In the news 04/13/2014

This was actually something that I saw/read a week or so ago but I've just gotten around to posting about it.

     From Deadspin:

          Cleveland Indians Fan In Redface Meets A Native American

Click here for article while it lasts.

To turn stuff like this into bullshit controversy is what's wrong with the press or news industry. They try to make things that aren't that big of deal or controversial in to a controversial big deal. I'm not saying that Native Americans (aka Indians) weren't taken advantage of or oppressed but to say that team names and mascots are racist is ridiculous to me.

Just because some person (in this case a white man) dresses up in some fashion of his favorite team mascot doesn't mean he should feel insensitive, embarrassed or ashamed for the way he supported his team. Now if someone was saying, "Scalp the Redskins or Chiefs or whatever" then maybe there can be some insensitivity there.

I guess we should just go ahead and fix the names for Chicago Blackhawks, black tea, black ice...in respect of the oppression and mistreatment of blacks.

What the hell...we should just go ahead and start at the top and change the name of The White House!

I think you get the ridiculousness of it all. If you don't, the great old U. S. of A. is doomed.

Genghis Grill "rewards"

I'm a Khan Klub member with Genghis Grill. As such, I get email deals sent to me. Sometimes they're not very good deals. Sometimes they are good deals. Most of the time they are just okay deals.

To me, as a business if you create a "fan club" for people to join, it should provide its members with mostly good or very good deals. These members obviously use your business and were willing to join your email fan club for perks. It would be courteous for the business to reciprocate the customer's gesture.

I'm not saying EVERY deal has to be BOGO or something like that but 8 out of 10 deals emailed to me from the Khan Klub are a waste of digital space and a thankless poke in the eye from Genghis.

I've used a few of the Khan Klub deals that I thought were good. One was a BOGO bowl with the purchase of two drinks. Now, if I didn't always get a drink, this wouldn't be that good of a deal. A dinner bowl is like $9.99. A drink is $1.89 x 2. So, the deal would cost roughly $13.80 before tax and small tip. Which is like $10.00 off. That's not too shabby. I've also used another deal that was two bowls, two drinks, and a dessert for $19.99 So, technically that's getting the two drinks and dessert for free.

Today's deal wasn't too bad but I've had better (like the ones I've described). Deal of today was BOGO small bowl with purchase of two drinks. A small dinner bowl is like $7.99. So, I just saved around $8.00 but that's better than spending $8.00. The small bowl is noticeably smaller than the regular bowl but it's not like I couldn't pile that shit in the small bowl like I do the regular!

In conclusion, it doesn't cost anything to sign up for the Khan Klub. The deals usually have to be used by a certain time...typically anywhere form 3-5 days after I received the email. You also get some kind of points every time you dine there as long as you have your Khan's card or your Klub member number. I usually forget to have my card and there's no way I'll memorize my member number but now I have it in my wallet. I'll probably not go again since I have it in my wallet. :-)

Email deals from TigerDirect

I am on the email listserv for TigerDirect. The above image is from their latest email blast. I can't say that I've ever purchased anything from the TigerDirect sales email. I may have purchased something from TigerDirect.com in the past which is probably why I'm on the email list.

I don't understand why they would put an item in their sale email blast that is ALREADY sold out. What the hell is the point? Are they trying to show that they are that good at deals and the products sell out quickly? I just don't get it.

I'm not a marketing professional and I certainly wasn't a marketing major but I really don't think there is a need or a good reason to place an item in a sales email blast that is not available.

And just so you're sure, the email does not reflect real-time. So if the product sold out after the email was sent, it would not have reflected the sell out.

Anyway, just thought I'd say something about the stupidity!

Grocery shopping not just about the groceries

With the grocery store "rewards" cards for the major grocers, it's not just about the groceries anymore. Add the fact that the big grocers of Kroger and Tom Thumb have apps, it makes it even easier to learn about or get deals.

A few months or more ago, I moved from one side of the neighborhood to the other...basically about a mile across town.

