Hunting, Waco, and Football

Yes, the title has the word "hunting" in it. I went quail hunting on Friday morning in Belton, Tx with my good friend, Matt Martin. I shot me 5 birds! I'll be honest with you, I'm not a hunting kinda guy. A day in the city sounds a heck of a lot better than going out with a bunch of good ol' boys shooting poor little animals. But it was fun. I really enjoyed combing the field with a 20 gage shotgun! Anyway, it was all good times. Bogart's in Waco is a pretty cool new bar that I really liked -- it made me actually want to watch Casablanca or any other Humphrey Bogart film. Finally, I went to my bro's playoff football game; they totally killed the other team 56-0. I felt bad, but now we're just 1 game away from going to state!! I really do hope they're able to win state -- it would be so cool for him!

What's in a Nod

So I've noticed that there are 2 nods guys use to acknowledge one another. The more formal one -- the one I use for a guest walking through the lobby at the hotel -- is a slight tilt downward. It's classy and always returned the same way. Notice I only perform this gesture for the guys -- I reserve a bright smile or a wink for the ladies! The second and more informal one is the tilt upward (this movement can be either slight or exaggerated). I typically use this nod in casual settings.

Cheers

A lot of Brits say "Cheers" after I check them in at the hotel. I've always heard this expression used before toasts, but apparently it can also mean "Thank You" in the UK. I think it would be cool to say the word, but it sounds so bloody vulgar with an American accent that I don't think I will ever be able to!

Random Stuff That Goes on in Hotels

I like to hear behind the scenes stories from other peeps' jobs. For example, my friend Nathan Blalock used to work at Brahm's, and said that they would just reheat the hamburgers from the day before after they had just spent all of that day sitting out. Nothing really bad goes on at hotels -- at least not mine anyway. The only thing that's somewhat similar is that we use rooms that people have died in. Yep, I bet you never thought about that when staying at a hotel! There are 2 rooms that I know about at the hotel that someone died in. Now it's time for some hotel advise.

1) When checking into a hotel, always ask for a particular view and floor that you prefer.
2) It never hurts to try to get a complimentary upgrade to a suite, especially if you're only staying in the hotel for one night.
3) Don't hesitate to ask for a late check-out or early check-in if needed.
4) Shoe-shine service is usually complimentary.
5) $2 is an acceptable tip for all services in a hotel, and the concierge should be tipped when used.
6) Booking hotels online through a site like hotels.com is always waaaay cheaper than calling the hotel directly.

I hope this advice will come in handy for you some day.

I Hate Halloween!! It's November!!!

I can't believe I've let my last post stay up here for soo long! I'm a slacker; I'm sorry!! Anyway, I'm not going to do a little recap of what I've been doing over the last couple of weeks because I honestly don't want to have to think of every little thing I've done. However, I would like to update y'all on a few things. One, I went to Grahams Central Station in Wacko for the first time in my life last weekend. I usually don't call Waco "Wacko," but I have to in this instance! I felt very eclectic diving into the completely different surrounding of decently-dressed, weird, ugly people. Dang, that statement made me sound so harsh and shallow. It was fun though.

So, I've been evaluating what I want to do with my life, and this is what I've come up with. I might want to work at a cool museum like the Met in New York. It would actually be way cool to be a curator there, but I have no idea how to get to that point quite yet (I'm going to check on that soon). I'll update you more on it when I find out. I've also really considered opening up my own coffee shop in Dallas. I know it sounds a little crazy, but Dallas is really lacking a cool coffee shop. For you people from Waco, I think it would be awesome to have a coffee place similar to Common Grounds. Mine would like similar to a quaint European pub, have a fire place in the middle of the room, and it would stay open until 12AM on the weekdays and 2 AM on the weekends. There's a lot more to my coffee idea, but I think I'm going to save it for another blog entry -- this one is already long enough as it is!

P.S. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not the best at staying consistent with journals. I tried to keep one several times throughout my life, and almost all of the entries are apologies to myself for not writing anything for the past month or so. I will definitely try not to do anything as horrid as that here, but I guess time will tell. Maybe I've matured since then.