Where to eat?!

OK, I'm at a loss. I'm headed to Vegas in three weeks, and I need some more suggestions on where to graze.

We'll be there, officially, for 2 days, so that's at least 4 meals. Am considering dinner at Tom Colicchio (Top Chef judge) craftsteak $$$$. Ouch! But I adore Colicchio and since we aren't springing for the hotel (but bear in mind also I've plenty of expenses coming up, living in Chicago, and living off one income), that maybe we can afford to splurge at one nice restaurant.

There's also the off-the-strip Thai place - Lotus of Siam $. I've read in various forums that the Parisian buffet is better than the Wynn's and Bellagio's. The latter 2 tend to be costly and overrated.

So what other good, cheap eats are there?

A new perspective on an old subject

I spent about 2 hours at the VW dealership today getting my car's 70k mile oil change and am one of 2 passing time in the waiting room.

Normally, I would have my reading material with me. But, in my haste, I forgot.

I typically don't strike up conversation with stranger but this lady around late 30s to early 40s started to ask me what car I drive.

When we found out we both drove the same make, model and year car, we naturally launched into an easy conversation.

What I found out about her in the 2 hours was quite revealing. She told me she used to be a boat salesperson until an accident in downtown Chicago almost killed her. She was actually in a coma for days and had brain trauma from the direct impact of the truck. She was thrown into the air and landed on her head. Because of her near-death experience and lasting injury (brain damage), she cannot resume her job, and worse yet, cannot learn new skills. And the infuriating part is that the driver does not own the truck and he does not have insurance. Which means, she is left to handle the million-dollar surgery bills. Talk about a strain on a family's finances.

Of course, all this is really sobering to me, who constantly complains about not having enough money to buy this, do that. There are always others worse off, maybe not financially constantly, but in other aspects of life. Then there are always others who are way better off. I suppose this chance meeting with her will be a constant reminder to me to quit looking at the negative slide of my life, and focus on making life more productive, and gripe-free.

I love corgis

For posterity sake, I'm posting this video here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VWDc9oyBj5Q

Good service = good tips. Simple.

once a week.

That particular day, we waited forever and after numerous requests for refills of water, and we didn't get it. We were sweltering in the restaurant, which didn't help. The other table that consists of a bunch of Asians instead got their refills, and they came later than us.

In disgust, M tipped 80cents. That's right. It's less than 10%. He even said he was going to write them to complain of their horrible basic service.

Before he could do that, the hostess came up to him and asked if he really gave 80 cents and why. He was taken aback for being called on it. It's never happened to us before. The three of us spoke up in unison about the deplorable attention. And she had the gall to say that the waiters don't get paid but from the tips and 80 cents is hardly anything to go by. So we are the bad guys now.

I applaud M for doing what he did. Furthermore, I'm usually the pickier customer than he is. On most bad occasions, he at least tip 10%, to my chagrin. Yes, Ling is always out to teach others a lesson, isn't she? I'm usually the bastard, there, I said it.

Anyway, tips are not mandatory and the amount is and should be a reflection of how well the service is tendered. Hopefully, this episode will shed some light to the wait staff that they should not assume they'll be paid regardless of quality of service.

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Christina: AMEN! You guys were in the right, and the hostess had really bad taste to act like you were the bad guy, and NOT APOLOGIZE for her server's bad performance.

I have tipped much less than 10 or 15 percent on many occasions when bad service was given. I have several times NOT left a tip at all when the service was particularly lacking. On one of these occasions, it was at a popular local restaurant here in Columbia. The waitress had a horrible attitude to begin with, not even making eye contact with anyone at the table after keeping us waiting for about 10 minutes while she chatted with friends at a nearby table She did not bring water, condiments, or other items when asked, got the orders wrong, and again copped an attitude when asked to take the incorrect food back to the kitchen. At the end, we asked another passing waitperson if we could see the manager. He arrived, and our party of three informed him, very nicely, why his waitress was not being given a tip. Instead of making us feel like the bad guys, instead he THANKED us for informing him of the situation, said he needed to know from customers when bad service was given, and gave us a discount on the meal.

As you said, tipping is NOT mandatory. You get tipped as your service merits. Hopefully this waitperson learned a lesson from this incident! What ever happened to the customer is always right???!!!

One More Won't Hurt

As I got older and wiser, I realized the saying "It's better to have few friends than many acquaintances" carry lots of credo. And as I moved from state to state in the last decade, the chances of making friends get slimmer as I get older. Especially with people who have been in the place forever and simply have no room for you in their cliques.

So, anytime I meet someone new, I simply don't harbor any expectations that I can get a friendship out of him/her.

Then myspace came along, and all sorts of people start becoming your friends, some for better, and others not. At least I have the option of dropping them before they drop me, right? hahahaha.

So it is through myspace that I found a few good people. One is G, whom I met in Singapore shortly after our correspondence. And G told me about her best bud K who is happily married in the States. When I returned from my vacation, I thought I would get to know K via the net. K turned out to be everything that G told me about - funny, genuine, and sincere. So K and I talked on the phone for about a year, both of us knowing that I may not visit her in Tennessee, and no way is she coming to Lubbock (where I was living then). And that's OK with me, cuz we figured at some time, we'll hook up with G in New York where G is, and it's win-win-win for all.

Then, before we know it, we're meeting in Chicago. It's silly to confess this but meeting and making new friends in person suddenly brings to mind a blind date! The drive to downtown Chicago was a little nerve-wracking for me. I mean, I meeting this "friend" and her husband. The ratio, first of all, is off. And then, what if I turned out to be a dud to them. Conversing on phone is way easier. There's always an easy exit if the phone conversation hangs on dead air - "oh, I gotta go grocery shopping!" Of course, K laughs it off when I expressed my concern.

And this is one of 2 get-togethers we're having while they're in Chicago. Mark is unable to make dinner in the middle of the week, and we made plans for another dinner date on Friday. And they had kindly extended their stay to accomodate us!

So there brings another concern, right? What if the husbands are socially awkward around each other? I mean, that's always the problems with couples, isn't it? Rarely can a couple find another couple that they want to hang out with. One half of the other couple seems to possess some idiosyncracy that most surely guarantee there won't be a "next time." Thankfully, our husbands turned out to be quite chatty, more so than us girls!

In this rare case, one or two more friends certainly doesn't hurt. Now I just wish all my friends are closer in distance to me.

The unsuspecting ang-mohs with their "SPG"s

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Jeremy: Awww :) I'd love to come visit sometime.

Patrick: Man, do I ever know about that whole hardening of cliques thing. That was easily the most brutal part about being single in Augusta. But you know, my father likes to say that we don't get older, we just get more so. So if you're interested in making new friends when you're young, it stands to reason you'll be open to new people when you're an adult, and hopefully find others who are open too. Kudos for reaching out!

Christina: I'm proud of you for reaching out, like Jeremy said! This is a great picture and it does prove the virtues of things like Myspace when you can make and meet new friends even over long distances! Glad to hear this worked out...like you however I wish you guys were closer and that all the good people I know weren't spread so far out around the country!

Bob: Wonderful! It is tough moving around so much, uprooting and all, nice pic, I'm sure u guys had a wonderful time!

Karen: the unsuspecting new friend :) ...here i am! told you not to be nervous lol!

you're absolutely right about the distance however... sucks huh?! but at least we're moving away to (hopefully) a more exciting place then memphis lol. it can't get much worst, can it!? lol! ...and you guys can come visit. plus we certainly will be back in chicago so you'll be seeing us soooon!