Other stuff.

Denise and I went to dinner and a movie last Friday night. Thinkin' about where we'd go, I remembered that every time we pass Old Chicago, we always say "Oh, Old Chicago. We need to check that place out." It's relatively new, having been set up in an old building that used to house a Tia's Tex Mex that never was able to make a go of it. So, we decided to head to Old Chicago and give it a try.



For drinks, I talked Denise into tryin' their Strawberry Margarita. I had another glass of the same stuff I enjoyed the last time we went to BJ's. Woodchuck Amber Hard Cider, off the tap. Denise LOVES the Strawberry margaritas she gets at Pappasito's, but had had a hard time finding a good one elsewhere. Friday night was no different. "Not enough booze" was the verdict. I offered to go get here a jigger of Tequila from the bar, but she said no. To each their own.



For dinner, I had the Chicken Alfredo and Lasagna Duo; "Oven-roasted chicken and creamy Alfredo as well as a serving of our Traditional Lasagna smothered in our fire-roasted marinara." Great stuff!



Denise decided to try the Fish and Chips; "Sam Adams beer-battered cod lightly fried and paired with salt and vinegar fries, zesty coleslaw and our tangy tartar sauce." Denise likes to try the Fish and Chips when restaurants offer it, but she usually doesn't hold out too much hope. She's persnickety as hell when it comes to traditional British fare, and says that nobody here does it right.

I've eaten British Fish and Chips once, about a decade ago, sittin' in a town square out in front of an old ruined castle somewhere up in Yorkshire. I seem to remember it being kind'a greasy, but there you go. I tried a taste of her fish Friday night and though it was pretty good, but there you go.

By the time we finished eating, it was time to head over to the theater. I'd been lookin' forward to seein' this flick for months, ever since I started seein' the previews on the net.



It's a great flick. Mostly accurate as far as the setting and the gear is concerned. It's the second flick in as many years to base it's plot around the notion that the 9th Legion marched up beyond Hadrian's Wall in the second century and was wiped out by the Picts. This notion of a "lost Legion" became a popular romantic theme in Britain in the 19th century, when the Victorians were smitten with anything about their Roman past.

There are folks today who think that the 9th did disappear somehow up north of the wall, but the best evidence seems to indicate that the Legion was actually transferred to the mainland of Europe, to Holland, or somewhere like that. What happened to it then, no one knows. Having said all that though, there's no reason why historic facts should be allowed to get in the way of a good movie plot, or even two good movie plots.

The other recent sword and sandal epic is Centurion, which came out last year, and is also an excellent flick. It's also WAY bloodier than The Eagle. You get to see ALL the heads and arms get chopped off in Centurion. There's blood flyin' everywhere. It's wonderful! The Eagle has just as much violence, but they don't show the gore. To each his own. Check 'em out. You'll like 'em.

Today, I headed over to Temple to work on Mom's bedroom ceiling fan. She'd pulled the chain out of the socket last week, and asked me to fix it. I took a few tools over this afternoon, hopin' I could take the frame off the thing and just reattach the chain and restring it through. Presto!



NOPE. The chain had broken so close to the gizmo, I couldn't reattach it.



See. You can just make out the end of the chain there, peepin' out of the little black gizmo (that's a technical term, by the way).

So, I had to go to Lowe's and get another new gizmo to replace this black one.



In the meantime, mom whipped up some of her wonderful piggies-in-a-blanket. My wages, as it were. Yep, I do work for food. Particularly mommas!



Here you see the carnage. It was really fun to bust that thing open. I used to install all our ceiling fans back when I lived with the folks. Felt like old times. Of course, the project didn't go down without a wrinkle.

As it turned out, the little black gizmo I had to replace had four wires comin' from it, but the one they had at Lowe's only had three (they had three versions at Lowe's; two with three wires, and one with two). So, it took me about three tries, three different combinations, to get the wiring right so the fan would work. I ended up leavin' one wire covered, pinned, but unattached. Now, all is well. Take a look.



You can hear mom there in the background. She's always very appreciative.

I told her as I was leavin', "If it bursts into flame, give me a call." Then, the rest of the little piggies and I went home, sayin' wee, wee, wee, and suckin' on a stogy, all the way home.

That's it. That's enough. Cheers!