O Valencia!

Lazy, aimless sort of day in Boone, North Carolina. The big news? Last night, my brother Matthew asked his girlfriend Kassidy to marry him, and she said "yes." Amanda set them up a few years back, and it really worked out well for both of them. Kassidy is a very welcome addition to the family, and I'm really happy for them both.

I finally went to the Black Cat Restaurant downtown, all ready for awesomeness, but was sorely disappointed. I took the scenic route across campus, listening to Radiohead along the way (highlight - when the shuffle played "anyone can play guitar" as the very first song). When got to the restaurant, I asked the girl at the counter if I could sit anywhere I like. She said, "yes," so I took a table in the corner and read emails while I waited. And waited. At that time, I noticed that people were ordering at the counter, which would have been helpful information five minutes earlier.

I sat there for another minute, so it looked like I might have known what I was doing, and then went up to the counter. I asked if I could eat at the bar, and she said yes, and I said "I'll have the nachos." I was going to get a burrito, but by then, I just wanted something quick. She asked what I wanted on them, and I said "chees -" and then she did this thing where her chin went one way and her eyes went in the other direction, and she said "they all come with that," and I said "whatever - cheese, red beans (they were vegetarian - I checked) olives (just black olives, not actually kalamata), red peppers, tomatillo salsa, sour cream, and guacamole." And then I looked at the beer list, and it said "Dos Equis" under the bottled beer section (not drafts - that part's important), and I asked if they had Dos Equis Amber, and she said "yes, but it's in a bottle." And I'm thinking: now is when you're going to get helpful? And I wondered if it was actually amber (in the brown bottle, not that other kind in the green bottle) I paid, the food came, it was mediocre, and that was that. It was Dos Equis Amber, too.

To say the food was mediocre is a bit off - it tasted sort of like Moe's nachos, which I don't care for even though Moe's food is awesome. So, maybe their burritos are good - who knows. Probably not ever me because I don't feel like going back. I mean, maybe I will - Thursday night is live music, but still. Food - two stars; service - no stars.

Tomorrow we start classroom design. I have to say, this looks to be my least favorite part of the seminar, but we'll see. My mind's teflon, but open. Maybe we can incorporate the ideas into orientation?

Anyway, I'm still reading White Noise - I can see why parts of it are called an academic satire. XM's Area channel has this year's Electric Daisy Carnival streaming - I think I'm getting the feed from Puerto Rico.