The Power of Words

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My cousin shared the following video earlier, and I had to share it.

It's funny how the same thing can be said so many different ways, and how they can have different connotations (that lead to different reactions).

Along the same lines, but not really related to this video directly, too often, we are so careless in what we say and how we say it... that leads to our words being misconstrued even more.

It would be nice if we were all a little more careful in our choice of words towards others, wouldn't it?

Iowa Caucus & New Hampshire Primary

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Being the political junkie that I am, I stayed up until 2:30 AM the night of the Iowa caucus until we FINALLY found out who the winner was after all of the confusion and back and forth... and probably one of the closest elections ever.

Eight votes separated the first (Romney) and second (Santorum) place last week, yet people still argue that they don't bother voting because their ONE vote doesn't count? Really? If I could earn a dollar for every time I hear that... I wouldn't need to be looking for a job.

Here's to hoping that the New Hampshire primary tonight is as exciting as the Iowa caucus was. I LOVE election season!

Red Lobster

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I love seafood... and tilapia is one of my favorites!

So it should come as no surprise that one of my favorites when I go out to eat is the Wood-Fire Grilled Tilapia at Red Lobster. It's what I get EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I go there. Without fail.

Love the Caesar salad at Red Lobster. LOVE their biscuits.

I finally convinced my parents to go there about a year and a half ago for the first time. Since then, I have gone with them twice more -- the  most recent time was today. In fact, we went today solely for their wood-fire grilled tilapia (my mom tried a piece of mine last time and loved it as well). Two out of the three times I've gone with them, however, they have for some reason not had Tilapia available.

This is despite the fact that it's listed on their menu and on their list of "Today's Fresh Fish". I was not informed that they didn't have any Tilapia until I placed my order, and was quite disappointed. Especially because this isn't the first time that has happened.

We went during peak dinner time (7 PM), so it is not like we went really late and they might have ran out of tilapias by then. If we went really late, and they didn't have any available at that point, I would  have attributed it to that.

While I liked the Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp that I ordered today, it wasn't what I wanted. I go to Red Lobster pretty much for their wood-fire grilled tilapia and their biscuits and if I am not sure I'll be getting that -- I don't know if it is worth going there!

The Power of a Smile

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There is this woman that I've seen/spoken to three days in a row now.

The first two days, she was terribly rude and had a major attitude problem (not just to me, to everyone she interacted with I noticed). I, in return, still started off with a smile and was courteous and polite throughout the conversation. On both days. Trust me, it was no picnic for me either!

By the third day, my patience (and trying to remain positive) was wearing thin and I didn't even want to have to deal with her. I knew I would have to, however, considering she's the receptionist.

The third day, surprisingly, she greeted me with a smile!

It. Made. My. Day.

I wonder if it annoyed her that I was still so polite and smiling while she was being a you know what the first two days...

Choopan Grill

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Food: 3
Staff: 3
Atmosphere: 3.5
Overall: 3.0

Choopan Grill is a new Afghani Restaurant that opened recently in our area. It apparently has two other locations by the same owner in NY (or so I've heard). I tried it today with three of my cousins (and we all love Afghani food).

The service was... not so great? We were the only ones there for a pretty long time (it was around 7 PM) and the greeter/server pretty much "watched" us, which is beyond creepy and annoying. Then, she came over and asked "what do you want?". What I wanted to say was, "to leave"... but, of course, I didn't do that. They are going to have work on how they talk to their guests because it was very unwelcoming.

Portion size was good (too much for me). Taste was okay -- not great, but not bad either. There are definitely other Afghani restaurants in the area that I would recommend instead. There wasn't really anything memorable about Choopan Grill that would make want to go back there again.

Here's a picture of my plate -- I had the Chicken Breast Kebab entree:

Brain Teaser

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A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?