• I won a $25 Cheesecake Factory Gift Card on Twitter! Follow them @Cheesecake. I’m excited.
• Today I went to the mall..
• Bought Jars of Clay’s Christmas Songs CD and Casting Crowns’ Christmas CD at Family Christian.. Casting Crowns CD was only $5.
• I bought a Disney Think Fast game for the Wii for only $10 at Target.
• I’m writing this really late tonight.
• CHRISTmas is on Friday. Yay.
• I also won a Quiznos Ornament from @QuiznosToaster and a free pretzel card from @AuntieAnnes.
• Oh, and I won an EP from @7eventhtimedown. I’ve never heard of them.
• I keep trying to win an iPod Touch from @Shamu. Havn’t won yet.
• I had a churro at Costco today. It was good.
• Is it Christmas yet?

Well, I think were watching a movie so I’m gonna go now. See Ya Real Soon!

…with a pool of black beans on the eastern hemesphere of my plate. Cheesecake Factory- you never do me wrong.

The reason I can’t wait until 2:25 is that that is the time when the final bell rings at school, releasing the students and teachers from all duties, obligations, and responsibilities for two weeks!!  Otherwise known as Winter Break aka Christmas Vacation (for the non-PC among us). 

I don’t have many plans for the two weeks off, and that’s just the way I like it.  I do have quite a few things going on this weekend that I’m looking forward to:

Friday - dinner at Cheesecake Factory (I’m so glad they have the nutrition info available on their menu now, it makes making good choices so much easier) and then seeing New Moon (we thought we’d let the teenage mania die down a bit before we started drooling over Edward and Jacob) with my good friend DH, whom I’ve known since high school.  Really looking forward to it.

The view from the Carnelian Room, SF

Saturday - AM errands (including a workout at home), but then an amazing dinner planned in SF at the Carnelian Room with Favorite Cousin and her dining out group. (This group of women is all over 40 years old, and most of them have never been married. They’re so much fun! They stay up on pop culture better than I do, and I teach teens! They all have a great attitude, and seem just fine with the fact that they may never get married. It’s quite liberating being around them, actually). The very cool thing about this dinner, besides the fact that it’s at an incredibly posh and chi chi restaurant is that the Carnealian Room is closing in early January, so this will be one of the last opportunities to go to this culinary landmark.  I’ve never been before, and I’m even more excited for this chance to spend a great night dining with wonderful women who always inspire me.  I have no idea what I’m going to order, but the menu does look like it has plenty of delicious, fairly healthy options.  What would you order?

Another fun part of Saturday will be the fact that I’m staying over Favorite Cousin’s house, because I know we’ll be out late, have plenty of wine and cocktails over dinner, and I’d rather not drive an hour home under those conditions.  Plus, it’s fun to hang out at her house with her.  Favorite Cousin is someone I’ve always looked up to because she is so hip, so fun, and so down to earth.  She has some very prestigious clients (she’s a personal assistant aka life manager) and is always “in the know” about the latest and the  greatest events in the city. 

Sunday -   Sunday afternoon my parents, sister, and her family are getting together to do our pre-Christmas celebration.  LC and her husband stay home on Christmas Eve to help Santa with the kids’ gifts and this year they’re going to spend Christmas Day with her husband’s family.  So, this will be a nice early holiday fête.  Of course there’s going to be food, but since my mom is a planner like me, I already know what’s on the menu: I”m bringing a cheese ball/log that I’m going to “healthify” as an appetizer; for dinner we’re having lasagna, Honey Baked ham, sauteed zucchini, and salad; and for dessert, LC’s making a Kalua cake.  So the plan is to keep my portions small and taste a bit of everything, but eat more of the veggies and protein.  I still have to wrap all the presents and buy one or two small gifts before Sunday.  I’d better get cracking!

As for the rest of my vacation?  I have 3 sets of essays to read, but those should only take about 2-3 hours or so, total, so I’m going to get those out of the way on Monday.  Then I plan to spend some time with friends a few evenings, including New Year’s Eve with Nicey and her hubby.

Overall, I’m looking forward to getting back to a bit of Bella’s Boot Camp that I had going on this summer.  I really need to get my butt back in gear now that I’m fully recovered from bronchitis.  So it’ll be many days in the gym for me, which I’m looking forward to.  I can’t wait to strap on my BodyBugg, attend a fitness class or four, and just burn some calories!!!

