Thunderstorms in January

Place: Hardee's
Lunch: 1/3 lb Thickburger (no tomato), "Red Burrito" taco salad

Oh look! Hardee's has a new logo. THAT'LL solve all their problems...

The help here is overwhelmed. They can't keep up with the orders. They're reviewing and double-reviewing everything to make sure they're putting the right stuff on the right trays. They're confused. And there's probably four sets of customers in the whole place. Maybe three at the drive-thru...two of which haven't ordered. I count five working staffers, but two of them are on break.

Almost everybody who goes through the drive-thru while I'm there wants the same thing...the 2 for $3 quarter pound cheeseburger special advertised on big posters in the windows. They all get the same response from the help..."We're out of those." Some of them just leave, some of them order something else. And some who order drive off after waiting at the window for what I'm sure seemed like an eternity.

I suppose I could wonder aloud why a chain is offering a quarter-pound cheeseburger special when they don't offer quarter-pound burgers on the regular menu in the first place, but I won't.

When the food DID arrive, it was the correct order. The burger was hot and delicious. The taco salad could use some improvement. The taco meat was stale and dry. It was still pretty good, I guess. And the front line girls are SUPER nice and very apologetic to everybody about the wait. Most of the customers are visibly, if not verbally, annoyed. Except me. I have nothing going on today. I can take a nap. Do you have any pillows? Of course, not silly. You don't even have any quarter-pound burger patties.

You expect thunderstorms in the Midwest, but you expect them in the summer. At 11:30pm on January 1, we had a thunderstorm that rumbled for more than a half hour. Thunder, lightning, and rain. The first thunderstorm of 2006 happened on New Year's Day.

This is going to be one strange year.

Cheap Burgers and Furniture

Place: White Castle
Lunch: Six White Castles, regular Fish Nibblers, and a free Snickerdoodle cookie.

I ordered my White Castles and the Fish Nibblers, and the clerk mumbled something about a free cookie for ordering...uh...something. I'm not sure why, but I got a free cookie. As did everybody who ordered after me. I'm not sure what THEY ordered either.

So here's how I eat White Castles...I take two sandwiches, discard the top buns, and make double-patty burgers. The reason I discard the top bun is because the bottom buns are steamed on top of the meat as it cooks, so it absorbs the flavor. Removing the top bun greatly increases the overal flavor of the burger. Yes? Yes. Yes indeed. Plus you can save the top buns to feed to birds.

After lunch, I went to IKEA, the Swedish furniture kings of cheap "assemble it yourself" modern furniture made out of presswood with faux veneer wood finishes. They do furniture, kitchen cabinets, desks, media centers, and more. They have some self-branded appliances as well, which I CERTAINLY hope don't require assembly.

Anyway, this was my first time. It was neato and totally unique. The showroom is one winding designated path with occasional mapped shortcuts. People wind through the showroom carrying yellow courtesy bags ("They hold a lot", the sign says) writing item numbers down on scratch pads so they can find the stuff they want to buy in the warehouse at the end of the path. Yes, the massive warehouse is self-service.

I managed to get through there without spending any money. Mostly because I don't HAVE any...