NH, I just saw a video about a steakhouse in San Francisco called "House of Prime Rib" and was wondering if you had any thoughts about it. Because it sure looked good. (And probably cost at least a day's pay for me).
Unfortunately, it's one of those classic "mid food high price" touristy joints you find in any major tourist city. They advertise heavily, they make themselves look like a small mom-and-pop shop, but notice that:
(a) They're on a major thoroughfare, ensuring they can survive on one-and-done diners, so they don't have to be any good, and(b) if you go to their web site and look for their menu, they will give you neither the menu nor the prices. That's a major red flag.
So yeah, my guess would be that you'd go there, spend around $200 per person on dinner, and walk away thinking, "I've had better." I mean, it wouldn't be terrible, but it sure wouldn't be the best prime rib you've ever had, either.
If you want astonishing steaks, Alexander's Steakhouse is the big win in San Francisco. Shiro's a steak snob and there are only a few steak places he'll deign to dine at, and Alexander's is his favorite. And it used to be in the middle of nowhere. They moved downtown a couple of years ago and last time we ate there the food had similarly gone downhill. Downtown is death for food quality, but I'd still bet the cost of a dinner that they're better than the House of Prime Rib.
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Well, coincidentally I was going through my news feeds and just today House of Prime Rib made it on the Chronicle's "100 Best Restaurants in the Bay Area" list, which is an amazingly sus list because:
(a) As rampant foodies, it's kind of scary we've only ever heard of 3 of the "top 100 restaurants", and eaten at 1, and
(b) The one we did eat at (Sons & Daughters) was a vast disappointment; the food didn't live up to the hype. It was literally a, "We're never eating here again; the food isn't worth the price and there are better places nearby," experience.
So I wouldn't take being on that list as a badge of honor.
EDIT: Oh, if you're looking for actual good prime rib, I recommend Skates on the Bay. Classic story of a corporation buying up a restaurant, ensh*ttifying it, then wondering why it was going bankrupt. So they brought in a new head chef and gave him carte blanche and for the last 10 years it's been amazing. Even Sabaton ate there when they were touring here.
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Well, coincidentally I was going through my news feeds and just today House of Prime Rib made it on the Chronicle's "100 Best Restaurants in the Bay Area" list, which is an amazingly sus list because:
(a) As rampant foodies, it's kind of scary we've only ever heard of 3 of the "top 100 restaurants", and eaten at 1, and
(b) The one we did eat at (Sons & Daughters) was a vast disappointment; the food didn't live up to the hype. It was literally a, "We're never eating here again; the food isn't worth the price and there are better places nearby," experience.So I wouldn't take being on that list as a badge of honor.
Hey, they are best at marketing and getting people to write about them! That has to count for something, right? mostly for their profits
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All 3 young cats are out this morning searching the yard for their bushy-tailed plaything.
Apparently even d*ck squirrel doesn't like those odds, and is MIA.
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And it's begun.
I lived a very... different young adulthood from my peers. Half a dozen of my friends died before I was 25, along with all of my grandparents. So I was pretty inured to death.
The kids in the Impii's friends group have been lucky; as far as I know, none of them have known anyone other than grandparents who've died, and those grandparents died so early in their lives that they're vague memories from childhood.
So for privacy I won't divulge any more than that one of the kid's fathers just passed away suddenly. I knew the guy, and he seemed to be in good health and was younger than I was. So kind of scary.
But such is the nature of being in your 20s. It's about when the older generation has its first deaths, at least in the U.S.
There used to be an amazing prime rib place where I live. Out in the country next to an RV park on the creek. They had all you can eat beef ribs on weeknights too.
The owners retired, the kids didn’t want to keep the business, so it’s gone. New owners made it a wine joint, but the food is mediocre at best.
United Methodist in rural Southern Illinois. So, not The South but close.I have to ask, what church/denomination and which state? If it's not in the south, that automatically explains everything.When I would usher and whatnot at church, I never offered to shake hands, but would if the other person initiated. I can't recall anyone ever complaining about it.Mainly because if the situation was reversed, I wouldn't want them using my name.One of my most vivid memories is being put on usher duty at my parents' church and politely welcoming people, holding the door for older folks with walkers or for large groups, escorting people to their seats, and otherwise doing everything I was expected to do....
... but apparently people complained because I didn't offer to shake everyone's hand, because I hate shaking hands or otherwise being uninvitedly touched. The list of people I'm okay with grabbing, hugging, or otherwise touching me unprompted basically only includes Scint, at this point, but even at the time only included some family members, and certainly not the majority of the church congregation.
