L.L. Bean is #1

…in customer service, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s annual rankings!

I can vouch for this.  In all of the years I’ve been shopping there, be it from the paper catalog, online, or at the store in Freeport, I have NEVER had a single problem.  The employees are always knowledgeable and polite, not like so-called “customer service” at most mall stores, which seems to consist primarily of surly teenagers who are in serious need of some bad breath treatment.

For instance, let’s compare a couple of my own shoe-buying experiences.  At most stores, L.L. Bean included, women’s sneakers only go up to size 10, and therefore do not fit me.  So I have to buy men’s sneakers.  Once I went to the Sears store at the local mall to buy a pair of Reeboks.  I already knew that the women’s sizes would all be too small, so I went straight to the men’s section.  I selected a pair that I liked, and asked the salesgirl, a teeny-tiny little bimbo, to bring me the size I needed.

She got extremely snotty with me, telling me that these were MEN’S shoes.  Yeah, bitch, I KNOW that, not that it’s any of your damned business as to what I put on my feet.  I wanted to smack her teeny-tiny bimbosity into the next galaxy, but instead I asked her again for the shoes.  That is her job.  People pick out what shoes they want, she goes  back and gets them.  Nothing more, nothing less.

I bought the shoes, because I hate shoe shopping as it is, and I wanted to just get it over with.  But I was very angry over the rudeness of this bimbo.

Buying shoes at L.L. Bean was completely different.  I asked the salesguy for the men’s version of a show that I liked, that also came in a women’s version.  Being used to getting treated like crap for being a woman who wears men’s shoes, I started to explain to the guy that the women’s sizes were all too small.  But I didn’t need to, he said he understood completely, smiled, and went and got me my shoes.

So you can guess where I buy all of my shoes now!

Bean’s #1 status is indeed well-deserved, for so many reasons.  Congratulations to them!

Portsmouth Craft Beer Weekend

If you love craft beer as much as I do, New England is a great place to live, with the large number of craft breweries and brewpubs we have here.  It seems that barely a weekend goes by when there’s not one beer event or another taking place.

One week from today, the Portsmouth Craft Beer Weekend takes place.  You really need to visit the site to see the full schedule of events.  But the highlights include the Long Trail Beer Dinner, which will be held on Sunday, February 28, at the Portsmouth Gas Light Company.  The cost of this dinner is an amazingly low $25 per person.  There will also be a screening of the excellent documentary Beer Wars.  We already own this movie on DVD, and have watched it, but it will be fun to watch it with other people, in a room full of craft beer fans.

If you want to go, don’t delay in getting tickets!  Although the Craft Beer Weekend site says that tickets are available at the door, they are also available online at the Portsmouth Gas Light website…click HERE for ticket-buying page.  The Gas Light is not a humongous place, and I imagine they will be having the dinner on the downstairs level, so space will be limited.  Don’t miss out!

Monday, March 1, marks the annual Kate the Great Day.  This takes place at the Portsmouth Brewery, next door to the Gas Light.  This is a one-day celebration of the tapping of their Kate the Great Imperial Stout.  The tapping will take place at 11:37 AM, just after the restaurant opens for business…but if you want to buy bottles to take home, sales for those start at 9AM.  Be prepared to stand in line, though…this is a VERY popular event, from what I hear.  But lucky is the beer lover who can take off from work to participate!

Kate is available this one day only, which is the reason for the lines.

Anyhoo, it all looks like it will be a lot of fun for the craft beer lovers out there.  Not very good for those who need to take prenatal vitamins, though…too bad, so sad!  We won’t be able to make it to Kate the Great Day, but we are definitely going to the dinner/movie on Sunday night; already ordered the tickets.  We are greatly looking forward to it!

Oh…if you can’t make it, but are interested in seeing Beer Wars, there are now several ways to do so.  You can do as we did and order a copy of the DVD.  But now, you can rent it on Netflix, how cool is that?  You can also get it On Demand from various cable and satellite companies, and it can be downloaded from Amazon, iTunes, XBox, and PS3.  See this page for further details.

It’s a story of the difficulties faced by small craft brewers, being forced to compete with what I have taken to calling The Big Three Piss Trough (Anheuser-Busch/Miller/Coor).  Even if you’re not a beer drinker, if you like to root for the little guy, the small business person, this is a great film to watch; it will really open your eyes to a lot of stuff!

MOMMMM…I’m BORED!

