Unruly Behavior

Things are starting to get back to different degrees of normal around here. My parent's hosue now has electricity and the cable modem is back and working. My house has neither of these, and currently Centerpoint Energy is saying next week sometime, maybe later. Of course they said the same thing about my dad's house.

I was supposed to meet with a roofer yesterday, but he never showed up, I have an appointment with him at 10:30 AM today. We do have tarps (or 30 mil plastic) covering the dmage now. But the house looked terrible after the storm.



And while there are folks out there a lot worse off than my family, this is still very trying. I can't get into my routine. And it is the intangibles I miss. Yesterday I found an open Taco Cabana near my house and had some really good Beef Enchiladas, rice & beans. Felt really good to do something familiar like dine at a counter service resturant.

I've priced out a replacment trampoline, it is $139, the safety net is $89, and a set of spikes to hold it in place are $20. Didn't know they made spikes for these things. My son was, and still is very upset about the hurricane demolishing his trampoline. "Daddy, why did the hurricane break my trampoline?"



I started back to work on Monday, we didn't get power at the building till Tuesday. It has already failed once since then, and we didn't get AC back till late Wednesday. I took this really pretty sunrise photo from my parent's back yard on Tuesday morning.



The rest of these photos are kind of random, just various destruction and damage I saw. Some of it is my house, some other folks houses.

Labels: damage, dining, hurricane, sunrise

Or time to cut and run?

I'm in Dallas this week, taking the accelearated VMware training course that only the self loathing would sign up for in any case. Two 32 hour classes rolled into one 50 hour week. I'm just that self abusive.

So, I'm staying at the Lincoln Center Hilton, across from the Dallas Galleria, with no rental car. The hotel offers a free, hourly shuttle to the mall. Cool, I'll go there for dinner.

I wandered around for a bit, then saw a sign for the New "Grill on the Alley", sounded interesting, so I followed the signs and found the resturant. It looked nice, and had a menu outside.



So, I checked out the menu, hmmm.... Meatloaf, that sounds good. I'll have dinner here tonight.



So, into the resturant I went, only to be handed a completely different menu, no meatloaf, and signifigantly higher prices than on the menu outside. So I called the waiter over to inquire. He then informed me that the menu outside was their Lunch menu, and that Meatloaf was not available for dinner. So I left. $18.95 for a chicken pot pie? What the hell, it better have either real pot or be served by a stripper for that price. What a crappy way to do business.




So, back into the mall I went. I wandered around some more till I found a little Mexican place by the Sakting Rink, Mi Cocina. They had a menu up, with " Tacos de Camaron", or Shrimp Tacos. I love Shrimp Tacos, so into their resturant I went.



The meal started out with some killer, hot red sauce and really thick, crunchy chips. The shrimp tacos came out and were different, with some big, grilled shrimp and fresh avacodo slices. They were delicious. I also had a killer margarita with the meal that kicked my ass, I'm glad I was taking the shuttle back to the hotel, I couldn't have driven there.



So, the night wasn't a total loss, and maybe "The Grill On The Alley" can learn something from "Mi Cocina".

Labels: Dallas, dining, review, scam, tequila, travel, work

I spent Monday and Tuesday this week in Crockett, Texas, migrating users at a bank we bought to our e-mail system. On Monday, looking for lunch, I was directed to a Chinese place across the town square from where I was working.

LEE'S CHI A NN - How can you go wrong with a name like that? Don't know what it means, so it must be good. Cool, old building too.

They had an extensive Lunch menu too, with a lot of items to choose. I decided to be daring and have a #17 - Hunan Beef (Chicken). I've never had beef chicken before, so I thought it would be good. I also ordered a bowl of Won Ton soup.

While waiting for lunch, I looked at my placemat, turns out I'm a Monkey Boy.

I forgot to snap a photo of the Won Ton soup, but it was very tasty. The Hunan Beef (Chicken) was great too. They brought out some Hot Mustard for the Egg Roll that was very hot, I loved it. The Fried Rice leaves a bit to be desired, but everything else was excellent. Great place to dine if you are ever in Crockett, Texas.

