Began writing this post Saturday night, and I had the "Happy Days" theme song running through my head. Fitting, so I have pasted a link below if you'd like to go hear it. Rocking the whole week long :-) You know my life philosophy that every day is an adventure, and every day is a good day.
So, the weekend comes. Friday 5am alarm sounded. Yep, I set my alarm for 5am. I wanted to wake up and get a morning run in before my shift at The Egg and I. By golly, I did it. Just like my days waking up at 5:30 and 6 for some Insanity before a day of teaching. Logged a 2.56 mile run Friday morning, showered, enjoyed some good breakfast, and made it to work before 7am. Shadowing a lead server, and the day was going well.
Found out that my co-worker Becca, who also is the daughter of our manager Jodi, was going to be having her birthday on Saturday. That's one day before mine. All of a sudden Jodi says, "You should have said something. You don't need to work on your birthday." I said it wasn't a big deal, and I really didn't mind. After a while, Jodi comes back and asks if I've been studying my menu any. "Yes, I have." Jodi replies, "Alright I'm going to give you some time to study out of the expo book today, and if you pass your test tomorrow, I will give you some tables on Sunday." Sounds like a deal to me.
This is not the simplest of menu tests, I had heard compared to some other restaurants. No worries, I can do this. She was going to let me try the test two shifts earlier than scheduled. Headed home after some studying and got my bike ride in for the day. Spent a little time that night flipping through my notes (just like in college haha) and a little reading for fun.
Into work for my 8:30am shift. Originally scheduled to follow another server, help take some orders, and ring them in. 10 minutes in, Jodi asks me to run to the bank and grab some change. On it. Come back, and she decides to throw me in the expo window. Serving as the expediter helps transition plates from the cooks to the servers, ensuring everything is correct and ready to go. More or less got to do this solo, with a little help here and there. It was fun, and it was cool to be able to just jump in and take the responsibility. The cooks were fun to work with from this angle, specifically Matt, Angel, and Mark. Fun people.
Lunch time rolls around, and Jodi has me sit down and start my menu test. Feeling good about most if, a little iffy on some ingredient specifics, but I was told you only need an 80% to pass. Not too long after that in comes Becca with this big brown box. Inside, a birthday cake her mom had ordered for Becca's birthday to share with the staff. They kept saying it was for my birthday, too. Ah geez. Turns out Becca and I both really enjoy confetti cake. Can't get much better than that. Fancy confetti cake. Yum yum.
Finished my test, turned it in, and worked on restocking some things back in the kitchen and helping with a few more orders while Becca graded my test. 89%. Boom. High fives. Jodi had actually given me multiple high fives throughout the day for handling the expo. She's a great manager. I like working for her. Then, she lets me head home around 1:15pm. Good shift, and hey at this point I had earned myself regular server status - a few days early. :-)
As I was beginning to walk out, Jodi calls me back again. She asks if I'd like to join them for dinner that night - Becca's birthday dinner. "Sure." Genji Japanese Steakhouse on 144th and Center at 5:30pm it was. Was cool of her to invite me. Showered up, and took a dozy nap. Off to the steakhouse I went. Becca said it was nice to have a friend from work there. She had invited a few others, but most were busy. Their family and me. Something I came to enjoy in Samoa was how welcoming people were and you were treated more or less like family. That's what it felt like Saturday night. Some great people from my new Egg and I family brought me along, and I fell right into it. It was fun to hear some stories of travel from Jodi (from Air Force days) and her dad, including talks of Mexico and Thailand. They liked hearing some stories from Samoa, as well.
Our waitress conducted the Banzai, by bringing out a pineapple that was cut into the shape of a Japanese ship, ringing the gong, and singing Happy Birthday to the two of us. Becca says, "You are doing this with me," when our waitress handed over the umbrella for the song and a photo. Haha
Up and ready for work and there by 8:15am. Put a little gift box sticker on my polo, loaded up my ticket book and pens in my apron, and stuck my sei behind my ear. I also had a little fun with my breakfast for the morning. Wasn't going to eat again until after 3pm, so might as well make it fun. Maybe a week working at breakfast and lunch restaurant threw a little influence on me. That is where I got the idea to lay some apple slices in my pancake. Then, I proceeded to decorate a face on it. Yum yum.
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Work went well. I was on the floor and had 3 main tables I was in charge of, but we help out all around. Non-stop going somewhere, doing something, on my feet for 6.75 hours. Wooo doggie. I didn't even have a chance to think about being tired until I made it home. Made some decent tips, and I had a good day. Had some computer problems at the beginning as I was still ringing in as trainer, so had to finagle around that the rest of the day. Still, I feel really good about it.
Oh.... and.... I was just in the back taking care of some things as we began to slow down, and one of the girls comes back and says some of your friends are up at table 1 and have asked for you. "Who on Earth is here?" I wonder. Walk out there to find my good friend Karena and some of the guys - Andy, Tyler, and Josh. What a fun surprise. Someone I actually know at work. I told them I didn't even know what time it was as I didn't have a chance to even look at the clock (which is a good thing). Andy told me it was a little after 1, which would explain why business had slowed down. haha Wow. So, I got to serve them some brunch, my last table of the day. :-)
Finished up closing, and clocked out at 3pm. Showered when I made it home, relaxed a bit, and was then joined by some friends for a little dinner outing. We started at Red Lounge, where we simply shared a few sushi appetizers.
Then, we decided to head over to Buffalo Wild Wings for the main course. We spent many a Thursdsay nights at B'dubs in Sioux City while we were all Morningsiders. I tried the fried pickles with a side of buffalo chips.
We came back to the house and played a few games of Clue. Yes, five girls in their 20s played a couple games of Clue together. :-) Karena won the first game and Cassie the second.
Finally, a few birthday gifts did make their presence during the day. My mom had actually sent up a gift bag with her plant manager, who happens to live 3 minutes from me. His wife dropped the package off a few days ago, but I saved opening it until after work on Sunday. She sent me a stack of books. I had told her about this author I was getting into and had found a few of her books at a thrift store. Now I have five more to read! Woo. That hits one of my hobbies - reading :-) Cassie made a funfetti cake, which we all enjoyed a piece of after Clue despite still feeling a little full from dinner. Cassie and Sarah found this photo hanging decor piece. I have looked into similar things before, but this one has a different vibe to it with the photos hanging on different level. That hits another one of my hobbies - photography. Finally, Karena says to me, "you are really hard to buy for." Haha, that just means you shouldn't get me anything," I replied. I open up this little exercise bag to find a whole running kit. What a cool idea. She said it is one of your interests these days. Hobby #3 - fitness. Very thoughtful. All things I can use, too. Also received a handful of birthday texts, a phone call from my brother, and numerous posts on my Facebook wall. Thanks again, everyone!
Monday morning came again. After a little breakfast and working on a few things, I laced up my shoes and decided it was time for my morning run. I've generally been logging about 2.25 miles on my morning runs, with one exception of 2.6. This morning, the run was feeling so great I pushed onto 3 miles. :-)
Took a little break after that and decided I should get my bike ride in before any of the chances of rain may hit. It looked like some may be hitting, and the forecasts were saying chance later in the afternoon. Strapped on my helmet, and off I went. A little over halfway through, and here comes some rain. Hahaha Found myself thinking about Samoa. No turning around and kept pedaling on. Wasn't too bad. Also brought a refreshing smile to my face. Circled back around the lake, crossed over 144th, coming around the corner, and then here comes some more. Ooo more of a downpour this time as I'm coasting down the last downhill before making it home. Only 2 or 3 minutes away, and it's down-pouring. I just started smiling and laughing. Samoa, do you miss me?
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