Saturday at the Hut - 4/21/12

Hey, look at me - two weeks in a posting to the blog! I should win some sort of award or something. Today was a fun day at The Tobacco Hut. In attendance were Joe K, Paul O, Tom L, Don W, Peter G, Lou, and myself.

It didn't take long for the talk to turn political - not that I had anything to do with that. I was simply the lone liberal taking potshots from the posse of conservatives surrounding me. We had to invoke Joe's "Kitty" rule once or twice when it got too heated. It actually wasn't too contentious - what was more intense was when Don asked for a good local restaurant for his wife and him to go to tonight.

Many of us recommended Rusty Bellies in Tarpon Springs, but Don's not fond of seafood. Peter and Tom suggested Currents, also in Tarpon, and I concurred, only after having Tom shoot down completely my recommendation of Casa Tina's in Dunedin.

What a place! It's not your typical Tex-Mex taco joint with salsa from a jar and heavy sauces slathered over burritos. It's actually coastal Mexican, all fresh homemade recipes. It's a fun atmosphere and the service is outstanding (ask for Laura).

Tom was poo-pooing the place, but I don't think he's ever eaten there. I think he was just steering Don away from it because I liked it.

So Don, where did you end up going for dinner?

Toward the end of the day a regular customer came in and bought a couple cigars. While Lou appreciates the guy's money (naturally), he is less than enthusiastic when he sits down to talk. And what did Peter do? Started talking to the guy. Now, to be fair, Peter had no idea that Lou prefers this customer to pull an Adrian, i.e. dash in and dash out. Lou gave him the high sign though after 20 brutal minutes of banal conversation and Peter did his best to not engage the guy anymore. He finally left and, of course, we heaped all sorts of grief on poor Peter.

Don was dishing out lots of his own grief today. He gave me hell because I had brought in the replacement bag of peanut butter pretzels and they came from Sam's Club, part of the Wal-Mart empire. Knowing my disdain for all things Wal-Mart, Don was quick to point out my hypocrisy. I remarked that, actually, my mother bought them and I bought them from her. This did not appease my critics, especially when I admitted that I actually never paid my mother the $6. Note to self, pay Mom.

I asked Don about Arnie and Aaron. Arnie is supposed to be in town sometime soon, so hopefully he'll stop by for a visit. And Aaron is busy working all the time on Saturdays, so obviously he has his priorities screwed up.

After watching 3 hours of the Bay News 9 endless loop of stories, we finally convinced Lou to change the channel. He loved the idea so much, he switched it to the Golf Channel. Paul was already napping but this put the rest of us out like a light.

Don asked a question about race drivers - are they athletes? Don doesn't think just driving a car and turning left requires any sort of special athletic ability, but Tom and I disagreed. Tom is more familiar with Formula 1 racing, but the same holds true for NASCAR and, I would posit, every other type of racing. The amount of conditioning the professional drivers go through, and the punishment their bodies take, plus the mental acuity, skill, timing, reaction times, etc., all point to their being as much of an athlete as any football player, swimmer, basketball player, runner, or golfer. Well, scratch that, golfers aren't athletes. Neither are bowlers.

Today saw me smoking some Tinder Box Reserve 1928 in a Mauro Armellini, a pipe I purchased in Savannah years ago. I'm not sure what everyone else was smoking, but Joe only smoked one cigar. See last week's posting for why this is significant.

That's it for this week - see you next Saturday!