Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
So my brother is in town again. He is here for a week and (at times) likes to see me. I guess he loves me. That’s nice, because I like to see him too.
Last night, we decided to go out to eat at Houlihan’s up in Glastonbury. I kind of like that place and the food is good. The only problem was that when I pulled into the Houlihan’s parking lot, the place was closed. I have no idea why. I sure hope they didn’t go out of business or something like that. My brother was in his car waiting for me. I drove around to meet him and told him that I had another place in mind right down the road.
We drove down Glastonbury Boulevard and made a right into the J. Gilbert’s parking lot. I have actually been wanting to go to this restaurant for some time because it looks pretty cool from outside. I always see a packed parking lot, so I usually avoid it. Last night I wanted to give it a shot.
We walked into the restaurant and found that even though there was a full parking lot, there were a whole bunch of tables open. I guess many of the cars belonged to people who liked to hang out in the bar area.
Okay, so here is my review of the restaurant:
- Good service, good atmosphere, good food, decent drinks
- Definitely not worth the money
Between the two of us, we spent over $100. That’s just crazy because all we had were two drinks, two salads, two entrees and two desserts. The entrees were “light,” if you know what I mean. Don’t get me wrong, everything was very tasty, but a little sliver of this and just a few of that doesn’t really explain the $25 plus price tag for the entree. That kind of ticks me off, because I was freakin’ starving last night. I wanted to be fed.
Listen, if you are an independent restaurant and have a really talented head chef who brought his or her own menu with them when they arrived, go for it and charge an arm and a leg for what you’re serving. The average diner doesn’t know how to put a price tag on that. I am thinking of our last dinner up at the Mayflower Inn. It was so unique it was incredible. I wish I took a picture of it.
But, if you are a chain restaurant, don’t charge so much. What’s going to happen is you are going to get a lot of one time customers who leave to never come back. Eh hem.
I gotta tell you again, really nice restaurant, great service, good food, okay drinks, but no way worth the money.
And, that’s my review.
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Friday, November 28th, 2008
I made a very important self discovery today. It took all of my life, but I finally discovered that I am a critic.
It feels really great to at last figure out what my problem has been for all these years. At times, I have thought deeply about why things are, how things are, where things are, etc…It truly has been exhausting.
Now, as a newly discovered critic, I don’t feel nearly as terrible as I used to for being so critical about people, places and things. It’s the way I am wired…it’s uncontrollable. Come to find out, it’s in my DNA. I am sure there is someone in my family I get this from. Hmmm, anyone?
This afternoon, we drove to the Berkshires for another exciting Thanksgiving dinner at the Red Lion Inn. If you have been reading this blog since its inception, you’ll know that this has become a tradition for us, one that we really look forward to.
The Red Lion Inn offers some of the best charm in the Berkshires. It is centrally located in Stockbridge, MA and is probably the most popular inn the entire Berkshire region offers. Unfortunately, all its popularity may be its undoing, with us anyway.
We have always liked traveling up to the Berkshires for a variety of events…concerts at Tanglewood, shopping in Lee, strolling in Lenox, lunch in Stockbridge, well, you get the picture. We generally have a very good time. Although, there have been times that I have come back with a bit of cognitive dissonance. Rob knows what that is. We learned it way back in marketing class at WCC. It’s when someone feels uneasy about something, like there is a mild conflict in their mind. You can look up its definition here. For business majors, it applies to marketing, but it is generally applied to social psychology.
I’ll give you a short, but true, example of a time I experienced cognitive dissonance and then I will get into my story about tonight.
When Laura and I stayed over at the Red Lion Inn last Christmas, we enjoyed ourselves very much. We had fun doing so many things, but when it came time to eat dinner in the main dining room, there was something that bothered us. About half way through dinner, we heard a stampede of kids running up and down the main hallway above us for about 15 minutes. I will tell you that the Red Lion Inn is not a “solid” building, so we heard this commotion loud and clear. I thought the plaster on the ceiling was going to start crumbling.
