Grilled Stuffed Nacho, ice cream overload, and six inches of snails

Anthony and I had our usual Sunday night outing tonight.

We went to Taco Bell for dinner at Broadway and Camino Seco.  He ordered the new Grilled Stuffed Nacho (which he says he liked) and I had a Smothered Burrito.  My favorite part of the Grilled Stuffed Burrito was the price ($1.29).  That made him a cheap dinner date.

After that, we went across the parking lot to Baskin Robbins.  Anthony got a Reese's Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sundae (the second one he's had in three days) and I watched him eat it.  I was too full from Taco Bell to get anything.

Then, we went next door to Walmart Neighborhood Market for grocery shopping.  I think Anthony was on sugar overload.  He was random and hyper the entire time in the store (like an eight year old!).  It made for an interesting shopping trip but we got it done.

It's our last grocery shopping trip of the year.  Don't worry, we'll do the same silly thing every week of 2014!

Grilled Stuffed Nacho at Taco Bell, Broadway and Camino Seco
Anthony said he liked it.

Smothered Burrito at Taco Bell

Anthony getting fast and furious with the napkin dispenser at Taco Bell

Anthony getting orgasmic with a Reese's Peanut Butter Sundae at Baskin Robbins

He would have licked it clean if his face fit in there

Roland Escargots at Walmart Neighborhood Market - Broadway and Camino Seco
It comes with a tube of empty snail shells.
This is one item I would not buy.

Desserts Skittles
If you've always thought of Skittles as an entree, this proves you can have them for dessert.

It's December 29 and guess what?
Walmart Neighborhood Market has shelves stocked with Valentine's Day candy.
I am surprised they waited this long.

Sneaky photo of Anthony:
Shopping in the super cheap medicine bin.
Anything you have wrong with you can be solved for 88 cents.

Dunkin Donuts 20 dollar breakfast sandwiches

Anthony wanted ice cream before going home last night, so we first tried to go to DQ on 22nd Street but they were closed.  DQ does this at some of their locations around Christmas due to slower business and then reopens after New Year's.

We went to the Dunkin Donuts / Baskin Robbins dual location at Grant and Swan.  He got a Reese's peanut butter ice cream sundae and I took pictures.

The funny thing about this visit was there were newly installed menu boards on the Dunkin Donuts side that they are having some sort of trouble with.  A handful of the breakfast sandwiches were all priced on the boards over $20, more than four times their normal price.  There was a handwritten sign on the cash register stating they were working on fixing it but in the meantime the prices were wrong.  It still made for an amusing photo.

Sneaky photo of Anthony while we wait in line
at Dunkin Donuts / Baskin Robbins at Grant and Swan

We had to wait behind that family near the counter that
struggled with deciding which 12 donuts to buy

Somebody's excited about getting ice cream!

The new Dunkin Donuts menu board at Grant and Swan
that had Egg White Flat, Wake Up Wrap, Turkey Sausage,
and Spicy Smoked Sausage all priced at over twenty dollars

Second menu board at Dunkin Donuts that had Tuna Salad and Chicken Sandwich
priced at over twenty dollars.
For that price, it'd better come with a side of sex.

A visit to La Salsa

Anthony and I went to dinner last night at La Salsa at Speedway and Wilmot.

We went at a good time, there was no waiting and only a few customers in the restaurant.

Anthony had taquitos and I ordered a taco platter.  It was a good dinner.

Dining room at La Salsa at Speedway and Wilmot

Tacos, beans, chips and rice
Anthony's taquitos are on the far plate.
Om nom nom.

The case of the exploding Kleenex

I came home from work a few days ago, and found a mess on the kitchen floor.  It looked like a Kleenex had exploded.

Lucky doesn't do this sort of thing, so Anthony had to be responsible.

It turned out that he had left a tissue in an article of clothing that shredded apart in the washer or dryer.  He had to rush out and hadn't had a chance to clean it up before I got home.

Fortunately, it wasn't created from a sneeze.  If it had, it would likely have blown his nose off.

The case of the exploding Kleenex has been solved.
Sherlock Holmes can go back to what he was doing.

Anthony's total whine at BevMo

Anthony is one of the most difficult people ever to buy gifts for.  He keeps saying he doesn't want anything for Christmas, but I did get out of him that he wanted a bottle of wine and some glassware to drink it out of.

So, we went to BevMo at Broadway and Wilmot so he could pick out what he wanted.

One of the things that I don't understand about him is his refusal to bring his I.D. to most places.  It nearly turned into a wasted trip but the clerk who rang up the order was kind about it (when he didn't have to be).  The best rule when you're an adult is.... if you leave your house, bring your I.D.  You never know when you're going to need it.  Unless you participate in all ages activities and pay cash.

I tried to talk Anthony into those fancy red cup stem cups at BevMo,
but he preferred actual glass. How fancy.

Heh heh... KEN wood.

A visit to Smashburger

I've tried most of the chain based 'gourmet' style hamburger restaurants that have come to Tucson in the last couple of years, but I hadn't given Smashburger a shot until today.

I've eaten at In-N-Out Burger, Freddy's Steakburgers, Culver's, Five Guys, and now Smashburger.  Out of those five, I'd rate In-N-Out the best, Smashburger second, then Culver's, Freddy's, and Five Guys (in that order).

I do wonder what happened where two burgers, two fries, and two sodas jumped to over $20.  And, none of the restaurants I mentioned are significantly better than the big chains like McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's.  Maybe they use gold plated cows.

