Dear Health Department

Dear Mrs Inspector,

Thank you for letting us know when you are going to be stopping by. We make sure everything is up to snuff before you come, just to make your job easier. For example, we make sure we go ahead and date the dressings and milks and such so you don't have to toss them out.
I know how you love to see those silly hair nets on the cooks, so just before you come we make sure they put them on. Also, since you are a non-smoker, we make sure they don't smoke when they are around the food while you are there.
I know you hate it when we dry the silverware, since we are really kind-of just wiping the food off that the dishwasher missed , so we make sure we get it done before you get here.
I just want you to know that we appreciate your good reviews and we strive to adhere to your strict standards so we can maintain a good grade. Letting us know you are coming just lets us make your walk-through easier on you so you can be in and out and all can get back to our regular routines.

Sincerely
"Your favorite restaurant"

3 words

All I have to say is....


location location location

Real World

I just finished Real World by Natsuo Kirino. I'm not sure how I found this book. I was perusing the books at Barnes and Noble and this seemed to be a great "up and coming" author so I had Real world transferred to my local library and I just finished it. First let me show you what the blurb on the book says:

A stunning new work of the feminist noir that Natsuo Kirino defined and made her own in her novels Out and Grotesque.

In a crowded residential suburb on the outskirts of Tokyo, four teenage girls indifferently wade their way through a hot, smoggy summer and endless “cram school” sessions meant to ensure entry into good colleges. There’s Toshi, the dependable one; Terauchi, the great student; Yuzan, the sad one, grieving over the death of her mother—and trying to hide her sexual orientation from her friends; and Kirarin, the sweet one, whose late nights and reckless behavior remain a secret from those around her. When Toshi’s next-door neighbor is found brutally murdered, the girls suspect the killer is the neighbor’s son, a high school boy they nickname Worm. But when he flees, taking Toshi’s bike and cell phone with him, the four girls get caught up in a tempest of dangers—dangers they never could have even imagined—that rises from within them as well as from the world around them.

Psychologically intricate and astute, dark and unflinching, Real World is a searing, eye-opening portrait of teenage life in Japan unlike any we have seen before.


Sounded really interesting...psychologically intricate? ...dark and unflinching? HHmmmm....

This is a book about 4 friends and one neighboring boy. It was written in Japanese, (I of course read the translated version having no idea how to read Japanese or English itself sometimes.) therefore some things may have been lost in translation.


***Spoiler alert*****

The book begins with Toshi who hears a strange noise outside while she is getting ready for school. As she leaves, she runs into the next door neighbor boy who she has nicknamed Worm. Worm is a pale sullen boy, but on this day he seems happy and actually talks to Toshi. When Toshi gets out of school she finds her bike and cell phone has been stolen and when she gets home she finds out Worm's mother has been murdered and Worm hasn't been seen all day. Later that evening Toshi receives a call from Worm, who has her phone and bike. Seems that Worm has called her three best friends too. Each chapter is told from the perspective of each friend and from Worm himself. We learn about each friend as each one gets involved in Worm's escape. Yuzan helps him because she knows what it is like to not have a mother, Toshi helps him by not sharing her suspicions with the police, Kirarin actually meets him and runs with him, only Terauchi refuses to help him, but this also sets forth a course of consequences.

I really didn't get the "deep" psychological insight. Perhaps seeing all that I do on TV here in America I have become desensitized. There were 4 girls who felt drawn to this boy because of the "adventure" he could bring. But really, if a boy who just killed his mother with a bat called a teenage girl, would she want to run off with him? Want to sleep with him? I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm too old and out of touch with these kids today. Maybe the Japanese teenagers would and do feel the way these characters do. The blurb on the book promised so much more than what I got and I felt disappointed.

I would have to give this a 2 out of 5

Water for Elephants

On my bike rides to work, I recently listened to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. This is a circus story of sorts set in the depression. Jacob Jankowski is 92, he thinks, and is in an assisted living home remembering the years he worked in a circus. In his early 20's he was getting ready to take his finals at Cornell to be a veterinarian and work beside his father, his life took a cruel turn. His parents were in a fatal car wreck and Jacob found out that his parent had gone into debt to put him through college. He was suddenly orphaned and had no place to live.

