I Heart New Keys (or is it Newks)?

04.15.2009

Thanks to lunch with Ponytail Jason a few months back I discovered that Newks Express Cafe is not a restaurant that specializes in microwaved food, but the home of my new favorite salad (being The ULTIMATE Salad!). On top of that, most of the old gang that I had noticed that had disappeared from McAlisters had ended up at Newks. I felt like the cat that had been abandoned and then found it's way cross-country to get back home!

Thanks to the timing of extra goings on at work, personally, and whatever else might count, I found myself eating at Newks more often since I wasn't buying groceries as much (maybe I was just lazy?). During a work week most people visit an eatery once, maybe twice if the food is good and/or quick. People tend to tire of eating at the same place (although getting a burger some place different every day is fine - I've done that plenty of times). While being too lazy to get groceries, I found myself at Newks 3 or 4 times in a week. And I wasn't sampling the full menu - I was sticking to the aforementioned ULTIMATE salad. It's a damn good salad.

Between eating there so often, along with my history of eating often at McAlisters, I soon found myself cutting up with Adam, Nate, Milner, and the rest of the gang that had transferred over. I like to think I wasn't too annoying, but I know myself too well. Fortunately, they're able to take it in stride. On top of that, they even take care of me. Cases in point:

• My standard order is an ULTIMATE salad with no #@%damn tomatoes. Half the time I don't even have to say anything when ordering, I just walk up and hand whichever cashier of the day that knows me too well some money and my food shows up.
• Sometimes my ULTIMATE salad has #@%damn tomatoes on it. I demand that whoever is responsible be terminated immediately. Although nobody's been fired yet, everybody comes by and gives me a hard time for having #@%damn tomatoes.
• I like the Coke Zero. I told them (which is everyone that works there) I like the Coke Zero. I went to lunch on Tuesday and found that the fountain drinks now dispense Coke Zero.

Now I'm going to have to go eat more often to justify them carrying Coke Zero.

Permalink diet

Amazonian Bucks

04.01.2009

Back in October-ish I got an Amazon sponsored Visa card. I charge oodles of everyday purchases and limit my check writing to paying off the credit card at the end of the month, mostly because I refuse to balance my check book and this limits the number of entries. When I signed up for the card I read the blurb about how you get points (to trade in for crap later). I had been using a generic-point card from some other bank for years, so I understood the basic concept.

The Amazon sponsored card had a better point scheme than my other card. The previous card had a straight 1 point per dollar spent benefit. The Amazon card was the same, except you got double points for groceries and triple points for anything bought at Amazon. On top of that, they doubled all the points for the first 3 months.

I buy from Amazon every week. For 3 months I was getting 6X the point value. Even better (for me), was the main reward bonus to trade points in for were Amazon Gift Cards. The previous credit card reward system would let me get a $25 Amazon Gift Card for 3000 points. The Amazon sponsored card has a $25 Amazon Gift Card for 2500 points. In essence, I charge $500 less to get the same bonus. I'm all about that!

Time marches on and I accrue points. It's reaching a slow time in the Amazon shopping season, so I decide to cash in some points. Heck, I decide to cash in as many as I can. I've accrued tons of points. I go to cash in on some Amazon Gift Cards, and there I notice a funny thing. The gift cards are only available for $25. No other denomination. You can buy any quantity, but each card is only $25. I load up my cart with $25 gift cards. 4 days later, my mail contains a large, stuffed envelope. My cards! Gift cards may be a misnomer, because technically these are gift certificates with a 14 character code to type in. I've got 18 of them.

I enter all the codes in my Amazon account and see the total available credit tick higher. It was almost a fun little game. 14 characters, $25, ding!

Every time I get some Amazon credit, I usually go a little crazy and/or find some sale that I can't pass up to where the credit never lasts as long as I hope. I'm shooting for not spending any of my money in April and just using credit. We'll see how that works out.

Permalink Amazon

Space, The Final.. COBRA!

03.24.2009

I'm excited about a couple of movies coming out this summer. I never get excited about movies coming out, especially to the point to where I'm planning ahead of time to go see them. And not just a few days ahead, but months ahead.

To no ones surprise, I'm awaiting the new Star Trek movie currently scheduled for a May 8 release. There are sure to be midnight showings, but I'm not going to be in that group. I'm not even planning on cramming in with the hardcore nerds over the weekend. For this one, I'm going to wait until mid-week and try to catch a matinee. Ha, not as hardcore nerd as you thought I was!

August 7 brings us to GI Joe, The Rise of Cobra. I may be a long time Trek nerd, but this is the movie I'm looking forward to. It'll be cheesy and over the top, but that's what it should be. I still remember buying my first GI Joe comic book at the convenience store next to the apartments we lived at. I remember the first GI Joe figure I got (Flash, the laser rifle trooper - and I picked up the 25th anniversary edition, too!). As much as I'm looking forward to the movie, I want to see what toys come out to tie in with the movie.

Yeah, I'm 40, so what? I've got 60+ Stormtroopers waiting to do battle. The Empire VS Cobra!

Just a month and a half until all the fun starts.

Permalink movies/tv/dvd

Little River Jer VS The Russ

03.22.2009

That is by far the most fun I've ever had with a $23 program.

Permalink random

Updated Man Cave!

03.16.2009

Part of my goal of cleaning/updating the house over the past year has been to better organize things. I'm a little anal about knowing where things are, so being organized is important. When I got the storage building in the back yard late last year, it became the oversized closet for most of the stuff that was being stored in the garage. I then found myself able to once again park in the garage!

It's amazing how fast a 16x10 storage building can fill up. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the garage is supposedly 20x20. I had a collection of Rubbermaid storage closets and shelving units that lined the walls of the garage that found themselves lining the walls of the storage building. At least half the stuff out there I probably don't need - at least 1 storage closet is full of unopened wrestling and superhero figures. But that's what a storage building is for. Storage!

I still keep the treadmill in the garage - it's electric and the storage building out back doesn't have electricity, so it makes sense to keep it in the garage. The riding mower, which I had planned to keep parked in the storage building, is staying in the garage just because it'll be a pain to roll it up into the building. Looking to the future, and since the mower and treadmill take up some wall space, I thought I would go ahead and cover up some available wall space with shelves.

This time, instead of Rubbermaid, I opted for actual metal (by Whirlpool, for some reason). I got 2 short cabinets which are covered by a single top constructed out of some indestructible space-age polymer, along with a taller cabinet. The taller cabinet currently has gaming supplies (like my Dwarven forge booty!). The shorter cabinets are empty. For now. That's why this project has been part of a plan for future expansion.

Maybe it's time for more Dwarven Forge booty?

Permalink renovation/remodelling