Labels: crockett, dining

Our IT Department loves to eat at this little Mexican resturant near the office on a fairly regular basis. We go there at least a couple of times a month. We were all amused by the following sign one day:

Yep, it says, "We are not resposible for lost of money on this machines." Ok, I understand you are not resposible, but if you aren't resposible, who is resposible?

Labels: dining, education, illegal immigrant

Early this month, I took my wife to ride the Boardwalk Bullet at the Kemah Boardwalk here in Kemah texas. This is an old school wooden twister coaster and is brand spanking new, opened Labor Day weekend.

This is a great coaster, and worth the $5.00 cost of the ride ticket. This cosaster holds the World Record for most crossovers on the tracks. It also employs magnetic brakes, so it can run rain or shine.



Our tickets. They also offer and all day pass for all the rides there for about $20.00

We think some Wednesday coming up soon I will take the day off, we will ditch the kids with mom and we'll go riding all day till we're sick of the rides there.



This is the front of the coaster, the best picture I could get, as it was starting to rain.

Afterwards, I took my wife to The Collesium Italian Resturant in Clear Lake, which is where we had our first dinner date, many, many years ago. It was a great date night.

Labels: dining, roller coaster, wife

Ok, about once a year I venture to Bennigan's for the Monte Cristo sandwich. Check this thing out: White Bread, Turkey, Swiss Cheese, White Bread, Ham, American Cheese, White Bread. Sound good so far? Now take the entire son-of-a-bitch, dip it in batter and deep fry! Yeah, now you're talking about a good, healthy lunch! Top it off with raspberry jam and some fries, wash it all down with about a gallon of iced tea!



Now I'm too tired to work, and since some idiot users hung the Exchange server up while I was at lunch, I have to wait for it to recover anyway.

Labels: dining

We stopped at the Silverlake Whataburger for lunch today. We went in and ordered, which was uneventful, it wasn't till we started looking for a table that we noticed something was wrong. The resturant was filthy, I mean food on the floor, the tables, junk everywhere, it was 2:16 PM and the resturant clearly had not been swept or otherwise cleaned in hours. To top it off, once we sat down, we were bombarded by several flies.

When the lady brought our food out, I asked, "Are you aware this resturant is infested with flies today?" She just smiled and laughed. WTF? Won't be going back to this location for a while, and think I'll avoid Whataburger all together to boot.



Two combos, a #1 with Cheese, a #4 with Jalapenos. $11.40 well spent, most days.

I spy, with my eye, a housefly.

I spy with my eyes, two houseflies.

Here you see a very messy table with a lid and some chicken strip on the floor underneath.

Here is a pixeled photo of the drink lid and chicken under the table.

This is the woman who laughed when we told her about the fly problem.

Labels: dining, whataburger

We've got an outside company in this week, helping us write business contingency plans. So we took them out to lunch at Perry's Grille, for their incredible lunch pork chop special.

Look at this thing, it is really as big as the picture makes it look!

Labels: dining, meetings, work

The wife and I got away to Las Vegas this weekend, and a lot of stuff that happened in Vegas will stay in Vegas. But here are a few photos from the camera phone that I can quickly share tonight.

Here is the view of the gate early Friday monring at Houston Hobby airport, waiting for our flight.

Took this photo for my sister in law. Evidently she is a fan, and I thought she had good taste. Oh well...

Slot machines in baggage claim. Think this had anything to do with how long it takes to get your luggage to the caurosel?

This is Pete Rose, signing autographs for money. This is the second trip in a row where we have happened across him doing this in Vegas.

This is the entrance to the FAO Schwartz toy store in the Ceasar's Palace Forum Shops. It was really impressive.

Found at FAO Schwartz, the little known in the US, KKK Smurf. I hear this is their number one seller in Atlanta.

Nathan's in the Fashion Mall food court provided some great lunch, two dogs with the best Spicy Brown Mustard I have ever had, Kraut, french fries and a Root Beer. Mmmmm....

And here is what it looks like after I consumed this stuff.

