Ok, first off, I have to say, I'm not the easiest person to get to try new things, but when the wifey REALLY wanted to go to Far East Asian Restaurant for the first time, I reluctantly went with her. I decided to give it a shot, since I'm a lover of Chinese and sometimes Japanese foods. People she knows have apparently been raving about it.
I'll preface the review by saying I've lived up here for a little over five years, and every single time that I can remember passing the place, the wifey always has to comment on how nasty the outside looks, which it does. That's the main reason we've never went. If they can't keep the outside looking half-way decent, why would we assume the inside's any better?
We went in, and well, it was the same as the outside, just plain nasty. We went in and sat down after not knowing what to do for a few seconds. There was no menu. Granted, this may be because it was lunchtime, but still, no MENU!? Even normal asian buffet's have menu's just in case you don't want the buffet.
So, we went to the 'buffet' table, which had I think 8 or 10 places for food, 2 or 3 being starches. Not a good selection at ALL. I decided to get the fried rice, General Tso's chicken, and Chicken w/ Vegetables.
The General Tso chicken didn't taste like anything really. Not much flavor at all. It had sauce on it, because it looked like most chicken I see at other restaurants, but nothing came of it. At least it had SOME flavor, because the Chicken w/Vegetables, well, didn't at all.
The Chicken w/Vegetables, granted it was what looked like 100% chicken breast torn in pieces by the staff, was just aweful. If you like plain chicken, it was great, but I like some flavor in my meal. The vegetables were just steamed and seemed out of place.
My 'fried rice' wasn't fried at all it didn't look like. It looked more like the rice at Golden Eagle Stir Fry, but if I'm at an Asian restaurant that has chinese food, I would like real fried rice.
And this wasn't a huge deal for me, but they had a bar where drinks were put up on so you could get them. When I went up to the bar, there were 4 glasses of water sitting there, barely having ice in them. I thought they may be for another customer, since no restaurant in their right mind would just leave drinks sitting where other things could get into it, but the manager (I'm assuming) said take one of those when I told him I wanted water. I just looked at them, and I'm guessing he got the point, because he said let me get you a couple of fresh ones with ice.
The topper came right before we walked out the door. Not suprisingly, India saw that the last health score for Far East Asian Restaurant was an 83....EIGHTY THREE!!!!
Never again will I go there, and I know the wifey won't. I'm only sad because they got some of our money. But it won't happen again.
Please, don't waste your time or money for the Far East Asian Restaurant on E. Main St. in Murfreesboro, TN. You'll do whatever you want, but if you're smart, you'll see what I meant if you do go.
Marco's Pizza:
Marco’s Pizza on E. Northfield, in the shopping center along with Family Video, is a relatively new pizza place in Murfreesboro. The shopping center was just built around a year or two ago. Sitting practically in the middle of nowhere, although not hard to find, I think it’s a great position to do well. It’s right across the street from multiple apartment complexes, including a college complex.
Their menu is basically a copy of just about any pizza place you’ve ever been to, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, what else does a pizza place need?
Besides the taste of the food, the thing that sets Marco’s apart from other chains is the pizza crust toppers. Anytime you order pizza, you have the choice to have them add butter garlic, parmesan cheese, or roma to the crust. Or you could just choose plain crust. It may not seem like much, but that little touch puts it above a couple of places to me. I do have to say that the roma topping tasted a little too salty to my wife and I, but the other two toppings are great.
The few times we’ve ordered take-out, our order has been ready to pick up in around fifteen minutes. One interesting note about the employees: most, at one time or another, have worked at another specific pizza restaurant, one that I also worked at. If you see Stephanie or Natalie, tell them Eli said ‘hi’. They’re awesome.
Marco’s Pizza on E. Northfield has the typical pizza restaurant menu items; pizza, subs, salad, wings, cheese bread, and cinnasquares. They have delivery and take-out, as well as a drive-thru window. While you’re getting pizza, why not get a good combo deal by renting a movie just two doors down at Family Video. The two companies have come together to give their customers some great deals on a pizza and movie.
Marco’s Pizza:
Price: 7
Food: 8
Service: 10
If you want to give me your opinion, want to disagree, or suggest a local restaurant you want to see reviewed, let me know. Email me at Clayelirogers@aol.com. I love to hear from readers.
Virginia Trip
As I'm sitting in this Fed-Ex/Kinkos in Richmond, VA, and I'm bored. I'm paying .20 a minute to use this damn internet, so I thought I would send something to my masses and masses of fans...
What was supposed to be a 10 hour drive to Richmond, turned out to be a nearly 14 hour drive, because me and India had to keep switching up driving every hour or two, because we were exhausted.
