Happy New Year, and Better Luck Next Year!
Continuing our theme of celebrating a the new year I wanted to expand a bit on how things have developed after the holiday dust has settled. I would like to say we were going to start the New Year off with smiles and funny anecdotes; however, things have gone off he trail a little bit into crappy territory. Let me explain...
Kathy and I are huge supporters of the Coupon Bible (aka Entertainment Book) and use it frequently to try out new places and save some cash all at the same time. This past week my beautiful wife had a craving for some good ol' fashioned Italian food, so a quick flip of the book and we were out the door going to our next destination: Sal's Pizza.
Now to say Kathy is anything less than a connoisseur of all things pasta would be an understatement of epic proportions, and through the years I have attained somewhat of an "apprentice" status by working on identifying what she (and most other Italians apparently) look for in a good pasta. The right noodle consistency that meets the strict standard of "al dente", the correct sauce flavorings and level of chunkiness, and of course: the cheese at the table had better be Romano to be taken seriously. I could go on and on on the intricacies of such things but I think there is a text limit at some point on this thing so let's continue.
I had immediate misgivings about the place when we pulled up and I was instantly bathed in the neon glow of the the all too familiar red/green "Pizza!" sign that greets the same type of audience at every other half-assed pizza joint in the country. The dining area inside looked like it was caught between "newly redone", and "just gave up", as well did our waitress who donned a pair of wing tattoos on both of her collar bones. Some of you dear readers may already be asking why I didn't try to hightail it out of there, but when the Mrs. has a pasta attack I know to get out of the way.
Then the food came... The spaghetti and meatballs tasted literally like Chef Boyardee, and my philly cheesesteak was dry and had the mouthfeel of the meat was like dried flakes of bacon that had been out for a little too long. I didn't think things could get any worse...
But things got worse... "How?" do you say? Well while we were eating another table sat near us and the head of the family asked our waitress if they could use a coupon they had even though it was meant for take out. She disappeared for a brief moment to talk to the owners in back and came back happily exclaiming that they will take it no problem. Now it was our turn to pay, and Kathy had went to start the car in order to make a quick getaway from that awful vomit inducing food which left me to secure payment but when I handed the coupon from our Entertainment Book a pained expression came across our dear inked-up waitresses face. "Oh... they put those in there without our permission so we don't accept them. We used to have a sign on the door but I guess it's gone." Needless to say I was not a happy camper. I'll skip the dramatics and skip to the point that has since become a contention point between me and the wifey: No coupon, no tip.
I can hear all the arguments and angry comments being shouted at the screen now such as "That's how they make their money" or "It wasn't her fault!" but I will justify my reasoning being that she was very quick to try and talk to the owner to get the other customers coupon recognized but for some reason mine was some sort of taboo coupon that must not be mentioned lest they awaken "The Beast that Devours Food Servers". Hell, I figured even if it wasn't her fault and was a judgment call by the owner then he'd have to put up with her complaining about the "no tipping pale guy and his hot wife". Pretty sure that's what she would say...
As I said in my last post, with the New Year also comes those time honored traditions of promises we make to ourselves that are doomed to fail, also known as "Resolutions". I have several this year thinking that I could at least succeed at one if the others fail. Working out was not one that either of us had vocally proclaimed to partake in, but I feel it' was a good chance to keep things rolling or start things up again if they fell by the wayside a little. So back to the gym we went!
Now, Kathy and I had already been working out for several weeks prior to the holidays and started to slack off in the slew of bad food and laid back attitudes going around. Once the first rolled around we tried to pick up right where we had left off without any sort of real "easing" factor and paid the price in full over the next few days. I mean it when I say "sore" is a word that doesn't hold enough strength for the amount of lactic acid that coursed through our body's over the coming days, and I'm sure if they wanted the government could easily justify post-workout pains for torture of prisoners as I would have confessed anything if the burning would just stop.
Continuing on in three's is the unfortunate loss of the Eagles to the Packers yesterday. While I don't watch much football, Kathy is a fan that takes these things sort of hard. As a Cubs fan, I've grown accustomed to my mantra of "there is always next year", but this doesn't seem to work with her in the same way that denial treats my woes. I have to say that since Vick has come back and went to the playoffs without their full strength of players then it really says something. I'm not a sportswriter (nor would I aspire to be), but I still think the best thing that team can do is fire Andy Reid and get someone in there who is capable of utilizing the talent that is there effectively. Sitting behind this computer screen and typing about me and my wife's day to day stuff has obviously qualified me to make such an exaggerated statement. Overqualified really.
Now, I know this post is laced with negatives but the light at the end of the tunnel is that we'll both be heading to Arizona later this week! First time for me, but Kath has been there a couple times before me and it looks amazing. The father-in-law does a bit of his accordian squeezing down there with the other geeks of his kind (I kid but he's amazing) and we are going to meet up with the in-laws from Oregon as well! Another thing to point out is while I don't find it too cold here, I can't say no to slipping on some shorts in January and spending quality time relaxing away from work with the Goddess herself. See you all next week (hopefully after getting some pigment courtesy of the desert)!
