Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Soup Season

Place: Chick-Fil-A
Lunch: Original chicken sandwich (w/mayo), chicken noodle soup, lemonade

I walked outside without my coat into 43 degrees and heavy rain, so soup was definitely on the lunch agenda.  Chick-Fil-A, who has the best chicken noodle soup, it is.

Apparently this Chick-Fil-A, which has pretty much been printing money since it opened, wasn't printing enough money, so they've converted the single drive-thru lane into a double.  This makes backing out of the already narrow parking lot a strategic maneuver.  You might as well just park across the path at the end of the Kohl's lot and walk over.  They've also expanded the inside counter order area by removing the condiment-napkin-plasticware station and adding a zig-zag line.

By the time I figured out where they hid the mayonnaise packets and spoons (down the side corridor between the main entrance and the bathrooms), my food was ready.

As I have noted previously, Chick-Fil-A is the official restaurant of human females.  They treat the chain like Californians treat In-N-Out Burger.  The women sitting behind me are textbook examples.

"I just LOVE Chick-Fil-A!" one of them exclaims.  "I always feel SO CARED FOR here!"

Same woman: "Isn't it exciting that we get to sit in a BOOTH?"

Other woman, later: "How's your soup?"

"It's SO DELICIOUS!  I just LOVE it!"

She's also exclaiming something at their table is "SO CUTE!"  Jeepers.  Did she just get out of prison or something?  She sounds like me when I was forced to live in Alaska for ten years whenever I'd escape to civilization and have access to a McDonald's.

Settle down, Beavis.

Wednesday, October 04, 2017

Stop It

Place: Hardee's
Lunch: $5 All-Star Meal (double cheeseburger, jumbo hot dog, fries, cookie, Coke)

Go ahead and kill me, diabetes.  Nobody cares.  Least of all me.

$5 seems to be the magical promo number these days with most chains.  KFC has their $5 Fill-Ups, McDonald's is doing the $5 version of their McPick 2, DQ has done a $5 Buck Lunch before (might still for all I know) and Hardee's has four versions of their $5 All-Star Meal.  All four have the double cheeseburger, fries, cookie, and Coke.  The difference is a single item.  It can be a hot dog, spicy chicken sandwich, chicken tenders, or onion rings.  We're all aware of my mental disorder where when I hear the words "hot dog" I must immediately have one, so...

The food is literally served in a box.  Well...not the drink.  That would be soggy.  You have to dig through the fries to find the burger and hot dog.  The hot dog is decent enough.  They give you one little completely inadequate packet of mustard for it.  The cookie is really good.  And I keep forgetting about how good Hardee's basic double cheeseburger is.

My personal favorite of the deals out there right now is Burger King's.  2 for $6 Whoppers, plus you can get 10 chicken nuggets for $1.49.  $7.49 for an obscene amount of food.  Hit the drive-thru, take it with you, and pour your own beverage.

Last week sucked on a personal level.  So I really really really did not need to wake up to images of chaos amidst the backdrop of Mandalay Bay on Monday morning.  Las Vegas is one of my favorite places.  I wanted to jump on the next flight and give the city a big warm hug.

It's an obvious target for terrorists or plain idiots like this guy was.  Doesn't make actions like this excusable.  Doesn't make ANY violence excusable.

There's WAY too much violence, tension, and verbal abuse in the world anymore, and it's impossible to move forward until y'all can recognize that we all have differences, and that's okay.  There's nothing wrong with having different faiths.  There's nothing wrong with having different political beliefs.  There's nothing wrong with having different skin colors.  There's nothing wrong with having different sexual preferences.  There's nothing wrong with having unique gender identities.  There's nothing wrong with being a cat person or dog person.  There's nothing wrong with liking different foods.

There is absolutely something wrong with blindly ridiculing, bullying, hurting, and killing those who you oppose.

Stop it.  Stop it right now.

Stop snickering at the two guys walking down the street holding hands.  Or the guy with a limp.  Stop catcalling women like their prey.  Stop THINKING of women like they're prey.  Stop crossing the street because you assume the kid in front of you wants to mug you.  Stop assuming everyone who isn't of your political beliefs is a racist or Nazi or supremacist or whatever the latest fad catchphrase is that you're completely misusing.  You're making a complete fool of yourself every time you do that.  And stop thinking your thoughts or actions are excused because you know of somebody who does it more than you.  You seriously sound like little children on the playground.

If you can't handle somebody because they're different than you, just stay in your isolated little corner of the world, build a blanket fort, and cower in your irrational fear.  Leave the rest of us alone.

We are going nowhere as a society until everyone just calms the hell down.  And for those of you angrily reading this and thinking how your position in life entirely justifies your hate for whatever or whoever it is you hate, YOU are the one who needs to take a good hard look in the mirror more than anyone.

I know, I know, this guy was seemingly just shooting random people.  Unless his expression was specifically against country music fans, my rant doesn't necessarily apply.  It DOES apply.  Because it all STARTS here.  So shut up.

Then, out of nowhere, Tom Petty died.  Cripes.

Settle down, life.

At least the weather's finally cooling down.