Parents
My parents came up to Rochester this weekend for my Birthday. (I really shouldn't say "up"... because in actuality it's really "over" as in east on I-90.) We went out to dinner at a Italian restaurant close to my house. Which was really tasty. I've had some of their brick oven pizzas before as take out -- but I've never had an actual meal. The place is surprisingly small, quaint, and the staff is slightly rude.
I do have high expectations for wait staff in a semi-formal restaurant. I'm not expecting a freaking angel, I'm expecting civility and normality. I forgot that most of the population you can't really describe as "normal." (What is "normal" anyways... I should write about my definition in a later post.) The meal was very good. Our waitress very friendly and polite. My only beef with the place was actually the hostess. We arrived about 6:15pm or so, and asked for a table. She's like "Oh you don't have a reservation, let me see what's available." We eye each other, mentally commiserating "What do you mean let's see what you have??? There's easily four tables, out of like the ten tables here, that are completely empty." Then proceeds to tell us, well we do have a reservation at 7:30pm, but we are pretty fast, so we can get you out by then...." Um... okay ... so that comment totally makes me want to just smack you first. Then I'm going to sit down, take my time ordering, then take my time eating, and take my time at your table. If you would have phrased it better, maybe I would have been on your side. But that snide little comment, just made me want to smack you.
We stayed till like 8pm and the so called "reservation at 7:30pm" still hadn't showed up. The only people that had shown up were people that had a reservation at 6:30 -- and they didn't show up till like 7:15. Plus, have of the people who got there before us, were still there after we left. Clearly, the hostess had no idea how the patrons actually dinned.
Then we came back to my apartment and watched "Cars." Which, I fell asleep during parts of because I was sleepy. (Because I had gotten up at like 6:30am to start cleaning my apartment because it was a mess.)
My parents went to their hotel and slept and said we'd meet up for lunch this afternoon. I was expecting them to get here at like 11. They definitely got here at 10am. So I hadn't taken a shower yet or anything. I took my parents to my job, and showed them around. They weren't that excited by it. They were just like "wow, this is kind of boring." Yes I know, we engineers are a boring sort of people.
We went to lunch at this place called Camille's, which I really like. It's kind of like Panera, but with a California style flair. My parents weren't so enthralled by it. But whatever. I wasn't really expecting them to love it. I didn't force and weird food on them that I know they weren't really up for trying. I didn't take them to a Thai or Indian place, much less Korean or Moroccan. I took them to a good ol' Italian place. (My dad even tried pesto ... which is a first. He's not big into trying new things.)
Then they left, and I went grocery shopping and to the bookstore.
It wasn't a very exciting weekend. But then again, Rochester NY is not a very exciting place. There's not a lot to do during the winter if you don't like skiing or snowshoeing. I suggested skiing, but my dad has been whining about his arm for months and refuses to go to the doctor about it. So he wasn't too thrilled about the idea. I don't think my mom was really excited about it either though. I think they fell like they are getting old. I think that is only part of it though. I think most of it's in their mind, and if they did stuff like go skiing or do outdoors stuff more often then would feel more comfortable and more adept at those things even if they aren't the quickest birds on the slopes.
Now, I don't really have much to do. My mom did love my couch (which is amazing.) It's a great couch not only for sitting and lying, but for napping too. It's long enough for me to lie down on, and really stretch out w/o having to throw my legs over the end. My mom was a little shocked, I think by how much the apartment has changed since I moved in. I actually have furniture and a rug, and stuff to make it look like a real place rather than a college dorm room.
It's still a little laughable that I have a 13" TV on a huge TV stand. So, that's got to be the next big purchase. A bigger HDTV -- I'm thinking upper 30's low 40's inches HDTV, LCD, 1080i... that would be nice. Maybe I'll win a contest and get one for free... b/c I'm not really in love with spending like $1400-1800 on a freaking TV when my little 12 year old 13" one that probably cost $100 at the time is still kicking it and doing well. The entry cost to HDTV's borders on ridiculous. Basically the minimum is no longer a $100 -- but $500. The manufacturers argue that people in the 1940's had to pay that much for the black and white TV's. That's right, but they didn't become really popular until about the late 50's mid 60's because of that high price.
