All three of you who read my blog (yes, I added a reader from North Dakota...North Virginia—one of those northern states) know that most of my posts range anywhere from silly to funny to informational to delusional to DUCK!!! Just for fun, I thought I'd take a break from that and go in a more serious direction. Life isn't always grins and giggles, and sometimes there are serious issues that need to be examined.
The recent death of actor Robin Williams by his own hand was what inspired this post. Very honestly, I was never a huge fan of his, though I did appreciate a few of his movie roles. There seems to be two schools of thought regarding taking one's own life. One says that those who make that choice are selfish. The other says that no one but the person who makes that choice knows the true extent of the pain or suffering that they're going through; therefore, by ending their life, they are ending their pain and suffering. As for me, I'm in the second camp as I don't really "get" the selfish part.
For many people, choosing one camp over the other would be the end of the discussion. However, as is typical, I have to make things even more difficult. As a Christian, I can't just leave it there, as there is one other thing to consider. What does God have to say about this? It's really straightforward that God doesn't want His people to go and kill themselves—especially over something trivial that may have happened and could have been resolved with a little prayer and some patience. The taking of an innocent human life, whether our own or someone else's is not right. In the process of doing a little research, I found this page and thought it was a good read. Take a look if you're so inclined. And I would advise that you be so inclined because what's presented there will set you straight.
As a few of you know, I've been struggling with a few things in life. Not gonna lie to any of you—the thought of turning in my keys early has passed through my brain a few times. Let's see...not working for almost four years, dealing with a failing marriage, managing a chronic disease, and trying to straighten out financial troubles kind of gets to you after awhile. Fortunately the brainular equivalent of the TSA stopped that thought and no such action has taken place. (Otherwise, who'd be entertaining you here today, huh?)
I feel for people who are suffering in any way, shape or form. So far, I have no close friends who have taken their own lives, and I hope it stays that way. In my life, my job is to stay connected to God and communicate with Him what my needs are, and to have faith that those needs will be met. And to understand that such things are done in His time, not mine. It may not happen tomorrow or this weekend, but it will when the time is right.
Writing this post made me feel a lot better than I was when I started it. It's good to get things off of your chest once in awhile.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Restaurant road trip
Oftentimes, having a touch of wanderlust along with a little boredom will result in what many people call, "an adventure." Throw in a little hunger, and said adventure just might take a culinary turn. But such a turn can be quite rewarding depending on what sort of food is involved. As my friends know, I'm generally up for an adventure of almost any kind. I say "almost" because there are a few things that you won't find me doing—no matter what.
So on this fine Saturday afternoon, I got the itch to get out there and do something. A few of my friends have visited two different eating establishments and reported on them on Facebook. The two places are a mere one-and-a-half miles apart. Since one is suitable for lunch or dinner and the other is suitable for dessert or a treat, I figured why not visit both on the same trip and enjoy a complete meal?
For an early dinner, I started with the lunch/dinner place. Go figure. Being the fast food junkie that I am, you won't have to twist my arm to try a new food item—provided, of course, that it does not include mushrooms, mustard, mayonnaise, cold cuts, or other things on my "Will Not Eat" list. Eggs are also on that list, but so many things contain them that I can't exclude them unless I would be eating them by themselves. You won't catch me eating eggs at any meal unless there's some sort of firearm pointed in my general direction. On an eating adventure, running into such things means that the adventure has taken a turn for the wurst.
Out in Glendora, CA, there's a place called Grand Burgers. I suspect that it got its name because it's on Grand Avenue. Because the food is rumored to be good, maybe I was in for a grand meal. Let me put my phone away and go inside.
There weren't many people in there, and there were plenty of empty tables waiting. My guess is that I stopped by somewhere between a late lunch rush and an early dinner rush. People are eating later these days for some reason. Unfortunately, that's not so good for us in terms of our health.
Grand Burgers looks like just about any other fast food place. As you can see (but not read), they have a pretty extensive menu. But I already knew what I was going to have.
Note that they serve Coca-Cola products. They know what's best.
As a practicing diabetic, I need to be aware of what and how much I eat. This is why I stick to cheeseburgers with no larger than quarter- or third-pound patties. (Yes, a diabetic can have a cheeseburger. I need to write a post about that because so many people remind me that I'm too dumb to choose suitable food for myself, so they offer to "help" me.) A long time ago I ate french fries without fail when I had a cheeseburger. These days, if I get any kind of side, it's onion rings or fried zucchini. Today an order of onion rings just sounded good. They had three sizes, so I got the smallest. There were enough onion rings in that order to feed at least two people, and generously at that. I imagine their large order would feed an entire football team. Food is served on a good quality plate. Here's dinner:
With so many onion rings, I ate less than half of them. They appeared to be sliced, breaded, and fried on the premises, rather than the pre-made kind. Didn't matter; they were good.
The burger wasn't The Greatest Burger Ever Served in the History of the World Bar None™, but it was tasty. To be honest, I prefer my meat patties a little thicker. The staff was extra nice—perhaps the nicest I've encountered in quite some time. On my way out, while I was refilling my cup for the trip home, one of the ladies noticed that I had the rest of my onion rings in the little boat they came in, and asked me if I'd like a bag for them. Heck yes I would. That would make them easier to carry home and store. In my experience, it's not often that someone offers you a bag for leftovers at a fast food place.
