Detroit from the river - Diamond Jack's Tour Boat

I chaperoned on a school tour in Detroit - a bit different from the norm - we took Diamond Jack's River Boat Tour along the Detroit River. I gotta say - the city looks a lot different from the water.

After being welcomed on the boat by a really friendly crew, we set sail - and had a running commentary of what we were looking at...

The Ren Cen from the other side

The Manoogian Mansion. Partytime!! Hold on, there was no party!

Chene Park Auditorium

Canada. Or, I told the kids, Canadia. (Well, I asked them. You're American. From America. Why can't Canadians be from Canadia?)

Water pumping thingy

A Canadian casino

A distillery.

A native Canadian Elephant. Eh.

The mail boat. J.W. Westcott II - Apparently the only boat to have its own zip code - 48222

The Ambassador Bridge

1943 - A Guide to Hiring Women Folk

I recently got sent this.... it made me laugh and reminded me of another 'women's guide' which I'm looking for now.

This was written when there was a 'shortage' of men.

So, all ye modern ladies - read!
The wording is:

Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees: There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point. The important things now are to select the most efficient women available and how to use them to the best advantage.

Here are eleven helpful tips on the subject from Western Properties:

1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn't be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.
2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.
3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.
5. Stress at the outset the importance of time the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.
6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.
7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.
8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.
9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.
10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.
11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed too much in keeping women happy.

nobrand.awardspace.com

... is what exactly??? If anyone out there is reading this and knows what it is, please leave a comment.... I got a hit from there today.

Update - from another site - the nobrand thing seems to be a way of directing you to their site so you can sign up for web hosting or buy space or something.

Ah the joys of the Weber Charcoal Kettle (Happy Father's Day!)

Why would ya ever want a gas grill? I think these guys might agree with me....

Here are a couple of chicken grills I done recently. Delicious!!

Royal Oak Memorial Day Parade 2008

Another year, another memorial day parade. Back on Main Street this time - last year, Main was all dug up. We located ourselves opposite the Hollywood Market - getting there early enough to get coffee and snacks - handed out by the Hollywood market - good job!

The parade was similar to last year's - perhaps a little smaller

We sat opposite the brewery billboard - hmm - now there's an idea!

Kona Grill in Troy. A Coney Island with nice furniture?

A few days back, we has a family meal at the Kona Grill. The attraction was, that being American-Asian cuisine, both the sushi-eating and kid-food-eating kids would be happy.

Now, I've been there before, but only for lunch. And, admittedly, it was pretty good. The atmosphere was decent, and the raw fish was nice. I think I remember having an ahi tuna burger there and being impressed too.

All of the above did not quite carry into the evening meals. We started with Calamari - given the nice appearance of this place, we assumed they would have had a half clue about cooking calamari - i.e. the oil needs to be the right temperature and you don't want to under or over cook it. Unfortunately the oil was too cool - which resulted in the greasy mess you see below

Look how it glistens!!

Even the kids were not impressed. And left lots of it behind.

So, onto the main courses. The sushi-kid had a spicy tuna roll, some squid and some salmon roe. I sampled some; it seemed pretty much ok. The only gripes were that we had to ask for wasabi and ginger - it didn't come with it (or maybe the server forgot), and the price. There was nothing special about it - we have definitely had better elsewhere, locally, and spent less.

The non-sushi kid had macadamia nut chicken fingers and fries. Not good. Fries were super oily, the macadamia nut crust simply fell off the chicken (oily crust too), leaving some over-cooked chicken underneath.

Onto the adults - she had Thai-Peanut Chicken Noodles. To me, it wasn't bad. To her, the sauce was overpowering. I had the 5-spice bbq chicken pizza. Again, not too bad, but overpowered by the slathers of bbq sauce on it. And, the menu said it had cilantro. There might have been cilantro on there somewhere, but I did not find it.

Beer - I had a small glass (I guess 16 oz - not stated how much) of wheat beer. It was ok, but it cost $5. She had Pinot Grigio - apparently good, and should be at $7.50 a glass.

Deserts. I did not do desert. She did, and had Creme Brulee. Which apparently tasted more like custard with a little badly burnt (not caramelized) sugar on top. Could this have been microwaved??

The kids had a root beer float. Apparently good - but it's pretty difficult to mess that up.

All in all, it cost us over $80 for a mediocre meal.

