We're Different Inside

originally posted: 09/18/02

Brought to you by a sign in the window of a Boston Market restaurant, pointed out by Skeeter.

Different from what? Do I really want a restaurant to be "different" inside? I kind of like the system we have now, where I can go into a restaurant and order food that someone else has cooked and that someone else will bring to me, and where someone else will clean up after I've left.

Skeeter and I couldn't tell what was "different" about our local Boston Market. There was a selection of high-fat, sodium-laden foods for us to select from, order-fillers and a cashier, a get-it-yourself beverage station, and tables for us to sit at while eating our meals. No marching band, no herd of water-skiing elephants, no space aliens that I could see (although Sister-san can show you around the Space Aliens restaurant in her area). The food did not give us magical superpowers unless you count Irresistible Nap Attack — but that's no different from the nap attack I get from eating elsewhere. There was no Boston Market Time Warp that returned us to work before we'd left.

So if anyone knows what's "different" about Boston Market, let me know.

**********

Service saga update: The good news is, my buddy Keith from Southside Heating & Air Conditioning made it to my house yesterday and replaced the central air's faulty fan blower relay within the space of a lunch hour. The bad news is, once the relay was sending power to the blower, he noticed right away that the blower motor wasn't working. So now I need a new blower motor, too. And of course he didn't have the necessary parts on hand to make the swap, so he'll have to call me when they come in, blah blah blah. Hopefully he'll be able to assemble the doohickey in the shop and then just dash over to my place and jam it into place. That's the plan, anyway.

The original fix was estimated at $X. The new fix will cost about $2X. That brings me to a total of $3X, three times as much as I was expecting to spend. However, to replace the entire central air unit would cost a minimum of $6X, so suddenly $3X doesn't look so bad by comparison. And at least this stuff broke while the weather was still nice, so I'm not freezing to death or camping out in a hotel. Ah, the joys of homeownership.

Also, I had a cavity-free visit to the dentist this morning. Viva la floss!