Liloia.com

Looong Weekend

I can't wait until 3:30 today. Why am I excited? Well, for starters I get to see my peeps. While for the most part I am a cold and heartless bastid, I still need to see that little smile of Trevor's. Oh, and Tara isn't too bad as well.

The other part that will be awesome is our visit to South Jersey. We'll be hanging out with Tara's family and get some time with our little niece E-lo. Expect to see some pics up on the site by tonight in the moblog area and I am sure Tara will be posting some others to the site old skool style.

I see that Tara was up until 1 AM last night (at least) so I bet she is beat this morning. I am sure she will enjoy me taking over the wheel once she arrives in Shelton.

Candlepin when you're five.

The fun part of a $20 digital camera is that you can hand it to a group of kindergarteners and get a bunch of fun pictures. I don't know which kid took this one, but it's a great perspective shot from a dark corner of the bowling alley. (Click thumbnail for larger version.)

I couldn't resist

Snagged this from Will's recent post from today.

How does Snoop Dogg keep his socks white?

He uses BLEEOTCH!

Taxicab Confessions

Over the last few weeks, I have had the unique experience of riding in more than my share of taxis around the northeastern United States. Each one of these has proven to be a very interesting and enlightening moment. If I had the foresight to know that I was going to be posting about this, I might have taken photographs of the back seats to go along with this post.

Based on the data that I have collected, taxi cab drivers come in three flavors.

1) Non-English Speaking Man - This person is either an immigrant, or a US Citizen for whom English is not their first language. Generally this person is (or claims to be) a former executive for either a US based (Disney, CBS) or European organization who was laid off and is now working their way back up. I don't know why one would start their climb back up as a cab driver, but who am I to judge.

2) Anorexic White Guy - This driver is usually a recovering alcoholic or someone who isn't so lucky. I'm not making an assumption about that fact; these guys are usually really open about their personal lives and come right out with it. Either way, they are probably very passionate about one thing and feel the need to educate me on our trip together. Recent lessons have included vegetarianism, corporate marketing, foreign policy and child raising.

3) Huge White Guy - This guy is the best one to get. He is usually the friendliest driver and has lots of interesting little anecdotes to chat about. Expect this person to tell you that he is on some kind of diet (he is not) and complain to you about his crazy girlfriend (who will call him twice during your ride). He will be uncertain about his political beliefs which are ok because then he isn't going to corner you about your own ideas.

Regardless of which one of these drivers you end up getting, I am continuously impressed with how easily I cave to their beliefs when in the car with them. I suddenly become a right wing conservative card carrying NRA member when trapped in a car with a crazy cabbie driving 65 MPH down Route 95.

Back to the lab again, uh oh.

Penitent Cash

Today I found a dollar in my purse sporting a black Sharpie mandate to "Repent."

Man, Jesus can find you anywhere.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Trevor and I trekked into Boston to see a preview of the latest Harry Potter movie tonight. I'm pleased to report that it's a fantastic movie — possibly the most enjoyable of the three Harry Potter films so far.

Lego was giving out small Knight Bus sets on the way in (by golly, you sure can buy a lot of Liloia love with a set of Legos...) which Trevor assembled in the theater before the film and held up during appropriate moments with whooshing noises. He is so five.

The young actors we've become familiar with over the years offered nuanced performances — the terrified eye widening was at a minimum — and there were many genuinely funny spots. It seems that as the main characters mature and they advance to new and more potent forms of spell casting, life at Hogwarts becomes far more intense. This film is darker than the other two and magic feels appropriately dangerous, yet there is also more everyday magic happening nonchalantly in the background.

The heightened peril in Prisoner of Azkaban might frighten a young child. Even my hardcore five-year-old hid his face in a few spots because things threatened to jump out of dark places; however, the monsters and creatures themselves were not unnecessarily gruesome.

