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Archive for October, 2011
So Ryan & Annie got married yesterday. Congrats! Here’s some random photos of it all…
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That’s me in my hotel room the night before. Geeky wedding goodness would start the next morning. Even Joey Snackpants was on hand (and staying in a room one floor above me in the hotel.)
Getting dressed in Snackpants’ room for the wedding. PIMP.
Ryan taping where we’re supposed to stand. All that Wasabi Animusical training PAID OFF!
Notice the map for placing the gaff tape.
Chairs.
I stand here.
Ryan got his arm in the photo at the last minute. DAMMIT!
Snackpants putting on Ryan’s boutineer… mainly because none of us knew how to. (Snacky actually put all of ours on.)
Ooooh. Pretty.
Chairs again.
Yes, I know. I have pretty eyes.
Shannon Croom. WEDDING PRO.
Annie walking down the aisle… PLUS that back of Ryan’s head!
View of those crazy kids getting hitched from behind home plate.
Photo of the photographers photographing the girls while photosynthesis is taking place (The sun and the green grass… yeah. I know. Weak. I’m a running short on caption ideas, though.)
More men in suits. DOUBLE PIMP.
Dressed up for a wedding. TRIPLE PIMP.
Why did I take a photo of my salad? I. Don’t. Know. I was really hungry, though.
Shannon sitting at the head table… LIKE A BOSS.
My photograph of the photographers.
FUN FACT: Those little Mickey Mouse things on the tables? Not candy. SOAP.
The Newlywed Scion #1
The Newlywed Scion #2
The Newlywed Scion #3
The Newlywed Scion #4
Today’s decline of Western Civilization is brought to you @HGI_INNsider (Hilton Garden Inn) in Georgia…
1So I’m in Jacksonville, Florida this weekend for a wedding (Orange Park to be exact.) In order to keep things relaxing at my end, I opted to drive up yesterday and I booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn Jacksonville/Orange Park.
Well priced room. Good bed. Clean area. No complaints…
until this morning.
I saw this on the desk where my laptop is sitting:
Thus, I write this short note to the folks who print these things:
Dear Person Who Wrote the Hilton Garden Inn High Speed Internet Desk Sign:
You should be aware that:
Sincerely,
Me
Chicago Trip in Review. (Here’s what we saw while we were there worth mentioning.)
0Back in August, Wasabi Anime appeared at Gen Con 2011. I took the opportunity to extend my stay there so that Shannon and I could go a couple of hours north and check out Chicago, Illinois – one of the remaining cities in the U.S. that I had never visited. With only a few days in town, we did out best to see things that we felt were the “must see” elements of the city. Here’s the highlights:
The top of the Willis (Sears) Tower. Worth it. GREAT views of the city and the lake. (Click here for all the photos.) There’s even sections near the top where you can look down along the edge of the building. A little unnerving, but epic.
A road sign that just doesn’t exist in Florida.
I suddenly feel like I’m in Gotham City. Wonder why?
We went to the Art Institute of Chicago. Totally worth it.
Especially for this painting.
As a road trip addict, I found the fact that this exists right outside the museum TOTALLY EPIC.
We walked out to the end of the Navy Pier. NOT worth it. Very touristy and not enough “Chicago” to it. It did, though, have a nice view of the lake.
We visited the Field Museum. TOTALLY worth it – even if it was just to see this:
The John G. Shedd Aquarium. It was fun, but it wouldn’t have ruined the trip if we had missed it. I guess I’m spoiled living near the ocean.
BEST THING IN CHICAGO… we went here:
We ate hot dogs and drank beer:
We watched this on a perfect game day:
The most striking thing about Chicago (aside from the legend of the awesome pizza being totally true) is how clean the city was. They do a great job keeping the streets free of trash and it all had a very “theme park” feel to it. Do I need to go back to Chicago? Probably not, but I wouldn’t shirk the opportunity if it came up again.
Gino’s East Pizzeria in Chicago, Illinois…
1This post brings my Man v. Food location count up to fifteen (15) locations visited. Yowza.
- Bub’s Burgers & Ice Cream in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Al’s #1 Italian Beef in Chicago, Illinois
- Edward’s Drive-In in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria in Kennesaw, Georgia
- La Moon in Miami, Florida
- Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, Florida
- The Old Salty Dog in Sarasota, Florida
- Hot N Juicy Crawfish in Las Vegas, Nevada
- The NASCAR Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Shula’s Steak House in Miami, Florida
- Gladys Knight And Ron Winans’ Chicken And Waffles in Atlanta, Georgia
- The Jack-N-Grill in Denver, Colorado
- The Buckhorn Exhange in Denver, Colorado
- The Vortex in Atlanta, Georgia
Almost all of us have been in that conversation where a friend/someone you know tells you about how you can never get REAL Chicago style pizza outside of Chicago and that anything you get anywhere else is nothing compared to the “real thing” and blah blah blah… You know what I’m talking about right? That annoying asshole who goes on and on and you think he (or she!) is just making a big deal over something trivial in order to seem like there’s some big secret that you are OBVIOUSLY missing out on.
