Tony’s Journal

I am not usually a big soccer fan, casual at best, but I am interested in the current Euro 2008 tournament. Yesterday I used the resources available to me to hook up a laptop and a projector to show the live Germany-Turkey match on the wall of my office, as the European night games start at about 2:30 pm Eastern. It’s not too distracting, really, and I have the audio running over some speakers so I just look up when the British announcer starts talking especially quickly and loudly.

Right now I’ve got the other semifinal match going, Spain vs. Russia. Not a very eventful game so far, though Russia looks weak.

So I’m here working, and I turn my head a few minutes ago to find a Hispanic man outside my window. This is very unusual, as my window is 20 feet above the ground. He’s here to wash the windows, which is something I’d not seen since I got this office in January, but he’s just there in my window, watching the soccer match. This is what he saw:

He was squinting a lot, so I got a piece of paper and wrote in a big sharpie

He smiled and gave me the thumbs up and lowered himself down, out of view.

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Al Roker hosted a piece on the Today Show this morning during which NC BBQ faced off against SC BBQ with a live taste test. The NC entry was Ed Mitchell from The Pit in downtown. The white guy in the background with the goatee is State grad Greg Hatem, a guy who is doing a hell of a job revitalizing Raleigh by renovating old buildings, with places like The Pit and The Raleigh Times and the Duck & Dumpling, to name just a few. Watch to see who won. Actually, you know I wouldn’t be posting this if NC lost, so. . . ha! “South Carolina – First in Failure.”

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How did I forget to link in the photos?

I don’t know.

Here they at.

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Sent an email to Tri-Arc and got this response from a nice gentleman:

Dear Mr. Baumann,

You are the first customer to email me about when our Western Blvd location is going to reopen. The cleanup of the location has gone really well and we have made much improvement. We are shooting for a reopen date some where in the middle of July.

Sincerely,

[name of guy who knows]
Tri-Arc Food Systems, Inc.

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A few months after one of my other favorite restaurants was hit by a plane, now comes breaking news from the Mandy News Network that our beloved Bo has caught on fire.

Allow me to quote myself:

One of my favorite restaurants, and of all the damn things, a plane crashes into it. My list is short, but of restaurants near and dear to my heart, about which I’d say “I hope a plane does not crash into that place,” it’s maybe Mitch’s, McCall’s, Bo on Western, Schwartz’s, and Riverview.

Mitch’s
McCall’s
Bo on Western
Schwartz’s
Riverview

Let this serve as a warning to the remaining three: You Are On Notice. Sleep with one eye up, as Jay-Z would say.

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