Book Log – Fast Food Nation

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.

Well, if it’s at all possible, I’m never eating at a fast food restaurant again.

But what about Moe’s, Chipotle, and other sort-of fast food restaurants like that? Where do they get their beef and chicken, and how are their workers paid?

Maybe there’s a restaurant rating somewhere on the web.

On the brighter side…

… ’twas a nice weekend. Saturday I had a nice Salon, then rushed to the Colonel Fuddy Duddy show to play a Loose-Rope Walker. The crowd was not terribly enthused, but I’m told it was better than previous weeks. And I played a guest character for the first time, which is an interesting experience. I got taunted by a child volunteer, who called me a “Loose-Rope Chicken” and made chicken noises and actions. Which was fine, since the character is an a-feared one.

Afterwards, we futzed around until Stacey headed out to see Debby Does Dallas: The Musical at Dad’s (which is reportedly very good). Roan and I played around until his bedtime, and after he drifted off I watched the first few episodes of FireFly from a DVD loaned by .

Man, do I like that show. Cowboys and spaceships and really, really good writing. Woo-eee!

I can’t believe it was cancelled, but I’m glad to hear there’s a movie coming out next year. Here’s to it not sucking.

Sunday, Stacey headed to the investment club while Roan and I went shopping. Afterwards, we all hit the zoo with and family. Roan likes elephants, and the bird show is pretty good, too.

Roan zonked out on the way home and slept for over an hour, which unfortunately led to a new record in Amount-Of-Time-It-Takes-Roan-To-Go-To-Sleep-At-Night. I spent an hour and a half trying to get him conked out, until Stacey took a shift and finally had him asleep another half-hour later. He’s added “My stuffed cow needs another drink of water” to his delay tactics.

When Stacey took over, I watched another episode of Firefly and then hit the sack.

Did I mention that’s a good show?

It is.

DISPLAY ERROR:3265:F514

I have a device on my desk that is giving the above error. I hate cryptic errors.

I know and understand the reason for cryptic errors on these devices, but I’m pretending I don’t so I can continue to be irritated by it.

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Last night, a few members of our investment club met for a Constitutional Convention (sans white wigs), including and . We described LJ to the fourth person who was there, and discussed some of you who may be reading this. Just wanted to give full disclosure on that.

We tried first to meet at Mo’s Pizza up by me, but it had been taken over by a gazillion high school students, who told us they were there for a birthday party. The fourth person was late by about half an hour, so we stood in the lot watching a poor, struggling high school girl try to park her car. She finally gave up and had one of her guy friends park it for her.

We then tried another pizza place, which was closed, and ended up at Famous Pub, which is very dark.

We had written by-laws stolen from another club when we started, but we never really paid any attention to them. So we spent some time changing the laws to reflect how we actually did stuff. I think it’s better now (it was dark in the pub, so who knows?). Though I think we should have an amendment where I get free candy.

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Today I found out that we are moving to another building sometime before the end of the year, so I may or may not be out of an office. They’re going to remodel the area we’re heading to to accomodate us, but that may mean offices, or it may mean quad cubes. The sad thing is the reason we’re moving is all an accounting fiction that won’t save the company money, but may on paper look like it’s saving the engineering department money, though it probably won’t due to reasons that were explained to me but are very complicated in terms of department lease periods and whatnot. Something about we’re still being charged for the 16 people who got laid off, and only moving everybody around will get them off our department’s books. Stupid Dilbert Stuff.

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Busy weekend ahead. Saturday is a breakfast meeting, Kid’s show, Stacey’s going to see Debbie at Dad’s saturday night, Sunday is investment club and a zoo trip. Zounds.

Groveling for gravel

So my father has proposed a fun Thanksgiving weekend activity for the family during their visit here… putting in a concrete floor for an addition to the house.

My dad, when I was a wee one and my mother was pregnant with my brother, built a house. He just found a book on how to build a house, and built one. It was an a-frame, and to his knowledge it still stands. He has a bit of credibilty, though I’ve never seen the house in question.

The idea of hauling in 10 tons of gravel and mixing up a slab’s worth of concrete doesn’t seem like a big deal to him. To me, it sounds like a recipe for trouble. But I’m going to put my trust in the man and do the legwork to make this thing happen. Worse case, I figure we waste a vacation and end up with a misshapen concrete blob behind the house.

To that end, does anyone know a good source for 10 tons of gravel?