Unruly Behavior

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

Ok, like I've said, we were in Las Vegas last weekend. I get regular mailings from They Might Be Giants, and after I got my trip set, we got a newsletter saying they would be playing at Area 108's The Gathering, along with The Bravery, Plain White T's, Shiny Toy Guns and Silversun Pickups.

The concert was originally at the Orleans Arena, and we secured great front row tickets for one of the center sections. Just before the trip, we got an e-mail that the concert had been moved to the Joint, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

Sounded cool, we love the Hard Rock, it is a pain in the ass to get to, so we usually don't go there without a reason, now we have a reason this trip.

So, on with the review:

Venue - The Joint - F - I was disapointed to find out that this was not the concert hall that you see on the HRC live music specials. This is realy just a large room with four tiers of floor and some handrails. There was a balcony with seats, but you had to be a VIP to get up there. Typical Vegas High Roller shit. We ordered two drinks from one of the bars, it was $18 for two well drinks. WTF? I know it is a tourist trap, vacation hot spot, but come on, $9 for well drinks?



It was also apparent to me from the process entering the venue, to trying to go to the john durnig one of the breaks, that the Hard Rock Hotel was in no way properly prepared for the deluge of people that came to this show. The people working security and crowd control were impolite, rude and relatively unhelpful.

First Band - Plain White T's - B- - Ok, we had never heard of this band, but we decided to go with an open mind for all the bands with which we were not familiar. As far as sound goes, I think that the band's raodies didn't understand the difference between a somewhat large arena, and a small room. The instruments were overamplified and too loud, somewhat distorted. Conversely, the vocals were too low and washed out by the overamplified instruments. We liked the band, their songs were good, but didn't really stand out for us in any particular fashion or style.



Second Band - Shiny Toy Guns - A+ - Again, another band that we were not familiar with, but we went in to see what we might find good this night. This band suffered from the same disproportionate amplification problems of the first band. But we really liked this band, in fact, I'm listening to thier album, "We Are Pilots" right now as I write this review. This band uses dual lead singers, one male, the other female, and the band also takes turns playing different instruments. The female lead reminded me of Terri Nunn from the band Berlin in the early 80s. The music is great, I especailly liked the second song of the set, "Le Disko". I bought their CD, and I'm looking forward to them doing some more albums.



Third Band - Silversun Pickups - F freaking Minus - Again, another new band. Again, the same amplification problems. But with a bonus, the lead singer screamed his way through the first song, sounding like Donald Duck. To top that off, the band seemed more focused on feedback than actually playing their instruments in some musical fashion. To top it all off, this band does not have any real maturity as songwriters, and their 'songs' go on for 10 minutes or longer and just sound progressively worse. This is absolutely the worst band I have ever seen live. I've made it a point to memorize their name, so that if I hear a song of theirs is upcoming on the radio I will know to change the channel.



Fourth Band - They Might Be Giants - A+ - Ok, this is the meat and potatoes, what we came to see. First, the amplification was correct, instruments sounded right, were not overwhelming, and the vocals were loud and clear. This is part of a warm up album for TMBG's soon to be released album "The Else". They led of with "Not the boss of me", and proceeded to play a ton of old favorites, then some of the stuff off the new album, and all too soon it was over.





Fifth Band - The Bravery - No Grade - By the time TMBG was done it was 11 PM Vegas time, 1 AM home time. We were dead tired and had been up for about 19 hours. We had not had dinner yet, and had been in the venue for about 5 hours. So we left. We had seen the Bravery in 2005 when they opened for Depeche Mode, and they were an enjoyable band then. But ot memorable enough to stay for another hour plus to see this band.

We had a great time, found one new band to enjoy, and got overcharged for weak drinks. All in all a great evening. We ended up eating pizza slices on the strip at the food court between Harrah's and Casino Royale. Don't eat there.

