five tables, in which customers are seated and then taken care of by that particular server. The quality level of service often has an inverse relationship to the number of tables a server has. However, there are not always enough servers scheduled on any given shift to cover every table in the restaurant. This is due to a predicted pattern of business volume. On a Monday afternoon (or any afternoon, for that matter) at the Sharp Edge, there is only one server. If, by a fluke occurrence, ten tables decide to sit down to eat at the same time, it's a sticky situation.
I bring up this matter because of one comment I've heard both at my restaurant and at others while I was a guest. If you go to a restaurant and there is a wait to be seated, yet you still see empty tables, chances are there are not enough servers to cover the tables. Would you rather have a seat and receive extremely terrible service because your server is overwhelmed, or would you rather wait fifteen minutes until another table clears out? So many times people come in and say, outraged, "Why is there a wait when I see all these empty tables??" Well, now you know why.
The second seating situation I'd like to address in this post is quite simple. If you see a sign on the wall that says, "Please Wait to be Seated," then please wait to be seated. It's a rare occurrence that restaurants these days have people seat themselves. When you saunter in like you own the place and grab a table, you're likely messing up the seating rotation between servers, thus subjecting yourself to an annoyed server and one who may be too busy to pay proper attention to you. Furthermore, do not go into a restaurant, tell the hostess that you are sitting at the bar, and then proceed to seat yourself at a booth NEAR the bar. It's not the same thing. If you're not sitting in a bar stool, you're not considered to be sitting at the bar.
Lastly, if you have a seating preference (near a television, in a certain server's section, etc.), feel free to voice your preference, but do it BEFORE you're taken to your seat. Don't sit down, decide you don't like the view, and ask to switch. And certainly don't ask to switch tables midway through your meal. Just finish your food and know better next time.
First, servers are usually assigned sections of the restaurant, consisting of four to five tables, in which customers are seated and then taken care of by that particular server. The quality level of service often has an inverse relationship to the number of tables a server has. However, there are not always enough servers scheduled on any given shift to cover every table in the restaurant. This is due to a predicted pattern of business volume. On a Monday afternoon (or any afternoon, for that matter) at the Sharp Edge, there is only one server. If, by a fluke occurrence, ten tables decide to sit down to eat at the same time, it's a sticky situation.
I bring up this matter because of one comment I've heard both at my restaurant and at others while I was a guest. If you go to a restaurant and there is a wait to be seated, yet you still see empty tables, chances are there are not enough servers to cover the tables. Would you rather have a seat and receive extremely terrible service because your server is overwhelmed, or would you rather wait fifteen minutes until another table clears out? So many times people come in and say, outraged, "Why is there a wait when I see all these empty tables??" Well, now you know why.
The second seating situation I'd like to address in this post is quite simple. If you see a sign on the wall that says, "Please Wait to be Seated," then please wait to be seated. It's a rare occurrence that restaurants these days have people seat themselves. When you saunter in like you own the place and grab a table, you're likely messing up the seating rotation between servers, thus subjecting yourself to an annoyed server and one who may be too busy to pay proper attention to you. Furthermore, do not go into a restaurant, tell the hostess that you are sitting at the bar, and then proceed to seat yourself at a booth NEAR the bar. It's not the same thing. If you're not sitting in a bar stool, you're not considered to be sitting at the bar.
Lastly, if you have a seating preference (near a television, in a certain server's section, etc.), feel free to voice your preference, but do it BEFORE you're taken to your seat. Don't sit down, decide you don't like the view, and ask to switch. And certainly don't ask to switch tables midway through your meal. Just finish your food and know better next time.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
ARP, Part Three: Your Table is Not a Trash Receptacle
At my restaurant, there are no bussers. Servers are responsible for cleaning off dirty dishes and other paraphenalia from their own tables and getting them reset for the next diners. Managers and the hostess sometimes help out, but it's mainly our responsibility.
I worked in the college dishroom for a few years at Grove City, so I'm not usually bothered by disgusting combinations of food scraps and leftovers. What DOES bother me, however, is used paper products left on the table. I'm talking tissues, baby wipes, gum wrappers*, etc. Luckily we only pass out paper napkins upon request, so it cuts down on the paper clutter, but I still have to find a way to avoid touching many used tissues and wipes each day.
Think about it: Would you want to clean up someone else's snotty Kleenex? Dishes are part of the job. Your miscelleneous waste is not (or shouldn't be). If you need to blow your nose or wipe your baby's hands, please find another way of disposing of the trash other than leaving it on the table for me to take away...and PLEASE don't set the dirty culprits on the plates. This is what grosses me out more than anything else.
Furthermore, shredded straw wrappers, coasters, and menus are a nuisance. Can you find something else to do with your hands while you're waiting for your food to arrive? Maybe reach into your wallet and get that nice tip ready. ;)
Again, this topic has a lot to do with putting yourself in your server's place and imagining what kinds of trash you would not want to be subjected to. There are garbage cans readily available in the restrooms as well as behind the hostess stand - all you have to do is ask. So, I beg of you, stop thinking of your table as a catch-all for anything you have dirtied or no longer need, and stop leaving it for me to clean up after you leave.
*PLEASE don't use sugar packets as a place to dispose of your chewing gum, and especially don't put the sugar packet back in with the rest after you do so! You won't believe how many times I've encountered this sickening situation.
I worked in the college dishroom for a few years at Grove City, so I'm not usually bothered by disgusting combinations of food scraps and leftovers. What DOES bother me, however, is used paper products left on the table. I'm talking tissues, baby wipes, gum wrappers*, etc. Luckily we only pass out paper napkins upon request, so it cuts down on the paper clutter, but I still have to find a way to avoid touching many used tissues and wipes each day.
Think about it: Would you want to clean up someone else's snotty Kleenex? Dishes are part of the job. Your miscelleneous waste is not (or shouldn't be). If you need to blow your nose or wipe your baby's hands, please find another way of disposing of the trash other than leaving it on the table for me to take away...and PLEASE don't set the dirty culprits on the plates. This is what grosses me out more than anything else.
Furthermore, shredded straw wrappers, coasters, and menus are a nuisance. Can you find something else to do with your hands while you're waiting for your food to arrive? Maybe reach into your wallet and get that nice tip ready. ;)
Again, this topic has a lot to do with putting yourself in your server's place and imagining what kinds of trash you would not want to be subjected to. There are garbage cans readily available in the restrooms as well as behind the hostess stand - all you have to do is ask. So, I beg of you, stop thinking of your table as a catch-all for anything you have dirtied or no longer need, and stop leaving it for me to clean up after you leave.
*PLEASE don't use sugar packets as a place to dispose of your chewing gum, and especially don't put the sugar packet back in with the rest after you do so! You won't believe how many times I've encountered this sickening situation.
ARP, Part Two: Mind Your Manners
Restaurant life would be a whole lot easier if patrons would mind the Golden Rule -- do unto others (servers) as you would have them do to you. Though this isn't the movie "Waiting," and we don't do gross things to nasty people's food (at least not at the Sharp Edge), lack of prospective punishment doesn't mean you should treat your server with no respect.
