PLACE HELD New Stephen King!

PLEASE NOTE this post is pre-dated so it's always on top - well for August, anyhow. I come here to watch the SK. Any new bird squawks are below this post!

What?! Hooters Closed?!

So, I was driving out toward King of Prussia the other day and I noticed that the Hooters was closed. Whoda Thunk? I've never been there, but I thought it did a good trade... though 202 isn't the best location...

They actually got a better location.

They're right next to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, with their big, tacky orange, be-owled sign. To which I say, HAH!

I won't eat at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Why? Because of one lousy experience.

When John and I were in grad school, we saved a bunch of money to go have a nice dinner. John wanted a good steak. So we made reservations at RC, which word had as the best steakhouse downtown at the time.

We showed up 20 minutes early, in our best clothes. Which were obviously the good, but not very good, clothes of poor people. Heck, folks, I was living on less than 8000 a year - and this was the nineties. But I digress.

The host took one look at us and smiled this small, patronising smile. We waited for 45 minutes. The restaurant was not full - not even close. But our reservation table ended up next to the restrooms. I've read enough waiterrant to know that's an insult.

Even at the time, I could tell by the way the staff treated us - and kowtowed to the other clientele - they didn't want our patronage. We didn't order the cheapest thing on the menu, and we tipped well. We had, in short, done nothing to deserve such treatment... except look like we were poor.

I don't recall if we said anything to the host or the waiter. I know I wanted to but was too ashamed.

Well, guess what? We didn't stay poor. We've patronized plenty of good, mid- and high-level restaurants. We've NEVER been treated like that anywhere else, even when we wore our student-like clothes. And, we've had much better food in lower priced restaurants.

I will never eat at Ruth's Chris again. There are just too many good restaurants out there to waste my time on ok food and piss poor attitude. If you're in KOP, my advice is to skip RC and go on over to Hooters. At least that will be service with a genuine smile.

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Freedom in the City

We were all walking downtown on Friday - John had a day off and we just decided to do a little touristy thing and share a cheesesteak. So, John's holding Stinky's hand, I'm holding on to the Moth. Not for their protection, mind you, but for the unsuspecting folks around our crazy family.

These two gents walked in front of me and Tim. They were handsome, well presented men - mid 40's or older, I'd say. Anyway, it seemed to me, from the way they walked, looked at me holding Tim's hand, and the way their own hands bumped, that they wanted to hold hands, too.

I was sad that they didn't feel comfortable enough to do so.

For a city of brotherly love, Philly can be a backward place sometimes.

Sigh.


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Mud In Your Eye

Scotch and soda
Mud in your eye
Baby do I feel high, oh me, oh my
do I feel high

(Kingston Trio )

This is a lazy kind of update, as the mood of this song will attest.

I'm sitting at my desk, drinking my new favorite... club soda, lots of ice, and a splash of chambord. John thinks it's foul. Since I'm a flightless hag, I suppose that is appropriate.

Less than two weeks til opening day, and I still don't know what I'm teaching. I called my school, and they said they still didn't have that info. I mean, I don't want my rosters. Just the subjects and the books! Ah, well, another sip, and it doesn't matter. Is this how alcoholics start?

I'm feeling a bit fatalistic about the whole thing. I mean, how prepared can I be? But I made it through last year, and G-d knows, if I survived that, I can survive this. But it's back to dreams of getting shot or getting beaten up or having my car break down on that one stretch of road where all the people look at me as if to say - what the hell are you doing in our part of town?

On a positive note, I confirmed today that I am allergic to Clif Bars. The small ones make my "tongue tickle" and slightly poison me. In the large bar size, they give me the sweats and all the other signs of major food poisoning. (figuring out this mystery has only made me ill 3 times. 3 times too many!) I'm glad I found out before school started, because last year, I lived on these things. I guess it's back to yogurt and salad.

So, I'm culling back. Not making the kids do homework every day now, not going anywhere if I can help it. Enjoying every last minute and trying to bore myself out of my mind so I am absolutely chomping at the bit to go back. And I am excited to go back. I just wish I were more prepared.

Why are you reading this? Go enjoy YOUR summer!

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Recycling at its best

OK, long story short here: the dusty aviary finds a bag of food bank food in our home once in a while. It's a gift from an elderly lady, and we're not going to insult her by refusing it. Most of the time, it goes right back to another food bank. But I usually go through it, first.

Today, I found that I'm not the only one putting stuff back in the food bank. This particular package has been making the rounds since 1998, at the latest...



You can't see how yellowed the cardboard is - with little brown splotches - my flash faded those, but the markings themselves look to be from an earlier era. Not to mention the supermarket ticket!



Meanwhile, the nest was visited by a double rainbow the other evening. Hopefully, you can see it in my crappy picture.


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Motivational Posters

OK, so we're all familiar with the stupid posters that HR wants us to have in our cubes. And with Dr. E. L. Kersten's efforts to rectify those posters.

Every once in a while, you'll get an email full of ones like the latter. Here are two of my favorites from the latest bunch, sent by the Dirt Bird (click on pics to read captions):

Because it appeals to me, personally...






dedicated to Crusader Rabbit, based on a recent diatribe he posted...



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Portraits of Summer, Continued

I haven't been posting much, mostly because I have to post these pictures, and man, that takes time. At a computer. When it's gorgeous outside. Sigh. My life is just full of such travail.

John took the kids to Hershey Park to spend some time with their cousins. Much fun was had by all!

The bird family migrated alone to Virginia Beach. The boys ADORED the beach, as you can see. It also tired them out big-time. Didn't take a picture of our sand castle, but it totally ROCKED THE HOUSE. I got this new sand-castle making stuff that was really neato. Hard to get the hang of, but it made such realistic looking bricks and towers that I'd recommend it. together with the stuff we found on the beach (that others threw out), it kept me occupied all day and the boys on and off, when they weren't body surfing. But the body surfing did take its toll (see picture 3 below)...




And with that, I bid you auf weidersein. Or how ever you spell that.

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What is it with the Next Generation

I have gone to a few movies this summer. Among them are the typical summer action fare:
Forbidden Kingdom
Indiana Jones IV
The Mongol (who'da thunk I'd have empathy for Genghis Khan?)
Journey to the Center of the Earth - 3D (the kids LOVED this)
Hancock (aborted due to use of PukeCam, the stupid cinema verite filming made popular by Blair Witch)
Mummy III (the movie we saw instead of Hancock)

What has gotten me, esp with Indiana Jones and Mummy is the stupid use of the next generation. Why is it that a hero's kid is automatically played as a dork? And why is romance between older characters always cloying?

I really enjoyed Mummy III, despite the bad script and EW not being in Evie's role. Brendan Frasier is just a great action hero. But the guy who played his kid, and the writers who wrote this script, all ought to be out of work.

Oh, and in case you didn't know: Jet Li rules. Even if his role is that of a bad guy and it is TOTALLY understated. He didn't have nearly the role that the Mummy in the first 2 films did, and that was also to this film's detriment.

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