One-Season Wonders

“What series(es) cancellation(s) broke your heart?”

This question was posted on a friend’s Facebook page a few weeks ago. I noticed as I typed my response that while most respondents were naming long-running series they loved (everything from Lost to ER to Family Matters), my instinct was to list all the “one-season wonders” I remember loving and wishing I had been able to see more of. Okay, there were a few more-than-one-season shows that crossed my mind (Seaquest DSV; Hamish Macbeth; Wonder Woman) but the most immediate thoughts were of shows that lasted only one season.

It also occurred to me that most of the shows on this list of “one season wonders I loved” are shows I have not watched in at least a decade and in most cases several decades. Despite having quite a few of them on DVD. So I’m using this post as a challenge: today, I’m going to talk about these shows almost purely through the lens of nostalgia. Down the line, I’d like to do a rewatch and see if my thoughts on any of them have changed.

Note: This list is comprised of shows I actually remember watching and enjoying and wanting more of. So, for instance, shows like The Green Hornet, Honey West, and T.H.E. Cat are not on here because I have no clear memory of watching them.

And so, in no particular order, here are my thoughts on “One Season Wonders I Loved:”

Voyagers (1982): In general, I love time-travel stories (even when they make my head hurt if I think too hard about the concept). And my memories of this show are that the episodes were campy fun. I wanted to be Meeno Peluce’s Jeffrey Jones and couldn’t get admit even to myself that I had a crush on Jon-Erik Hexum’s Phineas Bogg (but I did recognize how similar the character’s name was to Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg and wondered if there were a familial connection). I was definitely sad when this one ended.

Awake (2012): The concept intrigued me: a cop’s life is turned upside down when a car crash kills one member of his family – but depending on which reality he wakes up in (red or blue), it’s either his wife or his teenage son who is dead. But it’s the cast that sold me: Jason Isaacs. Dylan Minnette. BD Wong. Cherry Jones. Laura Innes. The finale episode works fine as a cliff-hanger and as a series finale, but I wish we could have seen where creator Kyle Killen was going next.

Invasion (2005): If I recall correctly, the 2005-2006 television season debuted three distinct “alien invasion via water” series (the other two were Threshold and Surface, neither of which I’ve ever seen). I latched onto this one: after a hurricane, a Florida town’s inhabitants start to act strangely, and a park ranger has to figure out what’s going on while dealing with his doctor ex-wife, her husband the sheriff, and other family members. It wasn’t a perfectly-acted show, but it did feature Kari Matchett, William Fitchner, Aisha Hinds, and was one of Evan Peters’ earliest series roles. (Fun story: a couple of years later I was on the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. We passed the lagoon where much of Invasion was shot. The guide asked if anyone had watched it. I was the only one who raised my hand. Tour Guide: “And that’s why it was cancelled.”)

Best of the West (1981): Yes, there are two Meeno Peluce shows on this list. Sue me.  I *loved* this sitcom about a Civil War vet who would rather talk than shoot and who moves his family to the West and ends up the town marshal. Joel Higgins as Sam Best, Meeno Peluce as his son, Leonard Frey as the criminal “town boss” and the great Tracey Walter as dim-witted bad-guy sidekick “Frog.”

Earth 2 (1994): A colony ship crash lands on the Earth-like planet they were aiming for, which is supposed to be uninhabited. But signs quickly point to native sentient life and that some humans may have preceded them there. This is one of those shows I feel really would have hit its stride in a second and third season. Debrah Farentino and Clancy Brown (as a good guy!) headed a cast that also had Terry O’Quinn, Roy Dotrice, and Tim Curry (“Hello, poppet!”) as recurring guest-stars.

Planet of the Apes (1974): This show was the subject of one of my first Series Saturday posts. I loved everything to do with Planet of the Apes back in the day: I rewatched the movies and the re-cut movie length versions of the tv series whenever they aired, owned all of the Mego action figures and playsets and a good number of the Marvel magazines (sadly, the action figures and the magazines are long gone). One of several shows I wound up writing fan-fiction about during my high school years (not that I knew it was called fan-fiction at the time).

Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982): Created to capitalize on the Indiana Jones craze, I adored this show for the over-the-top fun and because it co-starred Roddy McDowell, who I loved from the Apes movies and tv show. Another show I wrote fan-fiction about, my stories would have qualified as “Mary Sue / Gary Stu” because I created for myself the role of Jake Cutter’s nephew Baldwin.

Terriers (2010): The subject of a recent Series Saturday post and one of only two shows on this list I didn’t watch when it originally aired but came to later and loved. Brilliant modern-noir, top-notch acting by the cast led by Donal Logue and Michael-Raymond James, and a great soundtrack as well.

Firefly (2002): The other show on this list that I didn’t watch when it originally aired but came to on DVD later. So much promise left on the table. And a roundly great cast led by Nathan Fillion at his most endearing but anchored, in my humble opinion, by the great Ron Glass.

