Wednesday, July 23, 2008

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 7/23/2008

Tuesday’s social calendar centered around two meals with friends.

I met SMA at the Kalamata Café for lunch. I had been craving sushi and SMA consented to go. We both ordered plates with two varieties of sushi. I allowed SMA, the sushi expert of the duo, to order for me. He did well. I ate the crunchy ebi (shrimp) and yellowtail (fish) while he had the crunchy kani (crab) and picante. They were all delicious. I even effectively ate with chopsticks. I would not say that I am good with chopsticks but I am getting better.

I also enjoyed the side dish - edamame, soybeans cooked in the pod. I enjoyed them far more once I realized that the tough shell was not intended to be eaten...

SMA is in heavy bar preparation with his exam being only eight days away. He will take the two-day test on July 30-31 and will receive his results on October 10th. The test is a pass-fail exam with the results being public information.

Instead of going immediately home to study, we naturally decided to hit up retail stores in Turkey Creek. First we went to Target and then Wal-Mart. Here is an example of a typical Wal-Mart experience. This man has a shopping cart. You will note that nothing besides a twelve-pack of coke is in it and it is not even in the cart portion. Sadly, this is not uncommon for Wal-Mart customers. The universe wants to know, "Why?"

The trip was successful as SMA decided to buy a $20 box of TNA (wrestling) Impact trading cards. Though the wrestling company is a fledgling organization, he was assured of one genuine autographed card for his purchase. Of all the people he could have drawn, he got Mike Tenay - the organization’s announcer. In other words, he drew the least desirable card in the deck.

The purchase was not all lost as he also found a Kevin Nash Then and Now insert card. The card was appealing because it has a photo of Nash in his University of Tennessee basketball jersey. He played for the Vols for three years, ending in 1980. That was well worth the $20.

As usual, SMA and I demonstrated great proficiency in simultaneously wasting time and money. On the plus side, if he fails the bar, at least he will have a Kevin Nash card to show for his time.

In news from the Estate, his mother purchased a golf cart for the property. She had the choice between red and orange and she chose red because the orange was more Auburn orange than UT. That is a devoted fan. No word on whether the red is Alabama red.

On Tuesday night, JTH and I met Mr. X at Applebees. JTH brought MoFoS pens to distribute to servers. JBT bought them in bulk and by bulk I mean that Sam’s Club and Costco would be envious of the quantity. JTH is hoping that the next time JBT signs a credit receipt at Applebees, it will be with one of his own pens.

By the way, Costco has placed a billboard in town asking people who want a franchise in Knoxville to submit their request to their web site. SMA is considering using the forum for hate mail.

The food was great and the company better at Applebees. Naturally, with Mr. X and I together, the conversation made its way to UT sports. JTH made the obligatory “Andy Kelly, #8” reference to show his up to date sports following. Kelly played was the quarterback from 1988-1991. He then submitted, “Where’s Roland Poles at now?” His random dated UT sports references never cease to amaze me.

For the record, Poles was inducted into the Section V high school football Hall of Fame in January for his exploits at Caledonia-Mumford High School. The school's article on him can be read here. I always try to give a great answer to a great question.

In other news, it appears we have finally seen the last of CDM as she removed her child’s belongings from the church daycare earlier in the day. It seems that her car blew up the previous day and that she and her daughter had to walk home in the rain. She did the most natural thing in the world with a car in need of repair - she quit her job (a posh job at McDonald’s) and took her child out of daycare, which due to charity costs her virtually nothing.

The day before, she had not packed her daughter any food and refused calls to her cell phone from the day care. Fortunately, the day care fed the child. Is there an award for worst mother? If so, I would love to see what she would do with the prize money.

The only thing left of her will be references at MoFoS for being the laziest employee in the history of a company of lazy employees. I will miss her like Joel McHale would miss Gary Busey if Busey ever stopped doing asinine things. Sadly, I actually have a higher opinion of her now than JTH!

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