Mr. Chicken and Friends

Due to my revising of this blog, I forgot to tell this story. The Mr. Chicken on Broadview Road (near Midtown) in Parma closed last night. Since I never set foot in the place before, I decided to order some food. I had a Grilled Chicken Sandwich, French Fries, and Pepsi. The fries were delicious since they were fresh. The sandwich was o.k. The bun was a little bland, but I would go back, especially since they passed out 20% off coupons that can be used at their other Parma stores (See http://www.mrchickencater.com/ for the locations and other information.). I also brought home Bob a Grilled Chicken Sandwich and some Potato Wedges (I had one when Bob came home from work.). I would have had Potato Wedges, too, but they are not available as part of a combo, although I confused the fries for the wedges when I ordered my food.





I was surprised when I arrived at the restaurant around 5:15 P.M. to find it without customers. They eventually did receive a nice stream of customers, but the line was not too unreasonable at any time. Most people took their food to go, but one other person joined me to dine in. It was an enjoyable experience.



Thankfully, Mr. Chicken will be coming back to the neighborhood soon. They want to find a nearby location. The current location will become a Walgreen's. There is a vacant corner lot that will hopefully help to make it a nice store. After 25 years as Mr. Chicken and many years as Minnie Pearl's Chicken, the building will be missed. It's been there as long as I can remember. It would have been a disappointment if I never visited.



I did say that I never entered the Mr. Chicken on Broadview Road until yesterday, but it wasn't my first experience at Mr. Chicken. I ate at the Pearl and Ridge Road location about five years ago. I had bought candy at the nearby Medic Drug (Coincidentally acquired by Walgreen's, the building is now Dollar General.). I had time to kill between buses, so I ate there. Since it was a Friday in Lent, I had fish. I think I had either a combo or a dinner. Whatever I had, I know that I received more food than I should have. I think I had Cole Slaw and a roll, in addition to my Potato Wedges and soda for the price of the lower combination (I don't remember all the parameters, but I remember that the food was tasty, but I burned my tongue on the Potato Wedges because they were too hot.).



For the record, I miss Medic Drug because they had good prices on candy occasionally. Tops Markets (Still in Erie, Buffalo, and Rochester) also was a good source of candy at three bars for a dollar. I am lucky to get candy bars for fifty cents apiece. Some stores charge a dollar for one bar. I miss the good old days.



In addition to the aforementioned experience, I visited the Mr. Chicken in Maple Heights a few years back. I did not eat there because it was take-out only. (I went somewhere else instead.) I remember that it was after my first experience because I assumed that all Mr. Chickens had seating. The trip was not a total loss because I visited Dunham Sports for Bob (The store went out of business. Southgate, which extends around the block, had a lot of vacancies the last time that I visited, sometime last year.). I guess store closings are a part of life.



Speaking of store closings, The KFC on Broadview Road (Near Pearl) in Cleveland went out of business within the last month. Since Bob and I rarely visit KFC these days, and there are other ones nearby, it is not as devastating. The building has also been there as long as I can remember. It spent almost 26 years as a KFC. (It was known as Kenny King's for years. (This is a reminder for people who still live or once lived in the Cleveland Area.)) Before that, it was an Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips. My now deceased parents enjoyed the building more as Arthur Treacher's. Bob and I eat more at Arthur Treacher's now, but we used to patronize KFC because it was near our barber at the time (By the way, his daughter-in-law's sister is C.S.I. New York's Melena Kanakeredes.)(Our current barber is across the street. That's another story for another time.). Once again, we will have the memories.



In closing, I will announce that the Big K-Mart on West 65th Street in Cleveland will close in May. I heard that Steelyard Commons finally doomed the K-Mart. Until Steelyard Commons (about 10-15 minutes away by car) opened, the K-Mart outlived all competition for almost 35 years. Bob and I have not visited this store for about 25 years. Our uncle and great aunt lived nearby, but since they died, we had no reason to visit the store. There are three other K-Marts in our area that we like better, so it's not a total loss for us. The memories are not as vivid, but we will always remember it.

It was fun going down Memory Lane, but I've written too much for one night, so I will say goodbye for now.

Redesign Notice Updated

I just noticed that my widgets are now on the right side. Since we read from left to right, it makes sense. Hopefully, if I make any more changes, it will improve the readability of this blog. I also noticed that spell check is not convenient in the new editing process. As a result, I went back to the Old Editor format (after I published this posting the first time), and Spell Check returned. I guess that what's new isn't always better. Oh well, that's life.

Redesign

I was looking at Tri-State Media Watch http://ohkyintristatemedia.blogspot.com) and discovered a function to put a clock on a blog or website. Even with the copy and paste function, I struggled and failed with it because it's too "technical for me. I did find some other options. Changing the template was one option. I also was able to change the clock from Pacific Time to Eastern Time. I wrote about this problem a few years back. Hopefully, I have fixed this problem. In addition, I made it easier for you to e-mail my posts to your friends. I hope that it works out. We'll find out soon.

Pancake Tuesday

Tonight, I went to IHOP at Cleveland's Steelyard Commons for free pancakes. I also had salad and Pepsi. The restaurant was crowded, but getting a table was not a problem. I was in and out in about 40-45 minutes.