Depressed and suffering a breakdown, he walks out of his finals and jumps a train. This train happens to be the traveling circus of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Since the owner, Uncle Al wants to be like the Ringling Brothers so he keeps Jacob on as the vet. Jacob falls for Melina, the animal performer, but she is already married to August, the animal trainer who seems to have a dual personality.

This books alternates between Jacob’s current life in assisted living and his life on the train and in the circus. This book is not my usual reading fare, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I listened to it. The actors they had read it were great and I loved hearing them act. I doubt I would have finished it if I had tried to read it.

I would give this a 3 out of 5.

Crappy day...

Man, what a crappy day. I was trying to hunt down some used sports things for my youngest. I found a Play it Again Sports and made note of the address. It was on 28th street, simple enough right?!?! NO. I went to the address that was give in the phone book but it was no where to be seen. I asked a nice gentleman and he said it was on 44th street. I knew I had read the address right, but maybe it was an older phone book and it moved. So I head over to the spot he said it should be at and low and behold...it isn't there either. I call my oldest and ask if it could be narrowed down on google maps.

I finally find it on the other side of the city. It really doesn't sound that bad but it literally took me an hour to find it. By the time I get there I am so frazzled that I get my kid out of the car and hurrying into the store. (by this time we had 2 1/2 hours to get home, an hour away, and get to practice with said equipment. Oh, and to eat lunch) When I get in the store I realize I don't remember getting my keys, I know I locked the doors cause I had my camera in the car, but my keys??? OH CRAP.

We get the stuff and head back to my car and, it is running. Did I mention I remember locking the doors. Um...yea, there it runs, keys obviously in the ignition and NO SPARES ON ME. I not only locked my keys in it, with the only spare about an hour away, I left it running. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH GAS IS??? CRAP. CRAP. CRAP.

I'm 42 but I really do think I'm losing my mind. Seriously.

things you don't know about your dinning experience

I Stumbed across an article in Readers Digest entitled "13 Things Your Waiter Won't Tell You" I thought I would tell you about my personal inside story on one of the "13".

3. When customers' dissatisfaction devolves into personal attacks, adulterating food or drink is a convenient way for servers to exact covert vengeance. Waiters can and do spit in people's food.

( From Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip-Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by The Waiter (Ecco/HarperCollins, $24.95 Reader' Digest 2008)

I have been a waitress, on and off, for over 10 years (working through college and such). I must say I have never witnessed someone spitting into a customer's food. Please hear me, I am not saying I have never seen where someone was so rude that they didn't deserve it, I've just never worked with anyone low enough to retaliate that way.

Having clarified that, I have witnessed something that would be along the lines of depositing your DNA into food.

In all the restaurants I have worked, there is never any air conditioning in the kitchen...the fact is, it gets so hot (with all the fryers and grills ) that it would run non-stop and you still probably wouldn't feel it. Needless to say it gets so hot in there, you sweat. If you stay back there and cook all night, you sweat A LOT!

One particularly hot night, I was working with a cook that was so hot, he had beads of sweat all over his bald head and on his face. He was putting up the steaks and as he was handing me mine for the order...beads of sweat were dripping onto the steak.

I've always worked in smaller restaurants, maybe the spitting occurs in the big chains, however...if it is hot, maybe you should order a salad and avoid the salty, sweaty steaks!!

You know, you really should be nice to your server, though, just in case.

Yesterday I went to Unity Fest (christian music festival)with my oldest. We had a blast hanging out all day. The best was seeing Skillet front row. They rock OUT LOUD!! You have to check out their website...they have a couple of their songs there. "Whispers in the Dark" is one of my favs!!

Blog=Money?

I decided in December of last year to start blogging. I love to read and never could find any information on which books to read next, so I thought I would blog about the books I'm reading and about life in general. I try to blow off some steam sometimes and write about how I hate my job, bosses, and people in general.

I learned about Google Adsense about the same time I started blogging and thought, hey...maybe I can make some money and quit my God-forsaken job. (ok maybe just not work as much) Let me tell you how much I have made from Adsense since December.... 71 whopping cents.
WOOOHOOOO DRINKS ON ME!!!!

I found Statcounter to see how many people were visiting my blog and it was sad. So I found BlogExplosion to help. They give you credits by viewing other blogs and in turn the direct traffic to your blog. I really am thankful for their service...not only does it help my traffic, I have found some great blogs that are now in my "favorites" and I have found some very useful information.

