'arry? 'arry potta?
i am in full harry potter mode now. another disastrous and disorganized midnight opening, this time for the book, awaited us at borders friday night. i went earlier in the afternoon to pick up my wristband, the color of which would determine when i would be able to buy my book. they did this for the 6th book, but you couldn't pick up your ticket until the evening when they started the little kid festivities. anyway, my wristband was silver, second in line after the orange ones. since there really wasn't any reason to get to the store and wait at 8pm, we arrived around 10:30. i decided to dress up a little: black mini-skirt, gryffindor tank-top underneath a white cotton school-shirt, and boots. i also donned on my gryffindor leather wristband, which i had been wearing all day long. we got there and it was total mayhem. there was a mob outside the store of people that didn't want to wait in the stuffy bookstore. the parking lot was crammed, so we had to park on the street. no worries. we got there expecting to see organized lanes set up for people who wanted to get in line early. they did this last time: lanes set up with ticket colors designating which lane was which. you could get in line whenever you wanted, but it was always organized. there was nothing like that here. people were occupying any and every empty space on the floor. there were books strewn all over, picked over by people who just wanted to get their copy of harry potter. i needed something to drink, so i left the mob inside to join the other mob on the opposite side of the strip-mall at starbucks. the line was out the door. luckily, it was starbucks, they know how to move a line. i soon had my unsweetened black tea lemonade and was headed back to borders. i found marshall right where i left him. we headed upstairs so i could find a baby congrats card for the baby shower we were going to the next day. at quarter to midnight, there was an announcement over the PA system. they were letting those with orange wristbands that they could now line up near the registers. but line up where? i couldn't see any sort of organization at all. about 45 minutes later, the same voice announced that those with silver wristbands could start lining up after the orange people. but where?!?! we headed back downstairs to stand in the same spot for almost an hour. it wasn't moving. the store had a staircase directly in the middle and there were people on either side thinking that they were in line. luckily, a few of the borders employees realized that this was really bad, so they improvised barriers and started monitoring wristbands as they went past towards the register. they also decided to create a valve-system, only letting 5 people pass along at a time. seriously - if only they had organized lines BEFORE 15 minutes to midnight, this wouldn't have happened. we left borders with our pre-ordered copy and set of tapes a little after 2am. i was exhausted and excited at the same time. sadly, i didn't have any energy to start reading.
saturday morning was a fairly early one, as we got ready for the baby shower up in sonoma for my sister's brother-in-law and his wife. we originally weren't invited, but when my mom was invited and didn't want to go alone (as my sister would be with her 2 kids and husband), she got us invited to go. last monday i got a message from her saying that she was way stressed out and just had too much to do and couldn't go, but that we could still go. we decided to still go, as i thought it would be a nice drive up to sonoma. my sister even recommended a few places we could go for wine tasting along the way. unfortunately with all the stuff that needed to get done before we actually left, we ended up not having any time to stop along the way. oh well, we'll do it another time. i had to fax my receipt from my restaurant evaluation from the previous night (more on that below) at kinko's and we still needed to eat breakfast. we went to hobee's since it was sort on the way. we got there a lot and have never had horrible service like we had that morning. yes, the service is sorta slow there normally, we've gotten used to it by now, but this was horrible. i had to ask twice for my orange juice. our waiter checked in on us only ONCE during our whole meal. when he brought my food, my eggs were stacked on top of each other and my potatoes were sparse. this food placement left a big blank spot on my plate, which made the whole thing look totally unappetizing. i cut into my eggs and took my first bite. they were cold. i stabbed one of my potatoes, it was slightly undercooked and also cold. i was disgusted, but as i told marshall, i never know what to do about cold food. if i send it back, all they're going to do is nuke it and that just makes it even more UNappetizing. what i really want when i get cold food, is for them to make it again and serve it to me hot and fresh, which frankly isn't going to happen. i'd be labeled as the "picky bitch" and they'll spit on my eggs. anyway, i ate it anyway. luckily, my coffee cake came nice and warm, so that was some consolation. it took us another 10 minutes to get our waiter's attention for the check and another 15 for him to pick up and process our credit card. we left a horrible tip. i love hobee's. i've been going there since i was a kid and i've never come across this horrible display of restaurant customer service there. what bothered me more was that our waiter, bruce, had "manager" printed above his name on his name tag. if he's the manager, he's not setting a good example and should really get some more training. it was just really really bad. anyway, we started on the road up to sonoma. we hungrily shoved the first harry potter tape into the tape player and listened all the way. we made really good time to san francisco, about 30 minutes, but we hit MAJOR stop-and-go traffic all along 19th and across the bridge. the traffic didn't let up until marin. luckily, my sister was late, too, so i didn't feel quite so bad. she checked in a few times to make sure our directions were correct. they weren't, but she was able to give us the corrected highway numbers and directions (you'd think a son would know how to get to his parents house!). we arrived finally. it was a nice party all around. the food was really nice and the company was great. one of my sister's friends from college was there (my sister was college friends with the mother-to-be) who was in her wedding, so we chatted and caught up. she's getting remarried in august and invited marshall and i to crash their wedding. i know it's going to be fun (her first wedding, which i was officially invited to, was really fun), so marshall and i are planning on going. their reception is at a restaurant in the public area, so all we have to do is make a reservation. according to their website, they're all for crashers, so they've even set it up so that when you make your dinner reservation and say you're crashing their party, just so they know to seat you near the rest of the group. i'm excited. i should try and find a new dress. :) it was a nice afternoon and luckily when we left at 6:30 (laden with leftovers) we faced little to no traffic going through SF.
