Ramblings From Justin Penney

We left around 8:00 on Saturday. We dropped Lily of at my Mom's and ate at Taco Johns. They added alot to their breakfast menu. I had a potato and egg burrito and Jacey had an egg quesadilla. About halfway down I realised I was missing one of the balls on a piercing I have. Since you can't uasually get replacement balls that are threaded the same it was a loss.

St. Louis was just about as hot as the surface of the sun. The NPR station warned about a heat advisory lasting until Wednesday! Getting out of the car and walking a couple blocks was nearly enough to completely drench us.

We went to Saleem's. It's one of my favorite restaurants out there and I figured Jacey would like it too. About part way through the meal I realised that we were eating Lebanese and then getting ready to attend a Jewish wedding. The coincidence with the current Lebanon-Israel issue was pretty funny.

After lunch we went down to Iron Age tattoo hoping they would have some jewelry. Most places don't end up stocking any thing as large as what I needed so I didn't have high hopes. when I walked up to the counter and the girl there looked at me and said, "Joe's not here."

I gave her a puzzled look then she said, "Oh. I'll be right with you."

The actually had the size I needed! And it was cheap!

We started to walk back to the car when I suggested going for some cocktails. I hadn't noticed Pin-Up Bowl in all the times I had been in the Loop until they opened one up around here. So we headed back there. Jacey did not want to walk all that way in the heat but she stuck with it.

The place was really cool. It was swanky without being overdone. The bartender was wonderfully friendly and prompt. About halfway during our time there they started playing the Gypsy Punk album by Gogol Bordello. I have that album but I never really listened to it. Sometimes it takes and experience with an album to get me to like it and I'll probably now be adding this album to my iPod.

After a few cocktails we were ready to check in at the hotel. Our room was supposed to be adjoing with the Watkins' room. It wasn't. It was "really close" but not adjoining. I was mildly annoyed but we weren't going to be in the rooms much so I didn't push the issue. We hauled everything into the room and started to settle in when I noticed a used coffee cup stuck to a light fixture. I called down to the front desk and she said she would send someone up to get it. I told her I had thrown it away but maybe she could work something out. She called back and cut room rates by a very large amount.

We got showered up and started to get dressed. Jacey packed all the clothes and I didn't double check it. Jacey didn't pack an undershirt. I found out where a Target was and went and got some shirts. It was raining a little when I got there. On the way out it was like the sky was ripped open. I got back and got mostly dressed in my tux when I noticed there were no black socks. We ran back to Target. By this time it was one of the heaviest rains I've been in. It was also coming just about straight sideways so the umbrella did nothing for us.

# posted by Justin @ 9:10 PM