Here's what I've done since last Monday. On that day I ended up at a restaurant I hadn't gone to in a long while, BJ's Brewhouse & Restaurant. I've always enjoyed what they offer and that was again the case here. I had their smallest pizza as it was half-off at the time, and for the first time I had their pizookie; the name does a pretty good job explaining what it is, and it was great. Tuesday, I did not do anything but Wednesday, it was something out of the norm for me. I had been using the same laptop for a few years now and it still ran OK at this time but for several reasons I decided to get a new one, and I think I made the right decision. I really only use the laptop to surf the web, watch various streaming videos on it, and write something in Open Office. So, I did not need something high end and I found one on sale for less than 400 bucks. I went to Winter Garden Village and first I tried Best Buy, then I went to Staples. I got the HP Notebook at Staples. So far I have no complaints about it.
Thanksgiving, I stayed at home and had a very tasty meal with my parents. I did go out in the evening; I returned to the World of Beer to have a late meal, watch the Chicago Bears play against their hated rivals the Green Bay Packers, and consume a few drinks. On that end, the highlights include Angry Chair Silver Alert (yes, the company is named Angry Chair and yes, Silver Alerts are messages to the public asking them to find someone on the road who has dementia or Alzheimer's) and Brew Bus Brewing You're My Boy Blue. It was less crowded than the previous Sunday I was there and thankfully there were no braying jackasses around. As for the game, the Bears... won? Yes. Even I was shocked by that. It was constantly raining at the game and temperatures were in the low 30's so it was pretty brutal there, and that sort of describes the game and how it was officiated. Still, I'll always chortle when Chicago beats Green Bay, as it usually doesn't happen.
Friday, I went to the Central Florida International Auto Show; I almost always do that the day after Thanksgiving. Held at the Orange County Convention Center, many different automakers are there and you can look and usually sit in new model year vehicles, including the Corvette, Camaro and Mustang. Just getting in the building did not make me happy. At least getting off of 528, there were no signs at all telling you where to go (it may be different if you went south to the OCCC) or where to park. I figured it out on my own due to past visits. However, there were then no exact signs on where people should park, as the complex is huge, has several buildings and the parking lot is huge. So, I had to do extra walking on top of a day where I had to do a lot of hoofing and I did not like that.
Otherwise, it was a nice time there. It is always nice seeing new model cars, whether they are the same from the previous few years, were refreshed/redesigned for this year, or are brand new models. An example of the latter is the Alfa Romeo 4C. Alfa left the United States market 20 years ago and just now officially returned. The 4C is a great-looking sports car and it's either a coupe or a convertible. It got a lot of attention as it looks tremendous. I got to sit in it for a bit (another nice aspect is that most of the vehicles there, you can sit in) and there isn't too much room in there for a guy my size. Still, I wish I could own it... but it's well north of 50,000 bucks so that won't be happening except in my dreams. I ate dinner there of pizza and some Sierra Mist and overall it is swell to go there each late November.
The weekend, I did not do a thing, which was fine by me. I was happy to relax. When I return a week from today, nothing is on the agenda quite yet.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
Mountain Man Crunch, Free Play Florida, Atari Jaguar, & TurboGrafx-16
Here's what I've done since last Monday. On the 16th the only thing I did of note was end up at a Denny's and that went fine. I had a Super Bird, as that's typically a reliable meal there. On the way back home I ended up at a Planet Smoothie, where I had a new limited edition beverage, that being Mountain Man Crunch, which had such things as granola, bananas, peanut butter, and honey. Yeah, it was tasty. Tuesday, I had plans to do something interesting but due to things out of my control (such as driving in an area I am not familiar with and it's a place where there's poor or no signs to help out a stranger) I had to pull something out of my butt and I did salvage something out of a day that was looking rather poor. I'd rather not get into the specifics of what I was going to do or the things that did not go right, so let me be more positive.
