Another weekend, another wedding

Something was wrong with the air tonight, my face was redder than an apple..

But the best was the last cork screw becoming lost and the owner and bartender making a contraption out of a hammer and a screw to open wine bottles.

That's ingenuity at its finest.

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How depressing it is to see my favorite restaurant near death

I remember ordering pizzas from this little (I'll keep it unnamed, I don't want to be accused of slander) Italian eatery in my hometown of Ashland, PA .. I recall how the taste was different from other places.. it was a bustling little restaurant that was converted into one from a former movie theater. The building has a lot of history ..

And now, it's nearly dead.

It's been slowly going downhill for a few years.. There were ups and downs.. former owners wanted out. But the new owners, who I think wanted in, aren't really concerned about the demise!

I went there tonight.. I ordered a large pizza with sweet sauce and mushrooms. I got called back within minutes. They were out of mushrooms.. I still went ahead with the order.

I walk into the establishment, once busy now empty, and the soda machine was out of order.. TVs were turned off.. credit machine was "out of order" .. cooler was empty besides good old Coal Region Guers Iced Tea.. and my pizza was the only order waiting to be picked up.

It made me sad.. but angry, too!
Give me the restaurant!
Let me go "hell's kitchen" on it!
Let me go "Kitchen Nightmares" on it!
Give me a few weeks.. Something has to bring this place back.

Even if they lie and say "under new management" maybe it would at least make someone come back in..

I don't want my little former favorite pizza place to die away. I long for the taste of the traditional sauce.. Long for the days when they delivered it.. long for the days when people went in there.

It's a lonely world when you own an empty restaurant. But for God's sake! do something to get people back in! Don't just let your pride and joy slip and slide away into the black hole of tasteless memory..

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Dinner before Gaga

I went to see Lady Gaga the Tuesday night in Philadelphia with my wife, her sister, and a friend. Before the sexual show, we were striving to eat somewhere else besides the former Wachovia arena, now Wells Fargo Center. I am just not happy paying $7 for a hot dog, or pizza, and $8 for a beer..

We ended up at Popi's Restaurant in South Philly.. and it wasn't bad at all.

I was worried.. I was decked out in a white T-shirt along with cammo shorts.. The others in my party were a bit better dressed than the casual me. But it was all fine.. they accepted us, and actually the staff was quite happy that they met some folks going to see the Lady Gaga show.

I had the chicken marsala, my wife and her sister had crab cakes, and our friend had some chicken dish (name escapes me) .. The food was very reasonably priced for South Philly and it was quite good for a quick meal .. Drinks? .. ehhh a little higher priced--but $5 for a beer instead of $8 is fine with me for city standards.

So .. I guess the bottom line: If you're going to see anything at the Wells Fargo arena, give yourself some extra time and Mapquest Popi's to eat a nicer dinner that will be good and reasonable as opposed to expensive and sloppy ..

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A bad lunch...

Chicken that tastes like rubber but it's still pink.. coffee burned with a tinge of pepper.. and salad with brown spots.. It's a diner, baby, it's a dive.

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IN LABOR for labor day

Work tomorrow.. three parties. Work Sunday .. two parties. Ugh...

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A strange meal...

...shrimp over pasta with .. spaghetti sauce on top. I don't care how fancy a restaurant it may be, you can call it whatever you want, but it's still shrimp with spaghetti sauce. That's it.

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The soup is cold..

...and the flies are gray.. The leaves are turning a shade of orange in the bright lights of early September. And I am 30.
Yes, I passed through the teens.. I am done with the 20s. How fast they flew by.. I'm on to a new decade, one that a show was made about years ago called '30 SOMETHING.' That show was absolutely boring.. So that doesn't give me much hope. And anyway, all those people who starred on it are in their 50s now, right? So much for hope of eternal youth..

While it's not outright hopeless to keep composure, the fact I am going to be a father on or around the time of February 26, 2011, and now entering the dreaded '30s,' it's a big disconcerning. Where did all that time go? All those scenes .. all the dread.. all the nervousness of things that came and went.

All those other songs and words we have to say.. that's the story of our lives.

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