I Can't Feel my Face!

The dentist that I'm going to uses all the high-tech gadgets: digital bite-wings, integrated computer patient database, blue-light cure composite fillings...

And yet, all of the assistants are high-school students. Literally - I asked one. They do an okay job with the polishing, and the dentist is actually the one wielding the sonic scraper for once, so I haven't had a problem before when I just went in for cleanings.

However, I got a little unnerved today when I had some fillings done. It bothered me just a little that the dentist was spending a lot of time telling the assistant what to do. It bothered me a lot when he had to correct the assistant during the procedure! In addition, the assistant couldn't seem to aim the suction device well enough to keep me from feeling like I was going to drown in my own spit. I was shaking by the time it was over, and shivered the whole way home - not from the cold, either.

Compound this by how I got there ten minutes early, but had to wait until 45 minutes after my appointment time to be seated. They didn't start the action until an hour and 15 minutes after the appointment time. I was ALSO told that it looked like the decay under one existing filling (that they were removing to replace) might be close enough to the root that I would need a root canal. Thankfully, once the coarse drilling and some poking were done, he was able to verify that I could keep my nerve.

And I used to like going to the dentist.

(Hi to all the RGSB people!)

Local Food: POL Bistro & Cafe

We tried a new restaurant tonight. I had been driving past it on the way to work for months, and it finally opened on Monday. All I knew about it was the name, "POL BISTRO AND CAFE" but I wanted to check it out. Not because I really like Polish food, but because I really don't know much of anything about Polish food beyond pierogi from the fair. So I had my first experience with a potato pancake wrapped around beef stew. It was really pleasant, simple food, and I've got enough leftovers for two more meals - from the lunch portion! For $9.99!

It is also a new, independent, local restaurant. I like the mom-and-pop places and I like to see them do well. But around here, the chain crap-on-the-wallpelbees type dominates the selection. We have a lot of good independent Asian and Mexican places: Thai, Indian, Japanese, and dozens of taco/burrito joints. I'd like to see more variety, so getting some European choices is great. If someone opens up an independent American restaurant that ISN'T a sports bar I'd be there, too.

I'm not saying that chain restaurants don't have a place in my heart. I'll go for a focus-group-approved salad from TGI Fridays or the portobello ravioli from Olive Garden when the mood strikes. What I hate is the idea that eventually every establishment in the country will serve the same menu of artichoke-spinach dip, deep fried onion blossom, and Jack Daniels steak. I had a preview of that future in Terre Haute... We did eventually find a few good independent places, but a "city" of that size should have had more, at least in my perfect world.

The best defence against homogenization is to reward the unique places with your patronage. That can get difficult when the sneakier chains try to make themselves seem like non-chains. I've learned to use the power of the Internet to check up on a new place before getting my hopes up. Basically, if it is a chain, and it is named something like "Mike and Jimmy's" you can nearly bet that there has never been a Mike or a Jimmy involved in it. They just call themselves that to seem like they used to be a mom-and-pop place. Grr.

Update on previous post: Bibble did come out with a new version when I was halfway through the processing. It does nifty new stuff. (One of these days I'll write more about Bibble and how I use it.)

Slow Progress

I took too many photos last week. As the official wedding photographer, I was supposed to take a lot of pictures, but I surprised even myself when the night was over - I had over 900 shots. I shoot in RAW, and I post-process in Bibble, so I get to run my fingers over each one of these pictures again. That is where the "too many photos" comes in. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have so many pictures, and so many of them are nice shots. But I've been at the laptop for the greater part of the day, and I'm only about 250 pictures into the stack. (The ceremony just ended. Next up, the formal portraits.)

Prediction: as soon as I finish converting the last batch from this wedding, Bibble will have an update to the software version that does something miraculous. It's happened before, and no matter how long I stall before starting, the new software comes out a few days after I finish. Grrr.

Honey Liqueurs

We threw a New Year's weekend gathering, and one guest brought a bottle of Barenjager Honey Liqueur. (Teuke + Koenig, Germany, 35% alcohol). We all tried some - and we all liked it. Anyone who doesn't have a problem with how alcohol tastes would like it, because it tastes like alcoholic honey. We didn't mix it with anything, just sipped it from small glasses.

Since that was so great, and we ended up at a liquor store the next day, the same guest decided to buy a bottle of a different type of honey liqueur. The Old Krupnik Polish Honey Liqueur (Poland, imported by Adamba Imports, 40% alcohol) has two bears drinking under a tree on the label, so he went for that. This one doesn't taste nearly as much like honey as the first one, but honey is a very significant flavor. It is more complicated, as the bottle hints by saying "Prepared from bees honey and various spices and herbs according to Polish recipes many hundred years old." I call it good, but it wasn't as popular as the Barenjager.

I had some with hot black tea, and this may be my new favorite hot alcoholic drink. Today, a coworker told me that Old Krupnik is actually a traditional Polish tea "additive" and his first exposure to the liqueur was when he ordered tea at a Polish bar. So I was being culturally authentic and didn't even realize it.

Recommendation: both, eventually; if you favor sweet tastes you would like the Barenjager better; if you favor spice (like chai tea without milk or sugar) go for the Old Krupnik.

First Post!

Okay, me, here are the ground rules: I shall not post while (newly) angry. I shall not post while drinking. I shall not post anything so boring that I wouldn't tell my friends in person. I shall not obsess over comments, or lack of comments. I shall spellcheck my posts.