I ended up at a random Perkins restaurant; the one in town closed down awhile ago and I hadn't gone to one since then. The food at this particular place wasn't great but it was still fine. I then returned to a familiar haunt-Disney Springs and I walked around there for a bit. I quenched my thirst at Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar and was amused by the lady who sat by me as she was quite buzzed, to say the least. I then went to the Christmas store they have on property and got gingerbread popcorn, as it sounded so strange. I haven't tried it yet.
Wednesday, I went with someone to the local Chili's for dinner. We both enjoyed our meals. Me, I could have done without the incredibly annoying family who sat close by but at least they left while we were eating dinner. Thursday I didn't do anything as I knew Friday through Sunday would be eventful, which they were. Friday and Saturday was Free Play Florida, one of those events where you pay a flat fee at the door, a wristband is put on you and you get to play a panoply of old pinball tables and arcade machines and those events are always fun.
Friday was opening day and it was at the Hilton hotel by Sea World and that's where it was held last year also. I am not the biggest fan of the place for various reasons but I won't get into that. It was a nicely put-together shindig; you can't do much about the old machines sometimes breaking down; it happens. There were plenty of different tables and games there that had not been there in previous years so I was happy to try them out. A Sword of Fury table with no sound is lame as it's a loud game with cool sound effects, and not just the yelling of LIONMAN, LIONMAN at random times.
I've talked about classic tables before so I'll just mention that out of the new ones there, some of the old “ding-ding” tables from the 60's or so were cool, and I also liked Fish Tales, Popeye and I especially dug the virtual pinball tables present, where each one had over 100 classic roms on it and when I was doing that it was a nice blast from the past, as at Illinois State University they once had Baywatch and Guns N' Roses pinball, which I did play way back when. So it was a nice time overall. In addition, there was a separate room where there were some console tournaments, incredibly loud and nauseating little boys, and such obscure old console systems as Atari Jaguar or TurboGrafx-16. If you had either 20 years old you'd be considered hot stuff... and had to be doing pretty well wealth-wise as well. I had to try out both for the first time and they do have their charms.
Sunday, I returned to the World of Beer to watch the Bears play against the Broncos. Sigh... besides it being another close game that Chicago lost late, there were too many loudmouth cretins that constantly made noise as if they were circus seals, clapping and bellowing and hollering... I was thankful I had a few beverages while there. The fact that they now serve brunch early on the weekends meant I had some tasty blueberry waffles.
While it may not be as entertaining as the week I just had, the upcoming 7 days I do have some activities planned.
I ended up at a random Perkins restaurant; the one in town closed down awhile ago and I hadn't gone to one since then. The food at this particular place wasn't great but it was still fine. I then returned to a familiar haunt-Disney Springs and I walked around there for a bit. I quenched my thirst at Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar and was amused by the lady who sat by me as she was quite buzzed, to say the least. I then went to the Christmas store they have on property and got gingerbread popcorn, as it sounded so strange. I haven't tried it yet.
Wednesday, I went with someone to the local Chili's for dinner. We both enjoyed our meals. Me, I could have done without the incredibly annoying family who sat close by but at least they left while we were eating dinner. Thursday I didn't do anything as I knew Friday through Sunday would be eventful, which they were. Friday and Saturday was Free Play Florida, one of those events where you pay a flat fee at the door, a wristband is put on you and you get to play a panoply of old pinball tables and arcade machines and those events are always fun.
Friday was opening day and it was at the Hilton hotel by Sea World and that's where it was held last year also. I am not the biggest fan of the place for various reasons but I won't get into that. It was a nicely put-together shindig; you can't do much about the old machines sometimes breaking down; it happens. There were plenty of different tables and games there that had not been there in previous years so I was happy to try them out. A Sword of Fury table with no sound is lame as it's a loud game with cool sound effects, and not just the yelling of LIONMAN, LIONMAN at random times.