We spent just enough time with the Dursley family to assure us that this miserable clan hasn't changed one bit. Then we're quickly whisked off to where we really want to be... the magical world of Hogwarts. Vast landscape panoramas and sweeping flying sequences help recapture the wonder of J.K. Rowling's amazing world. We even spend a few minutes in a high-flying game of quidditch, which (as always) ends disastrously.

The only caveat was that the plot became complex and difficult to follow near the end — especially if you haven't read the book. But the last half-hour sorts things out very clearly. I don't want to give away the ending, but let's just say it will keep you on your toes (and talons) until the very end. Trevor came out of the film, put his hood up, and announced that he was Sirius Black for the rest of the evening.

We'll be back at the same theater the day after tomorrow to see... um... The Day After Tomorrow. A special thanks to the Moreys for sharing their passes!

Jay's fresh start.

Jay McCarthy experienced the real-world version of, "If your house was on fire, what would you take with you?"

Now let's all play the real-world version of, "If your friend's house caught on fire, how would you pitch in to help?"

The OTHER gold ring of power

You wouldn't think that a documentary about the stage crew of a Wagnerian opera would be all that interesting... or funny. But Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle does more than show how the fog is made. It shows you what happens when the boiler breaks and the fog isn't made. Or what to do when a Rhinemaiden is buried in carbon dioxide-laced fog and then has to sing.

And if you ever wanted to know who dates the lovely singers and ballerinas you see onstage, it's the goofy tech guys who crack jokes with them backstage before curtain. One tech relates, "Keith is presently enganged to a ballerina. A bunch of guys are dating ballerinas. Turbo used to date a ballerina, Billy Friedman is trying to start dating a Rhinemaiden. He sent her flowers last night."

These guys sit in Martin Crane-esque recliners playing poker until the scene change warning bell sounds. They lift weights, play chess, read, crochet (the women, at least), watch basketball and joke about how hot this year's crop of Rhinemaidens are. Then there is 90 seconds, (and only 90 seconds -- the music doesn't stop in this opera), of frenzied and potentially hazardous activity. Then back to the straight flush.

Back from NJ

I am back at work here in beautiful Shelton, CT for another fun-filled week of training and coaching. I was able to run down to NY/NJ for three days and got to hang out with my buddies who I haven't seen in some time.

Some highlights from the weekend:

- Meeting my sister in a club Friday night...accidentally
- Hanging out at the Tick Tock Diner and being way too loud
- Driving with Stone on Saturday in the Pontiac 6000
- Going to see Shrek 2 after four pitchers of beer
- Rescuing "Big Lou" from North Carolina

I gotta do that more often.

Fire Lucas?

If you're a die hard Star Wars fan, it's hard to hear someone say it's time to toss out George and hand over the Episode III reins to a fresh face. But there's some truth to the advice in this article:

Can "Star Wars: Episode III" be saved?

I was skeptical until I got to the part about the man we love to hate, one of the best all-time villains, Darth Vader:

"Fire Hayden Christensen, whose single emotive capacity is sullen petulance, and whose attempts to put on the magisterial rage that must become Darth Vader's hallmark instead sound like a tenth-grader whose dad won't let him borrow the car. This is essentially the story of a guy who becomes Space Hitler, which is already hard enough to get people to take seriously without casting a scowly teen."

Read it, nod, smile, laugh in agreement.

The Whole Ride to Yourself

Except perhaps getting your face painted like a tiger.

At the Fair

There's nothing quite like a cotton candy as big as your head.

Dubya

"The thing that's most important for me is to remember what's the most important thing." George W. Bush --St. Louis; Feb 20, 2001

Chewy Not-Goodness

When a newbie tries sushi, all of the experienced players at the table inevitably say something like, "The fish doesn't taste fishy at all!" And they're right. It isn't the fish that's fishy, it's the seaweed. Seaweed tastes like everything that's wrong with the ocean pressed into chewy squares. Once a year, I order some vegetarian maki to see if the Universe has changed the taste of seaweed in the last 12 months.

