The Difference A Year Makes..

2009 Playoffs:

2010 Playoffs:

Top Ten: Recordings/Albums I Want To See

Been a while since I’ve posted one of these!

Here’s my list of the top ten records or albums I’d love to see released:

10. I’d love to see a Christmas album from Kelly Clarkson. She’s got a great voice that would lend itself to a great Christmas record.

9. I’d love to see Eddie Vedder re-record some of the old Bad Radio tunes. There were some pretty good tunes from that bad.. especially Believe You Me and What.

8. I’d love to see Chris Daughtry’s studio recordings of his songs from American Idol be released.. if they even exist. I’ve heard rumors that they do, but I’ve not seen confirmation anywhere.

7. I’m a big fan of acoustic versions of songs. In that vein, I think it’d be fun to see Pearl Jam re-record all of their studio albums acoustically.

6. With Carl and Dennis dead, and the ongoing legal issues between Brian, Mike, and Al, this will never materialize..  but I’d love to see a Beach Boys album of hits recorded using modern technology. It would surely be better than the crap that is Summer In Paradise.

5. A Christmas record by Carrie Underwood. She’s got such a great voice and a full length album would be great.

4. I’d LOVE to see a Temple of the Dog reunion. They’re the greatest 90s supergroup. 2011 will mark the 20th anniversary of the original album.. would be great time for a reunion record!

3. Zac Maloy’s next album. Cmon Zac — put out some new music! Maybe even re-record Secret..

2. The long-rumored Garth Brooks / Trisha Yearwood duet album. This has long been rumored to be in the works. When they got married, many speculated that the album would finally see the light of day. But so far, it’s not materialized. If this album does get released, I hope it includes a studio version of “Wild As The Wind” from Garth’s Double Live set.

1. A Pearl Jam covers album. Pearl Jam’s notorious for playing covers at their live shows, so I’d love to hear their favorite covers done in studio. Tracks would need to include: Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young), Baba O’Riley (The Who), The Kids Are Alright (The Who), I Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty), Break on Through (The Doors).

Heh, seems Pearl Jam made a big appearance in this list!

Geek Humor

This commercial makes me laugh every time I see it.

Restaurant Annoyance

We went to Souper Salad last night for dinner; it’s a great buffet-style salad and soup restaurant. However, the restaurants seem to be operated very inefficiently in my opinion.

The way to explain my opinion is to walk you through the dining experience.

1. After entering the restaurant, you’re greeted by a cashier where you purchase your meal.
2. After paying, you proceed to the buffet line. The salad and “fixings” are first.
3. The next line contains the hot items: soups, potatoes, breads, etc.
4. The third and final line contains the dessert and fruit items.
5. Once you have your food, you proceed to to find a booth or table.
6. A “server” will eventually come to your table to check your receipt for what drinks were ordered. He/she will then bring you your drinks.
7. Throughout your meal, your server might come by to ask if refills are needed — if you’re lucky. They will come by and impolitely reach through the middle of your table to get dirty plates and trays.
8. At the end of your meal, you feel compelled to leave a tip since technically you had someone waiting on you.

The inefficiency lies with two facets: staffing and drinks.

Here’s a summary of how many employees are working at a given time during a mealtime “rush”: 1 cashier, 1-2 “prep” folks keeping the buffet line stocked, 4-5 servers, 1-2 dishwashers/cleaners (I would assume), 1 manager. Total of 11.

Caveat: I’ve not worked at Souper Salad, so the above counts are based solely on my patronage experience and observations.

With Souper Salad being a buffet-style restaurant, there’s absolutely no reason to have servers. Install the fountain drink dispenser on the buffet line and there’s immediate cost savings. Yes, I feel bad saying that given the current economy as that means folks would be without jobs. But from a pure business standpoint, it’s wasted money.

That would leave 6 staff members on a given shift and should be plenty to handle a shift.

</rant>

That’s My Girl

Super Bowl Ads

The best ad from last night’s game:

Okay, I might be biased, but that’s just funny. In case you don’t get the reference:

A close runner-up:

The worst? GoDaddy’s ads.

Diapers.com FAIL

Received an email from diapers.com today:

Dear Thomas,

We miss you at Diapers.com!

We’re so convinced that you’ll enjoy shopping with us again that we’re giving you $5 off your next order! Just add something to your cart and it will automatically be applied! But act soon–it expires 2/5/10!

Sincerely,
The Team at Diapers.com

Not one but two grammatical mistakes!

Hey, diapers.com.. need a proofreader? I’m anal retentive when it comes to the English language and won’t charge you an arm and a leg.

Me Myself & I

My Mom gave me a copy of this the other day and I thought I’d share. My Dad came up with the text.. I definitely got my Dad’s sense of humor!