I have been looking forward to this vacation since school started, and I can hardly believe that when that bell rings at 2:25, it’ll be here!!!!

WhooooHOOOOOOOO!

Guess what?  Today’s my birthday!  The woman who gave birth to me actually forgot, and she thought it was yesterday. I’m not THAT old…

There were 3 birthday celebrations that were especially memorable to me.

1. I was about to turn 6, and my grandparents drove me from Dallas, Texas to Disneyland in Anaheim, California.  I had an incredible one-day adventure with them.  We continued driving through a tree in the Redwood National Forest in northern California, and we ended up in their home in eastern Washington.  On my actual birthday, I decorated the tree and helped my grandmother bake and decorate Christmas cookies.  That evening, I wore a brand new birthday dress, and I celebrated with my family.  It wasn’t just an incredible birthDAY, it was a memorable birthday MONTH!

2. My first year in college at the University of Texas at Austin, my friends Christa, Kenan, Stephanie, and Christina from Air Force ROTC threw me a surprise party complete with a german chocolate cake.  The party was a welcome break from studying for final exams.  They were “family” away from home–incredibly sweet and thoughtful.  I’ll never forget them and how they lifted my spirits!

3.   In 2006, my last birthday before I became Calvin’s mama, we spent a week visiting a friend in Nashville.  On the night of my birthday, we enjoyed a homemade meal of chicken cacciatore and a tiramisu cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  When Steve brought the candlelit cheesecake to the table, I was serenaded by 7 guys…half of whom were professional recording artists.  Ladies, it doesn’t get any better than that!

This year, it’s gonna be low key, and I wouldn’t want anything else.  After a hectic-crazy-pull-my-hair-out couple of weeks at the office, I want nothing more than to do…NOTHING.

I’m planning to bake homemade meatballs served on a bed of spinach leaves and sprinkled with asiago cheese.  I’ll enjoy dinner at home with my two guys.  Once Calvin is tucked in bed for the evening, Steve and I will curl up on the couch and watch a movie via Netflix.  Perfect evening.  Perfect birthday.

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I have a confession. I’m a cheater. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. This week has been extremely hectic at work and I haven’t been able to take a healthy lunch. I did, however, stick to most of my dieting rules. I haven’t eaten late at night, when I’ve had a chocolate craving I drank decaf coffee, I haven’t over indulged and I’ve gotten some exercise in at work.

Saturday (12.12.09) was my boyfriends birthday. I took him out to dinner at Cheescake Factory. I ordered one of the cheapest specialists on the menu…half a chicken salad sandwich with a salad and soup. The chicken salad sandwich was tasty. Unfortunately, the soup and salad did not deliver. I absolutely HATE the spring mix. I might as well go outside and eat the grass; that would probably be more tasteful. Of course I skipped dessert at the restaurant. I made a red velvet cake for him so we decided to eat that when we returned to my house.

I’ll be weighing in on Dec 16. Wish me luck

So David and I hung out with his sister last night in Union Square before heading up to the Castro.  This is definitely my favorite time of the year.  It’s a time for festivity in my book.  Friends, family, and enjoying what you have in life is my top priority during the holidays.  To be honest, those are all priorities throughout the entire year for me, but I enjoy the spirit of good will that can be in the air during December.  It’s also an excuse to be merrier than usual and exchange gifts, which I have a lot of fun doing.  Union Square was tons of fun.  The giant ass Macy’s tree, the ice skating rink, and nearby Cheesecake Factory on the top floor has a view from their patio that is pretty awesome…especially when you have a cocktail in your hand!  Enjoy the photo. 

Every holiday season my boss tells me exactly what to get her.  I mean EXACTLY what to get her.  “I want a canon digital camera,” “I want the entire collection of ‘Coupling’ on DVD,”  “I want an acient Greek Coin,”  “I want a whoopie pie.”  As you can see, requests have gotten more complicated over the years.  I would actually prefer the electronics to the ancient coins.  Ironically though, it was the ‘Whoopie Pie’ that was the most expensive of gifts.  While it was delightful, it was price.

When ordering pies/cakes/desserts online for a gift, you have to factor shipping into the cost. Unlike normal gifts, shipping can’t be flexible and played around with until you get the best possible price for your shipping.  You need to overnight it otherwise it goes bad.  Last year when my boss wanted two Whoopie Pies (http://www.wickedwhoopies.com/) it subtotaled at $48.00 ($24 per pie.)  However overnight shipping ran me $53.67, making my grand total to $101.67.  For pie!!  Have I mentioned how poor I am?

