What Goes Around . . .

I was at the brewpub the other night when one of the guys that works there came up to me out of the blue and said "Try this bacon!" OK, I like bacon, so I tasted it. It was pretty good, cooked nicely, not too limp, not too crisp. "Hey," I said, "that was pretty good."

The pub apparently gives the spent grain from the brewing process to a local farmer, who feeds the pigs with it. The bacon was from one of those pigs.

So, circle of life or something. Only not so much for the pig.

Got Such A Supple Wrist

I've written before about my love of pinball (scroll down). It hasn't diminished. Before I moved to good ol' Columbus, GA, I did some research and saw glowing reports of an arcade called Diamond Jim's, but there was no trace of it when I got here. A couple weeks ago, before heading out on a day trip to Atlanta, I printed out the address of an arcade so I could play, but sadly I could find no evidence of its existence in the dying Cobb Galleria shopping mall. I also stopped by a place that sells machines, but the sign on the door said "out on a service call" and I didn't have time to wait around. Damn, this is beginning to sound like a metaphor for my sex life -- lots of potential but no actual contact.

Well, not quite. Last Friday, there was a work-sponsored bowling party, and I discovered that the bowling alley has a pretty nice Star Wars: Episode 1 (warning: sound at that link) machine. I still mourn the fact that the Pinball 2000 concept didn't take off and that Williams gave up. I played several dollars worth of games on that machine on Friday, and then I went back on Saturday to play some more. My forearms were sore on Sunday. There's also a Stern Monopoly game there. I think I'll have to check it out this weekend.

At least I know I'll be getting some silver ball action up in NYC in a couple weeks. Maybe I'll get some other action too.




P.S. I love the "basics" information at the pinball.com site:
PINBALL BASICS:

* Put in money and press start.
* Begin the game by pulling the plunger back and quickly releasing it.
* Use the buttons on either side of the game to control the flippers.

Live Strong

I'm not sure why this has become a question all of a sudden in the last few days, but let's get this resolved.

It's a LiveStrong wristband. I bought it from the Lance Armstrong Foundation. All the proceeds from the sales go to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation's efforts to "help people with cancer and their family members live strong." More information is available at the laf.org website as linked.

I started wearing my wristband last summer, because I had been impressed by Lance Armstrong's personal story, and I received a wristband as a gift from a friend. My first band broke, probably from being being put on and taken off of my fat wrists, so I ended up buying a package of ten from the above-linked website.

Since that time, I've learned that a close friend is living with cancer and when I wear my wristband, I try to think about him and what he is dealing with every day of his life. (This is for you, Domo...)

I'm not impressed with everybody and his uncle having co-opted the wristband concept. I'm especially not impressed by places like 7-11 that will sell you a "Support Our Troops" wristband for $2.95 and only use $1 of the price to actually support our troops.

Hey, I have a reason for wearing my wristband. If you'd rather hold me in contempt, then I guess that's your prerogative. But I think you're wrong.