Restaurant Reviews

Gloria's Little Italy
Provo

Last week (or the week before, I've lost track now) we decided to try out Gloria's Little Italy.   It was Thursday, the big sign out front extolled the virtues of their Thursday night pasta feast.

The 'pasta feast' was two different pasta dishes you could try out as much as you wanted.  One had a mushroom white sauce, the other was a red sauce with what I think was a creamy polenta layer under the sauce.  I really liked the red sauce with the polenta.  (The mushroom white sauce was good as well, but the polenta made me want to try to make it myself...)

When we got there, the girl at the front desk took us to an area of the restaurant that was empty, but incredibly hot.  There was no air moving there, and the place was in front of some West facing windows.  Stiffling.  We asked to be moved, they moved us to an areas with ceiling fans, which was at least 10 degrees cooler.  We could still see the other table, that desk girl tried to seat two other couples at that same, those couples also in turn asked to be moved before the girl gave up on that section of the restaurant...

Anyway, the pasta was pretty good.  We've got a gift certificate for lunch there somewhere in the house, but I think it's been lost to time.


Los Hermanos
Provo

Right across the street from Gloria's Little Italy, facing East, is Los Hermanos.  I haven't eaten there in something like ten years.  We went there tonight.  We were a little bit before dinner time, so we were able to get a seat right by their big windows in their very comfortable chairs.

Tara and I both ordered their Halibut Taco dinner.  Why did we order that you ask?  For the Halibut.

I'm not sure what I was really expecting out of the tacos, but what I got was not really it.  It was like they baked some fish, tossed it into a taco shell, added cheese and lettuce, and sent it out.  No seasonings, no extra flavors, no nothing.  I'm not sure that's really what they do every time with that dish, bu it didn't work for me.  It lacked flavor.  The fish was tender and juicy, but I kind of expect a fish taco to have something more.  The platter had gaucamole, sour cream, rice, and beans, I tried adding some of this to bites of the taco, but it was still kind just plain.  (and disappointing)

I guess eating there once in a decade is all you really need, anyhow. 

Email Spam & Texting Spam

I have been on a crusade in the past month against junk email.  At the beginning of the year, I had upwards of 15,000 emails in my spam folder (gmail - last 30 days only.)  95% of this was junk from servers.  Once I got the junk from servers cleaned up, after ignoring the actual minor problems for years, I was down under a thousand spam messages.  I also got quite a bit of mail in my inbox that I usually just deleted, didn't bother looking at it. 

Some of this email was from online purchases at various sites over the years.  Some of the junk was from conferences I have attended over the years.  About a month ago, I started to unsubscribe from all the junk I was getting.  The only things I didn't unsubscribe from were things I figured were unsolicited, I didn't want to acknowledge my existence and have them sign me up for 15 other email lists as a result.

Some places were nice.  They would unsubscribe you immediately.  Other places, not so nice, they say they need 10 days to get you off the list.  I made sure I unsubscribed from these 10 or 20 times before they went away. A few things pretended to let you unsubscribe, but the link was broken, and you never could.  I reported these to gmail, but I don't expect to see anything come of it, those emails are now in the spam folder.  I may just create a rule to send them straight to trash.

The result?  I feel fairly unencumbered by email.  My 30 day spam folder is under 300 emails.  I expect this number to drop even further the next time we update spamassassin at work.

I still have 32 emails in my inbox, but it's work and stake stuff that I haven't taken care of yet.  They say you shouldn't use you inbox as a workflow system, but it's only 32 emails...

A couple of weeks ago, I started getting random text messages:

from 77893 - July 24th

Attn: Ur submission for a Cash Advance has been recieved!  To get up to $1500 go to www.MyCash1500.com
Loan confirmation No: XXXXX
to end reply STOP

from 77893 - July 28th

Attn: We are looking for shoppers to get paid to eat & shop!  Pay up to $50/hour.  For current jobs call XXXX-XXX-XXXX
2 end reply STOP

Now, I don't know where these started coming from, but it's annoying.  I most definitely will not reply to these, I definitely don't want to acknowledge my existence on this end.  Anyone else get texting spam?  Looks like there are some frustrated people out there when you search on the text number.   I doubt complaining to the FCC would get anything done about it, I'm just hoping that by ignoring it, they will go away...

I'm not sure that's a sustainable business model...

Sometime last month, I saw a deal on slickdeals.com for a toaster for $10 (60% off), and a toaster oven for $8 (90% off) from Sears.com.  Tara had just been telling me the toaster was shooting green sparks when she used it, and her parents had a toaster oven that always burned whatever they put in it, and they keep using the thing.  I figured I could fix Tara's toaster problem, and at the same time fix the other problem.  We've gotten stuff online from Sears like this before.  It's one of the reasons we have two Christmas trees...