The dessert gift is so lovely though, how do you give a great dessert giftand not spend an arm and a leg?  Well besides the obvious solution which is to make your own cakes and cookies, you really have to do your homework.  Google is an amazing product.  What I should have done last year is put “whoopie pie” into my google search engine and looked for 1 of two things:  A coupon code or a location near me that sells whoopie pies.

This year a coupon code search returned no results for whoopie pies (bummer) but perhaps I didn’t look hard enough.  However, I was able to find not 1, not 2 but three locations in New York that sell homemade whoopie pies.  One location even sells two different size, one size is the standard $24.00 and the smallers size is $15.95.  That means this years Christmas gift will cost me $31.90 instead of $101.67.  That is over a $69 difference!!

I’m aware that the information I’m sharing is basic, common knowledge.  Like, duh, who doesn’t know to google a location near them.  But for that one lone person that is about to spend an extra $50 on shipping, I hope you stumble upon this blog and realize shipping only makes a reasonably priced gift beocme an expensive gift.  This is a recession and we’re poor.

With all that being said, if you’re going to cave and spend on the shipping for your holiday dessert, use some of these great sweet tooth coupons I’m enclosing below.  And have a slice of cake for me!

Save $5.00 on every Junior’s Cake ordered before December 14th by using promo code HOLIDAY09 at checkout.

Save $5.00 on every order placed on Edible Arrangements by entering code INET1216, expires 12/16/09

At the Cheesecake Factory:  Celebrate the holiday season with a FREE Slice of Cheesecake* for EVERY $25 Gift Card purchased in our restaurants!

Peanut Butter and Company coupons:
Holiday coupon 1: Purchase $30 or up to $59.99 and receive $5 off. Enter coupon code HOL109
Holiday coupon 2: Purchase $60 or more and receive $10 off. Enter coupon code HOL209

Chilla and I have had a very fun filled weekend that I thought I would share with you.  It started Thursday night with us going to the Penguins game:

Wormy & Chilla

Both jersey’s are Chilla’s, but I got to wear the blue one ’cause it matched my purse…what?!?!  You would do it too.  Pens won, I ran into an old friend, JoeyV, who ended up going out for drinks with us after the game and I had Friday off from work. WhooHoo!  Thursday was a rocking good time.

Friday rears its ugly head at 9am with a knock on the door: its Goffchile coming to FINALLY get his shit out of my apartment.  I’m hung over and just don’t feel like dealing with him right now.  This is an entirely different blog that I will post most likely tomorrow.  Let’s just say, 8 hours and 3 days later and still there is stuff at my place.

Friday nite is Hot Mama’s birthday.  We meet up with Hot Mama, BFF, Wikki and Wrad at the Cheesecake Factory:

Cheesecake Factory

It was delish as usual.  After dinner we head over to the Hofbrauhaus for drinks and some dancing on the tables, and a little “Sweet Caroline” cause that’s how we roll on a Friday night.  Plus, I needed to dance off that meal.

Dancing on the tables

Large beers all around:

Dancing makes a girl thirsty

But not as thirsty as this guy must have been at one point in time.  Look at his hands, his “friends” put fries all over him and the whole place was taking his picture.  Just for the record, Hot Mama took these photos…she’s the bad guy here.

Friends in low places

We've all been there

I started to feel really bad for him. Security tried to get him out and couldn’t get him to move and all his friends left him.  Security ended up just letting him sit there like this.

At this point everyone was going home and Chilla and I decided more dancing was in order and headed over to 80’s night at Lava Lounge.  The DJ was great, he did an eclectic blend of 80’s hits and the place was packed.  We didn’t call it a night till the place closed.

Chilla & Wormy at the Brillobox

Saturday night was Wikki’s birthday and we headed to the Brillobox for a Burlesque Revue.  We really weren’t sure what to expect but it was fantastic!  Hot girls doing sexy moves all while taking their clothes off….good stuff.

