Teats on a Bull

On Friday 8/19/11 I got a most wonderful e-mail from my friend Bob Bendesky.  He has time to take a long lunch would I like to go get a Tacie? Let’s step back.  About 2 weeks ago, I went to my new favorite take out place Sarcone’s Deli.  They have excellent hoagies and the most excellent cheese steaks.  Justin & Kurt and the rest of the gang are FOCUSED on customer satisfaction too.  I had a hankering for a piece of pizza and they have what they call Flatbread pizza. It’s kinda like Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza only better – MUCH better.  I was in the mood for pizza and got my taste buds all hopped up for mozzarella, sharp provolone, red sauce & basil. And guess what – they made it for me!  And it turned out to be an awesome combo of flavors.  And low and behold the Guys at Sarcone’s made it their Flat of the Week and called it the Tacie.  (Ok…. I’m EXTREMELY flattered and vaguely embarrassed.)  And of course I had to promote the Flat! Not that I wasn’t already promoting Sarcone’s.  They put Mountain Dew in for me too!  How awesome is that?!?  You don’t have to answer that. It’s AWESOME!

I met Bob through Mare. I’ve known Maribeth since High School.  Mare suggested Bob & I become FB friend because “Bob is really interesting.”  It’s true. Bob & his wife Cozy are really very interesting.  They are Revolutionary War re-enactors (http://6pahome.com/).  Cozy is an artist/seamstress/wonder woman.  She makes the authentic clothes they wear for the 6th PA.  Very cool.  One of these days I’m going to have to get my butt to one of the re-enactments and get some smarts from the 6th.  The 1st time I met Bob we had dinner at … some sports bar in King of Prussia.  It was fun. He and I got there 1st and so we had a bit of time to chat before everyone else got there.  The next time we got together for a FB lunch … our 1 lunch took 6 hours. It was fun. Our next lunch only was 4 hours because we all had things to do.  =)   I’m sure there will be another of our “short” lunches after the summer is over.

So after bragging about my pizza on FB, Bob decided to join me for a piece of me.  Luckily Bob works in West Chester and could take a long lunch on Friday. So in to WC he came and because I sent him the wrong way out of the parking lot he discovered Carlino’s Italian Market.  It’s one of my favorite places to eat, but they didn’t name a pizza after me nor do they have Mountain Dew, so they are a bit further down the list.  But they do have a remarkable variety and really good food too.  Back down the street we went to get a Tacie.  Bob enjoyed it and we had a delightful lunch and talk about a lot of different things from Cancer research to cheese steaks to cruise and more.

I always enjoy talking to Bob and enjoyed lunch.  Now I am full of me and looking forward to our next meeting.  Next FB meal will be Monday with some co-workers and then Thursday I go winging off to Idaho to meet the Lewistonians!

7/5/11
I had my 1st official stop on the Facebook world tour. And it was appropriately with my oldest friend. Oldest as in I’ve known him the longest. Not oldest in age, because we aren’t old.  I’m probably going to say the same thing when we are 80, but still – we aren’t that old.

My friend Dave Ankers and I went to Nudy’s Cafe in West Chester for lunch. I forgot to get a picture. You will forgive me, I’m new at this.

I first met Dave when we were 7  (He has always been David to me, but he prefers Dave… so Dave it is.  Although it is hard to call him that.)  and large due to him, we have kept in touch ever since.  Oddly, one of my fondest memories (it always makes me smile) was of The Who concert at the Vet.  I was living in York and he called to say he had 12 row seats, did I want to go.  ABSOLUTELY!  And then he called back, the seats were actually in the 25 row, he’d understand if I didn’t want to go.  Really? No… I think I’ll survive in row 25.  We could still see Rodger Daltrey’s ear clip from where we were.

This was one of the last times Dave is going to be in West Chester.  He & Chris are moving to New Orleans by the end of July (2011).

It’s always fun to have lunch with Dave.  And I think this was our shortest lunch.  Nudy’s was chosen because Dave’s brother swears by the place and Carlino’s has just way too many choices.  And it works for me – I can see it from the window in my office.  Dave had a Reuben, which looked really good, I’m going to have to try it.  I had pancakes and a side of bacon.  We had a wonderful talk – as always.  I am going to miss Dave’s periodic jaunts to West Chester.  I guess I will just have to have periodic jaunts to New Orleans!

After thinking a bit more about my new adventure I’ve decided on a couple of things.

1. I’m going to start from scratch so the wonderful spaghetti dinner – although my 1st adventure – isn’t going to count.  So, I’ll just have to go visit Cozy & Bob again.

2. I’m not going to visit ALL my Facebook friends.  Just those with whom I have had conversation.  I have a bunch of game friends that I’ve never interacted with other than to send game requests.  So those folks are going to be excluded.  And of course there is a but… there’s always a butt.  Some of the famous folks on my friend list don’t interact with me, but they are still on the visit list assuming I can get an appointment/date.  =)

3. No time limit… just a money limit.  Since I have friends all over the world and of various levels of fame, some are going to be harder than others.  Like getting a dinner date with my Beloved David is going to be a WHOLE lot easier than getting even 5 minutes with Mike Rowe.  But with time and persistance all things can be accomplished.  Right? Right!

4. Group gatherings count.  We have a dinner every year around Christmas and that grabs about 10 or so friends.  And then there’s the Facebook lunch we have periodically.  Which is a ton of fun… I highly recommend doing it.  And then there’s the Lewiston Crew… that should be a fun trip.

Proximity is going to be a big thing too.  I know I’ll get to those folks in my immediate area sooner than someone on the other side of the world.  Which is why there’s no time limit.  Getting Down Under is going to take a lot more planning than say dinner with South Eastern PA, Delaware, NJ friends.

5. Language barrier.  This is one I have to think about.  Do I really want to visit someone who won’t understand a lick of what I’m saying?  This is a definite maybe.  Although, if I don’t speak the same language as they do #2 is probably going to kick in.

So… “Party on Garth. …”