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Still around…

No, I wasn’t off at one of those fancy las vegas hotels…Mike and I went up to Maine to celebrate his birthday.  It was a nice little trip.  On Wednesday night, we went to a Portland Sea Dogs game.  And on Thursday, which was Mike’s birthday, we took a scenic cruise out on Casco Bay, and had his birthday dinner at Fore Street, one of our favorite restaurants anywhere.

I have a few rants, though…

1.  At the ball game, I got stuck sitting next to this big fat guy who did not understand the meaning of “personal space”.  Rather than trying to keep himself in his seat area, he kept moving his arms about, mostly his left arm, which was seriously pushing me out of my seat and into Mike’s lap.  Since there were some empty seats in the row in front of us, we opted to take the easy way out and move, rather than confronting the jerk.  If the game were sold out, and there was no other place to sit, I would have had to say something.

This guy and his two friends were all jerks.  They were all kind of gross-looking, and we overheard them talking about going to some skeevy bar after the game to pick up *girls*.  I think they said it was called *Ricky’s Bar*.  In any case, the fat guy who was invading my seat space was saying that at Ricky’s, *the girls will do ANYTHING for a drink*.  I guess that includes going home with skeevy guys like them.  Gack.

2.  Why don’t people bother to dress nice when they are going to an upscale restaurant?  I don’t mean evening gowns and tuxes, or even suits and ties…but certainly not a mangy looking t-shirt, blue jeans, and flip-flops!

Yet we saw several people there, having dinner, dressed just that way!  The blue jeans weren’t even nice, newer, less faded ones, they were old and mangy.  Now, I’m not big into getting dressed up, but even I can be bothered to wear nice black slacks, black shoes, and a nice top when I go to this place.  Fore Street does not have an official dress code, but I still think it’s nice to wear something at least somewhat nice to go there.

The only thing worse than this that I’ve ever seen was the time I went with a group to lunch at  Jimmy’s Harborside in Boston.  This place was kind of pricey, and people were supposed to dress nicely…even though I don’t think they had an official dress code, either.  I saw this family group come in and be seated at a nearby table.  One of the guys was wearing dress pants…and one of those sleeveless tank top UNDERSHIRTS!  Even a non-undershirt tank top would have been inappropriate, but an undershirt?  Would it have killed this guy to have at least put on a regular button-down shirt over his undershirt?

It’s acceptable to go outside in a sleeveless undershirt, if you’re just running out to the local packy to pick up some beer, or something like that.  And maybe it’s acceptable garb for a place like the aforementioned Ricky’s Bar.  But sheesh, in a nice restaurant?

What is wrong with some people?