A Love Letter for UWink

Dear UWink,

I'm just going to say it. You're the best thing that's happened to winking since Sarah Palin. It's like you saw me coming. Supportive in my company's desire to watch Sunday football, but carrying a book for self entertainment. Not knowing what to expect, but being prepared for the typical sports bar. Then this happened:



Sports bar? Yes. HUGE screens adorn every wall-ish space...I think there were at least 7 in the room we were seated in. And they're as large as some screening room screens. Several different games can be shown at once, and they were quick to project the game we were apparently there to watch to a screen within our eye line. So service? A+.

As a fan of self checkout, I basically devoured the touch screen monitor at our table. Being able to order our drinks and our food ourselves, indicating what to hold or add. I was having way too much fun and we weren't even playing the games yet! The only issue we had with ordering was that we couldn't indicate "on the side." But we survived.

We got spinach artichoke dip and some wing-style things. Both were yummy. So food? (snackwise at least) A. The rest of the menu looked appetizing, so I'm anxious to get back when I'm hungry enough for a whole meal. The one downside? No spinach salad...but I'll forgive them, as that's a common "miss" on menus.

Finally it was game time. We were most entertained by Zillionaire, a trivia question in the vein of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? I also enjoyed group games where we played against other tables in the restaurant. Superfun. We won the game where you find the differences in the two pictures and came in 4th out of 16 tables in the word scramble (which was actually kinda hard). Needless to say, I can't wait to go back. A+ for fun.

Your new friend,
MAB

In other news, my throat hurts from all the smoke I'm breathing in. It feels and smells like someone is standing in front of you smoking and exhaling right into your face. The sky over downtown and my part of LaLa Land looks a lot better and bluer today tho. There's still flecks of ash floating around, but yesterday they looked like flurries and it's not that bad today.

What I don't understand about these fires is why they were so ferocious about burning down homes. In my time out here it seems very rare that so many homes will be burned down. It's usually a lot of acreage and some out buildings. So many people homeless. I liked what Gov Schwarzenegger said yesterday about helping everyone out. Then I kept repeating: Remember when he really is our governor?? for like 5 minutes because even tho that's been the case almost as long as I've lived here, I still can't get used to it.

In other LA news, I got a street cleaning ticket today. $55. W.T.F. First of all, that's just ridiculous. Second of all, not only is it RIDICULOUS, but WTF is that money being used for? They made over $300 on my block alone this morning. As someone who as of late has walked several miles of LA streets, they are in SHITTY condition, and I wanna know how my money is being spent.

In other walking in LA news, I participated in the nationwide no on 8 rally. It was so hot here. Like 90 degrees. I bailed after a few miles. I had already stood in the sun listening to speeches. Mayor Villaragoisa gave a GREAT speech and then gave it again in Spanish and then went back to the fires. Drew Barrymore said she wished she was gay in her speech. Lucy Lawless, Ricki Lake and Marissa Jaret Winokur were also there. (Paging Tracy Turnblatt.) The heat SUCKED but the crowd was amazing. Several fun signs - and outfits - were spotted.

I have pictures, but still no internet at mi casa. I've come to the realization that I am going to have to swallow my pride and call Time Warner as they are the only ones who can give me what I want. Boo monopolies.

Before I go. Ben Folds. BRILLIANTLYAMAZINGSPECTACULARFANTABULOUS. He played everything I would have asked for. Old. New. Fast. Slow. GREAT crowdside manner. He taught us things. He talked to us. He let us sing. If I would have been in the front row he would have touched me. He apologized for not coming to LA more often. He did two encores. He played two and a half hours. I was in heaven the entire time.