Dark Shadows (1991): I was both anxious and excited for the revival (now we’d call it a “reboot”) of one of my favorite childhood soap operas as a night-time drama. It was uneven, to be sure, but I still loved pretty much every minute of it. I’d been familiar with lead actress Joanna Going from her work on the soap opera Another World, was intrigued by the casting of Ben Cross as Barnabas and the great Jean Simmons as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. The only upside to the cancellation: Joseph Gordon-Leavitt wound up on Third Rock from the Sun a few years later.

Clue (2011): I have a real soft-spot for this teen action series nominally based on the board game. It ran 5 episodes and the finale left room for a second season that never materialized. It was a fun story despite any real connection to the board game, but part of the reason I have a soft-spot for it admittedly is because one of the stars, Zach Mills, is the son of a friend of mine.

Quark (1977): Another one of those sitcoms that just cracked me up, even if some of the humor went over my eleven-year-old head. It was science fiction, it was funny. That was enough for geeky little me. And it was created by Buck Henry, who co-created Get Smart with Mel Brooks.

Man from Atlantis (1977): In retrospect, a large part of the attraction to this show for baby-gay Anthony was probably shirtless Patrick Duffy, but I didn’t really know that at the time. I loved the science fiction aspects of the show, and the friendship between the amnesiac outsider (Duffy) and the human doctor (Belinda Montgomery).

Salvage 1 (1979): Okay, this one’s in on a technicality. It officially had two seasons. But the second season only aired 2 episodes before cancellation, and all in the same calendar year as season 1. So I’m counting it. I loved it: Andy Griffith as a junk-man with his own spaceship for collecting satellite debris, Joel Higgins as his pilot/sidekick (so yeah, two Joel Higgins shows on the list!). The unrealistic logistics didn’t bother 13-year-old me. Another show I wrote fan-fiction about. I wish this one was on DVD or streaming somewhere.

Battlestar Galactica (1978): In my memory, the original Battlestar Galactica ran more than one season, so I was actually surprised when someone pointed out it in fact hadn’t. My father loved that it starred Lorne Green (from Bonanza). I enjoyed the swagger of Dirk Benedict, the scenery-chewing of John Colicos, and the fact that it also featured Noah Hathaway who I followed to The Never-Ending Story.

When Things Were Rotten (1975): Long before Mel Brooks directed Men in Tights, he co-created this sitcom spoof of the Robin Hood myth. In my memory, its classic slapstick over-the-top comedy was hilarious. Dick Van Patten, Ron Rifkin and Bernie Kopell co-starred.

The Prisoner (1967): I was one year old when the show originally aired, but I remember watching it in reruns years later with my father (I think it aired on the New York City PBS affiliate, but I could be wrong). One of my first spy-series loves (along with Mission: Impossible and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., both of which were not one-season wonders).

Kolchak the Night Stalker (1974): Another show that looms longer in my memory than it actually ran. The prototype for all of the “investigate weird goings-on” shows that came later. Several of the episodes scared the heck of out eight-year-old me – possibly not my father’s finest parenting moment letting me watch it.

WHO AM I, ANYWAY

WHO AM I ANYWAY? AM I MY RESUME?

Yes, I know there’s a biography and bibliography page on this site that you could toggle over to if you want to know more about me. But I thought, as I haven’t posted any new material to the site for several weeks and don’t have any completed interviews in house, that it might be time to do a more in-depth profile of myself. The last time I did this, I had my nieces and nephews send me questions. This time, I’m just going to ramble. That is the name of the website, after all: Rambling On…

WHAT DO I STAND FOR? MOST NIGHTS I DON’T KNOW ANY MORE.

Not really true. I do know what I stand for.

I’m a subscriber to Wheaton’s Law: Don’t Be A Dick. I try to be the best person I can be. I also try to convince everyone I’m not a nice person. Apparently, I fail in this endeavor, but I’m still trying.

I believe in not arguing politics or religion in any forum in which I cannot see the other person’s face and/or hear their voice, because the written word is fraught with potential for misunderstanding. When asked, I’ll admit to being a somewhat central-leaning liberal as well as a Recovering Catholic, but neither of those topics is really open for debate on this site.

I’m a big supporter of the work done by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (in honor of my cousins Frank and Frank John); Ronald McDonald House (my friend Sam’s favorite cause), MDA, Soles4Souls  (Billy Gilman’s charity), AIDS Research, Blessings in a Backpack (my friend Austin’s favorite cause), and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, to name a few – but if a cause is important enough to someone I care about, I’ll lend what support I can. And the American Cancer Society Relay For Life in Mahopac NY is always my top fundraising priority.

I’M NOT CRAZY, I’M JUST A LITTLE UNWELL

I’m a colon cancer survivor, diagnosed in September of 2005. Surgery took 1/3rd of my colon (and gave me one of my two favorite catch-phrases: “After surgery, I became a semi-colon.”) and a whole load of lymph nodes, and then there was chemo.  It has not returned since, and I know how lucky I am and what the odds are that it will come back in some form eventually.

