Friday, July 04, 2014

30 Years

Place: QuikTrip
Lunch: Chicken Bacon Ranch Wrap, Pepsi

A few years ago, QT started building what they called "Gen-3" stores, new stores with a bigger footprint and a kitchen concept that had specialty drinks and room for future ideas.

Said ideas have expanded into a concept knows as "QT Kitchen", which they've since started adding to older stores.  It's apparently so different that even our local Gen-3 store's kitchen was closed and completely remodeled.

The new space has the specialty drinks (hot and cold), pizzas, some weird breakfast thingy I can't pronounce, and hot sandwiches and wraps.  You order using a very Sheetz-like touch screen, though the menu and options are far more limited than Sheetz.  You can get really ridiculous at Sheetz, where they nickel and dime you to death with the add-ons.  I once created a walking taco at Sheetz that, by the time I was done with it, was north of $8.00.  (The end result was, for the record, obscene in its awesomeness.)

Anyway, I really like this wrap.  The soft flatbread is more like a thicker tortilla and is folded like a soft taco.  Inside is chicken, cheddar, bacon strips, and ranch sauce.  It's all melted together and holds well enough to eat while driving.  You can add lettuce and tomato if you want for an additional price (see previous "nickel and diming" comment).  I think there were some sauce options too.

It's Independence Day, where America celebrates its birthday with fireworks, picnics, and parades.  Said parades will include class reunion floats.  And my class, being up for its 30th reunion, is no exception.

I skipped going this year, just as I skipped the 20th and 10th reunions.  Truth be known, I was an outsider with no real friends in my class.  They literally won't notice I'm not there, and I'm not really one to dwell in the past.  Still, I've seen more of this reunion than the previous ones thanks to Facebook.  It's sort of surprising just how many of my classmates I have no recollection of whatsoever.  We were a small class for our school at around 150.  We were also kind of the "anti-class" class.  We didn't play well with others.  If we're remembered for anything, it's for literally put an end to pep assemblies by introducing the concept of bench-clearing brawls to class spirit challenges.

Yeah, good times.

From what I can tell, maybe twenty-to-thirty showed up.  They did a float.  They're having a picnic.  They all appear to have done well for themselves.  They look really happy and I'm absolutely certain that I would have felt as out of place with them now as I was back in the day.

But it's nice to see them looking happy together anyway.