Well, I’ve got news for you. The asshole was right and the “secret” is true: you cannot get REAL Chicago style pizza outside of Chicago. I should know. I eat a LOT of pizza. Thus begins our next MvF adventure.
Shannon and spent one of our evenings in Chicago walking down the Magnificent Mile, Chicago’s answer to New York’s Fifth Avenue. Off of one of the side streets there you can find Gino’s East which (allegedly) is home to the original deep dish “Chicago style” pizza. The decor in the place is made entertaining by the fact that patrons are encouraged to sign their name and leave notes on practically everything in the building. Note the back of Shannon’s seat and the wall behind her:
The look on her face is her waiting 45 minutes for her food. Under normal circumstances, this would sound like bad service at a restaurant – but it’s not. The service is great at Gino’s East. It just takes that long to make the pizza. Seriously.
In the end, here was our reward: The Meaty Legend.
Aside from the obvious mountains of delicious cheese and meaty goodness, the thing that was most noticeable was the crust. I am pretty sure a fair number of sticks of butter were sacrificed in the making of this thing, and you can taste it in the richness of the bready container holding the pizza together.
I don’t want to research it, but I feel certain that one slice of that little pie has close to one million calories in it.
ONE MILLION CALORIES OF AWESOME.
The pizza (and Chicago’s) reputation are intact with this Floridian. If I ever make it back to the windy city, I am definitely making the time for another visit to Gino’s East.
Bub’s Burgers & Ice Cream in Indianapolis, Indiana…
2Yes, this is the story about the time I ate a burger called “The Big Ugly.”
- Al’s #1 Italian Beef in Chicago, Illinois
- Edward’s Drive-In in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria in Kennesaw, Georgia
- La Moon in Miami, Florida
- Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, Florida
- The Old Salty Dog in Sarasota, Florida
- Hot N Juicy Crawfish in Las Vegas, Nevada
- The NASCAR Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Shula’s Steak House in Miami, Florida
- Gladys Knight And Ron Winans’ Chicken And Waffles in Atlanta, Georgia
- The Jack-N-Grill in Denver, Colorado
- The Buckhorn Exhange in Denver, Colorado
- The Vortex in Atlanta, Georgia
I gained five pounds on my Indianapolis/Chicago trip a couple of months ago. I think most of it was acquired here.
Bub’s is a really neat little place in a suburb of Indianapolis – about 20 minutes from the city depending on traffic. Getting there was made easier by way of getting to meet up with my old high school friend Dave DeRosa and his lovely wife Gwen. Dave and I hadn’t seen each other in the better part of a decade, so a reunion was long overdue. Our wives got to listen to epic adventures we had as teenagers including (but not limited to) zany shit like this video.
Back to the food, though. The Big Ugly, according to Bub’s menu, weighs in a full pound AFTER being cooked (and starts out at 22 oz. pre-cooked.) This sucker is ginormous and even comes with a ridiculously large bun to hold it. Look at this thing:
HUGE. As with most of the Man v. Food locations, Bub’s doesn’t compromise taste for size. As big as that damn thing looks, it tasted great. The meat was quality ground beef. Juicy. Cooked well. Not the cheap stuff.
Man ate meat and meat was good.
Two other things on the menu that deserve recognition:
- Milk Shakes – our server suggested to Shannon that she try a mint chocolate chip and cookie dough ice cream shake. It was epic. Best. Combo. Ever.
- Sweet Potato Fries – Gwen ordered these and they came with warm marshmallow fluff to dip them in. PURE GENIUS. It tasted like Thanksgiving in the summer.
Back to the burger: Bub’s has a wall of photos for folks who complete the burgers. One burger gets you a small photo. Two gets you an 8×10. Three gets you a life size photo. I finished my one burger and they even had me sign the photo:
So the dude is from Daytona Beach, FL? THAT explains #Anime Express! @NBCSNL
0It only hurts because so much of it is true. A niche of a niche of a niche is just… well… watch the video.
Follow up to the @Starbucks story from the other week.
1So last week I posted this little rant about the “What’s up” woman who works at my local Starbucks drive-thru.
Here’s what happened next:
I copied and pasted the blog post into an email to Starbucks customer service and waited to hear a response. The first reply, though, came via Twitter when this showed up in my Direct Message box.
After a couple of days, I received a phone call from a woman named June. While June’s phone number was from a Central Florida area code, she informed me that she was currently in Seattle on business but would immediately address the issue when she got back the next day. June is a District Manager for Starbucks and (if memory serves) she has been with the company for almost fourteen years.
I like June.
I like June because a couple of days later I got a phone call early in the morning. Ironically, it was about ten minutes after I had left my local Starbucks drive-thru. It seems June had dropped in that morning and listened to employees working there to see if she would hear the infamous “What’s Up” woman… and she (June) found her. The Starbucks District Manager explained that she had a conversation with the partner (Starbucks title for all “employees”) and that a clearer understanding of professional greetings was reached. I would, allegedly, not hear “What’s Up” when getting my coffee there again.
After a few minutes on the phone, I thanked June for the great follow through and was happy when she reassured me that I “wasn’t crazy” in my expectation of world class customer service from Starbucks.
Well played, Starbucks. Well played. :)
