I thought I was staying at the same hotel as my friend Kat, but it turns out she was at a different Hilton. NBD. The hotel I stayed at was right outside the UNC campus and had a lot of restaurants and bars so she ended up coming over to that area and hanging out. As far as food and drink goes, it was one of the best places I have been. The first night I didn't get in until 7 or so and just wanted a shower and sleep so I didn't go out. The second night Kat met me at a place called 401 Main. It was the night of the debate and neither of us were really into watching it but they had a DNC watch party with a dj and drink specials so we gave it a go. The food was pretty good and the blackberry mule was amazing. We both got caprese sandwiches that were really good. I had been looking at things to do in the area and found a place called Dingo Dog brewery. The founder got involved with rescue after Katrina he teamed up with a friend and started brewing beer and cider and combined both of those. It is a non-profit brewery with all the proceeds going to rescue. With a deal like that you can't not drink! I ended up there at one point every night I was there. I told Dennis I might have to learn to brew beer and start one up here. Of course I don't like beer so that might be an issue. What an amazing place it was though. I tired the blackberry, peach, honeysuckle, and guava ciders, all were really good.
The next day I went with my friend Doug to another brewery for lunch and had cheeseburger egg rolls. Again, they were amazing. No drinks since we had to go back and sit through mind numbing stuff. That night I wasn't in the mood to hang with anyone. Both Kat and Doug had friends that live close and both invited me to hang out with them but I didn't want to feel like a third wheel so I went to my brewery for a drink and then to a little tap room and had a kids meal and a cider. They were playing trivia and a table of college age kids were next to me and the question was what sport did Jason Lee from My Name is Earl participate in. They were about to put down hockey and I told them they needed a Gen X phone a friend because he was 100% a skateboarder. I felt like I did my good deed for the day. I made it back to my room and watched Master Pancake Theater (kind of like Mystery Science Theater 3000) riff Beetlejuice.
The last day we got out around 1, Kat lives in Georgia so she drove and was going to head back but went and got lunch first. I got probably one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. It had Worcestershire cheese sauce, blue cheese, and mushrooms. It was so good! After lunch I went back to the hotel and walked around the area for awhile. It was a neat town. I didn't have a bad meal the entire time I was there. I haven't weighed in several months and I am kind of scared to. I have an appointment with the rheumatologist Thursday so I will find out then what the damage is. I have to try not to fall into the trap if I am over XXX, not even sure what that is. Maybe I should have them weight me with my back to the scale.
Work is super busy. We started our annual field update stuff yesterday and it is in a new system, I won't bore you with the details, but I have to make sure everyone is put in correctly and obviously no on checks the status until they have to so I have had a bunch of SOS emails and calls. I will be putting out fires well into October. I like being busy though so it's kind of nice. The days fly by.
Saturday morning I got a message that A was in the hospital. After all the years of playing hockey they decided to let him try football instead. This is his first year on the team and he told me when I saw him last week that he really liked it and that he was a starter. Apparently he had a pretty tough hit on Monday during his game. By Friday he was throwing up and wasn't acting right. His dad took him to the hospital and they found a brain bleed. They kept him overnight and well into the evening on Saturday trying to control his nausea. The bleed was small enough that he didn't require surgery, thank goodness for that. Once he was finally able to keep food down they went ahead and sent him home. The doctor said no more football. Not sure what they will do. Hockey isn't great in this part of the country. They had to travel to Dallas or KC almost every weekend for games because we are just too small of a market to have that many teams. It is also very expensive in comparison to other sports. I am not a football fan at all so I wasn't particularly thrilled with him playing, but, ya know, not my kid. He will need to find some kid of activity as he wouldn't do well with free time. Maybe soccer? I know less about that then I do football.
Alright, lunch if over. I gotta get bak to the grind.
I always laugh at the word Worcestershire. I can pronounce it both the Brit way and the U.S. way but I saw a video of some southern dude saying it as "washyoursister sauce". So every time I see that word I think of that pronunciation.
ReplyDeleteDon't sweat whether you've gained or lost. You enjoyed the trip and ate good food and you can't axe for more than that! I'm trying to reset my relationship with food while reading "The Hunger Habit" so am trying to not sweat what my weight is. Trying.
I want a Worcestershire, blue cheese, mushroom burger!
ReplyDeleteI hope A is okay. I remember when the boys played freshman football. They called it head injury season. ;~(
Inflation is nuts here as well. This is what we get when there is limited competition and large multinationals own everything.
ReplyDeleteI used to buy a lot of produce from a farmers collective in Spain. The quality was excellent compared to what I can get here and the prices were on par with what I pay here. Now they're pushing that their farmers are "organic" and use "regenerative farming techniques" and have raised their prices accordingly. That's ended up being a big fat nope for me. I know how much they'd get selling their produce in Spain where prices are overall lower. I personally don't care if it's organic (hint: organic farming can still use pesticides) and "regenerative". I'm not paying more than I would pay for produce I buy here. Plus they've been hit and miss lately in terms of quality but that's a different rant.
G. has a strong work ethic, very strong and is a great organizer and so great for an office gig. That she's getting offers that are only part-time (60 hours per month is the legal minimum to be considered employed) and minimum wage is just nuts. Then there are the "mini job" offers. Those pay a flat €400 per month, no benefits and are kinda sorta tax free (it's complicated). Of course stacking those jobs to reach full time status is tough to do since everyone expects that you'll be available whenever they want you. But those CEO's sure keep raking it in!