Overall, next time I'm in the area I'll stop in there again, but I won't make a 150-mile round trip drive to do it again. That said, it was nice to get out and visit a different county for a change.
So now that I'm full of cheeseburger, onion rings, and Diet Coke, it's time for dessert. Up the street, around the corner, and down Route 66 about a mile is Donut Man. The friends who'd visited this store had mentioned that they were selling "peach donuts" and I wanted to check it out, never having heard of them.
The banner was tucked under the roof a bit, but there was no mistaking what it said.
Fresh peach donuts. I was going to take one home. The line was short, so I reached the window in no time. As I stood there, I figured that since the girls like peaches, why not get them one as well? When I was asked what I wanted, I said, "Three peach donuts." The guy said, "$12." $4 per donut?!? Pretty expensive—almost county fair prices. But when you consider that this is quite an unusual treat, $4 doesn't sound so bad after all. Besides, these were almost big enough to have some now and the rest later.
I half thought about getting a strawberry one, but went with peach because that's a more unusual flavor for a donut. While not actually getting into the donuts to eat, I did want to see exactly what they did to create them. These are big glazed donuts sliced in half and filled with peach slices. Sort of a peach sandwich on donut bread.
So there you go. This wraps up my adventure of the day. Maybe next time I'll take in a bakery. Hopefully nothing will go a-rye.
So on this fine Saturday afternoon, I got the itch to get out there and do something. A few of my friends have visited two different eating establishments and reported on them on Facebook. The two places are a mere one-and-a-half miles apart. Since one is suitable for lunch or dinner and the other is suitable for dessert or a treat, I figured why not visit both on the same trip and enjoy a complete meal?
For an early dinner, I started with the lunch/dinner place. Go figure. Being the fast food junkie that I am, you won't have to twist my arm to try a new food item—provided, of course, that it does not include mushrooms, mustard, mayonnaise, cold cuts, or other things on my "Will Not Eat" list. Eggs are also on that list, but so many things contain them that I can't exclude them unless I would be eating them by themselves. You won't catch me eating eggs at any meal unless there's some sort of firearm pointed in my general direction. On an eating adventure, running into such things means that the adventure has taken a turn for the wurst.
Out in Glendora, CA, there's a place called Grand Burgers. I suspect that it got its name because it's on Grand Avenue. Because the food is rumored to be good, maybe I was in for a grand meal. Let me put my phone away and go inside.
There weren't many people in there, and there were plenty of empty tables waiting. My guess is that I stopped by somewhere between a late lunch rush and an early dinner rush. People are eating later these days for some reason. Unfortunately, that's not so good for us in terms of our health.
Grand Burgers looks like just about any other fast food place. As you can see (but not read), they have a pretty extensive menu. But I already knew what I was going to have.
Note that they serve Coca-Cola products. They know what's best.
As a practicing diabetic, I need to be aware of what and how much I eat. This is why I stick to cheeseburgers with no larger than quarter- or third-pound patties. (Yes, a diabetic can have a cheeseburger. I need to write a post about that because so many people remind me that I'm too dumb to choose suitable food for myself, so they offer to "help" me.) A long time ago I ate french fries without fail when I had a cheeseburger. These days, if I get any kind of side, it's onion rings or fried zucchini. Today an order of onion rings just sounded good. They had three sizes, so I got the smallest. There were enough onion rings in that order to feed at least two people, and generously at that. I imagine their large order would feed an entire football team. Food is served on a good quality plate. Here's dinner:
With so many onion rings, I ate less than half of them. They appeared to be sliced, breaded, and fried on the premises, rather than the pre-made kind. Didn't matter; they were good.
The burger wasn't The Greatest Burger Ever Served in the History of the World Bar None™, but it was tasty. To be honest, I prefer my meat patties a little thicker. The staff was extra nice—perhaps the nicest I've encountered in quite some time. On my way out, while I was refilling my cup for the trip home, one of the ladies noticed that I had the rest of my onion rings in the little boat they came in, and asked me if I'd like a bag for them. Heck yes I would. That would make them easier to carry home and store. In my experience, it's not often that someone offers you a bag for leftovers at a fast food place.
Overall, next time I'm in the area I'll stop in there again, but I won't make a 150-mile round trip drive to do it again. That said, it was nice to get out and visit a different county for a change.
So now that I'm full of cheeseburger, onion rings, and Diet Coke, it's time for dessert. Up the street, around the corner, and down Route 66 about a mile is Donut Man. The friends who'd visited this store had mentioned that they were selling "peach donuts" and I wanted to check it out, never having heard of them.
The banner was tucked under the roof a bit, but there was no mistaking what it said.
Fresh peach donuts. I was going to take one home. The line was short, so I reached the window in no time. As I stood there, I figured that since the girls like peaches, why not get them one as well? When I was asked what I wanted, I said, "Three peach donuts." The guy said, "$12." $4 per donut?!? Pretty expensive—almost county fair prices. But when you consider that this is quite an unusual treat, $4 doesn't sound so bad after all. Besides, these were almost big enough to have some now and the rest later.
I half thought about getting a strawberry one, but went with peach because that's a more unusual flavor for a donut. While not actually getting into the donuts to eat, I did want to see exactly what they did to create them. These are big glazed donuts sliced in half and filled with peach slices. Sort of a peach sandwich on donut bread.
So there you go. This wraps up my adventure of the day. Maybe next time I'll take in a bakery. Hopefully nothing will go a-rye.
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