Kathy and I are huge supporters of the Coupon Bible (aka Entertainment Book) and use it frequently to try out new places and save some cash all at the same time. This past week my beautiful wife had a craving for some good ol' fashioned Italian food, so a quick flip of the book and we were out the door going to our next destination: Sal's Pizza.
Now to say Kathy is anything less than a connoisseur of all things pasta would be an understatement of epic proportions, and through the years I have attained somewhat of an "apprentice" status by working on identifying what she (and most other Italians apparently) look for in a good pasta. The right noodle consistency that meets the strict standard of "al dente", the correct sauce flavorings and level of chunkiness, and of course: the cheese at the table had better be Romano to be taken seriously. I could go on and on on the intricacies of such things but I think there is a text limit at some point on this thing so let's continue.
I had immediate misgivings about the place when we pulled up and I was instantly bathed in the neon glow of the the all too familiar red/green "Pizza!" sign that greets the same type of audience at every other half-assed pizza joint in the country. The dining area inside looked like it was caught between "newly redone", and "just gave up", as well did our waitress who donned a pair of wing tattoos on both of her collar bones. Some of you dear readers may already be asking why I didn't try to hightail it out of there, but when the Mrs. has a pasta attack I know to get out of the way.
Then the food came... The spaghetti and meatballs tasted literally like Chef Boyardee, and my philly cheesesteak was dry and had the mouthfeel of the meat was like dried flakes of bacon that had been out for a little too long. I didn't think things could get any worse...
But things got worse... "How?" do you say? Well while we were eating another table sat near us and the head of the family asked our waitress if they could use a coupon they had even though it was meant for take out. She disappeared for a brief moment to talk to the owners in back and came back happily exclaiming that they will take it no problem. Now it was our turn to pay, and Kathy had went to start the car in order to make a quick getaway from that awful vomit inducing food which left me to secure payment but when I handed the coupon from our Entertainment Book a pained expression came across our dear inked-up waitresses face. "Oh... they put those in there without our permission so we don't accept them. We used to have a sign on the door but I guess it's gone." Needless to say I was not a happy camper. I'll skip the dramatics and skip to the point that has since become a contention point between me and the wifey: No coupon, no tip.
I can hear all the arguments and angry comments being shouted at the screen now such as "That's how they make their money" or "It wasn't her fault!" but I will justify my reasoning being that she was very quick to try and talk to the owner to get the other customers coupon recognized but for some reason mine was some sort of taboo coupon that must not be mentioned lest they awaken "The Beast that Devours Food Servers". Hell, I figured even if it wasn't her fault and was a judgment call by the owner then he'd have to put up with her complaining about the "no tipping pale guy and his hot wife". Pretty sure that's what she would say...
As I said in my last post, with the New Year also comes those time honored traditions of promises we make to ourselves that are doomed to fail, also known as "Resolutions". I have several this year thinking that I could at least succeed at one if the others fail. Working out was not one that either of us had vocally proclaimed to partake in, but I feel it' was a good chance to keep things rolling or start things up again if they fell by the wayside a little. So back to the gym we went!
Now, Kathy and I had already been working out for several weeks prior to the holidays and started to slack off in the slew of bad food and laid back attitudes going around. Once the first rolled around we tried to pick up right where we had left off without any sort of real "easing" factor and paid the price in full over the next few days. I mean it when I say "sore" is a word that doesn't hold enough strength for the amount of lactic acid that coursed through our body's over the coming days, and I'm sure if they wanted the government could easily justify post-workout pains for torture of prisoners as I would have confessed anything if the burning would just stop.
Continuing on in three's is the unfortunate loss of the Eagles to the Packers yesterday. While I don't watch much football, Kathy is a fan that takes these things sort of hard. As a Cubs fan, I've grown accustomed to my mantra of "there is always next year", but this doesn't seem to work with her in the same way that denial treats my woes. I have to say that since Vick has come back and went to the playoffs without their full strength of players then it really says something. I'm not a sportswriter (nor would I aspire to be), but I still think the best thing that team can do is fire Andy Reid and get someone in there who is capable of utilizing the talent that is there effectively. Sitting behind this computer screen and typing about me and my wife's day to day stuff has obviously qualified me to make such an exaggerated statement. Overqualified really.
Now, I know this post is laced with negatives but the light at the end of the tunnel is that we'll both be heading to Arizona later this week! First time for me, but Kath has been there a couple times before me and it looks amazing. The father-in-law does a bit of his accordian squeezing down there with the other geeks of his kind (I kid but he's amazing) and we are going to meet up with the in-laws from Oregon as well! Another thing to point out is while I don't find it too cold here, I can't say no to slipping on some shorts in January and spending quality time relaxing away from work with the Goddess herself. See you all next week (hopefully after getting some pigment courtesy of the desert)!
posted by Jory at
6:02 PM
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