Liver, don't fail me now!
Last night we went through, in a little over two hours, two six packs between two of us. That included one quarter of one movie, following me shutting her out in Trivial Pursuit, six to no. In her defense, the questions were slightly, vaguely, a tiny bit difficult.
Earlier in the evening, we had the fantastic IPA Junior at Red Rock, only to be shattered in our brilliant designs of a growler: it's on nitro, and they won't do it in a growler. Fuckers.
I spent much of the weekend looking at houses (the outsides) and today sent a list of seven to our realtor that I'd like to see the insides of. Mostly east side: the things on the west wide in our price range are either too damn far west or north, or varying degrees of yucky.
The babbling, prattling, and generally rude noise and cell phone usage in the SLC main public library continues to amaze me: people seem to think it's a fucking bar, except with no alcohol, and lots of books randomly strewn around.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Never too busy for consumer protection
The movers showed up today (with only two days advance request from me!) with all of our stuff, so our main front room currently looks like a storage unit. Thus, I don't have a heck of a lot of time to blog. BUT: I'm NEVER too busy to blog consumer protection. Here is the first non-response (excepting automated replies) from Albertson's:
What a thunderous silence this represents. Let's see what the next 24 hours yields.
The movers showed up today (with only two days advance request from me!) with all of our stuff, so our main front room currently looks like a storage unit. Thus, I don't have a heck of a lot of time to blog. BUT: I'm NEVER too busy to blog consumer protection. Here is the first non-response (excepting automated replies) from Albertson's:
Dear [dangr],
Thank you for contacting Albertsons Customer Care. We received your email regarding the produce at our 200 South store in Salt Lake City.
Please accept our apology. We want all of our customers to have a good experience when shopping with our company. We take our customers’ complaints seriously and have forwarded your complaint to the Store Director. For your records, your case number is 1*****.
Keeping you as a customer is important to us. You will be contacted with feedback regarding your case within 24 hours.
Again, thank you for contacting Albertsons Customer Care. If we can provide any information or be of service to you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail or by calling 1-877-***-****.
Sincerely,
Allison M.
Albertsons Customer Care Representative
What a thunderous silence this represents. Let's see what the next 24 hours yields.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Surprise, surprise: the shitty produce goes to the poorer neighborhoods
Here is the text of the message I just sent to Albertsons:
Here is the text of the message I just sent to Albertsons:
Frankly, I'm really pretty disgusted with Albertsons right now. On Saturday night, 9/3/05, around 7pm, I bought a lot of groceries from my local Albertsons, including a lot of produce.
This included two heads of fresh garlic, for a total of $1.00 + tax. The next night, 9/4/05, preparing dinner, I started peeling the garlic for a pasta sauce. When I came across one clove beginning to go bad, with extensive brown spots, I didn't think much of it, and threw it away. Then the next one also had lots of deep brown spots. Then the next one was actively rotting. Then another with brown spots. In the end, at least half of both heads were actively rotten, or getting very close to it. I stopped peeling, cooked the sauce without the garlic, and put it all in a ziploc bag.
When I took it in within an hour to Albertsons, I asked to speak with a manager. I didn't just want a $1.00 refund; I wanted to talk to someone who would actually look at this disgusting garlic. At 7:30pm, I was told no manager was in the store for the rest of the night. This for a store open until midnight? Operating for four and a half hours with no manager or managerial personnel?
I was instead approached by the produce clerk, a young man who was pleasant, and apologized, but seemed mystified that I wanted to talk to someone about it, and why a simple refund wasn't sufficient. He told me that "sometimes this just happens" and that while that garlic should have been thrown away when it was being stocked, it sometimes just gets through. In short, he basically dismissed my concerns, and blew me off.
My concerns, which I tried to explain to him (notably, in a calmer tone than this e-mail contains), were this: this produce wasn't just bad, it was TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. It wasn't just a fluke: I've had bad produce on numerous other occasions from THIS Albertsons. In the past, I've just tossed it out, and written it off to "these things happen", as the young produce clerk blandly posited. I have now realized that it's a regular theme at this location:
And this is what is most irritating: the produce at this store is CONSISTENTLY worse than any other Albertsons in Salt Lake City that I have been to: older, less fresh, often bordering on rotten. It is also worse than Smith's supermarkets, the local competition. As I said to the cashier who gave me the refund, "Show me garlic like this in Sugarhouse". (Sugarhouse is a more affluent neighborhood, a few miles south from my downtown Salt Lake City neighborhood.) The cashier was very polite, and without obviously agreeing, silently ceded the point through body language.
So, I write to ask you several things:
1) Is there neighborhood profiling going on about where the old/nasty produce is sent, and/or how long it's kept on the shelf for sale? That is, do you send the bad stuff to the downtown store? Or the best stuff to the Sugarhouse (or other more affluent) stores?
2) Is it imaginable to you that no manager or managerial personnel would be present anywhere in the store from 7:30pm to closing (midnight)?
3) Do you find acceptable the explanation that "sometimes this just happens"?
I look forward to your response. E-mail is fine, as is paper mail.
