Mookie (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} mookieghana) wrote,@ 2009-01-13 11:11:00 |
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Post Birthday REPORT~!
Alissa & I celebrated my 28th birthday this past weekend. As a result, weather has punished us and plummeted to negative 17 degrees Fahrenheit as of this morning. CURSES~!
We didn't have any huge Birthday plans. Instead, we ordered Chinese Food on Thursday from Fortune House (they delivered an overfollowing amount!) and ate the leftovers on Friday night. I wanted to watch a movie so we obtained "Pineapple Express" which is a 75 minute comedy shoved into a two-hour film. The latter half was enjoyable; the sideplot with the girlfriend did not pan enough nearly enough. I loved Danny Boyle's character (he was awesome in Hot Rod & Tropic Thunder, too). On Saturday, I unsucessfully tried to meet up with Adam to join me in my excursion to the Uptown Theatre to see "The Wrestler". The movie was terrific. It's really all about how people define themselves and what they can take pride in. The casting of Todd Barry as the jerk supermarket supervisor is a great really unheralded choice. I read today that Axl Rose actually donated the ability to use "Sweet Child O' Mine" because the film couldn't afford to pay for the rights which is why he's thanked so prominently in the closing credits. It's definately the most believable movie about wrestling ever made - especially how Randy screws things up: not through enormous dangerous decisions, but rather just being a plain screw-up and forgetting about promises he's made. When I returned home (following a failure to get my oil changed & a trip to the supermarket), I decided to watch one of my birthday presents from Alissa - the KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS DVD. That was awesome! I love that documentary (once again I was inspired to go and try my hand at the Maniac Mansion World Time Record) and especially enjoyed all of the extended interviews & bonus scenes. I will probably watch the movie again this week with commentary. I am responsible for teaching improv classes on Monday & Tuesday nights and will be performing on Friday & Saturday nights, so that only leaves a few evenings free to do this! It is surprising to see on TwinGalaxies that Billy Mitchell is back on top after breaking the million-point record live down in FL in July 2007. ROCK.
On Sunday night, Alissa & I decided to have a real birthday dinner at Kincaids in St. Paul. I used the OpenTable service to score the reservation and they asked about my experience today. Here is what I wrote:
"Dining experience was not optimal. Our table was ready 15 minutes prior to our reservation. Our booth was near a lively, unintrusive large birthday group. Our waitress was very nice & recommended some delicious cocktails for us. Mistakeningly, we did not order appetizers/side salads. Our food took an hour to arrive. I had Pot Roast and my wife had Seafood over Moroccan couscous. Hers was very soupy; my beef tasted good - both were adequate portions. A large and obnoxious group arrived near us, essentially trapping us in the corner. The staff remained very courteous and apologic for the wait. We order GREAT desserts (Torte & Vanilla Creme) and the restaurant graciously adjusted the bill to apologize for the food delays."
(there was a character limit - hence some of my phrasing)
I also had the option to send a note to the restaurant. My story was similar, "We had an excellent server coupled with a very long dinner delay for Sunday 5 pm. Our food took an hour to arrive. The desserts were prompt & delicious. Our server was very graciously and adjusted our bill to compensate us for our delayed food."
The desserts were great. With some appetizers or salads, it would have been a good experience (although I was underwhelmed by my entree). However, an hour wait for okay food is not cool - especially in a noisy corner of the resturant which was so crowded that we almost could not leave once we were done. Parking was free. Service was very kind. And the bill was beyond reasonable (basically drinks & dessert were comped) so all I can say is that I'm definately willing to give Kincaids a second chance! Here's to hoping...
Alissa & I celebrated my 28th birthday this past weekend. As a result, weather has punished us and plummeted to negative 17 degrees Fahrenheit as of this morning. CURSES~!
We didn't have any huge Birthday plans. Instead, we ordered Chinese Food on Thursday from Fortune House (they delivered an overfollowing amount!) and ate the leftovers on Friday night. I wanted to watch a movie so we obtained "Pineapple Express" which is a 75 minute comedy shoved into a two-hour film. The latter half was enjoyable; the sideplot with the girlfriend did not pan enough nearly enough. I loved Danny Boyle's character (he was awesome in Hot Rod & Tropic Thunder, too). On Saturday, I unsucessfully tried to meet up with Adam to join me in my excursion to the Uptown Theatre to see "The Wrestler". The movie was terrific. It's really all about how people define themselves and what they can take pride in. The casting of Todd Barry as the jerk supermarket supervisor is a great really unheralded choice. I read today that Axl Rose actually donated the ability to use "Sweet Child O' Mine" because the film couldn't afford to pay for the rights which is why he's thanked so prominently in the closing credits. It's definately the most believable movie about wrestling ever made - especially how Randy screws things up: not through enormous dangerous decisions, but rather just being a plain screw-up and forgetting about promises he's made. When I returned home (following a failure to get my oil changed & a trip to the supermarket), I decided to watch one of my birthday presents from Alissa - the KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS DVD. That was awesome! I love that documentary (once again I was inspired to go and try my hand at the Maniac Mansion World Time Record) and especially enjoyed all of the extended interviews & bonus scenes. I will probably watch the movie again this week with commentary. I am responsible for teaching improv classes on Monday & Tuesday nights and will be performing on Friday & Saturday nights, so that only leaves a few evenings free to do this! It is surprising to see on TwinGalaxies that Billy Mitchell is back on top after breaking the million-point record live down in FL in July 2007. ROCK.
On Sunday night, Alissa & I decided to have a real birthday dinner at Kincaids in St. Paul. I used the OpenTable service to score the reservation and they asked about my experience today. Here is what I wrote:
"Dining experience was not optimal. Our table was ready 15 minutes prior to our reservation. Our booth was near a lively, unintrusive large birthday group. Our waitress was very nice & recommended some delicious cocktails for us. Mistakeningly, we did not order appetizers/side salads. Our food took an hour to arrive. I had Pot Roast and my wife had Seafood over Moroccan couscous. Hers was very soupy; my beef tasted good - both were adequate portions. A large and obnoxious group arrived near us, essentially trapping us in the corner. The staff remained very courteous and apologic for the wait. We order GREAT desserts (Torte & Vanilla Creme) and the restaurant graciously adjusted the bill to apologize for the food delays."
(there was a character limit - hence some of my phrasing)
I also had the option to send a note to the restaurant. My story was similar, "We had an excellent server coupled with a very long dinner delay for Sunday 5 pm. Our food took an hour to arrive. The desserts were prompt & delicious. Our server was very graciously and adjusted our bill to compensate us for our delayed food."
The desserts were great. With some appetizers or salads, it would have been a good experience (although I was underwhelmed by my entree). However, an hour wait for okay food is not cool - especially in a noisy corner of the resturant which was so crowded that we almost could not leave once we were done. Parking was free. Service was very kind. And the bill was beyond reasonable (basically drinks & dessert were comped) so all I can say is that I'm definately willing to give Kincaids a second chance! Here's to hoping...
