Friday Five

The Excuse

Hopefully none needed

The Week

This week was much more stressful for Karin than it was for me. This Saturday is our 5th?6th?7th? annual Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner. It’s a chance to get good friends and family together for a holiday meal before everyone has to head out and have forced meals with the rest of their family. I get all the glory for cooking the meal, but Karin deserves all of the credit, as she has to deal with the stress of shopping, and then the stress of me cooking.

As for me, I was out in Dallas this week. Well, Irving to be more specific. I’ve yet to actually be anywhere near downtown Dallas, which is a shame because I hear it’s very cool.

The Restaurant

There are weeks when I feel like seeking out new places to eat. And then there are weeks when I say, “You know – I just want <fill in chain here>.” This week, the one that I really wanted was The Keg.

The Keg is a steakhouse (with a bad beer selection despite the name). Good steaks – they do a Chicago style where they’ll seer the steak, and they understand what very rare (blue rare they call it) is. The first time Karin and I checked the place out (years ago) we didn’t care much for it. The second time we went (up in Thunder Bay – on that trip I posted about earlier) we loved it. And the couple of times I’ve been to the one in Dallas it’s been fantastic. I was having a stressful week, so I treated myself on Wednesday – a nice baseball cut steak with a twice baked potato and a glass of J. Lohr Cabernet – very happy jersey.

The Travel Note

By far the most frustrating part about travel is missing football on Sundays. A close second is the Thursday games that the NFL is so keen on showing this time of year – showing on the NFL Network, which basically no hotel in the world actually gets. So if I want to watch the NFL on Thursday I’m forced to go out to a sports bar to watch it. Now don’t get me wrong – I don’t mind sports bars. But it would be nice to be able to sit in my room and enjoy the game.

The Exercise

Ugh.

The Five

Miscellaneous facts that may only interest me:

1. Living in San Diego has completely thrown off my perspective on weather. I don’t bother checking the weather forecast, remember to bring a fleece or coat with me, or have any real understanding that it gets cold in the winter.
2. I have a habit of quoting movies and television shows in regular basis. I really just need people to understand that the references are normally just for my own entertainment.
3. Whenever I go out to eat, my default setting is to just go eat at the bar. Usually there’s no wait (if there is one at the restaurant), better service, and much more social.
4. In the past I’ve never been much for people watching. As I’ve started travelling, and maybe gotten older, I’ve become a much more of a people watcher.
5. I often wish there were a cool story behind my nickname. Alas, it just boils down to the simple fact that there are too many Chrises in the world.