Show me the signs

I was walking the neighborhood and I ran into these things, and I wondered, what do they mean?

Just looks like adult graffiti of some sort.  I do recognize the short name for Verizon.  Does this mean my neighbor is getting FIOS?

What is Sign "B"  ?  Why so cryptic?

Can't this be any neater? Really city officials.

If you know what this stuff means, let me know.

EMMY TOUR DINNER

CAFE BIZOU
We took the Emmy to Dinner at Cafe Bizou.

The Emmy is here enjoying some Onion soup.


Later, the main course came and it was Sesame seed covered salmon, with pancake mashed potatoes in a red wine reduction sauce.

This dish was delicious.

I won't do a full review but I will say that doing a search on the Yelp the reviews are rather accurate.

This place is always crowded. We went on a Sunday night at 8PM and the place was packed. We even had a reservation and waited 10minutes, this while holding an EMMY statue.

The service was stellar and the food, perfect. I am not a francophile so I will judge authenticity, I will simply say it was good.

Random Things on 09.09.09

I had several random errands to run today all around the Valley and I took some shots of a few of the things I witnessed or experienced.

These guys are very busy in the Valley. ServePro came to the rescue when a 62 inch water main pipeline broke and flooded the most major thoroughfare in the valley, Ventura Blvd at Coldwater Canyon. Houses and businesses alike were flooded. Who is paying for this cleanup?



I had to buy a formal shirt for the Emmy affair this weekend. I started at Macy's but two of the three pple I spoke with did not speak enough English to direct me to the formal wear section. One person sent me to underwear, not formal wear. No wonder they had 1/2 of the lights turned off in the Men's section. Given those directions, sales must be hard to come by, now you know why Macy's.

Bloomindales was a much better experience and they had a very obvious formal wear section. I even ran into another person shopping for the Emmy Awards. I had several helpful people ask me if I needed assistance. Tiny eventually showed me the selections.


This very nice Zenga shirt was only $295


I liked this Hugo Boss number.


I wanted a traditional tie but I actually settled for a bow tie. Now I have to practice tying it.

I walked Day Z and noticed a film crew wrapping up.
Keep shooting locally, we all need jobs or the tax money that comes from this filming.
I ended my errands in the Dentist chair. Ouch! This dentist is a TV celebrity and they always use the latest gadgets in their care. This green thing keeps particles and debris from flying in the rest of my mouth.

That's my day.

Mary's Pre-Emmy Party for Editors Sponsored by the Acadmey

Mary had her Pre - Emmy Party Sponsored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.


Mary checks in and gets her name tag.




Let's hope Mary gets to bring one of these home, just smaller.


The Party was just for Editors, any Nominated Editor, and or any Editors in the Academy. There were Editors for "24" (one of my favorite shows) there as well.


This is the Name tag I almost wore but someone beat me to it.

These are the Nominees for "Project Runway" (Mary's show) and "Top Chef" also nominated in the same category for editing and produced by the same company. This company has two nominated shows in several of the same categories. Let's fight it out.


The Awards are this Saturday September 12th, wish Mary success.

Food Can Kill so Get it Right!!!!

DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE ?

Between these two things?

vs.

The answer:

1. One is a FISH the other is NOT a Fish.
   
2. One can kill or cause serious injury and the other is just plain delicious too many people.
3. The NON fish is actually a CRUSTACEA
   

If you are in the Food Industry, i.e. you own a restaurant you should know the difference.

Check the definition:

Read the definition of a Crustacea above

Why is this IMPORTANT:

Because the Number one FOOD ALLERGY amoung adults is :

Shell fish or more actually (for restaurateurs) CRUSTACEAN .

Most Seafood restaurants know this and take strong precautions to warn people about shell fish contamination and use the correct terms Fish vs. Shellfish.

NOT "The Crab Cooker" restaurant in Newport Beach.

Now I know what you are thinking, The Name of the restuarant says it all. True, but, and this is a large BUT, The Crab Cooker goes to the EXTREME to advertise that they sell FISH FISH FISH.



Check out the website, for The Crab Cooker like we did. It clearly states, "We do one thing FISH!" That would lead one to believe:

1. They probably sell fish
2. They probably have more than one or two types of fish.
3. They probably don't sell anything but fish.

