Giving thanks

I'm getting a lot of riding in; unfortunately, because it's slow at Manatee Memorial. Hmmmmm, there's that gift horse again, and I won't be looking him in the mouth.

Regarding the gift horse, would you believe Ralph never heard of him. He intimated the gift horse is some throwback from 'back in the day,' say like 1960. As though the gift horse possibly went out of vogue along with 8 tracks, Beta VCRs, floppy drives, floppy discs, etc. Sheesh. The gift horse is a proverb that was first referenced in writing in the 16th century. I love proverbs, i.e, the grass is always greener, two birds in the hand, and so on and so forth. In any event, the gift horse thankfully visits me at least once a day. Ralph must have slept through the first 18 years of his life. How else could he have grown up with me and not have heard of the gift horse? Ralph must feel deprived...although the gift horse recently visited him and my mother at the Emergency Room at Manatee Memorial. Now, Ralph is not only richer, but wiser. No, my mother and Ralph were not together when they sustained their injuries.

In any event, I'm thankful to get in all the riding, and my personal best is now 25 miles. My new Verso Roma arrived and I took it to Village Bikes for them to assemble. The other day I found the same bike for $180.00 less, so I emailed the company from whom I purchased my bike and the the rep agreed to contact Kettler (maker of bike) to see what can be done. I'll keep you posted. The new bike won't be assembled until Wednesday....UGH...I'm anxious to take it out!

Remodeling continues at the CCI (Carmella's Casa Italiana). The new flooring will be installed on Monday. The painting is scheduled for Wednesday. We're closed on Thursday, which is Thanksgiving, so the paint will have an extra day to dry. Last but not least, I expect the new table covers by the end of the week. Our new look is going to be so awesome and we're all really excited. Deb is taking off some time, so she won't see the finished results until a week from Wednesday. If she gives it her seal of approval, the new look will be a shoe in with our customers. Whoo hoo! Stop in and feel free to eat and tell us what you think.

I'm learning a lot about how people are doing business these days. I understand that we're all doing business in a sketchy enonomy. I say sketchy because I'm not convinced it's a recession or a poor economy. 40 million dollars were spent on the new Call of Duty Modern Warfare video game that debuted about two weeks ago and billions of dollars are spent at the box office each week when the new movies come out. From the way the flooring experts are running their businesses, they must not be starving either.

Here's my experience with the flooring experts. I contacted six flooring places for estimates. One salesman gave me samples to take to the restaurant and when he showed up to measure the floor and give the estimate, he arrived with several other samples. One place doesn't do commercial flooring. One place was so disinterested and unhelpful, I wonder if his establishment is a front for illegal activities. The fourth and fifth guys measured the floor and promised to email the estimates. No emails with estimates as of this writing. The sixth guy was a no call/no show.

So there you have it. The winner is John at Manasota Flooring. I recommend him. Depending on how the installation goes tomorrow, I'll let you know if I highly recommend Manasota Flooring! The operative word there is 'highly.'

If I don't see you at CCI or MMH, please have a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm thankful I'm still in business, for my loyal customers, for my family and pets, for my loved ones, for my friends, for my health, for the frequent visits from the gift horse, and on and on. See you soon!