The previous side was closer to Kroger so I shopped there more for my groceries with my Kroger Plus card. Originally, the Kroger Plus card gave gas points that I could use at the pump depending on how much I spent. It only worked at the gas stations that were Kroger gas stations. The Kroger I shopped at has a gas station in the parking lot but it is a Chevron. So, these gas points were useless to me except for when I drive through Euless, TX which is the only place where I know a Kroger with a Kroger gas station exists and is in my paths of mostly traveled. A couple of years ago Kroger teamed up with Shell to provide these points and so the same gas benefit was now available. Good since there is a Shell a few blocks from the Kroger. I grocery shopped at Kroger a lot for this "benefit" as well as they were the only close grocery store that had self-check out registers.

My current side of the neighborhood is closer (very close) to a Tom Thumb where I use my Rewards Club card for groceries. This store is much smaller than the Kroger where I used to shop and it doesn't have self-check out. The convenient location is great but the selection isn't always for what I'm looking. I occasionally have to drive to another Tom Thumb which is a few blocks or so down from the Kroger I used to frequent. Anyway, I always use my Rewards card when shopping at Tom Thumb because it gives me really good BOGO deals or cheaply-priced items that I frequently purchase.

A little sidebar—I sometimes, but rarely lately, shop at Albertsons because each store has their own good pricing on certain items I like and Albertsons has had many a good deal, on meats particularly. Although Albertsons no longer uses a rewards card (marketing ploy), they do have some very good deals once in a while. However, Albertsons is far from either side of the neighborhoods I've lived.

I mentioned it before that one of the perks of the rewards cards is gas points. Since I've been shopping at Tom Thumb, I've earned some fuel points here and there. Recently, I earned $1.70 off my price per gallon at the Tom Thumb gas pump. The price on the receipt below shows $2.09/gallon. The price before using my fuel points was $3.79/gallon. That shit's unheard of!

So I guess the point of the post is use your grocery rewards cards, especially if it's for a Kroger or Tom Thumb.

Aloha Hawaiian BBQ in Dallas

Before the Christmas holidays (yeah, this post has been THAT delayed), I was asked by a friend and former neighbor if I had ever eat at Aloha Hawaiian BBQ. My response was, "No, but now that I know about it I will more than likely try it...pretty soon." Five days later on a Monday evening, I took my kids to go check it out.

The problem with restaurants claiming to serve Hawaiian or Filipino food is they tend to miss the mark. However, Aloha does a very good job in matching the tastes of many dishes I've had in Hawaii as well as at L&L Hawaiian BBQ in Plano.

Portuguese Sausage Musubi (left), Spam Musubi (right)

Lunch Chicken Katsu/BBQ Chicken (far) and
Chicken Katsu/Kalua Pork (near)

This is just a couple of the items that they had on their lunch menu. There are others like Kalua Pork Plate and BBQ Mix Plate which I've only had at dinner. The mac salad is very close to L&L or any of the restaurants in Hawaii. I'm not sure what makes it taste slightly different but it's still completely acceptable.

So, if you get a chance, make a run to Aloha Hawaiian BBQ on Lemmon Ave near Inwood. You won't be disappointed unless you're like the many clueless mainlanders that do not understand the Hawaiian cuisine and therefore are looking for just steamed rice, fried chicken or barbecue Texas-style.

Charley's Grilled Subs in The Dallas Galleria

I took the kids and a couple of their friends to The Galleria Mall—you can tell it was some time ago if you look at the date on the receipt. I don't frequent malls much at all these days. Hate 'em! Hate being around so many people caught up in themselves, their phones, the cluelessness. It's a horde of people unaware of their surroundings or other people and I prefer not to be around them else I find myself as the top story on the five o'clock news for beating the crap out of one of the mindless.

Anyway, we were all hungry and weren't sure what we wanted but didn't want the standards of McDonald's or Subway.

Enter Charley's Grilled Subs on the top floor! (or company website here)

I've never heard of Charley's. One of the kids' friends had it once and said it wasn't too bad. So, we decided to try it.

 

If you look at the price per combo on the receipt compared to the size of the philly sandwich pictured (albeit it's only about half a sandwich but it wasn't much bigger full), I'd have to say that it wasn't worth it to me. It's as much the size of the sandwich as it was the taste of the philly sandwich. It just wasn't anything tasty and special where I'd have say, "Damn, I'm at the Galleria and hungry so I'm going to have Charley's again." Add in the fries which were very underwhelming and I'd have to say I'll probably never eat at a Charley's Grilled Subs again.