I need to go do some more emails and stuff. Finally the desire to move on has finally merited a few things.
I do have high expectations for wait staff in a semi-formal restaurant. I'm not expecting a freaking angel, I'm expecting civility and normality. I forgot that most of the population you can't really describe as "normal." (What is "normal" anyways... I should write about my definition in a later post.) The meal was very good. Our waitress very friendly and polite. My only beef with the place was actually the hostess. We arrived about 6:15pm or so, and asked for a table. She's like "Oh you don't have a reservation, let me see what's available." We eye each other, mentally commiserating "What do you mean let's see what you have??? There's easily four tables, out of like the ten tables here, that are completely empty." Then proceeds to tell us, well we do have a reservation at 7:30pm, but we are pretty fast, so we can get you out by then...." Um... okay ... so that comment totally makes me want to just smack you first. Then I'm going to sit down, take my time ordering, then take my time eating, and take my time at your table. If you would have phrased it better, maybe I would have been on your side. But that snide little comment, just made me want to smack you.
We stayed till like 8pm and the so called "reservation at 7:30pm" still hadn't showed up. The only people that had shown up were people that had a reservation at 6:30 -- and they didn't show up till like 7:15. Plus, have of the people who got there before us, were still there after we left. Clearly, the hostess had no idea how the patrons actually dinned.
Then we came back to my apartment and watched "Cars." Which, I fell asleep during parts of because I was sleepy. (Because I had gotten up at like 6:30am to start cleaning my apartment because it was a mess.)
My parents went to their hotel and slept and said we'd meet up for lunch this afternoon. I was expecting them to get here at like 11. They definitely got here at 10am. So I hadn't taken a shower yet or anything. I took my parents to my job, and showed them around. They weren't that excited by it. They were just like "wow, this is kind of boring." Yes I know, we engineers are a boring sort of people.
We went to lunch at this place called Camille's, which I really like. It's kind of like Panera, but with a California style flair. My parents weren't so enthralled by it. But whatever. I wasn't really expecting them to love it. I didn't force and weird food on them that I know they weren't really up for trying. I didn't take them to a Thai or Indian place, much less Korean or Moroccan. I took them to a good ol' Italian place. (My dad even tried pesto ... which is a first. He's not big into trying new things.)
Then they left, and I went grocery shopping and to the bookstore.
It wasn't a very exciting weekend. But then again, Rochester NY is not a very exciting place. There's not a lot to do during the winter if you don't like skiing or snowshoeing. I suggested skiing, but my dad has been whining about his arm for months and refuses to go to the doctor about it. So he wasn't too thrilled about the idea. I don't think my mom was really excited about it either though. I think they fell like they are getting old. I think that is only part of it though. I think most of it's in their mind, and if they did stuff like go skiing or do outdoors stuff more often then would feel more comfortable and more adept at those things even if they aren't the quickest birds on the slopes.
Now, I don't really have much to do. My mom did love my couch (which is amazing.) It's a great couch not only for sitting and lying, but for napping too. It's long enough for me to lie down on, and really stretch out w/o having to throw my legs over the end. My mom was a little shocked, I think by how much the apartment has changed since I moved in. I actually have furniture and a rug, and stuff to make it look like a real place rather than a college dorm room.
It's still a little laughable that I have a 13" TV on a huge TV stand. So, that's got to be the next big purchase. A bigger HDTV -- I'm thinking upper 30's low 40's inches HDTV, LCD, 1080i... that would be nice. Maybe I'll win a contest and get one for free... b/c I'm not really in love with spending like $1400-1800 on a freaking TV when my little 12 year old 13" one that probably cost $100 at the time is still kicking it and doing well. The entry cost to HDTV's borders on ridiculous. Basically the minimum is no longer a $100 -- but $500. The manufacturers argue that people in the 1940's had to pay that much for the black and white TV's. That's right, but they didn't become really popular until about the late 50's mid 60's because of that high price.
I need to go do some more emails and stuff. Finally the desire to move on has finally merited a few things.
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