Yellowstone

Steve taking a picture of a bison grazing.

We went to Yellowstone with the Hansen/Dickinson/Smith/Sheldon clans for a few days in May. It's one thing to take Geology 101 in college, but it's quite another to see it in action. The area is fascinating and quite hard to put into words. Here are a few visual aids to help explain my experience.

Also, I am currently working on a horror movie about Yellowstone that could possible be a made for Chiller or SyFy Channel movie. Nothing too fancy — just some low-budget special effects and a few terribly enthusiastic actors. I'll let you know when auditions start...

Altering my course

It happened at The Willows — we were sitting around enjoying our cocktails before the dinner started and CJ asked the question:

“Have you been doing any writing?”

I felt my cheeks turn into apples, signifying a mixture of embarrassment and shame overtaking my face. I managed to respond with a quick, curt “no” and directed the conversation away from me.

I haven’t had anything published in nearly three years — I’m only 27 but three years is a long time to be out of game, especially one that I desperately wanted to be in since I was little.

And why did I give it up? I can make up a million excuses, point my finger at different people, but it all comes down to me. I benched myself.  All of the reasons I had seem stupid and childish now. Instead of saying what I didn’t like, or didn’t want, I should have been searching for something that I liked and wanted to do.

So hopefully it’s not to late. I am throwing my hat back into the ring. One of these applications is bound to stick.

Right?

Whenever Tyler and Eric get together, they can’t but help start giggling like school girls at some point. I'm happy that some things never change…

Trapped

Tyler came home after work this week to find Aspen all alone in the apartment. He let her out, but was confused when Moses didn't come out to greet him. He walked into the bedroom to see if Moses had gone to bed, but he wasn't there. He then heard Moses whimpering in the bathroom. He opened the door, and found a scared, traumatized Great Dane.

This is what we think happened: Moses went into the bathroom sometime after we went to work. His tail probably hit the door, thus locking him in the bathroom. He shat on the floor, so he couldn't lay down, and tried to chew his way out of his prison. He must of been in there for hours.

Now our huge dog can add "bathrooms" to "the many things Moses is scared of" list. The funny thing is, the bathroom door doesn't latch properly, so Aspen could have let him out at any time. She can be such a bitch...

Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine’s Day — one of the restaurant industry’s three busiest days of the year (Mothers’ Day and New Year’s Eve make up the rest). This is amateur hour. Most of the clientele on this day aren’t regular diners, and this is one of the special days out of the year they treat themselves to a nice date.

And restaurants take advantage of this: cramming every available table for two in every nook and cranny of the establishment. Creating tight turn times for tables, so couples can’t stay and linger over drinks and conversations lit by candlelight. After all, restaurants are businesses (something everyone forgets) and this is one of the days that needs to bring in some dough.

This is one of the reasons I don’t like Valentine’s Day. Besides all the usual corporate holiday arguments, it’s destroyed any concept I had for romance on this day. I’m that server who wants to make sure you drank, ate and paid within 1 hour and 45 minutes, otherwise the rest of the reservations are going to back up. Sorry, but I have other guests to wait on long after your meal is over.

That is not that dining experience I would want to have, but the demand for reservations on this day forces businesses to accommodate the influx of people in ways they normally wouldn’t practice. If you don’t book ‘em, you lose ‘em, and that’s the way business works.

So if you have someone special in your life, and you choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day, take them out to dinner on Feb. 15 for a romantic dinner instead. Don’t subject them to the madness the day before. This way you can have a quiet table at the time you want, enjoy your company, and have the evening you would want to have. If I'm your server, I’d be more than happy to make that happen for you too.