Wooden Nickel Report...

My daughter had this cool idea last year for me to have some wooden nickels made as sort of a calling card for the blog. She went online and came up with the design you see here.
When I saw that the Wooden Nickel place was not only home to the world's largest wooden nickel, but also a museum of wooden nickels, right here in San Antonio, we just had to go!

Sadly, when we showed up, the world's largest wooden nickel had in fact been vandalized by little hood rats, and to be honest, I just didn't feel like writing about it. Really, it is sickening stuff to be honest. We went inside to order the special Silver Creek 78250 nickels and also learned that the museum was being renovated. We got the order a few weeks later and were pleased as punch with the product (and the price).

Anyway, my wife and I (okay, mostly me) handed them out to anyone interested, left them at restaurants we ate at and even left more than a few strategically hidden in various stores,we shop. And then they were gone.
Just recently, I ordered some more and today I stopped by to pick them up (so check those shelves at HEB - you might just find one). When I pulled into the place, it looked like a total construction site. And there was a guy on a ladder painting the big wooden nickel. Turns out, they are redoing the entire place and of course, refurbishing the world's largest wooden nickel.
I collected my batch of wooden nickels and then had a nice chat with Alex, the manager or owner of the place, I guess, and we talked about all the work being done. Inside, the place is being really remodeled - there were new walls going up and stuff was all moved around. Outside, of course the work on the wooden nickel, and Alex told me that they were adding some coating that would allow them to easily clean off the vandalism brought forth by the next set of taggers.

Alex also told me about the expansion into other printing services and gave me a few awesome T-Shirts to take home to the wife and kids. Just a thought here, but if you blog and ever want to hand out a business card with the name and link to your blog, why not do it with wooden nickels? I'm sure Alex can hook you up.

My HEB Plus Trip: Chaps, Rage, Pillows, Love...

I've had a fairly dry-spell when it comes to pictures of goofy things. It isn't that I haven't seen goofy things and it isn't that I haven't whipped out my camera for pictures, but I have to tell you that my wife recently purchased me a new Canon Powershot A2000 IS, and I am having some issues with the power-up, aim and shoot that I was so comfortable with on my previous Canon. In the end, I've taken some pictures that I just didn't feel like posting.
Okay - here is an example of my issue. On Thursday, I was coming up Bandera Road getting ready to turn onto Grissom to head into 78250, when I see this awesome display of coolness walking up the street. How can you not appreciate a rodeo cowboy wearing shorts and chaps? I know. With my old camera, this would have been a shot suitable for People of WalMart (though he was not in WalMart). Anyway, I'll get it together and offer you better quality photos as warranted.

In fact, today, we had lunch with my mother-in-law then decided to hit the HEB Plus on Potranco at 1604 for an abbreviated version of our normal Sunday shopping. As we were heading north/east on 1604 before Potranco, this guy in a Silverado came up fast behind the van in the left lane. I know how I hate to be boxed in by do-gooders her want to go exactly the speed limit, so I can understand how the guy in the truck would be pissed having to go from about 80mph down to 60 or whatever the speed is. But I don't honk my horn and try to be a jerk about it.
This guy, a young kid from what I could see, got up on the mini-van and just blasted his horn. I know exactly what the guy in the mini-van was saying to his wife: I'm doing the speed limit and I can be in any lane I choose (or something equally obnoxious). Even so, the guy in the white truck was a jerk and we laughed when we turned off and saw that he was stuck at the light at Potranco. Slow drivers in the left lane suck, but people who tailgate and honk are just as bad.
We cut through the Kohls parking lot (I know, you can get a ticket for that) and I saw this little gem. Have you noticed people get more and more casual as the temperature gets cooler? For those of you up north, it was a biting cold 62 degrees here in SA. Anyway, the fact that this lady is in her pajamas doesn't bother me. What concerns me is, she seems to be returning pillows to Kohls. Is that even legal? Oh sure, those legal tags are still on there, but now I am concerned that if I were to someday go and purchase new pillows, am I going to be sleeping on something that somebody else returned? I mean, can you return underwear? I just can't imagine walking in to the returns line and saying, "Uh, yea, I got this here pillow that doesn't work. Yea, that's my drool, is that a problem?"
And finally, parked in the lot at the HEB Plus, this fancy paint job. You know, just yesterday I was watching Overhaulin on HD Network and I saw that Foose guy do a makeover on an old VW van. It was pretty awesome. I wonder if Foose had anything to do with this effort?