Since we pay a good price for our time at the Inn, I decided to walk up to the front desk and inform the girl working it that there were some rowdy children upstairs ruining my night. She replied, “Um, yeah, I know. We have already had a few complaints about that. My manager is going to be in tomorrow morning and I am going to leave a note for her.” I was stunned and almost offered to take my shoe off and chase these kids out of the building, but I remained civil. My even temperament took over and I grudgingly went back to the table.
When I sat back down, I told Laura that I was a little fed up and that we should reconsider future visits to the Red Lion Inn.
Fast forward a few months.
In September, we went apple picking up at Windy Hill Farm in Great Barrington and ate lunch at the Red Lion Inn. We had a wonderful meal and decided to make reservations for Thanksgiving dinner. When we have a good time, we get a little caught up in the moment.
Fast forward to tonight.
We had a 4PM reservation for dinner. What always struck me as odd was, while making our reservations, this inn has insisted on telling me that men must wear coats to dinner. I never knew why they were telling me this, because I dress nicely each time I visit. I didn’t like the fact that someone was telling me how to dress, but I chalked it up to “informing the tourists.” There are people who would try to eat dinner in Bermuda shorts if you let them. As I mentioned earlier, this inn is situated in one of the Berkshire’s most popular areas, there are bound to be tons of hungry looky-lous, and there are.
We arrived today at 3:30PM. While waiting, we strolled around and kept ourselves busy. Laura went into the gift shop and I sat at a chess table. Here are some photos of that:
Red Lion Inn gift shop
Red Lion Inn chess table
As I was sitting at the chess table, I snapped a photo of a painting on the wall. I had no idea what it was of and I wasn’t even going to use it for this post. Upon later examination, I realized it may be the side lawn at Tanglewood. Here, check it out:
Side lawn at Tanglewood
We usually sit where the flowers are in the painting.
After Laura was finished in the gift shop and I was done taking my photos, we walked in the main lobby of the inn. This is where I noticed something strange. I saw a guy walking into the main dining room wearing a cheesy, wrinkled sweater and sneakers. Now, trust me, I am not being judgemental, I am using this as ammo to make a point later on.
A few more minutes of waiting and we heard the golden word, “G.” Ok, now we were in business. The hostess walked us over to a table for two towards the front of the dining room. I would have preferred the rear because it is quieter back there, but the front was ok, I suppose.
We sat down next to a few larger tables to the side of us and another table for two directly behind me. This is where it gets interesting…
At the moment of my butt hitting the chair, I heard this loud, female, raspy, drunken voice scolding her (soon I would find out) boyfriend for being so lousy over the 20 year span of their relationship. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I could feel my face getting red, like it did when the kids were running around upstairs.
I took a breath and figured that I should keep my mouth shut because they would be done in a few minutes and they would leave. After they left, we could enjoy the rest of the night with the rest of the well behaved guests.
Apparently not.
For the entire duration of our meal, we were forced to listen to this woman, very loudly scold her boyfriend that he was no good to her and no good to his mother. She claimed that he was going to leave her and that he wanted to kill his mother. I am not joking. This woman was plastered. She was slurring her words, but not drunk enough to keep ordering more drinks. She also found her way outside for a smoke every 10 minutes fairly easily.
Each time she went outside to smoke, she would come back into the dining room. She would smile at everyone and make small talk with people here and there. The minute she sat down, “You rotten, good for nothing, bast….”
Remember when I mentioned that we would wait until these people left to enjoy our dinner? Nope, apparently, these were the type of folks who sit and eat all night. If at a bar, these are the type of folks that you have to physically ask to leave when the bar is closing…then only to find out they are hiding in the bathroom. They were there before us and they remained after we left.