Sincerely,
[signed, dangr]
Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah
Ding, dong:
... the fucker is dead, the fucker is dead, ding, dong, the rotten fucker is dead! The news, on one hand, is a cause for celebration: he was a really rotten son of a bitch, who probably did more to fuck up the federal judiciary than any other single person in history, though Shrubfucker is giving him a run for his money. From his being one of two dissenters in Roe v. Wade, right up to his engineering the annointing of King Shrubfucker, Rehnny has been fundamentally harmed our country, and the world, perhaps beyond all recovery. Oh course, the last several years of the intentionally styled Anti-Warren Court have been surprisingly unhorrifying, but only in comparison to the nonsense that issued from the high bench for decades under the asshole. I guess after Shrubfucker v. Gore, they had to scale back their long insincere "states rights" jurisprudence.
I can only hope that he died in pain, and that, since he ostensibly believes in hell, he is now there. With any luck, his appointed torturers in hell will be card-carrying ACLU members, black hooded anarchists from Eugene, women who actually want to retain some say over what happens to their bodies, and other people who love civil rights and individual liberties.
On the other hand, the result of this has been a rather frightening acceleration in Shrubfucker's continuing campaign to remake the third branch, long a stalwart of sanity in our government, in the image of a Rapture staging area. His nomination of Johnny Boy, a former Rehnny law clerk, to take up the big reins, was no surprise to me, but definitely ups the stakes. We'll have to see if the Demopublicans bend over and lick the boots of big money and power once again on the now even more problematic nomination of this lockstep partywhore demagogue.
And what will we get next? Will Shrubfucker engage in some insincere, manipulative, condescending racial pandering (ala "¡Viva Bush!", or the making of Condipo his Secretary of State) and nominate Alberto Gonzales or Emilio Garcia? Or maybe some equally disinginuous gender pandering (uhhh, Condipoo?), and nominate one of the Two Ediths: Edith Jones, or Edith Clement? Or will he murder two birds with one stone and go with Janice Brown? And on the topic, how many more stealth nominees does he have lurking beneath rocks? Stay tuned: this should get really, really ugly.
... the fucker is dead, the fucker is dead, ding, dong, the rotten fucker is dead! The news, on one hand, is a cause for celebration: he was a really rotten son of a bitch, who probably did more to fuck up the federal judiciary than any other single person in history, though Shrubfucker is giving him a run for his money. From his being one of two dissenters in Roe v. Wade, right up to his engineering the annointing of King Shrubfucker, Rehnny has been fundamentally harmed our country, and the world, perhaps beyond all recovery. Oh course, the last several years of the intentionally styled Anti-Warren Court have been surprisingly unhorrifying, but only in comparison to the nonsense that issued from the high bench for decades under the asshole. I guess after Shrubfucker v. Gore, they had to scale back their long insincere "states rights" jurisprudence.
I can only hope that he died in pain, and that, since he ostensibly believes in hell, he is now there. With any luck, his appointed torturers in hell will be card-carrying ACLU members, black hooded anarchists from Eugene, women who actually want to retain some say over what happens to their bodies, and other people who love civil rights and individual liberties.
On the other hand, the result of this has been a rather frightening acceleration in Shrubfucker's continuing campaign to remake the third branch, long a stalwart of sanity in our government, in the image of a Rapture staging area. His nomination of Johnny Boy, a former Rehnny law clerk, to take up the big reins, was no surprise to me, but definitely ups the stakes. We'll have to see if the Demopublicans bend over and lick the boots of big money and power once again on the now even more problematic nomination of this lockstep partywhore demagogue.
And what will we get next? Will Shrubfucker engage in some insincere, manipulative, condescending racial pandering (ala "¡Viva Bush!", or the making of Condipo his Secretary of State) and nominate Alberto Gonzales or Emilio Garcia? Or maybe some equally disinginuous gender pandering (uhhh, Condipoo?), and nominate one of the Two Ediths: Edith Jones, or Edith Clement? Or will he murder two birds with one stone and go with Janice Brown? And on the topic, how many more stealth nominees does he have lurking beneath rocks? Stay tuned: this should get really, really ugly.
Katrina comes home
J was deployed yesterday to New Orleans to work on establishing a public health command center. Details are sketchy, but I talked to her this morning, and she was doing okay. They expected a long drive from Atlanta to New Orelans due to the need to avoid I-10. They expect to be camping at a naval air station, so they should be plenty safe.
I don't want to post many details here, since while I know very little, I don't now how much of it is public information.
Meanwhile, here in Utah, 600 (or more?) Internally Displaced Persons have been housed at Camp Williams, in Bluffdale, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. (see the definition for IDPs: they are probably not considered refugees, which requires that they have crossed an international border. Wikipedia goes on to clarify that "Environmental refugees (people displaced because of environmental problems such as drought) are not included in the definition of "refugee" under international law.") Finding clear information on volunteer opportunities is difficult; while I appreciate cash is more valuable than anything else right now, I, as usual, have more time than cash.
J was deployed yesterday to New Orleans to work on establishing a public health command center. Details are sketchy, but I talked to her this morning, and she was doing okay. They expected a long drive from Atlanta to New Orelans due to the need to avoid I-10. They expect to be camping at a naval air station, so they should be plenty safe.
I don't want to post many details here, since while I know very little, I don't now how much of it is public information.
