In Eckleburg's Eyes - 3/23/2009, Part 1

News & Notes from Friday, March 20th, 2009

-On Friday night my parents and I met my extended family at 6:30 at Agave Azul Mexican Grill in the Western Plaza shopping center. Since I was with my parents, we arrived exceedingly early. We used the extra time to shop at The Fresh Market. I am not sure my mother had not planned our earliness just to frequent the grocery store.

-I was surprised when I saw that one of the bag boys was BT, the unbearable p.a. announcer from the Rocky Top Basketball League. We talked basketball and he was very personable. I still hate him as a p.a. announcer.

-The family was meeting to celebrate three family birthdays and because it was the last night my cousin ACN was in town. Her birthday was one of the ones we were celebrating (March 5th). The restaurant was really bright. This is evidenced by the fact that my cousin wore her massive sunglasses inside the restaurant.

-Two of my four cousins were in attendance. Being an optimist, I like to think of it as the table being half full. Obviously, ACN was present as was HANW. I knew that my cousin HANJ had made it back to Abilene successfully on Monday but I learned that she used the barf bag on the airplane. We were all impressed by this because none of us knew someone who had actually used one. It takes very little to impress us...

-I had never eaten at the restaurant before. There was a debate as to whether or not my father had. Mom insisted he had while Dad had no recollection of it. Either way, it was a new experience to Dad and me. The food was good though a quesadilla and burrito taste pretty much the same to me regardless of which Mexican restaurant I am at. I am obviously not a connoisseur of Mexican food. The place was really loud. As noted, we were celebrating three birthdays and they had the loudest (and messiest) birthday celebration I have ever heard. As you can tell from my uncle REN’s, the beers are served in the largest mugs I have ever seen. So if you are into beer, this might be the Mexican restaurant for you.

-I then returned home to watch the conclusion of the second night of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. My bracket was almost flawless until I picked only one of the night’s four games correctly. I also missed a game earlier in the day when I picked Tennessee. The Vols lost 77-75 to Oklahoma State. I would like to thank my Fellowship
friend JMW for sending me a link from his blog, Fan’s Guide for Watching the Vols in the NCAA Tournament. It made the loss far easier to stomach. By the way, I highly recommend his blog.