STRIKE!!!

Well, we got a bit of a later start than I had planned. My wife had been telling me that the car had been making "a grindy noise" when she'd hit the brakes. A little after noon I got it up in the air and pulled off the wheels. The brake shoe lining on the driver's side, which was new in December 2004, had delaminated from the backing. Plus side, they were lifetime warranty. Minus side, against "manufacturers defects". I don't know about you, but coming unglued from the backing to me is a hell of a defect. The guy at the store didn't see it that way. BULLSHIT!!! Anyway, they were only $15, but still... ended up taking most of the afternoon, up until the sun was headed down below the opposite ridge. One of those damned springs broke on me, too, so I ended up having to send wifey to the parts store again.

We dropped the boys off and got over to Sammy's. From there we headed over to Pine Street in Long Beach. I knew that whole area had undergone a build-up and revitalization, but this was the first time I'd actually been there. None of us were real hungry but wanted a little something. We went to Hooters AT MY WIFE'S SUGGESTION!!! I was a bit floored by that. First time I've ever been to a Hooters, and it was about what I expected. Overpriced food and marginal service by sluttily dressed hoochies!!! We ended up having four different servers for some reason. It took them a while to bring my wife's drink, and we had our food before the beer pitcher even made it there!!! Sammy and I were making comment about it rather loudly... "These wings are pretty good, but you know what would go good with it??? Some beer!!!" The manager came over just a bit after that with a pitcher and poured for us, and apologized for it not having been there sooner, said it was on the house because of that, so that was cool. That is what should have happened when we had gone to Denny's. I hadn't made mention here, but I left some feedback about that on their site. I received a phone call about it about a week later, and they had it being in Williams, CA, instead of Wilmington, CA!!! Said they were going to transfer it to the appropriate department. Guess what??? Haven't heard shit since then!!! I'm thinking, since I have the confirmation Email (which, incidentally, has the right city), I'll make that into a text letter and drop it in the mail to them instead. Customer service is no better than their in restaurant service!!!


After that, we talked about hitting one of the clubs, but most of what we saw had lines and $20 covers. Fuck that. We went to the bowling alley instead and rolled three games. I did terribly, but we had a great time. Sammy was trying to teach me technique again, and my game suffers horribly whenever that happens. My wife wasn't doing so well either, and her arm was beginning to hurt after a while, so she tried once with her left instead. STRIKE!!! We were all amazed by that. Since I was doing pretty bad, I decided to try the same thing right after her. STRIKE!!! Guess that's my problem, I'm really a lefty!!! Naturally neither of us could do it again. I did follow that up with another strike and a spare, so I did better on that game. Sammy did a pretty decent game, perfect up until the fourth frame, ended up with 165. I think that's the best game I've ever seen him play. The couple in the next lane were very cool too, so that added to a great time. The whole evening was a lot of fun.