Meanwhile, here in Utah, 600 (or more?) Internally Displaced Persons have been housed at Camp Williams, in Bluffdale, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. (see the definition for IDPs: they are probably not considered refugees, which requires that they have crossed an international border. Wikipedia goes on to clarify that "Environmental refugees (people displaced because of environmental problems such as drought) are not included in the definition of "refugee" under international law.") Finding clear information on volunteer opportunities is difficult; while I appreciate cash is more valuable than anything else right now, I, as usual, have more time than cash.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
My response to the Dell Service customer satisfaction survey
I recently had to talk to Dell's incompetent service techs on the phone, as my new Dell 700M laptop has an anoying problem: occasionally, and without an easily reproducable set of circumstances, when I cause it to Stand By by closing the lid of the machine, the hard drive keeps spinning. This is really bad, since the fan keeps blowing, and the machine gets REALLY hot while sitting in a stuffy little laptop bag, or other bag. Dell's primary advice? Don't use 'Stand By': it's a bad feature. Oh, and they don't like Hibernate either. He told me that if I'm going to not be using the computer for more than 40 minutes, I should ALWAYS shut it all the way down. Huh??? What the hell are the Hibernate and Stand By features for, then?
And yes, for the curious: the problem HAS occurred when I've had it on Stand By for less than 40 minutes.
Since they send out e-surveys which invite narrative comments on what they can do better, I wrote this:
We'll see if they bother to respond.
I recently had to talk to Dell's incompetent service techs on the phone, as my new Dell 700M laptop has an anoying problem: occasionally, and without an easily reproducable set of circumstances, when I cause it to Stand By by closing the lid of the machine, the hard drive keeps spinning. This is really bad, since the fan keeps blowing, and the machine gets REALLY hot while sitting in a stuffy little laptop bag, or other bag. Dell's primary advice? Don't use 'Stand By': it's a bad feature. Oh, and they don't like Hibernate either. He told me that if I'm going to not be using the computer for more than 40 minutes, I should ALWAYS shut it all the way down. Huh??? What the hell are the Hibernate and Stand By features for, then?
And yes, for the curious: the problem HAS occurred when I've had it on Stand By for less than 40 minutes.
Since they send out e-surveys which invite narrative comments on what they can do better, I wrote this:
Having technicians who know only how to follow problem solving algorithms, but lack in-depth knowledge of the systems they purport to provide service for, does Dell a great disservice.
Further, having technicians who tell me that the "Stand By" and "Hibernate" functions included in EVERY modern Windows based computer are dangerous and should be avoided is ridiculous. It is utter nonsense that "Stand By" should never be used longer than 40 minutes, as the Dell technician told me.
We'll see if they bother to respond.
Zion National Park
Was lovely... except for the obnoxious, stupid, loud, boorish tourists. Most of these were so obnoxious because they couldn't understand that not everyone within a half mile wanted to hear their stupid, stupid conversations. The campground (Watchman Tent site) was pretty great, though, in terms of people being respectfully quiet, that is, after the pickup soccer game being shreikingly played on the road outside the bathrooms.
Confidential to the approximately 75 camera toting Japanese tourists in the large group at the Museum of Man on Sunday morning: what the fuck had you done by 10 o'clock in the morning in your loafers and chinos that it seemed necessary to get into a massage train?
I will say, however, that people badmouthing Springdale, Utah, the town just outside the park's boundaries, seem pretty misguided. We were there on a weekend at the end of high season, and the place was pleasant, easy, and nearly deserted. And The Mean Bean coffeehouse kicked serious ass: friendly, pleasant, politically solid, fun people selling great coffee, and great sandwiches.
We enjoyed our hiking at Zion, limited though it was, and were lucky enough to stumble into doing it at the best possible times: late afternoon (after the loudmouths have gone to their RVs and hotel rooms), and early morning (before the loudmouths have awoken.)
Cedar Breaks National Monument, just an hour away by car, is a world away from Zion in culture and pleasantness. The hiking trails were quiet, nearly deserted (though this could have been partially due to the hailstorm that I hiked through the beginnings of, and the fact that I visited on a weekday.) The views and photography opportunities were fantastic, and the loudmouths seem to stay away.
Current value received from the $50 National Parks Pass in the less than one month we've owned it: $34 ($20: Zion NP; $4 Cedar Breaks NM; $10 Arches NP).
Was lovely... except for the obnoxious, stupid, loud, boorish tourists. Most of these were so obnoxious because they couldn't understand that not everyone within a half mile wanted to hear their stupid, stupid conversations. The campground (Watchman Tent site) was pretty great, though, in terms of people being respectfully quiet, that is, after the pickup soccer game being shreikingly played on the road outside the bathrooms.
Confidential to the approximately 75 camera toting Japanese tourists in the large group at the Museum of Man on Sunday morning: what the fuck had you done by 10 o'clock in the morning in your loafers and chinos that it seemed necessary to get into a massage train?
I will say, however, that people badmouthing Springdale, Utah, the town just outside the park's boundaries, seem pretty misguided. We were there on a weekend at the end of high season, and the place was pleasant, easy, and nearly deserted. And The Mean Bean coffeehouse kicked serious ass: friendly, pleasant, politically solid, fun people selling great coffee, and great sandwiches.
We enjoyed our hiking at Zion, limited though it was, and were lucky enough to stumble into doing it at the best possible times: late afternoon (after the loudmouths have gone to their RVs and hotel rooms), and early morning (before the loudmouths have awoken.)
Cedar Breaks National Monument, just an hour away by car, is a world away from Zion in culture and pleasantness. The hiking trails were quiet, nearly deserted (though this could have been partially due to the hailstorm that I hiked through the beginnings of, and the fact that I visited on a weekday.) The views and photography opportunities were fantastic, and the loudmouths seem to stay away.
