Dave's Thoughts of the Day: January 30th

Howdy pardners..

So far, so good this week.  I am feeling a small amount sicker every day but I am still in decent shape and my voice has held up the whole time.   I never felt sick enough to miss work so far this week, but I came close today.  

Now I'm at the office, and I feel all right.  I have to remember to pound the water and add some orange juice.  Thank goodness, for now.

Boy was this peanut butter jelly sandwich good.   It was so good I feel like having another one.  Good thing I packed two, do the dance!

I packed them an extra day early, meaning they sat in the fridge for an extra 24 hours.  I meant to eat them yesterday but then went with chicken leftovers instead, so I left the PBJ's for another day.    Here's the interesting thing about Peanut Butter/Jelly sandwiches:  when you leave the sandwiches set in the fridge for an extra day, the jam gets to really absorb into the bread.   Suddenly you have dry aged sandwiches.  Can you believe it?   Or maybe "marinated sandwiches."

Either way it gets you to thinking good thoughts of NY Strip and Porterhouse steaks.  Yum.  

The Lakers got hot for three games.  They are *still* not a good basketball team to me.  I think pundits need to calm down.   I liked what I saw, but I can't take much of anything from it, honestly.

Earl Clark has really come into his own however.   A surprisingly good bench player, who recently has started a few games.  He fits the D'antoni "system" nicely.

I can't stand systems... "Nellyball," "Triangles," "Run 'n Shoot," "Iso," etc.   Just give them the damn ball and play!   A few moves, some creativity, but these "systems" drive me mad.  I spoke about it with Coach last night before we did our 49ers roundtable podcast.  These so called systems and styles often hold teams back, not the other way around.

Anyone remember those Celtics teams in the 80's?    Their coach, K.C. Jones, had NO system... he basically said "Ok Larry, go run the offense," and he delivered.  I have to say his "less is more" attitude was effective.  Maybe he could have done better with end-of-game situations and maybe substitutions and not running all this starters into the ground, but he had the right idea, anyway.

I also, in a similar vein, thought it was amusing how around the same time, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson were just dopey nerd fellows who were along for the ride and tried to give the team energy.   Could you have conceived that both guys would be demanding basketball wunderkinds with huge egos?   In 1991, Phil Jackson could have done a music video alongside Steve Urkel (aka Jaleel White)... "Do the DID I DO THAT  heeehehehehehehe snort snort..."

Junk man is right, I do a *lot* of NBA talk on here.

First to go over .500:  LA Kings or NY Rangers?  Both are roughly at .500.  All it takes is one win.

How effective is orange juice in getting one through a cold/flu?   They always say to drink it, but I wondered if you could quantify its effectiveness.  There's a Jamba Juice blend called "Coldbuster" with orange juice and a bunch of other ingredients.  When I was in college, I drank one when I had a cold and it made me feel worse!  Oh man, that was funny.

I'm amazed that there are people who still don't know who Flo Rida is.    I should mention, no 80's song is safe from his path.   Watch out folks!   Pretty soon he'll be sampling Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride."  Maybe the Bangles too!

I think it was the other night when I went for a mocha before we did one of our Super Bowl podcasts, and I asked for it.  As it was being prepared, the owner, who really seems like this big shot jerk kind of guy, was getting into an argument with the barista.  I didn't pay attention to what they were saying but the owner guy seemed to be in Mike Francesa mode.   Just didn't give the other lady an inch.  I really felt bad for the girl.   The way they were arguing though, I wondered if they were married.  It's possible.

The owner guy at this place isn't doing it for me.  His cafe's coffee drinks are fantastic, but the man himself gives me the impression that he's hard to deal with.   I would come in sometimes to this place and say hi and he'd just hi-back and then brush me aside.   Tough spot.

It's a shame he has to be such a douche too, because everything about the place sells... comfortable and cozy, with tables that let you hang around a while and go online with the wifi.   Excellent beverages and we hear they even have live music sometimes.  Hard to decide what to do there.  Maintain the loyalty to the place or move onto something where you might get treated better?

As I leave you for the day, I want to cite some of the places that have THE best service anywhere:  There's the Peet's at Westwood Village, about Westwood and Lindbrook.  Amazing people and amazing coffee.   There's the KFC Chicken place at Wilshire and I forget the other street... its just East of Bundy.   No other fast food restaurant takes care of you like the KFC.  I'm amazed that a KFC would go to these lengths to make customers comfortable... with friendly faces and good attention made to the clientele.   Ah!  Let's not forget the Wendys in Culver City.    When you dine in, the people there actually bring the drink refills to you.  That is absolutely not necessary, and I was shocked when I saw it the first time.   People who care make a huge difference to me.   I wish I could do more to express my gratitude to these places.

One other place which was just amazing was the Houston's restaurant in Century City, but it since closed due to having the same restaurant in Santa Monica.

Down the road I could tell you all the places where I had the WORST service.  Oh get ready for some entertainment!  Until then, have a good one.  Back soon...