Widow Shining

I was out at the pool the other night, floating around happily in the dark. The raft started heading toward one of the rock islands in the pool area. The rock islands are supposed to have nice water falls coming down off of them, but the apartment complex is too cheap to turn them on. Or maybe they're broken and the apartment complex is too lazy to fix them. I don't know. Anyway, the raft was heading towards the island, headfirst. I turned around, and there was a huge black widow hanging out over the water in a nice big web. After getting out of the pool, I made P&AF come back down to the pool with me to verify that it was, indeed a black widow. We brought a flashlight and the camera. We snapped a few photos. I should be posting one, but I'm currently just getting my computer back on track--I recently deleted a couple vital parts of the operating system in an attempt to cure a virus---and I haven't gotten my camera hooked up again yet. Anyway, I've told a few people here about the experience, but they don't seem to think it's overly unusual. I was even going to tell the apartment complex to get their pest control going. I guess it isn't that big of a deal though.

Chicken Scal-Woodchip-Pine

We went out to eat at Macaroni Grill (sorry if these out to eat stories are getting boring--I just like to eat.) Though the Mushroom Tortellini appetizer was excellent, I'm not sure I'll be going back any time soon. Most of the customers seemed to have small children, and I just am not at the point where I think listening to screaming kids while the father at the table next to mine explains the font that he invented to his kids over and over again is fun. Anyway, we got our food. I was having chicken scaloppine. I've ordered out from Macaroni Grill before and had it, and I usually think it's pretty good. I was enjoying my meal, and suddenly I bit into something. After isolating the unchewable item in my mouth, I spit out a small woodchip. Yeah, a woodchip in my dinner. We told the waitress, and she had the manager come over. The manager was very, very nice and apologetic. As far as customer service goes in that sort of situation, she was great. (I feel a little guilty for posting this story online actually, but really, this incident wouldn't stop me from eating there again, it was mostly the atmosphere that wasn't to my liking.) Anyway, she comped my meal and also gave us free dessert. The dessert was deep-fried ravioli. It was disgustingly rich and greasy; I enjoyed every minute of it. I think my luck with finding surprises in food must be over now though, since this was the third time this month. I rate Macaroni Grill #1 in handling the situation, PF Changs #2, and Red Robin isn't deserving of the #3 spot; instead they just fail.

So We Meet At Last

In moving around the country, I have found new "dangers" to become accustomed to in each different place. On the East Coast there were hurricanes (or tropical storms by the time they reached me.) On the West Coast there were earthquakes. Here in Vegas I have been dreading meeting my first scorpion. And last night it happened. I was leaving the Imperial Palace, and something scurried in front of me as I walked through the parking garage. I thought it looked suspicious, so I bent down to take a closer look. And, sure enough, it looked just like one of the scorpions I saw in the Southwest taxonomy book I recently thumbed through. It was a "whip tail scorpion" rather than a regular stinger tail variety. I think that made it a little less scary. Just the same, I spent a majority of the drive home worrying that scorpions were crawling on my feet and up my legs. At least that horrible first meeting is out of the way! As for the Imperial Palace, personally, I would avoid it if possible. This is the second time I was there in a one week time period, and I wasn't impressed either time. The best thing I can think of about it is the little arcade area. Others rave about the stiff drinks, which I guess is good, but I think I'd just as well drink a bottle in my room and then head out to a club. The "Dealertainers" are also rather amusing, but I can still think of other casinos I'd rather visit. P&AF observed that the bottom of the pool is branded with the intials "IP," and remarked that "IP" and "pool" really don't go all that well together. At least it doesn't make me want to swim there. The gift shop sells old license plates. I didn't even know that was something you could do; I mean they made such a big deal about me turning my old plates into the DMV in California. Otherwise if someone stole them, I might be held responsible for their use in crimes. We also tried to go to the car museum, but it was 15 minutes out from closing, and the woman wanted to charge us full price. I guess the rooms there seem okay, so if you get a good deal, then why not? I'm going to do my best to avoid it from now on though.