Current value received from the $50 National Parks Pass in the less than one month we've owned it: $34 ($20: Zion NP; $4 Cedar Breaks NM; $10 Arches NP).
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Selling your whole life on ebay
This is suspiciously similar to bet between Charles & Ben, and later joined into by me. I have to ask Charles where he got the idea, since it now doesn't appear to be precisely original. Of course, that bet has gone nowhere, but this project is distinctly going somewhere:
allmylifeforsale.net . Here is his ebay site where he's selling all his stuff.
I'm almost tempted to bid on this item, it's so funny:
"pay the Speeding Ticket I got on Tuesday morning"
current price: $1.00
shipping costs: Calculate
time left: 6d 11h 28m
Or maybe I'm just sympathetic due to the $341 (grand total cost) speeding ticket that I got for 42 in a 35 just after i turned 18 (the next day, actually) in Sacramento. My family will remember all the fun (ahem) I had going to Laughs For You And Traffic Too Traffic School, which was a chunk of what made the damn ticket so expensive.
Brian Thompson's allmylifeforsale.net project, which has netted $1054.58 as of 8/13/05, is based on an earlier project, John D. Freyer's AllMyLifeForSale.com (capital letters are mine), which led to a
really cool book of the same name. Freyer's project, according to his book, netted $4,906.52, though I suspect the royalties from the book are paying more handsomely than that. That prior link to Freyer's book has a good description of Freyer's project, and links to booksense.com's excellent engine for finding books through independent bookstores.
What a great couple of projects!
The bet, by the way, had somewhat less artistic intentions: Charles was going to list every single thing he owned on ebay, at a starting bid of $50,000. If any single item sold, he had to pay Ben $1000 or something like that. Obviously, it was an essentially risk-free bet for both of them, except for the significant listing fees that Charles would have incurred on ebay (which seem to be limited to $4.80 per item for basic listing fees, for any item over listed with a starting bid over $500.00.) The kicker for ebay would have been the infamous Final Value Fee, which would amount to roughly $7378, or thereabouts. Then again, since that would leave $42,622 minus paypal or other service fees, the deal would work out okay. I just can really see someone dropping 50 grand for, say, a broken guitar string.
This is suspiciously similar to bet between Charles & Ben, and later joined into by me. I have to ask Charles where he got the idea, since it now doesn't appear to be precisely original. Of course, that bet has gone nowhere, but this project is distinctly going somewhere:
allmylifeforsale.net . Here is his ebay site where he's selling all his stuff.
I'm almost tempted to bid on this item, it's so funny:
"pay the Speeding Ticket I got on Tuesday morning"
current price: $1.00
shipping costs: Calculate
time left: 6d 11h 28m
Or maybe I'm just sympathetic due to the $341 (grand total cost) speeding ticket that I got for 42 in a 35 just after i turned 18 (the next day, actually) in Sacramento. My family will remember all the fun (ahem) I had going to Laughs For You And Traffic Too Traffic School, which was a chunk of what made the damn ticket so expensive.
Brian Thompson's allmylifeforsale.net project, which has netted $1054.58 as of 8/13/05, is based on an earlier project, John D. Freyer's AllMyLifeForSale.com (capital letters are mine), which led to a
really cool book of the same name. Freyer's project, according to his book, netted $4,906.52, though I suspect the royalties from the book are paying more handsomely than that. That prior link to Freyer's book has a good description of Freyer's project, and links to booksense.com's excellent engine for finding books through independent bookstores.
What a great couple of projects!
The bet, by the way, had somewhat less artistic intentions: Charles was going to list every single thing he owned on ebay, at a starting bid of $50,000. If any single item sold, he had to pay Ben $1000 or something like that. Obviously, it was an essentially risk-free bet for both of them, except for the significant listing fees that Charles would have incurred on ebay (which seem to be limited to $4.80 per item for basic listing fees, for any item over listed with a starting bid over $500.00.) The kicker for ebay would have been the infamous Final Value Fee, which would amount to roughly $7378, or thereabouts. Then again, since that would leave $42,622 minus paypal or other service fees, the deal would work out okay. I just can really see someone dropping 50 grand for, say, a broken guitar string.
Salt Lake miscellaney
The free wifi at the library is lovely, but consistently and annoyingly buggy. There are ethernet jacks at every table and all over the place in the floor, but so far from testing, only about 10% work. Pisser, especially when trying to make a camping reservation for Zion National Park for this weekend, and having the stupid stupid stupid wifi drop right at the "Accept" page. Looks, fortunately, like it only went through once.
We made an offer on a house, which turns out to be in short sale, so it'll take a while either way (since all leinholders/banks have to approve any sale.) It's a pretty sweet place, with lots of room for visitors, and probably considerably undervalued, largely since it's filthy, and the dopes don't seem to be aware of the hardwood under the filthy carpet. More when we know, which will likely come in dribs and drabs over the next several weeks.
Momma is taking the train to come see us for four days; should be fun, and she will get the chance (with me) to visit her childhood best friend, who lives in Orem, about 40 miles south of SLC.
Lotsa travel planned for the fall: it's getting a little ridiculous, and a little hard to keep track of. Roughly: Brian Head and Zion NP this weekend; Boston from August 26 to September 1; probably Denver for GABF September 29 to October 1; New York City for a friend's wedding October 6 to 9, then heading up to Boston from October 9-13; fly to the bay area for the beer and cooking class with CKI on October 24, then very briefly back to SLC for dinner with my lovely partner on Oct 26, then on to Seattle, only to drive to Portland for the NLG convention, then drive back to Seattle for another friend's wedding reception; then flying back to SLC November 1. Then to Georgia for the SOAW vigil Nov 17-22; presumptively to Sacramento for X-Giving; then likely to Vermont for X-Mas. Phew!