I would like to report today that seaweed still tastes like crap. See you next year.

Please excuse me...

... while I torment Dave remotely.

Dear Dave,

I'm leaving clothes all over the bedroom floor. Clean ones and dirty ones. They're touching each other in co-mingling piles. Some of the clean ones are getting dirty and some of the dirty ones are actually getting cleaner. Whatever I wear is going right back onto the floor when I'm done. I'm going to take some clean shirts off their hangers and toss them in the corner, just because.

And my hair mousse... it's splattering everywhere. On the clean clothes and the dirty ones. On the bed. On your freshly drycleaned shirts. On the plush beer yeast. I've taken some comics out of their bags so they get the full mousse effect. No, I won't use it in the bathroom.

I've been shopping. A lot. Yesterday, I went to a store, then came back to the same store a few hours later to see if there was anything new to buy. There wasn't, but I found some old things I had missed the first time around and bought those instead.

All in all, it's going very well here without you.

See you next week!
Love,
Tara

Switched in the Tub

One of the lesser-known reasons that parents are cautioned not to leave children unattended in the bath.

You may return to find a scuba-diving harem girl in the place of your kindergartener.

Name Change Alert

Crispy Apple Soy Nuts shall henceforth be called Crunchy Cardboard Balls with Just Enough Sweet Coating to Make You Hopeful, But Disappointed

Feeling Bad

I don't know why, but I have been in a weird mood all day. Very melancholy, etc. I had a great night sleep last night and actually got to sleep until 7AM, which is almost 2 hours later than I have been getting up recently. I should have been well rested, but I started dragging after lunch today.

On top of that I have a lot of work to do tonight. There are a few things that I need to get completed before tomorrow morning, and time is running out. Should be interesting.

The main reason that I am feeling bad is that something I said today hurt someone's feelings. I asked a person I was working with an innocuous question about her. Someone overheard it and it was twisted into something completely different. Something negative. I spoke to her, and she insisted that she didn't care but I still feel awful.

Also, I am listening to Death Cab and The Postal Service which isn't helping much.

Four Weeks.

That's how long I will be gone this time. Yeah, I will be able to come home on the weekends, but I won't be in the office for over a month. I have been asked to spend the next month in Shelton, CT (again) to work with the Customer Care group.

I always enjoy my time there and the people are very nice so I am sure that it will be fine, but I am not looking forward to being away from Boston for so long. I will be using the blog here as a means of communication with the rest of the world so keep checking in to see how things are going. Tara and Trevor will be staying here in "the Wood" and holding down the fort while I am away. I am sure that they will do fine, and don't need me anyhow.

I am leaving on Monday morning, and the best part of the day is that I get to try out the Acela which I have not used before. We'll see if it is as fast as they claim it is.

Lessons from a Casino

In which Tara and Dave learn that "Today's Special" does not necessarily equate to "on sale" after getting a bill which includes a $42.00 entree.

In fairness to the restaurant, the fact that our meal cost as five times as much as our usual dinners out did make it exceedingly "special."

The Mentalist

In general, I don't like mentalists. Mainly because their talents are so incredibly useless. "Whee! I can drive a scooter blindfolded in traffic!" And that helps us how? "I can tell you what word you're thinking of!" Great, but can you tell me if the vendor I'm buying this hot dog from has a social disease (that's VD for those of you born after 1950) and doesn't wash his hands?

I want none of this "think of a number between nine and three hundred" crap. Here's what I want my mentalist to do:

-- Let me know in advance when beef is going to be at it's lowest annual sale price at Stop & Shop so I can stock up and freeze it.
-- Tell me which new sitcoms are going to be cancelled so I don't waste my time watching the pilots.
-- Make me a list of the approximate dollar amounts of every Christmas gift I'm going to receive so that I can get something similar and avoid those awkward "I got you a pine tree air freshener and you got me a Movado watch" moments.

