For lunch today I stopped in at the Pizza Hut/Taco Bell on Donelson Pike. It’s one of those combination restaurants you see occassionally. For example there’s a KFC/Taco Bell in Mt. Juliet. And there’s a KFC/Long John Silvers in Lafeyette. I was expecting a full-fledged Pizza Hut. I was sorely mistaken. Instead I got a warmed up personal pan pizza similar to the junk served at Lipscomb. I really expected more. This place was more or less a Taco Bell with 3 pizza options. I should have known better. Plus the Sierra Mist coke dispenser was out of syrup.
So I need to find a good pizza place in Donelson. Anyone have any suggestions?

From an old Instant Messenger conversation:
Fri Oct 31 11:49:29 2003
Jenn: i’m gettin some wendys b4 we all meet up
Jeff: wendy who
Jenn: dave’s wendy
Jeff: I thought you were eating at home to save money
Jenn: i was, but i’ve been cravin it
Jeff: what food at wendy’s
Jenn: double stack
Jeff: it’ll make you fat
Jenn: who cares
Jenn: they are good
Jeff: the double cheeseburger?
Jenn: oh yes
Jeff: what about a triple
Jenn: thats dangerous
Jeff: so a double is good; triple is dangerous
Jenn: yep
Jeff: what is the cutoff point
Jenn: double
Jeff: at what point do you enter dangerous territory
Jeff: that one extra bite of the triple?
Jenn: when u stack 3 patties
Jenn: yep
Jeff: the extra bite of the third patty?
Jeff: or is it the extra bite of the third piece of cheese
Jenn: both
Jeff: are there warning labels on the triple
Jenn: on the bottom of the bun
Jeff: it is so dangerous, maybe it should be regulated by the FDA
Jeff: hazardous materials.
Jenn: lol
Jeff: I’ve never had a double
Jeff: only a single
Jenn: ohh
Jeff: I couldn’t imagine eating a triple
Jeff: those must be huge
Jenn: u should live on the edge a little adn go for a double
Jeff: maybe
Jeff: although I just don’t like that much burger
Jeff: I get double cheesburgers at McDonald’s alot since they are cheaper than the regular cheeseburgers
Jenn: true
Jeff: and I don’t like them.
Jenn: i do
Jeff: are you getting the double cheese burger in Lebanon or Gallatin
Jenn: lebanon
Jeff: what’s wrong with Gallatin
Jeff: does it smell too much like Darrell
Jenn: lebanon is closer
Jeff: yeah but it will be cold before you get to Gallatin
Jeff: or are you eating it before you get there
Jenn: yea, its like 2 minutes from my house
Jeff: aren’t you a bit apprehensive living so near a restaurant that serves dangerous materials (triples)?
Jenn: i don’t mind it
Jenn: talking about all this food has got me hungry, i’m going to eat some lunch. i’ll see u around 5
Jeff: ok
Jeff: see you then
Jenn: see ya
*** “Jenn” signed off at Fri Oct 31 12:02:09 2003.
Session Close (Jenn): Fri Oct 31 12:06:19 2003

Here’s the deal. Pizza Hut has some kind of special membership thingy – “Very Into Pizza” aka “VIP.” Pay $14.99 per year and get a special VIP card. You have to buy 2 pizzas per month and then get up to 2 free pizzas a month. The minimum order for each pizza is $10…and I’m not sure if you can still use coupons on the regular orders. And you get free breadsticks or cinnamon sticks every month. But only one order of breadsticks per month.
The brochure is lacking in these obvious questions. I don’t know. If you could buy one pizza per month and get the next one free, that would be a pretty good deal. I’m not into Pizza Hut that much. I’ll probably pass on this one. Seems like alot of Pizza Hut pizzas. And I only go there once a month.

(I promised “Bob” that I would write about Jersey Mike’s Subs, so he could distinguish who exactly liked them.)
Within the past couple of months I have discovered Jersey Mikes Subs ( www.jerseymikes.com ) . Thankfully there is one within 10 minutes of my house. What makes Jersey Mike’s Subs so great is the amount of meat you get on it, compared to Subway. With Subway, you find yourself hungry after a few hours. With Mike’s you will stay full all day. Unfortunately with the extra meat, comes an extra cost. Mike’s subs can cost upto $6.50 for a 7 inch sub. But it is well worth it.
I have been told that the Jersey Mike’s Sub shop in Hermitage is dirty, but I have not seen any evidence of uncleaness in the restaurant. I don’t know what their health scores are, but I am not getting sick, so everything must be fine.
Let’s review:
Subway Subs: old and busted
Jersey Mike’s: new hotness

I have a message for John Schnatter, founder of Papa John’s Pizza.
John: Your coupons suck. Two years ago, there were coupons for $5.99 for a large one topping. Now that you’ve got us hooked on your pizza, you force us to pay $8.99 for a large pepperoni pizza. Any other of your current coupons just suck. I’ve seen coupons only for a specific topping. Like Spinach or Barbeque chicken…neither of which I would ever want to buy. I would possibly buy a pizza every other week if you would let us buy them for $5.99.
Why the dramatic increase in the price of one-topping large pizzas in today’s recession economy? Aren’t prices supposed to stablize or fall during recession years? Now I’m paying just as much for a Papa John’s as I would for Pizza Hut…which in itself is terribly expensive. All I want is a good quality pizza at a reasonable price. Is that too hard to ask for?

