But today I was craving ice cream so I got the ice cream. Today's deal was good... $2.99 for a pint of Haagen Dazs. I got the ice cream and stowed it in the freezer for later... oddly I didn't have any, wasn't that hungry.
Anyway, I got the ice cream and it got me thinking: can you believe the prices of ice cream these days? I've seen half gallons go for nearly six bones lately. I never thought of Ice Cream at such premium prices. Some ice cream companies try to trick you by selling smaller containers, less than a half gallon or a quart... what's the one they use for Dryer's? Or is it Edy's? West Coaster in me situation. It's astonishing. It seems like such a cheaply made product overall. Like popcorn. Will the cost of making popcorn ever exceed 25 cents a quart? Movie theaters make a killing off popcorn! Somehow, I still pay. Hard to resist the temptation of popcorn pants at the AMC 'plex.
So it comes to some shock and minor dismay that ice cream prices are almost the cost of gasoline now. It was only about a decade ago when I could get a quart of milk for around $1.19. Those were the days. Peaches at my fingertips, stuffed turkey breasts, and milk under a buck-fifty. I would do my thing at the fancy Ralphs in Santa Barbara. A huge grocery store -- enormous.
To this day one of my favorite stores. At night they'd play this really soft elevator music, like the old fashioned beautiful music Muzak. I didn't even think people used this fuddy duddy music anymore. Mantovani around the clock! It was like being in a dream.
So... back to the present, I picked up the ice cream and got a latte for the evening. It was a good get. Laundry was done that night. Good times were had.
@LOLKNBR is one of my favorite follows. I don't recall the exact circumstances that got me to follow it, but my gawd, it is great twitter. Please follow... especially if you find Bay Area sports annoying, because apparently he does too, haha!
I mentioned a going away party at Barneys on Monday night. It was a good time. I made an unusual move. There was time to kill so I walked over to the In N Out in the area, just 2 blocks from where Barneys was in Westwood. I got a regular cheeseburger with pickles. There was barely anyone there, except for one lady who went in ahead of me. I saw her coming too, but she had the angle on me so I'd be a total douche if I tried to beat her out. Even so, what a mistake. If only I was there 40 seconds sooner. She goes in and she's standing there spending about 2 minutes trying to decide what to get from the menu. There are literally two things to order! Burgers... and fries. The only differences are whether you want a single, a double, or more (like 3x3's 4x4's and such). She was the only one ahead of me, and eventually they got her order so I was next. They had a new girl working the register and she was getting trained by one of the vets there. That was all good. I almost congratulated her on her new job at In N Out. The people there always look like they're having fun... it's a good gig. Granted, nobody older than 23 works there, but it's really perfect for those going through school. I'm a little disappointed I didn't have in on it myself. I'd be dangerous next to that many burgers, maybe that worked out.
So! With all that in place, I ordered my cheeseburger with pickles, and I checked my watch. With a short line I wondered what my "time to burger" would be, so I started counting. I sat at a table to calculate the time elapsed.. some other guys came in, and eventually we started to get a pretty good line. They started up the second register to handle the new traffic. Another crew was serving burgers to the drive thru. The Drive Thru always gets priority at In N Out, as it should. I keep waiting... usually if time-to-burger is less than ten minutes, that's a good day. It was right on that night! Only 9 minutes. Think about this cabbage... it would take about 5 minutes to make a burger like that. Even if the burgers were made on demand and you were the only one in the store, it'd take about that long to get one. 9 minutes with the decent car traffic at the drive thru was tremendous. Again, this is the dining room time-to-burger. TTB at the drive thru is, remarkably, between 5-8 minutes.
After eating the cheeseburger I walked back to Barney's to say farewell (for now) to my former boss and fellow IT person. He got a job over in Culver. Great job in fact! Big company. I won't say what company it is, but as Mitch Hedberg might say there's a "Man Tec" involved. All of his co workers past and present were around to wish him well. His g/f was there with him.
Most of my buddies from work were there that night. It was what we call good times. We all split a pretty good pizza at Barney's. Barney's pizza is their hidden secret... my goodness, very very good. I got some Newcastle pints on draft for the occasion as it was on special. It wasn't as good as I remembered. It was one of the first beers I had over a decade ago... but it was palatable enough to muster on. My request was for a Racer 5 but the server lady said they weren't on Happy Hour Special. They used to be! Strange... but Newcastle did the job. That was a fun night. Thankfully I just had to take a bus home so no issues with DUI or any of that.
One thing I learned to tone down recently was #hashtags. I remember learning about them on twitter, it was multiple time Olympian swimmer Katie Hoff who I first saw using them. Hers were hilarious! Then I started to really get into them... I even used them on the board, and in emails. Then I got carried away. And every sentence ended with a #grinsadjustsmic style hashtag. Almost every one. After a while I started to read my own tweets and found them annoying. This is too much, I said. #toomanyhashtagscomeonnowtheylosetheirzing Stuff like that. Lately I've toned down hashtags. I really only use them now for the intended usage, to actually denote them for search queries. They have been and continue to be used as #punchlines but for me, just writing out the original thought was good enough. I'll still sneak in one though... here and there, to try to be a humorist... but it was clear the over-use of them was annoying everybody HAHA.
but I did do this one:
Maybe Brazil can get..... one? #mitchhedbergstyletweet
Can't help myself! I am a mongo. Or "mongeaux".
Anyone have the urge to go down to Junior's Farm?
Hey! I got some salvos from our friend Mawquis that he might call into the DITCOW podcast tonight! I would look forward to this greatly! Let's see if he can make it... hopefully.
Does he call in? Tune in and find out. 'til then, catch you all soon.
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