I've talked about classic tables before so I'll just mention that out of the new ones there, some of the old “ding-ding” tables from the 60's or so were cool, and I also liked Fish Tales, Popeye and I especially dug the virtual pinball tables present, where each one had over 100 classic roms on it and when I was doing that it was a nice blast from the past, as at Illinois State University they once had Baywatch and Guns N' Roses pinball, which I did play way back when. So it was a nice time overall. In addition, there was a separate room where there were some console tournaments, incredibly loud and nauseating little boys, and such obscure old console systems as Atari Jaguar or TurboGrafx-16. If you had either 20 years old you'd be considered hot stuff... and had to be doing pretty well wealth-wise as well. I had to try out both for the first time and they do have their charms.
Sunday, I returned to the World of Beer to watch the Bears play against the Broncos. Sigh... besides it being another close game that Chicago lost late, there were too many loudmouth cretins that constantly made noise as if they were circus seals, clapping and bellowing and hollering... I was thankful I had a few beverages while there. The fact that they now serve brunch early on the weekends meant I had some tasty blueberry waffles.
While it may not be as entertaining as the week I just had, the upcoming 7 days I do have some activities planned.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Holly Holm, 862 Beer, & A Great Example of Schadenfreude
Here's a recap of what I've done since last Monday. On that day the only thing I did was at night, when I saw the Chicago Bears play against the San Diego Chargers. Neither team is really any good so the game wasn't the prettiest to watch. Yet, the Bears looked a little better than usual for this season and they actually won, which was nice. Tuesday, I returned to Universal CityWalk, where this time I got to walk around there and I also ate at an old favorite, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville. I rate their Cheeseburgers in Paradise highly, so that was what I had again. I then briefly stopped at the NBC Sports Grill & Brew again, this time to have their third 862 beer they make on-site (I had the other two the first time I was there) and all three are fine concoctions.
On the way back a truly glorious moment happened. I rarely get to see it happen but whenever I see someone drive like an asshat and then they soon get pulled over, it always fills my heart with glee and joy. Well, it happened on this night. Even better, it happened because someone did something to me. A little earlier I saw an idiot on the road and he was driving like an idiot, including going too fast. Well, a little later I ended up in front of him and he suddenly was tailgating me then he blew by me going real fast and cut someone else. A cop happened to be hiding in the dark and saw what happened... that was the most hilarious instance of this that I had ever see in person.
Wednesday, I didn't do anything but Thursday, I returned to Walt Disney World, Epcot in particular. The Food & Wine Festival had its last day yesterday, so I figured I should go back there a second and last time. I was happy to get some exercise in some nice weather. I had some more food & drink and that was good. The special musical act playing there was HANSON. I remember when they were a huge deal so their performances being jam-packed was no surprise to me. What wasn't good... Facebook reminding me that on this date 3 years ago I got into that car accident. Despite some close calls I thankfully haven't been in any wrecks since then.
Friday, I did not do anything aside from be sad at what happened in Paris, so let me talk about the weekend. I ended up helping someone out so I did not go out to see the Chicago Bears play on Sunday. The St. Louis Rams are incredibly inconsistent but I still presumed that they'd win; thankfully I was wrong. The Bears not only won, but by a lot. That is always good, along with possibly not having to deal with dumbos if I had gone out. Besides, I went out the night before, to the Twin Peaks restaurant to see my first UFC pay per view in months. There are various reasons as to why I haven't seen one and I won't get into it here. I figured I should as the show was held in a retractable roof stadium in Melbourne, Australia and it drew a huge crowd. Also, the infamous Ronda Rousey fought in the main event.
Now, I expected that bought to go like all the others, and Ronda would dominate. What I had seen of Holly Holm in the UFC, she was less than dominant so despite her great boxing credentials I was not expecting anything to be different. My time at Twin Peaks went fine and I actually had no problem with the crowd there, which is always a relief. I had my almost always of a burger & fries and they always make a real good version of that. The show itself was fine, I guess, but it was all about the main event. I and everyone else was taken aback by how the fight went, how poor Ronda looked... but also what a great job Holly did in the ring. The ending got a huge reaction from the crowd, as expected. So yes I am glad I went and saw it live, especially considering that I wasn't sure at first if I was going to see the PPV.
