Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I've always been enamored with the idea of being a regular customer somewhere, of going in and having people recognize me. I'm not sure why, though I have a feeling it stems from my (probably pathetic & somewhat misguided) lifelong desire to be popular. I never achieved popularity as a kid / teenager, and though I'm okay with that now, I think a part of me still wants to feel like I am part of some kind of exclusive or "cool" group. Lame, I know.

I always wanted to achieve regular status at my favorite local pub, but MB doesn't really like the food there, and my friends and I just don't frequent the place enough. However, over the last 2 years or so, MB and I have become regulars at our favorite local Szechwan restaurant. MB goes in with his friends, too, and the owner definitely knows him a little better than he knows me. When we went with BoMB on the night of the AFC playoff game, MB had been in twice without me in the preceding two or three weeks, and one of the waiters came by and said to me, "Long time no see! I've seen him around, but not you!" Good thing MB wasn't trying to sneak around behind my back, because he would've been totally busted.

Danger and I are regulars at the cafe at Barnes & Noble, since we've been going there for chai nearly every Wednesday for probably 2 years or more (Can it really be that long?), and that's cool since the cafe staff are pretty hilarious.

Tonight, it seems we've finally become regulars at another place in town. MB and I used to go to O'Charley's on a semi-regular basis when we could afford to go out, but then two things happened. We both ended up in real life grown-up jobs with steady salaries, and a Longhorn opened in our town. We LOVE Longhorn. We've only had not-awesome food there once, and the service is always fantastic. We probably go 2 - 3 times a month, at least. The manager sometimes goes around and asks each table how things are, and he'll usually say something to us like, "Welcome back!" but I just figured it was a generic manager-y thing to do. But tonight, he walked past us as we were following the hostess to our booth, and he said, "I hope you guys are planning to save room for dessert tonight!" We laughed, but before we could say, "We'll see!" he continued and said, "It'll be on me tonight...you guys are in here all the time." Well, hell to the yes.

The last time we got something free at a restaurant, MB had to get ice water poured on him first. We were having dinner with another couple, and we'd pretty much finished eating. We had the checks, but we hadn't paid yet. Our waitress was this teeny tiny girl, and when she tried to add our plates to her huge tray (which probably weighed more than she did), the whole thing overbalanced and a pitcher of melted ice and water tipped over and soaked MB's shoulder. Now, MB's just about the most laid-back guy on the planet, and he's super polite, so he wasn't going to get mad. Of course, I felt horrible for the waitress, because there's no way she could've known that. Right before I started laughing my ass off at the look on MB's face--because it was really funny; it's not like he was hurt in any way--the manager materialized out of thin air, snatched our checks, and announced that we needn't worry about them. After she walked off, we all looked at each other and said, "We should've ordered dessert!"


Free dessert without having to take an ice water bath first? Yes, please!



As a reward for reading this far (if anyone did), here are some dogs made out of flowers:

I don't usually get all squee-y over cute animal email forwards, but these are actually pretty neat.





They remind me of those really cool books by the guy who makes food have faces.

We were supposed to go to another cave today, but we overslept. That would've been so much more entertaining to write about. My apologies.



Finally, please welcome...

...my little sister to the blogging world. Be nice to her; she's new at this. ;)



Reading: Gorgon:  Paleontology, Obsession, and the Greatest Catastrophe in Earth's History by Peter D. Ward (lunch breaks have been really short lately)


Playing: Begin to Hope by Regina Spektor (I'm obsessed with it)