A Redbox reminder is already unavailable

I got this email reminder from Redbox that Thor: The Dark World is available for rental today.

I checked at 7:30 a.m. and it is not available anywhere near me!  How is that possible?

Now granted, the email reminder was sent around 2 a.m. but really? Enough people were up at that time or even midnight just waiting to rent Thor from Redbox?

Weird...and disappointing.

This is not Showtime Championship Boxing

LogMeIn is no longer free

I've enjoyed the freedom of using LogMeIn Free. I understand that as a business there is a need to make money. I get it.

But, I don't use LogMeIn anywhere enough to get charged for it. Any amount charged is too much for my use of it. I'm sure 90% of the LogMeIn Free users are in the same boat. $40 for a year is fairly generous if you use LogMeIn for something more than logging in to a remote computer that you need to email/upload/whatever a file or something to access/view at the current location you are at. Now, I've used the trial of LogMeIn Pro where you can drag and drop files from one computer to the other like it was one drive to another on the same computer. Make sense? Again, it's just not worth my money for how I use it.

There are many other ways to remotely log in to a computer...and they are free. I will look into these other ways.

I do thank LogMeIn for the free use I did get out of their software. I don't fault them for their business necessities. It's probably a pretty good call to charge for their software. They weren't making money on LogMeIn Free so even if those "Free" users no longer use LogMeIn, the company is not losing any more money. It seems to be a good business decision for the business but not for the "free" customer.

So, I guess my point is I've read a lot of comments by bitter people about LogMeIn charging for what so many have been getting for free. Not me. The services I've used (Free and Pro—albeit limited) were good and I had no real complaints. I haven't used other similar software except the built-in Windows Remote Desktop but the LogMeIn service was very useful to me when I needed it and how I used it. Is there something better? I don't know but I wouldn't complain about being charged if I extensively and constantly needed/used the LogMeIn service to its fullest potential.

Alexandra Daddario

Just the other (or a couple of weeks ago), I watched Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters. A few times I saw Alexandra Daddario talking, walking and running when I thought to myself, "DAMN! She's got some pretty big boobs." Part of the interest could not help but be peaked because of the straining button that was just barely restraining her ginormous breasts throughout 90% of the movie. I wouldn't say that she's drop-dead gorgeous but I would say she's pretty attractive. It doesn't hurt to have a pretty rocking body with naturally huge breasts. See the GIF below that I found from a Google search.

So, I type this today because my hopes and wants were answered. She apparently has a pretty nice nude scene in the HBO series True Detective. I haven't seen the series as I don't have HBO but if Alexandra's going to be dropping trough more often, I will make a point to watch using my buddy's HBOGO account.

Morena Baccarin

This is Morena Baccarin from Homeland.

That's all you need to know.

Okay, not really.

I've just now started watching this series via my AT&T Uverse OnDemand and/or Netflix. I think I'm around episode eight or nine in season two.

It's a good show although occasionally far-fetched in some situations. I mean it's good enough to keep my attention so I'll watch it until the end.

Kent Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen

I started this a few weeks ago...probably around December 10^th or so. I get busy. Sue me!

Because the boss of the office I work in typically takes out and pays for all of her minions for a Christmas holiday luncheon, I had the opportunity to dine at Kent Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen in Prestonwood Center in Dallas.

In the past, we have eaten at Buca Di Peppo. Buca isn't too bad but it's also not something that I tell people that they have to try. It's always been free when I've gone but I'm not sure I would want to pay for it or it would be an option that I would chose from. My mindset is if I'm going to pay for food and pay more than what I consider a decent price ($8-$10 or less a person), I'm going to go somewhere that is really, REALLY good!

Kent Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen is about the same for me. I'm not going to run out and tell people that they don't want to miss trying this place for lunch or dinner. I don't know if the prices for dinner are more expensive than those at lunch. If they are, I would recommend people staying away from this place and try something else in the same price range. There are plenty of other places that I would compare Rathbun's too and they would win my recommendation hands down.

So anyway, let me describe my experience...

