My Vicarious Vacation

The one downfall to starting a small business, is that there usually isn’t any time for vacation during the first few years as the business starts to grow. That’s the life that I’ve been living for the last couple of years. Fortunately my dear friend Ed Esposito was kind enough to take me along on his annual vacation to Sarasota… Today, we’ve landed in Tampa and are heading south. Here’s the view as we cross St Petersburg’s Skyway Bridge…

SPAM Email Of The Day

I just received this email.  It made me laugh out loud!  If only it were true…….

Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBI Seattle Division
1110 Third Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98101-2904
Payment Code: R5109176K
Reg No: 132731593

Date: April 4, 2009

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has discovered through our intelligence Monitoring Network that you are eligible to receive the sum of $7,500,00.00 USD regarding to an over-due Inheritance/Award payment which was fully endorsed to be paid in your favor.

Therefore, the FBI Seattle Division in conjunction with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Has screened through our various Monitoring Networks and has been confirmed and notified that the transaction you have with the Financial Institution is Legal and you have the Lawful Right to claim your due fund.

Basically, there are three (3) options for you to get your fund transferred to you. These options includes

1. Bank To Bank Transfer
2. Bank Account Opening
3. ATM Card Payment.

You are to make your preferred and affordable choice from the three options below:

Option (1)

Bank To Bank Transfer:  This is a direct electronic transfer that will enable you receive the sum of money in any account that you will provide for this Bank to effect the transfer as it is always done electronically. It will take three (3) business days to reflect in the account that you will provide.

Cost of transfer:………..$100
VAT:………………………….$20
Insurance:……………………$4
Total:……………………….$165

Option (2)

Bank Account Opening: You will have to open a new Bank account here and it will be registered for
international transfer and you can make an online transfer as it will take 24Hours to get the account done.

Account Opening:………..$50
VAT:……………………………$20
Non Residential Permit:…$95
Insurance:…………………..$45
Total:………………………..$210

Option (3)

Client Card Payment: You will have to receive an ATM Card and approved clearance documents this will take two (2) business days to deliver to your doorstep. We will have to use our courier company to deliver the parcel to your location.

Post Fee:……………………$43
VAT:…………………………..$20
Insurance:…………………..$45
Total:………………………..$108

Please respond to this email by making a selection from the (3) options above.

Note: Your funds are protected by a hardcover insurance policy, which makes it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it can be remitted to you. This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the Funds and hence must be provided by you before your fund is transferred to you.

The payment for any of the above options should be sent via Western Union Money Transfer OR Money Gram in the name of head of operation Mr. Ola Martins.

Find below the payment information.

Name of receiver: Ola Martins
Office Address: Plot 143, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos 23401 Nigeria.
Text Question: In God
Answer: We Trust

Name of Sender:…………………
Address of Sender:………………
MTCN#………………………….

Please contact the Head of Operations Dr. Gerard Batten Acess Bank Plc. As soon you make the your payment.

Dr. Gerard Batten (Head of Operations)
International Remittance Department
Telephone: +234 709 043 4091
Email: drgerardbatten@sogou.com

As soon as he receive your payment, he shall proceed with your fund transfer immediately.

We anticipate your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Scott Parker (Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge)
cc Robert Mueller (FBI Director)

The Man I Am Today

5 Comments

The following is a bog that I posted on my original Blogspot blog back in September of 2007….

I spent the holiday weekend catching up on some shows that I had TiVo’d and hadn’t had a chance to watch. One of those shows was a recent episode of Alton Brown’s “Feasting On Asphalt 2” from the Food Network. This particular episode featured a dear old friend….the Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop in Quincy, IL.

For the uninitiated, the Maid-Rite is a loose meat sandwich kind of like a Sloppy Joe, but without the tomato sauce. You might even be familiar with the sandwich if you were a fan of the old Roseanne TV show.

The Mason’s called Quincy “home” for nearly a decade during my formative years, and one of the things that I remember most was Maid-Rite. Hell, Maid-Rite helped make me the man that I am today.

I actually didn’t discover Maid-Rite until my last couple of years in West Central Illinois. The Maid-Rite was located on the North side of town, and we never had any reason to visit. But during my last 2 years of High School in Quincy, we enjoyed a phenomenon known as “open lunch”.

quincymaidrite

Open lunch meant we could go off campus to eat, and we did….often. Burger Chef, Taco John, and Maid-Rite were frequent lunchtime stops. We’d cram 5 guys into Ty Quinn’s Firebird and head out….I can close my eyes and remember it like it was yesterday. Hard to believe it was really over 30 years ago. In fact, every time I hear Heart’s “Barracuda” it reminds me of Ty, Larry Foster, Jeff Pfaffe and Alan Brady and our lunchtime trips to Maid-Rite. Those WERE the days!

So after catching Alton’s sojourn to my old stomping grounds, I decided I that needed a Maid-Rite….NOW! A trip back to Quincy this afternoon was according to the wife, out of the question, so I hit Google to see where the closest Maid-Rite was located. A road trip will probably have to wait…because the closest Maid-Rite’s are in a couple of small towns near Dayton, OH.

Maid-Rite is actually part of a chain that started back in the late 1920’s in Iowa. The Quincy Maid-Rite is one of the oldest locations still in existence. The interesting thing about Maid-Rite, is that each of these original locations is unique, and the only thing that they share is the formula for the Maid-Rite itself.

Today, the Maid-Rite chain is trying to expand and become more like a “normal” fast food chain with identical menus, and a uniform look. Many people say that the standardized Maid-Rite’s aren’t as good as the ones you can get in Quincy, but for now that might just have to do. I’ll let you know when I get back!

If a visit to Maid-Rite is physically out of the question for you, I do have a solution. A few years ago I tracked down a recipe for “Quincy Maid-Rites” and included it in a charity cookbook that I took part in. It’s not the real thing, but it’s damn close.  Enjoy!

Quincy Maid-Rite’s

2 Tbsp. dried chopped onion
½ tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. water
6 hamburger buns
1 lb. lean ground beef
Prepared yellow table mustard
1 ½ cup chicken broth
Freshly chopped onion
½ tsp. salt (use less if broth is salted)
Sliced pickles

Soak dried onion in water. Crumble ground beef into a hot skillet and cook over a medium-high heat. When the soaked onion has begun to soften, add it (and its’ water) to the beef. Stir frequently as the meat browns, using a spatula to break the meat into small crumbles. When the meat is browned, add chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Cook until the liquid is almost gone, roughly 10 minutes. Serve meat on buns with prepared yellow mustard, chopped onion, and pickles. Makes 6 sandwiches.