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.

Totally Transforming - Your Parents...

Everyday on the way home from work, I hear this commercial for a thing called the Total Transformation Program. From what I gather, you learn a few techniques for halting any argument with your kid.

I know this sounds highly immature of me, but wouldn't it be funny to send a copy of this program to a few 12 year-olds of parents you don't like?

I just have this image of some lady whipping off her chanklas ready to throw them at her kid's head when little Johnny says, "Now, now Mother, don't you think a more constructive use of your anger would be to add extra salt into Dad's scrambled eggs?"

I'm surprised this is not something on the 7th grader black market by now.

Lunch Report: Fox & Hound on DeZavala at Vance Jackson...

Ever since we got our new Entertainment Coupon book, my wife has had this one coupon that keeps floating around.
Like a flashing sign begging her to take advantage of the good deal it offered, she had already torn it out of the book and had waved it at me several times before, even though I had other restaurants that simply needed to be checked off the list. Even today, I would have been happy with lunch at Texas Land & Cattle since they sent me a coupon in my e-mail, but no, the Fox and Hound coupon surfaced again.

What the hell, the place serves beer; why wouldn't I go?
We are not ones for bars per se, but if you add the words "and Grill" in any form to the end of it, we won't rule the place out. And from my experience in England, Pub & Grille works.

Inside, the place is a bit more upscale than your Chili's or Applebee's neighborhood grill & bar. This is a place you could take your boss or your mom, assuming they enjoy a nice cigar and a wide selection of beers, wines and spirits. And with TV's large and small everywhere, I could see this as a cool place for a game. Of course, we visit during off hours and the place was nearly empty - the way I prefer it.
But the important thing is, the grill was open and my wife and I both wanted the Black Forrest sandwich with the soft pretzel style bun. Seriously, the bun tasted like a soft pretzel but without those big huge hunks of salt on the top. The sandwich itself was made of turkey with lettuce and tomato, strips of bacon and honey mustard. Served with awesome, huge fries that were perfectly cooked, we both sat there and thoroughly enjoyed it all. And it helped that I had some sort of Fox Amber something or other to wash it down.

If you are just going for an alcohol free lunch, the price is not bad at all and the sandwiches we had were seriously tasty. I'd like to try some of their appetizers, just to see how they would turn out. We were there at a slow time of the day and as a result, service was not as great as it could have been, but what the hey.

Got a pub we need to visit for lunch? Tell me about it or leave a comment below.

Veterans Day in The Great Northwest...

Each year on Veterans Day, headed up by retired military veterans Fred Murphy (Director of Maintenance) and Roger Burton (Chief of the security staff) and Jose Morlett (DRACO), the staff of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association puts together a ceremony honoring those that have served.

What I have learned since retiring from the military is, not all employers offer Veteran's Day as a day off, so I just haven't been a regular at these events. Today I took the day off from work and was extremely pleased to join the audience for this moving and enjoyable ceremony. And honestly, we could not have asked for a better day with this Chamber of Commerce-like weather.
Soon to be retired Lt Col Brian Stives MC'd the event. Joining him to provide the invocation, Irwin Loud, Jr, LTC Retired, and to provide the keynote address, Ralph L. Kuster, Jr, Col Retired.
We were entertained with several wonderful musical selections from the Timberwilde School Choir. In addition to singing quite well for a young group, the kids were wonderfully well behaved considering the sun bearing down upon them.
Col Kuster, a former F-105 fighter/bomber pilot with 110 combat missions over North Vietnam and unfortunately, one sortie that didn't make it back to base, told a story of how he never fully understood the significance of Veteran's Day (or Armistice Day as it was called when he was a child). He had watched the parades and later as a Boy Scout, proudly marched in those parades. As a member of the military, he participated in parades and began to fell like part of the team. But Col Kuster explained to the assembled crowd and the attentive students, in 1967 he was shot down behind enemy lines. Luckily for him, he was picked up by Air Force ParaJumpers as his fellow pilots circled above him to secure the area. But many of his fellow servicemen were not as lucky and they spent time as prisoners of war. It was this that finally made him understand the deep pride that those who had served before him felt.
Following the stirring speech, and as Taps and Echo was performed by Warren High student Daniel Flores and retired MSgt Keith Kolars, several veterans put wreaths at the base of flags in the Great Northwest's memorial to those who have served.
Following the ceremony, attendees were invited to enjoy refreshments inside the lodge of the Great Northwest where staff served up cake and such.
I hope that for many of you, this was not just a day off, but at least worth a few moments of reflection and thanks for those that have and continue to serve.