Preparing for Eat Week...

There is no doubt in my mind that this coming Thanksgiving week will produce increased girth on my waist. If I could only limit stuffing myself with turkey and potatoes and, well, stuffing, perhaps it wouldn't be an issue. I'm one of those who doesn't really pig out plate after plate on Thanksgiving. The problem is, all the ancillary eating we'll be doing now through next weekend.

It started Saturday when we had to run multiple errands in Alamo Ranch. I needed some items from Penny's (love those $10 off coupons they send) and then we had to run into Best Buy (am I the only person who purchases a new printer based strictly on the type of ink cartridges I have at home?) and we also had to run into Home Depot to grab something. By the time all that was over, my wife and I both realized that we had not even had breakfast, and it was already opening time at Logan's Roadhouse.
My wife had some sort of appetizer combo with cheese sticks, chicken tenders and potato skins. I think most of it is sitting in a Styrofoam container in our refrigerator as I type this, but she liked the parts she ate.
I had the catfish, onion petals and a skewer of veggies. That veggie skewer really does taste as though they cooked it on a grill as opposed to popping it in the microwave. My preference though would be to have it cooked for like another ten minutes. I know, not as healthy that way, but I like it. You can read more about Logan's Roadhouse here.
We went to HEB and saw a dog in the back of a pick-up truck that looked a lot like Gracie, just bigger and less like la chupacabras.

Later in the afternoon, we went to the airport to pick up our daughter and her little dogie, Panda. Okay, "little" might be an understatement. The dog is a porker at 20 pounds. If you don't remember Panda, read about her here.
By the way, while we were waiting at the airport, I had to hit the men's room. San Antonio is quickly modernizing things. In fact, check out the new space-age urinal they have. You are completely dry before you ever zip up your pants, though the floor seemed to be wet..

Anyway, I have always wondered if dogs have really long memories, you know, like an elephant or something. I don't know if it had anything to do with memory or not, but Panda seemed to know us right away. And my daughter also knew us! It has been two years since Panda moved to New Jersey and I was really worried about how Gracie might react to seeing her.
When we first walked in the door, Panda seemed happy to see Gracie - either that or she just likes to sniff dogs butts a lot. Gracie on the other hand, was very timid. If we could understand her language, I'm sure she was saying, "Who is this portly little dog who keeps sniffing my butt?"

After a little while, we let them hang out together and we took my daughter to get her fix. How many of you leave San Antonio for a while and come back knowing that the crap people try to pass off as authentic Mexican or worse, Tex-Mex, can only be corrected by going to your favorite San Antonio establishment. My daughter tells me that she went to a place in New Jersey that was supposed to be good and apparently, they felt good was worth $67.00 for two people. The equivalent quantity of tacos, rice and beans and a few lemonades would cost you $12-$15 at any place like Tink-a-Tako or such. And of course, it would taste much better.
We went to ChaCho's over on Bandera and got a half-order of fajita nachos. There is just something about that gooey, gov'ment cheese, melted all over the crispy chips and the chopped up beef fajita meat that says, Welcome Home.
And when we had all stuffed ourselves, there was only one hunk of nacho and one hunk of avocado left - and of course we let Roxanne have the honors.

Our son will arrive this afternoon, and for the first time in a while, we'll have both kids, both dogs and all of us eager to hit some of the regular dining locales. Well, the dogs might be eager, but they won't be coming with. Regardless, if you happen to be out and about this week, you just may see us; we'll be the family with our eatin' pants on.

Stuffed: GNWatch Thanksgiving Dinner...