Labels: dining, georgia on my mind, shopping, travel, vacation

My father-in-law is having his birthday party tonight. He said come over, we're having pork. Man, he was not kidding! Oh, he got me a six pack of Miller High Life Tallboys. He is a great father-in-law!

Labels: beer, birthday, dining, in-laws

My father in law was nice enough to take our oldest to Austin this weekend to see a bunch of family that was in from out of state. Reports are that they are having a really teriffic time. So, with only the twins left in the house, my wife and I decided to have ourselves a steak night.



Got some incredible Angus Certified Sirloins. Got some Spicy Montreol Steak Seasoning. Couple of big potatoes in the oven and grilled up some zuchinni and squash. It was incredibly good!



Now I'm catching up on things around the house, we get a lot more done when it is just us and the twins.

Labels: beer, dining, family, steak

My last three jobs all promised "Comp Time". You know, you work extra today, we'll give you some time off in the future. First one laide me off with about 40 hours of comp time never given. Second one I got my comp time only by going into a coma. Last one I got one of the Comp days I was promised, but left with about a week of comp time due.

Now, at my new job I've been working 50-70 hours per week since day one. No promise of comp time, just doing what needed to be done.

My boss made me take today off as a comp day becuase I have been working so hard. That's right, made me stay home and do nothing today. And I have done nothing!

Well, I did answer some surveys over at Gaming Lagoon to get some points towrds free stuff, but I didn't do much else. Played some XBOX and browsed on the internet. Overall a a great day.

Now it is time to go drink some beers with some friends and eat some seafood. Boiled Crawfish are in season! Yum!

Labels: beer, boss, cubefarm, dining, freebie, work, xbox

Ok, so I'm in the office today, working on some projects. Figured while I am waiting on the Blue Donwload Bar to scroll by on a computer I am updating, I would go through my receipts and get my expenses done.

And I found this odd receipt:



Hmm...

Cajun Grill in Alpharetta, Georgia. Says I was there on January 17, 2007.

While I have been to Alpharetta, Georgia, it has been quite some time.

So I looked up the phone number in Google and found the following link:

North Point Mall Directory

So I checked with my wife, my boss and my co-workers. All were quite certain that I had not left Texas in quite some time.

Great, now I'm being abducted by aliens during the day as well as the night.

Labels: alien abduction, dining, georgia on my mind, wtf

Friday night my wife took the kids to her mom's.

So I came home and ate healthy! MMM... 2 Pound T-Bone steak... And Ranch Style Beans with Jalapenos. Man was it good. Coated it in Lawry's Seasoned Salt, McCormick Hot Shot pepper blend and garlic powder. Cooked it about 4 minutes on each side out on the grill, so it was nice and rare, best meal I'd had in weeks.

Then I played with Clan Easy Frag till about 1 AM and went to bed.

Labels: beer, dining, steak

Ok, the wife and I stopped with the kids for Mexican food tonight. I had to go piss before ordering, and as I'm going I look up to see the following graffiti. Something that shows how bad of our current education system is these days.

#1 - Damn kids can't spell Cock. They are bragging about a six inch coke!

#2 - They are bragging about a six inch penis. Don't they know to brag about a minimum of twelve inches?

Man, I never would have made these amateur mistakes back when I used to write graffiti.

Labels: dining, education, stupid users, vandalism

Ok, this monring on the way to the office I stopped at Exxon to get gas, coffee and some cookies. Normal thing for me a couple of mornings each week.

Today was not normal, my Speedpass would not work, not outside at the pumps, not inside at the register. So I paid with a credit card and drove on in to work.

Called Speedpass when I got to work, nothing wrong on their end, they can transfer me to Exxon customer service.

Get on the phone with Exxon, somehow my July payment was $14.00 short. Guess I typoed on my Electronic Bill Pay. So, without any warning, or adding the total to my August bill, they cut off my account.

Ok, I can see if I was way behind. I could see if I completely missed a payment. I could see if I was a new customer. But I've been a customer there for over five years. I've never missed a payment. And they didn't even send me a letter saying, "Hey, you shorted us $14.00, pay up or else." What a bunch of assholes.