Suddenly there’s Sierra Mist cola. Manufactured by Pepsico. All this time I was thinking Pepsi owned, or at least had a stake in 7up. That’s why you always found 7up side by side with Pepsi at the cola fountain. Since they changed their formula 7up just hasn’t been the same.
I later found out that Cadbury actually owns 7up. Their popularity in the fountain drink market was only because many bottlers by default preferred 7up.
I prefer Sprite. It’s because of the Lemon Lime taste. I’ve had Sierra Mist before. Can’t really tell too much of a difference. At camp I’ve been known to drink “Upper 10,” RC’s Sprite equivalent. Syrupy. Blah.
Rarely do I drink Coke or Pepsi. Only if it is the only cola around. Actually when I visited China, I did drink Coke, because Sprite just didn’t taste the same.
You know, looking back at that “A More Positive Entry,” it was kinda lame. “I like pizza?” I’m not sure what prompted that. Perhaps it was everyone saying “Your weblog is way too negative!” I usually don’t let people influence what I put in my weblog, but in that case I did.
It’s life. Sometimes life throws you lemons. I can’t seem to get out of this job search rut. To be honest I have not made one phone call, no applied for any postition since the new year. With war looming, I figure why should I?
You know, Spies Like Us is a pretty funny movie. The best part is them being dropped in the middle of nowheresville Pakistan. The movie’s location seems so much more significant in terms of current events, than when it first primired.
17 years ago today. It was a snow day around here. I was watching the weather on WTVF’s newsmagazine show “Talk of the Town.” Ron Howells was doing weather. He then cut to the space shuttle coverage of it actually blasting off. Then back to the weather. Ron told us “There’s something wrong with the shuttle.” Cut to CBS News. NASA never released much information, so Dan Rather was force to play around with a toy space shuttle; showing us its booster rockets and junk like that. (I kid you not; we had to sit and watch Dan for 3 hours playing with some toy shuttle while the CBS news drones begged NASA to release any information). That along with them showing the plume clouds and explosion over and over again.
That was my generation’s Kennedy assasination. Where were you when the shuttle exploded? I knew exactly where I was. I’ll never forget it. It’s when everyday events are forever linked to national tragedies.

Just some pizza stories:

• Some of my first memories of pizza were my mom buying pizza kits from “the pizza lady.” This lady would suddenly show up at the door with little baggies of sausage and cheese. Later on we moved on to Kroger brand pizza.
• Some of the first franchise type pizzas we got were bought from Little Caesars. One time they got the orders mixed and we ended up having a nasty pizza with peppers.
• During college I ate pizza at least 2 times a week. Sometimes 3 times. On Monday nights some friends and I would each get small pizzas from Channellos. They had a special – one small one topping pizza for a dollar. Usually we could get together enough change to get one. Later they raised the price to $1.25. I got burned out on Pizza Hut personal pan greaseball pizzas from the college food court. I was also fond of eating cheap Tortino pizzas during college.
• Papa John’s Pizza was the delivery pizza of choice at Lipscomb. Rarely did I order a delivered pizza.
• My family and I almost always order a carry out pizza on Wednesday nights. It’s because Wednesdays are usually too busy for a traditional sit down meal, because of church.
• I’ve eaten pizza in China – at Pizza Hut and Pizza Inn. It was good, but sometimes didn’t taste the same as American pizza.
• My favorite pizza? Papa John’s has the best pizza here. Sometimes I start craving Little Caesars and then have to remind myself that they are no longer in the Nashville area.
• I got hooked on Tombstone Pizzas after trying a taste test at Krogers. Their marketing scheme worked because we always have at least 2 Tombstone pizzas in the freezer.

Several months ago all of the Little Caesars Pizza restaurants in Nashville closed. Now the nearest restaurants are in Cookeville and Columbia, TN. I called the official Little Caesars customer comment number posted on their website. The lady who answered said it was a corporate decision to pull out of Nashville. She couldn’t give me any information if they would be back. I really wish LC would come back to Nashville. Papa John’s Pizza gets old after a while. I’m already burned out on Pizza Hut after having it every week at Lipscomb for the 4 years I was there. Dominos is ok, but they skimp on the sauce.
The Olympic torch is scheduled to come to Nashville this Saturday (December 15). I’ll be there with my camera to take pictures. No word on the route it is taking.
Like I said before Green Hill Baptist Church in Mt. Juliet changed their name to simply “Green Hill Church.” I went to their website at greenhillchurch.com and tried to find out if indeed they were still Baptist. There is no mention of Baptist anywhere within the webpage, with the exception being that most all of the staff members hold degrees from Baptist institutions. On their webpage, I attempted to fill out a contact form to ask them about their Baptist affiliation, but their form gave an error message when submitted. So I guess they don’t want to be contacted. Of course I could use the phone, but that would be way too easy.
In retrospective, I’d say taking out the “Baptist” of the church name could be confusing to some people. Down the road from the Green Hill Church is “Green Hill Church of Christ.” It would be very easy for a person unfamiliar with churches to get confused. By coincidence there is a “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” right beside the church I attend, “Mt. Juliet Church of Christ.” Somehow I’d wish churches could find less confusing names so that you knew what church you were getting into.