I know all this because we grew to know them intimately. All the folks at the surrounding tables knew them as well because they were very close too. I had such temptation to get up and grab the drunk lady by the throat, but I kept coming to the same conclusion that if I approached this woman, I would only get excited and mad and have my night ruined, I was confident that she would just enjoy it too much and she would make a very loud scene. In addition, in no way was this supposed to be my problem. Which brings me to the point of this post…
Where in the world was the uptight, rule enforcing waitstaff and hostess? I paid for this evening and nothing was done, in the least, about this Jerry Springer trailer park scene. It lasted an hour and all we got were a few uncomfortable smiles from the employees of the Red Lion Inn. In my opinion, this was unacceptable garbage. Everyone heard it and everyone knew what was going on. The problem was that we were too deep into our meals to change tables. Even as we were eating, a guy wearing a button down, lumberjack shirt walked by. You know the type of shirt…big red and black squares. So much for this “dress code.” I guess I should have dressed more comfortably.
I did a little search for upscale inns in the area after we got back to the house and found that our dinner at the Red Lion Inn was actually more expensive than comparable dinners at these other inns. I don’t want to sound like I am whining here, but I just figured that maybe, just perhaps I could have a nice classy night out with my lady without my blood pressure raising through the roof. It is, after all, the service and “experience” we are paying for.
I get excited about these nights out and I hate being let down.
After reading some reviews on Zagat, I have come to the conclusion that the Red Lion Inn is simply too popular with the tourists. It appears that this is an “anything goes” restaurant, as was evidenced by the gentleman walking in wearing sneakers and the scene that went on behind us. Oh yeah, the kids running up and down the hall way during our previous visit was a sure treat as well. Each time, nothing was done to even look like an attempt was being made to stop what was going on or to comfort the people who were trying to enjoy their holiday at the Red Lion Inn. I know this because, believe me, I watched and waited.
Unfortunately, I think we have been burnt by the Red Lion Inn for the last time. We can’t do it anymore. There are far too many restaurants and inns in the Northeast to have to put up with this kind of place. We decided that if we were in the area and wanted to stop for lunch, maybe we would give it a shot, but certainly not for dinner.
On a lighter note, hats off to the chef tonight. The food was excellent. As a matter of fact, if the staff of this place would get some guts and start throwing some of these people out on their ears, we wouldn’t have a problem at all. The waitstaff and other employees are always very nice and easy to get along with. It’s the other guests that are the problem. Problems are bound to arise, it’s what is done about them that matters.
Finally, here are a few shots of some tables and, of course, my Guinness.
Dining tables at Red Lion Inn
Pint of Guinness
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Friday, November 7th, 2008
The desk portion of my new office furniture arrived this afternoon. I have to tell you, I am loving Pottery Barn furniture.
About a week and a half ago, I received the console table I ordered. I was very pleased with the quality. Today’s desk is going to make me go back for more. It’s the kind of furniture that you look at and say, “Wow.”
Pottery Barn Aris Desk
The desk is the Pottery Barn Aris large desk. It said something about being framed in some hardwood, but all I know is that it looks really cool.
This is a big change for me. I am used to sitting at a pretty high desk on a chair that is the height of a stool. This is the traditional 30 inches, so things are a bit lower, but actually more comfortable. I now have drawers too.
There are a few more things that I need. We are going to take a trip back to the store next week sometime to pick up two small tables, a garbage can and a floor lamp. I should be set for a while for this office. Now, for the other office, that’s another story.
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Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
We had a pretty fun night last night.
Initially, we planned to make a quick trip up to Bob’s Discount Furniture in Manchester. We need a whole lot of furniture. We need to furnish the entire bedroom, dining room, living room, my office and some odds and ends elsewhere. Needless to say, this is going to be tough.
If there is one thing in life I am cheap about, it’s furniture. I have no idea why. Perhaps because it’s not screaming “necessity” out at me. I mean, what’s wrong with sitting on an up side down bucket? Ahh, history. It’s not in my nature to go spend thousands of dollars on something that is just going to sit there. It’s not like a couch is going to help mow the lawn or a coffee table is going to clean the gutters. Geez, furniture is one of those things that looks good, but doesn’t do too much else. I need some sort of purpose with the stuff I buy.