Thank goodness I wore my eatin' pants tonight. My wife and I joined friends and neighbors this evening at the Lodge of the Great Northwest for the Annual GNWatch Turkey Feast. Loads of good vittles from Bill Miller's as well as the usual assortment of desserts our GNWatch members are famous for.

You can read the full report and see pictures by checking out the GNWatch Page.

Dinner Report: Ruby Tuesday in Alamo Ranch...

Was I asleep at the wheel? I don’t think I even noticed the new Ruby Tuesday in Alamo Ranch going up until my wife and I were being seated by the hostess. I still don’t see the Red Robin we expected a year ago at the corner of 1604 and FM 471, so there is a good chance that I’ll be eating a big huge stack of those onions rings before long.
But enough of my inattention to detail. If you have never been to Ruby Tuesday, think of it as a much classier version of Chili's, Applebee's, Bennigan's, etc. A co-worker of mine compared it to Marie Calendar. I suppose.

What we did find was that the place is suitable for going in a little more dressed up than your sweat pants and chocolate stain covered wife beater. Thankfully, it was a designated bath day for us, so we were fairly presentable.
I noticed right off the bat that there was lots of wait staff, probably a combination of trainers and trainees. I also noticed a really nice salad bar set-up, though I’m afraid I did not get a photograph worth submitting for your viewing. Okay, well here is the picture anyway. Can you see the salad in there? Sorry.

The menu offers too wide of a selection for me. Honestly, if we had not been pressed for time, we would have taken several minutes to really go over it. They have burgers, seafood, sandwiches, steaks, ribs, and all sorts of pasta, chicken and appetizers. They also have the aforementioned salad bar. I apologize for not getting pictures, but I saw this fellow who must have ordered the "all you care to pile on your plate and then some, salad". I promise, if they had a scale, it would have weighed in at four pounds. That's the diet for me.

In the end, without knowing how long our order would take, we opted for the burger menu and were very pleased.
My wife ordered the Handcrafted Smokehouse Burger "topped with aged New York cheddar, applewood smoked bacon, tangy barbecue sauce, and crisp onion straws." Seriously, those little onion straw things are good. I do like the fact that they are willing to serve the burger cooked "medium". The Sometimes, places like this try to go overboard, offering up specialty tastes and such when all you want is a good burger. My wife and I both agreed that this was good, not overdone.
I opted for the Triple Prime Bacon Cheddar "with aged New York cheddar and applewood smoked bacon". Again, it was not overdone in terms of extra fancy flavors, just a good dollop of mayonnaise and the normal fixin's.

We both suspected that these burgers might be in a situation where they are pre-cooked, then delivered to the restaurant where the on-site cooks, then heat them up or finish cooking them to order. I don't know for sure, but I think that sort of thing goes on. Regardless, they were good.

I would say that Ruby Tuesday is a bit spendy if all you are looking for is a quick burger, but then again, if that's all you want, hit What-a-Burger for about half the cost. But for the atmosphere and the rest of the menu (including a full bar if you are so inclined), it was not that much more than a trip to Chili's, and the fries were better.

Have you tried out the Alamo Ranch Ruby Tuesday? Did you get good service like we did? Did you try something besides the huge selection of burgers? Leave a comment below and tell us about it.

Nice Ride...

I know this is a little silly, but I followed this car down a street on San Antonio's "West Side" earlier today.
I was trying to keep my distance for fear that the rear driver's side wheel (as if you need directions) might fall off at any moment thereby causing the good Samaritan in me to have to stop and help, but luckily, I was able to take a picture and move along.

This car would be awesome if it just had a really loud, booming sound system and a mural painted in memory of someone on it.

The CSI Trinity...

This week, we got lured into the three part, three CSI show story where CSI (Las Vegas) star Dr. Ray Langston played by one of my favorite actors, Laurence Fishburne joined in episodes of CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, and finally ended the story back at home on CSI, the original one that takes place in Las Vegas.

Just a few quick comments from me. But first, Did you know Laurence Fishburn is married to the lady that played the first officer on Firefly, Gina Torres?