We stopped at a gas station, that if it didn't have the gas pumps, from the outside, you would have sworn it was a normal house just out in the middle of nowhere.
We also went to a 'Safari Zoo' somewhere in VA, I forgot the name of the city. It started with an 'N', and the second word was bridge. N___ Bridge. I forgot. Anyway, the animals just stick thier heads into the car for the food. It was fun. India about freaked out from the ostriches and other birds.
The capitol of VA isn't that great. It just looks to me like they built a whole bunch of stuff in the ghetto. The whole place just looks like it wouldn't be a great place to live. Lots of rude people at restaurants. Not like TN at all. And for the first time in a year, I had to be seated in a "non-smoking" section. That was weird.
I'll tell you what, the Waffle House just outside of Knoxville was great. No one was there for the first 15 minutes we were there, so it was like we had a private restaurant.
Sales tax is only 5% here, but food is higher, so it really just off-sets itself.
Gas in VA is CHEAP compared to TN. I filled up in Murfreesboro at $3.05/gallon, and gas has been going down for a little while in the 'Boro, so that's good. But when I got to VA, gas was $2.59/gallon. Unbelievable. I never thought I would be happy to see that price, but I am.
India went to a bunch of her conferences, and liked a few, so hopefully the trip was worth it. I enjoyed being away from Murfreesboro, but am going to have to get a job soon. India is the breadwinner right now, but then again, she has two pretty good jobs, so what would you expect?
We met another one of India's uncles, David, a couple hours after we got to Richmond. Went to eat, and talked for a while. They have a La Siesta here, but it's an Americanized version of Mexican food. The cheese dip was Velveeta with peppers, the quesadilla was a taco, burritos had weird sauce on them, but it was alright. Just not a Mexican place. False advertising.
I should be back soon. I dread the drive, but VA is very pretty. Lots of hills, landscapes, etc. With the fog and rising sun in the mornings, it's wonderful.
October '10
On our way back from VA, we stopped in Gatlinburg. We stayed at a Ramada in Pigeon Forge for two nights. We went to Christmas Village, but other than the hotel, that's all I can remember.
Dr. Dressler
One of my two favorite teachers in my life died Tuesday, June 10th, 2008. I just found out about it today, the 18th, by reading the Murfreesboro Post.
Dr. James Dressler, History professor at both Cumberland University and MTSU, was a great teacher and conversationalist. I took his 'U.S. History' classes I think about 5 or 6 times.
I loved listening to his lectures, he was a very smart man who knew what he was talking about, and you could tell he really enjoyed talking about history. He also threw in interesting stories all through his lectures. From what I learned from his teachings, he lived a very fulfilling life.
Normally, I don't get upset when I hear that people die, even if I met them a few times, but when I read that he had passed away, it hit me kind of hard. I actually was stunned with my mouth hanging open for a couple of minutes. I'm upset over this. I had planned on taking his class again the next semester I was able to get back in school, but this past Spring semester was the last time I was able to now.
His classes were always 6pm-9pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Crazy hours, I know, but it was well worth it. He made History class fun, and I'm glad I go to be his student for those semesters.
Rest In Peace Dr. Dressler, you deserve the respect of everyone you ever came across.
Journals
January 2008
Well, school started. After not being able to go for about eight months, I finally was able to go to a class. I’m so happy.
The sucky part is this: I decided to be more active this semester because I’m getting too fat, so I went to the Rec Center on campus to play over an hour of basketball by myself. Good thing, right? Well, no it wasn’t.
For some reason, my left knee is shot right now. I can’t go up or down stairs. If I leave it straight or bent for longer than a couple minutes, then try to move it, it hurts. I hobble when I walk. It F’n HURTS. I don’t know why.
I hope to get better soon, because I actually WANT to be active. Wish me luck.
October 2008
Also in '08, around Springtime, I woke up one morning with a red knot on my right knee. I really thought nothing of it until progressively, over the next few days, the knot got bigger and bigger. At its biggest point, it got to be around the size of a small cantalope, completely covering my knee cap and the surrounding area. Again, just like the basketball injury, I couldn't really move it that much. After a couple of weeks, it just went away.
Now, over two years since either incident, a couple of thoughts enter my mind:
After the basketball injury didn't heal for a week or two, I should have went to the doctor to get checked out. It healed fine on its on, but looking back on it, I wish I would have found out what was wrong.