Spam and Pineapple

It's a random spam, just like every other random spam. Except that there was an immense photo attached of succulent juicy pineapple chunks positioned next to a ruler. Just look how big they are! I actually stopped to consider whether I could use a gross of pineapple.

Hello,
How are you!I am glad know you from web. We are the chief and the best pineapple can factory in china. Also produce can of tropic fruit. We have the abilities to supply you the best price and the largest quantities of the pineapple can, because our factory lies in the biggest pineapple planting area of China. And we had got FDA.
If you or your friends have large quantities every year, We are interest in cooperation with you by Agency or by commission. If you have any questions, pls contact me freely!
Best regards
helen

I've aged two whole seconds, Mom.

An in-car conversation:

TREVOR: "I'd like to go to that restaurant. Can we go there?"
TARA: "I think we'll pick somewhere less crowded."
TREVOR: "I want to go there. Could you drop me off? Just pick me up later."
TARA: "No, you're only five. You can't go to a restaurant alone."
TREVOR: "Okay." [pause...] "How about now?"

"Flowers" from Mom, for Mom

My mother sent me this nifty bouquet carved from fresh fruit pieces. We all ate ourselves silly with fruit, then stored the rest in the fridge. But no one was allowed to dig in before we got a snapshot of the lovely arrangement.

Thanks, Mom!

Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut

Dave and Trevor climbed into a play submarine outside of the children's museum. There was also a climbing wall, a fossil excavation bed, an echo chamber and lots of percussion instruments to bang with mallets. And we all know that kids like to hit things!

There are many pretend play areas within the museum. Trevor tried out an abacus, served food in a Mexican restuarant, sailed on a fishing ship and sat in an alcove the size of Anne Frank's hiding place.

Mystic Aquarium

jellyfish

Trevor

We found nemo!

Cat-and-Sheds

The Book Barn in Niantic is one of those shops from which book-lovers leave with arms overflowing with paperbacks. You can tell the true bookaholics — they're in the parking lot, sitting on the trunk lid, trying to get it to close.

All mass market paperbacks are a dollar. Most other books (trades and hardcovers) average around four, but the real fun lies in the layout of the place. Instead of a simple storefront, the books are sorted by genre and tucked (stuffed, piled, shoved and precariously balanced) in one of several places. You'll find paperbacks in Hades (an open shed lined with shelves), children's book on the second floor of the creaky main barn, horror and scifi in a tiny cottage in back and new arrivals in a converted tool shed. There are more buildings connected by dirt paths through haphazard gardens and fountains buzzing with flying things. Cats roam the grounds and alternately paw for attention and scoff at your lingering presence.

Despite the cats' opinions, the shopkeepers have designed the place with lingering in mind. Chairs of all types (most are covered in cat hair, all have seen hundreds of rear ends) dot the sheds and buildings. When there isn't room for a cushiony lounger, a cafe chair is substituted, and where the space is so tight the cafe chair would block the aisle, a stepstool does double duty as ladder and seat. Where there is room outside, there are picnic tables and patio furniture. Trevor and I found an outdoor checkers set and played a couple of games while Dave browsed.

I would advise paying with cash or credit at the Book Barn. If you happen to bounce a check, you might find your returned check on the Book Barn Wall of Shame.

Found list

When I look into someone's eyes, I don't see a window to the soul. I see little lines and flecks of color. But a grocery list is an entirely different story. People betray a lot in their thoughtless written reminders.

Here's one we found at ShopRite in CT on vacation:

She's shopping from the sale flyer, because she writes down specific brand names and prices next to some of the items. She's got a baby, maybe 9 months old — baby food and size 2 Luvs diapers (fits up to 18 lbs). She eats fairly well — broccoli, strawberries and salad. Dave proposes that she might be a vegetarian with a meat-eater in the house, but I think she's just trying to save money.

More found lists.