When I return a week from today, I do have several interesting activities in mind and I hope all those plans come to fruition and they turn out well.
On the way back a truly glorious moment happened. I rarely get to see it happen but whenever I see someone drive like an asshat and then they soon get pulled over, it always fills my heart with glee and joy. Well, it happened on this night. Even better, it happened because someone did something to me. A little earlier I saw an idiot on the road and he was driving like an idiot, including going too fast. Well, a little later I ended up in front of him and he suddenly was tailgating me then he blew by me going real fast and cut someone else. A cop happened to be hiding in the dark and saw what happened... that was the most hilarious instance of this that I had ever see in person.
Wednesday, I didn't do anything but Thursday, I returned to Walt Disney World, Epcot in particular. The Food & Wine Festival had its last day yesterday, so I figured I should go back there a second and last time. I was happy to get some exercise in some nice weather. I had some more food & drink and that was good. The special musical act playing there was HANSON. I remember when they were a huge deal so their performances being jam-packed was no surprise to me. What wasn't good... Facebook reminding me that on this date 3 years ago I got into that car accident. Despite some close calls I thankfully haven't been in any wrecks since then.
Friday, I did not do anything aside from be sad at what happened in Paris, so let me talk about the weekend. I ended up helping someone out so I did not go out to see the Chicago Bears play on Sunday. The St. Louis Rams are incredibly inconsistent but I still presumed that they'd win; thankfully I was wrong. The Bears not only won, but by a lot. That is always good, along with possibly not having to deal with dumbos if I had gone out. Besides, I went out the night before, to the Twin Peaks restaurant to see my first UFC pay per view in months. There are various reasons as to why I haven't seen one and I won't get into it here. I figured I should as the show was held in a retractable roof stadium in Melbourne, Australia and it drew a huge crowd. Also, the infamous Ronda Rousey fought in the main event.
Now, I expected that bought to go like all the others, and Ronda would dominate. What I had seen of Holly Holm in the UFC, she was less than dominant so despite her great boxing credentials I was not expecting anything to be different. My time at Twin Peaks went fine and I actually had no problem with the crowd there, which is always a relief. I had my almost always of a burger & fries and they always make a real good version of that. The show itself was fine, I guess, but it was all about the main event. I and everyone else was taken aback by how the fight went, how poor Ronda looked... but also what a great job Holly did in the ring. The ending got a huge reaction from the crowd, as expected. So yes I am glad I went and saw it live, especially considering that I wasn't sure at first if I was going to see the PPV.
When I return a week from today, I do have several interesting activities in mind and I hope all those plans come to fruition and they turn out well.
Monday, November 9, 2015
NBC Sports Grill & Brew, SPECTRE, and More Melancholy Feelings
I don't want to start off this on a sad note but this is another time where I have to say that I am sad over someone passing away. It involved a family... the parents were a grade below me at Belvidere High School and I have a sister and parent who knew that family better than I did, but I knew who they were and I had the guy in a class once. There was a house fire and the dad and one of their two kids passed away. It's awful all around; I do realize that I really shouldn't complain about things when others have it worse than me; when it's things like this... I feel pretty bad for the entire family.
As for this past week, it was another week where only a few days had any real excitement. Monday the 2nd happened to be one of them. A new bar/restaurant opened but I waited until that Halloween Horror Nights crap was over with; that's right, I went to Universal CityWalk and a new restaurant that opened where the NASCAR Cafe used to be; that joint had fine food & drink, but it was on the kitschy side and I guess they wanted to go more serious; in went the NBC Sports Grill & Brew. The outside has a giant screen that's mainly used to show old highlights; alright then. Inside it does look modern as a nice place; the prices are what you'd expect at a theme park and I'll leave it at that. The food was tasty and so were the beers they made on site. I am not quite sure why that place only has bathrooms on the second floor but otherwise that is a bar/restaurant I'll definitely go to again in the future.
