Food is Art, Not a Factory

You're out of town, out of state, even out of the country!  You feel like you need some grub so for some odd ball reason you go to the Cheesecake Factory.  Well, what do you know?  They have the same 500 things on the menu that they do at all the others.  Same crowds, some menu, same speed... same junk.

There's something awesome about how Ray Kroc and the rest came along decades ago and took the Ford model of factory workmanship and created the Fast Food machine we have today.  I mean c'mon... who among us never has 1100pm drive-thru french fry cravings, used the $1 menu to get over grief, or sped from one meeting to the next with one hand on the wheel and one on a Whopper or Big Mac?

Multi-tasking

Can someone explain to me how this is any different than your run-of-the-mill McDonald's, KFC, or Taco Bell?  O' wait, got it, its a sit down restaurant.  So we're going to have to ballpark it with the Applebee's, T.G.I.Fridays, and Olive Garden's of the world.  I mean, that's where you'll find the gift cards at your local grocery store at least.

If the Cheesecake Factory portrayed itself as the generic eating establishment it is nobody would have a problem.  Instead all we ever hear about is how "fresh" everything is and their long quality control lists.  Sometimes you can't tell if you're listening to a grown adult rap about Spicy Chicken Chipotle Pasta or a middle school girl defend Justin Beiber's cocaine habit.  It just makes you wonder if Dr. Dre ever told Snoop, "Nah, I wouldn't experiment like that.  Let's not push the envelope here.  This is art!"

If you can make a Dr. Dre to Aunt Bee transition the please help.

Art is not something only for experts though.  Hopefully we all still have these moments: Someone is cooking and you're the sous chef, the novice, the JV team doing some hands-on learning.  Generally it happens with family.  Maybe its your grandmother, maybe your father, maybe even your uncle [wink].

"You put a little bit in at the time."

"I just sprinkle about this much in my hand."

"You gotta keep your eye on it or it might burn."  "But how long do I stir?"  "Until it looks right."

So don't think that only the experts can create great food... great art in the kitchen.  Have you heard of "mom and pop?"

Just a couple weeks ago my niece and nephew were breaking some green beans and they asked a very reasonable question, "How big should it be?"  It took so much joy to let them be creative and say, "Its kind of up to you.  Just be sure you break the ends off."

Can the Cheesecake Factory please take a note of this before it tries convincing us that what they serve is either "family style," "haute cuisine," or especially art?  What you put on the plate could just as easily be produced by an engineer as it could a cook.  (No offense to the engineers :-))

Thoughts on Richard Sherman:  Compton born, 

Stanford educated

Best Things About Jenn #3:  While house sitting, she 

packs and organizes nearly everything so I can keep 

my routines

Words to Get Rid Of #2:  Twerking

Offending People on Facebook

It took 8+ years to finally happen.  I overstepped the boundaries on social media.  

 

Anyone who can remember the kid who got a guy tossed out of a basketball camp after pushing just the right buttons, or had someone swing at him in a basketball game, or had actual gun shots ring out at a basketball game (okay, that last one had nothing to do with me actually) wouldn't be surprised.  I was a child that enjoyed pushing the envelope.  Or at the very least should avoid basketball courts.  But I started learning in my high school years that what may be funny now will come back to embarass you later.

High school has a way of doing that.

And so there I was driving in the car listening to a fill-in for the Jim Rome Show.  They're rehashing all the old college bowl games and what not.  Then the fill-in host reads a tweet that the Oklahoma City Red Cross sent out after Oklahoma beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.  Apparently they'd been dishing out a fair amount of smack talk the whole time...

There's a fair amount of back drop to this.  You could write paragraph after paragraph explaining the context behind this joke.  And while I really want to write it out, investigate it more, then write more about it I started to realize...

Who cares?

It might make me feel more justified but it isn't going to make those frustrated by my words feel any better.  Isn't that the point?  I guess so... it's a me problem.

If people get their feelings hurt over something you said they're rarely encouraged by the amount of effort you put into explaining what you really meant.

What I really meant to post was, "bdbadlafhdipofhaepoirhawnpeorih"

It seems that what people really want is for you to simply say you're sorry and change your tune.  The Church has a word for describing this.  Its called "repentance."  Generally pastor types will define repentance as more than a simple, "I'm sorry."  We see it more as a u-turn.  In other words, say your sorry, ask for forgiveness, then walk in life's opposite direction.

I'm not sure what that would look like in this circumstance other than to become a Crimson Tide fan... of which I kind of am.  I enjoy seeing excellence.  I enjoy cheering for it also.

And the Alabama Crimson Tide are excellent.

But the thing that got me thinking about more is how we offend each other over social media.  What causes us to post things that will, at best, send the wrong message; at worst, directly attack someone we're connected with?

There is still this fake wall we are all learning to deal with called a computer screen.  We write things there and push send never realizing that the people you'd never say that to are actually on the other side of the screen watching it.

Its parents posting things their children see.

Children posting things their parents will see.  (Which is much more forgivable mind you.)

Its employees posting things their bosses see.

Its friends posting things friends see.

Its friends posting things that friends of friends see.

And finally sometimes we just don't get it.  We just wouldn't understand that someone would be upset by what we wrote.  I suppose that sometimes we also are surprised by who was upset with what we wrote.  Generally these things end up looking like this...

People change and perspectives change and what we all would've laughed at today around the dinner table somebody will be bothered by in the future.

And that's what I personally love about social media and the luxury of having "connections" and "friends" from so many places and backgrounds.  Living here in the Bay Area people sometimes talk about the "bubble" we live in.  Its normal to listen to NPR here.  Its normal to volunteer your time here.  Its normal to see people doing otherwise strange things like walking around in their undies in 40 degree weather.

You start to lose sight of the world around you.  Without these "connections" and "friends" in far off places with ideas that challenge your own how will you grow?  How will you gain a better understanding of life?  And lastly, where else will you find creative solutions, stories, and inspiration from?  Social media allows you to not only see it but engage with it.

There's a common phrase I used to hear in the southeast from people of all kinds of backgrounds, "You just don't understand."  It was a way of saying, "this is just the way things are," I suppose.  I was never able to stomach that really.

What I've learned from reading my Facebook news feed, Twitter, Pinterest, looking at pics on Instagram, and other places is what things could be anywhere... anytime.

So thanks for putting me in place... I always need it.

Why I would highlight a blog with something I'm embarrassed of:  Humility

Smacking Cheesecake #17: The Denver Nuggets are 

banning it.   So should you.

Redskins Coaching Hire Wishlist: Ken Whisenhunt