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Site Frustrations, a Really Good Steak, and the Question of the Day

July 6, 2009 By Jeff 112 Comments

pinkyoutOn Sunday the website was down for several hours.  I sent two or three emails to my hosting company, and called their 800 number as well.  …Crickets!  Nothing but crickets.

Finally, it rose from the dead, but the OLD homepage was displaying.  From, like, a year ago.  So it looked like shit, and also appeared that I hadn’t updated the site since July of 2008.

I was about to have a stroke.

Another email was sent, this one a little more… asshole, and I got a response saying the hardware of the server had been upgraded.  They’d fix the homepage issue, they promised, and all should be right with the world.

They did, and I thought I was back in business.  But when I tried to change the Further Evidence link this morning, I got a message saying I didn’t have permission to perform that function.  I don’t have permission??  It’s mine!  I own it!!

When I checked the WordPress site there was a warning telling me I’d better not screw around with “permissions” unless I damn sure know what I’m doing.  And, needless to say, I don’t know nothing about nothing.

This kind of stuff makes me insane, way past the point of a rational reaction.  Be glad you’re not here right now.  I’m howling at the freakin’ moon; I’d probably try to stab you with a Johnny Bench statuette.

Toney somehow got her hands on a $50 gift certificate for the yuppie bar, and we decided to have dinner there on Friday evening.

When we first moved to this musky neck of the woods, the yuppie bar was a great shithole-dive, called John K’s Pub.  I liked the sound of it, and started hanging around there a little.  It was a dump, but the burgers and hotdogs were good, and they had Yuengling for two bucks a pint.

Then it was abruptly closed by government officials.  I heard two stories:  tax problems and health department issues.  Both scenarios were fully believable, and it made me sad.

A few months later we saw people doing massive renovations on the place.  It looked like they were gutting it, full-on.  Then it reopened as a fancy bar/restaurant, with hanging plants, candles, and glass tabletops.  John K was spinning in his grave…

But Toney and I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, and went there for lunch on a Saturday.  And the menu was full of weird shit nobody eats, like duck tacos, and water cress salad in a braised kangaroo pouch.  Or whatever.

And when nobody was looking we sneaked out the side door…

After about six months, though, we heard they’d normalized their menu a bit.  Apparently nobody wanted the bizarre stuff, and they were forced to start selling steaks and regular-people food.  Still a tad “pinkies-out,” but not as bad as the early days.

We hadn’t been back for a meal, since the first time.  But we started going there for beer and appetizers, and the food seemed pretty good.  When Toney received a gift certificate from her employer, I was looking forward to giving them a deserved second-chance.

We started with beer and pierogies.  I had a Newcastle, and Toney went with Sam Adams.  The pierogies were great, almost as good as the first time we had them there.

And for dinner I ordered the New York Strip.  There were lots of things on the menu that seemed interesting, but most had something in the description that disqualified it.  Like “garlic,” or “fennel.”  Toney went with the salmon.

Here’s what I was served.  I ordered the steak “medium,” but I think it was a little closer to “well.”  No big deal.  And those are sweet potato fries underneath, covered in sea salt.  That little bowl contained some sort of creamed spinach, which tasted better than it looks.  I don’t eat asparagus, so I can’t tell you anything about that.

And I don’t think I was supposed to eat the flower.  It didn’t taste very good…  Heh.

But everything else was excellent.  We had our dinners, an appetizer, three beers each, and the check was $73.  But the gift certificate took the edge off that, nicely.

It was a good beginning to a great weekend.  Which I’ll tell you more about, tomorrow.

I’ll leave you now with a Question that came to me while folding an enormous pair of underwear a few days ago…  What one thing about you would some people find to be a bit odd?

Like, for instance, the fact that I still do all my own laundry.  Toney does hers and the boys’ stuff, but I’ve always washed my own clothes.

It started, you see, when we lived together, a hundred years ago.  I took my nasty stuff to the laundromat when I could, and she did the same.  And I just never stopped doing my own laundry.  It’s not some grand statement, or anything, it just started that way, and never stopped.

So, that’s your assignment:  tell us one thing about yourself that some people might find to be a bit… unusual.

And hopefully I’ll be able to focus better tomorrow.

See ya then.

…Oh, and by the way, I can’t add a picture to this update, either.  Everything’s jacked-up!  I’d settled down a litte, but now I’m cranking again!!

Now playing in the bunker.

Read the story of Jeff's last six months in West Virginia!
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Comments

  1. Alice in WV says

    July 7, 2009 at 10:44 am

    HAHA – @bikerchick – yeah! I don’t get pissed off if the cans aren’t turned around. I do it myself and get a quiet satisfaction out of it. I think its probably because it’s the only thing in our chaotic house that is in order then.
    We live in a old, old fixer-upper. I’ve learned some skills that I do not want to pay good $$ to have someone do now, one of which is repairing holes in plaster walls. I’m damn good at it. Seamless. Smooth. Never attempted plumbing but I’ve re-wired a lamp.