I ordered a toaster and 2 toaster ovens - $28.  Two days later, I get two separate emails from Sears, telling me that my two orders were cancelled.  Sears sent me a $5 and a $10 gift certificate for my troubles.  Not bad, I thought, of them, is they are going to cancel, it was nice of them to send the cards.

A week later, I noticed a refund on my card for $17.  No charge, just the refund.  I thought this was kind of odd.  The week after that, I got an automated call saying my order had arrived.  I thought this was weird.  A couple of days later I checked my card, the charge for $17 showed up.  Still weird.  Then both gift cards came separately.  Then I got another reminder call that my order was ready for pickup.

Last Thursday, I went over to the store, and put in my name and phone number, so see what they brought out.  Out came a toaster.  This made me think that maybe they were just waiting to charge me the $11 until after I picked up the toaster.  (The toaster is nice by the way.)  As of this afternoon, still no charge for the toaster.

I went over to the store tonight to see if they could figure out what the deal was for me.  The cashier lady took me to their offices and called the Sears.com people.  We had to explain what happened three times.  The lady on the phone didn't know what to tell us, except that the orders were canceled.  I explained that I picked up the toaster last week.  Still nothing from the people on the phone.

One of the store managers told the cashier to just ring the thing up.  She entered the product number and seemed surprised at the price.  She asked if it had been on sale.  Then they let me finally pay for the toaster.

I expect one of three things to happen:

1. The toaster will last 10 years, start making green sparks, and still be a great deal
2. Now that I've gone in to pay for the toaster, the online charge will finally go through, I will have to go back to the store to explain it all over again to get my $10 back.
3. I will get a call next week from Sears saying my order has arrived, I will go over there, and the toaster ovens will have shown up.

I don't understand, really.  How many toasters has Sears given away to people, then also sent them a $5 gift certificate for their troubles?  Is this some strange promotion they are running to actually get people into their stores?  What's next, free drills and refrigerators?   Is this some odd disease they contracted after their merger with K-Mart?

Random thoughts from John

Now with hashtags!

I rarely use hashtags on Twitter, unless I really need them for the punchline. Sometimes it's just a matter of not being able to get the thought into 140 characters. I also try not to abbreviate on twitter, texting style, just to get the message out. Anyway, here are some random thoughts, for your reading pleasure, including twitter style hashtags. (for the punchlines, of course)

• A few weeks ago, Tara and I watched an episode of Home Improvement where Tim got electrocuted. It reminded me of the time when we lived in the house on Villa when I had the little black and white tube TV up in the attic and decided to take it apart. I can't remember if it was plugged in or not, but I do remember it shocking the stuffing out of me. A couple of weeks ago, I put in a light outside without flipping the circuit breaker first. #somethingsneverchange
• Last night the kettleheads across the street from us were being incredibly stupid. They were lighting off fireworks. (The Utah kind, that don't lift off the ground.) They were lighting them, then jumping over them, Jack-be-nimble style, as they went off. I guess that was supposed to impress the girls that were over there. Then they were lighting them and chasing each other around the place with them. I was sure we would hear an ambulance before they were done. I was also sure I was never that dumb. #IamsureTarahassomecounterexamplestothatlaststatement

