Steak and Books

Last evening, we jettisoned off to Buffalo to celebrate my good friend Katie’s 30th birthday. We ate at Hyde Park Steakhouse. It was, quite honestly, the very best steak I’ve ever had. All contemplations about becoming a vegetarian were vanquished last night. I like meat and I like it bloody. Yum.

Since we were in Buffalo, we took the opportunity to pop over to my former place of employment, Borders Books and Music (only I think now it should be called Borders Books and a little tiny bit of music.) Darn you, MP3s! The Borders in Buffalo used to have the largest selection of cds in the city AND the surrounding suburbs. They had the most extensive selection of classical and jazz and I used to love browsing their soundtracks section. The music department used to take up a majority of the back area. Alas and alack, it seems to be less than half the size of what it used to be. This saddens me to the core.

With the advent of the Sony Reader and the Amazon kindle, could this very thing happen with books? No. I think not. Certainly not. The fact that I have a kindle doesn’t bias me either or make me a hypocrite in any way.

We purchased some items and as I stood to checkout, I thumbed through a book that was one of several of the same title stacked by the register. The title was In a Perfect World, a novel about a flight attendant who marries a pilot and guess what? They have problems. I can’t believe it either… seemed like a perfect match. Anyway, as I handed the clerk my debit card, she asked me if I wanted to purchase one of said books to donate to Roswell Park.

“What’s Roswell Park, again?” I asked.

“A cancer center,” said she.

“Ahhh. I’m going to have to say no.” She nodded and scanned my card. She seemed disappointed in me and my lack of generosity.

“Can I tell you why I would rather not purchase this particular book for Roswell Park?” She gave me a dead stare. She was a typical Borders employee: long, straight hair, a nose ring, a tattoo.

“Okay?” she said.

I opened the book and recited to her the first line of the first chapter, which states the following:

If you are reading this you are going to die.

I gave her a dead stare and said,

“I am very disturbed that Borders thinks this is an appropriate gift to give to cancer patients.”

Her eyes grew wide as saucers. I gave her a curt nod and left the store.

Sometimes these moments just drop into your lap and you have to take advantage of them.

Happy 30th birthday Katie m'Lady! Guess what? You're OLD. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

(I love you lots!)