    My husband can do just about anything and he has trouble deciding to hire the work out, therefore the to-do list grows and grows. Our moneypit gets more embarrassing everyday. Those problems coupled with my OCD and hoarding, I mean “collecting” (did I not mention that?) = chaos.

    Reply
  2. trinamick says

    July 7, 2009 at 11:08 am

    I can roll my stomach, twitchy-droop my right eye, belch the alphabet, make fart noises with my throat, wiggle my ears, and I’m double-jointed. Obviously, I’m pure-dee lady. I’m ambidextrous. I also can’t wear a digital watch because of the electrical charge in my body. Even normal watches die after a couple months.

    @ Tyrosine – I’m under 35 and single. I spend all day at work in a dress, looking all girly and bimbo-like. But when I get off work, I fletch arrows, make knives, change the oil on my car, work in a welding shop, install ceiling tiles, shingle roofs, and do small wood-working jobs. I’m a piss poor version of a girl.

    Reply
  3. Adam says

    July 7, 2009 at 11:16 am

    @ Taiwan On – I’ve got the same quirk… I only eat local, organic, hand butchered meats… generally refuse pills of any kind… all that crap in the name of health. But I’ll be damned if I don’t polish off a 1.75L bottle of Tito’s every week and puff down a few cancer sticks along the way.

    I attribute it to the several years I spent under the “care” of health professionals who kept giving me more and more pills, each with a side effect that was treated by another pill. Funny thing is, when I stopped taking all those pills I finally got better… well, after I stopped taking all the pills and went through my withdraws I finally got better.

    Reply
  4. Gretchen says

    July 7, 2009 at 11:59 am

    What in the honey baked hell?:

    http://www.steveharwood.com/punch.htm

    Reply
  5. JeffInDenver says

    July 7, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    @ tiff – I’m with you on marching band. I always have to step first with my left foot, and since high school & 2 years of snare line leader, I can’t force myself to do a sloppy roll any more. Always tight & crisp..,….

    Reply
  6. Shiny Rod says

    July 7, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    @ Uncle Buzz in Wheeling – That is sweet, now I’m going to have to learn finger picking. I have an Ibanez Artcore AS73 and I love the action on it.

    Reply
  7. JCIII says

    July 7, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    checked out the Further Evidence link, I have something smarmy and mockable to contribute, but I’m waiting for the new update…..
    …..just saying

    Reply
  8. Kevindust says

    July 7, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    I’m under 35 and can fix or replace pretty much anything on an automobile (kind of important when you race a stock car) and handle most plumbing/electrical/deck building type tasks. I also clean and cook ( I’m single.) Cooking is fun, cleaning is tolerable, but I don’t like to do laundry despite how nice it is to have a closet full of clean clothes (vs. a pile of dirty ones and nothing clean to wear.)

    My selective OCD is that I must have the toilet paper coming over the top of the roll and not rolling out the bottom. I often have to stop myself from “fixing” the tp when visiting strange washrooms.

    Also agree that the labels in the cupboard and the fridge should face out (even the beer labels!)

    Reply
  9. Shiny Rod says

    July 7, 2009 at 1:02 pm

    @ Gretchen – WTF did he say to them?

    Playing on the iPod now – ‘Freeway Jam” – Jeff Beck with Jan Hammer Group

    Reply
  10. Shiny Rod says

    July 7, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    @ Kevindust – You must have worked in grocery store, I do that too. I only keep veggies, meat, dairy and eggs in the fridge since I buy only when I cook. No need for labels to face out.

    Reply
  11. Matthew says

    July 8, 2009 at 12:34 am

    Weird things I do? Too many. THe anonymity of the web allows me to share the following few:

    1. When I do “my business” in the morning I let out a yell and then coax it out in a variety of regional UK accents. Example? “Coom out ya bastad” in a Yorkshire accent.

    2. While travelling, if I run out of something (like toothpaste etc.) I take the empty packaging home to throw it away as i don’t want it being in the landfill with a bunch of other rubbish which it can’t converse with, due to language issues.

    I’ve got loads more, but reading these back I’m starting to think it may not be a good idea to share them; I may well have issues….

    Reply
  12. AngryWhiteGuy says

    July 8, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    How awesome! A King Crimson album cover fitting onto reruns face (bunkercam). It looked perfect. Shiny Rod, I now live in Snorasota, Florida, but while I was in Boone, I made several trips to Raleigh for the law firm I worked for.

    Did you know- Walter Cronkite was dating Carly Simon’s sister for a while. That is of course, before he began to lay on his death bed.

    On IPOD right now- “Prison Sex”- Tool

    Reply
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