David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 228

A Bit Of Village Inn Connection In My Current City

When I first wrote The Garden of Good and Evil Pancakes, I was under the impression that Village Inns were common throughout the country. This is true in the two areas I’ve lived the longest, Omaha and Denver. Apparently they aren’t currently in the other cities I’ve lived in, though I don’t know if they had them at the time and have since closed (there are only 206 locations currently and there used to be as many as 343). However, I learned after writing the book that some people had never even heard of them.

For the book, this is fine. If you haven’t been to a Village Inn, you’ve been to a chain restaurant that focuses on pancakes. I dig Village Inn in particular, but surely you’ve been to a Denny’s, or an IHOP, or a Waffle House, or a Perkins, or a Happy Chef, or a The Original Pancake House (yeah I know that sounds awkward, blame them), or…whatever. Still, you get the idea.

However, after spending so much time in Omaha and Denver, I thought they were everywhere. After all, there are 14 in the immediate Omaha area and 20 in the immediate Denver area even today. After hearing they were more limited than I originally imagined, I was kind of surprised I’d been lucky enough that they were in Denver. My new town of residence wouldn’t work so well without Village Inn.

But…then I noticed that Denver has a significant Village Inn connection. Then it wasn’t so surprising anymore. That’s right, the very first Village Inn opened in Denver in 1958. This is the place it all started…approximately 56 years ago.

I just thought that was cool and wanted to share.

A BIt Of Village Inn Connection In My Current City

When I first wrote The Garden of Good and Evil Pancakes, I was under the impression that Village Inns were common throughout the country. This is true in the two areas I’ve lived the longest, Omaha and Denver. Apparently they aren’t currently in the other cities I’ve lived in, though I don’t know if they had them at the time and have since closed (there are only 206 locations currently and there used to be as many as 343). However, I learned after writing the book that some people had never even heard of them.

For the book, this is fine. If you haven’t been to a Village Inn, you’ve been to a chain restaurant that focuses on pancakes. I dig Village Inn in particular, but surely you’ve been to a Denny’s, or an IHOP, or a Waffle House, or a Perkins, or a Happy Chef, or a The Original Pancake House (yeah I know that sounds awkward, blame them), or…whatever. Still, you get the idea.

However, after spending so much time in Omaha and Denver, I thought they were everywhere. After all, there are 14 in the immediate Omaha area and 20 in the immediate Denver area even today. After hearing they were more limited than I originally imagined, I was kind of surprised I’d been lucky enough that they were in Denver. My new town of residence wouldn’t work so well without Village Inn.

But…then I noticed that Denver has a significant Village Inn connection. Then it wasn’t so surprising anymore. That’s right, the very first Village Inn opened in Denver in 1958. This is the place it all started…approximately 56 years ago.

I just thought that was cool and wanted to share.

“The Garden of Good and Evil Pancakes” Is Now Available At The Tattered Cover, Powell’s, And Barnes And Noble!

Hey, everybody! I just saw that The Garden of Good and Evil Pancakes is now available from both the Tattered Cover, Powell’s, and Barnes and Noble!

How cool is that? I think it’s pretty cool at least.

Word of “Cats” Rework Reminds Me Of Joke I Thought Of Playing

I hear recently that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats is going to be reworked and that the rework is going to involve rap. Personally, I’m not enthused about that. However, the news reminded me of a joke I felt like playing the time that I did go to Cats.

As anyone who has been to the show will remember, the show starts in darkness. At least, I think this was the beginning. It’s been a bit and my memory is hazy. Anyway, in the darkness, the performers in the cat costumes go running through the audience. Their eyes are lit up.

As this was happening and I sat there, I suddenly wished I had a spray bottle. When that cat costumed performer ran up and hissed at me, I would have spritzed and shouted: “No! Bad kitty!”

Well, I wouldn’t have really done it. I just thought about it. Really, I would have been kicked out of the theater for doing something like that. I could have lived with that for a good joke, but my wife would have been quite angry with me. As such, I wouldn’t have done it.

Still, this news brought that idea back to mind. I still think it would have been funny.

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Better Would Have To Be Better Than I Can Imagine

I was trying out a frozen steak and potato pie dinner the other night that my wife bought me. It had three sets of directions. For best results, I was supposed to cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes. For better results, I was supposed to microwave for 2-3 minutes and then oven for something like 10-20 minutes. The lowest down option said to just microwave for 2-3 minutes.

I microwaved for 2-3 minutes.

Frankly, it was pretty good. Unless I knew that the microwave only directions would be inedible, it wasn’t likely that I’d choose either the microwave/oven combination or just the oven directions. Particularly the oven directions. Better? Best? How much better could it possibly be that I’d go through all that to cook the pot pie? Personally, it’d have to be better than I could possibly imagine before I’d consider taking all that time. I certainly didn’t consider doing that.