Okay -- need to check some mortgage rates!
The free wifi at the library is lovely, but consistently and annoyingly buggy. There are ethernet jacks at every table and all over the place in the floor, but so far from testing, only about 10% work. Pisser, especially when trying to make a camping reservation for Zion National Park for this weekend, and having the stupid stupid stupid wifi drop right at the "Accept" page. Looks, fortunately, like it only went through once.
We made an offer on a house, which turns out to be in short sale, so it'll take a while either way (since all leinholders/banks have to approve any sale.) It's a pretty sweet place, with lots of room for visitors, and probably considerably undervalued, largely since it's filthy, and the dopes don't seem to be aware of the hardwood under the filthy carpet. More when we know, which will likely come in dribs and drabs over the next several weeks.
Momma is taking the train to come see us for four days; should be fun, and she will get the chance (with me) to visit her childhood best friend, who lives in Orem, about 40 miles south of SLC.
Lotsa travel planned for the fall: it's getting a little ridiculous, and a little hard to keep track of. Roughly: Brian Head and Zion NP this weekend; Boston from August 26 to September 1; probably Denver for GABF September 29 to October 1; New York City for a friend's wedding October 6 to 9, then heading up to Boston from October 9-13; fly to the bay area for the beer and cooking class with CKI on October 24, then very briefly back to SLC for dinner with my lovely partner on Oct 26, then on to Seattle, only to drive to Portland for the NLG convention, then drive back to Seattle for another friend's wedding reception; then flying back to SLC November 1. Then to Georgia for the SOAW vigil Nov 17-22; presumptively to Sacramento for X-Giving; then likely to Vermont for X-Mas. Phew!
Okay -- need to check some mortgage rates!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Salt Lake!
Been in town for about 24 hours now, and impressions are favorable. Not a lot of time to write, but there is free wifi (and apprently wired access, and outlets, and comfortable tables) at the gorgeous downtown Salt Lake City public library, with sweeping views of the mountains.
Our new home/condo is beautiful. Three bedrooms, two baths, hardwood floors in the huge main room, dishwasher & laundry in the unit, for starters. And $800/month, with most utilities paid by the owner. Not too damn shabby! The parking stinks, but otherwise it's pretty damn nice. Oh, and did I mention that the building is on the National Register of Historic Places ? Just search down for "Hollywood Apartments".
Okay, time to head back home, to my refrigerator full of Gale Force IPA, and think about feeding myself. With something in addition to the Gale Force, that is.
Confidential to TGS: had to use your previously mentioned gift, but it remains entirely functional. And it's coming in handy: thanks! Call if you desire details. No progress made yet re: other discussons about... ahem. Uncle.
Been in town for about 24 hours now, and impressions are favorable. Not a lot of time to write, but there is free wifi (and apprently wired access, and outlets, and comfortable tables) at the gorgeous downtown Salt Lake City public library, with sweeping views of the mountains.
Our new home/condo is beautiful. Three bedrooms, two baths, hardwood floors in the huge main room, dishwasher & laundry in the unit, for starters. And $800/month, with most utilities paid by the owner. Not too damn shabby! The parking stinks, but otherwise it's pretty damn nice. Oh, and did I mention that the building is on the National Register of Historic Places ? Just search down for "Hollywood Apartments".
Okay, time to head back home, to my refrigerator full of Gale Force IPA, and think about feeding myself. With something in addition to the Gale Force, that is.
Confidential to TGS: had to use your previously mentioned gift, but it remains entirely functional. And it's coming in handy: thanks! Call if you desire details. No progress made yet re: other discussons about... ahem. Uncle.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Hotlanta eats and drinks
My primary hope for today is that it rains. Now, suspend your disbelief for a second: no, it's not that I'm excited when it dips down to the high 80s during rain, nor do I like the flooding that inevitably results from rain in overdeveloped Atlanta communities.
Rather, it's because they pour $1 house beers at the Park Tavern on rainy days, and I want to try them without paying full price, since they have received somewhat mixed ratings online.
Mostly what we do in Hotlanta in our free time, besides look for places with air conditioning and free wireless, is eat. Last night, we made a serious mistake of eating at R. Thomas Deluxe Grill, which has a fun menu for vegetarian food, but serious, serious problems. Let's start with the vegan burger being cooked on the same grill as the meat. And our server not washing his hands after going to the FILTHY bathroom. And our server being awol for much of our dinner. (It got to where I made sure to be ready to whip out a credit card the next time he came by, for fear we'd be sitting there another 20 minutes.) And no, the place wasn't at all crowded for dinner at 6pm. Then we can pick on the smaller problems, like the wrong food being brought out, but nobody coming by for 30 minutes so that we could try to have it fixed. Basically, the place just sucked for service, and we won't go back. It's fun to have a 24/7 place that serves vegetarian food, sure, but not like that.
This morning, we had better luck at Radial, which definitely provides a preferred alternative to the pricey and ridiculously busy Flying Biscuit location in Candler Park. Radial's menu is better, simpler, somewhat cheaper, and makes it possible to actually eat breakfast with coffee for under $10 after tip. Unfortunately, the $1.95 coffee was abysmal: truly, almost as bad as McDonald's. The decaf I switched to was actually quite a bit better. I was so unimpressed by the horrible coffee that I won't ever order it again. We'll definitely go back: better food, same drive, and parking available as Flying Biscuit.
