Not quite a haiku:
Ala Moana Center ground floor
the Odyssey taxi door opens
an explosion of Micronesian children
Monthly Archive for December, 2009
Page 3 of 3
I won a ticket to tonight’s Awamori Festival fundraiser from the JCCH. I was anticipating a learning experience about Awamori, but I learned more beforehand from Wikipedia, since all they had was “Z” and various fruity cocktails made from it. I even brought a notebook and pen so I could write stuff down and write a really informative post! I got three drinky tickets with my entrance ticket, so the first thing I had was a shot shaken with ice. Whatever “Z” was wasn’t top shelf, and the shot was seriously on the short side. At least the Asian sister who poured my second shot on the rocks gave the yellow brother a long pour. Mitch came late, so they didn’t give him any drinly tickets, so I gave him my third, although he used it for a soda. The food was pedestrain buffet fare, and none of it of a Ryukyu bent. WTF?! At least there was a good Okinawan dance performance, and I got to hang out with Mitch, Melissa, and a bunch of really nice people. The skies were dark and ominous on the way ofer to ATM after work, and sure as shingles, the sky opened up with wind whipped rain and lightning as soon as the event was underway. Everyone had to crowd under whatever shelter they could find at the open-air venue. I ran into Derrick from the JCCH whose friends were performing. Sorry – I’d write more, but I’m really tired (Fabio, you didn’t miss much).
Here are some pictures
Well now, our volume of J mail has gone down, but today got a bunch. What kind of relationships is going on in this household? Since when did Fabio move in? And who’s Juanita and when did I marry her? Or is she a long lost sister?
Picked up a little canister stove at the Snow Peak store in Shiroishi while in Sapporo. Most Snow Peak stuff is available on the USDM, but after the first year, Snow Peak USA removed this particular item from their product listing, though you may still find remaining stock here and there. I’m not really sure what’s up with that. All the specifications and information is readily available online, so I’ll just go over some of the things I noticed. It is really small, but it isn’t particularly light. I only say this because I picked up the aluminum-bodied Ultralight version. Granted the ultralight doesn’t have an igniter which means you have to add weight elsewhere by carrying a lighter or matches. Continue reading ‘Snow Peak Gigapower Micro Max Stove Titanium’
Went down to Windward Mall to get a Triple Prime Bacon Cheddar Burger at Ruby Tuesday. Was seated almost immediately, which was a surprise. Guess it wasn’t very busy during the economic downturn – lots of empty tables. It took at least three minutes (probably more like five, but I don’t want it to seem like I’m exaggerating) for server first contact. She was a trainee being ghosted by an experienced server, so the fault really falls on the trainer no matter how nice she was. It is inexcusable to have that long a delay before a face-to-face with the customer. It is worse to use customer dissatisfaction as a training tool – don’t allow the customer to become unhappy then point out to your trainee, “you don’t want to do this,” instead, proactively address the customer and lead by example. I almost walked out. That whole “not busy” thing manifested itself in reduced staff, so even if it wasn’t for the trainee floor staff, the kitchen was understaffed, so food prep was slow. Continue reading ‘Customer Disservice’
Saw an old Lexus LS 400 today with the “VIP” tuning thing going on. There was a diecut on the rear windscreen that said, “Simply Discrete – Keepin’ it Simple, Yet Discrete”. Huh? WTF? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever!
(0)