Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and a Mud Pie

I went to the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf over the weekend. It’s something I do to reward myself. I was so surprised when I saw the store is now serving Mud Pies.

I don’t know what goes into a Mud Pie. I just love the taste. For the record, a Mud Pie is an ice blended drink based on coffee and some other powder stuff. I like mine made thick withe extra ice.

Doug introduced me to the Mud Pie back in 2007 when I was recovering from my first operation for colon cancer. Dr. Karen Kwan, my oncologist, was urging me to gain weight.

Imagine that, a doctor telling me to gain weight.

Her reasons were excellent. I had lost close to seventy pounds between a planned diet so I looked good at the Princess’ wedding and the after effects of the surgery. I needed the weight to help with my recovery. I was enjoying a large Mud Pie about three or four times a week.

Then, for an unknown reason, Coffee Bean dropped the product maybe five years ago.

I don’t know how long the Mud Pie will be available but I do plan to visit my Coffee Bean more frequently now.

Be well and stay happy.

Memorial Day

As we celebrate Memorial Day, we must remember the freedoms we take for granted were bought and paid for by veterans. Freedom is never free.

Be well and stay happy.

Fast Food

Most of my friends and students know I enjoy eating fast food a couple of times a week. I usually go to my local Fatburger, the Last Great Hamburger Stand. Recently, I have been going on Tuesday and Thursday nights after my classes.

I pulled into the parking lot around 10:20 on Tuesday night only to find my Fatburger was closed for two weeks for remodeling.

I came home and microwaved my meal.

Yesterday, I decided to try Smashburger in Redondo Beach. It had been open almost a year now, I read about Smashburger and wanted to give it a try.

Parking was deplorable and I gave up.

Deftly shifting culinary gears, I turned the MINI around and headed off to the local In and Out Hamburger restaurant. I opted for the drive through. This was a much better solution and I discovered that the In and Out is open late every night because coming home from school and arriving well after 10:00 makes cooking a meal from scratch difficult.

I had a 3 x 3 with onions and an order of French fries.

Perfect way to end the day.

Be well and stay happy. 

Godzilla

I went to see Godzilla yesterday afternoon. I paid the extra money so I could enjoy the film in IMAX 3D. I thought USD$17.25 was a steep price.

It was money very well spent.

I loved the new version or reboot of the 1954 classic. The 1998 version should have never been made. The basic plot line follows the Godzilla tradition of the big guy saving humanity from itself.

The only part of the film that left me cold was Godzilla’s scream or cry. This version is just loud noise and not a back tingling sound that Toho created. I believe the producers obtained licenses from Toho to use the creature concept. They should have tossed down a few more bucks and picked up the original sound.

IMAX is a superb format for films like Godzilla.

I just wished the theater operator had considered powering down the sound system to reflect the small, early afternoon audience. I think the multiplex screening room held probably five hundred at capacity. I doubt there were more than a three dozen viewers. The sound was painfully loud for me.

Be well and stay happy.

Numbers in My Life

I have lots of numbers in my life like my cell phone number or any of a dozen passwords.

I am involved, in a small way, in supporting the SETI research project. I let SETI use my laptop’s spare computing time and I do make a contribution. SETI is the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

From time to time, I check my search credits. I was surprised to see that I have just over 312,000 credits.

Reading has been a lifelong passion for me. I purchase my books from Amazon.com because it is so convenient for me, especially since I bought myself a Kindle Reader years ago.

In the last two years, I started writing reviews for Amazon. As a semi-retiree, I did have time on my hands. I feel good about writing the reviews. I never imagined that any of my reviews would be helpful to another.

So far, I have made sixty one reviews of which thirty out of forty one were helpful.

Nice.

I am now ranked 150,400 as a reviewer. I have a really long way to go to reach Number One.   

Be well and stay happy.

Neighbors, the movie

            I went to see the new film Neighbors yesterday.

            Doug had suggested it as a good film to see. It was enjoyable to a point for me. I thought the humor was perhaps too heavy handed and it resorted to hyping stereotypes too often for a laugh.

            It is also possible that at my age, I am too old to find the comedy enjoyable.

            Having lived in a fraternity house for two years, I could see some of the stereotyped actions as being relevant and accurate to a degree for forty years ago. The film presented the fraternity as one that was focused on sex, drugs, and alcohol. This was probably true at one time.

            It is not true today. In the early 1990s, my fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, banned alcohol and drugs from the houses. We were the first national fraternity to take that step. We also banned hazing.

            If I were a film critic or reviewer, I would say Neighbors in a nice, overdone, comedic history of a period that no longer exists.

            Be well and stay happy.