Snapbomb is one thing I found earning credits on BlogExplosion from another blogger. They advertise that "you can get paid to blog". It sounds simple and great. You register your blog with them, they present opportunities for you to blog about and they pay you. The great thing is they give you complete freedom to write what you want. In other words if you don't like the product/service/whatever you can say so as long as it is original and it is a minimum of 150 words. They even help you out by giving you key words to put into the review. You can blog advertise for companies or products you like and get paid. Snapbomb pays you for blog marketing things that match what you usually blog about and shows you other opportunities that you can write about to earn feedback ratings.

I'm excited about earning money and getting other writing opportunities. I only hope I make more than 71 cents in the next 7 months! I'll let you know how it goes.

Deception

I just finished listening to Deception by Randy Alcorn. This was a story about Ollie Chandler a homicide detective who has some anger issues and a drinking problem since his wife died, one daughter ran away and the other one wont have much to do with him.

Ollie's superior has decided they need a better relationship with the local paper, so he has set it up that when there is a murder that Ollie is assigned to, a reporter will follow him and see what the department has to go through to solve a case.

Ollie wakes up to a phone call after a night at the bar. He doesn't remember coming home or getting into bed, but a professor has been murdered and he has to get up and get to the scene. He finds a wrapper of his favorite and hard to find gum next to the professor's body. With the reporter in toe, Ollie tries to find out who wanted this professor dead and why some evidence with his fingerprints was at the scene.

The professor, William Palentine, seemed to like the female students, and has ties to Ollie and some of the other detectives in his precinct, as well as to his lieutenant. As the investigation progresses, others tied to the case are dying and the killer starts coming after Ollie himself.

This was a wonderful mystery novel that will keep you guessing till the end. Mr Alcorn is a Christian writer and he works in conversations between Jesus and Ollie's wife that give an otherworldly perspective. I have also read Safely Home and Lord Foulgrin's Letters which are excellent reads. I am a big fan of Randy and this one didn't let me down. In this book I got a sense of Alcorn's sense of humor. I would wholeheartedly recommend reading anything he writes.

I give this a 5 out of 5

...and some times you lose

On the way home last night I saw something in the road that looked like a bird. After a quick turn around...I found out it was. A robin was just sitting on the road. I got out and tried to reach for it and it tried to fly away. I picked it up and took it home. This was about 11:30 at night, and after looking on the computer I found 2 numbers to call on our local government web site for people that help out wildlife animals. However, needless to say, there was no answer from either. I left a message and decided the bird would probably be better off outside, so I put a sheet in an old laundry basket and set it out in our carport. When checking on it later, I found it had died.

Most always, I have the best intentions, and I try really hard to do what I think is the right thing. Most often, though, I feel like it was the most wrong thing to do. I try to be God a lot, you know, fix what I think is wrong, control things. I know I should trust that God has it covered....I really do know that He is better at it and I'm only getting in His way, but I don't know how to stop.

Poor bird had to die cause I think I'm God.

Wild Animus

Oh my Lord, file this under the "what the heck?!?!" file. Wild Animus, by Rich Shapero is the most bizarre book I've ever attempted. I listened to this one on my bike rides to work.

This is a book about Sam Altman's journey to find himself. He is at a protest at Berkley trying to escape the gassing by the national guard. In his rush, he happens upon a girl, helps her out, and they find themselves in a store. He asks for her number, grabbing a nearby magazine for her to write it down. Thee magazine happens to be one about Alaska and on the front is a picture of a ram. He falls madly in love with the girl, Lindy. As he grows closer to Lindy he falls farther away from his friends.

The thing that seems to keep Sam and Lindy so close it their mutual love of drugs. They do them a lot, let me tell you, and that's not all they do a lot. They also have sex, a lot. Sam believes he is the ram on the magazine that brought him and Lindy together. He also believes he needs to be in Alaska. Since they are about to be caught for selling drugs, they make a run for that state. Sam spends his days trying to become the ram, while Lindy waits tables so she can pay the bills and feed them.

I listened to 3 of the 9 cd's and I just couldn't do it anymore. Maybe because I never did drugs, maybe because I wish I was doing them when I was listening. Honestly, some of the drivel that was coming from that book make me wanna puke. I mean, come on, Sam thought he was a ram and that Lindy was a pack of wolves? That was the plot. I think Mr. Shapero was on drugs when he wrote this, either that or suffering from a bad trip.

Since I couldn't finish I'd have to give it a 0 out of 5.