At 13

There's a club in town at the new Hooters Hotel & Casino that was the San Remo. I guess they call it 13 Martini Bar. It is a "retro martini lounge with nightly live music." On Wednesday nights, they offer free drinks to ladies between 9PM and 12AM. As usual (well, not necessarily as usual in Las Vegas, but as you might expect anyway) the drinks they offer for free are rail drinks. Just the same, free drinks are free drinks. When we got there, the two fab ladies we were with went up to the bar to order drinks. They each got white wine. I wasn't going to drink to begin with, but when the waitress came around I decided I would order after all. I sort of wanted champagne, but figured that wasn't included, so I went with red wine. The waitress came back empty handed quite a bit later.
Waitress: "I'm sorry, wine isn't included in the free drinks special."
Maryse: "What? My friends just got some wine, right there." (pointing across the table.)
Waitress: "Who?"
Maryse: "Them, right across the table from me. That's wine. White wine."
Waitress: "Ummmm..okay. I talked to the bartender, and we decided it wasn't included, but I'll go ask again. What kind of wine did you want again?"
Maryse: "Just your house red."
Waitress: "What's that? I mean, what kind does that mean?"
Maryse: "Just red wine. Whatever you usually serve. Your house red wine."
Waitress: "Okay..."
She returned after another ten minutes or so.
Waitress: "We don't have that. The bartender didn't know what it was."
Maryse: "Fine. Just bring me a vodka/cran."
The waitress actually did bring me by a glass of red wine some time later. I don't know what the hang-up was.
Otherwise 13 Martini Bar seemed like a nice enough place. The band wasn't great, but the sax player was really good. They need to put up another curtain to separate the bar from the casino. It loses a little class with the slot machines and Hooters girls just on the other side of the bar.

Food Surprises

I went out to eat twice last weekend, which is kind of unusual when there isn't any special event going on. For some reason I was just in the mood. The thing is that twice there were surprises in our food. First, we went to Red Robin. I know some of you are reading this and wondering why I would ever go to Red Robin again after a certain experience we had there years ago. I don't really know actually. So on this trip to Red Robin, we ordered the cheeseburger on a chip dip. It came to the table, and P&AF ate a bite. He then suggested that I not try it, even though it was tasty, and pointed out a thick black hair on top of the dip. We informed the waitress of the issue, and she inspected the dip. She then told us not to worry, that it was just a bristle from their basting brushes. We just told her to take it back. I don't think either of us really cared to have her try to explain what they were basting on the cheese dip. She didn't adjust the dip off our bill or offer a discount or anything. That seems to be how Red Robin operates. I mean, why would I expect a discount for a (supposed) bristle in dip, when they didn't even offer anything for delivering a hamburger that already had a bite taken out of it? I don't think I've actually had a worthy Red Robin meal since leaving Colorado.
So another day, we went out to PF Changs. We ordered the Fried Banana Spring Rolls for dessert. As I went to get a spoon of ice cream, I hit metal. I started digging, and it turned out to be a spring-type apparatus from some cooking utensil, I would guess. We pulled it out, and P&AF decided to mess with the waiter. When we are all finished, the waiter came back, looked at the plate, and this conversation took place:
Waiter: "It looks like you found a little surprise in your dessert."
P&AF: "Yeah, I don't know what that is. I think I chipped my tooth on it though."
Waiter: "What? Really?"
P&AF: "Yeah, look. Is my tooth chipped?"
Waiter: "Ummmm...no?"
P&AF: "Oh good. It really felt like it was."
Waiter: "Well, I'll definitely adjust that from your bill. Sorry about that."
I was just sitting there shaking my head and trying not to laugh. The really funny part is that one of P&AF's front teeth is noticeably chipped from a dangerous playground incident involving a tire swing chain.

Times Are Tough

The other night P&AF and I took a trip to Hollywood Video. As we were checking out with our video, the clerk said something that prompted P&AF to respond with, "I wish I could get a job here." The clerk then responded with conviction, "No, you don't. Believe me, you don't want to work here. I'm just working here to get through school so I can do something else." The clerk went on for awhile about how he gets blamed for computer problems by angry customers, and about how being a video clerk is just horrible. In general, I try not to make comparisons on this sort of thing, because, honestly, unless you are doing a job or are in that particular situation, how can you make a true comparison? Really, unless you actually are that person, you just don't know what circumstances are prompting them to think their situation is the worst ever. However, it's a tad difficult for me to believe that Hollywood Video could be that terrible or stressful. I mean, if he suffers from insomnia due to a customer reaming him out over a fine, then I think he's got bigger problems than working at a video store. The point is, though college could be completely stressful for weeks at a time, I loved my college job and all the people I worked with. It was hugely entertaining. Who knows though, maybe copy stores rank way above video stores? Long Live CR!!!!

Quote Of The...(6)

There are some domestic disputers that live in my apartment complex. It seems like there have been domestic disputers in pretty much every apartment complex that I've ever lived in. These ones are pretty funny though. The other night they were outside yelling at each other at about 1AM. During a particularly heated part of the disagreement the man yells at the woman,
"You know there's a warrant out for my arrest! Why would you call the police?"
(Oh yeah, and it's my first year anniversary with the blog!---So Happy Anniversary Carport Furby!)