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sylvarPosted after returning from the trip.
We went back to the Ross Park Mall today in search of more cheap shoes (Sears was running a '25%-off if you put it on your Sears card', and I had just recently cleared my Sears card of all debt), but the promotion was over. I used a machine that read my digital photos from a SD chip and sent them to a really nifty printer (color laser? dye sublimation? I don't know). Since I promised Jodi it would only take 10 minutes or so, I asked them if they wouldn't mind hurrying the order.
About an hour and a half later, after the original time they would have been ready, Jodi was done at dELiA*s (oh, this site brings out the dirty old man in me). (We don't have any stores down here, only the web site and catalogs -- so it was a genuine treat for Jodi to be able to shop there in person.) If I'd seen the people I begged for a quick run, I would have apologized, but they were all on a previous shift or at lunch or something.
In the food court, about three different businesses seemed to be competing directly against each other -- you know, the "You like to try free sample of chicken?" places. I thought at first that surely their contracts would have prevented direct competitors, but then I realized they'd been exquisitely screwed. One was "Japanese", one was "Chinese", and one was "Cajun" -- but all with the same basic savory-sweet chicken dishes, fried rice, steamed veggies, etc. I'll bet there wasn't a lot of difference between "Cajun" bourbon chicken with two sides, "Japanese" teriyaki chicken with two sides and "Chinese" General Someone-or-other's chicken with two sides. Jodi sampled them all (telling me that she and a friend used to come to the mall and have samples for lunch) before picking -- I think -- the "Cajun" place. (I had some sort of veggie wrap, I think.) I feel worst for the first guy to sign the contract -- the others might have seen it coming. (Unless they all bid for spots when the mall was being built, which I guess is possible.)
After that, we talked about Cinnabon and how much Jodi wanted CinnaStix. I wasn't clear enough that I didn't want any, which was a disappointment to Jodi because I don't think she wanted to pay for a whole order. And we had to wait a while anyway, since they were making a fresh batch. But I don't think she was disappointed when she finally ate them. :)
That evening we visited Jodi's paternal grandfather and grandmother. He's a bit of a legend, so when he said "Sure, I'll make some tea. Would you like some marijuana tea?", I simply said "Well, I'm driving, so none for me, but Jodi, help yourself." He's the reason their family is eligible for Irish, and therefore European, dual citizenship (and so will I be, when I'm in the family). Sadly, he's not eligible for it himself; he had to renounce it to get his American citizenship. They were both very gracious and showed me around the house, which is two hundred years old. The main portion of it is, anyway, and built without a nail -- just joinery. He's a general contractor and will vet any house in Pittsburgh if it turns out we'd like to buy one up there.
I craved Primanti's but mistakenly thought they'd be closed (the original store is open 24 hours), so we went to Eat 'n Park (see this article for a proper explanation) again.
We went back to the Ross Park Mall today in search of more cheap shoes (Sears was running a '25%-off if you put it on your Sears card', and I had just recently cleared my Sears card of all debt), but the promotion was over. I used a machine that read my digital photos from a SD chip and sent them to a really nifty printer (color laser? dye sublimation? I don't know). Since I promised Jodi it would only take 10 minutes or so, I asked them if they wouldn't mind hurrying the order.
About an hour and a half later, after the original time they would have been ready, Jodi was done at dELiA*s (oh, this site brings out the dirty old man in me). (We don't have any stores down here, only the web site and catalogs -- so it was a genuine treat for Jodi to be able to shop there in person.) If I'd seen the people I begged for a quick run, I would have apologized, but they were all on a previous shift or at lunch or something.
In the food court, about three different businesses seemed to be competing directly against each other -- you know, the "You like to try free sample of chicken?" places. I thought at first that surely their contracts would have prevented direct competitors, but then I realized they'd been exquisitely screwed. One was "Japanese", one was "Chinese", and one was "Cajun" -- but all with the same basic savory-sweet chicken dishes, fried rice, steamed veggies, etc. I'll bet there wasn't a lot of difference between "Cajun" bourbon chicken with two sides, "Japanese" teriyaki chicken with two sides and "Chinese" General Someone-or-other's chicken with two sides. Jodi sampled them all (telling me that she and a friend used to come to the mall and have samples for lunch) before picking -- I think -- the "Cajun" place. (I had some sort of veggie wrap, I think.) I feel worst for the first guy to sign the contract -- the others might have seen it coming. (Unless they all bid for spots when the mall was being built, which I guess is possible.)
After that, we talked about Cinnabon and how much Jodi wanted CinnaStix. I wasn't clear enough that I didn't want any, which was a disappointment to Jodi because I don't think she wanted to pay for a whole order. And we had to wait a while anyway, since they were making a fresh batch. But I don't think she was disappointed when she finally ate them. :)
That evening we visited Jodi's paternal grandfather and grandmother. He's a bit of a legend, so when he said "Sure, I'll make some tea. Would you like some marijuana tea?", I simply said "Well, I'm driving, so none for me, but Jodi, help yourself." He's the reason their family is eligible for Irish, and therefore European, dual citizenship (and so will I be, when I'm in the family). Sadly, he's not eligible for it himself; he had to renounce it to get his American citizenship. They were both very gracious and showed me around the house, which is two hundred years old. The main portion of it is, anyway, and built without a nail -- just joinery. He's a general contractor and will vet any house in Pittsburgh if it turns out we'd like to buy one up there.
I craved Primanti's but mistakenly thought they'd be closed (the original store is open 24 hours), so we went to Eat 'n Park (see this article for a proper explanation) again.