Regardless, it needs to be done.
We drove up to Manchester to visit Bob’s. This is one of their larger stores with a whole “used” and “damaged” area in the back. There is furniture galore back there. It has dings, dents, cracks and anything else you can think of. The place is huge. The whole front area is reserved for the brand new furniture.
We walked in and were presented with a nice bedroom set. I liked it, Laura kind of liked it. As we walked on, we saw some things that she liked and some that I liked, and vice-versa. I am not sure we were in agreement, but we probably could have been if we stayed longer.
As we walked around, I noticed a candy station. I walked over to it and started eating the caramel chews. I don’t know what was wrong with me. I put some in my mouth and then shoved some in my pocket. I then took some other candy and stuck it in my pocket. I am not sure who was controlling me, because I certainly don’t eat candy like an idiot (which I was at the moment). Laura was looking at me in disgust. She had a look on her face like, “Give me the keys, you are being abandoned.”
Upon discussion, we decided that we would leave Bob’s. Nothing really jumped out at me. I mean, it’s a great place for couches and stuff, so we’ll go back for that. We’ll get a few couches and maybe a Bob-O-Pedic matress set.
We got back in the car and decided to head over to Raymour and Flanigan furniture. I have always heard good things about this store. We were nearby, so there wasn’t much deciding to do…the only factor was that we were now in the middle of rush hour and I hate cars. Whatever.
We walked in Raymour and Flanigan and were greeted by a nice sales lady. It kind of reminded me of a used car lot. I still had caramel chews in my mouth, so I couldn’t really talk. She started laughing at my grossness. When I was ready, I asked if their furniture was solid hardwood. She replied that it was, but there were a few pieces in the back that we should steer clear of. OK, fine. That’s fair.
We started walking around and I began noticing a strange trend…this furniture was obviously made by the same makers of Bob’s furniture. We saw many similarities, one not being the price. It seemed that they tacked on a few thousand dollars and upped the quality slightly, but it appeared that whoever made Bob’s furniture made this as well. I may be wrong, but that’s the way it looked.
You should have seen me, I was under the tables trying to see if they were made of real wood, pulling out drawers to see what kind of runners were used, wiggling things back and forth, checking the quality. Things were just OK. If I had to choose between the two, I would head back to Bob’s and save some money. I think both places offered similar furniture that would last about the same amount of time. This, of course, is my very uninformed opinion.
Laura and I looked at each other and decided to wash our hands of both places. We knew of one place that really makes us drool…Pottery Barn up at Evergreen Walk. Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ bout.
We walked in and picked out a bedroom set. Yup, it was that easy. It’s the Hudson Collection that can be seen here. We already knew the quality of furniture that Pottery Barn sells and really didn’t need to inspect it. Every time we go in this place, we look at the stuff, so it was really easy. The only problem is that the Pottery Barn furniture prices are in a whole different realm than the other two places.
OK, moving on. The end of the year is coming and I need office furniture. We walked to the back of the store and I picked out a nice little item called the “Rhys Console Table.” This is a perfect little place to put my fax machine and printer. Also, I can use the drawers for random things that are currently sitting on the floor.
Rhys Console Table
Then, we looked through the catalog and found a nice desk called the “Aris Large Desk.” I have had my eye on this for some time. We bought the console table and are having it delivered. I had to wait to order the desk online, because that’s an internet only item. I did that last night. They are going to deliver that in a few weeks.
Now, all I need is maybe some sort of shelving unit and a chair. That’s it for the office.
We were pooped from furniture shopping, so we left.
I have been meaning to stop by L.L.Bean to grab some more waffle shirts. I have two that everyone already makes fun of. One of them is salmon colored and has a picture of a salmon on it. Since I am a trendsetter, I ignore this fun poked in my direction.
