General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Have a random question about something? Sweet web link? Random quick anecdote to share? Looking for some general advice/feedback on a situation?

Here's the place.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

The Boardroom

Do this look like a cool franchise?

Would any of you use such a place?

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

JB,

I dunno, but apparently others have similar ideas:

http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...05/story7.html
http://www.mrthebarbershop.com/index_flash.html

If I worked in that neighborhood, I'd maybe shell out for the $65/mo package.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Men's skin care sales have been growing at about 15-20% a year for the last few years so there is certainly a market for this type of place.

I currently order my skin care products online and go to normal salon for the rest. If there was a male-centric salon I'd use it. I use to go to something similar but they went out of business.

I assume you are asking because you are interested in owning a franchise. The one issue I have is that the products seem to be limited to very specific brands. They are good brands but I'd prefer to have more options. I am also not sure if you'd really gain much from owning a franchise over just opening your own independent salon based on the same concept.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

I believe that in life you should always be doing one of two things:
- enjoying yourself
- accomplishing something

If you're doing neither, do something else. If you're doing both, so much the better.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Is Delmonico's still as good as everyone says in the B&M thread? Any new restaurants I should try while in Vegas?

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
The Boardroom

Do this look like a cool franchise?

Would any of you use such a place?

[/ QUOTE ]

James,

I go to the American Male Salon in Mountain View, CA. It looks like the same thing, you get free drinks (no alcohol anymore, thank you government and liquor license laws) and hand wax, facial, etc.

I pay between 50 and 60, and don't think it's worth it. Yet I still go, and they are ALWAYS full, I can hardly ever get in same-day.

If there aren't any close to you, I say go for it!

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

lippy,

It's pretty damn good. Nine at the Palms was also great. Delmonico Steakhouse is maybe a little more on the traditional, fancy dining side, whereas Nine is maybe a little bit more modern, hip feel. I dunno, I love them both, they each have a different vibe to them but both are great.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

I was wondering if something like this story would make for an interesting thread...at any rate, this is my favorite story of a culture clash. I promise it's worth reading.

My mother had a university professor that was born in India and taught there, but spoke fluent english. By her account he was absolutely brilliant, one of the smartest men she had ever met.

Some years after university, (she had stayed in contact with him) he came to visit her in New Jersey. She didn't know how to entertain this guy, and finally decided on taking him out to tea; figuring this would be familiar to him and allow them time to talk over old times.

He orders the type of tea that he wants and they bring him a cup of hot water and a tea bag. He looks at the teabag a little curiously, and then cuts it open with his knife and empties the contents into the cup. My mom then explains how a tea bag is supposed to work by demonstrating with her own. She asks the waitress for a new cup and a new tea bag.

The professor is a little embarrassed by his error, but nevertheless impressed with the idea of a tea bag. He gets his new cup and his new tea bag and, with great satisfaction, successfully makes his first cup of tea.

He then grabs a bag of sugar off the table, and throws the entire thing unopened into his mug...

Stak

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Apparently San Francisco has awesome roast beef.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Has anyone here been in a motorcycle accident they truly believe they could not have prevented?

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Moved to dating/relationship thread.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Rosemary's. Anyone here reviewed this yet? Frommer's said it was arguably the best restaurant in Vegas

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...as/D51889.html

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Rosemary's. Anyone here reviewed this yet? Frommer's said it was arguably the best restaurant in Vegas

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...as/D51889.html

[/ QUOTE ]

I ate there for the first time last Sunday (the entire wine list is half off on Sundays). I found it to be excellent but not mind blowing. Our appetizers and salad were top notch, but our lamb entree was mediocre. Desert was very good, not great. Our head waiter was just a little bit off, as were the backwaiters. Definitely would do again, quality fine dining, but not the A+++ that is the reputation.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone here been in a motorcycle accident they truly believe they could not have prevented?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been in two that I could not have prevented. The first I was riding slowly down a wet street at night, doing maybe 30. It hadn't rained for a long while and the roads was greasy. My handlebars began girating wildly without warning and the next thing I knew I was sliding down the street on my hands without any gloves on. I had been riding in a straight line at the time. Got up without a scratch.