30-40 minutes was right out. Once I get hungry enough to cook something, I can no longer wait 30-40 minutes…certainly not when 2-3 minutes is a viable (if perhaps not quite as good) option. 10-20 minutes is even pushing it. It’s like Mitch Hedberg’s bit about baked potatoes: ” It takes forever to cook a baked potato in a conventional oven. Sometimes I just throw one in there, even if I don’t want one. Cause by the time it’s done, who knows?”

Seriously, better and best aren’t enough to convince me to spend the extra time. As long as 2-3 minutes in the microwave still works, I’ll never find out how much better a microwave/oven combination or oven could be. I’d certainly have to imagine it was going to be much better than I think in order to decide to go through that effort.

I just don’t have that kind of time.

Extra Disappointment In Retiring Shirt That Made Me Unique

I dug my Roman Dirge “I like monkeys, except for that one” shirt out of my closet recently. I hadn’t worn it in a while, and I just noticed it has a small hole in one armpit. It’s time to retire it.

This is disappointing, because I love that shirt. It’s my favorite of the Roman Dirge shirts I own. It’s not like it’s much use to me anymore with a hole in the armpit (I have tons of shirts I don’t mind getting messed up if I’m going to paint the house or do something else I’ll never do), so it’s time to go. It’s still disappointing to get rid of it though, since I don’t think they sell these particular ones anymore.

Even beyond that, this shirt once made me unique. I was in an International Law class one time and the professor was trying to make a point about why we have international laws. He told us to look at the labels on our shirts and find out if they were made in the U.S.A. I was the only one in the entire class whose shirt was made in the U.S.A.

The instructor then asked if we saw why we had international laws. A friend of mine raised her hand and said yes. Personally, she wanted to be able to wear something other than my monkey shirt and international laws were the way that we were able to interact as countries so we could have commerce across borders and such other things.

Regardless of her slam on my monkey shirt, I still took pride in the fact that I was unique in that demonstration. The professor was frankly surprised that anyone had a shirt made in the US, and I was the only one. It wasn’t a big thing, or really important, but it’s a fun little memory and the shirt was always a reminder of that.

Now I need to get rid of it. Stupid armpit hole.

Boredom Brings Out Mild Cruelty In Me

Boredom apparently brings out mild cruelty in me.

I’ve been sitting home alone today. I’ve been doing various things, working and reading and whatnot, but I found myself getting a bit bored with everything I was doing. Then I noticed one of my cats dragging his feather boa on a stick toy in to me.

This meant he was bored too and wanted me to play. He’s a playful cat. He’s only about a year old, so he’s still an adolescent. He wants to play much more than my older cats.

However, on instinct, I didn’t just play with the toy for him. Instead, I picked him up. Then I started playing with the feather boa on a stick toy. He went berserk.

AHHHHHHGGGGGGGHHH!!!!! GOTTA GET THE TOY! GOTTA GET THE TOY! IT’S MOVING! GOTTA GET THE TOY!!!!!

Instinct had taken over so much, I don’t even think he knew I was holding him. He just knew the toy was moving and he had to get it. I was being mildly cruel in being amused by the fact that he was spazzing out to go chase the toy. I hope that isn’t too evil. He wasn’t hurt or anything. He was just spazzing out.

Of course, this only went on for something like ten seconds. I wasn’t able to hold a spazzing cat any more than that.

Don’t worry. I then moved the toy around so he could play with it for a while. I’m not a total jerk.

Soda Or Pop?

I’ve been noticing a lot of people talking recently about whether people say soda or pop. Supposedly, this is supposed to indicate which area of the country a person is from. Personally, I think this is bullcrap.

To me, the terms are pretty much interchangeable. Sometimes I say soda. Sometimes I say pop. Sometimes I even get all nutty and say soda pop (this is rare and I almost never, if ever, say pop soda). I use both terms, most time without thinking about it. It just happens, and I don’t give a crap.

So what does it mean? I grew up in Nebraska. I don’t remember which Nebraskans supposedly use, but I doubt it is both. Am I cosmopolitan? I doubt that as well.

Frankly, I think the terms are interchangeable and it’s kind of pointless to care. I don’t think it ends up revealing that much about where you are from, particularly given the homogenization of national/world communication networks. You probably use some combination of what your region and/or regions and/or your social networks use.

Bottom line: it seems like an even more pointless thing to worry about than it probably used to be.

“Bones Buried in the Dirt” Medal!

Medal! Bones Buried in the Dirt!