Hot Girl #1

Hot Girl #2

Hot Girl #3

The Brillobox tends to pour a heavy drink, and for some reason every time I go there I forget this fact. Of course it comes to the point in time where I start insisting that someone ruffied my drink, because I only had 3 (double’s) drinks, how could this have happened? and proceeded to go from “These girls are hot and I love them” to “These girls are hot and I hate myself!!!” in my drunken stupor.  Chilla is a trooper.  He picked me up, put me in the car, wiped away my tears and told me all the things a drunk girl needs to hear. He really is the best, ya’ll!

Sunday was detox and all around relaxation day.  Can’t wait till next weekend!

These avocado egg rolls are delicious!  Each piece is filled with avocado, sundried tomatoes, red onions, and cilantro and fried in a doughy wrapper.  The tamarind-cashew dipping sauce complements the egg rolls well.

Would you like to be the recipient of the following?

• $50 Starbucks Giftcard
• $50 Benihana Giftcard
• $50 Cheesecake Factory Giftcard
• $50 P.F. Chang’s Gift Card
• 2010 Rand McNally US Road Atlas
• Hamburger America by George Motz
• 500 Places To Eat Before It’s Too Late by Jane & Michael Stern

How do you get your greedy paws on this treasure trove of goodness you ask? Simple, in the contact form below leave us a message telling us your favorite restaurant that we’ve reviewed thus far. Be sure to leave your name and email address as this is how we’ll be contacting the winner.

Want more chances to win? For each friend that enters (be sure they mention your name in their entry) you’ll receive an additional chance (1 per each friend referred, use #ETR hashtag). Also each person that follows us on Twitter (@eatingtheroad) and tweets about the contest will receive an additional chance (1 per person).

The winner will be picked at random. Contests ends December 24th at 12:00am EST. The winner will be contacted the following week. Happy Holidays to all and I hope you have lots of good eating ahead!

Also, if you like what you’ve been reading here and are feeling particularly jolly this Holiday season consider buying Eating The Road a meal or two?

Everything doesn’t go as planned always, but sometimes unplanned events are just as good. This is my friends Carissa,Katie, and I, in our charity ball outfits, getting ready to go to dinner and begin our night.

In Buffalo there is a yearly dance called the Charity Ball which teens all over buffalo look forward to. I’ve never gone in all of my years going to CIty Honors, but all of my friends have gone at least once. This year I was suppose to go with my friends, but this ended up not happening. Our situation was that we were promised tickets, and this persons promise fell threw, and so we had no tickets.

Instead of going to the dance my friends Katie, Carissa, and I decided to still get dressed up in our charity ball outfits and go out with our friends Brandon,Charlie,Steve,and Randy, to the cheesecake factory instead. This plan ended up in the end being successful , but not until after we were made to wait a hour and get dirty looks from all the people in the mall who couldn’t understand why we were all in formal attire. After finally getting our food and having a nice meal we ended our night with what has become a weekly thing, and went back to Carissas to hang out and have some fun.

Although there were some unfortunate mishaps last night, the night ended up being a success because of the people that I was with If I had not been with my friends and ended up sitting home, then I would have felt really bad about not going to the dance. Instead of this, I was still able to dress up and have a good time with the people that I would have been spending a majority of my time with that night anyway.

Martin and Me

Admittedly, it was an embarrassing encounter for me.  My girlfriend and I were waiting to be seated at The Cheesecake Factory, and I saw this guy sitting at a nearby table.  I knew right away he was no ordinary man, he had to be a football player, and he was likely a Charger.  I also knew he had to be a new player, one of the two defensive linemen we drafted this year.  Problem was…I didn’t recognize his face!

When we were seated, we ended up right next to him!  For about 10-15 minutes I racked my brain, trying to remember the faces from our most recent draft, and finally leaned over and asked him if he was Ogemdi.  He started chuckling and said, “He thinks I’m OG!  Hi, I’m Vaughn.” After he said that I knew right away who he was, Vaughn Martin.  But that isn’t what I said.  I said “Vince Vaughn?” Please shoot me if you see me, I couldn’t believe myself!  After he politely corrected me, he went on to tell me how he’s been good friends with Ogemdi since before their days on the Chargers.

As dinner went on, my girlfriend Whitney kept asking me if I wanted to get a picture with him, but I was too embarrassed to ask him for one.  Finally I said yes, and she told him how huge of a fan I am and how it would make my night if I could get a picture with him.  He told us how he was a huge Chargers fan too and agreed to the photo.  After a minute of  standing in our photo pose while Whitney tried to figure out was wrong with her camera, we got the pic!  It was the first time I’ve met a Charger in person out on the town.