Same for the red knot a little later in the year. I'm almost a hundred percent sure I got bit by something in my sleep, and I'm almost sure it was poisonous. Luckily for me, since I didn't go to the hospital, it wasn't deadly poisonous. Being the 'hate doctors with a passion' person I am, I didn't go to the doctor when my knee was swollen and it was hobbling me. I want to know what happened to my knee that time, too, but never can now.
The point of these two stories is to tell myself that if anything like that ever happens again, I have to go to the doctor. Even just for the peace of mind. I'll tell you though, 2008 was a bad year for my knees. Now, my knees have a different problem, the weight they have to carry. But I don't need a doctor this time.
Here's to hoping I don't have to deal with another knee problem until I get to be 60+.
2006 Review
Ah, this is my last post of 2006. As if anyone cares, honestly. The only things I really can remember about this year is:
I got fired from Mapco for talking about illegals, I got hired at a liquor store right behind the Mapco.
I failed all my classes in the fall because I thought it was all over, but now I know I actually CAN go back to school next semester.
I saw a few really good movies in the theaters: Hostel, V for Vendetta, Pirates...Dead Man's Chest, Texas Chainsaw: the Beginning, Saw 3, the most important one, the original Halloween, in THEATERS, on Oct. 30th, and Rocky Balboa on December 29th, by the way, that movie was so good, my wife didn't want to see it and planned to sleep during the movie, but come out of the movie saying it was one of the best she's ever seen.
I went to California, not for a vacation, but to see my Momma, who I've never had much of a relationship with, die. It was inevitable, but even though we didn't know much of each other, I really took it hard. I cried a few good times. She WAS my flesh and blood, she gave birth to me, and I DO miss her, no matter what anyone may think. I said a lot of mean things about her throughout my life, but I miss her and do love her, and I did say that to her. That was the last thing I said to her, and she knew it, because she actually became alert the last time i saw her and listened to me cry and say I love you.
Earlier in the day that my Mom called to tell me that my Momma was dying, India and I went to Pet Land to get a guinea pig. We stayed in there a little while, playing with birds, guinea pigs, ferrets, and looking at fish, lizards, and other animals. After we picked out a guinea pig, we left. During the 5-10 minute ride home, India's eye and face progressively got more irritated and swollen. By the time we got home, one of her eyes was swollen shut and she had hives all over her cheek.
I told India to take a shower to see if it would help, and meanwhile, her Aunt was telling me to give her a Benadryl. She started crying in the shower because it was getting worse, and her throat was starting to close up. When she got out, she took a benadryl, and we headed to the hospital. Of course, I sped to get there as soon as I could, and of course, I got pulled over. Now, typically I'm an advocate for cops, because they help the community, but this cop, I wish I could have punched in the face.
He asked me why I was going so fast, then after ignoring my answe,r looked at my wife, who had just composed herself after crying for a while, and asked her what was wrong. Apparently he thought I was an abuser. After forcing me to stay put until an ambulance got there to take my wife to the hospital, he told me to go on to the hospital while the paramedics helped her in the back of the ambulance. When I got to the hospital, I had to wait until they had her stabalized before I could go see her. Eventually, after a shot of epipen, and help from nurses, she got released a little later.
I'll say this: That particular cop was an ass. Why, I don't know. Looking back on it, I wish I would have just drove on to the hospital, gotten the ticket, and probably the beaten by the ass-cop, rather than wasting time sitting on the side of the road for 15 minutes and paying $750 for a 1 mile ride in an ambulance. Seriously, I was about a mile from the hospital.
Me and India went to Myrtle Beach for our ONE YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!!! She almost broke her foot ON our anniversary, so that was bad, but we made the most of it.
All in all, I can't really remember much about the year except the stuff in this blog.
Me and India fight a lot, talk about everything, and love each other more than anything other than God. I love her and I really hope to have a child with her within 2 to 4 years. I can't wait to raise a child with her. I love her more than life itself, and without her coming into my life nearly 6 years ago at Bi-Lo, my life would be completely different. I love her.
And another thing about this year is, I have been concentrating on a lot of bad things lately. I'm growing more and more scared about cancer, hernias, my teeth falling out, me dying suddenly of a heart attack at 23, because I'm a fat-ass. I have pains in my lower mid-section all the time, and to a lesser extent, my......"man-region". HAHAHA, man region, that's a gay way to put it. But testicular cancer scares me more than any one thing on this Earth. And my teeth are bad, and I don't want to go to the dentist, because I don't want to feel pain, because I'm a wuss.
Anyway, I hope whoever, if anyone, reads this, enjoyed it. It's my life, and sadly, i just summed up my whole year of 2006 in about 6 paragraphs. Sad, ain't it?