That's not the only evidence of them selling hard on Fish (not shellfish, FISH)

EVERY server Greets you with the same greeting:
Welcome to The Crab Cooker where we serve, FISH, FISH,FISH



Are you feeling the theme?




This is a Fish



This is also a Fish, they have a fish above the Women's restroom and the Men's restroom.


NOW THE PROBLEM:

When you read the menu you realize that they ONLY have 3 (Yes 3) types of fish.
They only serve 4 (YES 4) different Fish plates.

I ordered two of them (one was an appetizer).

The above is the very mediocre and mild smoked Tuna.
Actually smoked across the street at the annex.

This is the Halibut dinner special. Mediocre, and this is the dinner plate with chesse mashed potatoes and slices of tomato because they don't serve salad. This dish was $10.

All the plates are paper and all the utensils are plastic. Seriously, plastic! Plastic can't be cheaper than washing inexpensive steel flatware. Let alone how unfriendly to the environment plastic is, wake up! This is the beach, the environment should be your first concern.

I could go on and on about how difficult it is when a group decides to go out to eat together. The group has to consider the various dietary oddities of each individual before a restaurant can be chosen. This variety in requirements is why it important that restaurants know what they serve and describe it ACCURATELY.

That's All I'm saying!

Tux Redux

The TUX Part 2

The Problem: I need some room in the Tux that I just purchased so I decided to try a trick I learned in the film business.

The Trick:
Like most Black men I am built larger in the legs, butt, and waist. I need more room in the gluteous maximus area. There is not enough fabric leftover in the pants to expand therefore I will need a gusset. That trick requires effort and shopping on my part.

The Shopping detail:

I needed to get fabric for this to work, so I turned to Joann's Fabric store.


It's a little strange going into this Fabric store alone without any female help, but I figure I will show my sample to a clerk and we'll see what happens from there.

The clerk pointed me in the direction of the types of fabric I need.
She was a little helpful but abandoned me to make the choice on my own.



I rubbed all the material between my fingers, because I was taught by Mom that you can tell how well made the material is by feeling it.
My purpose: is to buy fabric for a gusset.

I threw down the garment and said yo, cut me some fabric.

I almost purchased the minimum, but decided on a 1/3 of a yard.
Wow this is a first for me but I am digging this whole process.
I hope my idea works .
Stay tuned as I take my Tux to the tailor for alterations and cleaning.
Will the pants fit?
Can the Tailor do what I request?
Will it look cheap?

Q's Emmy Tux Search

The Search for an Emmy Tux

My wife is nominated for an Emmy and I have been putting off buying a tux for weeks now. I finally decided with less than two weeks to go, that I should go out and search.

There are two favorite secret shops for finding Men's Clothes at 1/2 half price or less.

One is more of a crap shoot than the other place.

It's A Wrap is the main Hollywood secret. It's A Wrap used to be ridiculously expensive because they were trying to sell you on the Chic factor of buying used "Celebrity" clothes. They finally realized that the Used clothes market is larger than the "Celebrity" market and the prices have dropped to appeal to bargain used shoppers.

Check the Tux I found after nearly two hours of looking and trying on clothes.

The truth is I went to their new location in Los Angeles, south of Beverly Hills. I found this gem (see photos).

This is the same Christian Dior Tux.


Now, for the REAL TIP of the Day. My favorite place ( I really shouldn't give this away) is Armani Wells. Claudia loves, Men's fashion and she only deals in High End labels (I'm a Label W**re) normally. The prices might surprise you but when you realize you are buying a real Dolce & Gabanna with the label still attached at 1/3 to 1/4 the price hey, that's a deal.




The above suits were Dolce Gabbana, and Versace2, .

Which do you like? I like the D&G even though it's not actually a Tux but a suit.

If you go See Claudia tell her that Q sent you. She is very well known and I when I was there a very famous National Newscaster for one of the Big Three networks dropped by to say hi and ended up buying a couple of jackets. He bragged about how many compliments he got on one of the other jackets he bought there. He wore it so much that he wore it out. Now that's an endorsement.

Now Go Buy, Buy, Buy!

Which is your favorite?