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger at Smashburger and Anthony had a mushroom burger.  They have several varieties of fries -- regular shoestring French fries (which is what we both ordered), Smashfries with olive oil, sweet potato fries, and also fried onion sticks.  They serve the burgers on egg buns (that was pretty good) and if you eat in the dining room they serve the drinks (self-serve) in hard plastic cups and offer actual silverware.

We ate at the Grant and Swan location.  Smashburger has opened a second location at Broadway and Alvernon, and are apparently working on a third location.

Smashburger at Grant and Swan
They are in the west half of the old Buddy's Grill location

Waiting in line to order at Smashburger

The menu dispenser at Smashburger
I managed to control my excitement

Here's Anthony wearing a scarf and waiting for our food

My bacon cheeseburger at Smashburger with French fries
I don't care for pickles, that's Anthony's paw stealing mine with his fork

Anthony's fries and burger at Smashburger

If you're on a budget, eating at Smashburger isn't for you.
Our two burgers, fries and drinks were over $20.

Christmas lights at Ridgepointe

Sometimes the best of intentions come up a little short.

I thought it would be nice to take a few pictures of my neighbors around Ridgepointe Apartments and their little holiday light displays.  If you live in an apartment, it's difficult to do much that falls into the Clark Griswold spectacular light category.  But, I thought it was cool that a few people put up some strands of lights to show their holiday spirit.

I was reminded there is a reason I have a few different cameras... primarily to handle different situations.  I took a little black point and shoot camera that I have (Sony TX-20) and took a few photos while walking Lucky tonight.  Unfortunately, the camera struggled with the really low light available and most of the photos don't look very good.

But, I decided.... what the hell.  I'm posting them anyway.  Mostly because if I take another camera around again and shoot another round of photos, my neighbors are going to start thinking that I'm a pervert or worse, just weird.  People don't trust a guy with a camera walking around at night.

One odd thing:  Some of the photos show lights blinking (which they were doing when I took the photos).  They are .jpg photos, which should not do that and the photos shot just like every photo does on this camera.  I don't know why that happened.  It doesn't do it when I view the photos from the folder on my computer, but once I uploaded them to Picasa (the service I use to house them online) they do that on computer browsers and even on my iPhone when I look at my website.  It's a mystery.

Enjoy the crappy photos that have magically blinking lights, and Merry Christmas.

Luck of the Pot

We didn't have a company party this year at work, but the sales department did have their annual pot luck dinner as a thank you to employees who work in the other departments in our building.

The food was delicious.  I do love me some ham, and there was also pasta dishes like macaroni and cheese, potato salad, and a bunch of desserts.

The best part of pot luck dinners is that you can pick and choose what you like.  Most of the food doesn't really go together but I suppose that is the luck part.

The pot luck spread in the conference room

Here's some happy pot luck eating co-workers
Notice Taylor and Laura on the left who aren't excited to be photographed by the Kenparazzi

Om nom nom

Sally and Allison dig into the ham

Getting their grub on

Allison blew bubbles for some pot luck ambience

Seeing bobcats while leaving work

I spotted a family of bobcats on the other side of the south parking lot fence while I was leaving work from the KGUN 9 building tonight at about 5:45 p.m.

It's not that common to see bobcats this far into the city.  Even though it was getting dark, I was able to get some video through the bars of the fence.

It was a mother bobcat and her two frolicking bobcat children.

Fortunately, they usually don't try to eat humans.

Here's the direct link to the video below on YouTube:  Click here

Oh Ken, you're so sneaky

I was feeling like a bucket of ass today but still went to grab dinner and get groceries with Anthony.

Even though I was feeling poorly, I still managed to muster the strength to take two sneaky photos of Anthony.  I had to dig deep for the energy.  But, these things are important.

Sneaky photo number one of Anthony:
Deciding which kind of sugar to buy at Walmart Neighborhood Market.
It was exhausting just watching him.

Sneaky photo number two of Anthony:
Buying ice cream at Baskin Robbins next door to the grocery store.
A container of his favorite flavor and a sundae to eat when he got home.
I think he would have purchased more but he only has two hands.

Dinner with Anthony, Jason and Alberto at BJ's

Anthony and I had dinner last night with our friends Jason and Alberto at BJ's Restaurant on Oracle Road near Tucson Mall.

We had a great time.  I've been friends with Jason for over ten years and it's always fun catching up.

One of the topics of conversation was when we were next door neighbors on Stone Avenue.  That house was the biggest dump I'd ever lived in but had super cheap rent (2 bedrooms, wood floors, washer and dryer, $475 a month).  We talked about how we both enjoyed living there.

I started thinking back to my very first apartment in Denver, Colorado.  I had considered that place kind of a dump but now that I look back, the apartment wasn't too bad.  I even looked it up on Google Street View today... 5590 W. Warren Avenue a few blocks off of Sheridan in southeast Denver proper.  The Safeway that was across the street when I lived there is now a plain grey building called Contractors Supply, but the apartments themselves look exactly the same from the outside as they did in 1986.  I'm guessing they don't use green shag carpeting inside anymore, but who knows.

BJ's on Oracle Road near Tucson Mall

Anthony didn't want his picture taken at this moment, I did it anyway.
I was testing out a flash setting on my camera.
That's the story I'm sticking to.

Jason and Anthony while we wait for our table.
Alberto works at this restaurant, he joined us later.

The lounge area of BJ's

A behind the scenes photo of the host station

Jason's dinner

Anthony's dinner

My dinner

Alberto's dinner

Ken, Jason, Anthony and Alberto
Cheers!
(the photo bomb is an employee who works at BJ's,
I love a good photo bomb)