![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A luck bunny sort of weekend
Sep. 17th, 2006 09:11 amThis weekend has been Stumble-Upon in real life. It started Friday evening, when in looking for a place to grab a quick bite to eat we stumbled upon Herb's on the Lake, an upscale burger joint with some of the best calimari I've ever eaten. More than that, it had a guy playing the keyboard and singing who was happy to take requests, fake his way through songs he'd never played before, and have us sing along.
I have an absolute weakness for piano bars and singing old rock-and-roll and torch songs. All I can say in my defense is that I come by it through both nature and nurture. I remember during long car trips as a kid we would spend hours singing every song we could think of. And my mom was a cocktail waitress for many years and used to sneak me in to sit at the piano bar (a real piano bar, drinks served on a bar built around a baby grand) way before I was old enough to be in there. This was back in a looser time, when being the kid of an employee meant that I wasn't going to lose the bar its liquor license - provided I was only drinking Coke, which I was. So on top of my fondness for the music itself, I have a built-in affection for singing along in a bar.
Thus it was that, on an evening when we intended just to grab a quick bite and go home, we instead stayed until 1am, writing song suggestions on napkins (imitating the custom of veteran patrons), joking with the piano player and singing. It was great.
Saturday we stumbled upon really excellent cellular phone service. Ferrett and I are on different plans (and Ferrett's includes Erin's), and want to bundle all that service into one family plan. He'd made some phone calls, and we'd talked to some company reps, and the service people all seemed either not to know what they were going or not to care much about trying to figure it out. Since we were already going out to run some errands, we decided to pull into the little Cingular store front just down the street from us. I didn't expect much, but boy was I mistaken. These people not only knew what they were doing, and put together a terrific bundle for us, they then didn't let us take it without checking Ferrett's accounts to make certain that he was off contract. When it turned out that he isn't yet - a fact that would have cost us a $400 penalty - they sent us out the door with the estimate, rather than trying to upsell us. Then, when my Cingular phone coincidentally stopped working a few minutes later, they fixed it on the spot. They really know what they are doing, they are doing it with integrity, and they assured us that once we are on their service - and we will be, believe me - that they would be our reps and handle any problems. Instead of trying to persuade us to buy more minutes than we'll probably need, they suggested that we review our bills as they come in and then, if we need more minutes we can change the plan. None of this "you're locked in forever, so you'd better go with the high-priced plan" crap. If you're looking for good service, I highly recommend that you make the trip to this tiny little shop in an unremarkable strip mall here in Rocky River.
Our next stumble was a semi-stumble. I went looking for Abigayle's Quiltery, but had no idea that it was in one of the most charming little shopping districts I've ever seen, Grand Pacific Junction in Olmsted Falls. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant, Falls Crossing with the best Italian Wedding Soup I've ever eaten and a staff so friendly it was like eating with family. Then while I plundered the quilt shop, Ferrett got a shave and a haircut at the old-fashioned barber shop (sorry, no picture, but it's right next to the restaurant), where the barber cracked jokes and bantered while providing Ferrett with the cleanest shave and neatest beard he's ever had. All for $20. Personal grooming with a floor show - does it get any better?
The afternoon was spent playing Settlers of Cataan with people from Ferrett's new multiplayer Magic group over at the home of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vrax, where I got to meet his charming wife and adorable baby son, and enjoy the very purple interior of their house. Then I spent yesterday evening with another lj friend and her extended family, sitting outside around a crackling fire, celebrating the change of seasons and exchanging stories of camping trip calamities, while Ferrett spent it playing Magic.
Today is looking like a kicking-back, getting-chores-done sort of day. A bike ride, some cross stitch, choosing a pattern for the quilt Amy is now begging me to make her, now that I'm getting into it again.
And no homework. Not one ounce of it.
That rocks.
I have an absolute weakness for piano bars and singing old rock-and-roll and torch songs. All I can say in my defense is that I come by it through both nature and nurture. I remember during long car trips as a kid we would spend hours singing every song we could think of. And my mom was a cocktail waitress for many years and used to sneak me in to sit at the piano bar (a real piano bar, drinks served on a bar built around a baby grand) way before I was old enough to be in there. This was back in a looser time, when being the kid of an employee meant that I wasn't going to lose the bar its liquor license - provided I was only drinking Coke, which I was. So on top of my fondness for the music itself, I have a built-in affection for singing along in a bar.
Thus it was that, on an evening when we intended just to grab a quick bite and go home, we instead stayed until 1am, writing song suggestions on napkins (imitating the custom of veteran patrons), joking with the piano player and singing. It was great.
Saturday we stumbled upon really excellent cellular phone service. Ferrett and I are on different plans (and Ferrett's includes Erin's), and want to bundle all that service into one family plan. He'd made some phone calls, and we'd talked to some company reps, and the service people all seemed either not to know what they were going or not to care much about trying to figure it out. Since we were already going out to run some errands, we decided to pull into the little Cingular store front just down the street from us. I didn't expect much, but boy was I mistaken. These people not only knew what they were doing, and put together a terrific bundle for us, they then didn't let us take it without checking Ferrett's accounts to make certain that he was off contract. When it turned out that he isn't yet - a fact that would have cost us a $400 penalty - they sent us out the door with the estimate, rather than trying to upsell us. Then, when my Cingular phone coincidentally stopped working a few minutes later, they fixed it on the spot. They really know what they are doing, they are doing it with integrity, and they assured us that once we are on their service - and we will be, believe me - that they would be our reps and handle any problems. Instead of trying to persuade us to buy more minutes than we'll probably need, they suggested that we review our bills as they come in and then, if we need more minutes we can change the plan. None of this "you're locked in forever, so you'd better go with the high-priced plan" crap. If you're looking for good service, I highly recommend that you make the trip to this tiny little shop in an unremarkable strip mall here in Rocky River.
Our next stumble was a semi-stumble. I went looking for Abigayle's Quiltery, but had no idea that it was in one of the most charming little shopping districts I've ever seen, Grand Pacific Junction in Olmsted Falls. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant, Falls Crossing with the best Italian Wedding Soup I've ever eaten and a staff so friendly it was like eating with family. Then while I plundered the quilt shop, Ferrett got a shave and a haircut at the old-fashioned barber shop (sorry, no picture, but it's right next to the restaurant), where the barber cracked jokes and bantered while providing Ferrett with the cleanest shave and neatest beard he's ever had. All for $20. Personal grooming with a floor show - does it get any better?
The afternoon was spent playing Settlers of Cataan with people from Ferrett's new multiplayer Magic group over at the home of
vrax, where I got to meet his charming wife and adorable baby son, and enjoy the very purple interior of their house. Then I spent yesterday evening with another lj friend and her extended family, sitting outside around a crackling fire, celebrating the change of seasons and exchanging stories of camping trip calamities, while Ferrett spent it playing Magic.Today is looking like a kicking-back, getting-chores-done sort of day. A bike ride, some cross stitch, choosing a pattern for the quilt Amy is now begging me to make her, now that I'm getting into it again.
And no homework. Not one ounce of it.
That rocks.
