Monthly Archive for November, 2009

Retail gas prices highest in a year (AP)

AP – Retail gasoline prices chugged higher Friday to a new peak for the year, forcing consumers to dig deeper into already-thin wallets to pay for fuel.
OSHA fines BP a record $87M for Texas refinery fix (AP)
from Yahoo! Buzz US: Top Stories

OSHA fines BP a record $87M for Texas refinery fix (AP)

AP – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Friday imposed a record $87 million fine against oil giant BP PLC for failing to correct safety hazards after a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers at its Texas City refinery.

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Cheney told FBI he didn’t know about leaker

Then-vice president Dick Cheney told the FBI that he had no idea who leaked the CIA identity of Valerie Plame to the news media.

Dennis Hopper has Prostate Cancer

And he’s focusing on recovery. Screen legend Dennis Hopper is facing an uphill battle — the 73 year-old actor has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

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A-Rod’s clutch hit in 9th puts Yanks on brink of Series title

Alex Rodriguez delivered the biggest hit of his life, a go-ahead, two-out double in the ninth inning off Brad Lidge and the New York Yankees took advantage of Johnny Damon’s alert dash to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4 on Sunday night for a 3-1 lead in the World Series.

Philly paper gets ahead of itself on World Series

A Philadelphia newspaper has apologized to readers for mistakenly running an ad congratulating the Philadelphia Phillies on winning back-to-back World Series titles. The Yankees held a commanding 3-1 lead in the championship as of Monday, the day the ad was printed in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The three-quarter-page Macy’s ad is on the back of the front section and features a T-shirt with the…

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Limbaugh calls Obama ‘immature, inexperienced’ (AP)

AP – From his home and on a friendly network, Rush Limbaugh lobbed pot shots across the airwaves Sunday at President Barack Obama — “immature, inexperienced, in over his head,” offering the country “radical leadership” and laying siege to the economy.

Thinking negatively can boost your memory, study finds

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) – Bad moods can actually be good for you, with an Australian study finding that being sad makes people less gullible, improves their ability to judge others and also boosts memory.

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And apparently, Rush Limbaugh is still fat.

For bigger tips, servers in restaurants should follow these guidelines from the New York Times via The Savvy Boomer…
Examples:
7. Do not announce your name. No jokes, no flirting, no cuteness.
8. Do not interrupt a conversation. For any reason. (emphasis mine) Especially not to recite specials. Wait for the right moment.
14. When you ask, “How’s everything?” or “How was the meal?” listen to the answer and fix whatever is not right.
17. Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course. Wait, wait, wait.

There are other tips that folks in the big city should expect but here in Smallburg happen so infrequently, that I’ll give them a pass.

But even Smallburg restaurants should train, train, train staff:

• Greet both people when entering the restaurant, not just the woman. Sure, she’s the boss, but give the support staff a moment in the sun too.
• Servers waiting for customers should make an attempt to look as if they are happy, not like the SS outside Dachau.
• Servers waiting for customers should not be flirting and cracking jokes with other servers. Servers having a great time until a customer walks up is kinda bassackwards.
• Everytime you pass the table is not an invitation to blurt something our direction. Use your eyes before your mouth.

And of course, can’t be a post about eating at a restaurant without my little rant about music/televisions blaring. Unless you are a sports bar where televisions are mandatory, or a restaurant with live music, just skip it mmmmmkay? Like the restaurant in downtown Boston with an Irish theme playing country/western because the bartender liked it! (#32)