Grumpy Bulldog Does America Day 56: Miscellania

If you read yesterday's entry, I talked myself into going to Best Buy to get a memory card for my camera.  First I got up at 9ish and got breakfast.  Today they had little smoked sausage pieces.  I had some of those and then an omelet with toast, on which I put some creamed cheese so it was cheesy tasting.  I had a $5 coupon at Best Buy which in theory I could have handed them my phone but the Hampton has a business center with a printer, so I could just print it off for free, which seemed easier.

I finished reading through the story I'd written the day before and then shaved and showered and stuff.  Around noon I finally left.  Of course the GPS tells me the nearest Best Buy is some mall.  Maybe there was a mobile store inside, but I wasn't going to walk around finding out.  But some good came from it as I saw a lady walking a couple of bulldogs!  Of course I didn't have my camera out in time to get a picture.

The next nearest Best Buy was over on the west side of town.  There was a bunch of suburban sprawl stuff there, including a Panera Bread next door.  I found the digital cameras and at first I thought they had only two different memory cards, which wouldn't be a surprise.  But in the next aisle over they had more.  I'm not sure if there was much of a price difference over the one I had bought a few years ago.  I mean the 16GB I bought was the same size and was on sale for $18.  It claims it's faster than previous ones, which I doubt, but whatever.  I guess it took me this long to fill up the other one, so it should last a while.  With the $5 off and a 10% coupon I had, it was only about $12 for the thing.

Then I had to go all the way across town to get to the restaurant Tony Laplume recommended.  Along the way I passed one of his old comic book stores without realizing it.  I saw "Heroes and Dragons" written on what seemed like an ordinary office building and I thought, WTF does that mean?  But I guess it was a comic book store.  Weird. 

Eventually I got to Thai Basil.  Tony recommended the sesame chicken but it was listed on the menu as hot and spicy.  I suppose I could have asked them to not make it spicy.  Instead I got cashew chicken, which was good.  The egg roll was really tiny, like the width of a cigar and about half the length of one.

About a half mile north of there is the Air Force Academy.  I passed a sign saying you were entering an air force installation and couldn't enter without permission of the base commander or whatever.  I didn't feel like being arrested so I turned around and went back to the hotel.

Since no one was around, I decided to go swimming for the first time on this trip.  The pool was only 5 feet deep at most, but whatever.  It was nice, especially having the whole pool--and hot tub--to myself.

Later for dinner I went to Captain D's.  I think we went there in Florida a couple of times on family vacations.  The drive-thru had a sign saying to honk when you were ready to order.  From Carl's Jr in Yreka, CA I know they take that shit seriously, so I honked.  I got a fish and chicken combo.  It's pretty much like Long John Silver's, except the chicken is battered differently, more like Arby's chicken fingers and the like.  And I thought the hush puppies were better.

Anyway, not a lot of pictures today.  These are the last ones on the old memory card.  Tomorrow I can try out the new one as I head back to Las Vegas...New Mexico.  D'OH!

Grumpy Bulldog Does America Day 55: Old School

I got up at 9 this morning and thankfully this Hampton in Colorado Springs actually  has breakfast until 10am.  Really I don't know why more motels don't do that, but whatever.  Too bad for the hot items they only had French toast sticks, potatoes, and cheese omelets.  I'd have liked some bacon or sausage or ham or something, but beggars can't be choosy so I got some French toast, potatoes, and a muffin.

The plan after I took a shower was to go to a Starbucks that was next to the Panda Express where I got dinner last night.  So I get my stuff and walk in the door and there's nowhere to sit.  And since it was like 48 degrees outside I wasn't going to sit out there to type.  So I said screw it and left without buying anything. 

On the way out some homeless guy tried to ask for change.  Hey buddy, how about giving ME some fucking change for "bus fare."  My fucking bank balance yesterday was like -$97.  That's because I keep forgetting when this one automatic payment comes through.  At least now my Amazon money is being deposited so I'll be in the black again.

Anyway, I went back to my motel room.  I had a couple bottles of Starbucks frappuccino in the fridge that I hadn't used yet, so I just drank those while I wrote for a little while.  The only thing is a lot of motels that give you a desk for some reason put it right in front of a big mirror, like you want to watch yourself type because you must be a huge narcissist. 

I went out to get lunch at this Chinese place that pretty much sucked.  Tony Laplume told me a place to get sesame chicken but it was too late for today.  Sesame chicken is really only good when it's fresh.  When they let it sit around in warming trays for hours it gets dried out and stringy and just inedible.  The sauce was pretty good on fried rice.  While I was eating the waiter comes over and says they're shutting down the cash register so I need to pay now.  WTF?  It's like 2pm!  Yeesh.

After that I found a Panera Bread closer to downtown.  This old lady had been doing something that got her hands all wet and then she takes my My Panera card without drying her hands, so it gets all wet.  Good thinking, old lady.  I wiped it off on my shirt before I put it away.  Then these ladies chose a table where they were sitting right in both aisles, bottlenecking everything.  I had to scrunch past one to get to a table.  If I hit the bitch in the head with my ass or something it's her own fucking fault.

I finished the story I was working on by 5, so then I could leave.  I went to King Sooper's and got soup.  Because I wasn't all that hungry.  I got a couple little ice cream cups too since they could fit in the tiny freezer in my room.

I got back in plenty of time to watch "The Flash".  And now I'm watching the World Series.  It'll really piss me off if Kansas City wins 2 World Series in 29 years and the Tigers wouldn't have won one in 30 years.  And they lost to the Giants in 2012 too, though that Giants team was better than this one, but still.

Anyway, not as many pictures, which is good since my memory card is almost full.  I'll have to back it up to one of my hard drives and then wipe it.  Or buy a new one or something.  Basically I've taken 15GB of pictures so far.  If I go to buy a new one I'm sure I could get bigger for less.  Plus I have a 10% off coupon at Best Buy.  And $5 in Rewards cash, so I guess I should go to Best Buy tomorrow.  Talked myself into it.  And see if that restaurant Tony Laplume recommended is there yet.