At first glance from the outside, the signage and building look pretty low key—nothing fancy or flashy. It's not in a stand-alone building but more of a strip mall so maybe that's why it's not full of frills and flash. Not a big deal as frills and flash usually are done to help redirect people's attention from some flaw or failure in the business.

Entering the restaurant was kind of interesting as the entrance is a revolving door versus the typical push/pull door. I would have thought this type of door would have provided more of a seal from the outdoor elements but it didn't. I'll probably touch more on this later. The host/hostess stand is right inside the entrance and we (I was with two female coworkers) were greeted by the hostess and someone who looked/acted like the restaurant manager. The manager looked to be carrying a walkie talkie which was somewhat silly since the entire restaurant was similar in size to a standard Applebee's—the open concept and more of a square/rectangular shape overall. I don't what he was carrying exactly as I didn't pay too much attention but it was something I noticed him holding in his hand as he pointed us to our lined tables for the big group. I got the feeling that this place felt they were much cooler or "refined" than they really are.

We get to our seats and got out drink order taken. The appetizers were ordered by the boss and were a variety of items like fried green tomatoes, calamari and some other things that I can't remember what. I don't know if the boss ordered sampler plates but it looked like it as there were probably around six plates with a variety of items.

The waiter made his way around the table taking people's orders and explaining the specials and the food items in general. I went with the special of the day which was a sirloin steak sandwich with sweet potato fries. My good friend and coworker ordered the grilled ahi sliders. The two of us also split the shrimp, crab and lobster "coleslaw" salad.

We got our salad first which is what we asked. I'm not a food critic. I know what I like and I know what I don't like. I was very disappointed. Living in the south and living in Texas, there is a certain kind of coleslaw we are used to. I know that. I am not opposed to trying varieties of a food item. That's what makes eating food so awesome...the many different ways an item can be made and still taste good. Unfortunately, Rathbun's does not know how to make their "coleslaw" taste good. It was a huge bowl for sure and one person would be pretty full after eating the whole bowl. They did split it in two bowls for us. However, it only had six medium sized shrimp (3 per bowl) and I really couldn't tell you how much crab and lobster. It took me a few minutes to figure out that the very finely sliced brown stuff was lobster. It was more like they used the lobster to flavor or garnish than it being part of the actual salad. I can't remember ever finding or tasting the crab. There was about 95% red cabbage, 3% shrimp, 1% thin crispy things (think of long croutons), and 1% lobster/crab. My friend and I both ate all the shrimp given, ate what we could of the lobster and the crispy things. There was a WHOLE LOT of red cabbage left in both of our bowls.

We finally got our entrees. The steak was sliced into four or five medallion-type sizes. On top of those, there was melted cheese (Swiss I think) two or three fried green tomatoes, and then some sauce like a gravy. The bun was very thick on top and bottom. It was all held together with three toothpicks. The sandwich was SO thick that unless you're a reptile and can unhitch your jaw, there was no way anyone could eat this as a sandwich. I had to open it like a philly cheese steak to start but then I just ate the steak as if I sliced it myself. I tried to eat a slice of the fried green tomatoes with each steak piece to add some taste to them. When all was said and done, the bread/bun was left from the sandwich. The sweet potato fries were so dang salty that I think they should have been called salt with a slight hint of sweet potato flavoring.

For the grilled ahi sliders, my friend and coworker almost ate them the same as I with the steak sandwich. She ate one with the bun/bread and another she just ate the ahi out of the slider. The third one she gave to me and I ate it with just the bottom half of the bun. What I remember about the ahi is that it was a bit over peppered.

On to dessert. It was a variety of options like the appetizers. I think the boss had them bring out some of everything from the dessert menu. You can do chocolate cake, cheesecake or bread pudding wrong.

Overall, knowing what I know now, I would have gone straight for dessert at Rathbun's. However, I'd much rather have a good and tasty entree than a dessert so I wouldn't go to Rathbun's in the first place. For the pricey PRICEY items on the menu, I truly expected better than I experienced.

What more can I say about this

Saw this gift card at my local Tom Thumb. I think I'll be shopping there more often.
 

 

 

∞
That's all I got to say about that!