Mike & Johnny

My friend Mike from the Shelton office recently had a somewhat serious situation with a staph infection that was living in his arm. As a result of that he was given a semi-permanent IV and told that he couldn't drink any alcohol for almost 6 weeks! Here is a little of his story in his own words.

***
Well it all started with the simple surgery on my left elbow. 1 hour in and out right?

WRONG!

They found a huge Staph infection in my bone and couldn't operate. I was in the hospital most of that weekend on IV's. Now I have a PICC line in my arm (2 foot long tube right into my artery) for 6 weeks and have to administer 3 injections and an IV of antibiotics for 45 minutes a day.

Originally they had a visiting nurse come by to help me out, but now I can do it myself.

Dr. said the reason I'm on this 6 weeks and they are monitoring it closely is because he and the infectious disease guy are concerned that I would get this serious an infection twice so soon (back in Oct. I had the Staph infection) with no know trauma to the areas.

They are afraid that it's hiding somewhere in my body and attacking weak points, so they want to make sure it's killed everywhere if that's the case.
NO DRINKING for 6 weeks!

Had to make up for it somehow! LOL!

Catching up

Here we are at Mohegan Sun hanging out in our AWESOME hotel room and cruising around on our free web access. We have had a lot of fun and there is plenty to talk about which I am sure you will hear all about in details over the next week or so.

Important notes:

Hippies run cool bookstores
Aquariums will always rock
The casino is insanely cool
Gambling is OK
Shelton will be my home for a while

Belated Berkman Notes 042904

The room at the Berkman Center where the bloggers gather is a curious juxtaposition of Victorian architecture and 21st century technology. The room has the stiff grandeur and creaky floors of a proper parlor, but is criscrossed by an invisible wifi signal. The centerpiece of the room, instead of a pianoforte, is a screen projecting the IRC discussion in progress.

Sans Dave, the meeting was a casual discussion, flitting from topic to topic. We didn't demand resolution on any one course of action, but a few thoughts were agreed upon.

-- The group would like to continue meeting after Dave departs. There is a niche for the kind of discussion the Thursday group engages in. It's unlike the casual, hobby-driven discussion that some people have experienced at blogger Meetups. This group would like to help recruit new bloggers as well as serve as a repository for blogging information.

-- There is interest in creating a set of blogging tips for public posting. This resource would touch on topics like technical details, the blogging community and the ever-popular "how not to get fired for your blog." What do you wish you knew before blogging?

-- People are still interested in exploring the intersection of blogging and journalism. Several of us seem to view the Democratic National Convention as ripe with low-hanging blog fruit. There is a question of access.

Free Prize Inside

I can attest to the lure of the free prize. Stand in the supermarket cereal aisle with my kindergartener and you can hear it firsthand.

"Look, Mom! This one has a DVD inside!"

"Over here is one with a Spongebob top!"

"Oh, oh, Mommy! A free Yu-Gi-Oh card!"

The cereal could be muesli or ground roaches for all he cares. He would pay $4.99 to dig through food to reach the toy. The cereal doesn't have to sell itself. The toy sells the cereal.

Jiffy Pop is another product that enjoyed (and still enjoys in my house) popularity because of the free prize. No, it's not a tangible toy, but when you're standing in the kitchen with a two-foot foil ball of popcorn on the stove and a giddy child next to you, there's a reward. It's the experience. Trevor gets the thrill of watching the ball rise, fearful that it might explode at any instant. I get the wistful nostalgia of doing something with my child that my parents did with me.

Free prizes are everywhere. They're the reason to buy a Louis Vuitton purse instead of a Sears bag. They're the reason Target does so well over Wal-Mart with moms like me. They're the reason we bite through dry cookie to get to the fortune inside.

What's your free prize?

Birthday Presents

My birthday isn't for another week or so, but a shipment came to the house this week. Trevor could barely contain himself so Tara thought that he would tell me what the presents were long before she could give it to me, so she told me.

