Back to my regularly scheduled programming.
I had to deal with my stupid laptop today so I went to Best Buy in hopes that they had my warranty on file and that they would take care of my white wine mess. Of course the warranty expired a year ago and I forgot to renew it. Don’t they send notices for that kind of stuff?? I went to the Geek Squad area to see if they could recover the data I had on there and of course since the thing wouldn’t power on I had to buy a new laptop and a hard drive to leave with them so they could take all the crap off the old one. Thank God I am so paranoid and ridiculous about my images that I have them still on my memory cards and I didn’t lose anything. After I got my new gear I got back in the Geek Squad line. This one dude was busy helping someone and I could clearly hear 2 other employees standing nearby chatting about a recent Vegas weekend. I asked the guy who was busy if the other guy could help me.
Me: “Excuse me I know you are busy but does he (pointing) work in the Geek Squad department?”
Clerk: “Oh yes he can help you but he is talking to that guy about work stuff and he will be with you as soon as he is done.”
CLEARLY A LIE! I was getting so pissed off standing there. Like my blood was boiling. WORK STUFF? What the hell is work stuff? Bottle service in Vegas? The slot machines? You know… coming back from such an awesome trip you would think I would be just calm and cool and not let this bother me, but goddamn I was getting ticked off. So homeboy chatting to someone (who was not dressed like a Mormon who was probably not qualified as “geek” status) ended his conversation and then started breaking down boxes. He disappears for a minute and I was about a second and a half from yelling at the busy guy when luckily another guy came out and asked if I had been helped yet. Honestly, I had to catch my breath and put myself in their shoes. If I worked at Best Buy I might act like a total little asshole, too.
I stopped by the office to give away some souvenirs: Dallas got kangaroo nipple warmers (naturally), Lauren got body scrub from the mud bath place in New Zealand, a bunch of people got those little koala clip-on thingys from the 80′s, and Tommy and Michelle got the genuine kangaroo paw items. (bottle opener and keychain respectively) Neither of them would actually even touch the damn things. They are pretty creepy and gross. lol
Tommy and I went to a new place in town called Quality Social. There is a funny story about the guys who own this place… I met Chris #1 a few years ago at a function at the Ivy and then ran into him a few months later at a wine and food festival. We exchanged texts and he told me he wanted to meet with me for a business meeting with his partner, also named Chris. (called Dex from here on out.) Basically they needed funding for this place and somehow thought that me being in the porn biz qualified me as a millionaire/investor. HA! At the time it was in the middle of the economic crisis and they struggled with financing but finally got the thing opened just a few weeks ago. (I haven’t talked to either of them since the fall of ’08 so you can imagine how shocked I was when I got a call from Chris #1 the day I was leaving for Australia.) It’s marketed as a downtown “luxury dive bar” and has the feel of a classy place but without the cheesy pretentiousness of a downtown nightclub. They have a full menu that is pretty impressive and involves an entire pig being brought in once a month! The kitchen stays open til 2am I think every night of the week and they have some killer cocktails. I had the “h” cocktail: square one cucumber vodka, st. germain, lime, club soda, cucumber and black pepper. Tommy had the “dirty old man”: old overholt rye whiskey, benedictine, lemon, and peach bitters and then moved to “white whiskey rusty nail”: death’s door white whiskey and drambuie. I ordered the charcuterie plate (an assortment of 5 different items from the pig) and of course Tommy ate none of it because it wasn’t Jack in the Box. We asked Dex what his favorite drink on the menu was and he recommended the “pickle back” : a shot of Jameson with a chaser shot of pickle brine. I am usually unable to stomach any brown liquor unless it’s Malibu (is that even brown?) or Captain Morgan so I was a little nervous about losing my cool in front of Dex. It was remarkably good! I might have to start carrying a flask of pickle juice around.
After we had caught up on about 50% of our gossip we moved over to Bareback where Joe met us for a drink also. It’s good to be back and catch up with everyone.