For starters, just because I am waiting on you and you are paying for my services does not mean that it is okay to bark orders at me, snap your fingers to get my attention, or treat me as if I am lower on society's totem pole than you are. I am college-educated, as is mostly everyone that I work with, but we choose this profession because it best fits our lifestyles.
"Please" and "Thank you" are welcome phrases in my line of work. If I make a mistake (we all do), do your best to be understanding and patient. You wouldn't believe how much the attitude, whether positive or negative, of one customer can color a server's entire day. Above all else, the next time you go out to eat, do your best to put yourself in your server's shoes...and be nice!
For starters, just because I am waiting on you and you are paying for my services does not mean that it is okay to bark orders at me, snap your fingers to get my attention, or treat me as if I am lower on society's totem pole than you are. I am college-educated, as is mostly everyone that I work with, but we choose this profession because it best fits our lifestyles.
"Please" and "Thank you" are welcome phrases in my line of work. If I make a mistake (we all do), do your best to be understanding and patient. You wouldn't believe how much the attitude, whether positive or negative, of one customer can color a server's entire day. Above all else, the next time you go out to eat, do your best to put yourself in your server's shoes...and be nice!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Anatomy of a Restaurant Patron, Part One
I have worked as a server in a restaurant for almost a year now. I honestly didn't think I would be working there this long, but I have to say, it's been quite a learning experience. I'd venture to say that everyone tends to think they could be a waiter or waitress because they've eaten out and seen SOME of the ins and outs of it, however, I don't think you can ever fully understand the job until you've done it yourself. Though it can sometimes be a fast way to make good money, more often than not, it's aggravating, frustrating, and a lot of hard work.
So, I've decided to post some diatribes on the things that bother me the most about restaurant customers. This first post will be dedicated to the Holy Grail of restaurant life -- the gratuity. Servers in Pennsylvania have a minimum required wage, paid by their employer, of $2.83 an hour. That's almost $5 an hour less than the standard minimum wage. Therefore, tips make up the vast majority of a server's income.
If you are pleased with your restaurant experience, especially the service by your waitress, you should always tip at least 18 to 20% of your check. I repeat -- 18 to 20%. Not 10, not 15. If you can't afford to add that customary gratuity onto your total, you really shouldn't go out to eat. You have to understand that you are the one paying the server's salary. When you give a server who has done a perfectly good job a tip of less than average, it basically amounts to a lot of hard work on their part for nothing. And trust me, we remember customers who don't tip well.
On the other hand, we also remember the people that seem to understand our plight and give a little extra. A good tip can go a long way in the restaurant world.
So, please -- I know the economy is in a slump, but if you can afford to eat out, you can afford to give a decent tip.
So, I've decided to post some diatribes on the things that bother me the most about restaurant customers. This first post will be dedicated to the Holy Grail of restaurant life -- the gratuity. Servers in Pennsylvania have a minimum required wage, paid by their employer, of $2.83 an hour. That's almost $5 an hour less than the standard minimum wage. Therefore, tips make up the vast majority of a server's income.
If you are pleased with your restaurant experience, especially the service by your waitress, you should always tip at least 18 to 20% of your check. I repeat -- 18 to 20%. Not 10, not 15. If you can't afford to add that customary gratuity onto your total, you really shouldn't go out to eat. You have to understand that you are the one paying the server's salary. When you give a server who has done a perfectly good job a tip of less than average, it basically amounts to a lot of hard work on their part for nothing. And trust me, we remember customers who don't tip well.
On the other hand, we also remember the people that seem to understand our plight and give a little extra. A good tip can go a long way in the restaurant world.
So, please -- I know the economy is in a slump, but if you can afford to eat out, you can afford to give a decent tip.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Recurring Dream
Guy sent me this comic this morning, and I'm amazed at how accurate it is! I have this dream ALL the time. My high-school dreams also usually involve forgetting my locker combination, but other than that, it's just like xkcd says!
Check it out.
Check it out.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Birthday Critique
Last night, I went out with a small group of friends to celebrate my 26th birthday. For dinner, we went to Hibachi Japan at Donaldson's Crossroads. It was the second time I'd gone there, but everyone else was a first-time guest. I really enjoyed the food, and I think the prices are reasonable for that kind of meal. My only critique of the dinner was the taste of the shrimp dipping sauce. I think I like Benihana's better. But overall, I thought it was nice, and I hope everyone had a good time.
After dinner, Jerod and Laura went to check on Sallace, Jules & Taylor had to go home, and Guy, Emily, and I browsed TJMaxx until movie time. We were going to see a 7:00 showing of Coraline in 3-D at the theater by the mall. Emily bought a giant Rice Krispie for $2 to bring into the movie, Guy got a new pair of jeans, and I stocked up on prizes for Sarah's bridal shower in five months (yeah, I'm overly prepared).
After our brief shopping outing, we met back up with Jerod and Laura at the theater. Tickets were an extra $2.50 because the show was in 3-D, which I think kind of sucks, but oh well. The theater we were in was one of the smaller rooms, and only a handful of people were in it. I was sad to see that a lot of the seats were damaged, and the theater in general was not in good shape. It was like a $12 trip to the maxi-saver. Carmike, where did you go wrong?
Anyway, after 20 minutes of commercials and previews, and a brief glitch where we could only hear previews but not see them, the movie began.
I have not seen any other Tim Burton movies, but I know what they typically look like, and "Coraline" was no exception in the realm of excellent animation. The entire film was a pleasure to the eye -- yes, even the part where she squashed thousand-leggers with her bare hands. Who does that, by the way?
Though "Coraline" was visually pleasing, I felt that the story was a bit lacking in excitement and depth. The movie is based on a novel, so I'd be interested to see what details were left out. The story moved slowly and allowed a number of wordless scenes accompanied by a haunting soundtrack to provide exposition. My mind wandered a lot during these scenes, and though I appreciated the artsiness of the movie's style, I found it a bit boring at times. Then, as the movie progressed towards its ending, I felt like things were wrapping up too quickly, without enough explanation. If you haven't seen it, Coraline ends up finding the souls of other children who her "Other Mother" has tricked into staying in her world. The children tell them she needs to save them by finding their eyes. They call the Other Mother the beldam. There's no explanation as to why they call her this or why their "eyes" end up being bouncy balls and handles on exotic lawn equipment. I'm sure there are more things I can think of where I would have appreciated more information, like why a triangular-shaped rock with a hole in the center allows Coraline to find the ghosts' eyes, but the film relied on its looks more than its substance to impress viewers from the start, so it was no surprised that it followed through with this trend to the finish.
Even though the movie was a bit different than I expected, I did have a grand old time on my birthday eve, and I'm glad my friends were able to join me for it.
And one last side note on "Coraline" -- Why, oh, why, did they have to give almost every woman EXTREMELY large breasts? And what on earth possessed the animators to do the scene with the large-breasted old woman dresssed in only sparkly pasties and a thong? I thought I couldn't see anything more disgusting than Coraline smashing bugs with her bare hands. I thought wrong.
After dinner, Jerod and Laura went to check on Sallace, Jules & Taylor had to go home, and Guy, Emily, and I browsed TJMaxx until movie time. We were going to see a 7:00 showing of Coraline in 3-D at the theater by the mall. Emily bought a giant Rice Krispie for $2 to bring into the movie, Guy got a new pair of jeans, and I stocked up on prizes for Sarah's bridal shower in five months (yeah, I'm overly prepared).