The first was this awesome T-shirt. Plan on seeing me wearing this shirt every free moment.

The other thing was something that I had my eye on for some time. ThinkGeek have these awesome plush toys in the shapes of bacteria, microbes and other nasty buggers. Tara nabbed me the Beer Yeast stuffed animal.

This little guy is really cool, and Trevor won't keep his hands off of him. I think I will have to hide him or bring him to work so Trevor doesn't steal him from me.

Nine ways NOT to rent a car

I now understand why people pay travel agents. Since the birth of online reservations, I have been convinced that any half-witted person with a mouse-clicking finger could book a trip. But jazzy Javascript dropdowns and popup calendars are hiding reservation systems that cannot get you from Point A to Point B.

My feeling is that when you advertise your company on the Internet, (especially if you are named National), you're promising service in my area of the country. But what I found is that many companies slap a Web-enabled interface over a spotty local service network and call it "worldwide."

Last week, I tried to send Dave from one end of Connecticut to the other in a rental car. I visited eight car rental sites and one all-in-one travel site — all of which resulted in exactly 0 reservations. Apparently, all you need to do to call yourself a rental car provider is stick a dropdown list of random locations and a Javascript calendar on your front page. Having physical locations and actual cars is optional.

Hertz, you lose.

All I wanted was a rental quote, but Hertz sent me in circles.

First, they gave me text boxes in which to type my pickup and dropoff "city names", but (just for kicks) those boxes don't actually accept city names. They require Hertz rental store names — like Bob's Main Street Getty. How am I supposed to know that before stumbling through the process and getting this error message?

Pick-up city name or airport/OAG code is invalid. Please try again

At first glance, it appeared as if Hertz doesn't rent in the city I typed. A less persistent person would have left, the punishment of awful usability. I go back for more.

I find my store locations with the help of a poorly-labeled store selector, choose the type of car (I'm getting somewhere!), when I'm hit with this gem:

RETURN NOT ALLOWED THIS LOCATION - SELECT ALTERNATE RETURN

You see, Hertz, I have to return the car to Mystic, because I'm going to Mystic. If I have to drop it off in another city, I have to rent another car to get back to Mystic. Is that a ploy to get repeat business?

National, just not in this nation.
National Car Rental offers four pickup locations in the entire state of Connecticut. Which means there is one location for every 1,300 square miles of state. Highly convenient. Goodbye, National.

A winner? Maybe not.
Enterprise stumbled only once when I wanted to return their car after closing. (I could have sworn they allow after-hours dropoff.) They shuffled me onward to choosing a car (with thumbnails of models and prices in bold). They were also quick to remind me that, "We pick you up!" which is always helpful for someone without a car.

I was surprised to find myself at the checkout screen within two minutes of starting my quote; however, there was a problem. They had never given me an option to return the car to a different location than the pickup spot. I was about to rent a car without being able to go anywhere. I backtracked, but there was no spot to choose a dropoff. I was stuck at the credit card information screen.

Try just a little harder.
Avis ushered me through the time, date, pickup and even asked if I was dropping off in a different city. But we hit an impasse at the drop off city again. (Why is this always a problem?)

We are unable to find an exact City match, please try again.

Try what again, exactly? Try to reroute my trip around your locations? The city where I'm dropping off is no slouch. It's a tourist city with major attractions, yet I can't seem to get there with a rental car.

We're so Thrifty, we've removed some cities.
At Thrifty Car Rental, I couldn't get past the first page. I'd like all residents of Bridgeport, CT to know that their "location does not exist." Or so says Thrifty.

Three more strikeouts
Alamo could neither find my pickup, nor my dropoff location. Same for Budget and Dollar. Done, done and done. It's getting to the point where I'm considering renting a vehicle, then leaving it by the side of the road at my destination.

