These three photos are from our trip to Medford a couple weeks ago. We escaped the overcast grip of 70 degrees and found some sun at Ashley’s Uncle and Aunts house. Kian was splashing around in a bucket of water. These photos represent his reaction to the first time he dumped the water on his own head. In the second frame his mood could have gone either way, but the warm day put him at ease and at last the smile came back out.
My buddy Craig was at my first pitch game with his daughter. He does a lot of photography work for the Beavers, so naturally he had all of his gear with him. He sent me this series of frames last week. I must say for not playing a lick of baseball, I think its decent form. He’d be mad if I didn’t post his photo of the Beaver’s mascot roughing me up after the pitch. I would say it’s along the lines of Disney meets Shawshank Redemption… He choose the file name, not me. A link to Craig’s blog is over to the right.
Do you remember the days when you got a mint after your meal at Applebee’s? I think they have been gone for a couple of years now, but every time I walk out I still expect them. I cant help but look for the little apple shaped wire basket filled with the round treats. I speak of this phenomenon like it was a relic from the “better days” when I was a child, but it really wasn’t that long ago. In fact, I remember my old roommate ,Ryan, taking the whole basket on occasion . When I say “on occasion” I mean stumble drunk on a Wednesday night. Anyway, that may in-fact be the reason why they don’t offer them any more, but I decided to find out how much Applebee’s has saved with this cut back. The equation seems simple to me.
Total annual mints
x
Cost of mints
I asked the manager at the local Applebee’s here in Bellevue, WA the average number of customers they see on a daily basis. (I ate there tonight) He told me that 450 was an average number, but some of the larger stores like Tacoma see higher numbers. Since what I am looking for is an average number, I decided to stick with this figure. I am sure some stores see more traffic, but I’m sure some see less. (Hutchinson, Ks) Next we need to determine the total number of Applebee’s locations. A quick Google search found 1970 total Applebee’s restaurants. Finally, we need to determine the total cost per mint. According to Sugerstand.com (your online candy store) I can currently buy 7lbs of Starlight Premium Peppermints for $10.00. This is the equivalent of 420 mints or 60 pieces per lb. Now lets assume that Applebee’s has the buying power and thus the ability to negotiate a better deal than John P. Consumer. Let’s say they can buy bulk at 500 mints for $10.00.
1970 stores x 450 customers = 886,500 daily customers
1 candy per customer = 886,500 candies per day
886,500 candies / 500 candies per box = 1,773 boxes at $10.00 each or $17,730 dollars per day for mints
17,730 x 360 (Appdbee’s is closed 5 Days a year) = $6,382,800 (million) in mints in mints per year.
Conclusion: Holy crap, I wasn’t expecting that high of a number! Screw the mints. Now why was my pint of beer brewed 4 miles away $4.85?
I’m in a Monday mood today, but this put a smile on my face. My brother emailed me a picture that he took with his phone last week. If you look closely you can see that the sprinklers in front of the cars are on. One of the sprinkler heads was busted and shooting a stream of water in the air and, according to my brother, directly into the open sun roof of the Jeep. I have outlined the stream in red so you can follow it better. He noticed this at 5:30 as he walked into the bar and took this picture at 6:30. For the owners sake I hope they were in the bar having fun and not at the University of Phoenix.
My work sponsored a “kids day” with OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) at PGE park the other day. It’s pretty cool, OMSI teaches the kids about the physics involved in baseball. Instead of sitting in the classroom for the day they all get to go to the park to cheer for the Beavers who are our local AAA affiliate with the Padres. We sponsored three of these days during this season and each of the guys in the marketing department, including myself, got to throw out the first pitch for one of the games. We have been razing each other trying to make one another nervous. My buddy Ryan went first, he threw it low and in the dirt AND GOT BOOED by 5,000 cotton candy infused kids. My pitch was last week. I was nervous; you have to show up a couple hours before the game so you have plenty of time to think about it. The way I see it, you only get one chance in your life to throw out a first pitch at a baseball game. If you screw it up your never gonna get a second opportunity. I would be ling if I told you I hadn’t stepped off 60ft 6 inches and practiced the weekend before. Actually I stepped off 55ft because I figured they wouldn’t let me stand on the mound. Long story short, I announced my presents with authority and threw a perfect strike. The guy I threw to is Raymond Chang, he’s actually from Kansas City and played his college ball at Rockhurst University.
I’m still paying off a little debt from the recent trip to San Antonio. I promised Ash we could go to Vegas for her birthday. So, we went down for the Memorial day weekend. Actually we went Sunday through Tuesday and got a great deal with $80 a night at the new Planet Hollywood. I’m not a big Vegas fan; I don’t gamble because I understand the odds and I enjoy my money. To me the town just reeks of hopelessness and disparity… that and it just plain reeks. That being said, it wasn’t a bad trip. The weather was nice, our hotel was great and we got to hang out with our friends Riann and Jamon. Here are a few photos. I didn’t take many because I only took my 50mm prime lens. I guess Vegas is more of a wide angle town!
On Tuesday afternoon about 4 hours before our flight I started feeling bad. I passed it off as punishment for all of the crap i had eaten. ( including the Fat Burger I had for lunch) By the time we got to the airport the only thing that felt good was to lay flat on my back. The flight was worse, nothing like a bumpy, crowded Southwest flight with abdominal cramps to put you in a good mood. On Wednesday I felt a little better but the pain was more specifically located between my belly button and the top of my hip. I looked it up on-line and all of the symptoms pointed to Appendicitis. I’ll give you time frames for the next events because things moved very rapidly.
12:00 pm: Arrived at urgent care to get checked out
1:00 pm: Pee test and Blood work
2:00 pm: CT Scan
3:00 pm: “You have acute appendicitis, go to ER”
4:30 pm: Arrive at ER
7:00 pm: Admitted to ER
11:00 pm: Surgery
So, here I sit on Saturday afternoon with three tiny holes in my gut and desperately wanting to go outside to do something active. I feel pretty good, this wasn’t as painful as the gallbladder surgery. ( I throw that line in because my brother is getting his out soon) The worst part is they pump you full of CO2 so they can work around in your abdomen. It takes a little while for your body to absorb it and until that happens you just feel like you ate the biggest meal of your life.
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