Saturday, June 18, 2005

Unpaid endorsement

I don’t often do things like this. In point of fact, I haven’t done anything like this on my site before that I can recall. But I was just so impressed that I had to.

There is a restaurant chain here in Southern California called ”Marie Callender’s”, and I have heard about their pies for years. I’ve even tried a few of their TV dinners (really good, by the way), but I had never eaten at any of their restaurants before. Once we got to see our daughter graduate, we went out to eat. We traveled around for a bit, looking at all of the lines outside the local places. We saw a full parking lot outside Marie Callender’s, too, but gave it a try anyway.

I can’t praise those guys enough.

We only waited about ten minutes, the employees were all smiling, the service was prompt, the salad was incredibly fresh, the food was wonderfully tasty (and even the smells from other tables were mouth-watering), the bathrooms were immaculately clean, and the music was the perfect background (just gentle enough to ignore, just loud enough to be recognizeable, and all of it eminently hummable).

I cannot recommend them enough, and I encourage you to give them a try if you are lucky enough to be near any of them. They are moderately pricey (we paid about $20 per person for dinner, including beverages, but no dessert - and the tip was extra, of course), but worth every penny.

Go, eat, enjoy.

(Full disclosure: they gave me a free piece of cornbread. Happy now? )

Just amazing

(This is a Patriot’s Journey post. Others joining in are Alex, Scott, JimK, and Moorewatch. If you wish to join in, feel free.)

Earlier this afternoon, my eldest daughter graduated from college with a Bachelors of Arts cum laude, and I couldn’t possibly be prouder of her than if I had been the one getting that sheepskin. I wish to extend to her my most heartfelt congratulations and all the love a proud papa can give.

However, for one reason and another her mother and I were unable to attend. No need to explain why, just that it turned out that we could have gone if we had gotten that info about half an hour earlier, causing an extreme heartache for the both of us.

But we still got to see it, thanks to the technology that got its start in a room filled with nothing but a lot of metal and glass and some very very smart people, via Live Streaming video from the college. And, to be honest, we probably got a better view over the Internet than we would have had in person up in the nosebleed section, without all of the hassles of screaming babies, stifling heat and rude neighbors that we would have had if we were there in person. All thanks to American technology and ingenuity.

Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Congratulations, sweetie!