Tuesday and Wednesday were dull; I doubt anyone wants to hear about how I had Internet issues before I fixed it so I'll mention that on Thursday I went to IHOP as I hadn't been there in awhile; I went with someone and I had the raspberry white chocolate chip pancakes and needless to say, I thought it was real good. I had it before a few years ago and liked it then too. That night, I finished watching the Bond films; earlier in the year I decided to see all 23 again before I saw the new one, SPECTRE.
Friday, that was the day I went and saw SPECTRE. I figured I should see it in a big way so I made the journey over to Disney Springs and the AMC Theatre to see it on the giant ETX screen. After seeing the flick, I enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as Casino Royle and definitely not as good as Skyfall. I don't regret seeing it, though. After that I thought of some restaurant on those grounds I hadn't eaten at in awhile and I came to the Crossroads at the House of Blues. They make tasty food themselves so I was glad I made that choice.
The weekend, I did not do anything at all and I was fine with that. Saturday and Sunday night were both rainy so that was another reason I was glad to do nothing. The Bears don't play until tonight so I did not have to worry about that. When I return a week from today... I'll be a broken record and say that I do have some things planned. I hope it's a more eventful week than the one I just had. If any wacky or odd moments happen to me, that'd be nice for conversation, if nothing else.
As for this past week, it was another week where only a few days had any real excitement. Monday the 2nd happened to be one of them. A new bar/restaurant opened but I waited until that Halloween Horror Nights crap was over with; that's right, I went to Universal CityWalk and a new restaurant that opened where the NASCAR Cafe used to be; that joint had fine food & drink, but it was on the kitschy side and I guess they wanted to go more serious; in went the NBC Sports Grill & Brew. The outside has a giant screen that's mainly used to show old highlights; alright then. Inside it does look modern as a nice place; the prices are what you'd expect at a theme park and I'll leave it at that. The food was tasty and so were the beers they made on site. I am not quite sure why that place only has bathrooms on the second floor but otherwise that is a bar/restaurant I'll definitely go to again in the future.
Tuesday and Wednesday were dull; I doubt anyone wants to hear about how I had Internet issues before I fixed it so I'll mention that on Thursday I went to IHOP as I hadn't been there in awhile; I went with someone and I had the raspberry white chocolate chip pancakes and needless to say, I thought it was real good. I had it before a few years ago and liked it then too. That night, I finished watching the Bond films; earlier in the year I decided to see all 23 again before I saw the new one, SPECTRE.
Friday, that was the day I went and saw SPECTRE. I figured I should see it in a big way so I made the journey over to Disney Springs and the AMC Theatre to see it on the giant ETX screen. After seeing the flick, I enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as Casino Royle and definitely not as good as Skyfall. I don't regret seeing it, though. After that I thought of some restaurant on those grounds I hadn't eaten at in awhile and I came to the Crossroads at the House of Blues. They make tasty food themselves so I was glad I made that choice.
The weekend, I did not do anything at all and I was fine with that. Saturday and Sunday night were both rainy so that was another reason I was glad to do nothing. The Bears don't play until tonight so I did not have to worry about that. When I return a week from today... I'll be a broken record and say that I do have some things planned. I hope it's a more eventful week than the one I just had. If any wacky or odd moments happen to me, that'd be nice for conversation, if nothing else.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Pumpkin Smash, The Florida Mall, Chicken Now & The Terrible Bears
Here's a recap of what I've done in the past week and this is one of those odd weeks where the only real thing I did was during the weekend. I laid low during the week itself, not doing much besides going to a Wawa to get dinner one late afternoon and Walmart to get a new razor and some random items. I don't mean to be an International Man of Mystery but some parts of my life I do keep private on purpose, as I prefer it that way. I'll just say that it was traffic and some personal dealings that made me quite frustrated with humanity as I had to deal with the typical awful traffic and some incredibly rude and ignorant A-holes in person (my home life was fine so I am not referring to that) and I can never stand such things. I'll just move on from that and I hope that this upcoming weeks don't have such braying jackasses to deal with.