Second time I was on a dirt road with a passenger. Coming around a blind corner I met a car that was going way too fast in the middle of the road. I took the bike straight off the road at the corner and slid down a small ravine. Once again not a scratch to either of us but the bike was not happy. Neither was I.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
lippy,

It's pretty damn good. Nine at the Palms was also great. Delmonico Steakhouse is maybe a little more on the traditional, fancy dining side, whereas Nine is maybe a little bit more modern, hip feel. I dunno, I love them both, they each have a different vibe to them but both are great.

[/ QUOTE ]

Definintely going to have to go with Nine as it's going to be 4-6 of my friends and me, all under 25. I think an El D recommendation is all the more research I need to do.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone here been in a motorcycle accident they truly believe they could not have prevented?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends on how nitty about the definition of prevented is. I was riding an older motorcyle ('72 Honda CB 350 ftw) 6 years ago when, unbeknownst to me, a gasket on one of the cases went coating my back tire in engine oil. The first corner I attempted to make the rear tire just washed out and I went down at 35 MPH.

I guess the accident could have been prevented by replacing the gasket prior to riding, but I had no idea it was in bad shape.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone here been in a motorcycle accident they truly believe they could not have prevented?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends on how nitty about the definition of prevented is. I was riding an older motorcyle ('72 Honda CB 350 ftw) 6 years ago when, unbeknownst to me, a gasket on one of the cases went coating my back tire in engine oil. The first corner I attempted to make the rear tire just washed out and I went down at 35 MPH.

I guess the accident could have been prevented by replacing the gasket prior to riding, but I had no idea it was in bad shape.

[/ QUOTE ]

my scuba instructor was sitting stopped at a red light, a car rear ended him and he broke his arm

i guess he could have gunned it into the intersection and played frogger? but it seems like it was pretty hard to prevent

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Anyone have any good book recommendations? I've read 15 books the last 15 days at "work" and now I need to go buy some more. What I've read: (I've enjoyed them all)

Jose Saramago - Blindness
JD Salinger - Catcher in the Rye
Gino Segre - Faust in Copenhagen
Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway - In Our Time
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Tim Weiner - Legacy of Ashes
Haruki Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami - Dance Dance Dance
Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
Haruki Murakami - South of the Border, West of the Sun
Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar
Jose Saramago - Seeing
Goethe - Faust

anyone have anything along those lines?

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

I enjoyed "A Moveable Feast" by Hemingway. I believe it was published posthumously. It's a sort of autobiography. Much of it was written when he was in love, or so a former teacher told me.

For those with Fresh Direct accounts, make sure to get in on the President's Special this week: Stone Crabs. I just got 3 pounds today and can't express my joy in eating these. I just put in another order to be delivered on Sunday, for 3 more pounds. I think they are on sale for $15.99/lb. They are cooked and ready to eat. Delicious.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

I had to pay to get rid of my stone crabs [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
<font color="white">can bad jokes be in this thread too?</font>

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone have any good book recommendations? I've read 15 books the last 15 days at "work" and now I need to go buy some more. What I've read: (I've enjoyed them all)

Jose Saramago - Blindness
JD Salinger - Catcher in the Rye
Gino Segre - Faust in Copenhagen
Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway - In Our Time
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Tim Weiner - Legacy of Ashes
Haruki Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami - Dance Dance Dance
Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
Haruki Murakami - South of the Border, West of the Sun
Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar
Jose Saramago - Seeing
Goethe - Faust

anyone have anything along those lines?

[/ QUOTE ]

Steinbeck - Log of the Sea of Cortez, Cannery Row, anything else

Jack London - Seawolf

Graham Greene - anything - The Heart of the Matter for example

random: Now and on Earth by Jim Thompson

short stories by JD Salinger
Franny and Zooey
Raise High the Roof Beam
Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Thanks for the recommendations guys, I will definitely grab some probably tonight on my way home.

Further question: does anyone here write? I've been writing, and I have some specific and some general questions, and I was wondering if there was someone/someplace I could send/post random paragraphs, etc for general review from time to time. Subforum? Thread in this forum? Some forum on some other site? No such thing exists?

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

mbillie,

a recent book (from last year) that I've been raving about:
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
http://www.amazon.com/Special-Topics.../dp/067003777X

The Amazon reviews are pretty good, except that the people who don't like it are dumb. They're right that it's long and "pretentious" and weird, but I thought it was also great and hilarious and brilliant and from what I know of your online personality I think you would too. (I'd also guess you've probably heard of this book already, so I'll stop now.)

