Day 108 - 06/08/2007

I went to Sweetwater Tavern for lunch with some colleagues. I normally don't eat with my co-workers (save for 1-2 times per month) as they tend to go to the chain restaurants. I was hoping to talk them into the new pho place across the street, but they talked me into Sweetwater instead. Now, it could be argued that Sweetwater is a chain restaurant (seeing as there are three of them in the area), but I would say they're not. Sure, they're not a mom-and-pop shop, as they're owned by Great American Restaurants, but they are local and they provide great food along with great service (and, if you're going for the beer, that's great too!).

Anyway, I wasn't disappointed. I had the pulled-pork sandwich, which came with their fries. Now, normally I wouldn't be too gung-ho about french fries, but theirs are some of the best around. Nice and crispy on the outside, nice and soft on the inside, yet without the overcooked flavor (or color) that comes with getting the crispy outside. Topped with a dash of salt and pepper, they're perfect by themselves (although that didn't stop me from requesting a second bullet of ketchup).

After lunch, I took off early to drop off the DVDs to M's class. I was hoping to get there before they moved up, but was unable to do so, so I had to interrupt the 4th grade classes to hand them out. M's teacher wasn't too bothered by the intrusion, but the other one made me feel as if I was interrupting a meeting of some secret society. Finally, after waiting 30 minutes, she let me in to pass them out. If this is what she's like the rest of the year as well, I'm glad she's not M's teacher.

After school, we all went out to McDonald's for our end of the year lunch. (Well, usually it's lunch, but for some reason they had a full day of school vs. a half-day as in previous years). I would rather have gone elsewhere, but this was M's choice (for the second year in a row), so I dealt with it. Just like last year, we sat at the "bar" (but, unlike last year, D and N were included).

After lunch, D and the kids went to the pool while I worked on ScratchPad. I added spell checking functionality in hopes that that is what's holding people back from buying it. Sales have been trickling lately, but, out of the three products I offer, ScratchPad has the most customers (with 22). (I know, nothing to retire on, but it's 22 more customers than I'd have had I not done anything.) After getting most of the work done, I joined them at the pool as well. I got in my laps during break (while D and the kids were at the playground) and afterwards played w/ M and Mary in the deep end while D kept an eye on N.

We started The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but were unable to finish it due to the time. (It's almost three hours long.) Right off the bat I became annoyed with the actress they cast as Lucy. Peter, Susan and Edmund are pretty good, but Lucy...not so much. If she could act, I could overlook her physical features, but since she can't, neither can I. Oh well, hopefully they'll cast someone else for the rest of the series.

Once the kids were in bed, I tried to watch The Phantom Menace, but N gave it the boot as it was too loud. D and I ended up watching Planet Earth: Deep Ocean, which was pretty interesting. I'd love to see this series in high-def and, even though I'll have already seen it, I think I'll get the DVDs when they come out. (Even though we have satellite, the picture is somewhat pixelated, giving he impression of graininess when watching shows. I'm not sure if this is due to the closeness of the couch to the set or the picture quality coming from the satellite.)