As we were walking to the car, I asked Laura if she wanted to go to L.L.Bean for a few minutes. I mean, it was right in front of us. What the heck, we went to the store.
Hey, wouldn’t you know it, they didn’t have any waffle shirts. What they did have is some awesome “Corduroys”, some really cool “Two-Layer River Driver’s Shirts” and a really marvelous “Merino Wool Sherpa Sweater” that I have been looking to buy for about 10 years now. Oh yeah, I also picked up this amazing black “Fitness Fleece Jacket” that was calling my name too. Don’t you like my use of attributive adjectives?
Boy, what a night. At least I learned a lesson from all this…which is…I need an SUV. I am sick of paying for shipping.
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Monday, March 24th, 2008
I know that I have told you in the past how much Laura and I like to eat lunch at the Fife’n Drum restaurant in Kent, CT every Easter. We have been doing it now for about four years. It usually is a very good time. Well, unfortunately, yesterday was our last visit to this restaurant.
I am going to try to keep this short and sweet and not too much like a restaurant critic. Let’s just say that it seems like there is some new management and a new chef at this place.
The wait was very long during each portion of our two course Easter lunch and the food was amateur at best. It seemed like the dish washing dude was back there cooking too. I swear it seemed like there were parts of my dishes that were from a can. To me, “warm potatoes” does not mean potato salad that tasted like it was straight from Costco. A vegetarian dish does not mean boiled vegetables. Oh well, there’s $80 down the drain. We didn’t even stay for dessert…my favorite part. We just left the money on the table and left. During the last 20 minute wait to have our plates cleared from the table, three different waiters walked by and looked at us at least seven times. We kept wondering if our waiter had gone home. Well, as it turns out, as we were leaving, Laura caught sight of this guy eating at the bar. What the hell? If you can’t tell, I am a little annoyed. To think, I still left a tip…A TIP. I didn’t have the patience to wait for any change. I swear, if we had stayed any longer, they would’ve started vacuuming the floor while people were still eating. Yes, we will have to find a new place to eat on Easter.
To simmer down, we went on our traditional hike at Bull’s Bridge. I have a few posts about our previous hikes. It’s a really neat place.
Since we have been down the same trail so many times, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the top part of the trails. Laura might have been a little disappointed because she wanted to go on a real hike. I will have to make it up to her. We took lots of pictures and video. I will upload the video today and post it here.
This is a photo of the front of the Fife’n Drum restaurant in Kent, CT. I don’t even know why I am showing this. Perhaps someone from the restaurant will read this post and mail me a refund check.
This is the monument in Kent, CT.
These are two shots of Bull’s Bridge itself. We got lucky with very good weather.
These are all shots of the river. The water was rushing very fast, due to all the rain we have been getting. We didn’t see any kayakers like we have in previous years. Maybe the water was going too fast. I sure wouldn’t get in there.
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Saturday, November 17th, 2007
Google offers API for Outlook migration to Gmail
Google took a giant step on Friday to make it easier for companies to migrate any e-mail system over to Google Apps Gmail by offering an E-mail Migration API targeted at corporate developers and e-mail administrators.
Become an Internet Legend in Your Free Time: Tips from Internet Celebrities
“The Internet moves very fast,” says Gary “Numa Numa” Brolsma. “Your video has to be funny, or get to the point, very quickly. People are clicking all the time. If you don’t hook people in the first 15 seconds, they’ll move on.”
Top 30 websites that still are using tables as layout structure
You won´t believed how many they are. Some of then are your daily web routine. Stop hunting those IE CSS tricks and bring back your Frontpage 98 my friend designer, we are still in web 0.8889
How Top Bloggers Really Promote their Websites
Simple question: “If you had 2-hours a day to devote to no-cost, off-blog (even off-line) marketing for your blog, what would you do?†I posed this very question to a collection of some of the world’s top bloggers and social network marketers…and here’s what they revealed.
15 Unreasonably Useful Websites
A list of 15 websites that are either useful or entertaining.
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