When I was confronted about this I basically said what you said - I wouldn't want someone doing it to me, therefore I don't do it to them. The elders' response was that if I can't do the job right then I shouldn't do it at all.
I'm sure what they meant to do was shame me into starting giving handshakes.
What I actually did was immediately go to the schedule guy and have him remove me from the list of people willing to do ushering.
Yeah. A not-super-conservative denomination outside the South, that tracks.
Any deeply-conservative/traditional congregation located in the Old South will be far, far more stringent about those sorts of expectations, because That's How Things Are Done.
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That is probably a new one.
Just had a lady come in to rent a room. Says she wasn't planning to stop here, but her car was "acting weird". So, as I'm trying to get her info and check her in, she's giving me a vague description of what the car was doing. Things like "It drives all weird," or "There's a noise that's like a ticking, but it's not a ticking." Then she asks "So, what do you think is wrong with it?" I just shrug and say "Sorry. No idea. I'm not a car guy." She gets huffy and says "I know you're not a mechanic or whatever, but you must have some idea what's wrong with it." I just repeat "Sorry, I don't know anything about cars." She grabs her keys, glares at me, and stomps off saying "Thanks for nothing."
So apparently, I'm supposed to be a car genius who can diagnose an issue based off vibes, as well as a hotel clerk.
*Nods vigorously*
It's in the "How to be a REAL MAN" handbook. Couldn't tell you what chapter or page. I've simply been told it's in there.
Every time I hear something that's supposedly in the handbook it further confirms I was never one to begin with >.>
I would have just said the car was hungry.That is probably a new one.
Just had a lady come in to rent a room. Says she wasn't planning to stop here, but her car was "acting weird". So, as I'm trying to get her info and check her in, she's giving me a vague description of what the car was doing. Things like "It drives all weird," or "There's a noise that's like a ticking, but it's not a ticking." Then she asks "So, what do you think is wrong with it?" I just shrug and say "Sorry. No idea. I'm not a car guy." She gets huffy and says "I know you're not a mechanic or whatever, but you must have some idea what's wrong with it." I just repeat "Sorry, I don't know anything about cars." She grabs her keys, glares at me, and stomps off saying "Thanks for nothing."
So apparently, I'm supposed to be a car genius who can diagnose an issue based off vibes, as well as a hotel clerk.
*Nods vigorously*
It's in the "How to be a REAL MAN" handbook. Couldn't tell you what chapter or page. I've simply been told it's in there.
[Christine] [Christine]!
I can turn a block of wood into whatever you want, but not much of a car guy. If something is visibly disconnected or making noise i can fiddle with that part take it apart and put it back together and it USUALLY works after that and only very rarely catches fire.
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Any deeply-conservative/traditional congregation located in the Old South will be far, far more stringent about those sorts of expectations, because That's How Things Are Done.
And they still got it wrong...
*sigh*
I almost won Twilight Imperium (4th edition game)... But another player stole the victory just from under my nose at the very last moment.
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That is probably a new one.
Just had a lady come in to rent a room. Says she wasn't planning to stop here, but her car was "acting weird". So, as I'm trying to get her info and check her in, she's giving me a vague description of what the car was doing. Things like "It drives all weird," or "There's a noise that's like a ticking, but it's not a ticking." Then she asks "So, what do you think is wrong with it?" I just shrug and say "Sorry. No idea. I'm not a car guy." She gets huffy and says "I know you're not a mechanic or whatever, but you must have some idea what's wrong with it." I just repeat "Sorry, I don't know anything about cars." She grabs her keys, glares at me, and stomps off saying "Thanks for nothing."
So apparently, I'm supposed to be a car genius who can diagnose an issue based off vibes, as well as a hotel clerk.
Just nod confidently, go out to the vehicle, then wave your hands over the bonnet with your eyes closed while humming a sustained single note. After a few moments, open your eyes suddenly, shriek, and fall to the ground in convulsions. Then, scramble back to the hotel, drawing a pentagram with your right hand while screaming, 'WOTHONUVLAX, I ABJURE YOU! LEAVE, IN THE NAME OF THE STAR THAT SCREAMS! IN THE NAME OF THE LUCENT DOLMEN! IN THE NAME OF THE 15 KINGS OF THE CHARIOT! IBNIMIR SOTH GALBAN TITRIC ZAPHANIQUEL PAGATH!' etc etc.
