Tuesday, February 23, 2010

B.B. Has a New Meaning

Over the years my nickname, B.B. has stood for many things. But it stands for something else now.
B.B. stands for Bride to Be.
Yep, that's right folks, Dave and I are going to tie the noose, err....I mean knot. The Saturday after Thanksgiving Dave asked me to marry him , and I've been dying to share the news with all of you, but there were some people who needed to be told first and we wanted to make sure that they were told in person and didn't read about it on the Internet.
We are very excited! Most of you know that I have been waiting for this, and I always knew it was coming, but I can be very impatient at times. Even though I have felt tortured at times waiting, I'm happy that Dave waited until the time was right to ask me.
The details of the proposal will remain private and intimate, but I can tell you that it was perfect.
We will be getting married August 7th and are planning a possible honeymoon trip to Sturgis. I will keep you all posted on the plans, 165 days and counting!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Restuarant Rant of The Week

I approach a table, ask if they are ready to order or if they need more time. One, or sometimes all of the people at the table say. "We're ready to order."
Okay, ten seconds, okay, twenty seconds, "Okay, well let me give you all a little more time to make your decisions."
"No, we're ready now."
Okay, ten seconds, okay, twenty seconds, okay, now I'm starting to stare off into space or looking around at my other tables who might be waiting for me to get them something while you're monopolizing my time while you read the menu.
If you aren't ready, say you aren't ready. I will come back. Not only is it completely uncomfortable for me to stand over you at your table in silence, but it is also rude to all the other guests in the restaurant who are also paying for my time and attention.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Does Riding Your Own Make You a Better Passenger

When I first started riding on the back of Dave's bike he always told me what a good passenger I was. He said he usually forgot I was on the back, which sometimes was apparent by the way he rode. So when I first started learning to ride my own I wondered about how that would affect me as a passenger. At first I thought it was making me a better passenger. I started understanding more why he did some of the things he did. I started to anticipate certain situations, and it especially helped when riding in a group because I became aware of possible hazards that I could point out to riders behind us.
Now I've been riding my own for about a year and a half, and have only ridden on back with Dave a handful of times. Saturday we went out for a short and sweet ride with a couple who we have recently become friends with, thanks to the friendship of our two boys. I wasn't feeling very good, but I still wanted to go out, so I decided I would ride with Dave. I started realizing that maybe riding my own didn't make me such a good passenger. Once you are able to be in control of something, it's kind of hard to give that up. I found myself trying to help Dave control the bike, which I'm sure made things difficult for him. I kept telling myself to relax and go with it, just like I had done for so long all those times I had ridden with him, but it was really hard.
I don't know if anyone else has this problem, or if it's just another area in my life where I'm over thinking things. But in my conclusion, in my case, I feel like riding my own has made me a worse passenger. With that being said, I guess it's just something I'll have to deal with on those rare occasions when I ride on the back, and remember that being in control is one of the things I love about riding my own. If I have to choose between being a good passenger and a good operator, I think the obvious choice is being a good operator.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Restaurant Rant of the Week

Okay, I'm busy as hell so this will be short and sweet......Seems like common sense to me, but I hear it a lot so I guess maybe it isn't.
"I got here before them, why did they get their food first?"
Duh.....things don't always take the same amount of time to cook. If you ordered a 1/2 lb. burger well done, and the other table ordered a salad, what do you think takes longer to prepare?
Told ya...short and sweet.

Hope you all have a great V-Day....hope even more that this isn't the only day of the year that you do nice things for the people you love!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Restaurant Rant of the Week

I have decided to start a weekly series here on my blog. It is not motorcycle related, but it is something that is a huge part of my life, so as far as I'm concerned it's relevant.
I work in a restaurant and I love to go to restaurants, and one thing I've noticed is that we are all very quick to judge and rate service....but have you ever stopped for a minute to judge yourself as a guest? No? Well, then let me help you. Please consider this a Free Public Service.

For my first issue I will discuss seating in a restaurant. When you go into an establishment that is not "seat yourself", there is a reason it isn't. So unless you have an actual physical impairment that prevents you from sitting wherever the hostess/server is trying to seat you.......SHUT UP and SIT DOWN. There are reasons why we seat the restaurant the way that we do. It is not random. We have sections and table numbers and each server is assigned a section. We rotate tables for one to make it fair, but also so none of the servers get too many tables at once and end up getting overwhelmed.
Now, if you insist, of course we will seat you wherever you like....you are the boss after all. But when that happens one of two things can come next. Either the server whose turn it was supposed to be will take you, even though you are not in their section, or the server whose section you are in will take you, even though it wasn't their turn.
Scenario one...A server takes a table out of their section- There is a very good likelihood that you will be forgotten. This isn't on purpose, but if they are busy in their section it is very easy to overlook a table that they were never supposed to have in the first place.
Scenario two...Your server probably got double, or triple sat, so they aren't going to get to you as fast as the other server would have. Your order will most likely come up right about the same time as the other table/s and may sit in the window for a minute while the other food is run first. You most likely won't get as good of service as you would have, because your server is getting overwhelmed with too many tables, especially if you aren't the only one with "particular seating desires".

That's it for this issue, I look forward to sharing more restaurant knowledge with all of you, and I can already tell that this is going to be very therapeutic for me.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Two Different Versions.... Two Different Morals

I remember Joker posting something similar, or maybe it was exactly the same, but I got this in an email this morning and thought I'd throw it up here. ;)

OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving. CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood..The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.