I Think I'm Back

I've been doing some research into how to maximize my tips at my waitressing gig. In doing so, I ran across this gem. Most of the advice is pretty reasonable. However, I also do pretty much everything the author suggests already. Sometimes, I'd bet even most of the time, the tip doesn't much reflect on the service you've given so long as the service was decent. I absolutely do not agree with the following:

Reason: Most of the time, bad tips are given because people do not like the service they have received. If you get a bad tip, you should ask yourself the following:

• Was the service slow?
• Did I say something to upset someone at the table?
• Did I ignore a request?
• Did I flash an excess body part?

Every shift I work, I have an example of giving the same exact service to one table as the next and I'll get tipped 10% from the one table and 25% from the other. I've been trying to think of what else I could possibly do to never get a 10% tip, but I'm on the verge of concluding there's just nothing to be done. I give the best service I can, and the rest is up to the customer. Some people are just cheap. I'm not going to take it personally. I'm certainly not going to worry about whether or not I flashed an excess body part. I mean, come on. Really? In my brightly-colored polo and khaki pants, I'm not too concerned about flashing body parts anyway.

Can now be found

I've moved my blogging to a new place.  

http://shapeswithoutsubstance.com

Hope to see you there.  :)

Let's get Rowd(y)

My Uncle Rowd is currently in the hospital, and the prognosis is not that great. I can do nothing but hope he comes through it like the fighter he's always been.

What is likely my earliest memory involves going to a van rally with my dad, Uncle Rowd, and his wife Ginny. According to my mother, I was three. I vividly remember Rowd picking my dad and I up in his modified and tricked out van and waving goodbye to my mom and little brother. I also remember walking down a path looking at cattails, sitting around a fire in a big prairie type lot surrounded by vans and other fires, and being afraid to sleep outside, so my dad and I slept in the van. I spent alot of time with Rowd and Ginny before they split up (I think I was eight years old when that happened). They didn't have any kids at the time, and my parents pawned my brother and I off every chance they got it seemed. Which I was totally fine with at the time and still am. If it weren't for all the awesome things my aunts and uncles did with me when I was a kid, I wouldn't be the person I am today. Some other random memories/interesting things I remember about Rowd:

• He never really seemed to be afraid of anything. He would always be the designated fireworks lighter. He'd nonchalantly light a fuck-ton of bottlerockets and then slowly saunter away as if nothing they could do would hurt him.
• He is a fabulous country line dancer (from what I hear).
• He's always reminded me of a mix between Dennis Hopper and Robert DeNiro, just smaller and quieter.
• His car was booted once, and he got arrested for trying to remove it. My mom had to go get him out of the district lockup.
• He lived in what became a VERY bad neighborhood in the city. Someone broke into his house once, and he tried to shoot the burglar with a shotgun.
  
• He's had alot of careers in his 58 years of life. He's currently an IDOT worker on the highway. I can't begin to explain how perfect that job has got to be for him. Every time I'm on the highway and see a yellow IDOT tow truck, I look to see if it's him.
  
• The longest conversation I've ever had with him involved fuel efficiency standards on cars/trucks and fuel prices in this country.
• His name is Charles (after his father), but I've always known him as Rowd. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I realized Rowd (for rowdy) wasn't his actual name.
  
• He still has a bullet in his back from one of his tours of duty in Vietnam.
• He used to take us kids on motorcycle rides during family barbecues. He'd do wheelies and ride up on the sidewalk with me on the back. It was terrifyingly awesome.
  

I've always been very glad to have him as an uncle, and I hope to have many more years of him telling funny stories at the few family parties my dad's family has every year.

While I've Been Away

What have I been up to since the end of November? This is what I can recall off the top of my head:

December 1 - Dinner with Mike at Duck Walk.
December 2 - Thrift shopping with Niall in Lakeview/Boys Town. Bought a Luscious Jackson CD for $3, Girls Just Want to Have Fun DVD for $4, new black cut-off finger gloves that turn into mittens for $7.
December 3 - Spent the day at the Museum of Science & Industry with Niall. Saw the Smart Home, an OmniMax movie called Wild Ocean, and the propaganda-filled farm exhibit sponsored by ADM amongst other things. The highlights of the day were the java chicks, the private coal-mine tour Niall and I went on, and the Smart Home.
December 4 - Crafting at my mom's - I made two wreaths.
December 5 - Spent the day at the Art Institute of Chicago with Niall, then went to the Christkindlmarket on Daley Plaza.
December 6 - Got Alice's oil changed, stopped by my dad's to say hi, went to a recycled hardcover bookmaking class, went to Von's cookie swap party.
December 7 - Brunch at Curio Cafe with friends, Blackhawks game with Annie, Sonia & Adam. I spent the night at my mom's.
December 8 - Crafting for my mother all day again. I decorated a small victorian Christmas tree, a wreath, and an ornament.
December 9 - Stopped by my mom's to finish a wreath and pick up my forgotten phone, went shopping and ran errands.
December 10 - Did nothing all day, then bartended at night.
December 11 - Stopped by work to pick up my remaining things.
December 12 - Lunch with Von, dentist, then The Tossers CD release party at Double Door.
December 13 - Hot Dougs with Marty, Tony & Dan. Drinks & late dinner with Von & Marty at The Daily.
December 14 - Brunch at Tony & Jackie's.
December 15 - Spent the day shopping with my mom, then Marty & I watched the new Indiana Jones movie.
December 16 - Yearly physical exam at the doc, Trader Joe's, made two batches of hot cocoa mix for Christmas presents - one ginger-spiced hot cocoa, the other mexican hot cocoa, and now I'm avoiding cleaning.
Coming soon...
December 17 - Melissa is coming over and we're baking! Then I have to bartend.
December 18 - Help my mom wrap Christmas presents in the morning, then register for classes at Truman in the afternoon.
December 19 - It's A Girl show at the Viaduct Theater
December 20 - Dad's family Christmas party and maybe The Kicker's Christmas party too.
December 21 to 24 - BAKING and getting everything ready for Christmas day.

So yeah, I've been busy. I don't have dedicated time in front of the computer anymore, so keeping up with blogging and reading blogs has become a little difficult. I'm sure I'll find the right balance soon.

NaBloPoMo - The End

Tomorrow starts the official month of getting my shit together, so I can succeed at being a full-time student. I need to get my computer files in order, register for classes, update my resume, find a part-time job, finish some minor home repairs, sell some stuff on eBay, and on and on and on - all while sticking to some sort of schedule and not getting distracted from my ultimate goal. It's going to be a tough month, but at least I won't be working full-time while having to do all that stuff.

NaBloPoMo was really difficult. I just read through all my posts from November; they weren't all bad, but I don't really have much to write about every day. Or maybe I do, and I just don't have the creative energy needed to write quality posts every day. Needless to say, I won't be blogging every day in December. Boy am I glad November is over. For a number of reasons.

I'm hoping for a productive, healthy, and happy December. Fingers crossed.

Ginger & Cocoa

Tonight I made Ginger Spiced Hot Cocoa. I saw the recipe when I was watching the Food Network the other day and wanted to try it. I've heard that ginger might be good for help in getting over a cold. It was good, but I didn't really taste the ginger. Though, tbh, I haven't really been able to taste anything I've eaten for a few days now.

The title of the recipe reminded me of two stories I'd like to share:

GINGER
I used to sit in the corporate real estate offices when I first started working for the bank almost eight years ago. They were out of room in the meetings & events offices, where I should have been rightly sitting, at the time. The head of real estate was a very tall, loud, older Jewish man from New York. His accent was exactly what you'd imagine it to be. There was a woman who worked for him named Ginger. Her office was a few doors down from him, so instead of calling her on the phone, he'd just yell "Giiiinnnnggggeerrrrr" from his office every time he wanted her to come to come talk to him. It would echo down the hallway all the way to where I was sitting multiple times a day. This went on for a good six months before I was moved to my next temporary cubicle in the dungeons of the bank. To this day, I can't say the word ginger without thinking of him.

Giiiiiinnnnnnggggeerrrrrrrrr.

COCOA
When we were all much younger than we are now, some old friends of mine lived next to a family that had a few kids and a dog named Cocoa. Cocoa escaped one day, and the little girl next door paced up and down the block crying and calling for the dog in the most pathetic shaky voice ever. "Cooooocooooooa." I can't remember if they found the dog, but I'm pretty sure they did. I don't know why, but hearing one of them imitate her calling for Cocoa sends us all into fits of laughter. Don't think I'm not aware of how cruel we are/were.

I'm off to google home remedies for colds now that we have our precious internets back. The ginger doesn't seem to be doing it for me.

1,368

The approximate number of times I've blown my nose today. I'm so goddam sick of having a cold. I've basically been sick the entire month of November. This is total bullshit. I would just about sell my soul at this point to not ever have another cold.

Tomorrow I buy a humidifier. That's just about the only remedy I've yet to try.


-- Post From My iPhone