muy caliente

Yesterday we went to P.F. Chang’s Bistro for lunch, very good Asian cuisine. Now anyone that knows me, or at least has gone out to eat with me more than a few times knows that I don’t like spicy foods, so I avoid them whenever possible. In any case, the menu was overwhelming, menus usually are to me anyway, so I ordered something I thought would be good, a szechuan beef dish with celery and carrots. Imagine that a dish with vegetables that I won’t eat around. After I order, the waitress leans in close and says, “Now just to warn you, that’s our spiciest dish on the menu…” I thought, what the hell, and ordered it anyway. OH MY GOD. Now it was very yummy, but my face looked like I’d been on a 10 mile run. I’m rather proud of myself for managing to stick it out the whole dish, wiping off the sweat as I ate. That was a good time, and Gene bought lunch, which was nice of him.

Also I’m using my AmEx card a lot. It’s funny, ‘cos it works in the way that I always envisioned credit cards. You buy, you pay, no waiting, no interest. One might say, “Why bother and not just use cash?” Good question. In American Express’ case? BENEFITS! Membership Rewards to be exact. I’m all about special programs and savings and this and that, and any program that pays me to do what I already do is even better. so those pay-to-surf programs were great, until they started to suck. But now, I use the card, I get points, I pay it right back. And then I can get to use the points for who knows what. Plus, American Express’ customer service has been so nice and sweet that I don’t even know what to do with my other cards. I’ve paid them off and am finding few reasons to keep my other “lesser” cards. Now if they give me better rates or higher limits then sure I could see it, but otherwise, there isn’t much point. I mean, yes, credit is credit, but I guess I’m saying that credit just isn’t for me. Since I have no control over myself at times. I end up in massive debt, and then I kill myself trying to pay them all back. Then again, you need a “healthy credit history” to do anything in life. There are times I wish someone had just told me what that was way way back and maybe I’d be ok now. The worst part of it is, I have *some* cards now, so I get tons of promotions telling me I’m ‘pre-approved’.. Now tell me, what the hell is pre-approved mean to you? To me, it means, skip the formalities, here’s your account. Yet apparently, pre-approval means nothing BUT formalities, fill this out, sign this, may we check your credit, etc, etc. Needless to say, the amount of junk mail credit card solicitations in my place increases daily. Thank goodness for the shredder.