Computers, closing
restaurants, and voodoo root soda
--We've been having issues with Toney's new computer.One of you predicted it, probably Citizen
X, but that Vistaoperating system isn't a team
player.I couldn't get it to
connect to the wireless network, and the printer was nothing but a
prop.
Toney
monkeyed around with it for far too long, as did I, and we finally
couldn't take it anymore.I
called an IT guy at my old job, and he suggested a few things.I tried each, and it was as if I'd done nothing.So he said he'd come take a look.
And yesterday evening I had the surreal experience of being at work
and talking to an ex-coworker – who
was calling
from inside my house.How weird is that?
He got it all straightened out, but it took almost three hours.The wireless connection was fixed relatively quickly, but the
printer gave him all manner of trouble.And if it was a problem for HIM, I would've never been able to
fix it.
We paid him an amount of money almost exactly equal to the discount
we'd earned on the computer itself, and ain't that the way it usually
goes?
--Jim Dandy's is closing
tomorrow.I can't believe it.It's one of those great old restaurant bars that seems to have
always been there, and everyone assumes always will
be.
The article in the newspaper implied the owners just aren't interested
in operating it anymore, and weren't able to find an acceptable buyer.So they told their staff on Monday that Thursday is the end of
the line.
How can they just shut down a place that's always crowded??It doesn't make sense to me…
When
I first moved here from California, before Toney and the boys
joined me, I lived in a hotel and ate dinner almost every night at Jim
Dandy's.I always worked late,
and would find myself sitting at the bar drinking Yuengling drafts,
and eating a kick-ass fish samlich and fries.The same thing, every time.
And
this is the same place I was recently having a moral dilemma about,
trying to decide if Toney and I should betray our favorite old
Saturday hangout for the Bennigan's bar and their dazzling array of
eighteen beers on tap.If I'd
only known then, what I know now…
But I'm going to go in for one more round of golden elixirs on
Thursday, and possibly even that feesh sandwich again.And I really hope I don't break down like Nostrils.
Man, how I hate when favorite old restaurants and bars disappear.
In
Atlantawe lived within walking distance
of a place called Tortilla's, where you could buy incredible burritos
the size of a Nerf football.It
was a little bohemian/hipster/punky joint, where the Dead Kennedys
were often blaring across your evening meal.
When
you ordered at the counter they didn't give you a boring old receipt
with a number on it.No, they
handed you an action figure, or a squirt gun, or a bobblehead doll, or
a plastic sword, or something along those lines.
The
burritos were both great and enormous, and Toney and I were regulars.But a few years ago we heard they'd gone out of
business. How?!It didn't even
seem possible.The place was
continuously slammed with tattooed, scowling customers.
And in Californiawe started visiting a friendly
little neighborhood brewpub called the Santa Clarita Brewing
Company.They made their own beers, which were all very hoppy and
delicious.Their burgers were
also excellent, and we logged many an evening there.
But
there was so much competition from chain restaurants, they were barely
staying afloat.Rumors began
circulating that the place was about to go under.We received a coupon in the mail for half-off entrees, and it
said, "Just because you work for a faceless corporation, doesn't
mean you have to eat at one!"
And the next time we visited, just a few days later, it was closed for
good.
Those kinds of places become part of your life, almost like a friend,
and it hurts to lose them.Nobody
gives a shit when a Ruby Tuesday shuts its doors, but when a Jim
Dandy's disappears, it’s sad, very sad.
--Last night at work I was
perusing the soda machine, trying to decide between a Dr. Pepper or a
Mountain Dew, when I noticed something I’d never seen before: a new
designer Dew, called Supernova.
It was kinda purple in color, and the bottle said it contained “a
blast of Strawberry Melon and Ginseng.”Ginseng?I didn’t like
the sound of that.Isn’t it
an Asian root or something, or possibly having to do with voodoo in
some way?And what the heck’s
a strawberry melon, and why did they capitalize it?
But I’ve been a fan of the previous novelty Mountain Dews,
especially the black one (Black Death?Black Lung?Bubonic
Blast? I can’t remember.) and decided to roll the dice.
Yeah, it tasted pretty good, I guess.Strawberry
was the dominant flavor…But
there were lingering consequences.It
might’ve been my imagination, but I think I was having some sort of
allergic reaction.My skin felt
all crawly, and little red bumps started coming up.
I could’ve lived with that, it wasn’t a huge deal, but I was also
belching what tasted like sweet potatoes.Sweet potatoes!Blecch.And how does that happen?How
do the burps in no way correspond with what’s causing them?I can’t have that.
Boy, they’ve really let me down with this one...I’ll probably only drink twenty of ‘em, instead of fifty.
And I’m all out of time here.I
have to get to work a little early today, so I can sit through a two
hour seminar about “client confidentiality.”Yes, I am fully engorged.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you about coming home on Wednesday night to, what
Spongebob would call, advanced
darkness.And I’ll also have something new and good from old friend
Buck.
