Saturday morning we were up before 7 and out of the house by quarter past to catch a train to the Main Line. We arrived in Ardmore at 8:05 and were in line by 10 past. The line stretched from the front of the building to the back, that is the first pic from Saturday. Suburban Square is an outdoor mall, similar to Garden City for you Rhode Islanders. Unfortunately, nothing except the Farmer's Market is open until 10. So I left Matty in line behind two of the most obnoxious, annoying, spoiled rich suburbanite 13 year olds I have ever had to deal with in person and wandered over there. Farmer's Market generally induced visions of hay and produce with calculators and money boxes. This place makes Reading Terminal look like a road-side tomato stand. So ritzy and Main Line-y. I got myself a sausage, egg and cheese pretzel roll-up from Stoltzfus (which was AWESOME!) and wandered around drooling at the meats and cheeses and produce and wine and everything. Then I went to relieve Matty from the kids for a bit. So kid 1, I will call "the annoying one" (TAO for short). Kid #2 (actually getting an iPhone) was named David. Some snippets of our time in line with them.
TAO: dragging his obviously new apple laptop from his backpack that he leaves hanging open, "I am totally going to have them clean the screen for me, because like, that's there job."
. . .
Older gentleman 2 people ahead to TAO, not realizing that TAO and David have managed to weasel between the person ahead of them and him: "I am going to go to Starbucks to use the restroom. Will you hold my spot?"
TAO: "Sure."
Older gentleman: "Thank you" and walks away
TAO guy who is ACTUALLY ahead of them: "Was he kidding? Of course I am not going to let him back in line."
Guy in front of him: "Well, since he is actually right in front of me, not you, and I am NOT and ass, I am going to let him back in line. He is going to take a piss, what is wrong with you?"
. . .
TAO: referring to the Coldplay concert that he had just gone to and was wearign the T-shirt from. "Well, I mean we had a VIP box, its not like we just went."
. . .
TAO: "Maybe I should get a 3G too," while playing with his iPhone which he had gotten in June.
. . .
TAO: After David complains that he had to spend 30 minutes on the phone with AT&T because he isn't actually eligible to get the iPhone at the discounted price and so his mother, who had to come down and wait in line for 2 hours because her son isnt actually old enough to buy an iPhone on his own, added another line to their plan and will have to pay the early termination fee on his current line, or pay for him to have 2 cellphone lines. "What are you whining about? Don't you understand that this is the best day of your life? You will always remember this day. You will tell you kids about the day that you got the iPhone 3G."
It was a delightful time all around. They ran out of the 16gig black within an hour and a half of us getting there. But since Matty is going to get a hard case for it anyway, white is fine. He actually got the second to last 16 gig they had. When we fianlly got inside we got to deal with Sybil, the world's oldest apple store employee. She had to be at least 70. She was a bit slow but not incompetent. Until we actually got it all up an running and she decided to play with it. Like we hadnt been there long enough. She wanted to play with the iPhone. We finally got out of there and to the train at 12:45. Oh, and TAO talked David into getting his mom to also buy, (in addition to the iPhone, a case, a Mobile Me account ($99 a month)) a red iPod nano.
We got a train back to the city and stopped at the Terminal to get lunch, a roast pork sandwich with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe from Dinic's which we split. Then we bought a 6lb pork shoulder, some sausage casings and headed home. Finally. Oh we stopped at the Gallery and bought Crosswords from the DS for our trip. When we got home I took a nap and then picked 6 cucumbers from the garden and we made a new batch of pickles. With garlic and serrano, mustard and corriander seeds. We made that spicy cucumber and peanut salad from a few weeks ago and then headed over to Dan's for his summer cocktail party. I made a lovely drink with JellyBelly Strawberry Daiquiri mix, citrus vodka and tonic water. Matty was drinking rum and diet cokes. A mistake. Dan made guacamole and vegan chili and grilled cheeses which were all yummy. As well as a peaches and cream pie, a key lime pie and a frozen mocha cheesecake (my favorite). We had a really nice time, met some new people, saw some people we hadnt seen in awhile . . . and then Matty had a drink too many. It started as it normally does, Matty being horribly inappropriate and yelling and then he couldnt walk straight, stand on his own or hold on any conversation at all. He finally asked me to bring him home and so home we went. Luckily it is only about a block to our place, though the stairs out of Dan's and into our place were a bit dicey. When we got home he was asleep before I finished brushing my teeth. He hadnt really eaten anything all day except half a pork sandwich and then half a grilled cheese. He had been up all friday night regretting the fish and chips and then we were up before 7 on Saturday. So that plus he doesnt drink rum and should never be allowed to mix his own drinks it all caught up with him real fast. Sigh.
Sunday we got up and headed to Marathon in University City from brunch before a 12:10 showing of The Dark Knight. We ordered at 11:15 (me a breakfast quesadilla, matty a sandwich) and since it was less than half full we figured we would have plenty of time. When the food still hadnt arrived and we hadnt seen our waiter at 11:45 we started to get concerned. A bunch of people who had sat after us had already gotten their meals and the table next to us (same waiter) who had sat before us were also still waiting. Matty and a girl form that table finally tracked down the waiter to ask what was going on and he was very defensive about it. our food arrived right then and we asked for it to be wrapped up since we didnt have time to eat it. Matty ran across the street to Fresh grocer to buy two slices of pizza for us to eat quickly before the movie started. I waited for the food and to pay. I understand that sometimes the kitchen backs up or is really slow. But no other tables except his seemed to be having a problem. But whatever. It had only been 30 minutes but we were in a rush. I was going to give him a full 20% tip and then he walked over to the table next to us and essentailly through a fit about it not being his fault and he didnt do it on purpose and there was nothing he could do. So he got 15%. I know I have never waited tables and I am sure someone will complain. But you have to handle that better. If there is a prolbem in the kitchen, at least go over to the table and mention what was going on. At least refill our waters. And then dont get pissed when people are upset. Or when they apologize and ask for their meals to go because they are in a rush. Ugghhh. So Matty and I stood outside the theater and inhaled a piece of pizza and then went in. Luckily our day got much better. The Dark Knight is awesome. It fully lived up to my expectations and the hype. It was creepy and dark and violent. I think it should have gotten the R rating personally. But it had a great story, great action, great acting. It was all just awesome. I wont say anything else because I dont want to give anything away. But if you are at all interested in going I would highly recommend seeing it. And I totally think Heath Ledger deserves at least an Oscar nomination.
After the movie we headed into the the lab (in a thunderstorm) for a bit and then went home. We watched a marathon of this season's The Next Food Network Star. Warning, that link has the winner in case you have been watching but didnt see the finale last night. We ate our brunch for dinner. It was very good, even after being carried around all day. And then we ground and seasoned the pork. Warning: graphic pictures below.
We are making bratwurst and Italian (with basil, garlic, onion, crushed red pepper and parmesan)
Only 3 more work days til vacation!
Crazy countries: Find two different wold countries that fit the blanks.
_ U _ T _ _ _ _ A
_ U _ T _ _ _ _ A
Alphabet Soup: How many common English words can you make from the letters below, using all six letters once in each word? (Try to find 5)
A E L R S T
In Puzzle Land, one teenager eats ice-cream cones at the rate of 36 in 3 hours. Her friend likes them even more and can eat the same in only 2 hours. How long will it take the two of them together to eat 36 ice-cream cones?
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