Of the three CSI’s, I think I have mentioned before that I prefer the original, though I confess, I’m not a huge fan of that lady who plays Katherine, the blond one. The actress is named Marge Helginburger or something like that, and I once saw her on a late night talk show. No personality, at all. But, I just like the way the show comes together and like many of you, my wife and I like to guess “whodunit” as early in the show as possible, just to see if we are right, and we always are.

I also like CSI: NY. In addition to the characters, I like the use of sophisticated technology and the story lines.

But the real point of this little rant of mine centers on the first episode where Dr. Langston joins the cast of CSI: Miami. I may have told you that I simply had to stop watching CSI: Miami due to my total disgust for the character of Dr. Haratio Caine played by David Caruso. I know some people like the over dramatic acting style, the tilted head, spread legs, one hand on his hip and the other lifting his sunglasses. I get it if this is an MTV video shoot or something, but really, every scene in a one hour drama? And speaking of MTV (I’m assuming they do still have some video content on there from time to time), I get that the entire CSI: Miami is shot like a big music video complete with fancy-slacked women in heels, I’d just like the taxpayers of Miami to question how much they are paying these people to afford all these fabulous threads. And speaking of budgets, how do they afford all the fancy Hummers and rides in helicopters?

Back to Horatio. Can someone explain to him that he is not a police officer. In the opening scene of the Miami episode, Caine is posing near the front desk of the police department as a woman begs an officer to help her find her daughter. When the officer informs her that she has to be missing for 48 hours, Caine steps forward (or perhaps he simply shifts his weight to the other leg), cocks his head and says, “I’ll help you, Ma’am.”

If I’m that police officer, I’m gonna say, “Get back to your blood samples, Dexter; you’re not even a cop and you sure as hell don’t need sunglasses inside the dark police station.” Of course, that would ruin the opening of the episode. And I apologize for the Dexter reference.

In spite of my hatred for Horatio Caine, my biggest complaint about CSI: Miami has to be the incoherent time line. I understand that you have to sort of suspend the clock to allow the show to complete a full investigation in an hour, but please help me with this. The Miami people have found a body part out in a park someplace. Even as the crime scene is still being searched for clues, the coroner (the actor I really liked on Boston Legal who had some sort of disorder that caused him to “Yip” when he was excited), figures out that there is some weird salt that can only be found in Las Vegas. We see Dr. Ray Langston via video teleconference from Las Vegas, and learn that he needs to come to Miami.

Okay, I don’t even want to speculate about the bureaucratic mess it would be for one police department to make travel arrangements to send an officer to another location, not to mention just getting the approval to do it, but the next thing we know, Dr. Langston is inbound to the crime scene on a police helicopter. What? Put your phasers on Stun, because somehow Scottie just beamed Laurence Fishburne from Las Vegas to Miami while the crime scene was still being searched for body parts. Are you gonna tell me that Horatio Caine held his pose for the amount of time it takes to leave work, pack your crap, get some tickets, go through security, board the plane, fly 2,500 miles, wait for a bunch of old people to get off the plane, find your missing luggage, get on the police helicopter and fly to the crime scene? I know, I’m being too critical.
My other complaint was that in order to fit the high style of CSI: Miami, they made Dr. Ray Langston into a totally different personality. I can just imagine (or can only hope) that there were serious arguments on the set of the show when the talented Mr. Fishburne is asked to wear sunglasses, pose like a model and say stupid things he never would have said on the taping of CSI: (Las Vegas). It is actually too embarrassing to even think about. The best line actually happened at the beginning of the CSI: NY opening when Dr. Langston is on a Video Teleconference with Gary Sinese’ character in New York. He says of his pending trip to New York, “I’m on the next thing smokin’". Of course, I nearly threw-up.

In the end of the three-day, CSI Trinity event, Dr. Langston was back to himself on CSI with the people in Las Vegas, and the scars of having to watch David Caruso were beginning to fade. I would only like to ask the producers of the show, please, do not put me through something as traumatic as this again.