Category Archives: Blather

Ramblings of a man who sees the world just a little bit differently.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I had lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Woodbridge, NJ today with my wife and son. This is the second time we’ve eaten there and each time both the food and service were impressive.

We had the same appetizers each visit. We remembered them from last time and ordered again: fries because my son likes ’em and the shrimp because we do. We’ve really got to try some of the other selections!

The burgers are delicious. I had the Bleu Cheese burger on my last visit – tangy and tasty. The broccoli I had with it was prepared just the way I like it – just the tops, no stalks, pan-fried and crisp. On our previous visit my wife opted for the pressed burger. The bread is fried and she found it to be a bit oily for her taste toward the end. Our server, Nicole, was attentive without being overbearing.

Today I opted for the burger of the day, the Cajun burger, with Swiss cheese and Cajun seasoning. It wasn’t too spicy, just enough for flavor, quite good (even though I really like the hot stuff). I ordered rice on the side and it was, well, rice. Not a lot to say about rice. My wife enjoyed the shrimp wrap. Erica provided great service, very attentive and conversational.

Oh, my son? He’s a teen, not particularly into variety in his food, and he had the signature Cheeseburger in Paradise – hold the onions – each time. He went back this time without complaint and I’d call that a rave.

We (well, not my teenage son) enjoyed Margaritas and Sangria. But not to excess, driving on Route 1 in Woodbridge is fraught with peril in the best of circumstances!

Oh, one other thing worth mentioning. Every hour on the hour they play their signature song, interrupting whatever’s already on. It was jarring to hear Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company doing Piece Of My Heart preempted by Jimmy Buffett. The nerve!

If you’re near Woodbridge craving a burger, this is worth checking out.

Added July 11, 1:26 PM:
Erica, our server, admitted to having a bit of a cold and by 10 July my wife seemed to be picking it up.

Added July 14, 10:00 AM:
And by July 13 I had signs of getting it, too! The moral of the story is that we should have left or asked for a different table/server.

Dental Work

I’m not myself today.

The remaining two quadrants of root planing were completed this morning. The discomfort, while mild, has been enough to be distracting. I didn’t get much done – I wrote a couple of articles and added some pictures of our new kitten to my gallery. The list of stuff I didn’t do is considerably longer.

I haven’t eaten much so I’m a little hungry. If experience is any guide then tomorrow will see me back on track. After this single-malt I may or may not have another before retiring early.

Grumble, grumble.

Community Bulletin Board

Supermarkets here, and I guess everywhere, have some space set aside where you can place stuff you want others to see. People tack up their business cards, notices of lost pets, stuff for sale and all manner of things.

It’s an amazingly effective tool!

I had an unused TV taking up space in the garage. I muscled the set onto a motorcycle jack and took a picture. I fiddled with PowerPoint for a few minutes to craft my ad. Then my son and I grabbed our helmets and took a little motorcycle tour of a few area supermarkets to post my ads.

We deployed five before wheeling into Stewart’s for a frosty root beer.

By the time we got home there was voice mail. The first caller soon arrived and bought the set. Interestingly enough, the buyer and I turned out to have some mutual friends. It’s a small world.

Today I’ll retrace the ride and collect the dead ads.

Sometimes the real world beats the snot out of online.

The Hidden Costs of Juggling

No one can ignore the fact that fuel costs have risen dramatically in recent years. Gasoline, heating oil, even peripheral stuff that uses petroleum in manufacturing or transport, all has increased costs today. I feel it in the wallet just like everyone else. But I still had a ‘duh’ moment at the checkout register when I picked up a few cans of white gas to fuel my torches.

My stash of fuel had finally run dry. It’s been a while since I bought the stuff retail. Three years according to the database, almost to the day. In 2004 I paid $12 per gallon in 32 ounce cans at an Eastern Mountain Sports store.

I stood next to the display rack stacking a handful of cans into my right arm, mentally multiplying the shelf price of $10.95 per 32 ounce can, when it hit me! The shock was quickly followed by the realization that the increased cost makes perfect sense.

At least they were running some kind of sale. I got a few bucks off and, to my surprise, there was no sales tax either.

So what’s the metric for consumption, the equivalent of miles per gallon, for juggling torches? And in these days when everyone’s going ‘green’ has California outlawed fire juggling, labeling practitioners as horrible, vile polluters?

Data For Sale – Laws and Lies

I buy medications for my Dad. He suffers from some chronic conditions that require a daily drug regimen. For a while I used my usual credit card when I visited his pharmacy, but I stopped. Today these transactions are strictly cash-only.

An odd pattern had developed in the advertising that appeared in my incoming streams. Affecting both snail mail and email, it was almost as though my health had taken a serious turn for the worse. Drugs, facilities and other products related to various diseases, diseases which I do not have, had been increasing in frequency dramatically!

I brought my concerns to the head pharmacist, the management of the company (it’s a chain) and my credit card issuer. Their response was universal. Sharing the data isn’t allowed. [We] do not do it. It is not done. I must be mistaken.

So I took to using cash. And when asked to sign when picking up the medications I use something else – an X, some scribbles or a line – whatever comes out of my hand at the time. If questioned I tell them why.

After quite a while – six months, maybe more – the marketing trailed off. Today the patterns I noticed no longer exist. (I suppose they all figure me for dead, finally succumbed to one disease or another.)

I brought my findings to the pharmacy and credit card issuer and asked again about marketing and data-sharing. Again, each defended their practices. I must be mistaken.

The traffic in my inbox is of little importance. What’s more worrisome is how else the data might be used. I can easily imagine, for example, an insurance company increasing their rates, or maybe denying coverage altogether, because I have a history of purchasing prescription drugs associated with a disease I haven’t reported to them. Legal? Not today. But since when has that stopped anything?

Watch your data trail, dear friends!

Boom! Ooooooohhhh… Aaaahhhhh…

Unless you have the proper permit, it’s illegal to transport, possess or use fireworks in the state of New Jersey. But just across the Pennsylvania border there are several retail outlets that will gladly sell them to you. Check out Phantom Fireworks or Sky King Fireworks. Now, the odd thing about this is that, like New Jersey, Pennsylvania outlaws fireworks!

This leads to an interesting situation. Before you can enter the store you need to show identification proving that you are not a Pennsylvania resident. Pennsylvania residents are not allowed inside. Further, you need to affirm that your intent is to immediately remove your purchase from Pennsylvania and that you promise to comply with whatever laws are applicable to you. (No smoking inside, natch, and you have to leave your lighter and/or matches outside, too. Duh.)

New Jersey’s lawmakers, as can be expected, are not thrilled with the situation. The Pennsylvania retailers say, basically, ‘not our problem’.

Independence Day is right around the corner. Celebrate safely. Boom!