Like I said, it's good there for lunch. But I won't be back for dinner.

At least the Colney Island is realistic in its prices. And there, we are realistic in our expectations. And the furniture is not as plush, nor are the clientèle, but there's not much in it when it comes to comparing the quality of the food - well, at least the food we had.

One last thing about the Kona Grill. When we pulled in, I was rushed at by a Valet attendant. Apparently, if you pull to the front of the restaurant, you're opting for 'complimentary' valet parking. This is so 'complimentary' that an individual company operates the valet service (sure, no tip is mandatory, but, ya know..). So, when I told him No, I want to self-park, he told me I had to park behind the restaurant! (it seems they had not yet put the signs out). Now that is something that really, really bugs me. Why can I not park where the heck I like, whether there is a valet parking option or not? Why do the stupid valet parkers get areas reserved for them? Why can't they simply find a space like the rest of us? Is it important to the car owner that the car is parked close to the door? Should it not matter, as valet parking means that you don't have to worry about where your car is? Arrggggh!!!! The restaurant is in TROY, not LA!!!!!

CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a victory!!
Wings, you had me very worried for the last 2 minutes of what was a great game.

But no worries.
The Stanley is back in Hockeytown.


And, Red Wings, you're welcome for the advice. No problems.

I expect a check in the mail.

Red Wings! Listen Up! I WASN'T JOKING!!

Dear Red Wings,

Hardee-poopin'-ha. OK, you got me.

There's me sitting in front of the TV until 9 minutes before 1am. Watching you play since 8pm. Almost 6 periods. That's like 2 games, or, taking the tiredness factor into account, 20 games.

And then you go and let Petr Sycora go and score on you and win the game.

The joke's over.

It was bad enough when you were up 3-2 with 35 second to go before you could skate around the ice with Lord Stanley's cup hoisted above your heads. Decided to hold that one of for another night, eh? Good job! Cos I had meself on the edge of the seat and had the family all around me and us all ready to celebrate. But no. You were playing your little games and allowed Pittsburgh to score and force overtime.

Heck, the police in Royal Oak had all the barricades out and were all ready for a celebratory riot. The helicopters were circling like happy-vultures. Looks like you had them fooled too.

This is no longer funny. I command you to go to Pittsburgh tomorrow night AND COME BACK WITH A BIG SHINY STANLEY CUP!!!!!!!

Yea, real funny it was your periods of sleepiness, which got between admittedly excellent offense and defense. And also funny your 58 shots on goal (as opposed to 32 from the Penguins), out of which you manages to put 3 in the net. You know that's only a 5% accuracy rate. Hilarious!

Tomorrow night, JUST DO IT!

Here are some lessons. Please, everybody who is a Red Wing, listen up. Except Ozzie. I'll get to you later.

First off, here is a puck:


Now, what you do with this is put it into the net.











Or, you could call it a goal. What-ever! It looks like this:

Pretty simple. Inside the net. Not around.
Not above.
Inside.

Got it?







And, just so there's no confusion, hit it into the net using a hockey stick. You know, it's the thing you all carry around with you. Example:

Hit with the wide end.

Unless you're Kris Draper, you has used his face to nudge the puck in. Not advisable, Kris, but nice.









Anyway, there may be a slight, certainly not insurmountable obstacle. It looks like this:




Don't worry about it. It's really a girl. You just need to put the puck around it and into the net lots of times.

Us it as a marker for the net you need to put the puck into. No, not the one with Osgood in front of. The one with this ballet-dancer. OK?





Also, you have no need to worry about this little fella, despite what the NHL and Channel 4 seems to think.
He really is just an over-rated mini-mite.

Give him a few years - when he can grow a play-off beard he might be useful.




















OK. Osgood. You have been just about outstanding in these play-offs. Just keep it up, but better than last night. Your defense will help all they can, but JUST STOP THE PUCK FROM GOING INTO THE NET BEHIND YOU. No matter who hits it. Pretty simple, right?

So, great Red Wings, just follow the steps above. Put the puck in the Penguins net lots and lots of time. Don't let them put the puck in your net. Just do that and you will get this.
























Respectfully,

A Very Nervous Fan

WIN WINGS WIN!!!!!!

All we need is one more win! Tomorrow night?



Will Stevie Y get to hold it again, but this time as Red Wings On-The-Board guy? I think so!