• I got Adam a ballcap at the RedHat Summit conference I went to last month. If he sees the thing, he wants to put it on. He found it in the diaper bag during church today, and put it on. How do you explain to a two year old that it's not respectful to wear hats in the chapel? Adam sure wasn't listening. It's 10pm right now, he's in the back room, and wearing his hat. I secretly hope he wears it for years, giving it sweat stains and starts wearing the fabric out. #ballcapsarebetterthatway
• The truck is slowly wearing out. I am sure that if I invest some money into it, the truck could last for years. I am equally as sure that the engine could throw a rod tomorrow. (235k miles) It won't pass inspection in November when the registration is due to be renewed. It needs the following: 2 new tires, a new windshield, it leaks about a quart of oil a month, the bed is starting to rust out, there is a suspension arm that almost didn't pass last year, and in general it seems a bit tired, doesn't have the giddy up it used to have, especially in the very cold or very hot. The truck is a lot like me, really. I have all those same problems, except for the oil leak. Anyhow, I don't see it passing inspection at all this Winter, and I don't see myself spending close to $2000 to get those things fixed, especially there is no guarantee on how long it will live, really. I think it would be fun, if I had the time and the money, to just drive it across the country, and see how far I get. Just go off sightseeing and visiting people until the thing finally dies. Then you take it to a junker, and buy a plane ticket home. #thatisahobbyforsomeonewithoutsixkids
• I haven't been reading much lately. I don't know what the problem is, I guess I'm just lazy. Maybe it's in part because I haven't been walking to work. I think it's mostly just laziness at this point. #that'srighttoolazytoread
• I got all the laundry in the house done yesterday. It took the better part of two days. Eight people in the house piles the stuff up pretty quickly. By the time the washer and dryer die, and I can't get them fixed, I am hoping the price for the high capacity, high efficiency washers and dryers drop even further. It will be really nice to do more laundry faster. I got all the laundry done yesterday, and today there is already more than a full load to wash. #gettingtotheendofthelaundryislikegettingtotheendoftheinternet
• The camera on my phone continues to get worse. I can rarely get the thing to focus any more. That's why there are no pictures from Boston, and not too many pictures here lately. Every once in a while my phone will report not being able to connect to the camera, and every once in a while will focus just fine and act like nothing was ever wrong. I'm convinced it's a software problem, and am waiting for the Android 2.2 update to see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, I will start talking to Verizon about it. #secretlyhopingforaDroid2
• Dave and Lisa are both beating me in the Payne Family Wii Mario Kart Grand Prix. Something weird has to happen for me to beat them out in the next three weeks. I am sure if I put enough time into it, I could have beat their scores each of the weeks. Last week I did. I got too late of a start this past week. #brimmingwithconfidanceallthewaytotheend
• Google has built a tool called "App inventor for Android". It looks pretty interesting, but it's not an open registration, you have to wait for them to give you access, and it looks like they are trying to get it into the educational market first. I'm not sure I have an educational uses for it, but I wouldn't mind trying it out. I would have loved to have had a decent phone app for the schedule at the conference I was at last month. I'm not sure what other ideas I have for phone apps, I'm sure I could come up with a few if they release the tool to me. I could just do it the hard way, but I don't have time right now to figure out how to program for Android. #myfirstappwouldbecalled"pokeJohnintheeye"...
• My aunt had a tornado touch down at her house the other day. Or next to her house, at least. It sounds like it jumped the house, no damage to the house itself, but their barn had the roof partly torn off, and it tore up their corn. She said they had corn embedded in the ground. Being the smart alex I am, my response on Facebook was: "I thought corn stalks grew out of the ground. Maybe that's just 'city kid thinking'..." I thought it was hilarious, and figured I would get a rise out of some one. Turns out either everyone ignored me, or were not pleased, and did not respond. I watched the news video of it last night, the corn stacks were picked up by the tornado and lanced back into the ground. I take back what I said. #Johntellsanothercornyjoke
• I checked a book out of the University library 5 months ago, and promptly lost it. The library lets me check books out for 6 months at a time, which can be a blessing and a curse. I've looked all over the place for the book, not finding it anywhere. Last week I found the book, sitting in the bookshelf on the headboard to our bed. It was sandwiched in between a magazine and a spiral bound book. I felt silly. I took the book to work, and got one of my student employees to take the book back to the library for me. #notonlytoolazytoreadtoolazytowalktolibrary

That's all for now. #Iamoutofhere

Dinner

Beef on Weck, mashed potatoes, corn, toasted garlic pitas, and hummis.

Someday my kids will beg me for this stuff. Tonight they had chicken noodle soup.

Jealous? We've got leftovers...

Chaos!

Verizon is releasing a new phone on Thursday - the Droid X. They've decided to do a promotional contest where they are hosting a scavenger hunt. They've been releasing little clues about the location of 21 phones, across the country for the past few weeks. On the day they release the thing in the target city, they give a final clue about the location, then 30 minutes later give the GPS coordinates.

A couple of days ago, they left a clue that one would be released today in Buffalo. I got Amy and Dave committed to looking for the thing. I figured it would be at the Anchor bar, but this morning the clue they released said to start at the waterfront and then cross the 190. This made me think it would be at the Peace Bridge park, I sent Amy that direction. It was kind of a bad clue, because the GPS coordinates had the thing at the Anchor Bar.

Turned out that Dave stayed at work, so he went downstairs to check things out, and Amy headed back to help look. Turns out that's when the chaos started. Amy said there were people everywhere. People peeling out from stop signs, parking all over the place, and people running all over. Must have been a slow day in Buffalo. I'm still waiting to hear the full play-by-play from her. (They didn't win the Droid, they were looking for a box, turns out it was just a little card. My fault.)

Later in the day, they released one in Oklahoma City. I got Tara's brother to head down to the area with his kids. I sounds like it was just as crazy down there. People running all over the place trying to find the thing. (This time I was able to prep him on what to really look for.) The guy that found it was right in front of him, but John said it was crazy down there.

They released seven of these in different cities today, I imagine hundreds of people in all of these cities swarming the areas running all over the place trying to find these Droids. Mildly uncontrolled chaos. Seems pretty funny to me.

One of the things is released tomorrow, I figure it's going to be in Utah or Colorado, based on the clues. I'm really hoping for Utah, so I can run up to where ever it is, and make a video of hundreds of people running all over the place, looking for a little card.

Memorial Garden flowers.