my first FULL eyespy evaluation went really well. i had never been to this place, mojo's burgers, before, so i didn't know what to expect. i knew, though, from my evaluation assignment details, that it was counter service. as we drove up, i noticed a "voted best burger" sign. neither marshall nor i were disappointed. it was great food! be careful, though, they give you a TON of food. we each got the combo deal for our sandwiches and they gave us tons of fries. they were fresh and very very good! we also ordered a side of onion rings, which were fantastic! some of the best onion rings i've had in a while. the people were nice and they have a children's sitting area with 2 tvs tuned to boomerang cartoon channel (owned by cartoon network, they not only show the older cartoon network shows, but all the old hanna-barbara cartoons, as well, with NO commercials). great idea, in my opinion. overall, a great place. marshall's burger was really good and my chicken sandwich, although slightly dull, wasn't bad at all. the chicken was cooked perfectly. everything is made to order, so your food arrives hot and fresh. i didn't even see any heating lamps in the back. if you order fries, they don't have a tray of already cooked ones to give you, you wait for fresh ones to come straight out of the fryer. i liked it a lot and i think marshall and i are gonna go back again. totally recommend it!
it's a little after 12pm and all i want to do is read harry potter. sadly, i agreed with myself that i'd start working out again this week, as i'm finally over my cold. stupid physical fitness...
saturday morning was a fairly early one, as we got ready for the baby shower up in sonoma for my sister's brother-in-law and his wife. we originally weren't invited, but when my mom was invited and didn't want to go alone (as my sister would be with her 2 kids and husband), she got us invited to go. last monday i got a message from her saying that she was way stressed out and just had too much to do and couldn't go, but that we could still go. we decided to still go, as i thought it would be a nice drive up to sonoma. my sister even recommended a few places we could go for wine tasting along the way. unfortunately with all the stuff that needed to get done before we actually left, we ended up not having any time to stop along the way. oh well, we'll do it another time. i had to fax my receipt from my restaurant evaluation from the previous night (more on that below) at kinko's and we still needed to eat breakfast. we went to hobee's since it was sort on the way. we got there a lot and have never had horrible service like we had that morning. yes, the service is sorta slow there normally, we've gotten used to it by now, but this was horrible. i had to ask twice for my orange juice. our waiter checked in on us only ONCE during our whole meal. when he brought my food, my eggs were stacked on top of each other and my potatoes were sparse. this food placement left a big blank spot on my plate, which made the whole thing look totally unappetizing. i cut into my eggs and took my first bite. they were cold. i stabbed one of my potatoes, it was slightly undercooked and also cold. i was disgusted, but as i told marshall, i never know what to do about cold food. if i send it back, all they're going to do is nuke it and that just makes it even more UNappetizing. what i really want when i get cold food, is for them to make it again and serve it to me hot and fresh, which frankly isn't going to happen. i'd be labeled as the "picky bitch" and they'll spit on my eggs. anyway, i ate it anyway. luckily, my coffee cake came nice and warm, so that was some consolation. it took us another 10 minutes to get our waiter's attention for the check and another 15 for him to pick up and process our credit card. we left a horrible tip. i love hobee's. i've been going there since i was a kid and i've never come across this horrible display of restaurant customer service there. what bothered me more was that our waiter, bruce, had "manager" printed above his name on his name tag. if he's the manager, he's not setting a good example and should really get some more training. it was just really really bad. anyway, we started on the road up to sonoma. we hungrily shoved the first harry potter tape into the tape player and listened all the way. we made really good time to san francisco, about 30 minutes, but we hit MAJOR stop-and-go traffic all along 19th and across the bridge. the traffic didn't let up until marin. luckily, my sister was late, too, so i didn't feel quite so bad. she checked in a few times to make sure our directions were correct. they weren't, but she was able to give us the corrected highway numbers and directions (you'd think a son would know how to get to his parents house!). we arrived finally. it was a nice party all around. the food was really nice and the company was great. one of my sister's friends from college was there (my sister was college friends with the mother-to-be) who was in her wedding, so we chatted and caught up. she's getting remarried in august and invited marshall and i to crash their wedding. i know it's going to be fun (her first wedding, which i was officially invited to, was really fun), so marshall and i are planning on going. their reception is at a restaurant in the public area, so all we have to do is make a reservation. according to their website, they're all for crashers, so they've even set it up so that when you make your dinner reservation and say you're crashing their party, just so they know to seat you near the rest of the group. i'm excited. i should try and find a new dress. :) it was a nice afternoon and luckily when we left at 6:30 (laden with leftovers) we faced little to no traffic going through SF.
my first FULL eyespy evaluation went really well. i had never been to this place, mojo's burgers, before, so i didn't know what to expect. i knew, though, from my evaluation assignment details, that it was counter service. as we drove up, i noticed a "voted best burger" sign. neither marshall nor i were disappointed. it was great food! be careful, though, they give you a TON of food. we each got the combo deal for our sandwiches and they gave us tons of fries. they were fresh and very very good! we also ordered a side of onion rings, which were fantastic! some of the best onion rings i've had in a while. the people were nice and they have a children's sitting area with 2 tvs tuned to boomerang cartoon channel (owned by cartoon network, they not only show the older cartoon network shows, but all the old hanna-barbara cartoons, as well, with NO commercials). great idea, in my opinion. overall, a great place. marshall's burger was really good and my chicken sandwich, although slightly dull, wasn't bad at all. the chicken was cooked perfectly. everything is made to order, so your food arrives hot and fresh. i didn't even see any heating lamps in the back. if you order fries, they don't have a tray of already cooked ones to give you, you wait for fresh ones to come straight out of the fryer. i liked it a lot and i think marshall and i are gonna go back again. totally recommend it!
it's a little after 12pm and all i want to do is read harry potter. sadly, i agreed with myself that i'd start working out again this week, as i'm finally over my cold. stupid physical fitness...