Lesson of the story?  ALWAYS have your teams’ players memorized by face, especially ones as important to the Chargers’ future as Vaughn Martin is.  You know how I feel about the defensive line’s importance to the defense.

I’m a little late getting this up, big a new parent is pretty exhausting, and writing two posts in one  morning was more than I had energy for.  I really like last night’s episode of The Big Bang Theory. I thought it got back to the dynamics that made the show so great, and didn’t focus solely on the Penny/Leonard relationship which many of the episodes this season have had a tendency to do.

Howard is finishing his third date with Bernadette.  She informs him that the thrid date is typically the date for sex, but wants to make sure he’s serious about her.  Howard begins to waffle.  Howard’s problem is that he has way too high an opinion of himself and the type of woman he should be dating.  Bernadette just isn’t the fantasy woman he sees himself with.  He asks for some time to think about it.

Sheldon tries to inform the guys that he’s going to be interviewed on NPR the next day, but his archenemies Kripke spoils the surprise.  Back at home Penny can’t believe that Howard has put Bernadette up on a shelf the way that he has, and chastise him for it.

The next day during Sheldon’s interview Kripke feeds a line with helium in it into Sheldon’s office and his voice begins to get higher and higher throughout the interview.  Sheldon is humiliated, and it’s not helped when he finds out that both Leonard and Raj thought it was pretty funny.  Leonard tries to cheer him up and encourage him to get revenge by playing his own practical joke on Kripke.

Howard is in the tub along with a fantasy version of Katee Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica.  The fantasy tells him that it’s sad that he would rather sit in the tub alone and play with himself instead of being with a real woman.  Howard heads to The Cheesecake Factory to search for Bernadette.  When he finds her he drops to one knee and asks her to marry him.  She thinks he is crazy, and walks off.

Sheldon has devised the perfect revenge on Kripke.  He’s found the perfect mix of chemicals that when combined form a gooey foam.  He’s planted them in the ceiling above Kripke’s office that will be set off when he enters the room.  The problem is that Kripke enters with the university president and the board of directors.  They are all covered and a computer image of Sheldon comes on in the office telling everyone present that Sheldon was responsible with Leonard and Raj’s help.

Never one to give up Howard get’s behind the piano at The Cheesecake Factory and sings a song he’s written for Bernadette.  While Penny is disgusted, Bernadette finds it to be the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for her.

Thoughts and Observations:

• I love that Sheldon things Howard is inferior since he only has a Masters from MIT.
• Speaking of MIT, do you think that Howard’s mom when with him while he was at MIT?  Do you think she relocates with him everywhere?
• Do you think Jim Parson’s had the help of actual helium or dd he just make his voice go that high?  Either way it was very funny.
• Howard and Katee Sackhoff’s conversation in the tub was classic.  Katee: “Thanks, Howard. Always nice to be part of your masturbatory fantasies.”  Wolowitz: “Come on, Katee. Don’t make it sound so cheap.”  Katee: “I’m sorry. Fiddling with yourself in the bathtub is a real class act:”
• “My mother is very excited. She’s convening her Bible study group to listen in and then pray for my soul.” – Sheldon on his NPR interview.
• Leonard to Wolowitz: “You’d have a better shot with the three-breasted Martian hooker from Total Recall.”  Wolowitz’s response “That movie was like 20 years ago. Imagine how saggy those things would be.”
• Melissa Rauch who I’ve only seen on those I Love The… VH-1 Specials and Best Week Ever is great.  I always thought she was hilarious, and she sure can fill out those uniforms from The Cheescake Factory.
• Not much Penny in this episode, and that’s not always a bad thing.  I like Penny, but it’s nice to see it be about the guys again.

Cookie cravings ruled this last week. Desserts were my downfall. Which is strange, I didn’t grow up on desserts. We rarely ever had them, we ate enough dinner, we rarely had room for them anyway. But this week, desserts were just calling to me, begging to be eaten. And to top it all off on Monday, Cheesecake Factory apologized for the crappy OJ they served us by giving us a free dessert of our choice: I chose Apple Crisp… fruit is good for me, right? And it wasn’t any of the Many Many dairy options… Ah rationalization. So I’ve “lived a little” more than usual this past week. I promise to behave for a while, now. At least until Thanksgiving next Thursday.

