Day 125 - Phone Camera

Five Guys just opened up a store in the Fox Hills Mall, a couple of miles away from where I live. This is the one in Carson, taken with The Little Orange Box setting in RetroCamera.

Depressing Times Mean Comfort Food

At a department meeting this morning, it was announced that today there would be a fourth round of layoffs, and while my department was unaffected by staff reductions, we were also informed that all employees making $50K or more would be subject to a mandatory 8% salary reduction. Given the cost of living in Los Angeles, $50K a year is like making $30K elsewhere in the country . . . and while I can't confirm this, the rumor going around was the CEO was on a Caribbean cruise while all this was going down. And Nero fiddled while Rome burned . . .

So while it might be a while before I include fast food (or restaurants in general) in my budgets, here's to better times, when Five Guys was something I could actually afford.

Burgers & Dogs

Well, sausages to be more precise.

There's a cool new restaurant in downtown L.A. that I wish were closer to work, 'cause it'd be the kind of place I'd walk into and everyone would yell,"Tom!" And then someone would ask, "What's goin' on, Tom?" And I'd reply, "Let's talk about what's goin' in Tom."

Wurstküche is a great place, with gourmet sausages and fries, plus an amazing variety of German and Belgian beers on tap. A couple of weeks ago I met up with a couple of friends there who were in town for the Grammys and they were duly impressed.

As for the burgers, for lunch today I finally tried the lone West Coast representative of the legendary DC-based chain Five Guys. While the burgers were par for the course, the fries were (A) rather limp and (B) a smaller portion than what I've had back East. And since it's been almost two months since I last had Five Guys (with Dad over Christmas) I think it may be a little longer before I can indulge again.

I'm not as young as I used to be . . .