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I can turn a block of wood into whatever you want, but not much of a car guy. If something is visibly disconnected or making noise i can fiddle with that part take it apart and put it back together and it USUALLY works after that and only very rarely catches fire.
I had to take my ‘68 Wagoneer into the automotive electrician because I didn’t make a diagram of how the wires connected to the generator. Had him wire it for an alternator. These days you can take a picture with your phone. If you remember…
I remember that my phone is a camera about 3/4 of the time.
Edit: Heh. Bonnet.
Just nod confidently, go out to the vehicle, then wave your hands over the bonnet with your eyes closed while humming a sustained single note. After a few moments, open your eyes suddenly, shriek, and fall to the ground in convulsions. Then, scramble back to the hotel, drawing a pentagram with your right hand while screaming, 'WOTHONUVLAX, I ABJURE YOU! LEAVE, IN THE NAME OF THE STAR THAT SCREAMS! IN THE NAME OF THE LUCENT DOLMEN! IN THE NAME OF THE 15 KINGS OF THE CHARIOT! IBNIMIR SOTH GALBAN TITRIC ZAPHANIQUEL PAGATH!' etc etc.That is probably a new one.
Just had a lady come in to rent a room. Says she wasn't planning to stop here, but her car was "acting weird". So, as I'm trying to get her info and check her in, she's giving me a vague description of what the car was doing. Things like "It drives all weird," or "There's a noise that's like a ticking, but it's not a ticking." Then she asks "So, what do you think is wrong with it?" I just shrug and say "Sorry. No idea. I'm not a car guy." She gets huffy and says "I know you're not a mechanic or whatever, but you must have some idea what's wrong with it." I just repeat "Sorry, I don't know anything about cars." She grabs her keys, glares at me, and stomps off saying "Thanks for nothing."
So apparently, I'm supposed to be a car genius who can diagnose an issue based off vibes, as well as a hotel clerk.
Wotho?! That guy owes me money!
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If corrosive, why fren shaped?!
If corrosive, why fren shaped?!
I was just watching Darkwing Duck when Aquadog came on. Then this notification came up. Hm.
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NobodysHome: Looks like Bitetail the Bloody is back to tease the cats again.
Impus Major: Dad! You can't name a squirrel something like that! He'll become a squirrel hero!
NH: He already survived having Mephisto on top of him.
IM: Fair enough.
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Dog giving me the "serve me biped" look
I put down a sleep mat.
Dog giving me the "serve me biped" look
I put down a comforter
Dog giving me the "serve me biped" look
I put down a SECOND comforter
Dig gives me the about time look, curls up and goes to sleep.
I'm going to start shooing her off my recliner by putting peas under the blankets at this rate....
Once again, we see why using a system that requires internet to work is a bad idea. The front desk computers lost internet access about 2 hours ago. That means we can do nothing. NOTHING. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. When I finally got through to support, and they finally did whatever they do, they said "Looks like a problem with your server. All I can do is escalate it, and that team will contact you when they start working on it." Sure they will. We've had problems with networking gear before, they always say "the escalation team will contact you," and they never do. Eventually, things just start working, or the manager will tell someone to call support again, and we'll usually be told "they're working on it, no idea when it will be done". Although, in one case, after waiting 5 or 6 hours with no contact and it still not working, the manager called support and was told "Oh, they need to send a technician to your property to fix it. We've been waiting for 3 hours for you to call and set up a time." Which we didn't know we were supposed to do because no one had contacted us to tell us that. So, I'm just twiddling my thumbs, hoping no guests come bug me.
Also, I've sent the manager several texts about this, and he hasn't even read them. So, fun.
See if you can summon Vany. Or NobodysHome. Or both.
See if you can summon Vany. Or NobodysHome. Or both.Once again, we see why using a system that requires internet to work is a bad idea. The front desk computers lost internet access about 2 hours ago. That means we can do nothing. NOTHING. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. When I finally got through to support, and they finally did whatever they do, they said "Looks like a problem with your server. All I can do is escalate it, and that team will contact you when they start working on it." Sure they will. We've had problems with networking gear before, they always say "the escalation team will contact you," and they never do. Eventually, things just start working, or the manager will tell someone to call support again, and we'll usually be told "they're working on it, no idea when it will be done". Although, in one case, after waiting 5 or 6 hours with no contact and it still not working, the manager called support and was told "Oh, they need to send a technician to your property to fix it. We've been waiting for 3 hours for you to call and set up a time." Which we didn't know we were supposed to do because no one had contacted us to tell us that. So, I'm just twiddling my thumbs, hoping no guests come bug me.
