Twitter and Parking

I gave in and finally started a Twitter account. I took a hint from something that my coworker said about Facebook. He pretty much said that if he wanted to be flooded with updates, he would open a Twitter account instead of just a Facebook account. There is no better way for me to give people the inside scoop than Twitter on my smartphone.

Follow me on Twitter! @cchoumayor
As for the other topic, the parking meters around here are fully operational now. I think parking is somewhere around $1.25 for an hour. I just looked all over their website and I couldn't find any warning about the parking meters. Oh well, I guess that's what I am here for! Bring correct change, I haven't looked close enough at the machines to see if they take cards or give change.

C'mon Man!

Living in a mixed use area has its positives and its negatives. I want to talk about one of the huge negatives right now because it just doesn't make sense to me. I fully understand that noise is a factor that I need to live with here at Citycentre. I've come to terms with the fact that the area has progressively gotten louder as more restaurants open and more customers pour in. I no longer care about the drunk crowd yelling and laughing while I am attempting to sleep. I no longer care about the cars honking and the slamming doors either. I'm at peace with the delivery trucks that slam their ramps and sliding doors. I am even okay with the street sweepers that come through at odd hours.

What I don't understand is the extremely loud grease vacuum truck that comes by every quarter around 3:00 AM on workdays to empty the underground grease trap!

What makes this truck so loud is the fact that it has to rev up its engine to compensate for the vacuum motor when it runs. It's technology called "PTO" or Power Take Off. The vacuum motor itself is awefully loud too. There has not been a single instance where I was able to sleep through the noise. Imagine your household vaccum noise, multiplied by 10, right outside your window at 3 in the morning.

Here are the issues I see from the restaurants' perspectives. The manhole covers for access to the grease traps are in the middle of parking spots so the truck has to arrive before cars start filling up those spots. The truck would have to shut down one side of the Boulevard for about 30 minutes while it did its thing.

Look, just tell the truck to come at 6:00 AM, cone off the area around it and block traffic for 30 minutes, and then go on its merry way. There are multiple entrances to this complex for those that arrive that early and those people all work here and park in the parking garages anyway. Think of it this way. It is easy for someone to drive around to another entrance, but I will never regain the health I lost from abruptly waking up and losing sleep once a quarter.

Random Musings: Citycentre has some exciting events lined up for the Christmas season. I'll keep you updated, stay tuned.

Halloween Weekend

There are a lot of things going on in Citycentre this weekend and the following is a non exhaustive list.

RA Sushi - I'm surprised that this hasn't been advertised more. I mean, it's not on their Facebook page and I haven't seen any flyers or anything around town. They will have black lights all over the restaurant and Halloween drink specials. Of course they will also have the obligatory giveaways (costume contests). I can already see glow sticks all over the place! I almost forgot to mention that there will be a DJ and I know the guy. Seriously, it sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe I'll make a surprise visit, look for the Mayor's Tophat...

Straits - This is another event that isn't all that publicized, but I guess that's why I am here! Straits will have "Back to the 80's" night on Saturday with $5 Sex on the Beach (the drink, hehehe) all night. Halloween night will feature DJ Steve starting at 10:00 PM and $5 Jagerbombs all night long! I'll see if I can make a pass through this event as well, look for the Mayor's Tophat!

Random Musings: Christmas Decorations are up in the area. Pictures coming soon, stay tuned!

Cyclone Anaya's

This is very difficult for me, but I feel like I need to give them a fair chance. I went with 5 coworkers today to Cyclone Anaya's for lunch. They were slow (50 minutes to get us our food), and the food was cold. I am known for completing my whole plate, but the cheese enchiladas and chicken quesadillas were so bad I could not finish them. I ended up tipping the poor waiter less than a dollar even though he tried his best. I will make it up to him if I come back and have him as a waiter again and the food is better.

So in short, instead of the scathing review that I wanted to write. I will just say that I am big enough to hold myself back and give them the benefit of the doubt. True, they probably should have pushed back their opening another week but they are trying.

P.S. I went back for margaritas after work and they were delicious!

I'm Famous!

Not really...but we all have dreams don't we? Citycentre has taken a liking to my blog and has linked it on their website!

So I have been trying to find time on a Thursday to walk around and browse the Farmer's Market here at Citycentre. I ran through really quickly today after work and saw an assortment of goat cheeses, bread products, flowers, and produce. I plan on speaking to some of the vendors there. Help support your local community and visit on a Thursday. It is definitely a laid back atmosphere and there is always relaxing music either from a live group or from a recording.

I see people setting up tents every Thursday around 3:00 PM and I think they stay until 8:00 PM, weather permitting. The actual hours are something like 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM and can probably be confirmed on their website.


RANDOM MUSINGS: A coworker was driving me to lunch today and I noticed something really interesting while exiting Parking Garage 2. There are two pipes hanging from the entrance/exit that are like warning signs. If you hit them with your vehicle, then it isn't a good idea for you to drive into the parking garage...

Both pipes have "6 FEET 8 INCHES" marked on them, but one is about 4" lower than the other and have scrape marks all over the bottom of it. The next time you go to Brio's, take a look at the East entrance/exit to Parking Garage 2. My theory is that one of them is installed with 6'-8" as the BOTTOM of the pipe and the other pipe was CENTERED at 6'-8". The scrape marks reminded me of the UHaul I saw in the same parking garage...

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