Things are going well, though, Doc’s happy with me, blood tests are normal. Only my elbow is inflamed. I’ve put back on a little of the weight I lost, and that makes me happy. Now if I could just find my motivation to exercise… And that’s the thing. I know I should and all, but I have no motivation. And without significant motivation, I Will Not make the time. So here I am, doing well, but not as well as I could be. And the worst of it, I’m happy where I am, satisfied with my life. Finding motivation to move beyond that, is difficult.

Food of the week: Cheesecake Factory’s Chinese Salad

Hello everyone! Totally sorry for going MIA yesterday…. but we had a busy afternoon and by the end of it I had started to feel like I was coming down with something so took some time to “disconnect”. 

Still don’t feel 100%, and waivering on going to the doctors today if it gets any worse, but don’t want to go unless absoltely necessary & risk exposing myself to more germs there, ya know?  Getting sick on the weekends = sux majorly. 

Anywho, let me give ya’ll a recap of our lovely Saturday afternoon

First off, I must say that the movie 2012 was seriously not as bad as I thought (read: I was not tempted to rudely be on my phone checking blogs the whole time )  It was rather long, and by the end I was quite over seeing so many people die bc that’s just not uplifting on a Saturday (or any day!).  However it was a well done movie, I would recommend seeing it when it comes out on DVD.

After the movies we stopped at my all time favorite fro yo shop (right next door, this place is $$ !).  I got a mix of tart <3, strawberry & peanut butter (!!!) topped with some coconut & choclate chips.

Yes please

The Man got peanut butter + chocolate loaded with reese’s peanut butter cups and who knows what else?!

After the fro yo sustenance, The Man went shopping with me for some pretty Christmas decorations for the house… HomeGoods & Michael’s, what up bribe move haha   We got some great stuff, however can’t put it up until after Thanksgiving (wtf?!) — total buzzkill, thanks honey.

Plans were to go out to dinner afterwards, but we were both exhausted and had no desire to be out in public (is that weird?)  Plus I really wasn’t feeling well by this point, so we decided our best bet would be to order take out (*gasp* I think this is like the 3rd time since we’ve lived here that we’ve done that haha).

Cheesecake Factory was striking a lovely chord with the both of us, so we decided to do curbside to-go, could they make it any easier?!?!

I ordered the Pear & Endive Salad

Grilled Chicken, endive, radicchio, arugula, butter lettuce, roasted pear, bleu cheese, candied pecans & tomato served with a low-cal vinaigrette.

The Man went food-crazy and ordered an appetizer & dinner… his metabolism amazes me still!

Buffalo Blasts

Chicken breast, cheese and spicy buffalo sauce all stuffed in a spiced wrapper and fried until crisp. Served with celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing.

Steak Diane

Medallions of certified angus beef steak covered with black peppercorns and a rich mushroom wine sauce.  Served with mashed potatoes and grilled onions.

It also came with bread

The guy who took our order via phone must have liked The Man haha bc he also threw in some extras including their spiced baked apples & fried onion straws.

Holy crap, so much freaking food

Dinner was the perfect way to end the day…. my salad was deelish and I def had a bite or two of the buffalo chicken greasies (couldn’t resist!) and they were amazing.  I really want to try to recreate these “healthified” using Nasoya wrappers!!!  I see a cooking experiment in the near future….

After dinner we lined up movie #2 of the day, The Ugly Truth.  It was SO GOOD!!!   I’m watching it again as we speak actually haha

Today’s agenda was supposed to include some exercise since I took a couple days off, however I really need to listen to my body with this one and see if I begin feeling better before that happens    If anything, it will be some low-key yoga just to get my body moving?

I also have plans to go to to a makeup demo with my homegirl from work at The Jefferson, a beautiful historic hotel in downtown Richmond.

I’m just hoping I feel good enough by that time to go – bc I’ve been really excited about this!!

Got some plans up my sleeve for dinner tonight, but you’ll just have to visit tonight to see

Alright friends, gotta go rest up and try to feel better, see you later!!

The EEOC announced that Cheesecake Factory Inc has agreed to pay $345,000 to six male employees who were allegedly sexually harassed by other male kitchen workers at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Chandler, Arizona.

