...which means I would have had an evil meeting at 1 pm PDT with my old team, and I was trying to find a way to cancel it because I think it's going to be an ambush and not a meeting. Thankfully, the gods of scheduling or something else smiled upon me, and the ex-boss rescheduled it for next Wednesday at 2pm. I leave work by 3:20 on Wednesdays so that I can go work out, so I have a hard stop on the meeting.

I'm not sacrificing my workout routine for them.

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It's also time for the Friday Five... since there isn't a new one, I chose an old one. I've been picking a few of these at random over the last few months and building replies for them so that I could catch up or just have stuff to discuss. It's a good thing that I did, since the archives are offline too.

1. What is your favorite restaurant and why?
Amazingly enough, I don't have a favorite restaurant - I have several that I really like, but I don't think that I have a favorite. There's Palermo's - they make some awesome pasta... Original Joe's (also awesome pasta and meat), Los Pericos (pretty good Mexican food - it's more of a takeout dive), Royal Taco (another strip mall takeout dive, but the fajitas rock), A Bellagio (which took over the spot of another longtime favorite, Guiseppe's).... See the theme of Italian and Mexican food? I have to break that, however, with the entry of Tsing Tao (my local Chinese joint).

Like I said, I have lots of restaurants that I like (the list is waaaay longer), but I don't have any hands down 'squealing oooo that's my favorite place' favorites.

2. What fast food restaurant are you partial to?
Ah hah! A question I can answer definitively. Sort of.

If I want a cheap fast food burger, then it has to be Burger King. Love the burgers. The fries could use some help, but the onion rings rule. The chicken salad that they've introduced is quite incredible as well.

For french fries, however, McDonald's has to take the prize. And THEIR grilled chicken salads are excellent as well.

....but for a good juicy old style fast food burger... In-N-Out Burger. No doubt about it.

3. What are your standards and rules for tipping?
I try to stay with the new standard of 15%. If the waitstaff is particularly attentive to moods and knows when to stay away or when to stick around, then they get a nicer tip. I've been especially generous to the ones that are genuinely nice and make sure that you're doing good without being nervous and eager to please about it.

I have been known to throw a penny on the table as a tip for horrible service. Not a pleasant experience. I suppose I should change that to a nickel so that they could go buy a clue. Let me share with you one of those experiences.

I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with A when I went to Old Spaghetti Factory (I think that was the very last time I was there - which would make it about 8 1/2 years since I've been). I was wearing a long knit sweater - you know the kind that goes to about an inch above your knees and needs to be stretched and laid out for HOURS to dry because it's like a sponge? The waiter knocked over my water glass as he was putting it down and it spilled on me. I got up as fast as I could (I was still carrying small for as pregnant as I was) so the damage wasn't that bad, but I had this huge wet spot on the lower half of my sweater right at the bottom half of my tummy. And the tablecloth is wet too.

We (my dinner companion and I) figured that he ran off to get a towel. 3 or 4 minutes later we see him waiting on someone else in the general area. So we get the nearest waitress' attention, point out the issue, and she gives me the towel that's stuffed in her pocket and goes to get another. On the way she directs our guy LOUDLY to reseat us elsewhere. What does he do? He goes and gets another tablecloth and setting and re-sets our existing table. She comes back to find us in the same place and apologizes since the dinner hour just picked up and our guy must have thought that that was easier.

So we asked for another waiter. Sorry - they were short. The waiter never apologized for tipping water on me, and I sat through dinner half wet. It was a long dinner too, since our waiter decided that every other table was more important than ours. We even had someone at another table wave him down and point out that we've been waiting an awfully long time to get our food - turns out he'd never placed the order. We'd already been there an hour (but it was the only place we wanted to eat too).

I put two pennies on the table as a tip and made sure that the bill said 'See table for tip'. I also spoke with the manager on the way out and made sure that he knew I left two pennies for a tip and all of the reasons why. He apologized but didn't make any concessions for what was a two and a half hour horrible experience. Yes, two and a half hours.

I *know* the wait and service at Old Spaghetti isn't normally that bad, and that's not the reason that I've not been back. It's just that I know of so many other, more convenient, good Italian places that I don't need to go there.

4. Do you usually order an appetizer and/or dessert?
Sadly, no. I'd love to get appetizers more often... Dessert depends on what's on the menu. I won't get dessert if it's going to be some hastily scooped out ice cream or something like that. Dessert needs to be a lavish something that I know takes a little effort to prepare. If I can smell sugar baking from the kitchen, then that's a dessert menu that I want to review.

I have a good nose, I can pick up the smell of baking sugar even in the most garlicky of Italian restaurants, trust me.

5. What do you usually order to drink at a restaurant?
Depends on the place. I used to order soda all the time. When I have Thai or Chinese, I tend to get green or jasmine tea and water. Most other places I'll get juice or stick with the water. Even eating fast food I've not gotten soda lately (of course, I've not gotten fast food lately either) - I've been sticking with lemonade or water. It's better for me anyway since I'll be eating somewhere where I have no control over the ingredients.

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So, that's it for today... I hope y'all have a great weekend!