After our brief shopping outing, we met back up with Jerod and Laura at the theater. Tickets were an extra $2.50 because the show was in 3-D, which I think kind of sucks, but oh well. The theater we were in was one of the smaller rooms, and only a handful of people were in it. I was sad to see that a lot of the seats were damaged, and the theater in general was not in good shape. It was like a $12 trip to the maxi-saver. Carmike, where did you go wrong?
Anyway, after 20 minutes of commercials and previews, and a brief glitch where we could only hear previews but not see them, the movie began.
I have not seen any other Tim Burton movies, but I know what they typically look like, and "Coraline" was no exception in the realm of excellent animation. The entire film was a pleasure to the eye -- yes, even the part where she squashed thousand-leggers with her bare hands. Who does that, by the way?
Though "Coraline" was visually pleasing, I felt that the story was a bit lacking in excitement and depth. The movie is based on a novel, so I'd be interested to see what details were left out. The story moved slowly and allowed a number of wordless scenes accompanied by a haunting soundtrack to provide exposition. My mind wandered a lot during these scenes, and though I appreciated the artsiness of the movie's style, I found it a bit boring at times. Then, as the movie progressed towards its ending, I felt like things were wrapping up too quickly, without enough explanation. If you haven't seen it, Coraline ends up finding the souls of other children who her "Other Mother" has tricked into staying in her world. The children tell them she needs to save them by finding their eyes. They call the Other Mother the beldam. There's no explanation as to why they call her this or why their "eyes" end up being bouncy balls and handles on exotic lawn equipment. I'm sure there are more things I can think of where I would have appreciated more information, like why a triangular-shaped rock with a hole in the center allows Coraline to find the ghosts' eyes, but the film relied on its looks more than its substance to impress viewers from the start, so it was no surprised that it followed through with this trend to the finish.
Even though the movie was a bit different than I expected, I did have a grand old time on my birthday eve, and I'm glad my friends were able to join me for it.
And one last side note on "Coraline" -- Why, oh, why, did they have to give almost every woman EXTREMELY large breasts? And what on earth possessed the animators to do the scene with the large-breasted old woman dresssed in only sparkly pasties and a thong? I thought I couldn't see anything more disgusting than Coraline smashing bugs with her bare hands. I thought wrong.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
My Literary Friends
One of my favorite quotes about reading is, " You know you've read a good book when you get to the end and feel like you've lost a good friend."
I totally feel that way every time I finish a book that I've really enjoyed. You've gotten to know the characters so well, and there's a sad sort of feeling that you don't have any time left with them. I've never been a big reader, but I do enjoy a great book every once in a while. Here is a list of some of my "friends" from my favorite books. See if you can guess what books they are from.
-Henry and Clare
-Edward and Bella
-John and Owen
-Amir and Hassan
-Sayuri
-Harry, Ron, and Hermione (easy one)
-Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget
-Rebecca Bloomwood
I totally feel that way every time I finish a book that I've really enjoyed. You've gotten to know the characters so well, and there's a sad sort of feeling that you don't have any time left with them. I've never been a big reader, but I do enjoy a great book every once in a while. Here is a list of some of my "friends" from my favorite books. See if you can guess what books they are from.
-Henry and Clare
-Edward and Bella
-John and Owen
-Amir and Hassan
-Sayuri
-Harry, Ron, and Hermione (easy one)
-Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget
-Rebecca Bloomwood
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tell Me About Your Gym
It's that time of year again when the weather starts to warm up a bit and I feel depressed that I do not want to go anywhere near a bathing suit. So, as the never-ending cycle goes, I'm trying to figure out ways to get in shape. I would like to join a gym, but money might prevent me from doing so. I also can't decide what gym to join. I was a member of Just Ladies in BP a few years ago, but I felt like it was kind of far, and the drive there always annoyed me. So I'm trying to think of somewhere that might be closer/faster. I also can't decide if it's better to pick a gym that's closer to work or closer to home. There are quite a few that are close to work, so that may be easier, but the on the days I'm not working, I may not want to go, and on the days I do work, I may be too tired.
Does anyone out there belong to a gym that's affordable that you also enjoy? Let me know any insider info that you may have. Also, if anyone is interested in joining somewhere with me, I'd be much more likely to actually exercise if I had someone to go with.
Does anyone out there belong to a gym that's affordable that you also enjoy? Let me know any insider info that you may have. Also, if anyone is interested in joining somewhere with me, I'd be much more likely to actually exercise if I had someone to go with.
Quotables
Two of my favorite funny lines from the past week - one from Guy and one from his cynical sidekick, House.
Patient: Einstein said, "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous."
House: A woman in Florida said, "Look, Jesus is on my cheese sandwich."
Me: I told my mom how you used to beat people up.
And then we talked about if me and you have children, they'll be doomed.
Guy: To what? Good looks? [ Laughs evilly ]
Patient: Einstein said, "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous."
House: A woman in Florida said, "Look, Jesus is on my cheese sandwich."
Me: I told my mom how you used to beat people up.
And then we talked about if me and you have children, they'll be doomed.
Guy: To what? Good looks? [ Laughs evilly ]
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
You Know the Economy is in a Slump When...
...a 4-pack of Cadbury eggs costs $3.49!!!
Seriously, has the world gone mad?
Seriously, has the world gone mad?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Yes, I'm Still Blogging about Disney World
After our first rainy day in the World, we had plans to hit up Animal Kingdom on Tuesday. AK is the only one of the four parks that I had not yet been to, so I was looking forward to checking it out. We woke up early and had breakfast in the food court because the park is only open from 9:00 to 5:00, and, after eating, we caught a bus to the park.
We had lunch reservations at the Yak & Yeti restaurant at 12:30, and we arrived at the park around 10:00, so we had a few hours to ride the attractions before indulging in yet another huge meal. The first thing we did was head to the very back of the park to go on the safari. It was a fun ride -- basically like riding a truck through a zoo. We were lucky enough to see most of the animals -- giraffes, elephants, cheetahs, lots of things that looked like variations on a cow, ostriches, rhinos -- but none of them were really doing anything exciting. After the safari, we took a train over to Rafiki's Conservation area. I was attracted to it because of the brochure's promise of a petting zoo with exotic animals. When we arrived and headed to the petting zoo, I was disappointed to see mostly the typical sheep, goats, a few pigs, and a donkey. I petted a few goats and met Lily's proud goat cousin, but we quickly washed our hands and headed back on the train to the main Animal Kingdom area.
By the time we arrived in Asia, we had a little time to browse some shops and then head to the Yak & Yeti for lunch. After a short wait, we were seated and browsed the menu. The food was tasty, and we had a delicious mango pie, recommended by Lucille, for dessert.
Following our gluttonous lunch, we walked to Camp Minnie Mickey for the Festival of the Lion King show. I can't really figure out why they have this area of the park, as it really only houses the Lion King arena and nothing else. However, the show was awesome, so maybe it just plain deserves its own portion of the park. If you ever go to Animal Kingdom, do not miss this great piece of entertainment.
