Decisions, Decisions

I still haven't made a decision on the blog move yet.  I really like the app.  Now to research how easy it will be to migrate over to a new place.  No, tonight's decision is what to take to Antique's Road Show tomorrow.  They will be at the Biloxi, MS coliseum taping for early next year air date.

My family still lives along the Gulf Coast, and my Mom has always wanted to go on the show.  A friend from high school posted months and months ago that it was coming to the Coast and how to apply for tickets.  I think I applied for tickets in January or February, and winners were chosen in March.  The show uses a lottery system.  You apply for the event you would like to attend, and if your email address is chosen, you receive 2 free tickets.  Mom and I were lucky enough to get tickets.

Our ticket time is 2 pm, and we can arrive up to thirty minutes early.  We plan on arriving around 1:30 or so.  We can each bring 2 items with us.  Mom is bringing 2 violins that have been in my Dad's family for ever, or so it seems.  We've also picked a pair of pocket watches that were wedding gifts to my Dad's parents.  That leaves one more item we can take.

We had decided to take a set of dishes.  Ronnie's grandmother has been saving this set of dishes for him.  Every time she goes to give them to him, she changes her mind.  They are fragile and something could happen to them.  We've heard different stories about these dishes.  Our favorite is that Maw Maw's aunt brought them over on the boat from Sicily, and that she had hand painted them.  Sorry, Google search reveals they were made in Japan and sold in mass production.  Turns out the dishes were wedding china for Maw Maw's sister.  We think they were bought at Sears.  Either way, the dishes are still, well, ugly.  We've decided not to take them tomorrow, but as a consolation prize we will bring them out and use the ugly dishes for Thanksgiving.  It's never a traditional meal in our house so maybe they'll be fortunate enough to be used for a taco dinner or maybe chicken wings.  The menu is still undecided.

I called Mom and told her what we decided. Now she's trying to figure out what else she would like to take.  There's a couple of other contenders:  a music box my Dad bought in Japan in 1951 while he was there in the Navy as part of McArthur's honor guard.  Or there's my Great Grandmother's ugly vase.  When she passed away no one in the family wanted it, they all said it was too ugly.  My Mom took it and found out it's a Hull vase, whatever that means, and is a collectors item.   Mom gets to narrow it down and we'll make a final decision tomorrow.  I don't think my 3rd grade baton twirling uniform, or Ronnie's dog head bong he made in high school would be interesting to take.

Creative Gas Mileage

I was filling up my van this afternoon and thinking about what kind of mileage a mini van gets.  Definitely not as good as Ronnie's Accord.  But I love my van and I don't want to give it up.  I may cringe when I fill it up, but I still love to drive it.  I could do the regular math involving miles driven and gallons used.  That would be easy. 

Or, I could use some creative math.  My van has a nifty feature with the clock.  I can see how long the van has been on since I last reset the counter.  I reset each time I fill up the van.  I don't want to tell you how many miles I got to the last tank, but I can tell you I got 8 hours and 25 minutes to the last 14 gallons.  When I look at it that way, I get pretty good mileage.

Bumper Stickers

I live in what's affectionately called The Deep South.  You've heard of the place.  When you order tea in a restaurant it's very sweet, fried pickles are an appetizer, and we know y'all is singular, y'alls is plural.  We also tell who and what we are with bumper stickers.

Take our cars for example.  Mine tells I'm a fan of my Apple products, I'm a Parrothead (dancing parrot stickers) and I'm a Star Trek fan (white sticker of Enterprise).  Ronnie's let's you know he's a pirate (skull & crossbones), he likes Thundercats, and he's a Star Trek fan (Klingon symbol).  We tend to stay away from the political stickers.  People driving down the road don't really need to know who I voted for 6 years ago or how I feel about abortion rights.

I've seen some really good bumper stickers lately and thought I would share.  These are not necessarily my views, but bumper stickers that amused me in some way.  I tried taking pics with my phone, but they didn't turn out very well.

• God bless our troops.  Especially the snipers.
• Your mama was pro choice, dahling.
• I'll keep my money, guns and freedom.  You keep the change.
• If you are opposed to logging, try using plastic toilet paper.
• Your proctologist called, he found your head.
• PETA: People for Eating Tasty Animals.

I have to say, I think the fourth one is my favorite.  Plastic toilet paper?  OUCH!  Most of what makes me giggle about these is the cars they're on.  The first was on a large F-150 with oversize tires.  The second was on an RV, the third was on an F-150 with lots of other pro military, anti Obama stickers.  I've seen this one quite a bit more lately.  I do like how the person who came up with it is playing on Obama's campaign slogan.  I think the stickers and the cars go together very well.  I'm never quite surprised by what I read on certain cars.  I haven't seen a Cadillac driven by an old lady with a Porn Star sticker on it before.  That would probably make me worry.

The ones that always make me laugh are the ones that say "I Love My Wife".  I always wonder who put that one on.  Was it the wife?  Was it him?  Was it a practical joke?  What do the guys say about it?  We usually make up a story about them when my friends and I see one.  Was the guy seriously in the dog house and trying to get out?  Or maybe his wife put it on there and just dared him to take it off, there by proving he doesn't love her.  I wonder if he tells the guys the wife did it so they don't give him too hard a time about it.  

So what does your car say about you?

Tipping

This one has been a topic of discussion among my friends off and on for years.  Since Ronnie is a chef we tend to hang out with a lot of restaurant people, including servers.  I know the general guideline is 15 to 18%.  I also realize that servers are working for $2.35 an hour plus tips.  From the server side of things, I get it.  But let me try to explain it from a parents side of things.

My general experience can be divided into two categories: with kids and without kids.  When we go out with Paige our servers tend to be less attentive and the service is usually poor.  When I've asked server friends about this they've freely told me they hate getting stuck with the kid section and when they do get this section they say their tips are usually bad.  Here's why: the service is bad.  Not all servers feel this way, and some servers have been great with us when Paige is out with us.

See, I feel that a tip is to be given for good service.  If I get good service, I give a good tip.  If I get bad service, I give bad tips.  I feel like my requirements are rather simple.  Friendly is good.  Getting my order correct is really good.  My tea glass not being empty for more than say, 5 minutes, that's super bonus!  If I have to get up with my empty glass looking for a refill, your tip just went way down.  Oh, and extra napkins.  I really like extra napkins.  We get a bit messy.  We even ask for them when we order.

I have left as little as 2 cents on a tip.  That time the server took our order and brought the check.  Another server brought our food, refilled our drinks, and did everything else.  That server I tipped in cash at the end of the meal. The 2 cents I left the other server was to round up to a dollar and make my checkbook easier to balance.  Ronnie and I have also tipped very well.  There's a difference in a bad server and one who just gets behind.  We recently had a server who was late to work because her child was sick.  She got stuck with tables no one wanted.  She had 2 tables in a section, 2 more in a different section, then 3 in the smoking section all the way across the restaurant.  She was good.  Even with all the running she did my tea glass never got empty.  She was very friendly.  Ronnie asked her what was up since it looked like she was all over the place, so she told him.  We tipped her very well.  She was a great waitress who was trying her best.  And she was literally running around the restaurant doing her job.  She's the kind of server we tip well.

When we don't have Paige with us, we seem to have much better service.  I chalk this up to what servers have told me, people with kids don't tip well.  They work hard serving the table for a small tip.  When we go out by ourselves, the service, in general, is better.  I expect the same level of service when Paige is with us or not.  I don't think our demands are too unreasonable.