So I was craving another sodium-enriched baguette sandwich from Burger King today. Already had the Smoky BBQ, wanted to try the namesake, Santa Fe Fire-Grilled…as I pull into BK’s parking lot, I can see the drive-thru is packed, at least a 10 min wait. Having a crappy radio and barely any CDs in the car, I decide to hoof it and go inside to get it to-go….

The fella at counter takes my order, ‘A #9’, I say. Well, it seems BK’s registers are not programmed well as this guy has trouble finding the right key combination to unlock the fast-food fortress (and I’ve had this problem the last 3 times I’ve gone to a BK). Not a problem, not his fault. But as I watch the leading-edge, single-line display facing me, showing the items he punches up, I thought I saw something with ‘BCN’ or ‘BG’, but couldn’t tell cuz he was working it like Beethoven.

So he punches up the amount, gives change, then hands the receipt to me; with it being lunchtime I decide to not stand at the counter while checking what the receipt says. Sure enough, he had punched up a Bacon Double Cheeseburger! Now I’m no health nut, but at the same time going from a chicken baguette to a Bacon Double is too far of a stretch for me to suck it up. So I step over to the pick-up counter, and try to grab the attention of one of the fast-food couriers jetting back and forth. Finally I grab one and tell her what I wanted, it’s the same price as what I paid, so ‘can you just switch it out’?

Uh-oh, I should have known what with all the problems they have punching up combo orders, this was gonna be a big deal. The girl I grabbed, had to grab her manager (you could pick her out by the NFL-licensed headset she’s wearing). After a few moments, she asks ‘Was it the tall guy or the small guy (who took your order)?’. Um, I knew trouble was coming. For me that was, cuz one checkout guy was about 5’9′, the other 5’9 1/2′ after much inspection. So I single out the tall guy, and she sends the first girl over to replace him, and delegates him to counter duty.

Damn, ruined this guy’s day over an innocent mistake! So of course now he’s bringing out the orders, so we’re face-to-face. But I was able to explain to him, ‘Hey, I wasn’t trying to call you out, no big deal, all I asked was for her to swap it out.’ He was nice enough about it, albeit with a ‘what the hell’ grin on his face. And the funny thing was the first thing out of his mouth is ‘What’d you order, I don’t even remember waiting on you’? Pretty funny…

But at least it’s nice to know the managers at BK don’t like a squeaky wheel in their well-tuned lunch machine….

Put in Rex Grossman! The offense is not winning games for you! You’re playing creampuffs right now, that’s why you’re winning….next week you’ll have it handed to you, if not before….after you win one on the road, we can talk…..otherwise bench the old man, so we find out sooner than later if we have another Cade McNown on our hands!!!

…from Lunds…sorry, just had it for lunch, excellente!! You know how you spend $5.50 on those lunch sandwiches and usually get some grade D focaccia and slimy lettuce, etc.? This was the most flavor I ever got, with blackened chicken, cheese, and some purple sauce that must’ve been some vinaigrette…..mmmmmmmmmm……….would give Panera a run for the money….

The wife and I went to see ‘Elf’ Saturday nite, making sure we slid into the last matinee of the day. That way if it sucked at least we saved a few bucks, a mantra to learn in these days of big marketing and little substance…..

I didn’t expect that with ‘Elf’, or Will Ferrell, and wasn’t disappointed! It’s the perfect holiday movie for adults and kids. Buddy the elf (Ferrell) is a larger than life elf, who finds out he is not really an elf, but had arrived unexpectedly at the North Pole as a toddler, found in Santa’s sack after a nite of delivering gifts to an orphanage. Having been so busy at the workshop and not having time for a family of his own to that point, Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) decides to raise Buddy as his own.

Buddy learns his birth father lives in New York City, and decides to make the journey to reunite with his dad….which is quite the trek as you’ll see. Needless to say Buddy’s dad is a somewhat ruthless children’s book author, but Buddy ends up helping spread the Christmas message to them and other New Yorkers.

WIll Ferrell as Buddy was the perfect cast, as he’s not over-the-top like Jim Carrey, and surprisingly I saw some new sides to Will’s acting, as it never got old, the ‘I’m an elf..’ bit. Plus the guy could make anyone laugh! And the other good thing with this movie is it never turned into ‘The Santa Clause’ or some old-time Christmas movie. It stays light-hearted, yet there was even a moment when the wife almost shed a tear, and still re-introduces one of the oldest Christmas doctrines, how Santa really got his sleigh to fly (with a modern twist)…the movie does all this without losing momentum…

I highly recommed ‘Elf’ and give it five stars, which means something once I get my movie reviews back online, dammit!

In addition to putting together a couple more blogs this weekend, I’m working on improving the site, adding the categories to the messages; you can filter them right now, I just haven’t added them to the message display window.

In addition, I’m working on getting my music reviews going and dusting off other parts of the old illiniguy.com website…

…the Wachowski brothers are frickin’ insane!

court documents

nice argument there, Wacho…

And on a lighter note, our Commander in Chief:

George Dubya