After the Festival of the Lion King, we went into the Tree of Life to see "It's Tough to Be a Bug," another typical Disney 3-D show. It was cute but nothing especially exciting. Then it was time for Dino World, or whatever they call the dinosaur-themed section of the park. We missed the Finding Nemo show we were trying to see, so we ended up in Hester and Chester's amusement park area -- basically a boardwalk-like place with midway games and a dinky rollercoaster. Guy and I used our gift card to purchase tickets to play carnival games because I can never pass up a test of skill (or luck). Our favorite game was called the Comet Crash, or something like that, and it was run by a Brazilian guy that I found to be hilarious. He handed colored wiffle balls to us and instructed Guy to "just throw the comet into the galaxy." Apparently the balls were the comets and the giant board in front of us with colored cups was the "galaxy." The aim was to land the ball in one of the colored cups to win a prize. I won once or twice, and Guy also won twice. Me, being the generous person that I am, gave my prizes to a few children in the area. Guy kept his and has them proudly displayed on his bookshelf here at home. :)
We then took our loot and went to ride Dinosaur -- a journey back into the Cretaceous period. I was a little nervous when I saw the motion-sickness warnings, accompanied by an elderly man throwing up into a trash can, on our way into the ride, but it wasn't that bad. It was basically just a jerky ride past a bunch of fake dinos in the dark. Fun, but not worth waiting a long time to ride.
The last thing we did before exiting the park was saw the Finding Nemo Musical. I have since fell in love with the production and downloaded some of the songs from iTunes. I hear they sometimes air it on the Discovery channel, and it's also on YouTube, so if you like good musical productions, definitely watch it. It has great music, great puppeteering, and great visuals in general.
At the conclusion of our Animal Kingdom day, I had made reservations at Jiko, the restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, so we took a bus to the hotel and put our name in to get our table. My overall impression of Jiko was that the service was super-slow, but otherwise it was a good experience. The food was different, but tasty, and they even delivered us warm towels to wash our hands with before the meal!
Guy had started to feel sick throughout the day at Animal Kingdom, so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and got to bed at a decent time. I was feeling bad that he didn't feel good, but little did I know that I'd soon catch his cold and have it become about ten times worse than what it was for him.
We had lunch reservations at the Yak & Yeti restaurant at 12:30, and we arrived at the park around 10:00, so we had a few hours to ride the attractions before indulging in yet another huge meal. The first thing we did was head to the very back of the park to go on the safari. It was a fun ride -- basically like riding a truck through a zoo. We were lucky enough to see most of the animals -- giraffes, elephants, cheetahs, lots of things that looked like variations on a cow, ostriches, rhinos -- but none of them were really doing anything exciting. After the safari, we took a train over to Rafiki's Conservation area. I was attracted to it because of the brochure's promise of a petting zoo with exotic animals. When we arrived and headed to the petting zoo, I was disappointed to see mostly the typical sheep, goats, a few pigs, and a donkey. I petted a few goats and met Lily's proud goat cousin, but we quickly washed our hands and headed back on the train to the main Animal Kingdom area.
By the time we arrived in Asia, we had a little time to browse some shops and then head to the Yak & Yeti for lunch. After a short wait, we were seated and browsed the menu. The food was tasty, and we had a delicious mango pie, recommended by Lucille, for dessert.
Following our gluttonous lunch, we walked to Camp Minnie Mickey for the Festival of the Lion King show. I can't really figure out why they have this area of the park, as it really only houses the Lion King arena and nothing else. However, the show was awesome, so maybe it just plain deserves its own portion of the park. If you ever go to Animal Kingdom, do not miss this great piece of entertainment.
After the Festival of the Lion King, we went into the Tree of Life to see "It's Tough to Be a Bug," another typical Disney 3-D show. It was cute but nothing especially exciting. Then it was time for Dino World, or whatever they call the dinosaur-themed section of the park. We missed the Finding Nemo show we were trying to see, so we ended up in Hester and Chester's amusement park area -- basically a boardwalk-like place with midway games and a dinky rollercoaster. Guy and I used our gift card to purchase tickets to play carnival games because I can never pass up a test of skill (or luck). Our favorite game was called the Comet Crash, or something like that, and it was run by a Brazilian guy that I found to be hilarious. He handed colored wiffle balls to us and instructed Guy to "just throw the comet into the galaxy." Apparently the balls were the comets and the giant board in front of us with colored cups was the "galaxy." The aim was to land the ball in one of the colored cups to win a prize. I won once or twice, and Guy also won twice. Me, being the generous person that I am, gave my prizes to a few children in the area. Guy kept his and has them proudly displayed on his bookshelf here at home. :)
We then took our loot and went to ride Dinosaur -- a journey back into the Cretaceous period. I was a little nervous when I saw the motion-sickness warnings, accompanied by an elderly man throwing up into a trash can, on our way into the ride, but it wasn't that bad. It was basically just a jerky ride past a bunch of fake dinos in the dark. Fun, but not worth waiting a long time to ride.
The last thing we did before exiting the park was saw the Finding Nemo Musical. I have since fell in love with the production and downloaded some of the songs from iTunes. I hear they sometimes air it on the Discovery channel, and it's also on YouTube, so if you like good musical productions, definitely watch it. It has great music, great puppeteering, and great visuals in general.
At the conclusion of our Animal Kingdom day, I had made reservations at Jiko, the restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, so we took a bus to the hotel and put our name in to get our table. My overall impression of Jiko was that the service was super-slow, but otherwise it was a good experience. The food was different, but tasty, and they even delivered us warm towels to wash our hands with before the meal!
Guy had started to feel sick throughout the day at Animal Kingdom, so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and got to bed at a decent time. I was feeling bad that he didn't feel good, but little did I know that I'd soon catch his cold and have it become about ten times worse than what it was for him.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hilarious!
Haven't seen a video that made me laugh this much in a long time. You simply must check it out!
Boy after his dentist visit, still a little loopy
Boy after his dentist visit, still a little loopy
Day Three: Rain, Rain, Go Away
The night/morning after the Super Bowl, Guy and I didn't get to sleep until around 2:30 at the earliest, so I was very happy I made the decision to return the rental car right after the game instead of having to get it back to the Dolphin in the morning. We took a nice 3-mile, 25-dollar cab ride back to the French Quarter and slept in until about 10:30 on Monday.
We missed breakfast at the food court, and we didn't have lunch scheduled at Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM), so we grabbed a quick meal at the food court before heading out. I had a taco salad that was quite delicious. Guy ate a quesadilla that I do believe I remember him saying was tasty. We laughed and laughed about the huge, scary men's heads hanging from the wall that Disney for some reason thought would be good decor. I wanted to take pictures of Guy imitating the men's expressions, but he told me he would get better at it throughout the week and that we should wait. Of course, I forgot to ever get the pictures, and I'm still mad at him for making me wait. You can see one of the men's heads to the far right in the picture below. The other head must be newer because I can't find a picture of it, but it was just as scary.
