When you head out to your local grocery store, what aisle do you enjoy wandering down the most? I truly dislike shopping – even for groceries. Going to the store is absolutely painful for me. I grab a cart, rush up and down the various aisles and throw things into the basket. I have a tendency to lose people I am with and have been known to run into people a time or two in my quest to get it over with.

However, I admit there is one aisle at my favorite store that I slow down for. I will go slowly, salivating over everything on display, trying to figure out which items have to go home with me that day.

What is your favorite part of the store?

What is the Best Aisle in the Store?

I posted this to my Yelp account, but since many of my readers aren’t following me there, I thought it’d be just as wise to cross-post the review on my blog. Yes, I was THAT dissatisfied with the Rock Bottom Brewery at 550 106th Ave NE in Bellevue, WA 98004

The food is “okay” if you’re looking to fill your stomach.

However, their service (if you could call it that) was extremely questionable. We arrived in the late evening, expecting they’d know about our small group – considering one of us had reached out to their banquet manager a week or so before. Everybody [there] was clueless.

No matter, when a couple of us we found an area upstairs in which to gather, our waitress (who, I later discovered, had been there ALL day) seemed to be put off by the fact that we’d be bringing 20 potential-tip-weilding customers her direction.

So, she took our drink order. When one of us asked for a blended margarita, the waitress’s EXACT response is: “We don’t have a blender here.” To this, my friend replied: “Yes, you do – I was here the other day, and I had one.” Caught in a mistruth, our waitress floundered: “We don’t have one upstairs.”

You’ve. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.

So, instead of just taking the order and making the journey downstairs to fulfill her customer’s order, the waitress initially communicated a would-be unquestionable “fact.”

Indeed, after a brief period of silence, my friend just suggested she (herself) would go downstairs and get one.

WTF?

Now, I admit that the “Spicy Spinach Cheese Dip” dip was quite remarkable – but even that wasn’t enough to nudge me past a single-star review. I certainly hope management is trolling Yelp, and that they happened to catch my tweet out to 77,000 people when the waitress first pulled her stunt.

I did NOT stiff the waitress, mind you. I figured this review on Yelp was enough. I won’t be returning to Rock Bottom, because that’s apparently who they hire to wait tables.

Rock Bottom Brewery Review

Elan has lived in Boston all his life. He loves his city, and it shows in the email he sent to me recently. Elan listed all of his favorite must-see places that you don’t want to miss if you ever find yourself in Boston.

• MIT Museum – They have collections of old computers, exhibitions featuring robots, and much more.
• Fenway Park – Fenway Park is the home of the Boston Red Sox. The park itself offers tours on a regular basis. Game tickets are pricey, but well worth the cost to be there in person for a game.
• Freedom Trail – The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites, every one an authentic American treasure. The Freedom Trail today is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond.
• New England Aquarium – They have all sorts of great shows, and exhibits. They also have an iMAX Theater. You can also go whale watching.
• Faneuil Hall Marketplace – This is the seat of American history and the site of one of America’s most famous shopping and dining experiences. For over 250 years, the marketplace has played an integral role in the life of Boston’s residents. So if you are ready to see, taste, and touch a true Boston experience, visit the historic and exciting Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
• Museum of Science – The museum has hundreds of unique and fun exhibits. They also feature an electric light show, which is awesome.
• Boston Apple Store – Even if you don’t own a single Apple product, this particular store is a must-see. The tall glass building is much like the one found in New York City, and there are a ton of Apple products on hand for you to try out and play with.
• Duck Tour – This awesome tour takes you all around historic Boston, and ends in the river at the Boston Harbor. The ConDUCKtor will give you interesting and fun facts about all the sights along the way. Often, these are things that you’ll never read in any history book. It’s a lot of fun, and educational as well.
• Sam Adams Brewery – Taking a tour of the Brewery is a lot of fun, and you’ll learn everything there is to know about brewing Sam Adams beer. At the end, there is a tasting room where you can sample many of their beers for free. People under 21 are welcome on the tour, but will not receive free beer!
• Georges Island – Seven miles from downtown Boston, Georges Island contains a large dock, picnic grounds, open fields, paved walk ways, a parade ground and a gravel beach. Guided tours of historic Fort Warren are offered. Georges also has a snack bar.

Boston definitely sounds like a place where one can find any number of fun and educational things to see and do! What about where you are from? What are the best places to visit?

Top Ten Things to do in Boston, MA

My favorite brews at Pyramid include:

• Rollick
• Haywire
• Curve Ball

I’ve taken to holding a few of my own tweetups at the Pyramid Brewhouse in Seattle – they have the space for small groups, they have good beer, free parking for customers, and a killer reuben. Staff is always friendly, and it’s easily accessible (no matter how you’re coming into downtown Seattle). I’m very glad that Travis recommended them to me a few months ago. After I started tweetups there, seems that every other local outfit followed suit. Hey, for all that free publicity – why aren’t they letting me drink for free!?

Bar Tricks

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Even Americans love to celebrate Cinco de Mayo – with queso! Oh, and we need some salsa, peppers, refried beans, tortillas, cactus, and cerveza, too! Party food fit for geeks!

Wicket was excited to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with me! I heated up the refried beans, but nothing else had to be cooked. Since all of this was super-hot food, I couldn’t share with the doggie. He’d have been quite ill! Don’t worry – I didn’t give him any Corona, either.

After knocking back the first Corona, I was ready to rock-n-roll! First I grabbed a tortilla, and slathered on some refried beans, some salsa, and some spicy cheese dip. Yummy!!

I love Cinco de Mayo! For that matter, I love any de Mayo!! What could be more fun than drinking some ice-cold Coronas and eating spicy food that I love anyway!? I had the air conditioning on in the office, and still broke a sweat – just from eating!

Leave me a comment and let me know how you plan to celebrate Cinco de Mayo – or how you did if you’re reading this after the fact! Have a great day!

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How to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Mexican Food & Beer

They say never to drink and blog at the same time – but it’s okay to drink and THEN blog, I think. I tested a theory: could I actually brink deer and then talk about it on video?

I’m actually writing this now while a little drinked. It is taking me extra longer to get things down because I can say that the the beer is helping me write. I don’t think I need to write much without looking back to see if I had written something again.

There is so much beer in the world that I feel there needs to be a comma somewhere in this sentence. I’m thankful my browser is telling me that I have a misspelled word and I keep having to go back and corrected them so I can post this fine.

I don’t want to look like a idiot when I’m drunk and posting!

There are many things to do when you’re drinking, and I think making a video is one of them so you can remember when you were drinking after you get up. You can try to write things down and then you can probably laugh when you see what you have done!

I have many people comment and wonder if I was drink when I recorded this video! Another red squiggly! It takes me forever to type this.

Please enjoy the beers of my labor.

How to Get Drunk on Video