Jack’s Old & Busted Blog

(YahooNews): Research shows productivity falls as offices get colder.

How ’bout pumping oxygen in, like casinos . . . ?

Experienced riders of bicycles and motorcycles will tell you that making eye contact with other drivers can tell you a lot about their attention levels. I’ve noticed that people driving while talking on their cell phones are pretty much incapable of looking at you. It should be against the law to talk and drive.

(DailyMail-UK): Drivers are four times more likely to have a crash if they are talking on their mobile phones, researchers have found. And hands-free devices are no safer as they can still distract the motorist and raise the risk of an accident.

I’m a “rounder-upper” tipper, which means I ususally tip 20% or more. As for bad service, I usually leave way before I get to the tipping part if I see that the waiter or food is not up to par. We’ve gotten pretty adept at scoping out a restaurant just by looking around. The biggest clue: If the restaurant is busy, are more than half the people eating or waiting? If they’re waiting, move on.

(WSJ.com): Your restaurant meal is over and you’re about to leave. Now comes the hard part: How much do you tip?

Sent by a friend. Make sure you get to the end . . .

It is important for men to remember, that as women grow older it becomes harder for them to maintain the same quality of housekeeping as when they were younger. When you notice this, try not to yell at them. Some are oversensitive and there’s nothing worse than an oversensitive woman . . .

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The default wp template is nice and lets you change the image header fairly easily, but the rest of it is built using images, which is kind of a bear, because it’s all or nothing if you decide to tweak it. For future reference (and after I finish that big landscaping project, get in shape, and start eating better) here is some useful info:

(codex.wordpress.org): Template tags are used within your blog’s pages to display information dynamically or otherwise customize your blog, providing the tools to make it as individual and interesting as you are. Below is a list of the general user tags available in WordPress, sorted by function-specific category.

Had a great dinner at Rice Village on Dickson St. This is the latest in an explosion of Asian food restaurants in the area. Rice Village is big on presentation and service (the staff shouts out some sort of Japanese Korean greeting when you walk in), and the food does not not disappoint. We had two specialty rolls, a Beach roll and a Hollywood roll. The Beach roll had shrimp and mango on it, while the Hollywood roll arrives at your table flaming and is topped with little dollops of spicy mayonnaise. We also had a white tuna and a rose roll. Being big sushi hog-pigs, we finished it all, along with edamame and miso soup. We finished with complimentary Japanese Korean beverages that resembled a yogurty orange drink. Highly recommend!

UPDATE: Sjarvis sez the chef is Korean, and so the greeting and unusual orange drink are probably so, too. I did notice that the drink said “made in Korea” on the bottle, but who knows anymore?

After that, we went to Arsaga’s for an art show. We ended up buying three mixed-media pieces by Sarah K. Moore, a local artist. I’ll post some pics when we pick them up.

We had a nice Fourth. Watched the fireworks at the baseball stadium. The show was great, but we were stuck in the parking lot for half an hour. and that night, our neighbor’s 20-something son and some friends decided it would be a good idea to celebrate the Fourth at 12:30 a.m. on the 5th. Neighbor wasn’t home, so I’m sure this seemed the logical place (a quiet neighborhood) to practice their “light fuse and get away” skills. I went outside and read them the Riot Act, just like some old person angry suburbanite. They slinked away quietly, like they were too old for this sort of thing, anyway. Feel the wrath of Suburban Man!