Anyway, after eating, we took a bus to Hollywood Studios and started our day. It was drizzling when we got to the park, and that turned into a full-on rainstorm shortly after we arrived. Good thing we had raincoats. We chose to ride Toy Story Mania first, and it ended up being our favorite ride of the day. The wait was 50 minutes, but luckily most of it was indoors. If you haven't seen this ride, here's a description of it. It all went by so quickly, but of course Guy, the video game master, beat my score by about double. I asked him how he got such a high score, and he told me he ONLY aimed for the targets with high point values instead of shooting at them all as fast as he could, like I did for my strategy. :)
After Toy Story, we did Muppets 3-D, which was a typical Disney 3-D show, but entertaining nonetheless, and then we rode Star Tours, which made me feel kinda yucky inside. I'm not good at things that simulate space travel, I suppose. After those two rides and a worthless walk through the Journey into Narnia "ride," it was time for lunch at Hollywood & Vine. I had pre-booked lunch at this buffet restaurant because it came with the reserved seating for Fantasmic!, our favorite show from our last Disney trip.
To our dismay, Hollywood & Vine's buffet food was really not very good, and by this time in the day, we were both soaked to the bone, despite our rain gear. We decided to head out and do a few more things and then make a decision on whether or not to skip Fantasmic.
After lunch, we sat through the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (eh), The Magic of Disney Animation, and the Great Movie Ride before deciding we were too cold and wet to wait around and see if Fantasmic would be cancelled or not. It turns out we made a good decision because we overheard a woman on the bus later in the trip saying they waited till 6:45 to announce the show would not go on.
We headed back to our hotel room, changed clothes, and decided to put our free 30 minutes of arcade time that came with our trip to use in the French Quarter arcade. To my dismay, they no longer had any games that offered tickets to accumulate and trade in for prizes, but I enjoyed about 20 games of basketball, a weird firefighting game, and a few other things before our 30 minutes were up.
All in all, day three was a good day. The weather was disappointing, but otherwise, it was a-okay.
We missed breakfast at the food court, and we didn't have lunch scheduled at Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM), so we grabbed a quick meal at the food court before heading out. I had a taco salad that was quite delicious. Guy ate a quesadilla that I do believe I remember him saying was tasty. We laughed and laughed about the huge, scary men's heads hanging from the wall that Disney for some reason thought would be good decor. I wanted to take pictures of Guy imitating the men's expressions, but he told me he would get better at it throughout the week and that we should wait. Of course, I forgot to ever get the pictures, and I'm still mad at him for making me wait. You can see one of the men's heads to the far right in the picture below. The other head must be newer because I can't find a picture of it, but it was just as scary.
Anyway, after eating, we took a bus to Hollywood Studios and started our day. It was drizzling when we got to the park, and that turned into a full-on rainstorm shortly after we arrived. Good thing we had raincoats. We chose to ride Toy Story Mania first, and it ended up being our favorite ride of the day. The wait was 50 minutes, but luckily most of it was indoors. If you haven't seen this ride, here's a description of it. It all went by so quickly, but of course Guy, the video game master, beat my score by about double. I asked him how he got such a high score, and he told me he ONLY aimed for the targets with high point values instead of shooting at them all as fast as he could, like I did for my strategy. :)
After Toy Story, we did Muppets 3-D, which was a typical Disney 3-D show, but entertaining nonetheless, and then we rode Star Tours, which made me feel kinda yucky inside. I'm not good at things that simulate space travel, I suppose. After those two rides and a worthless walk through the Journey into Narnia "ride," it was time for lunch at Hollywood & Vine. I had pre-booked lunch at this buffet restaurant because it came with the reserved seating for Fantasmic!, our favorite show from our last Disney trip.
To our dismay, Hollywood & Vine's buffet food was really not very good, and by this time in the day, we were both soaked to the bone, despite our rain gear. We decided to head out and do a few more things and then make a decision on whether or not to skip Fantasmic.
After lunch, we sat through the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (eh), The Magic of Disney Animation, and the Great Movie Ride before deciding we were too cold and wet to wait around and see if Fantasmic would be cancelled or not. It turns out we made a good decision because we overheard a woman on the bus later in the trip saying they waited till 6:45 to announce the show would not go on.
We headed back to our hotel room, changed clothes, and decided to put our free 30 minutes of arcade time that came with our trip to use in the French Quarter arcade. To my dismay, they no longer had any games that offered tickets to accumulate and trade in for prizes, but I enjoyed about 20 games of basketball, a weird firefighting game, and a few other things before our 30 minutes were up.
All in all, day three was a good day. The weather was disappointing, but otherwise, it was a-okay.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Day Two (or The Day Jerod Would Love to Forget)
On Sunday, February 1, the first morning of our trip, Guy and I awoke and decked ourselves out in Steelers gear to get ready for the big game. In order to make it from Orlando to Tampa, we had to follow a complicated route from the hotel to a theme park to a boat to a hotel to pick up our rental car, but before that, we fueled up with breakfast at Boatwright's, the table-service restaurant at Port Orleans Riverside.
I ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, and French toast, and Guy got something equally as breakfasty. It was good, except the eggs were a little watery, but the French toast was really great. It was actually deep-fried, which we all know makes things all the more tasty. Our waiter was a nice young man named "Michael" from "Bogota, Columbia," otherwise known as Joseph from Tennessee who forgot his name tag and was forced to wear someone else's. I'm glad we asked him why he had a Southern accent - otherwise we would have been permanently confused.
After breakfast, we eventually made it to the Alamo rental counter at the Dolphin hotel. We rented some sort of Pontiac clunker and headed on down to Tampa. We gave ourselves a lot of time to travel in case of traffic, but we ended up getting there without a hitch (minus a bathroom break for my coffee-loving husband), so we had TONS of time to kill once we arrived.
We found a spot in our prepaid Green parking lot, making sure to carefully note the location of where our car was (didn't actually do this -- oops). My extreme paranoia towards losing our $800 tickets led me to purchase two souvenir ticket holders from some dude on the sidewalk, and it ended up that we got scammed -- 30 feet down the road there was a guy selling them for $5 less apiece, but what's 10 bucks when you've already spent almost 2,000? With our tickets now safely around our necks, we entered through the security lines and went on for a short time to explore the NFL Experience.
There wasn't a ton to do there aside from taking pictures with beheaded NFL uniforms, so we bought a $7 hot dog, $8 cheeseburger, and $5 bottle of water and popped a squat on the curb until the stadium opened. We were definitely surprised and excited to see the ratio of Steelers fans to Cardinals fans outside the stadium, but once we got in, the Cardinals fans somehow seemed to appear out of nowhere (or maybe the red stadium seats were tricking my eyes).
Bridgestone provided us with some nice seat cushion souvenirs, and after more expensive food and more waiting, the game was finally about to begin! We befriended two older ladies sitting behind us who were from Moon, and the two ladies next to us, who were from Squirrel Hill.
Even though we were in the "cheap seats," our view was pretty good. We were sitting in row A, though, so we were right at the top of the stairs, and every time someone was returning to or leaving their seats, they seemed to want to stop right on the stairs, right in front of us. I almost fought a multitude of people that night trying to get them out of our way. I'm sure my big hulk of a husband would have backed me up, though, right, Guy? ;)
It was pretty exciting to be at the game, cheering on the Steelers, surrounded by tons of other Steeler fans, but I was also amazed at the number of people there who were wearing other teams' NFL jerseys or not wearing any kind of sports apparel at all. Why would you spend that much money to go to the game when you don't even care about the outcome? I guess that helps to explain why they were in and out of their seats so much, but jeez.
