Stay away!

I know i used to go on and on about how much I like the Piccadilly Pub restaurant chain, and for the most part, I still do. But now, I must advise you to avoid, at all costs, the location in Tewksbury, MA.

This is where Mike and I used to go for lunch every Saturday, after collecting mail at The Good Post Office. But in recent months, this restaurant has gone downhill, and I haven’t enjoyed going there anymore. Now that baseball season will be starting soon, and we’ll be going to games almost every weekend, we’ve pretty much done away with picking up mail on Saturdays, anyway. Mike will now pick it up on Fridays instead. And we’ll just eat someplace either before or after the ball games, so we still get a nice meal out once a week.

I think that this particular Pic is under new management. Our regular Saturday bartender left, and we’re still not sure why, all we know is that we don’t like the people who replaced her. One of them actually handed Mike’s credit card back to another customer…lucky for us, they were honest and gave it back. But given the growing skeeve factor at this place, we could have risked losing the card to someone who would have taken it, left, and went shopping at our expense. The day that this happened was the last time I set foot in the place.

They seem to be more interested in the customers who play Keno than they are in people who actually want to buy food and drink. And, I’m sorry, but people who play Keno in bars and all tend to be on the skeevy side. I have seen this in EVERY place I’ve ever set foot in that has Keno, I thought that the Pic was an exception, but now, apparently not.

Not ALL Pic locations have Keno. The only other one I’ve ever been in is the one in Sturbridge, we sit in the bar area there, and they have no Keno. The service and quality of the food is also better than Tewksbury, so we’ll still eat there when we’re out that way. And we’re also open to trying other locations…there are several between here and the PawSox ballpark…we could try the locations in Foxboro or Attleboro after a game sometime…we are always looking for someplace good to eat after a PawSox game, and frankly, there’s not much good in Pawtucket.

But if we pull up to the place and see a Hugh Jass KENO sign on the lace, we will go elsewhere. I HTE Keno and most of the people who skeeve around in bars and play it, and I rfuse to patronize any place that supports it.

Another bad thing Mike is noticing abut the Tewksbury Pic is that they’ve reduced the portion sizes greatly. Once again, we don’t know if it’s just that one, or a chain-wide thing…we think it depends on who’s the manager. Mike still goes to that place when he picks up mail during the week…the only good thing is that the weekday bartender is at least competent. But he’s wondering how much longer she’ll be around, and when they’ll have yet another substandard server to replace her.

The big portions were a part of what we liked about this chain, and we do plan to find out if it is just this location or chain-wide. At least, if we were looking to lose some weight, we could just eat at the Tewksbury Pic, and not have to buy stuff like an eca stack in order to lose weight!

I’d like to urge all of you to boycott bars and restaurants that have Keno.  They really do increase the skeeve factor, and ruin places that used to be good.  Gambling really has no place in restaurants and bars, and I’d love to see it banned altogether.

Nuttin’ better to do, I suppose…

Lisa sent me this link: Massachusetts Will Consider Video Game Legislation This Week. I had heard abut this on the news, and it really pissed me off.

We have so many other, more important things to deal with here in Massachusetts.  WHY are the morons on Beacon Hill wasting time discussing CENSORSHIP, when they should be discussing more pressing issues, such as the sex offender problem.  We have judges here…one in particular, a man named Robert Moses, who have repeatedly freed sex offenders, who have then gone on to re-offend.  Why is the state being so slow to do anything about this, yet they worry about whether or not kids can buy certain video games?

I agree that little kids probably should not be playing these violent video games.  But that should be for the PARENTS to decide, not the government.  If we allow the government to pass this bill, what will be next?  A complete BAN on these games?  The way I see it, when it comes to any form of censorship, if you give them an inch, they take a mile.

My Congressman, Rep. Ed Markey, was instrumental in getting the V-chip thing passed.  This means that all TVs sold now must have V-chip technology, which enables parents to block out TV programs via the TV ratings system.

I have a TV with a V-chip.  Although I have no use for this, I played around with it, and found it very easy to figure out, even without looking at the owner’s manual.  It works very well.  As long as a parent knows the TV rating of a show they don’t want their kids to see, they can use the V-chip to block it.  Problem solved, right?