In March, we planted a memorial garden. I tried to pick a few different kinds of plants, so we would have flowers in the thing for as long as possible. It being the middle of the Summer, it looks like we have moved on to the lilies. (The rose bush had flowers about a month ago.) I expect the lilies to last the better part fo the summer, and from there we will have to see when we get Spring blooms.


Anyhow, I thought there might be a few out there that would like to see the memorial garden is doing what I wanted it to...


Oh, and one other thing. After 3 or 4 years, I might finally get a few raspberries. It's the first time I've actually seen any blossoms...

Wii Mario Kart Grand Prix - Mid Circuit Standings

Well, here we are, at the mid point of our Summer 2010 Mario Kart Wii Grand Prix. I think this is the first week Tara didn't say anything about the course difficulty. (Don't tell her about this next week being the Gold Mine course...) This week was the first week that Lily actually finished her race.

The kids seem to enjoy the weekly ritual. I think Lisa and Dave also seem to like it, they have been blowing our times out of the water, week after week. I am sure that given enough time each week, I could best their times, but I don't have that much time...

The mid point standings

Lisa - 47 points
Dave - 47 points
John - 41 points
Kate - 35 points
Tara - 28 points
Mary - 27 points
Emma - 20 points
Ruth - 14 points
Lily - 10 points

And Adam? He enjoys it too:

Restaurant Review

Fusion Asian Grill
Provo

Tara continued her quest this week for something spicy. We ended up going to Fusion Asian Grill, which is a Korean restaurant masquerading as a little hole in the wall generic restaurant.

Tara got the spicy grilled pork, which she seemed to enjoy. I had the Octopus BiBimBap. For some reason, the waiter started laughing at me when I ordered it, I'm not sure why.

Turns out it wasn't too bad. The octopus wasn't too chewy, the food was nice and flavorful. We also had their kimbop, which tasted really good, and I ate too much of.

Fusion Asian Grill - On State Street, just before the hill. Pretty good prices, pretty good food...

Mmm. Fried food...

Things I fried and ate tonight:

• French Fries - freshly cut from the potato
• Sausage
• Pickles
• Onion Rings - found a fantastic recipe the other day. Not too much batter, very tasty. You could make a living off those.
  
• Mozzarella cheese stick
• A couple of frozen green beans, but I didn't like them all that much and stopped.
  

I also tried to fry a colby jack cheese stick, but it didn't work so well. It kind of just boiled off itself and burned up. I don't know if I just got lucky on the first cheese stick or what.

I thought about also frying bell pepper strips, but didn't and after decidign I was full, I thought about all the onions in the garden that I could have fried...

Weekend warrior

I worked on my bucket list the last couple of days - the list of things around the house that might never get done. It's a self assigned list, it never ends, just changes all the time.


Yesterday I spent the day taking the swamp cooler off the roof. It took a while to get the thing off it's mount, when we put it on, we used silver metal tape, which was plenty stuck on there. Then I had to get the mount for the thing off, which took a bit, including excessive banging with the hammer when it wouldn't come out...

After removing the swamp cooler, I was left with a 3 square foot hole in the roof. We live in a largely desert environment, but I figures I should close the hole up. After closing the hole, I re-shingled the thing. All in all, I don't think it's too bad a job for an amateur.

I should have picked a different day for working on the roof, it was plenty hot up there yesterday. I ended up burning my feet through my shoes. And I got plenty of tar on my hands.


This morning I went back up there to clean up my mess. Then I built this nifty tree harness. I found a maple tree growing right next to the house last year, it's the same kind we have in the front of the house, so I pulled it out from the bush it was behind, and transplanted it near the back yard. That was several months ago, and the tree has only recently looked like it was fairly happy about it. I figured it was time to build a proper harness so it would grow straight. It's got a little bit of a alignment problem from growing so close to the house. I'm hoping it will shade the back patio in a few years.


I spent the afternoon staining the playset. It was past time for it.


Finally, this week I got my pack of fake moustaches. I haven't decided if I am allergic to the things or not, yet... In the background (on the left) you can see the tree we are trying to duplicate in the back.

Restaurant Review

Maria Bonita
Orem Utah

We had a recommendation for this place given from someone we know, who thinks it's one of the best Mexican places around.  The food was good, the service was kind of slow, but I think that was because we didn't speak Spanish.  From what I could tell, those that spoke Spanish didn't have any problems getting their order in fast and getting their food...

Anyhow, Tara had their normal combo plate.  (The plates were huge...)  I got the Pancho Villa plate, but they should have called it the Sancho Panza plate, because you'd have to be crazy to eat the entire thing in one sitting.  It had a platter with a secondary plate as well.  I tried to eat it all, but it bested me, I had to save my burrito for later.

Anyway, the food was good, not too expensive, and you won't walk away hungry.  Worth a stop if you find yourself up that direction.