So a few weeks ago, a friend of mine introduced me to what I thought was an awesome coffee shop/cafe called Republic Coffee. They had geat food with a nice vegetarian selection (the latter being very rare in Memphis). They also tout themselves as serving the community and “acting LOCAL while thinking GLOBAL.” Sounds great, eh?

Well, then I met someone who worked there. This person told me that the shifts were 10 hours long, and they had to train for 30 hours before they could get any pay (including tips). When I heard this, I naturally thought, well, they must pay well if they’re going to put the employees through this kind of crap. I was incredibly wrong. They pay their employees minimum wage.

Holy crap! Good job! Way to serve the community!

Seriously- I had a high school job at a restaurant that paid better than minimum wage. How can you talk about how good you are with a clear concience?!? Greed. It’s creeping in from all directions.

Turbo (my Belgian Malinois) got spayed today. I tried to be nice and bring a large dog bed in for her to sleep on, but apparently, she and Indy had other plans…

So I got a little bored while I was on my way to Downers Grove and took some photos…

Self portraits…

Cargo:

Nom Nom Nom…

Random phallic symbols?

I’m not usually one to go out to bars & what not, but my Warthog friend Steve convinced me to meet him & some friends up at Flying Saucer (great selection of beer) for Elvis Night. I wasn’t sure what Elvis night meant, but I found out later that they were serving beer in pink & silver commemorative Elvis glasses. Very cool…

After finishing those off and having some surprisingly good bar food (only bar I know of that offers a couple of vegetarian selections!), Jo broke out the darts. She and a friend played a round while Steve and I laughed at Jo trying not to cry as her friend repeatedly launched the darts at the board crooked enough for them to fall onto the ground, causing the tails to fly off.

Here we are- I’m surprised that she is smiling, because behind the camera, there is dart carnage in progress…

Even though I stayed out a little past my bedtime, it was still a good time. Plenty of Elvis, good company, and delicious beer!

Ryan and I made the 17 hour drive from Marquette yesterday & got home around midnight. Now, I’m packed up & ready to head off to the NSCA’s National Conference in Vegas to present my thesis data. I’ll be glad to get home on Saturday. In light of my recent race performances, I may end up not going to the Huntsville race on the 19th so I can prepare for the State TT Championship later in the month (as well as the remainder of the season!)

It’ll be a few days before I post again- in the meantime, if you’re bored with my blog, take a look at some of the links or go back to some earlier posts. Who knows- you might find something interesting… I’ve got some other good photos from my WI/MI trip to post. I’ll do it sometime in the next week once I get settled back in :)

…but this time, not to a bike race. I’m making this post from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Ryan and I made last minute plans to visit some of his family in Wisconsin and Michigan. We made the 12 hour road trip yesterday. Once it warms up, we’re gonna go for a bike ride up the east shore of the lake. It’s nice to do something out of town besides racing for a change :)