The EEOC lawsuit claimed that the workplace bullies touched the victims inappropriately, made inappropriate sexual comments, and forced the victims into repeated incidents of simulated rape.  In one instance, managers allegedly witnessed employees dragging the male victims kicking and screaming into a refrigerated room.

Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission district office in Phoenix, said, “The evidence was clear, and everyone knew about it. Beyond the lavish decor that the company boasts on its website was a horribly dysfunctional workplace where male workers lived in fear.”

Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Chandler, AZ

Despite the fact that the victims, Bryce Fitzpatrick, Albert Miller, Jesse DeJong, Michael Wilson, John Andrew, and Julio Muñoz, complained to almost every manager at the restaurant, but none of the managers did anything to stop the workplace bullying.

One victim eventually called the police and reported the hostile work environment and sexual harassment.  Chandler police investigated the incidents but did not file any charges.

——————-

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No classes in either lab this afternoon. It’s exquisitely quiet here right now. Just how I wanted to end my week.

We celebrated Jenn’s birthday last night with her mom. Her dad was off on a fishing trip, so he couldn’t make it. But it was cool, we still had a lot of fun. Went to Olive Garden for dinner and got nice and stuffed there. Then we went back to Jenn’s for some cake. Little did I know that this was not just a cake… it was a Cheesecake Factory red velvet cake cheesecake. O. M. G. Let me tell you, friend, thanks to the night we first tried it at the CF for her mom’s bday, this is seriously my new favorite cheesecake.

It’s a layer of red velvet cake, a layer of cheesecake, another layer of red velvet, another layer of cheesecake, cream cheese frosting, and white chocolate shavings along the edge. WOWEE WOW WOW. Not only that, but Jenn’s mom got some Blue Bell Southern Hospitality ice cream to go with it. That sucker’s loaded. It’s vanilla ice cream with cherries, pineapple, pecans, and a strawberry swirl. Talk about a deadly combination with the cheesecake, huh? Needless to say, I was amazingly stuffed when it was all said and done. Good times, good times.

Oh, and for her birthday, Jenn’s mom got her all three boxes of our new dishes that we registered for at Bed, Bath, and Beyond! They look REALLY slick…

Jenn was SO cute when she opened the wrapped boxes. She was all giggly and excited, it was greatness.

So tonight, we’re gonna eat somewhere cheap, then go to the Highlands to look at furniture. Tomorrow, Jenn and her bridesmaids are all going to Ocone’s to pick out the bridesmaids’ dresses. While they’re doing that, I will be taking a nap, and it will be awesome. Dunno what we’re doing after that, though. At one point, we were talking about going to Crystal’s Pizza with Angela and James and the girls, but I’m not sure if that’s happening still. Guess we’ll just play it by ear. I’m just glad we’ll get to hang out with them regardless.

Guess that’s all I got for now. Have a great weekend, friend!

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come.

The first post in my new series, Things That Irk Me.

I’d like to begin with a little annoyance I discovered a few weeks ago.

Advertisements in restaurant menus. Now its one thing if you’re running a small pizzeria and need the ad revenue so that you can actually afford to wash your plates instead of just wiping them on your dirty cooks aprons. But when this is a restaurant that is charging above average prices, its completely unacceptable.

The picture to the left is a menu from from The Cheesecake Factory in Cambridge Mass. Take a look at the picture to the left of the actual menu. Take your time. I’ll wait while you rub your eyes multiple times to ensure you’re not seeing things.

Yes. That is a game called Lovopoly. Yes, its safe to assume someone has bought it at some point. But thats not what I’m here to discuss. What really irks me is the fact that the freaken menu has ads in it. Don’t think it stopped at Lovopoly. There was lots of other useless crap being peddled by the menu as if it was a minimum wage skin lotion salesmen in the middle of the mall.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that going to Cheesecake Factory I’m dining in a five star restaurant. But at $15+ minimum an entree, I don’t think I need ads shoved in my face like I’m on MegaVideo trying to watch the latest episode of Friday Night Lights (Shut up, its a good show).

Now its annoying for me as a customer. But the real injury is to Cheesecake Factory itself. By making its menus into damn billboards for informercial worthy garbage, its ruining its appearance and atmosphere. I can’t imagine that a restaurant that clearly focuses on well-designed restaurants, polite servers, and decent food is so hard up for cash they have to sell ads like a damn school paper.

But Cheesecake Factory is free to do whatever they want. If they want to shove useless crap in their guests faces, thats up to them.