But we'll get coffee elsewhere, such as one of my favorite places in Atlanta, JavaVino . They have fantastic coffee, a very pleasant and nicely priced wine list (especially the specials!), free wifi, and are super friendly to boot. I'm gearing up to take them up on their Thursday special, the $18 bottomless glass of wine. Hah!
My primary hope for today is that it rains. Now, suspend your disbelief for a second: no, it's not that I'm excited when it dips down to the high 80s during rain, nor do I like the flooding that inevitably results from rain in overdeveloped Atlanta communities.
Rather, it's because they pour $1 house beers at the Park Tavern on rainy days, and I want to try them without paying full price, since they have received somewhat mixed ratings online.
Mostly what we do in Hotlanta in our free time, besides look for places with air conditioning and free wireless, is eat. Last night, we made a serious mistake of eating at R. Thomas Deluxe Grill, which has a fun menu for vegetarian food, but serious, serious problems. Let's start with the vegan burger being cooked on the same grill as the meat. And our server not washing his hands after going to the FILTHY bathroom. And our server being awol for much of our dinner. (It got to where I made sure to be ready to whip out a credit card the next time he came by, for fear we'd be sitting there another 20 minutes.) And no, the place wasn't at all crowded for dinner at 6pm. Then we can pick on the smaller problems, like the wrong food being brought out, but nobody coming by for 30 minutes so that we could try to have it fixed. Basically, the place just sucked for service, and we won't go back. It's fun to have a 24/7 place that serves vegetarian food, sure, but not like that.
This morning, we had better luck at Radial, which definitely provides a preferred alternative to the pricey and ridiculously busy Flying Biscuit location in Candler Park. Radial's menu is better, simpler, somewhat cheaper, and makes it possible to actually eat breakfast with coffee for under $10 after tip. Unfortunately, the $1.95 coffee was abysmal: truly, almost as bad as McDonald's. The decaf I switched to was actually quite a bit better. I was so unimpressed by the horrible coffee that I won't ever order it again. We'll definitely go back: better food, same drive, and parking available as Flying Biscuit.
But we'll get coffee elsewhere, such as one of my favorite places in Atlanta, JavaVino . They have fantastic coffee, a very pleasant and nicely priced wine list (especially the specials!), free wifi, and are super friendly to boot. I'm gearing up to take them up on their Thursday special, the $18 bottomless glass of wine. Hah!
Thursday, July 14, 2005
South
Free wireless has been spotty of late, hence the limited (okay, non-existent) posting. I've been in Hotlanta for about a week, and am wandering now. Today's trip has me in Greenville, South Carolina (a delightful, picturesque town) and continuing on to Charlotte, NC.
Lunch at the Blue Ridge Brewing Company in downtown Greenville (with free wifi all over the place!) has an excellent Total Eclipse XXX Stout: roasty, chocolatey, full, thick, and dark. (And I think it might be $2/pint for Throw Down Thursday!). Better have two. 4.25/4.5 ... YUM!
I visited the Shoeless Joe Jackson statue, and am headed to his gravesite after lunch on my way out of town. Weird, you say? Well, hell, his birthday IS on Saturday.
After that, on to Charlotte, and hopefully tonight's AAA baseball game between the Charlotte Knights and the Indianapolis Indians won't be rained out by the thunderstorms that Hurricane Dennis brought, and Hurricane Emily seems intent on perpetuating.
Then I fly out of Charlotte tomorrow to earn Delta Silver Medallion status with one flight: a ridiculously easy way to gain priority boarding (and in some cases, extra legroom seating and free upgrades). As importantly, though, it was a good justification for a fun road trip.
Greenville is remarkably pleasant so far, at least to my unstudied tourist eye. It's slow, but not dusty, and all the people so far have had (more apparently genuine than in Hotlanta) southern charm. Critically, it's a little cooler than anywhere I've been in Georgia or Tennessee in the last week.
Oh! We went rafting last week with the group on the Ocoee River in southern Tennessee. It was an excellent time, and seven of us had a great time camping the night before in the national forest. Well, it was great until the Russians showed up. A screaming, drunk, tweaking pack of Russians, about eight of them, wandered in to the campsite around 11pm and started wreaking absolute fucking havoc throughout the overflow camping area. They screamed and yelled until about 2am, when they decided to go back to their cars in the (very nearby) parking lot and blast techno music. After a member of our group (too) nicely asked them to turn it off, they did, and retreated to their campsite, where they screamed, yelled, played music, and broke things for another hour or two. Turns out they only sort of vaguely quieted down after one of their group stepped barefoot into some of the broken glass they were creating. Around 4am. Nice.
Anyway, it's more baseball for today, and trying to find some decent beer in the south, always a challenge. This has been a huge score so far: $2 pints of everything, though they are out of the Colonel Paris Pale Ale, so it's another Total Eclipse XXX Stout for me. And the $7.95 oven roasted vegetarian sandwich was excellent, with mounds of goat cheese, and excellent fries. They make their own amber ale ketchup, and apparently their own spicy grainy mustard, both of which are outstanding.
Free wireless has been spotty of late, hence the limited (okay, non-existent) posting. I've been in Hotlanta for about a week, and am wandering now. Today's trip has me in Greenville, South Carolina (a delightful, picturesque town) and continuing on to Charlotte, NC.