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Possibly slightly TLDR random whatever spot:

My girlfriend and I were at a wedding last month, and the groom's family paid for dinner in a real nice restaurant right by the Red Square. There was always plenty of alcohol on the table, but water bottles didn't get replaced right away. Since my gf was thirsty and didn't feel like getting all wasted, I went to the bar a few times and asked for water bottles.

At some point, another section opens up, which is kind of a night club, and strangers start coming in. A little after that I made another trip to the bar for some water, but the guy from our section wasn't there. So I just walked over to where the night club was (same longass bar), and asked for three bottles of water.

The guy handed me three bottles (12oz or so) of water, but I had to pay close to 20 bucks. This was the same water that was distributed freely all night, and that got taken away if someone seemed to have abandoned a bottle. I wanted to say 'I'm actually with that group over there', but then my drunk ass thought WTF that just means the groom's father will have to pay for it. He already paid for all your other probably over the top expensive [censored], you can pony up $20 yourself, you stingy bastard.

By the time I got back to my seat, I realized that it was very unlikely that they counted each and every water bottle and charged them over $6 for it. I decided that it was too late to be a bitch about it though, and just ate the loss. But I still feel kind of owned by the restaurant to this day.

To add insult to injury, there ended up being a dance performance in another room shortly after, and by the time we got back, the one bottle we hadn't opened, but paid for, was gone!

Given that I already made the mistake of walking away, what could I have reasonably done about this without making an ass out of myself?

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
I realized that it was very unlikely that they counted each and every water bottle and charged them over $6 for it.

[/ QUOTE ]

no, they probably do count all the bottles, but yeah, they probably do give him a discount... don't worry about it... hope you had a good time, try thinking about the fun stuff you did lol

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

mbillie,

You should start a new book recs thread - it has been a little while since we've had one active. I've read a few decent ones recently.

Also, a writing evaluation/critique/sharing/etc thread would be good, feel free to start that too.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

El D,

will do, I'll do the book recs first since it involves less terrifying sharing of my probably awful writing... lol

later tonight

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Dale,

"Given that I already made the mistake of walking away, what could I have reasonably done about this without making an ass out of myself?"

The first time? Not all that much, though if you really wanted to you could go back and say, hey I was charged $20 for the waters but I'm with that party - was I supposed to have to pay for them? or something like that.

The second time, after they took one you bought, just go up and say, "Hey, they took one of my full bottles of water off the table" and I'd expect they'll give you a new one. Then again, I have no idea how they'd react in Russia, maybe they'd just shoot you.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

nvm i'm an idiot

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Just a random observation:

A couple weeks ago I saw a woman on a plane drinking bottled water through a straw. I had never seen such a thing before.

WoT

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just a random observation:

A couple weeks ago I saw a woman on a plane drinking bottled water through a straw. I had never seen such a thing before.

WoT

[/ QUOTE ]

On a plane or in general? 80% of the girls I see at school do this.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

Anyone have any advice on generating traffic for a blog?

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just a random observation:

A couple weeks ago I saw a woman on a plane drinking bottled water through a straw. I had never seen such a thing before.

WoT

[/ QUOTE ]

I do this all the time. It doesn't end up dripping on my shirt and I can drink more by just sucking it back.

Plus it's ladylike. I guess.

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just a random observation:

A couple weeks ago I saw a woman on a plane drinking bottled water through a straw. I had never seen such a thing before.

WoT

[/ QUOTE ]

i hope you hit on her, sounds hawt

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

How frigging hard is it not to drip water on your shirt drinking straight from the bottle?

I'm clumsy as [censored] and I don't think this ever happened to me (outside of ppl hitting the bottle/making me laugh obv).

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
How frigging hard is it not to drip water on your shirt drinking straight from the bottle?

I'm clumsy as [censored] and I don't think this ever happened to me (outside of ppl hitting the bottle/making me laugh obv).

[/ QUOTE ]

happens to me all the time fwiw

but it also happens with straws, so go figure

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

lol at being able to drink more

it's that girls are retarded

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

do they actually buy packs of straws at the supermarket and put some in their purse in case of a water bottle purchase?

Re: General life questions / observations / random whatever thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just a random observation:

A couple weeks ago I saw a woman on a plane drinking bottled water through a straw. I had never seen such a thing before.

WoT

[/ QUOTE ]

my wife does this so she doesn't mess up her lipstick.