Sizzlers Steakhouse and Ocean Grill

Casting about for a spot to have lunch in Glasgow with a former teammate from Uddington, I worried that we might be stuck with either a one-cuisine place (Chinese and Italian seem most common in the city center), a pub, or the American mediocrity of T.G.I.Friday. Fortunately, she suggested checking out Merchant Square, where there were a variety of restaurants in one big old building, including this nice one offering steak and seafood (and pasta).

Better still, they have a £6.95 two-course lunch special, starting at noon, which is quite reasonable given the quality food and ambiance. Even with drinks and the automatic tip, it comes out to perhaps £10 a person, not bad at all. Due to my tight schedule, we were there when the doors opened, and found the service to be fast, friendly and attentive. We opted for a quiet table inside to chat and catch up on the foreign-affairs scene, but there are also "outside" tables in an open area within the large former industrial building.

We both had a starter of ogen melon (like honeydew, but more sought-after) and sorbet, then she opted for penne pasta (spicy, apparently) while I chose fish and chips after briefly agonizing over the other appealing choices (two different steaks, salmon or a hamburger). The portions were generous, and neither of us had room for dessert. Maybe next time. 

I really can't think of anything to complain about - the location is even good, only two or three blocks from the main Queen Street railway station, and not far from Glasgow Central station either. Best of all, they accepted my silly American credit card that doesn't have a chip in it. Since there are four other things on the menu I want to try, I'm sure I'll be back next time I'm in the area.

And now for something completely different, a dancing walrus

This has to be the best dancing pinniped I've ever seen.  And what's really cool is that the walrus has trained a human to dance along with it!

A busy 24 hours in New York

Over the weekend, my friend Linda who used to work on Mauna Kea came to New York, since I was in town and she had never been there. I met her at Penn Station (after discovering it was National Train Day) in midday on the 10th, and we went sightseeing several different places before she got back on a train 24 hours later.  It was actually a little under 24 hours by the clock. And somewhere in there were meals and lots of catching up on what our friends are up to and all that. Probably should have spent more time asleep, though!

 

Busy day

I headed to work knowing that I needed to do two things: perform routine, easy cryogenic maintenance on an instrument, and power-cycle a network camera used during remote operation, which was unhappy after the other day's power outage.

So I got those things sorted out, and then the phone rang.  It was my boss, who wanted to know if our engineer had talked to me about one of the computers needing to be rebooted. He hadn't, so I found out that last night, a computer decided not to start back up after being power-cycled.  I went down to the computer room, found it, and turned it back on.

While I was doing that, I noticed that another computer in the room was beeping persistently, so I looked at it, figured out what the problem was, and went back upstairs to tell the guy in charge of it (who's 2300 miles away).  Just then, the engineer called and told me how to fix that one, so I fixed it, too.

Johnny Cash's voice is back... in a 15-year-old kid?

Vince Mira, a 15-year-old from Federal Way, Washington, has gotten the nickname "Juanny Cash" and appeared on "Good Morning America" and "Ellen" because he can sing like you-know-who. One Seattle-area writer said Johnny Cash "was rolling over in his grave - but only to get a better look." 

 Mira has an indie CD out, "Cash Cabin Sessions," produced by John Carter Cash.

 

Partially eclipsed moonrise

The moon rose partially eclipsed over the ocean this evening.  I went out to a good viewpoint on Hilo Bay, but only had 16 minutes from when the moon began emerging from the horizon clouds until it went behind the overhead clouds.

Heavy rain likely through today

Heavy rain likely through today (excerpt)
John Burnett, Hawaii Tribune-Herald, February 3, 2008

...Dan Birchall, a volunteer at the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station, said at 5 p.m. that the temperature there was 38 degrees.

"We don't have snow here; the lowest snow is about 10,500 feet up," he said. "We have rain here. It's been raining pretty steadily at this level. The rain is not too bad, though. It's a misty rain, not like in Hilo. At the summit, it was snowing. It's let up a little bit; the road is still closed, though."