Monday, February 23, 2009

I hate beans. This could be a problem if I ever go vegan. Or Vegetarian. Or...uhm, yeah.

A handful of the people I follow on Twitter are from California. As it turns out, most of that set are vegans in some form another. This is cool. This probably means theyre healthier than I am.
...Maybe. I overheard someone scoff at that and mention chocolate was on the 'okay' list. They were a fan of Lindt

I know a few around here, too. Had classes with some, which wouldnt normally be anything major, except it was a music class and we toured. The class was usually no bigger than 12ish people any given semester, and about half were vegans. A couple of the others were meat/potato type people, and then you had a few like me, who didnt care so long as they could find something on the menu that was halfway decent. It wasnt unheard of for the first two groups to get into arguments about where to stop for dinner. Especially since we were often in or near Asheville NC, which has often been considered the "San Francisco of the East Coast", and has plenty of Vegan-friendly eateries. So, yeah. We hit a few of them up. We also hit a steakhouse once or twice as well...just to be fair. Normally, I was nice and got something that wouldnt throw the others off too much, as my usual Outback faire is something most would have a cow (er, no pun intended) over. Though, once I did order it anyway out of spite because a couple of them had done something to piss me off. Oddly enough, the one that was made most uncomfortable was a classmate that had labeled herself a 'recovering Vegetarian', and had gotten a well done ribeye, or something. I did feel bad for her, as she wasnt the cause of my ire.

I used to think about trying it...just to see if I could do it.

I dont think I can. Maybe a half-assed version (isnt there a 'no red meat' variety or something?), but not full on.

Im (usually) not that much of a picky eater, but as luck would have it, I pretty much dislike what apparently makes up a good percentage of vegetarian foods. Mostly beans. I hate beans. I think there were a total of three things on a very vast menu that did not include beans. I think I ended up with chips and pico di gallo salsa. On the bright side, it was very good. Humus? Maybe. Itd be an aquired taste, and if I recall correctly I wasnt a fan of the consistency. Tofu was a by-the-dish thing. Most of the time, I didnt care for it. Others, it was okay. The tico burrito and low country rollups from a place called Laughing Seed Cafe in Asheville looks good.

Also, after looking at these menus, Im going to admit that I dont have a damn clue what the heck tempeh is, and am googleing it in another tab. It looks like its going to be another 'wont know til I try it' things.

Theres the fact that I really could care less that Mickey Ds uses beef extract for fries. Sorry about that.

When I started this post, I was looking back at my diet. While it could be better (psh. lot better), Ive found that theres not much in the way of red meat on there that I like. I think Im mostly limited to burgers and steaks in that regard, and Italian sausage (though I honestly dont care for meat at all in Italian food). None of which come along all that much. Not a fan of stuff like pot roast or meat loaf and such. I think this had occurred to me before. I donate platelets on a regular basis (or try to), and Ive gotten turned away more than once due to my iron count being too low. They ask me how much red meat I eat, and in hindsight, Im always surprised that the answers 'not all that much'.

Okay, so maybe if I really, really tried, I might be able to get away with it. But not here. I looked up Charlotte Vegetarian/vegan places, and theres not much. Mostly Indian places with lots of things I cant pronounce and lentil. Lentil is too close to beans for my liking.
Like I said...Asheville's the SF of the East. They have lots of places that look interesting. Its also no secret to anyone that I want to move back west to the mountains. Its a win-win thing.

Itll still be the beans that kills me, though.
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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Bowling is a vicious game,

By now, we all know that the scoring system at my center, AMF Accuscore Advantage, is older than dirt and needs to be replaced. Its not on the agenda any time soon.

Just because the upper brass wont give us working updated bowling equipment doesnt mean they can slack on other stuff. Like speakers and audio gear for instance. Something that would have a left/right speaker fade or a separate volume adjustment for each speaker would be an awesome awesome plus.

Itd keep league nights with multiple leagues running much smoother. One league wants its just under blasting, and the other associates an acceptable volume with elevator/Dr. Office muzak. Neither are willing to compromise. Yes, we DO keep it at a mid-range volume and refuse to move it either way. But that doesnt stop them from bitching...because they LOVE this song and wanna dance, or hate this other one and to turn it down, or insisting that we raised/lowered it to placate the other league...Just another night at the alley.

Theres this one guy a lane or two over who hits single pin conversions in a way that sounds like the ball is hitting the sweep. Its driving me up the bloody wall.

Theres nothing like an awesome game/set being blown to bits by coming within a single open frame of an 'accomplishment'. This time it was an open away from 200, which isnt a big deal anymore. It used to be. I cant tell you how many 198-99s I got before I finally hit 200 for the first time years ago. The last time this really annoyed me was last year, a damn pin away from a first 600 set. Only needed 9, rolled 8, and so on and so forth.

Still havent hit it yet. Meh.

Speaking of, my league is having an awesome night in general. The center makes a congratulatory announcement anytime someone rolls a 200 or above, and we've been getting a LOT of them tonight.
There's a reason our leagues handicap is 90% of 220, instead of 80% of 200, which is used by most bowling leagues.

We totally dont suck at this game.
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