Database For Me!

So, today I finally got database access after e-mailing a few people, so that was good. My boss is gone for the week, so I have to report to others. Brian walked me through working with a lot of the database, so I just played around with it for the majority of the morning.

I even printed out an official database diagram for quick reference. It was printed over 6 pages, so I trimmed them and taped them together. I now inducted myself into a true database/GTS support nerd. Woo hoo.

So, today...lunch. Oh boy. So, I found my new best friend: yelp.com. It's a review site for pretty much anything, but it is equipped with a map feature, so I use it to find restaurants in the area. There was already a restaurant I knew about that I was going to go to: Perry's. It was next to Taza, the Mediterranean restaurant I went to on Friday. I learned from some of the reviews that I missed the specialty of Taza: Falafel..I think that is what it was called, something similar. Anyways, I couldn't go to Taza again unless I tried some place new, so I had to go to Perry's.

Perry's is a sandwich shop. I thought I had tried all kinds of sandwich shops. Boy, I was wrong. Sandwiches are usually comprised of three main categories: sub sandwiches (Subway, Quiznos, etc.), specialty bakery/deli sandwiches (Panera bread, Corner bakery, etc.), and hot sandwiches (Plenty of restaurants).

Perry's was none of these. Perry's was it's own breed of sandwich.

I go in, notice the blatant "No cell phone" signs, and walk in. I gather myself in the environment, look around, and deem this to be a no-nonsense-be-ready-to-order-when-you-come-up sort of place. So, I took a paper menu and stood to the side (no big menu is in the place). They had all sorts of tasty combinations. The food was a little pricey, with just about everything over $7. They had a "triple decker" section and regular sandwich section. A sandwich with ham, peanut butter, bacon, mayo, and lettuce caught my eye as something good to try, but I settled on a turkey salad, bacon, coleslaw, and Russian sauce sandwich. When I ordered, I was asked if I wanted white, wheat, or rye. I chose rye.

They piled the bacon on, piled the turkey salad on, and piled the coleslaw on. Before he compressed the sandwich between two slices of normal rye bread, it was over 6 inches tall. I can only imagine how huge the triple decker sandwiches were. When I bit into the sandwich, it was amazing. This is probably the most unique sandwich place ever, and they seem to carry a reputation. I came before lunch hour because I noticed this place was always packed with people. After I finished the first half of my sandwich (it was cut in two) I was ready to get up because it was that filling. I had another half left.

In the middle of my 2^nd half, the music was interrupted with a screeching alarm. Remember the no cell phone rule? They have a system that detects cell phone usage. Everyone looked around the place to find the noobie who was using his cell phone. Everyone stared at him and he had the most deer-in-headlights look ever. It was great. After I finished with Perry's, I decided I would go get some Falafel at Taza. Basically, they are glorified hush puppies if you've ever had one. Except, they are a deep fried mixture of veggies and spices. After waiting in line, I just said I wanted one Falafel - $0.40 The man gave me two, and shooed me away and said, "You order yet? Free sample, don't worry about it. Go! Don't worry about it." So I got to try Falafel for free, that was a great gesture of kindness by the owner.

So, it was back to work. I had a couple meetings after lunch, which were somewhat informative. The rest of the time I worked on some miscellaneous stuff, but I have yet to get knee deep in the database stuff. Hopefully that happens soon.