Our Exxon bill runs $200-$400 per month. Thats $3000-$5000 per year.

Exxon made $10.4 Billion Dollars last Quarter. That is: $10,400,000,000,000.00 in profit for three months. That is about 743 Million times $14.00.

So they cut me off for 1/743,000,000 of their quarterly profit. Yeah, way to make your customers satisfied.

ExxonMobil quarterly profit at $10.4B

Labels: bad support, commute, dining, gas

Ok, today for lunch, we made the trek to Whataburger and I tried the, "For a limited time only", "BBQ Cheddar Burger".

Ok, first off, this thing tastes much better than it looks. Second, I had to add Jalapenos to the thing, or it just would have been wrong.

So, here is the blueprint: Bun, 2 quarter pound meat patties, shredded cheddar cheese, onions, pickles, BBQ sauce and Jalapenos. I don't have, and don't want to know the nutritional info on this burger.

The burger is setup so that the cheese is sandwiched and melted between the patties, and it is very good cheddar, so the taste there is excellent. The BBQ sauce is very sweet and messy, I think I went through about five napkins for lunch.

Overall, I'd say don't miss this burger before it is gone.

My only complaint is that all the folks working there had on these cool, orange T-shirts for the burger. I asked if they had any extra to sell, and they said no, actually the manager overheard me ask and said they were all out, like they would have gotten me one if they had it to spare. Guess I'm off to eBay now to find one.

Labels: dining

Had a little wipeout at lunch today. Went to the Chinese resturant by the Ice Rink in the Galleria. When they handed me my styrofoam carton, the lid was not secured, and the food made a run for the border.

Labels: dining

Ok, if you work in Information Technology like I do, you know the demands of the job often put you out of synch with the real world. Crashed servers, stupid users and general equipment failures can all conspire to keep you away from meals, family and the other things in life that you desire.

So, I'm always on the lookout for something cool that could help with this problem.

Three weeks ago tonight, I was at Texas Women's Hospital, where my wife was in labor with our twins. I had lunch that day, but went straight to the hospital at 5:30 PM. Our twins were born at 6:55 PM. The hospital cafeteria closed at 7:00 PM. Needless to say I missed dinner. So, armed with just a five-spot and my wits, I headed to the cafeteria to get something from the vending machines.

I was looking forward to another wonderful meal of a Coke Zero, bag of chips and a candy bar.

But when I walked into the cafeteria, I came upon the Holy Grail of vending, the Kraft "Carry Out Cafe", a machine that advertised it would dispense Pizza, Hot Wings and Chicken sandwiches.



So after getting over my initial disbelief and shock. I had to decide what was for dinner.



I decided to go with something tried and true, a Tombstone Pepperoni Pizza.



At the low, low price of just $3.00, I could afford a Coke Zero and a candy bar as well to make it a balanced meal.



So in went my five-spot, out came two Sacagawea Golden dollar coins in change, and the countdown began. I was off to the Coke machine while I waited.



Once my pizza was done, I got the standard warning about it being hot.



And out of the serving bin it came to the table.



The back of the box tells the story of this pizza, it is beyond tiny, only 340 calories. That's not even close to a snack in my diet. We'll have to see if it is at least tasty.



Yeah, that's my cell phone, and it's not one of the old ones that is huge, that is a nearly new Motorola V325 from Verizon. This pizza was freaking tiny, about six small bites.



Here is the again, compared to my Coke Zero. Good news, it tasted a little better than it looked. But it didn't taste that good. The biggest problem was it's consistency. The end on the right was overcooked, and very hard and too hot to put in my mouth comfortably. The middle was a little too hot, and the left side was just right. This might be good for some people, but I'm not into Goldilocks food when it comes to meals, even ones eaten quickly on the run.

The pizza taste was good, it could have used a little more cheese, and the pepperoni chunks could have been distributed more evenly. All in all, not bad for food when there is none other available. But I would not expect to walk away for full for less than twenty bucks either.

Labels: dining, pizza, review