Lunch at the Blue Ridge Brewing Company in downtown Greenville (with free wifi all over the place!) has an excellent Total Eclipse XXX Stout: roasty, chocolatey, full, thick, and dark. (And I think it might be $2/pint for Throw Down Thursday!). Better have two. 4.25/4.5 ... YUM!
I visited the Shoeless Joe Jackson statue, and am headed to his gravesite after lunch on my way out of town. Weird, you say? Well, hell, his birthday IS on Saturday.
After that, on to Charlotte, and hopefully tonight's AAA baseball game between the Charlotte Knights and the Indianapolis Indians won't be rained out by the thunderstorms that Hurricane Dennis brought, and Hurricane Emily seems intent on perpetuating.
Then I fly out of Charlotte tomorrow to earn Delta Silver Medallion status with one flight: a ridiculously easy way to gain priority boarding (and in some cases, extra legroom seating and free upgrades). As importantly, though, it was a good justification for a fun road trip.
Greenville is remarkably pleasant so far, at least to my unstudied tourist eye. It's slow, but not dusty, and all the people so far have had (more apparently genuine than in Hotlanta) southern charm. Critically, it's a little cooler than anywhere I've been in Georgia or Tennessee in the last week.
Oh! We went rafting last week with the group on the Ocoee River in southern Tennessee. It was an excellent time, and seven of us had a great time camping the night before in the national forest. Well, it was great until the Russians showed up. A screaming, drunk, tweaking pack of Russians, about eight of them, wandered in to the campsite around 11pm and started wreaking absolute fucking havoc throughout the overflow camping area. They screamed and yelled until about 2am, when they decided to go back to their cars in the (very nearby) parking lot and blast techno music. After a member of our group (too) nicely asked them to turn it off, they did, and retreated to their campsite, where they screamed, yelled, played music, and broke things for another hour or two. Turns out they only sort of vaguely quieted down after one of their group stepped barefoot into some of the broken glass they were creating. Around 4am. Nice.
Anyway, it's more baseball for today, and trying to find some decent beer in the south, always a challenge. This has been a huge score so far: $2 pints of everything, though they are out of the Colonel Paris Pale Ale, so it's another Total Eclipse XXX Stout for me. And the $7.95 oven roasted vegetarian sandwich was excellent, with mounds of goat cheese, and excellent fries. They make their own amber ale ketchup, and apparently their own spicy grainy mustard, both of which are outstanding.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Confidential to TGS :
Oh, I already have such a crackspot scheme, and will be in Atlanta from July 7-24, excepting July 14 and 15 (when I'll be on another crackpot errand to gain Silver Medallion status on Delta, by journeying to Charlotte and flying back to Atlanta, staying just long enough to catch a Charlotte Knights game.)
Start a'lookin'!
Oh, I already have such a crackspot scheme, and will be in Atlanta from July 7-24, excepting July 14 and 15 (when I'll be on another crackpot errand to gain Silver Medallion status on Delta, by journeying to Charlotte and flying back to Atlanta, staying just long enough to catch a Charlotte Knights game.)
Start a'lookin'!
San Dee-egg-e
So I'm down in the land of the eternally humid summer for a little less than 48 hours, to do some federal grand jury work.
I arrived early on United, thought repeatedly why I like them so much as an airline (I walked up five minutes before the flight before mine was boarding, and they gave me a boarding pass for an aisle seat with an empty seat to my right.) I mean, they do plenty wrong, but they, more than any other airline I fly, make it up by doing enough right.
On arrival in PB, I parked the car at the library that didn't open until noon, and walked over to the beach. I was just going to walk down the boardwalk, but then the temptation was just too great: I took my shoes and socks off, and walked in the ocean. It was delightful, bordering on transformative.
This will sound ridiculously cliché, but the immense stress of the last few days seemed to just melt away: moving (again) to SLC after relocating to Atlanta for only the month of July; a tumultuous divorce in the family; coming down here on last-minute notice; the closing the practice stresses. All gone, if only for a short time.
I'm now enjoying the public library's free wifi (at every location!) here in PB, and preparing for a 3p client meeting.
More soon. Tonight, a $35 hotel room via Priceline in the heart of the Gaslamp -- that's right, only $12-$13 more than sleeping in the hostels around the corner!
So I'm down in the land of the eternally humid summer for a little less than 48 hours, to do some federal grand jury work.
I arrived early on United, thought repeatedly why I like them so much as an airline (I walked up five minutes before the flight before mine was boarding, and they gave me a boarding pass for an aisle seat with an empty seat to my right.) I mean, they do plenty wrong, but they, more than any other airline I fly, make it up by doing enough right.
On arrival in PB, I parked the car at the library that didn't open until noon, and walked over to the beach. I was just going to walk down the boardwalk, but then the temptation was just too great: I took my shoes and socks off, and walked in the ocean. It was delightful, bordering on transformative.
This will sound ridiculously cliché, but the immense stress of the last few days seemed to just melt away: moving (again) to SLC after relocating to Atlanta for only the month of July; a tumultuous divorce in the family; coming down here on last-minute notice; the closing the practice stresses. All gone, if only for a short time.
I'm now enjoying the public library's free wifi (at every location!) here in PB, and preparing for a 3p client meeting.
