Multiply 365 Day 168 - They say it's almost your birthday

 

Well birthday weekend got off to what should have been a good start and who knows maybe somewhere down the road I will look on it fondly and with a certain amount of satisfaction, but I am not sure I am at that point just yet.

On the plus side, everything I wanted to do, I did which should be a good thing. But as the old adage goes, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

For starters I was up early this morning, like 4:30am early. Which is good, usually if I wake up that early I immediately talk myself into going back to bed. But not today, today I was almost functional when I woke up and after putzing around a little online, I had motivation enough to take a shower and get all ready for work. I even got there about 15 minutes early.

And I was in a good mood most of the day, in part because I had plans for this evening, solo plans to be sure, but plans nonetheless. And I have a Deluca's sundae Saturday coming up tomorrow, making the birthday weekend even better. Plus I asked Dee for that favor of not making a big deal out of my birthday with the crew, not wanting to break bread (or cake) with people that I don't like or trust and all that jazz, and she honored my wishes and my birthday was kept all kinds of on the down lo, most everyone didn't even know until after the shift was over and I had gotten dressed to go to dinner and the movies that Saturday was my birthday. Ed, as he said he would, chipped in for the birthday breakfast, throwing $20 into the kitty (which should cover most of it, save for the tip) and tossed in a $20 lottery ticket as well. But that was it. I even had time to sneak out from work and run down the street to Burlington Coat Factory and buy a new shirt for tonight during my shift.

But everything at work went pretty well, no major fuckups with vendors, no boatloads of people calling off, so I could go about my task in relative peace and quiet. I got the new Bob Marley cooler squared away, all of the products in it are priced and in the system. The grocery order came in, and save for a couple of missing items, there were no major malfunctions with it, all in all it went about as smooth as a day could at work.

After work I hopped a bus to the Waterfront, the plan being I would hit Barnes and Noble first, then take a run into the Pittsburgh Burger Company for a tasty sandwich and finish it off with seeing Green Lantern. Barnes and Noble was probably the best part of it. I ended up snagging two books, including another Robert Parker which I am almost halfway done with just from my time out this evening, and a hardback from the cheapie bin that looked kind of interesting. Of course this means I now have three books open at the same time when it comes to reading, but I can pretty much guarantee I will be finishing the Parker book first, so by all means keep your eyes peeled to the Shelfari thing to the right, it will be changing in the very near future, as will the Neverending Thread.

Next up was the trip to the Pittsburgh Burger Company, and there is where the disappointments started. I go in and I see they have more of their remodeling done, the salad bar looks like it is now functional, though a bit on the small side. And there are plenty of people just milling around in front. Some over by the cash register, which struck me as odd, because the sign in front says “Wait to be seated”. Me being me, I opt to stand there. The number of actual diners is quite small, maybe 10 in the entire place, but it is early, that is to be expected I guess. So I wait and nobody shows up. Now I am thinking maybe they changed things and you are to go to the register, but there is no menu there from which to order, so that can't be right, so I go back to standing by the “wait to be seated sign, but while I was meandering, trying to figure out how the hell I am supposed to be served, to ladies and their kids came in. Of course the kids were acting like brats, running around and just being genuinely disruptive and annoying. And they aren't being seated either. I am not kidding when I say, despite the number of employees I saw, which was equal to or greater than the number of actual patrons, it was at least 15 minutes before I saw a hostess. Finally she arrives and seats the ladies and their brats, but not until she looks to see where to seat them and a waitress looks at her and says “Don't seat them in my section.” Fuck, you guys are doing no business here and you don't even want customers. Wow and double wow. So a little change of seating plans for them and she takes them to a table. About 5 minutes after that she comes back and gets me, so finally I am seated. And then she ends up being the one to take my order because of all of the staff they have on hand, apparently no one can be bothered with actually waiting tables. I order a mushroom melt burger, and if it had been fantastic, maybe the quality of the food could have overcame all of the shortcomings, but it was nothing better than serviceable. Oh, and I finally get a waitress when it comes time to bring my food out, thanks for that. It was the type of experience that makes me question whether or not I will go back.

At least there was the movie, and from a timing perspective it worked out pretty well, I hit the theater at 6:20pm and the movie started at 6:30, so there wasn't a lot of time just sitting in an empty theater. Of course the movie wasn't that good, if you have seen the trailers, you have seen all of the best parts. And the guy in front of me decided to provide his own laugh track during the previews and movie. Whatever was funny had to be an inside joke, because nobody else in the theater was laughing. And if you read about the movie online and were wondering if you should stay for the secret at the end of the credits, I will save you the trouble, even though it is pretty easy to guess what it is well ahead of time. The big reveal is, Sinestro puts on the yellow ring. There, my first ever spoiler, but that way you can get out before everyone else who is waiting around.

But after today the only thing I am thinking is I sure hope they don't fuck up my ice cream sundae hotcakes tomorrow.