"Bits and Pieces" (again)

Another segment devoted to "bits and pieces",  read on

*    Today was National Pie Day!  A lot of people REALLY like pie.  I do too, sometimes.  Tonight the Big Guy and I went to Marie Callender's for a late supper.  After we finished, the young woman taking care of us, informed up that this was National Pie Day and asked if we were interested in having some pie for dessert.  We vacillated a bit, leaning toward one yes and one no.  Then she said, "It's free!"  Well, that just floored me.  I asked if they did this every year on NPD, but she said this was the first time.  After she convinced us that this was, indeed, a bona fide, authorized offer (we are skeptics of the first order!).  We both ordered pie....double lemon creme for Mikey and coconut creme for me.  Both were yummy.  How about that, though, Marie C's offered a free piece of pie to everyone who ordered an entree?  There are at three 3 Marie C's  in Austin alone, and its a nationwide chain.  If each location made the same offer...well, that's a LOT OF PIE!!!  There were no strings attached at all, just if you want one, its yours!  Now THAT's the way to build good customer relationships!  Congratulations to Marie Callender's for an Inspired idea!  Happy Pie Day!

(Of course, it is now 11:30-ish  p.m. and its probably too late where you are to take advantage of this great idea.  Oops....maybe I shouldn't have told you....sorry you missed it....well, maybe next year??)

**  Sloowwwly (but almost surely), Christmas is beginning to disappear from my house!  At last!  Really dragging my feet this year.  It should have been finished a couple of weeks ago.  Arrrggghh, I'm turning into a slug!

***   Am I the only one who finds it seriously unsettling (to say nothing of ironic) that morbid obesity and anorexia both exist in our society??

****   I was having dinner at Chili's one night last week (I eat out a lot!).  I was sitting in a booth by myself and in the booth next to me were 2 women younger than I, probably in their 40s.  The one facing me had rather longish hair and had spent way too many hours in a tanning salon.  Seriously scary!! [shudder]  I was reading, but my attention was caught when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.  Too-Tanned Tessie started to comb her hair!  Not much, just a few strokes, but still!!  Then she pulled out a....(I couldn't believe it)....a bottle of HAIR SPRAY and did a few spritzes around her head!!  OMG!  There were people at other tables and booths all around her having their dinner.  (Luckily I had already finished mine.)  But she didn't even seem aware, while she sprayed away!  All that tanning stuff must have permeated her brain and eaten away all of her good sense.   It wasn't intentional, but I felt my jaw drop and my eyebrows hit my hairline!  She was looking right at me and didn't react to my obvious disbelief.  Unbelievable!  She gets my vote for the most self-centered, inconsiderate, clueless, vain, over the top behavior I think I have ever seen!  Where is the Board of Health or at least a manager when you need them???  EWWWWW!

*****   The Haitian government has officially ended the government search for survivors from the earthquake.  They may have been a little precipitous in making that decision.  Another suvivor was rescued today, 11 days after the quake!  Various non-government rescue groups are still working and will continue to do so for a while longer.  Things are getting slightly better (very slightly), but now the next really hard part is ahead....rebuilding a city and its people.  Money is still needed.  Please help!

******   I went to the theatre last night to see a couple of friends in a production of "Deathtrap" by Ira Levin.  It was at the community theatre  that I have frequently worked with.  It was a good show and my friends did a absolutely great job with their roles.  The plot is intricate with an large number of plot twists that kept you guessing.  The set was well designed, period touches accurate, props excellent, costuming appropriate, pacing good (mostly).  I enjoyed it. 

And I wanted to cry! 

I miss theater!  That is, I miss the doing thereof!  I have not done a show since March of 2009.  You may have noticed that, although my profile mentions acting and directing, I have not talked very much about my theater experience (there's quite a lot of it actually).  The reasons I haven't done so, relate to a very long saga about my encounters with the people involved with this particular group.  May I just say that I've had more problems with this group than with any other group I have EVER worked with, in either Chicago or in California for the past 30 years!!.  Sadly (for me anyway), Austin is a town with lots of opportunity for live performance, most of it at the professional or semi-professional level.  I have no ambition or desire to move into the professional realm.  Conversely, there are only a very few  true community theaters within a reasonable distance from my home.  There are so many positive things about this group, e.g., their theatre, their seasons, their audience, etc.  It should be a perfect match.  But its not.  Perhaps someday (not today), I will break down and tell you my sad story.  In the meantime, I feel bereft whenever I think about my lost theater avocation.  Sighhh.........

Some "bits and pieces" are more fun than others.....