Also, I've sent the manager several texts about this, and he hasn't even read them. So, fun.
I'd just shake my fist and curse at it. Anything that requires internet connectivity to operate is crap. Even a network hub.
Just how cash-free is our house? We pay our gardener $100 cash once every two weeks. This morning between the four of us we managed to come up with four $20s, a $10, and ten $1s. And that's it. Once we pay him later this morning the house will be completely cash-free.
And it's a relatively normal occurrence... cash is such a PITA.
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Just how cash-free is our house? We pay our gardener $100 cash once every two weeks. This morning between the four of us we managed to come up with four $20s, a $10, and ten $1s. And that's it. Once we pay him later this morning the house will be completely cash-free.
And it's a relatively normal occurrence... cash is such a PITA.
Just how cash-free is our house? We pay our gardener $100 cash once every two weeks. This morning between the four of us we managed to come up with four $20s, a $10, and ten $1s. And that's it. Once we pay him later this morning the house will be completely cash-free.
And it's a relatively normal occurrence... cash is such a PITA.
That's the point, I think. Adding a bit of friction into your transactions instead of just tapping and forgetting helps keep in mind exactly what you're spending. Plus, the merchant avoids paying a percentage of the sale to the supplier of the POS device, whoever that may be.
That's the point, I think. Adding a bit of friction into your transactions instead of just tapping and forgetting helps keep in mind exactly what you're spending. Plus, the merchant avoids paying a percentage of the sale to the supplier of the POS device, whoever that may be.Just how cash-free is our house? We pay our gardener $100 cash once every two weeks. This morning between the four of us we managed to come up with four $20s, a $10, and ten $1s. And that's it. Once we pay him later this morning the house will be completely cash-free.
And it's a relatively normal occurrence... cash is such a PITA.
Yeah, around here they've *finally* started charging for that; you pay an extra 3%-4% if you use a card. Plus I know a lot of people budget by getting a set amount of cash out per month and that's their budget, period.
I'm a bit OCD, so I check all my balances every day, so the convenience of a card outweighs the restrictions of cash. But I'm slowly moving towards a debit card model because it costs the vendor less if they're not yet adding the surcharge. It used to be "credit or debit" was a meaningless question (at least for me). Now the credit fees are high enough that debit's usually a much better choice.
I visit the ATM at least once a week to make sure I have cash in my wallet. I don’t like to pay for small items with my card.
I would have had to call my bank to let them charge my debit card for my roof replacement, so I paid those folks with a check.
Just got to work and the computers are still down. They created a workaround using an old laptop, but it can't access the credit card reader, so we can't use that. It's better than nothing, but still sucks. And tech support never called back, so we don't know what is wrong with it. Whee!
When I worked the gift shop as a volunteer we had to call the credit card orders in , is that not still a thing credit card companies do?
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Just got to work and the computers are still down. They created a workaround using an old laptop, but it can't access the credit card reader, so we can't use that. It's better than nothing, but still sucks. And tech support never called back, so we don't know what is wrong with it. Whee!When I worked the gift shop as a volunteer we had to call the credit card orders in , is that not still a thing credit card companies do?
When I worked at a video store we took physical impressions of the cards. I know a few people on this thread are probably old enough to remember that.
I would have had to call my bank to let them charge my debit card for my roof replacement, so I paid those folks with a check.
One of the more interesting aspects of our digital world (at least to me) is that once you get to "large" amounts, you can no longer perform the transfers digitally and you have to do it all using paper checks. Which, in my mind, is far less secure because checks are so easy to steal and forge, but maybe the modern generation of criminal is so young to have forgotten just what the heck a check is.
Buying a car? Yep. That was a check. (My credit card could have handled it, but I didn't want to hose the dealership with the 3% fee.) Getting my inheritance? That's a check. (The digital transfer limit is $25k, so it'd be, "Transfer $25k. Wait a week for it to go through and get fully registered. Transfer the next $25k. Repeat until the full inheritance is distributed.")
And as I've said, more and more places are charging a 3-4% credit card surcharge, so I find myself back to writing checks.
I'm not happy about it.
How much of a morning person am I?
I usually get up at 4, putter around on FFXIV 'til 4:45, do my daily comics, budget, and news, and then work from 6:00 am - 3:30 pm with a half hour break for breakfast and an hour break for lunch.
In short, by 9:00 am I've been up for 5 hours and working for 2.5 hours.
