That is where we went horribly, horribly wrong. We listened to Google. We traveled south on Vote Ave. Once we passed 190th St, we felt like the car was fishtailing a bit and noticed that the quality of road had changed from great to not so great. We made it down a significant hill and came to a mudden stop.

With Crissy documenting our plight, and her parents, Rick and Carol, pushing, I was left with the kids to steer this lulz ship through the sea of mud! Of course, once we made it up the first hill, we felt like we could really tackle the road. Besides, there was absolutely no way to turn around without putting the car into the ditch. I don’t know how far down the road we went (at least 10 miles), crested the last hill before the long downhill stretch. That’s when the *oh shit* moment happened. At the bottom of the hill, was a GIGANTIC redwood-like tree blocking the road. At this point, I had to invoke my Blues Brothers driving skills and flip the car to head in the opposite direction and traverse back the way we came. Long story short, we made it back to civilization safe and sound and after a couple trips to the car wash in Panora, the car was pretty much back to normal.

And remember kids, don’t always listen to Google!

Video of Pushing the car

Video of Josh and Timmy Singing

My top five themes are: Positivity, Achiever, Ideation, Input, Futuristic. Listed below are what they call my personal strengths insights customized based on my answers.

Positivity

Instinctively, you are genuinely fascinated with the mystery of life. Your capacity to feel good about yourself does not hinge on having logical or rational explanations for everything. You sense you are part of the lives of other individuals and accept they are part of your existence. This outlook on life probably influences what you say or do for people as well as how you care for the environment. By nature, you feel more favorable toward your studies, job, and life when you are given ample time to identify recurring or predictable combinations of numbers in data. Because of your strengths, you freely give of yourself. You are eager to share what you possess and know. This includes, but is not limited to, tangible objects, money, ideas, skills, knowledge, food, shelter, and time. Chances are good that you spark the interests of others with your keen wit and sociable nature. You can quickly establish an easy rapport with individuals by telling a joke, smiling, introducing yourself, or giving a compliment. You recognize that laughter is a universal language. It’s very likely that you probably have a reputation for making individuals as well as entire groups smile and laugh. When difficulties arise, you often tell comical stories and light-hearted jokes. To cheer people up, you can reenact amusing situations or make funny faces.

Achiever
Chances are good that you conduct yourself in a proper, ethical, legal, and upright manner to avoid feeling you have done something wrong. You truly regret making a mistake, violating a rule, breaking a trust, or producing poor results. You set high standards for yourself in various areas of your life. Because of your strengths, you tend to be a very good adviser to many individuals. When offering suggestions or asking questions, you probably are much more engaged, intense, and involved than usual. Instinctively, you often go out of your way to stay informed about newsworthy topics. Numerous people probably count on you to tell them about information updates, due dates, meeting changes, or special assignments. By nature, you may be able to concentrate on one subject for extended periods of time. This partially explains why you understand the inner workings of particular plans, projects, policies, or processes. Perhaps the knowledge you acquire permits you to figure out the reasons why something does or does not function properly. It’s very likely that you set very high expectations for yourself. Typically you push yourself until you reach your goals. You are not content unless you deliver the best performance or produce the most outstanding results.

Ideation
Chances are good that you might welcome opportunities to exchange new theories, innovative thoughts, or intriguing concepts. Sometimes the original thinking of individuals stimulates your creativity. By nature, you sometimes are aware of the views specific people have of you. This partially explains why you keep expanding your vocabulary to include elaborate terminology and complicated words. You might argue that your use of language causes certain individuals to think well of you. Because of your strengths, you occasionally generate novel ideas for campaigns, business ventures, initiatives, or special events. Driven by your talents, you might be the person who shares the most innovative ideas during brainstorming sessions. Perhaps knowing this about yourself inspires you to be even more prepared for meetings, activities, conversations, or debates. Instinctively, you often experience satisfaction with your life when someone asks you to scrutinize, assess, examine, or evaluate things such as people, processes, plans, or mechanisms.

Input
By nature, you might enjoy discovering complicated words and committing their meanings to memory. Maybe you are pleased to add a few uncommon terms to your vocabulary. Possibly few things please you more than showcasing bits and pieces of your newfound vocabulary in conversations, discussions, or presentations. Perhaps you are taken aback — that is, surprised and confused — if some people feel threatened by your command of language. Chances are good that you can simplify the most complex, convoluted, or intricate procedure. People usually rely on you to offer clear and easy-to-comprehend explanations. It’s very likely that you are more interested in gathering ideas, theories, or concepts during conversations with intelligent people than you are in being well known or famous. You tend to be most satisfied when your mind is absorbing thoughts you have never before considered. In addition, you enjoy broadening the thinking of others. Instinctively, you may be able to compel some individuals or groups to move into action by using official-sounding words. Your extensive vocabulary might contain hard-to-understand terminology that sets you apart. Perhaps you speak with an air of authority that you fail to hear. So, if you display impatience and say, “Let’s get started right now!” people might refrain from questioning your order. Driven by your talents, you genuinely feel better about life when you can take the mystery out of complicated procedures. Often you outline in detail the steps to understand exactly what is happening and why.

