Things are a-rollin'!

When did that happen? As you may know, I've always had a plan to get my Masters after graduating. Well, I originally had a plan to keep going to a PhD, but that's fallen to the wayside. I might still, but no plans for it. Anyway, plans evolve and going into grad school immediately after getting my BSc never happened. It's now been (holy crap!) three full years since my Convocation.

After the first year, I still had the intention of going to grad school. Two years, same. Three years later, the ball is actually rolling. I spoke again with my boss about it (he's still an adjunct professor at UVic). He went on a little fact finding mission for me and came back with some information and a contact for me to follow up on; which means I can't put it off any more.

That was late last week. I just called (and left a message) for the contact, so now I play the waiting game. To make things more interesting (or at least, to help with me putting things off), I'm leaving town for holidays tomorrow, which is why I really want to speak with the contact first. Strike while the iron is hot, as they say. Get the bug in her ear first^†, then pick it back up after the break.

I don't know why, but Rawhide by Johnny Cash just popped into my head...

^† Mixed metaphors be damned!

That is all.

Volcanic eruptions and comical satire

Last night, Holly and I were out for a little Christmas shopping and we ended up at Walmart. I never park in the main Walmart parking lot, instead I usually park in the Blockbuster lot nearby and go for a short walk. Moxies is attached to Blockbuster, so getting out of the car, I jokingly asked Holly if she wanted a Volcano. She was tempted, and mentioned it a few times while at Walmart. So, we went for a couple Volcanoes after shopping. Volcanoes are so good!

Ordering off the kid's menu is always fun. The waitress looked amused. When she asked what topping we wanted, I gave my standard reply of "yes". She asked "Strawberry?", since that was the last one she listed. "No, all of them." If you haven't had a Volcano yet, with all the toppings, you really should.

After a few minutes, the waitress came back with our Volcanoes. "I hope you're as excited as the kids are."
"Of course!"
"Some kids dance around on the tables."
"I don't know if it'll support my weight."
I was sorely tempted, though.


On a completely different subject, here are two comics from Life in Plastic Pants:
Pop Ultimatum and Pop Accord. They're funny because they're true.

That is all.

Service with a smile?

No? Well, how about some service, period?

Swans is great. The atmosphere when all your friends are there, the live music of The Flying Saucers, the incredibly small dance floor... it all adds up to good times. That is, unless you want service. The waitresses are notoriously bad. Most of them are nice, but they're generally sloooow and oblivious. Be prepared to wait. Just last night, I waited half an hour before a waitress even came to our table. She even served tables around me without so much as looking in our direction. Surprisingly, everything after that was quick. Very unusual. I've had times when I've had to wait, literally, over thirty minutes to get my iced tea. It's a fricken glass of iced tea. And when it did finally arrive, there was no lemon wedge. Another ten minutes for that.

I've also had an order completely forgotten once, and another that sat waiting to be brought to the table for a long time. And then the bill. If you ever want to leave Swans, good luck, because it'll take you another forty minutes to get the bill, and more minutes to pay if you're not using cash or need change. The waitresses tend to disappear for eternities on end. I've literally gone for an hour without any waitress getting anywhere near our table. I can on rare occasion spot one from a distance, but they're rarer than flying pink elephants wearing tutus, dancing lindy in midair. Sadly, I'm not exaggerating the hour wait.

Maybe it's not Swans in particular, as I seem to have bad luck with waitstaff. Holly can vouch for that. You can read one misadventure at the Blue Peter in Sidney in an earlier entry. One time at Boston Pizza, my appy salad was given to another person at the far end of our string of tables, with the waitress taking another fifteen or so minutes to make a reappearance.

All that, and there's the expectation of a good tip. How can you expect a good tip (any tip, really) if you offer service like that. Oi, but tipping is a whole other issue I don't feel like bringing up right now. Let's just say the whole system in North America is seriously seriously seriously fubar.

That is all.