So today we have a 9:00 am - 2:00 pm workshop. It's really hard to focus on doing work before the workshop because I need to constantly track the time and make sure I'm ready, then after the workshop I need to organize all the notes and I'll be done for the day. I managed to not start work 'til 6:30 am, but I'll still say that the 2 hours leading up to the workshop were... less-than-productive; I maybe got in 45 minutes of "real" work. But I suppose that's what the higher-ups pretty much expect on workshop days.
It's just very distracting for those of us accustomed to doing something work-related while at work...
I would have had to call my bank to let them charge my debit card for my roof replacement, so I paid those folks with a check.One of the more interesting aspects of our digital world (at least to me) is that once you get to "large" amounts, you can no longer perform the transfers digitally and you have to do it all using paper checks. Which, in my mind, is far less secure because checks are so easy to steal and forge, but maybe the modern generation of criminal is so young to have forgotten just what the heck a check is.
Buying a car? Yep. That was a check. (My credit card could have handled it, but I didn't want to hose the dealership with the 3% fee.) Getting my inheritance? That's a check. (The digital transfer limit is $25k, so it'd be, "Transfer $25k. Wait a week for it to go through and get fully registered. Transfer the next $25k. Repeat until the full inheritance is distributed.")
And as I've said, more and more places are charging a 3-4% credit card surcharge, so I find myself back to writing checks.
I'm not happy about it.
I am still perplexed by the fact that credit card surcharge, which is much more automated process, is lower than check fees...
In Poland (and likely most of EU), major payments are done digitally. In fact, past certain point it is a legal necessity (something like 15 thousands for companies, which is cost of five decent but not stellar business-class computers with basic peripherals).
On the other hand, EU has easy access to immediate transfers, but it makes recovery of money lost to scams much harder (because money are already gone). Housing purchases are usually done by paying money into notary office account that transfers money to the other party after the contract is signed.
Just got to work and the computers are still down. They created a workaround using an old laptop, but it can't access the credit card reader, so we can't use that. It's better than nothing, but still sucks. And tech support never called back, so we don't know what is wrong with it. Whee!I have to take back part of this. Apparently the manager did call tech support for an update at some point, and was told that our IP address needed changed (or had changed and needed put back, or something, he mumbles a lot so it's not the easiest thing to understand him), and that they were working on it. Maybe Vany has some insight, but it feels like it shouldn't take very long to change an IP address. Certainly not more than 12 hours.
If your public IP changed then your IT department had 2 options.
1) Change every single rule that uses the old public IP to the new one. This includes all the routing to allow your Internet to work and if other systems are restricted by public IP they'll have to get those changed over as well. That usually ends up requiring other vendors to cooperate as well, like card processing and other similar services.2) Have the ISP put the public IP back where it was. Not always possible, depending on why it changed in the first place. A simple "well that shouldn't have happened" kind of situation can be reverted in less than 30 minutes. But...if this was a change of equipment and networking at the ISP, reversion usually isn't possible. Usually those changes get communicated well in advance for business customers and the IT team has plenty of time to prepare and coordinate the cutover. If they're paying attention, of course.
My guess is that the public IP changed during a planned maintenance window, but your IT team either never received the notice (quite possible given your corporate chain) or it was just missed (ignored, forgotten, misunderstood, whatever) by your IT.
Fixing that on the fly requires identification of the issue, they'll call the ISP, find out about the public IP change, waste time arguing about a reversion that isn't going to happen, resign themselves to fixing it on the fly, miss stuff, fix the fix on the fly, and still end up having to call third party vendors and get them involved. Usually this nightmare is 5-7 hours of work, but stretching out to 12-14 isn't out of the question depending on how much complexity they've built in to their routing and firewall rules, plus dealing with the additional vendors.
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We have cradlepoint backup circuits for our other offices, that the network fails over to when the hardline ISP connection goes down. Every now and then they wouldn’t pick up the connection and I had to troubleshoot why.
Turns out the network address was static for those connections, so when the provider changed the IP lists, it fell out of the acceptable range. I’ve set them to dynamic on the recommendation of their support team, haven’t seen it cause a problem just yet. But you never know with network schematics.
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This sounds like sorcery to me.
What surprises me the most about this is that even *I* can pay for a static IP from my ISP, so the notion of the ISP needing to change your IP address for any reason is bizarre to me, and as Vany said, should come with months of warning.
Given that, I can totally see not wanting to set up a dynamic pointer to that address in all your locations because security nightmare (hackers change one thing and you're doomed), so yeah, tracking down and resetting all the pointers would be... unfun.