Orbitz, my last hope, was a disaster of trip planning. It offered me the same pathetic deals that Hertz and Avis had cobbled together. And in their itinerary, I'm dropping off ten miles from where I'm picking up. Useful.

Buzzsaw

Ok, before I tell you anything more, please promise that you will laugh at me. Never let it be said that Dave Liloia is not willing to ridicule himself for a good chuckle.

Yesterday I was getting ready to trim my goatee in the bathroom. I grabbed the razor from the charging stand where it normally stays with the guard always attached. I touched it to my mustache and heard a very loud BZZT.

Immediately I stopped and looked in the mirror to see if I had been hurt in any way and to find out what caused this loud buzz. I was greeted by this picture.

Holy crap! I just accidentally shaved off half of my mustache! The plastic guard that I use to trim the goatee was off and sitting on the shelf next to the razor! I had just placed the razor flat against my skin and taken about a one inch strip of hair off of my face! I ran right into the living room to give Tara a chance to laugh so hard that she nearly fell off the couch. Next I headed back into the bathroom to survey the damage and patch up my work. Now I am left with this:

Or at least for another week or so until it grows back. Anyone think I should keep it this way?

Natick Mall Playspace

For all of you parents (or kiddies that read Liloia.com) you should know that the Natick Mall Playspace is closed for rennovations.

The website says that they will be closed until May 1st, but when Trevor and I checked it out this morning it said that it would re-open on May 7th. It looks to me (and to you if you look closely at the picture) that all they are doing is replacing the carpet underneath the play area.

Sunday Afternoon

Just as I was about to scream from the excessive humidity in the air making me sticky, the sky opened up and released it's captive H2O. This afternoon between loads of laundry we are reading books, magazines and comix, playing video games, watching movies and playing outside. Does it get any better?

Well, if there was no laundry...

Sunday Quote

"Giving the Linus Torvalds Award to the Free Software Foundation is sort of like giving the Han Solo Award to the Rebel Alliance."
--Richard Stallman at the 1999 LinuxWorld show

I hate Perks

In the center of town, right next to the bank and across from the ice cream shop (yes, I essentially live in Smallville USA) is Perks Coffee House. Don't bother with the link, it isn't a site for them, but one for all Norwood businesses and it is awful.

I go into this coffee shop every once in a while mostly because it has a very crunchy granola feel and it is pretty cool. The coffee is decent and the atmosphere is nice. The cups they serve the coffee in if you take it "to go" are awful. They leak, are too thin and they don't hold the heat it all that well which makes the great coffee that they sell cool off way too fast. Not to mention that the lids never stay and always leak there too.

**As an aside and tip for all places that sell coffee. The cup is where many places lose me. Don't give me a cup with a seam, it always leaks. Make sure I don't burn my hands when I pick up the cup because you bought a cheap cup. And make sure the lids are secure. If I spill it on my lap and can't have kids because your lids suck, you will feel the pain of McDonalds and their insufferable inane lawsuits.

I was willing to let it all go in exchange for the "kitschy" feel I get from there but tonight was the last straw. First, I had to ask for a sleeve. For non-coffee drinkers out there, the sleeve is what places that serve coffee in crappy thin cups offer as a band aid to protect you from hot coffee in the form of a folded cardboard circle. Their cups are tissue thin, so the sleeve should be a gimme.

Next the cup bent in half as I picked it up, popping the lid off and spilling the coffee on the counter. The clerk walked past me and pointed at the napkin dispenser. He did not assist me in cleaning it up, and went into the back room where I suspect that he laughed about my spill with the chickee that was working there too (who also ignored me).

Then, as I was finishing my coffee tonight (wondering what I would post about) I got a mouthful of coffee grounds. Not one or two, not a few of them. A MOUTHFUL! Ugh.

I hate Perks Coffee House. If they somehow find this post, detail a plan with action items and offer me some free coffee I will consider going back. Until then I will increase my 95% coffee loyalty to Dunkin Donuts to 100%