Labels: best buy, review, travel, vacation, vegas

I haven't been posting much here, not for the lack of things to post about, but just from being so busy I'm never sure if I am coming or going most of the time.

Kids are doing great, twins are over 10 months old and close to walking, and saying dada, mama, baba, ball, very simple stuff. I recently took my three year old to his first Astros baseball game. We had to sit in the cheap seats, but he had a great time. His favorite part of the game was the train that runs along the top of the outfiled fence when the 'stros hit a homer. Only problem is he really wanted to ride the train. My father in law went along on that day, and we all had a good time.



Meanwhile my lovely wife was spending the weekend in New York City with her sister and mom. Her sister lives there now and really seems to be doing well, so we're all very happy for her.



At work things are going well, I got a raise, then a couple of weeks later was promoted to Information Security Officer. Now I'm a bank officer, I got stock options, and lots more responsibility. Yeah! I'm still doing my old Network Analyst job till we find a replacement, I need someone like Jake for this job, but we aren't finding anyone right now. I hope we find someone soon, I'm gettting worn way out doing two jobs.

I went to a funeral for a friend's 21 year old son that was killed in a horrible car accident. Between the time I was 16 and 22, I had 8 friends die, and went to lots of funerals, so while this experience wasn't so new, it was the first time since I've been a parent. I'm also 39 now, and the sense of just what this young person had missed out on is very different from when it was my friends I was burying. All in all a very sad week.

I'm finally retiring the laptop I've had for almost 6 years. It was great when I purchased it, but it is starting to show it's age. I'm getting an Alienware Area 51 m5550 with an upgraded processor and DVD burner. I'm really psyched, it will be nice to have a modern, fast computer. It also comes with Vista, which I will try out, but expect to replace with XP Pro pretty quickly. Maybe for fun I will also load Office 2007. Never know.

Going to hit the road and go to Vegas next weekend. I need a vacation, can't wait to loose some hard earned cash in a slot machine. We also have tickets for They Might Be Giants at the Hard Rock Hotel and Spamalot at the Wynn hotel. Should be a great weekend.

Labels: entertainment, funeral, in-laws, laptop, review, travel, vacation, work

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

As I said in a previous post, I made a trip to the Northeast last weekend to hang out with my friends from Clan Easy Frag last weekend.

On Saturday we went into Manhattan and spent the day and part of the evening. For dinner we stopped at Papaya King for what Julia Child called "The Best Hot Dog in New York City." I first found out about Papaya King from the Unwrapped TV show on the Food Network.

So I had my friends Clan Easy Frag take me there last weekend to find out what all the fuss was about for these hot dogs.

So off we went, after a short subway ride and a walk around a park in the rain, we got down the block to Papaya King. For 6ish on a Saturday night, the place was mostly deserted. I opted for two dogs with onions and mustard. Then followed up with a Kraut and mustard dog. I also went with their original Papaya drink and a few of my friend Robert's curley fries.

The hot dogs at Papaya King are incredible. The dogs have a unique flavor and texture that we don't get down in the south for such a treat. The sauted onions were lightly spiced and really complimented the dogs well. But the biggest surprise was the Papaya King mustard. It is their own special blend, kind of a cross between brown deli mustard and Dijon mustard. It was because of this that I went for that third Kraut dog. And the price was pretty reasonable too, I got 3 dogs and a drink for a little under six dollars.

The seasoned curley fries were hot, spicy and damn good, made me disappointed that I didn't order some of my own, but it did leave room for the third hot dog.

Now the Papaya drink was another story. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad. I wouldn't order it again, it just didn't taste like I expected, and I thought it would be served ice cold, and it came out just a little chilled.

The restaurant overall was much smaller than it appeared on TV, but was very clean, and the guys working there were really nice while serving out the food.

So, overall - Hot Dogs 5 Stars - Fries 5 Stars - Papaya Drink 2.5 Stars

I'd recommend Papaya King to anyone out there that likes Hot Dogs.

Labels: dining, review, travel