Futuristic
By nature, you sometimes trust your ability to be an innovative thinker. You might invent several ways to reach a particular goal. Perhaps your next step is to narrow down your options to the best one. Sometimes you take into consideration prevailing circumstances, available resources, budgetary constraints, or pressing deadlines. Instinctively, you are energized by your plans for the coming months, years, or decades. Bringing your ideas to life is an exciting proposition for you. You sense you have the power to transform whatever you think is possible into tangible outcomes. Because of your strengths, you are enthusiastic about the future because visionaries describe it so clearly. Their ideas for products, medicines, or inventions generally increase your determination to do whatever you can to breathe life into their dreams. It’s very likely that you may perceive that you have an ability to create vivid word pictures to describe the future. You may inspire people with your images of what can be. Perhaps individuals appreciate your forward thinking. They might want or need to hear from you more often. Chances are good that you treasure the one-on-one conversations you have with visionary thinkers. Their ideas can force you to expand on your plans for the future.

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Using Google Goggles today, I took a picture of my Einstein poster

And here is what it found

I am STUNNED! It is obviously from the same photo shoot and looks like it could be a different crop of the same image. Absolutely remarkable, Google!

The image was found at this url:
http://www.elpais.com/fotografia/portada/Albert/Einstein/elpeputec/20080504elpepspor_1/Ies/

Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by a big sign on the window that read “10% OFF Dine in Only”. I thought, “Sweet, a discount just for eating here!” We ordered our meals (Crissy – #2 $4.99, Tom – #9 $5.99, Josh – Kids Nuggets $2.99 w/milk). We were charged $15.86, I thought nothing of it, sat down and proceeded to eat our meals. While sitting there eating, I thought to myself, gosh, for 10% off, it seems that we might have over paid a little bit. My math said $4.99 + $5.99 + 2.99+6% tax = $14.81 right? No one was at the counter (actually there was practically no one in the restaurant at all) so I thought I’d ask what the deal was. The guy explained to me that you only get 10% off if you have some special “VIP” card which he offered to me for future visits, and since I we ordered milk with the kids meal instead of pop it was an extra $0.99 charge. At that point, I accepted the answered and sat down to finish my meal. When Crissy finished her meal, she looked down at the placemat and read that on Wednesdays, for each combo meal purchased, receive $0.50 off a kids meal. At that point, I noticed that there was another window display on the other side of the building that said, “Kid’s Nite each Wednesday”. I decided at that point that I had given the establishment an opportunity to right any wrongs on pricing so I wasn’t about to re-approach the cashier about the kids night deal. Instead I thought I’d post it here and say to the world, “HEY IOWA CASTLE, I FEEL CHEATED!” It’s entirely possible that I was charged appropriately. It’s possible that a little carton of milk was $1.49 OVER the cost of a pop. It’s also possible that straight up, milk is $0.99 and they owe me a kids size pop because I apparently purchased both.

In summary, we went to Iowa Castle last night for dinner, paid $15.86 and I feel that we should have paid somewhere between $12.85 and $15.33.

Best Case: Kids Nite, 10% off, and no extra charge for milk on a kids meal (like the rest of the world)
($2.99 + $4.99 + $5.99 – $0.50) * 0.9 * 1.06 = $12.85

Allow only 1 discount (with and without extra milk charge):
($2.99 + $4.99 + $5.99 – $0.50) * 1.06 = $14.28
($2.99 + $4.99 + $5.99 – $0.50 + $0.99) * 1.06 = $15.33
($2.99 + $4.99 + $5.99) * 0.9 * 1.06 = $13.33
($2.99 + $4.99 + $5.99 + $0.99) * 0.9 * 1.06 = $14.27

There may be more combinations, but those are the scenarios I came up with. I know I’m being silly, but I am a bit ticked off at being misled (either intentionally or not) as to “deals” at this restaurant.

I’ll end on a positive note. The food was great, and I may even decide to eat there again.

On an even better note, Baskin Robbins was awesome. Josh, Crissy and I had ice cream cones and the total bill was $0.99!

]]> http://tompohl.com/2008/05/01/iowa-castle-i-feel-cheated/feed/ 37 http://tompohl.com/2007/04/01/josh-has-something-to-say/ http://tompohl.com/2007/04/01/josh-has-something-to-say/#comments Mon, 02 Apr 2007 00:56:00 +0000 Tom http://tompohl.com/2007/04/01/josh-has-something-to-say/ Josh has been BEGGING to tell everyone something!

Chris P. tried it too and reported the same thing. Luckily, as of a few minutes ago, The Slash followed by the Dot worked once again.