I won't go into the highlights of the game because that's all history, but I will say that I'm happy I was there for history being made. I can't wait to watch the game on DVD and hear what the announcers were saying the whole time.
There's so much more to say about the halftime show, being accosted by "Holy Rollers" after leaving the stadium, and sleeping in the parking garage till traffic died down, but this is a novel already, so I'll just let the pictures say the rest.
Clicky
Day Three still to come.
I ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, and French toast, and Guy got something equally as breakfasty. It was good, except the eggs were a little watery, but the French toast was really great. It was actually deep-fried, which we all know makes things all the more tasty. Our waiter was a nice young man named "Michael" from "Bogota, Columbia," otherwise known as Joseph from Tennessee who forgot his name tag and was forced to wear someone else's. I'm glad we asked him why he had a Southern accent - otherwise we would have been permanently confused.
After breakfast, we eventually made it to the Alamo rental counter at the Dolphin hotel. We rented some sort of Pontiac clunker and headed on down to Tampa. We gave ourselves a lot of time to travel in case of traffic, but we ended up getting there without a hitch (minus a bathroom break for my coffee-loving husband), so we had TONS of time to kill once we arrived.
We found a spot in our prepaid Green parking lot, making sure to carefully note the location of where our car was (didn't actually do this -- oops). My extreme paranoia towards losing our $800 tickets led me to purchase two souvenir ticket holders from some dude on the sidewalk, and it ended up that we got scammed -- 30 feet down the road there was a guy selling them for $5 less apiece, but what's 10 bucks when you've already spent almost 2,000? With our tickets now safely around our necks, we entered through the security lines and went on for a short time to explore the NFL Experience.
There wasn't a ton to do there aside from taking pictures with beheaded NFL uniforms, so we bought a $7 hot dog, $8 cheeseburger, and $5 bottle of water and popped a squat on the curb until the stadium opened. We were definitely surprised and excited to see the ratio of Steelers fans to Cardinals fans outside the stadium, but once we got in, the Cardinals fans somehow seemed to appear out of nowhere (or maybe the red stadium seats were tricking my eyes).
Bridgestone provided us with some nice seat cushion souvenirs, and after more expensive food and more waiting, the game was finally about to begin! We befriended two older ladies sitting behind us who were from Moon, and the two ladies next to us, who were from Squirrel Hill.
Even though we were in the "cheap seats," our view was pretty good. We were sitting in row A, though, so we were right at the top of the stairs, and every time someone was returning to or leaving their seats, they seemed to want to stop right on the stairs, right in front of us. I almost fought a multitude of people that night trying to get them out of our way. I'm sure my big hulk of a husband would have backed me up, though, right, Guy? ;)
It was pretty exciting to be at the game, cheering on the Steelers, surrounded by tons of other Steeler fans, but I was also amazed at the number of people there who were wearing other teams' NFL jerseys or not wearing any kind of sports apparel at all. Why would you spend that much money to go to the game when you don't even care about the outcome? I guess that helps to explain why they were in and out of their seats so much, but jeez.
I won't go into the highlights of the game because that's all history, but I will say that I'm happy I was there for history being made. I can't wait to watch the game on DVD and hear what the announcers were saying the whole time.
There's so much more to say about the halftime show, being accosted by "Holy Rollers" after leaving the stadium, and sleeping in the parking garage till traffic died down, but this is a novel already, so I'll just let the pictures say the rest.
Clicky
Day Three still to come.
Chroni-what-cles of Disney World
I returned this past Saturday from a tumultuous yet lovely trip to the House of the Mouse -- Mickey Mouse. I would have liked to chronicle my trip a bit earlier, but I'm still making a recovery from the horrendous chest cold I picked up thanks to the thousands of germy mouse-seekers I encountered every day.
We departed for our trip on Jan. 31 after dropping off Lily and Lola to Camp Bow Wow, where they would reside for the first half of our time away. Thanks to Carol Drum taxi service, we arrived at the airport super early and even had time to watch an episode of House on Guy's laptop before the flight. I am normally a nervous flyer, but I wasn't too bad this time. It helped that we were in the "A" boarding group, so we were able to get a good choice of seats within five rows of the exit, like I read was safest. :) Also, the flight attendants were really fun and helped to pass the time.
I had never flown on Southwest before, so I wasn't sure if this was standard, but our flight started off with a "snack race" to predict the winner of the Super Bowl. John, the male flight attendant, announced that the Steelers would be represented by the blue bag of peanuts and the Cardinals would be the red bag of pretzels. He would set both snacks down in the aisle, and upon takeoff, whichever slid to the back of the plane first was the winner. We were all gearing up for the race, and then we heard one of the ladies say, "Oooh, I found something yellow!" and then John comes back on the P.A. System and says, "Okay, the Steelers are now a pack of Lorna Doones!" Guy and I thought that was just hilarious. Neither snack really moved much on takeoff, surprisingly, but it was a fun idea. We also played sports trivia, "find the item in your purse," and even gambled by entering dollar bills with our seat numbers written on them into a plane-wide raffle for the whole shebang. Upon deboarding, one of the ladies even sang us a pleasant song she called "Peanuts" to the tune of "Fever." It was definitely the most memorable flight I've had!
When we arrived in Orlando, the weather was sunny but chilly, and we decided to get checked in at the hotel and take a nap before going to the park for our dinner that evening. I napped just a little too long and made it difficult for us to make it to our reserved time at Cinderella's Royal Table at 6:30 (we didn't realize how slow the transportation system would be), but we made it and waited about 15 minutes to be seated anyway.
Inside the castle, it was basically just a normal restaurant atmosphere with lots of screaming children, topped off by plastic swords and wands being flung all over the place (waiters were giving them out to the "princesses" and "pirates" at the tables). Our food was delicious, and we ended our mealtime with a performance by the Fairy Godmother. It was a good start to our first night on vacation. Our meal was over right around the time of Wishes, the fireworks presentation in the Magic Kingdom, but we were stuck smack-dab in front of the castle because we had just come out of it after eating dinner, so we couldn't see much at all. Still, though, we enjoyed the atmosphere and headed back to our hotel to get some shuteye before the big game the next day!
More on Day Two later.
We departed for our trip on Jan. 31 after dropping off Lily and Lola to Camp Bow Wow, where they would reside for the first half of our time away. Thanks to Carol Drum taxi service, we arrived at the airport super early and even had time to watch an episode of House on Guy's laptop before the flight. I am normally a nervous flyer, but I wasn't too bad this time. It helped that we were in the "A" boarding group, so we were able to get a good choice of seats within five rows of the exit, like I read was safest. :) Also, the flight attendants were really fun and helped to pass the time.
I had never flown on Southwest before, so I wasn't sure if this was standard, but our flight started off with a "snack race" to predict the winner of the Super Bowl. John, the male flight attendant, announced that the Steelers would be represented by the blue bag of peanuts and the Cardinals would be the red bag of pretzels. He would set both snacks down in the aisle, and upon takeoff, whichever slid to the back of the plane first was the winner. We were all gearing up for the race, and then we heard one of the ladies say, "Oooh, I found something yellow!" and then John comes back on the P.A. System and says, "Okay, the Steelers are now a pack of Lorna Doones!" Guy and I thought that was just hilarious. Neither snack really moved much on takeoff, surprisingly, but it was a fun idea. We also played sports trivia, "find the item in your purse," and even gambled by entering dollar bills with our seat numbers written on them into a plane-wide raffle for the whole shebang. Upon deboarding, one of the ladies even sang us a pleasant song she called "Peanuts" to the tune of "Fever." It was definitely the most memorable flight I've had!