We’re now about halfway through February school vacation week here in Massachusetts.  And many parents are hearing their kids whine about being bored.  Well, since there are still a few days left until it’s back to school on Monday, here are some fun things to do, at some of the wonderful living history museums of New England.  Cheaper than going to Disney on Ice, less mind-numbing than sitting in front of the TV all day watching glucomannan supplement commercials and stuff like that. And it’s all fun AND educational, too!

Old Sturbridge Village has tons of activities on tap for school vacation week.  There is snow on the ground, so they’ll be able to do the horse-drawn sleigh rides.  There are also plenty of indoor activities that are fun for all ages, go HERE to check it all out!

Plimoth Plantation is not normally open to visitors until sometime in March, but they will be offering some fun, hands-on programs during school vacation week.  See the daily calendar of events for more info.

And finally, Mystic Seaport is offering free admission to kids (when accompanied by a paying adult) from February 18-21.  There are a lot of fun activities going on during “Liberty Days” at the museum, please click HERE to learn more.

If none of this solves the “MOMMMM…I’m BORED!” problem, well then I don’t know what will!

A St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn

We’ve been listening to the WGBH radio program, A Celtic Sojourn, for years, but have never been to one of their live performances.  They have been putting on Christmas shows for some years now, as well as a St. Patrick’s Day program.

Radio host Brian O’Donovan is well known in the local Celtic community for bringing listeners the best of Celtic music, old and new.  He also hosts the live shows, which have always been wildly popular.

Well, this year, we are going to the St. Patrick’s Day show, which will actually be held on Saturday, March 20, at the Sanders Theater at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.  Tickets are currently on sale for all WGBH members, at a 15% discount, sales for non-members will go on sale later today.  Tickets can be purchased online right HERE.

We’re WGBH members, and got an email about the advance sale and the discount; if you are a member, you should have gotten one, too.  Good seats go fast, so if you’re interested, grab them while you can!

I’m glad to find stuff like this to do, before baseball season starts.  We can’t exactly afford to retreat to a Florida vacation home, so we have to make the best of what’s here.

I know that we will enjoy this concert.  Before the show, we plan to go to John Harvard’s Brew House, in Harvard Square, for dinner and a few beers.  Mike has never been there, and I haven’t been there in years.  I checked, it’s still there, in the same location, so no problem.  Harvard Square has changed so much over the years, and in my opinion, not for the better.  Nice to see that some of the older stuff is still there!

We’re looking forward to it all!

Valentine’s Weekend at Plimoth Plantation

Are you looking for a unique way to celebrate Valentine’s Day?  Tired of all of the commercialism that surrounds this “Hallmark Holiday”, such as the ads that urge you to buy all sorts of stuff for Valentine’s Day, from pricey jewelry to a ps3? Are you also sick of dealing with crowded, noisy, not-so-romantic restaurants and movie theaters? Well, perhaps Plimoth Plantation has the solution for you!

Over the weekend of February 13-14, Plimoth Plantation will be hosting their Valentine’s Day Special.  Guests can choose either a romantic dinner on February 13,  or a brunch on V-Day itself.  Or both!  Both meals will be followed by a romantic movie at the museum’s Cinema.  There will be two movies shown…one is an independent film starring Robin Wright Penn and Alan Arkin, called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, the other is going to be a romantic comedy classic to be decided later.  They’ll know what the second film is when you get there, and then you can decide which one you want to see.  The Cinema has two theaters, and both movies will be shown at the same time.  So you can only see both if you sign up for both the dinner and the brunch.

We made reservations for the dinner.  The price for that is $90 per couple, $80 for members of the museum.  I signed up for a membership before making the reservations, so I got the member discount.  Plimoth Plantation is not actually open for viewing of regular exhibits until March, but Mike and I had been talking about visiting for some time, anyway.  Being that adult admission to both the museum and the Mayflower II goes for $28 per person, and that the membership for individual plus one goes for $60, the membership cost will have paid for itself after the dinner and one visit once the museum opens up for the season.

Anyhoo, $80-90 for dinner and a movie is actually a really good price.  Where else can you get a package that includes a red rose, a glass of wine for each person, a four-course meal, a movie, and chocolates and popcorn to bring into said movie?  Tax & tip is included in the price.

I am hoping that since they are gearing this for couples, that will be enough to keep those couples with kids away, or to hire something called a BABYSITTER if they plan to attend.  There are no discounted kid meal prices, which is a good sign.  At a regular restaurant, there will always be some inconsiderate dumbass who will drag little kids into the place, and ruin the romantic atmosphere for everyone else.  I hope that this won’t be the case here!

We shall see!  Click HERE to learn more about these events, and how to make your reservations!