Fancy Restaurant - politico photo op.

My family wanted to kinda "celebrate" last night (don't ask why, okay?). So my folks ["Never Pay Retail"] got online and found a coupon to a pricey local restaurant that serves "mediterranean cuisine" and off we went.

Now I'm not the "sharpest knife in the drawer" and I don't have much experience with overpriced restaurants so making a reservation for only five people really never occurred to me. When we got there, the little guy at the door said "Do you have a reservation?" (more like a statement than a question) and when we said "No" he frankly looked like he didn't know what to do. Fortunately for him (seriously, had nobody ever said "no" to that question before?) the Maitre'De walked up and the little guy said "They don't have a reservation?" with a sort of desperate appeal in his voice. The Maitre'De (obviously a sharp guy and a credit to his profession) looked at us and stated "You don't have a reservation?".

Honestly I think my pop lives for moments like these - let me explain. Pop doesn't like to make people feel bad so he didn't say "Good grief man! Your little guy just told you that we don't have a reservation". What did do was to say "I don't have a reservation" and (before the Maitre'De could react) he very quickly and smoothly pointed at me and asked "Do you have a reservation?" and then (before I could say anything) he pointed at mom and asked her "Do you have a reservation?" (mom might have seen this bit before) and then pointed at my daughter and said "Do you have a reservation?" then turned to the Maitre'De and stated "No, we do not have a reservation.". Then the Maitre'De replied (as only a Maitre'De can - that's how I know he wasn't just the "head waiter"),

"Oh."

"I see."

then, dimly, "Well, we don't have any open tables..." and just as smoothly the man seemed to brighten at a realization "...however there is some space on the patio. Would you care to eat in the patio?" The man said that last line with more than a hint of you really would prefer to be at Chick-Fil-A in his voice but we chose to ignore the hint. (come to think of it, that Maitre'De might just live for moments like these, too) We did one of those quick "what do you think?" counsels and decided to eat in the patio. Just then a third waiter was walking from one passageway to another and the Maitre'De said "Follow him! He'll take you to the patio."
Then it got sort of surreal.

Here, take a look - the whole world can see it - why shouldn't you see it?

While we were waiting on the roomy patio (at least 10 tables and only one other table was occupied) for our server to bring us our soft drinks (the guy seemed kinda surprised at the beverage order) people started crowding into the patio. They were all wearing matching t-shirts and carrying placards "____ for US Senate". So many people came in at once that it was hard to tell where they were coming from. Despite the fact that the patio was almost empty when we got there, waiter #3 chose to put us at a table right near the stage.

I can prove it. I have pictures. Nobody in my family took the pictures. Two idiotic "videographers" shot video and posted it to YouTube. Some politico is standing on the stage, "___ for senate" is taking up the right half of the picture and the back of my wife's head can be seen in the bottom left. This video was shot by "Idiot videographer #1". Just above my wife's head you can see "Idiot videographer #2".

Here is a screenshot from the video posted to YouTube by "Idiot videographer #2". This is a couple minutes later - "____ for senate" is on stage, and Idiot videographer #1 can be seen in the right half of the picture. He/she is in the shadows near the table where there is one man paying rapt attention to "____ for senate". In front of Idiot videographer #1 you can see my widow's peak. In this shot the food has not yet arrived and I'm busy eating sweet butter and crusty bread.

Immediately after the throng of people showed up, some guy went around giving everybody "_____ for senate" stickers and I promptly stuck mine under the bill of my USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76 cap. If I had known ahead of time that I was going to be on YouTube, I would have worn my NRA cap. After all, this is Texas and we were outside. When we saw the cameras we joked about YouTube - I didn't expect my wife to find these videos on the internet less than 24 hours later.

And you have to understand that I'm not trying to be mean to the idiots -that is- "videographers", but apparently in this age of papparazi the concept of a "release" (getting permission to take a person's picture) is a by-gone idea.

On a somewhat humorous note I wasn't very impressed by "____ for senate". My fettucini alfredo cost 34 dollars (not including tax and tip) and "____ for senate" did a stump speech about "The Plight of the Middle Class". The whole thing was a photo (video) op. If "____ for senate" wanted to actually "meet the people" in our town, HE should have gone to Chick-Fil-A.

The World is a Strange Place

Today Fred Thompson ended his campaign for the Republican nomination.

Apparently Heath Ledger was so shocked and dismayed that he promptly fell over dead.

It's going to be an interesting year...

Okay, so far this year:

1) I've made a new friend through a *really odd* "chance" meeting (there is no such thing as circumstance) late at night in Edinburg (long story);

2) I've gotten myself enrolled as an online college student (class officially starts tomorrow and I haven't been in class in.....um, years);

3) I've been located by a friend that put an ad about me on craigslist. This friend and I hadn't talked since high school - which would have been years and years (sorry 'bout Carm);

4) and I just completed my first year as a supervisor (and I have no visible wounds);

We're not even half way into January yet! I'm thinking that 2008 is shaping up to be an unusual year for me.


btw - this is just the stuff that you would believe. If I told you the whole story you wouldn't believe it. :-)

Some things never change

Fireworks.
Lots and lots of fireworks.
Then the occassional rounds of gunfire.
Then the car horns.
It's New Year's Eve in south Texas.
(This will probably go on until about 2 or 3 am. Glad i'm not going to work tomorrow.)

BTW, i (finally) saw Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather for the Very First Time. Now all those lines from You've Got Mail make sense - "Go to the mattresses", "Leave the gun, take the cannolis", "Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday". (You're thinking "Why does this guy know lines from You've Got Mail ?" Answer:My wife loves that movie.) And even though I had never seen The Godfather before, I always seemed to understand "he made him an offer he couldn't refuse". :-)

Happy 2008 !!!