When we arrived in Orlando, the weather was sunny but chilly, and we decided to get checked in at the hotel and take a nap before going to the park for our dinner that evening. I napped just a little too long and made it difficult for us to make it to our reserved time at Cinderella's Royal Table at 6:30 (we didn't realize how slow the transportation system would be), but we made it and waited about 15 minutes to be seated anyway.
Inside the castle, it was basically just a normal restaurant atmosphere with lots of screaming children, topped off by plastic swords and wands being flung all over the place (waiters were giving them out to the "princesses" and "pirates" at the tables). Our food was delicious, and we ended our mealtime with a performance by the Fairy Godmother. It was a good start to our first night on vacation. Our meal was over right around the time of Wishes, the fireworks presentation in the Magic Kingdom, but we were stuck smack-dab in front of the castle because we had just come out of it after eating dinner, so we couldn't see much at all. Still, though, we enjoyed the atmosphere and headed back to our hotel to get some shuteye before the big game the next day!
More on Day Two later.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Finally!
The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl in Tampa...and so am I! Guy's uncle Lou came through big with a cousin who was willing to sell us tickets at face value, and I can't be more excited!
The parking pass is purchased, the rental car is reserved, Guy has a brand-new Polamalu jersey, and I'm picking up our tickets on Saturday afternoon. Although I cancelled our Segway tour and our spa day at Disney to recoup some of the ticket price, I think it's a fair trade.
Now we just need to bring home a win! GO STEELERS!
The parking pass is purchased, the rental car is reserved, Guy has a brand-new Polamalu jersey, and I'm picking up our tickets on Saturday afternoon. Although I cancelled our Segway tour and our spa day at Disney to recoup some of the ticket price, I think it's a fair trade.
Now we just need to bring home a win! GO STEELERS!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
How the Red Ring of Death Can Work For You!
After taking a long winter's nap this afternoon, I came into my office, and Guy yelled down from the loft, "The worst thing in the world has happened." No, no one died, and a tsunami didn't obliterate Bethel Park -- his XBox 360 got the red ring of death.
After convincing him to call Best Buy instead of speculating on what they would do by reading forums on the Internet, Guy found out that because his parents had purchased the replacement plan when they gifted him the XBox last Christmas, Best Buy would give him a brand-new one and remove his old hard drive so that none of his information would be lost.
So, needless to say, we ventured out to the local Best Buy, XBox in hand, and headed over to customer service. The girl there was very helpful, as she has probably gone through this procedure many, many times. After some initial trouble with the receipt, Guy was given his new XBox, complete with two free games (Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones), and a gift card loaded with approximately $530 to purchase the new machine on. Here's where the bonus came in -- not only did he get two new games that he's never played before, but the price of the XBox has gone down since his parents purchased it a year ago, so he was credited what they paid for it but charged the current price, thus leaving us with a surplus on the gift card. We were able to buy two sets of headphones and a headphone splitter for our upcoming vacation with the leftover cash.
So, if your XBox decides to malfunction, don't despair! If you have the replacement plan, you could actually come out ahead. I know we did!
After convincing him to call Best Buy instead of speculating on what they would do by reading forums on the Internet, Guy found out that because his parents had purchased the replacement plan when they gifted him the XBox last Christmas, Best Buy would give him a brand-new one and remove his old hard drive so that none of his information would be lost.
So, needless to say, we ventured out to the local Best Buy, XBox in hand, and headed over to customer service. The girl there was very helpful, as she has probably gone through this procedure many, many times. After some initial trouble with the receipt, Guy was given his new XBox, complete with two free games (Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones), and a gift card loaded with approximately $530 to purchase the new machine on. Here's where the bonus came in -- not only did he get two new games that he's never played before, but the price of the XBox has gone down since his parents purchased it a year ago, so he was credited what they paid for it but charged the current price, thus leaving us with a surplus on the gift card. We were able to buy two sets of headphones and a headphone splitter for our upcoming vacation with the leftover cash.
So, if your XBox decides to malfunction, don't despair! If you have the replacement plan, you could actually come out ahead. I know we did!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Doctor Dread
Why is it that I dread going to doctors so much? I have an appointment for an eye exam tomorrow morning, and even though I know it will be relatively quick and painless, I'm still dreading the visit. Spring is the time of year, too, where all of my many doctors' appointments come due, so I'm going to be running the gauntlet of MDs in the next month or so.
I'm guessing this type of dread is common, but I wonder why it exists. Is it because we're afraid of finding out we've got a brain tumor and have two weeks to live? Maybe. Is it because it's no fun being poked and prodded and asked personal questions? Probably. But why, after years of experience and non-eventful appointments, can't I get over the pre-doctor-visit blues?
I'm guessing this type of dread is common, but I wonder why it exists. Is it because we're afraid of finding out we've got a brain tumor and have two weeks to live? Maybe. Is it because it's no fun being poked and prodded and asked personal questions? Probably. But why, after years of experience and non-eventful appointments, can't I get over the pre-doctor-visit blues?
My Grand Idea
So, after a few days/weeks of lamenting because I didn't think there was any way of getting my hands on affordable Super Bowl tickets, I got a call/e-mail last night from Guy's uncle, who put a ray of hope into my life. He has a cousin who got chosen in the season-ticket-holders lottery for two tickets, and his cousin will sell them to us at face value as long as one other person he offered them to decides he doesn't want to go.
So, I'd say there's about a 75% chance we will make it to Super Bowl XLIII! The only things that stink about the situation are these:
1. The tickets are still $800 apiece -- a fact that makes my penny-pinching husband turn green.
2. Thinking that there was no way we'd get tickets and wanting something fun to do for the Bowl, I bought us tickets to an all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet at an Orlando sports bar. The tickets were $50 each and nonrefundable. I'm trying to sell them on craigslist, but I don't know if I'll be successful.
3. We have to figure out how to get to Tampa, get a parking pass, and cancel some of our Disney dining reservations for the second day of our trip -- basically it throws a wrench in our plans, but I suppose it's a good wrench. It's just that for someone like me, who wants to have everything planned weeks in advance, it's difficult to wait and see what happens.
I should know later in the week if we have the tickets or not.
In the meantime, I had an idea of how to raise some money for the tickets. I often have ideas that other people think are dumb or unrealistic, but I'll share this one just to see if anyone has any tips on how to pull it off. I thought if we go to the game, I could somehow see if any Tampa-area businesses want to buy advertising space on the t-shirt that I'll wear. I'll just get something printed online with a Steelers logo and then the name/phone number/slogan of the company(ies) on the back. I feel like it's a good deal for the company -- the shirt will likely be seen by hundreds or thousands of people. I just don't know how to get the word out to companies that I want to do this, and I also don't know if I can get a shirt made in time.
Any thoughts/tips/opinions? Am I retarded for even wanting to try it?
