Waking Up in Nashville

For having the night off, it sure was a long one. I finally woke up around 10:30 this morning to the smell of rain, and it was gray and overcast outside. Just like about 80% of my days in Nashville. But out here in Vegas, it's a welcome change. I *almost* washed my truck two days ago, but decided against it. It just seemed like there were a few too many clouds lurking about at the time.

Well, that's ONE prediction I got right this week.

But the good news is that we finally got our cable working again, although it was a royal pain in the ass to get it functioning properly. When I woke up, I saw that the four horizontal lines on the cable box display were gone, and it was showing the time again. That was a good sign. But then when I turned it on, it would only let me watch HBO Zone, channel 205, and it said I was recording it, too. Uh, no, that's not true, but when I went to change the channel, the 'recording warning' would pop up and not let me change, even though I kept pressing the 'stop recording' button.

I did everything I could to get it to change, to no avail. Even unplugging the incoming cable didn't help. I finally rebooted the system and that worked, but with all of the times I pushed the 'delete' button while trying to stop recording HBO, I lost most of my *ahem* previously recorded material...

But at least now I can watch the Cardinals game this afternoon, so I got that going for me, which is nice. And everything else, as far as the TV is concerned, is working as it should. Funny how it broke down just as I got home to begin my 'weekend', and now that I have to work later tonight, it started functioning again. Damn electronic gremlins.

Anyhow, I was off last night, and perfectly content to stay home and read and such. But around 10pm I get a message from Jen, reminding me that there was a big birthday bash at Chilly Palmers after everyone got off work, starting at 2 am.

Around midnight, I realized that I hadn't eaten anything all day and was starving. And since we'd probably be doing some drinking later, I figured I should get something to eat. I remembered that reader 'Howzie' had mentioned the late-night specials at The Village Pub, a local chain of video poker bars scattered around the valley, so I opted to give that a try.

I went to the one on Sunset Road, just east of Green Valley, and at that time of night, there were only about four other cars in the parking lot. When I got inside, it was a little more interesting than I expected. I loved all the murals of 18th century sailing ships, but with the big-screen tv's muted and the other patrons silently chain-smoking and forlornly pressing buttons on their video poker consoles, there was a definite Boulevard of Broken Dreams vibe about the place. And with the red naugahyde barstools and smoke-stained acoustic-tile drop ceiling, the pub reminded me of a cross between a Patrick O'Brien novel and a past-it's-prime bowling alley.

As dated as it was, I cannot complain about the late-night specials. There was a huge chalkboard at the entrance touting the offerings, and they all looked pretty good.

I sat down near a row of beer taps, and instead of going with one of them, I noticed that they offered home-brewed root beer, just like Ellis Island, so that's what I chose. And I also told the bartender that I'd like the $3.99 steak and eggs special, scrambled, with sourdough toast.

I played a little video poker for a few minutes, luckily breaking even while I waited for my breakfast. And I didn't have to wait long--clearly I was the only one there keeping the cook busy.

But just a few minutes later a huge plate arrived in front of me that was sure to take away the hunger pangs. The steak was a thicker-than-expected 10 oz. sirloin, grilled to medium-rare perfection, with excellent home-fries, a generous portion of eggs, and buttered sourdough toast. I was pleasantly surprised by the steak--it was tender, juicy, and much better than the offering at Ellis Island that everyone raves about--I ate every scrap of it--it wasn't fatty or a cheap cut of meat at all. And the home fries were very good--diced potatoes with strips of fresh onions and peppers mixed in, with just a hint of seasoning. Everything else was as advertised, and I was quite pleased with my 'new' discovery.

Even better was the check--with a rootbeer (they only charged me for one, thanks to running five bucks through the vp machine, which I got back), the total for the meal was $5.55. Oh hell yeah. I can't even come close to making steak and eggs at home for that price, so I'm guessing I'll probably have breakfast there every week from now on.

After breakfast, I paid the tab and headed over to Chilly's to meet up with everyone else.

I got there about three sips of Captain and Coke ahead of Jen, and then the others started trickling in. Shots were poured, toasts were raised, buffoonery ensued for the next several hours. Hmmm.... I think I may have even taken a few pictures...

Somebody brought a birthday pumpkin for us all to sign... Of course somebody else wrote 'EAT ME' on it.

I am contractually obligated to feature at least one picture of Jen fondling her ample bosom every time we go out.

Some of the gals display their 'doing shots with no hands' talents

This is Anna Banana calling my phone hoping for a booty call.

And the obligatory picture of me with a bottle stuck to my head.

We finally wrapped it up around 6:30 this morning, and I came home for a few hours of blissful slumber before waking up to the sound of rain outside my window. But it's sunny in San Diego, and the baseball game is about to start.

Mikey