I'm back in Pittsburgh for the week. There are some things I have to get done, but it's nice to be back in my pajamas on the couch.

The pictures are of a few other meals I had in Lebanon, TN. I felt like I had to go to White Castle to honor one of my favorite stoner movie (the little burgers are very tasty), and the bbq pork sandwhich from Whitt's was decent enough (although I liked the design of the Whitt's name on the packages as much as the sandwhich, and I definitely would choose the sweet tea over the sandwhich. In addition to the big gulp of sweet tea I had with dinner, I took a gallon back to my hotel room to keep me juiced enough to finish my work that night).

I've been trying to keep it positive here at business n'at - you know what Oprah says: "Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” - but I've heard from the grapevine that some of you are wondering if I had any bad experiences in Lebanon, that they would appreciate hearing about any bad meals I had. Those of you who know me know that I don't like to bring negativity because it takes more muscles to frown than to smile (and I'm really lazy & hate wasting energy). I will say that the breakfast buffet at the hotel was pretty crappy. It was totally low budget - miniature danishes, not the full size ones you get at a Hampton Inn, and sometimes there weren't any cheese ones at all; the orange juice dispenser looked like every other dispenser (it even said Minute Maid) but the oj was fucked up. I don't know what was wrong with it but it was not the high quality oj I need to get prepare myself for driving hard business deals. There was a hot buffet consisting of a container of biscuits & another of gravy, usually a big favorite of The Man. However, the gravy looked pretty skeezy and, as hard as it was, I just said no. My breakfast routine was as follows:
1) Wake up, put on pj's, make coffee in room.
2) Pee, wash hands.
3)Walk to buffet.
4) Put bagel in toaster, drink two glasses of poor quality oj, eat a mini-danish.
5) Watch local news while waiting for bagel to finish.
6) Pour cup of coffee & place lid on coffee*.
7) When the bagel is finished I put cream cheese & jelly on the bagel, then walk back to my room with bagel & coffee.

*The coffee at the buffet is important because my in-room coffee maker is small & I need the extra cup.

The Hampton Inn in Hollywood, FL was closer to the standards required of executive business travel: better bagels & pastries (as well as a larger selection), better oj & the choice of grapefruit juice as well, larger selection of fruit, and the hot buffet had fun surprises every day. one morning there were mini-breakfast pizzas, another morning there were pigs in a blanket. The breakfast buffet is easliy overlooked, but it's so very important. I may have to hit the Waffle House down the road when I go back next week.