Random Travel Notes, #1: Put down the phone, people watch, make eye contact, smile; it totally creeps most people out. As long as they don't call Security, you're doing it right.
Random Travel Notes, #2: Went to the local Von’s (Safeway) to get dinner, and got to the checkout counter with a grass-fed (uh-huh) ribeye steak, a bottle of Makers Mark, and a bottle of speciality microbrew. The following conversation then ensued between myself, the young checkout clerk, the bagger, and the lady behind me:
Clerk: Cool, dude; looks like you got everything you need! (smiles)
Me: I am a man of simple pleasures. (smiles)
Bagger: (guffaws, bobs his head, and snorts in the affirmative)
Lady Next in Line: Please tell me there'll be a side dish or salad, at least.
Me and The Clerk: (exchange of puzzled looks and mumbled half-sentences)
Lady Next in Line: (head bobble side-to-side in the negative)
Elderly Man Shopper next to Lady Next in Line: (a wink and a clandestine thumbs-up)
Now I know why people say 'I love L.A.'
Random Travel Notes, #3: A short conversation while at dinner at Vic and Anthony's Steakhouse, Las Vegas, Nevada:
Elderly, coiffed, and obviously rich gentleman leaving the restaurant by himself while walking past my table: “If one must eat alone, one should do it at Vic and Anthony’s.”
Ken, snapped back to reality from a food induced dream-state and a mouth full of lobster: “Um…oh…yes! Indeed!
Elderly Gent: “Have you tried the quail egg appetizers? They're excellent.”
Ken, chewing rapidly while trying to act dignified (and failing): “Oh, uh, no, next time!”
I raised my martini glass in his direction, he nodded in the affirmative as he left, and it was then I remembered that if you dress nice, carry yourself well, and keep your mouth mostly shut, no one need know that your just renting the penthouse.
-KO