Old-Fashioned Fun at the Pond

I've been busy of late keeping up to date on the D.P. Dough blog, and have therefore neglected to some extent this here "soul" blog. Les pido disculpas. Never fear, though - every time I think I'm out, something pulls me right back in again. In this case, it was the impromptu fashion walk-off between NNHS Prom King '01 (Steve) and Prom King '06 (Pooke). I readily admit that I played a role in instigating this, telling Steve that, sorry, Pooke is too GQ for him to match. Ste doesn't much like to lose without a fight, especially when there's humor to be had; thus, we ended up with a Zoolander-style walk-off in our very own living room. Now I hate that movie as much as some people love it, but I am beyond thankful that it was able to contribute to the spectacle that unfolded before our eyes.


It started innocently enough, mind you. Pooke and Ste (above) took their turns strutting their stuff in an Entourage kind of way to a stock Euro mix. This initially controlled nuclear reaction of entertainment only began to melt down when Toadman decided to do his thing to the tune of Green Day's "Tired of Waiting". If you want to see video of this, harass Ste until he sends me the file or puts it on youtube. It may or may not contain yours truly doing an awful hybrid between a drunken jig and Riverdance (Postscript: he has been duly harassed - most likely by Pooke - and the video is available for your viewing pleasure below).



My only regret is that I don't use a modern template for this blog, so I can't treat readers to a winner-take-all Ste vs. Pooke poll question. I'll work on that.

That's all for today. Stay tuned for the next installment: "Teaching Toadman to Make a Smoothie".

Thanksgiving Prose from Toadman

A few thoughts to chew on, straight from the Toadman himself, exactly as he scribbled them on a paper plate as he contemplated the greater mysteries and majesties of the universe. Enjoy!...and Happy Thanksgiving.

OREGANO
By the sea
until the waves crash
then no more
do we see
OREGANO
no more!

BASIL
Uplifting and light
carrying us away
with no need of fear
for everything
is right
ahh basil
sweet, sweet basil

Separation of Church and State

Important Update: I will no longer be discussing in detail my business misadventures in this blog; if you are interested at all in the daily holes I somehow manage to dig myself out of related to my business venture, all you have to do is click the "How Not to Start a Business" link to your right and you're there.

Don't worry, though, for cheap bastardry and all its concomitant humor still abounds. The CB Blog will not die, but rather wither on the vine for a bit whilst I tie up all my loose ends one at a time in the hopes that my store opens on target in January, so that I no longer have the time to blog for awhile thereafter.

The Newest Redbird
ISU Welcomes Li'l Q-Pon to Normal

(Pictured Above: Li'l Q-Pon as an M&M in a parallel universe)

In the puzzle of life, one often finds himself sitting at the table with myriad pieces stacked forebodingly in an indecipherable heap. It is hard to make much sense of anything when one's world is hopelessly chaotic and the outstanding contingencies can randomly steer life in any number of directions. Eventually, decisions are made - often after much paralyzing procrastination - and circumstance often dictates posthumously how wise a particular choice appears to have been. One way or another, though, life settles down with time and allows you to drift along and live with the choices you've made, for better or worse.

Today an important piece of my puzzle fell into place: youngest sibling Laura (referred to in some circles as Li'l Q-Pon) received her acceptance to the prestigious Universidad Estatal de Illinois (ISU). And with this, a decision that I made a few months ago with much trepidation begins to look a great deal better.

That decision, of course, was to detach myself from the Steak n Shake mothership and set off in my lonely little pod to open a D.P. Dough Calzone restaurant in my collegiate home of Normal, IL. Other things have fallen into place to date, it's true, but today's news adds an important element that would have otherwise remained lacking: family.

Family has always played an important role in shaping my being. My cheap bastardry traces its origins to my grandmother, who spends twenty minutes calculating her tip to the penny at restaurants (tips calculated pre-tax), as well as my father (referred to in this space as Toadman) who regularly engages me in games of chicken in the Walgreen's checkout line to see who will flinch first and pay so we'll stop holding up the line. However, much of my latent sarcasm and quizzical expressions have no doubt been sharpened by the osmosis that can only be achieved living under the same roof as a dynamic 17-year-old (she recently turned 18).

Laura is a special one, though. She has known true suffering, having rescued me from chronic understaffing multiple times at a Steak n Shake that she otherwise would have rather avoided like the plague; her 3rd and 4th of July were spent saving my ass there til past 3 AM and then going to swim practice three hours later.

She also possesses the inimitable ability to drive Toadman to drink. Any of the Fiala boys (Ste, Pooke, and myself) are free to do anything or go anywhere we please. When it comes to Li'l Q-Pon, however, movies like Dazed and Confused or Swordfish set off alarm bells in the old man (he disappears around the corner to dust off a bottle of scotch previously untouched for years), and when Laura attempts to lead them astray as to her true whereabouts, Toadman instantly picks up the scent and tracks her down in his trusty Toadvan.

So this leaves us with little sister finally ready to spread her wings come August, with a mandate to spread the gospel of the calzone and a security blanket of a brother in town (and another down the road in Champaign) to help her out if ever she needs.

Bottom line: I'm thrilled she'll be here and welcome her to ISU.

309-888-ZONE

It was indeed a good day. For a business based largely on delivery, having a phone number that a drunk college freshman can't forget is of paramount importance. Thus, the key to my salvation lies above. Next step: finalize a menu. More good fortune: the menu supplier says that menus are cheaper on special this month than they've ever been. Thus, my menu needs for the next year (and probably beyond) will be taken care of for roughly 1.86 cents per full-color copy - shipped. Happily, other things went well, too - someone brought in free chips 'n' dip in the MBA office and I found out that the surveyors will start their work tomorrow in back of my store instead of two weeks from now.

All these lucky charms make me think that this would prove an opportune time to go diving in some clearance bins. Stay tuned - I'll post my swag on here in a few days.