So, I'd say there's about a 75% chance we will make it to Super Bowl XLIII! The only things that stink about the situation are these:
1. The tickets are still $800 apiece -- a fact that makes my penny-pinching husband turn green.
2. Thinking that there was no way we'd get tickets and wanting something fun to do for the Bowl, I bought us tickets to an all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet at an Orlando sports bar. The tickets were $50 each and nonrefundable. I'm trying to sell them on craigslist, but I don't know if I'll be successful.
3. We have to figure out how to get to Tampa, get a parking pass, and cancel some of our Disney dining reservations for the second day of our trip -- basically it throws a wrench in our plans, but I suppose it's a good wrench. It's just that for someone like me, who wants to have everything planned weeks in advance, it's difficult to wait and see what happens.
I should know later in the week if we have the tickets or not.
In the meantime, I had an idea of how to raise some money for the tickets. I often have ideas that other people think are dumb or unrealistic, but I'll share this one just to see if anyone has any tips on how to pull it off. I thought if we go to the game, I could somehow see if any Tampa-area businesses want to buy advertising space on the t-shirt that I'll wear. I'll just get something printed online with a Steelers logo and then the name/phone number/slogan of the company(ies) on the back. I feel like it's a good deal for the company -- the shirt will likely be seen by hundreds or thousands of people. I just don't know how to get the word out to companies that I want to do this, and I also don't know if I can get a shirt made in time.
Any thoughts/tips/opinions? Am I retarded for even wanting to try it?
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Super Bowl Sale
I'm selling a bunch of things to try to raise money towards Super Bowl tickets. Here's a list of what I've got. I'll be adding more soon. If you're interested in anything or want more details, please let me know.
*Set of four stacking white Yaffa blocks with three drawers - $15
*Men's size large North Face jacket and inner fleece shell, one pocket does not zipper - $20
*Huge lot of brand-new scrapbooking supplies - $60
*Catchphrase Musical Edition - $5
*Set of four stacking white Yaffa blocks with three drawers - $15
*Men's size large North Face jacket and inner fleece shell, one pocket does not zipper - $20
*Huge lot of brand-new scrapbooking supplies - $60
*Catchphrase Musical Edition - $5
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
People Amaze Me
During the summer and this past fall, I worked at a lot of event promotions. If I haven't told you about those jobs, it basically consists of going to a concert or a convention and representing a company, passing out samples, etc. It's really easy, and it pays well. The one thing I learned, though, from working at these types of events is how incredibly greedy and cheap people are. If you are giving away something for free, they think EVERYTHING at the booth is free. In one instance, I worked at the Pet Expo downtown representing a dog-food company. We had small bags of samples to give out, but we also had large bags of food on display, as well as bags of treats. By the end of the weekend, probably half of the large bags and treats had walked away when we weren't looking. I would never, ever take something without asking first, and I certainly wouldn't assume that a 20-pound bag of food is free, especially when there were other booths at the event that were purely selling things, not giving anything away.
The reason I thought of this topic today is because I am helping my mom to sell her junky car on craigslist. I posted the ad, asking $250 for the car. It runs but can't pass inspection without work. I got an overwhelming response of probably over 30 e-mails, but it amazes me the stipulations people have when they're making an offer. Here are a few examples:
*I can give you $35 for the car. I only take them for scrap. I can pick it up tomorrow. If you don't get what you want for it.
Not only does this guy not understand the meaning of "sentence fragment," but $35 for something listed for $250?? How much gall do you have to offer that?
*I might be interested in the car but would want to have my mechanic look at it first. If needed, could you get it to
Biber's Garage
1250 McKee Rd
Oakdale, PA 15071
I can come out at 4 PM on a weekday to view the car first.
Yeah, like I'm going to take the car all the way to Oakdale to get it to this guy's mechanic so he can look at it first. Don't think so!! It's not like I'm selling a car worth thousands of dollars here. I'm talking $250. You don't get first-class service with that low of a price.
There were a few other oddball requests and offers, but I think this is one reason parents need to teach their children to NOT ask for anything their little hearts desire. Sure, if you don't ask, you will never know, but have at least a little bit of tact when you're making your requests.
The reason I thought of this topic today is because I am helping my mom to sell her junky car on craigslist. I posted the ad, asking $250 for the car. It runs but can't pass inspection without work. I got an overwhelming response of probably over 30 e-mails, but it amazes me the stipulations people have when they're making an offer. Here are a few examples:
*I can give you $35 for the car. I only take them for scrap. I can pick it up tomorrow. If you don't get what you want for it.
Not only does this guy not understand the meaning of "sentence fragment," but $35 for something listed for $250?? How much gall do you have to offer that?
*I might be interested in the car but would want to have my mechanic look at it first. If needed, could you get it to
Biber's Garage
1250 McKee Rd
Oakdale, PA 15071
I can come out at 4 PM on a weekday to view the car first.
Yeah, like I'm going to take the car all the way to Oakdale to get it to this guy's mechanic so he can look at it first. Don't think so!! It's not like I'm selling a car worth thousands of dollars here. I'm talking $250. You don't get first-class service with that low of a price.
There were a few other oddball requests and offers, but I think this is one reason parents need to teach their children to NOT ask for anything their little hearts desire. Sure, if you don't ask, you will never know, but have at least a little bit of tact when you're making your requests.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
He So Funny
In college, I used to entertain/drive my friends crazy with stories of funny things Guy said or did. I can't help it -- I just think my husband is hilarious. Since I no longer live with two girls who I can share these stories with, I will use my blog instead. Here's what just transpired a few moments ago:
Me: Are you ever going to wash those? (Points to a sweater and a collared shirt that have been dirty since Guy committed a party foul at our Christmas party a few weeks ago)
Guy: I don't think you can wash sweaters.
Me: Well, what does the tag say?
Guy: It says, "throw away when dirty."
(He reads the tag)
"Machine wash warm, reshape and lay flat to dry."
Me: See? You can wash it.
Guy: Yeah, but it has to be washed warm!
(I think by emphasizing that it had to be washed at a particular temperature, it made him somehow feel like he had 'won' the conversation.)
In other news, we're going to Disney in 3 1/2 weeks, and I am super excited. My main worry is that we'll have bad weather in Pittsburgh and have our flight delayed our something along those lines. We have plans to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table the night we get in, so we can't be late! If you'd like to know what else is on our itinerary, just ask -- I'd be happy to share. :)
Me: Are you ever going to wash those? (Points to a sweater and a collared shirt that have been dirty since Guy committed a party foul at our Christmas party a few weeks ago)
Guy: I don't think you can wash sweaters.
Me: Well, what does the tag say?
Guy: It says, "throw away when dirty."
(He reads the tag)
"Machine wash warm, reshape and lay flat to dry."
Me: See? You can wash it.
Guy: Yeah, but it has to be washed warm!
(I think by emphasizing that it had to be washed at a particular temperature, it made him somehow feel like he had 'won' the conversation.)
In other news, we're going to Disney in 3 1/2 weeks, and I am super excited. My main worry is that we'll have bad weather in Pittsburgh and have our flight delayed our something along those lines. We have plans to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table the night we get in, so we can't be late! If you'd like to know what else is on our itinerary, just ask -- I'd be happy to share. :)
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