So, onto the weekend. Halloween I thought about doing something but I did not get the best night's sleep so I canceled those plans and did something else instead. I stopped at a Big Lots (where I got some random food & drink) then I went to the Florida Mall as I hadn't been there in at least 6 months. The main thing different is that the old cramped foot court is no more and now they have a huge fancy one with some new places. The only thing I purchased there was also food & drink items. I got food from Chicken Now and it did taste good. For drink I had something from Jamba Juice known as Pumpkin Smash and besides being appropriate for the day it was tasty.
It was pretty busy but I expected that. Some people dressed up for the day and that was nice. To be honest, though, some individuals I saw and I wasn't quite sure if they were in costume or not! The one adult male who dressed like he was in a gay pride parade... I am fine with such people but I am not sure if such an outfit was appropriate for a setting where many families were around. After that I went to the nearby Barnes & Noble then I drove home.
Sunday, it was a day of ups and downs. I went to the local Buffalo Wild Wings and I've had issues there in the past, and another one flared up on this day. Who knows when I'll be back there, but it may be a long while. The bar area was woefully understaffed and that was stupid on an NFL Sunday but the person behind there did a poor job and that did not help. I don't want to go into further details but there was plenty of stupid people around on that day and if that wasn't bad enough, the game vs. the Minnesota Vikings was hard to watch and despite that the Bears were actually winning late... until they soiled the bed and they lost. At least next Sunday I don't have to go anywhere as Chicago doesn't play until Monday night the 9th. I will just presume that they'll lose to the San Diego Chargers.
In the evening things improved. I returned to Disney Springs. I saw the latest (and supposed late) Paranormal Activity. Aside from the 4th one I've enjoyed all of them and mainly due to sheer goofiness and silliness I also enjoyed this entry. I then saw parts of the football and baseball games at the nearby Splitsville, where I had a frosty beverage. Between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets, it did not matter to me which teams won as neither team had won the World Series since the mid-80's. Congrats to the Royals.
When I return a week from today, I do have a few things planned, at least; hopefully all the plans happen and don't change.
So, onto the weekend. Halloween I thought about doing something but I did not get the best night's sleep so I canceled those plans and did something else instead. I stopped at a Big Lots (where I got some random food & drink) then I went to the Florida Mall as I hadn't been there in at least 6 months. The main thing different is that the old cramped foot court is no more and now they have a huge fancy one with some new places. The only thing I purchased there was also food & drink items. I got food from Chicken Now and it did taste good. For drink I had something from Jamba Juice known as Pumpkin Smash and besides being appropriate for the day it was tasty.
It was pretty busy but I expected that. Some people dressed up for the day and that was nice. To be honest, though, some individuals I saw and I wasn't quite sure if they were in costume or not! The one adult male who dressed like he was in a gay pride parade... I am fine with such people but I am not sure if such an outfit was appropriate for a setting where many families were around. After that I went to the nearby Barnes & Noble then I drove home.
Sunday, it was a day of ups and downs. I went to the local Buffalo Wild Wings and I've had issues there in the past, and another one flared up on this day. Who knows when I'll be back there, but it may be a long while. The bar area was woefully understaffed and that was stupid on an NFL Sunday but the person behind there did a poor job and that did not help. I don't want to go into further details but there was plenty of stupid people around on that day and if that wasn't bad enough, the game vs. the Minnesota Vikings was hard to watch and despite that the Bears were actually winning late... until they soiled the bed and they lost. At least next Sunday I don't have to go anywhere as Chicago doesn't play until Monday night the 9th. I will just presume that they'll lose to the San Diego Chargers.
In the evening things improved. I returned to Disney Springs. I saw the latest (and supposed late) Paranormal Activity. Aside from the 4th one I've enjoyed all of them and mainly due to sheer goofiness and silliness I also enjoyed this entry. I then saw parts of the football and baseball games at the nearby Splitsville, where I had a frosty beverage. Between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets, it did not matter to me which teams won as neither team had won the World Series since the mid-80's. Congrats to the Royals.
When I return a week from today, I do have a few things planned, at least; hopefully all the plans happen and don't change.
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