More soon. Tonight, a $35 hotel room via Priceline in the heart of the Gaslamp -- that's right, only $12-$13 more than sleeping in the hostels around the corner!
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Earthquakes and California attitude
being born and raised in California, it has long been a source of amusement to me the fear, dread, and sometimes terror, that many transplants to the Golden State feel about earthquakes. While not foolproof, it's often a way of identifying people not really from California, much like people who say "Cali". (Note to those from California: if you were born here, and raised here for any significant portion of your life, and you still say "Cali", well, you're stupid.)
Many of us from California regard earthquakes, both as potential threat, and when they happen, as something to be fairly glib about. Now, don't misunderstand me here: people who have lived through the 1989 Loma Prieta quake (which interrupted the start of Game 3 of the Bay Bridge World Series), or Northridge quakes, probably feel somewhat differently about them, likely similar to people who live in the high desert of southern California, which gets earthquakes pretty constantly. But those of us in most of California tend to find the idea of earthquakes borderline entertaining.
So this morning, I felt what I thought was an earthquake at 11:47am. I'm going to go ahead and admit the slightly embarassing circumstances that probably made it possible for me to feel this particular seismic event: I had only recently woken up, and was sitting on the toilet, reading.
I felt like the toilet (and, by extension, me) were wobbling forward and backward, and I looked down at a water bottled that was sitting on a perch of several books on the floor, in whcih the water was sloshing around a bit. By the time I looked at my watch, it was basically over.
So, Dr. Smartypants, who likes to follow earthquakes, soon after came upstairs to chat, and I sent her down to check on this potential earthquake. Sure enough, there was a magnitude 4.8 earthquake 5 miles N-NW of Tahoe Vista, California at 11:45:58am, about 95 miles away as the crow flies.
Whoopee! I was right! See what I mean? It's just fun to feel earthquakes here most of the time.
Sure enough,
being born and raised in California, it has long been a source of amusement to me the fear, dread, and sometimes terror, that many transplants to the Golden State feel about earthquakes. While not foolproof, it's often a way of identifying people not really from California, much like people who say "Cali". (Note to those from California: if you were born here, and raised here for any significant portion of your life, and you still say "Cali", well, you're stupid.)
Many of us from California regard earthquakes, both as potential threat, and when they happen, as something to be fairly glib about. Now, don't misunderstand me here: people who have lived through the 1989 Loma Prieta quake (which interrupted the start of Game 3 of the Bay Bridge World Series), or Northridge quakes, probably feel somewhat differently about them, likely similar to people who live in the high desert of southern California, which gets earthquakes pretty constantly. But those of us in most of California tend to find the idea of earthquakes borderline entertaining.
So this morning, I felt what I thought was an earthquake at 11:47am. I'm going to go ahead and admit the slightly embarassing circumstances that probably made it possible for me to feel this particular seismic event: I had only recently woken up, and was sitting on the toilet, reading.
I felt like the toilet (and, by extension, me) were wobbling forward and backward, and I looked down at a water bottled that was sitting on a perch of several books on the floor, in whcih the water was sloshing around a bit. By the time I looked at my watch, it was basically over.
So, Dr. Smartypants, who likes to follow earthquakes, soon after came upstairs to chat, and I sent her down to check on this potential earthquake. Sure enough, there was a magnitude 4.8 earthquake 5 miles N-NW of Tahoe Vista, California at 11:45:58am, about 95 miles away as the crow flies.
Whoopee! I was right! See what I mean? It's just fun to feel earthquakes here most of the time.
Sure enough,
Thursday, June 23, 2005
More on how the Spankeez suck
Phew! I was wondering if I was going to have to post an eat-my-words e-mail after the Spankeez pounded the (lowly) Devil Rays yesterday 20-11, and Centimeter Jeter went 5-6 with a homer, and A-Rod, Twitch, Matsui, and Posada all homered, with a ridiculous 13-run eighth inning (including back-to back-to back home runs.)
Good news! The hated Yankeez (37-35) got spanked today by the even lowlier Devil Rays (26-47). Jeter was 0-5, Williams 1-3, Matsui 0-3, Giambi 0-1 (pinch hitting). Only Twitch Sheffield had a good day, 2-4 with a home run.
The 26 and 47 Devil Rays are now 6 and 3 in their meetings this season with the Yankees. Ha!
Phew! I was wondering if I was going to have to post an eat-my-words e-mail after the Spankeez pounded the (lowly) Devil Rays yesterday 20-11, and Centimeter Jeter went 5-6 with a homer, and A-Rod, Twitch, Matsui, and Posada all homered, with a ridiculous 13-run eighth inning (including back-to back-to back home runs.)
Good news! The hated Yankeez (37-35) got spanked today by the even lowlier Devil Rays (26-47). Jeter was 0-5, Williams 1-3, Matsui 0-3, Giambi 0-1 (pinch hitting). Only Twitch Sheffield had a good day, 2-4 with a home run.
The 26 and 47 Devil Rays are now 6 and 3 in their meetings this season with the Yankees. Ha!
Confidential to The Good Senator:
Wanna go back to the south?
www.javavino.com:
ALL SUMMER: * THUR - $18 bottomless (wine) glass
Here is their wine list.
Oh, and they sell rainforest friendly coffee, and have free wireless.
Wanna go back to the south?
www.javavino.com:
ALL SUMMER: * THUR - $18 bottomless (wine) glass
Here is their wine list.
Oh, and they sell rainforest friendly coffee, and have free wireless.
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