Tattoos and Fine Dining

21 05 2008

You know what man? Tattoos freaking hurt! I don’t care what anyone says. You girls who are getting little one inch butterflies on your butt cheeks, don’t sit there and tell me “Gee, It didn’t hurt at all! Tee hee!”. BAH! Let somebody grind on your armpit with a needle for 2 1/2 hours and then tell me how easy your tattoo was.

Yeah, this one was quite a bit more painful than my others. Now, it wasn’t enough to make me break out in a sweat, pass out, or make any moaning noises or anything, but it definitely hurt like heck. This design wraps around the front and back of my arm and I’m telling you, when she started getting into the tender inside arm skin…. oooooooh boy.

The worst part is that she’s not even half done. My next appointment is late July and I have three hours booked. Hopefully she will be able to finish up in that sitting. For now my arm feels like I have a really bad sunburn, and honestly, with half a design filled in and the other half outlined, it looks retarded. But the part she did finish looks cool and I’m pretty stoked about her work. Her name is Christy by the way, and It was kind of a coincidence that she is suffering from tendinitis as well, so we had a little to talk about while she tortured me.

I might post pictures later…. but chances are you’re going to have to wait until it’s done.

So after my appointment I had to take Deanna to dinner at this Spanish restaurant called La Paella. It’s for extra credit in her Spanish class. I told Deanna it would be much more efficient to just bribe the teacher directly rather than go spend money at a restaurant, but she was hungry so we went.

La Paella is kind of a small place over on Champlain and Perrin, in the fancy schmancy part of Fresno. The atmosphere is warm and comfortable and they have outdoor seating if you want the whole Euro Cafe / Long’s parking lot dining type of feel. At least they’re trying. The service is sloooooow, so be prepared to eat like real Europeans and take your time. If you are alone, or with a boring date, this is not the place to go. Oh, and for you white people; this is a SPANISH restaurant, which is different from Mexican. So don’t expect chips and salsa ‘bokay?

The food was pretty good although it was really heavy. I ordered a Tapas sampler and I expected more veggies and breads, maybe like the Italians eat, but there was more fried items, eggs, and sausages. And the sauce was really heavy too, kind of like a heavy mayonnaise-y thing. At the end of our meal the guy who runs the place (who’s a super nice guy) brought us a Spanish rice dish with linquica and bell peppers in it, and that was dynamite. Next time I think I’ll just order that alone. So the food was good, but a little on the heavy side for me. In fact, I skipped breakfast this morning because I just felt kind of weighed down.

On certain nights they have a guitar player providing mood music and this Thursday they are having an art hop and wine tasting night. So if you’re in the mood to rub elbows with Fresno’s upper echelon and pretend you know anything at all about wine or art, this is the place.





The Public House

9 02 2008

Just yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine and we were lamenting the fact that there’s really no place in Fresno where you can have a good beer, eat some real food, and hang out. It seems we’ve had a lot of new restaurants open lately but they seem to all be advertised as “Vegas style…”, or “where the beautiful people hang out…” or have nothing but sushi. You know what? I hate sushi. Why? Because people who love sushi, always seem to brag about eating it. “Let’s go to sushi”, “We did sushi last night”… Blah blah blah! Why do people do that? Nobody ever says “Yeah, we like totally did pork chops last weekend!”. Right?

Anyway, last night Michelle tells me she wants to go to this place on Ashlan and Cedar in the new Granite Park center and you know what? I now have a new favorite restaurant. It’s called The Public House and is as close as a real Irish pub as you’re going to get in Fresno. The building itself is beautiful, rock and stone everywhere, couches for chillin’ out on, a long bar that has 60 kinds of Scotch and dozens of beers on tap that I haven’t seen since I was in the U.K. myself. And yes, they have Boddington’s baby! I was in heaven.

The food was good too. We had a plate of cooked sausages and then we split an order of fish and chips (what else do you eat in an Irish pub?). I liked the relaxed pace of the place too. The service was really good but they didn’t rush you. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s when they’re already pushing the main course on you and throwing a check in your lap and you haven’t even gotten half way through the appetizers. This place was more laid back, like it is in the U.K., and we spent a good three hours there just sipping beers, talking, and making fun of the dude down the bar who kept singing 80’s new wave songs. Good times!

The Public House, check it out.





Africa Blog #4

7 11 2007

Wow two posts in one day! It’s a miracle!

Usually I wait until our Africa meetings every other Tuesday to post an offical Africa Blog entry. However, this morning I was just hit with several Africa related stories as I fired up the old computer and I think as it gets close to the trip, God is just really placing a lot of things on my heart. So I thought I’d do an extra post.

First, my immunizations are done. YES! 7 shots later, I am now fully immunized against most of the common diseases I could get during my trip to Africa. I still have to finish my typhoid medication but those are pills so no big deal. One thing that is bothering me still is the Malaria risk. To combat Malaria you have to take pills during and for a short time after your trip. Not a big deal except that there are wicked side effects to some of the medications. Basically there’s two medications that most people take. The first one, called Malarone, is really expensive, nearly $200 for a three week supply. It’s complications are relatively minor, but the cost makes it unattractive. The second medication, called Lariam, is very inexpensive, but it’s side effects include nightmares, psychosis and suicidal thoughts! So I don’t know man, I think I’m going to take the expensive route, just for peace of mind. Literally.

So I wanted to talk about charity a little bit this morning because as I talk to my friends and family, it seems that charity is one of those things we are content to let other people do. It’s amazing how much we puff ourselves up when we give a toy to the Marines at Christmas or we drop off our old junk to Good Will twice a year. It also amazes me when we tear people down who are doing really good things, simply because they aren’t sacrificing enough in our eyes. Maybe it makes us feel better about doing nothing ourselves?

The reason I’m talking about this is because of a story that hit the news today. Bono, from the rock group U2, has donated a Ducati motorcycle to be auctioned off for charity. Now this is pretty significant because first, Ducatis are freaking expensive. And secondly, it is giving some publicity to a group called Riders For Health which is a group of people who use motorcycles to get health care out into African villages where there is no infrastructure as we know it. However, soon after this article was posted on a blog I read, the commenters started tearing Bono down, saying that a giving up a motorcycle wasn’t any real sacrifice to Bono. And you know, this just really pisses me off. Maybe it’s not a big deal for Bono to part with a bike that costs more than the cars we drive. But damnit, until your willing to match his donation in terms of time AND money, percentage wise, with your own, you really need to keep your mouth shut.

I also wanted to pass along another blog post I ran across this morning. It’s from a family who is going to Africa to do charity work and the guy has assembled a series of pictures showing what a weeks worth of food looks like for different families around the world. You can get to the post by clicking here. There are so many things that this series of photos illustrates to me I could do a whole post on that alone. Check out the link and let me know what you think.