I was going to go shopping at Best Buy and Wal-Mart Supercenter, but I decided to wait for my bus instead. Technically, I would have missed it, but it was a few minutes late. I even made connections with my second bus that takes me closer to home.

It was a fun experience. I did the same thing last year, but at the IHOP in Lakewood (Now Vacant). I had soup in addition to my salad, because I ordered improperly. They overcharged me for both items due to a price hike that wasn't on the menu yet. I challenged it and lost. It's no big deal since the Children's Miracle Network benefited from the customers' donations. If I recall correctly, it wasn't overcrowded last year, either.

I hope to do this again next year if they repeat the offer. For the record, Bob and I did not go to Denny's for a free Grand Slam Breakfast on February 9. It would have been tough getting back home to get Bob ready for work if we did it for breakfast. If we got there early enough to fight the crowds, lunch could have worked. Bob could have gone to work from Denny's. It's only one bus to Downtown from the Denny's on Brookpark Road, the one in Independence, or the one across from Parmatown Mall. He would have had his regular second bus ride from Downtown to the Main Post Office. Oh well, there's always next year if they do it again.

Happy Pancake Tuesday!

Happy Birthday, Tim

Today is my brother Tim's birthday. I hope that he had a pleasant birthday. His gift from Bob and me is in the mail.

Hopefully, there will be another report from me soon.

The Mystery Playlist

The playlist in the last post came from a widget from http://www.yourminis.com . I'm still learning all the ins and outs of this widget. In other words, this means that the playlist is not mine. I do have a playlist at http://www.playlist.com that I selected from music uploaded by others. Hopefully, I will eventually share this with my readers. For now, enjoy the "mystery", too playlist. Perhaps, I might find some enjoyment. I hope that my readers aren't offended.

Bob's Hat

I returned the hat to JcPenney at Parmatown today. It worked out as an even exchange. I was fearing that I would have had to pay the difference between Parmatown's price and SouthPark's price, which would have been about ten dollars. It was a very smooth transaction. All I had to do was sign the exchange receipt (in ink, not electronically). I hope that he appreciates the hat, considering all the fun that I had in purchasing it.

Until next time, enjoy the Super Bowl.

Bob's Birthday

Bob's birthday was on February 3. We started off with lunch at Denny's by Parmatown. Bob had a Grand Slam which was free (The cheese was extra.). Unlike last year, my entree was not free (It wasn't a Grand Slam Celebration.). I had a Boca Burger, fries, and a Coke, all for $5.99. (The burger and fries would have been almost $8.00 alone. I know a good deal when I see one.) We then went across the street to JcPenney. He wanted a shirt and a Browns hat, which were both on sale. As it turns out, the hat was not on sale at Parmatown (We had seen it under $4 at JcPenney at SouthPark the day before.). I asked about the hat and learned that clearance was at the Store Manager's discretion. I did pick up the shirt with no problems, though. On the next day, I went back to JcPenney's at SouthPark. I found the last hat without a price tag. The clerk investigated the situation. I was charged about $4. Bob later noted that the cost was slightly more than it was on Tuesday, but I thought the price was close enough and bought it anyways. After inspecting the hat, Bob found a flaw, so we're going to either exchange or return it at Parmatown's JcPenney tomorrow. Tune in to find out if we're successful.

We're going back to Wednesday's story now. After coming home, for a couple of hours, we went out to Applebee's at Steelyard Commons (In Cleveland) for dinner. Bob had received a $10.00 dollar gift card from work. We also benefited from an offer of two entrees and an appetizer for $20.00. Bob had steak and a baked potato. I had penne pasta and chicken. We shared mozzarella sticks and both enjoyed Pepsis for our beverage. It was a tasty meal, but I brought my leftovers home, which I enjoyed for lunch yesterday. We then headed for home.

Unfortunately, we arrived home a lot later than we expected. Applebee's offered an online survey to try to win $1,000. I thought Bob had the form. He didn't. I went back into the restaurant to our table, but it wasn't there. I had put it in my wallet, but I had forgotten that. In the short time that I was in the restaurant, the bus had gone by. In my defense, the bus was about ten minutes late. We looked at Famous Footwear and Best Buy to kill time. We tried again for the next bus. The bus was fifteen minutes late. As a result, we narrowly missed our bus towards home. We took a bus that took us closer to home. We stopped off at Arby's, so Bob could have a Value Menu Chocolate Shake that we took home. (I didn't have the appetite for a shake.) We made our bus home. It was about an hour later than it would have been if I remembered where the survey was. (Yes, we could have walked home from where we got off the bus that we took to get us closer to our goal, but I guess that we were tired and wanted to minimize our snow exposure. There wasn't a lot then, but we have a few inches now.) Bob could have had a better birthday if I cooperated, but that's another story for another day.

On my hat buying trip, I stopped off at the Best Buy across the street from SouthPark to buy Bob a Gift Card. I hope that he gets enjoyment from it. I could have bought it earlier, but I didn't want him to see me buying it.

Until next time, enjoy the Super Bowl.