If you haven’t had a chance to check out Late Night Catechism or Late Night Catechism II by now, where on earth have you been the past few years? I haven’t seen Catechism II yet, and it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the original, but it was certainly an enjoyable evening even for someone like me who did not attend Catholic school. The seats were appropriately uncomfortable because falling asleep is definitely not advised. Go prepared to laugh, but a word of warning – if you don’t want to be picked on, don’t sit near the front.

Thanks Marc for jogging my memory!

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
7380 E. 2nd Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 994-ARTS

Since we’ve brought up the topic of our sisters in the black habits, I don’t know if any of you have seen the show, Nunsense. I had the chance to see it a while back and I absolutely loved it. For those of you in the theatre mood, an updated version of Nunsense is being performed at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in Mesa through September 17th. I haven’t had a chance to check out this particular show, but I have been to the Broadway Palm and I was impressed both with the quality of the show as well as the food. Looking at the Broadway Palm’s schedule, there are a wide range of different upcoming shows, so if singing nuns aren’t to your liking, there’s bound to be something that will pique your interest. Worth giving a look!

Nunsense (through September 17)
The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
5247 E. Brown Road
Mesa, AZ 85205
(480) 325-6700
http://www.broadwaypalmwest.com

I have friends with season tickets to the Phoenix Mercury. When one of them can’t go to the game, I get to attend in their absence. Not often, mind you. I mean, they are season ticket holders, so usually just one game a season. This last Friday, I rushed after work to meet my friend for that night’s game.

At the game, after I ate the most disgusting Subway sandwich of my entire life, my eyes scanned the crowd of fans looking for the familar sight of shaking rulers and long black viels. I didn’t find them. Something was missing. I inspected each section closely before turning to my friend and asking, “Where are the nuns?”

“They aren’t here.”

I gasp and my jaw dropped. Indignantly I said, “You brought me to a Mecury game without nuns? What is wrong with you?”

“They haven’t been here for a long time.”

Sadly, it’s true. Apparently the saintly Sisters of No Mercy are no more. Their website is shutdown and after much Googling, nothing about their departure has been discovered.

I am truly bummed. My one game a season just won’t be the same.

I just got back from a short trip to Indianapolis. The temporary escape to a land of lovely low-70°s weather really hit the spot, and I got to enjoy a couple of excellent meals on the company tab.

One of the best parts of living in Phoenix is getting to fly home to Phoenix. Living on the ground, you can lose your perspective of the mountains that ring (and sometimes slice right through) the city. It certainly makes it easy to pinpoint home… find a geological feature and orient yourself from there. Tempe Town Lake and the stadium… Piewesta Peak… Camelback Mountain… South Mountain…

It really is a lovely landscape when taken in as a whole.

Met a friend in the same line of business as mine to finish the day’s work on Mill St over a beer. Or five.

Tempe has free wireless access down the length of Mill and in Tempe Beach Park (go figure). Not that you would need it with the sheer number of unprotected connections at each of the three places I stopped.

On the patio at Uno’s there were more than twenty hotspots. Half of which were locked down.

It’s really cool to know that I can leave the office and work the rest of the day outside with guaranteed access. And a guaranteed good atmosphere. And beer.

I have to mention the fantastic service offered by Uno’s bartender Tim. Thanks!

I dined at C-Fu last night in Chandler and it was surprisingly good. I didn’t realize it was rated so highly for Chinese cuisine by various Phoenix publications until I checked their site. It’s in a typical looking strip mall and the size leads you to believe it must be one of those buffets that will only leave you with stale bamboo shoots and indigestion; however, it’s large because of the on-site banquet facilities which include chandeliers, a large screen tv and a dance floor. It felt a bit like 8th grade cotillion since the banquet room wasn’t partitioned off from the regular dining space, but the food was excellent. I really enjoyed the lettuce wraps that they kindly prepare for you at your table, something against which PF Chang’s probably has a corporate policy, and it was nice to find a tasty non-chain spot in the middle of suburbia.

Spent a great weekend in San Diego, more on that in an upcoming post. Made some new friends, and one of em had the best lines I’ve ever heard about one’s girlfriend. In talking about alcohol he says “Everytime I send my girlfriend to get us drinks, she comes back half an hour later with half a drink and then spills it on me”. Maybe it was just the general laid back happy attitude of the entire weekend but it made me laugh pretty damn hard!

Okay, I understand this is Phoenix, land of the neverending sunburn (I’m sure you were hoping I was going to write Neverending Story), but why can’t you find firewood anywhere here? Just because it’s 147 degrees outside doesn’t mean a body might not want to build a small pile of glowing flame in its firepit on the off chance that the evening temperature drops to 80 or below.

We’ve had a few amazing evenings here (Friday night) and have tried (with zero success) to locate any logs. We would have been fine with one solitary Charlie Brown’s Xmas Tree branch but no dice. Home Depot and Lowe’s said that wood “is not in season.” How is wood not in season? Isn’t it a natural element of sorts? Like water, air and, um, FIRE? Circle K, Basha’s, Fry’s and Safeway were log-barren too.

We’re keeping up the search, but if anyone sees what has become the elusive bundle of 5 or more logs in a pile, please let me know.

I’ve been super busy the past few weeks, working on my truck, and its come to my attention that I’ve run out of space. Trying to work on 2 trucks in a 2-car garage gets pretty cramped, and I’m just tired of dealing with it.

So I put out a feeler to my real estate agent, to see what’s out there that I can afford. What I’m looking for is essentially warehouse space — a roll up garage door, a large workspace, a bathroom, cold a/c and a small office, maybe 10X10.

A few years back I had a business in the Scottsdale Airpark, and I was able to rent out 2000 sq ft for $1000 a month. I figure I can deal with a smaller space, maybe pay around a grand a month, hopefully a little less. Either way its an improvement over the 400 sq ft I have now.

Not an hour after I sent out an email, my realtor comes back with 4 properties that fit the bill. One of them is right by ASU, and although thats not exactly ideal considering I live in North Scottsdale, the location would be great to pull in some side jobs near campus.

Me and the lady end up piling in the tC and heading down there to check it out yesterday, and lemme tell ya. Wow.

The location isn’t quite as ideal as I thought originally. It’s back off the main road, by a good 100 yards or so, and not visible from the street at all. In fact you have to go through two different complexes to find it. The building itself isn’t mammoth, but there are 8 stalls cramped into each side of the building that looks like its been standing there since 1940. It’s brick construction, and when you see it, you think that its the place that time forgot. I mean seriously, this place is shoved into a corner and even though I’ve frequented the nearby businesses, I NEVER knew this place was there.

At best, you’d call this place a dump.

But for me, it just might be perfect. I’ll keep you updated.

Although I know there is no shortage of delicious, “authentic” food in Phoenix, I have to admit that my two favorite restaurants are chains. I like to keep to a budget and the presence of a server typically raises a dinner bill by $3-5, so I prefer to go to places without a tip expectation.

That said, my two favorite Valley eateries (without servers) are Pei Wei and Chipotle. At both places you can watch your food be cooked and prepared, which is comforting for faster food, and the people working there are always friendly and helpful. The price is great for the portions you get and I never leave feeling hungry…or disappointed.