Wrong.  Now, there are some nutcase groups out there who feel that ALL entertainment, everywhere, should be *family-friendly*, and anything that isn’t should be banned and taken off the air.  I forget the name of this one group, but they were hell-bent on getting all of the “CSI” shows taken off the air for being too graphic and violent.  Never mind that they come on at 10PM, when little kids are supposed to be in bed, anyway.  Never mind that they could just use the V-chip, or just turn off the damned TV.  Nope, these shows are evil and must be banned so that NO ONE can see them, ever.

This is what I see happening with video games.  Even if this passes, and kids can’t buy the violent games themselves, this won’t satisfy some people, and they’ll push and push until they can get these games banned completely…not even adult gamers would be able to get them.  And that is just wrong.

No matter what the entertainment medium…be it video games, TV, movies, music…parents need to step up to the plate and be PARENTS.  It is up to THEM to control what their own kids can and can’t be exposed to.  It is NOT the job of the government to do so.  The government needs to stay the hell out of stuff like this, and worry about more important stuff…like fighting crime and having tougher prison terms for sex offenders and other dangerous criminals.

Wake up, Beacon Hill!

It’s almost spring…

…but the weather is still nippy, and many people are taking spring vacations to someplace warm. I know I’ve been seeing a lot of TV commercials, offering good deals on trips to Jamaica and such. Also, many college students are, or will be going away from spring break, once again, perhaps to a foreign country.

If you’re in the Boston area, and the parent of a student going on spring break to Mexico, you might want to catch the FOX-25 News at 10 tonight. They will be having a piece on how to keep your student safe during spring break.

I don’t know if the FOX news story will mention it or not, but another important consideration is travel health insurance. Yes, you and your family may be fully insured through your job…but in many foreign countries, American health insurance is not acceptable. So, if something happens, you or your children may have trouble getting medical treatment. I know that in Mexico, you can’t get treatment without Mexican health insurance. So, if you’re planning to head down that way, or your kids are going there for spring break, PLEASE look into this before leaving for your trip. Hopefully, you’ll not need to use it, but better safe than sorry!

Happy traveling!

Thanks for the earworm, Governor Patrick!

So, Deval Patrick and House Speaker Sal DiMasi were messing with each other at the annual St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast in Boston yesterday. As you may or may not know, Governor Patrick is very much in favor of bringing casino gambling to Massachusetts. Sal DiMasi is very much opposed, and say that he has the House behind him on this one.

I’m not really sure if having casinos in our own back yard is such a good idea. I’ve talked before about the skeevy *element* that these places have been known to attract. But I’m not morally against gambling…they just need to be careful where they put it. Maybe it should just stay in places where it already exists, like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Connecticut, royal caribbean cruise lines, etc.

Anyhoo, the earworm thing. If you live anywhere in the northeastern United States, you’ve heard that Foxwoods jingle over and over again in commercials.  I hadn’t heard it in a while, since the Connecticut hotel-casino complex decided to go a different route in their advertising, and stopped using the song.  But it used to drive me crazy and be stuck in my head forever.

Now, old Deval has brought it back, at the St. Patty’s Day Breakfast.  And now that damned song is running through my head again, ever since I saw the news story about it.

So now, I’m going to make you all suffer by posting the link to the video here.  Clicky to hear Deval Patrick singing (and more).

Please, won’t you be my neighbor?

How’d you like to be the next-door neighbor of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino? I can definitely appreciate some of the perks that go with it, more cops, faster snow plowing, etc. And for just over $300,000, the house, in the Hyde Park area, can be yours. Looks like a pretty nice house, too.

You can see a news story with video HERE.

Anyway, I was thinking it might be kind of cool…if I actually wanted to live in Boston, that is…and I don’t. But just imagine…I could be outside mowing my lawn, and I could wave at him over the fence.

“Hey, Mumbles!”, I’d shout, “wanna come over Saturday for a barbeque?” Of maybe, “Hey Mumbles! Think the missus might want to come over for a Tupperware party? Or how ’bout you both come by and check out some of this cool Orovo stuff I just got…supposed to be VERY good for you!” Or even, “Hey Mumbles! Did you swipe my Boston Globe AGAIN?” You know, all of those things that neighbors say to each other over the fence.

Seriously, though, although the house looks nice and is priced reasonably well for the area, I don’t think so. I think I prefer my peace and quiet, and if he really does go out and ring the bell on his bike at godforsaken hours, I’d probably go crazy!