I’ve lost both parents, both maternal grand-parents, cousins and friends to various forms of cancer. I know more people battling cancer right now than seems logistically possible, even given my large circle of family, friends and acquaintances.

THAT’S MY PHILOSOPHY, DEFYING GRAVITY

My other favorite catch-phrase (which I keep working into the stories I write and keep cutting because it never quite fits): “Gravity doesn’t care who you fall for, and neither do I.”

I’m friends with a wide variety of people. I don’t care if you’re gay, straight, bi, trans; Caucasian, Asian, Anglo, Indian, African; rich, middle class or poor; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, Wiccan, Atheist. If we bond over some common interest, that’s what matters to me. I don’t write anyone off on the basis of a belief; I write you off based on your behavior towards me and others. I try to do unto others as I would have done unto me, and that includes recognizing that others have the right to believe differently than I do.

For those to whom it matters: yes, I’m openly gay. You can’t read my Twitter, website, Livejournal or Facebook page without quickly becoming aware of this fact. I’m also brown-haired, hazel-eyed, right-handed (except when throwing a Frisbee, for some odd reason), an avowed omnivore (except for my “no fish, no fungus” rule), and not incredibly athletic but only slightly overweight. If any of these things is a deal-breaker for you … thanks for visiting, go your way in peace.

I’m also a huge fan of the arts, and will support any creative person whose work I find interesting and enjoyable, regardless of the type of art they are creating: fiction, theatre, movies and television, music, dance, painting, sculpture of all kinds are fair game.

WHERE’S MY HOLLYWOOD ENDING?

I didn’t get one of my own, so I support others.

That’s not as tragic as it sounds.  In high school, I wanted to be an actor. I spent one semester at SUNY New Paltz in the fall of 1984, bombed out miserably, and spent the next five years working a day job, directing high school plays and participating in community theater. For part of that time, I worked with NYC acting coach Peter Sklar (who also worked with Rick Schroder, Lori Laughlin, Alison Smith, Ricki Lake, Brian Bloom and others) and went on auditions, but quickly discovered that I didn’t have the right mind-set to be an out-of-work actor in NYC. So I went back to college and got my teaching degree.

I spend a lot of time interviewing and promoting young actors like Sam Lant, Brandon Tyler Russell, Austin MacDonald, Garrett Palmer, Alivia Jae Latimer, Sarah DesJardins, and Taylor Hay because they remind me of me when I was that age and dreaming of a life on stage and screen … with one important difference: these kids are also passionate advocates for charities ranging from Ronald McDonald House to pet shelters, from Blessings in a Backpack to anti-bullying programs. They’re doing a lot more to change the world before they’ve graduated high school than I’ve managed through most of my life, and they’ve inspired me to do more.

In the past few years especially, I’ve become a more vocal support of the arts. Different day-job than two decades ago, but still a huge fan of artists of all types. I’ll support any creative person whose work I find interesting and enjoyable, whether that support is through crowd-funding or simply signal-boosting through social media.

Anthony Cardno and Dan Geraghty of Hollywood Ending

I KINDA LIKE IT

Lately, I find I am particularly passionate about unsigned musical acts. Indie artists. It doesn’t matter whether they are old friends like my pals in The Dalliance and singer-songwriters Casey Stratton and Christina Lenway; the children of old friends, like singers Anthony Gargiula and Gabe Price;  or new friends like Hollywood Ending and Reverse Order.  It doesn’t matter if they’re Canadian (The Brothers Dube),  Australian (Frank Dixon) or American (Kicking Daisies); country (Matt Johnson), rock (The New Royalty),  pop (Anson Li) or alternative (Paradise Fears). Music of all kinds motivates me and inspires me, from classical to rap, perhaps because I never really learned to play an instrument and any musical theory I learned in high school has been long forgotten.

Of course, I don’t just listen to unsigned acts. To list everyone I love would take forever, but these days you’re likely to hear a mix of Matchbox Twenty, Sister Hazel, Brendan James, Alanis Morrisette, Rosanne Cash, Dvorak, Alan Parsons, Eminem and Broadway cast albums streaming from the nearest speakers. And STYX. Always STYX.

WELCOME TO THE GRAND ILLUSION

At various points in my life, I’ve been able to carry a tune outside of a paper bag. My voice isn’t as strong or as trained as it was in college, but I think I do pretty decently. (Witness my recent Justin Bieber cover video.)  But it all started with STYX, on the stage of Mahopac High School in 1984 as one of the eight vocalists for the high school rock ensemble ILLUSION. We opened the show with “Grand Illusion” and ended with me singing lead on “Come Sail Away.” A defining moment of my life (and one I swear I will post the video of as soon as I can figure out how).  Thirty years later, that school-sponsored rock group is still going strong. I’ve met recent cast-members and they have the same love for the group that we did when it started. Arts education matters.

SAVE A SEAT FOR ME ON THE LAST PLANE OUT

The reason most of the posts on this site in the past two years have been interviews is a combination of paying back the support I’ve been given and paying it forward to help others. But a common misconception is that interviewing is my full-time job.

It’s not. Everything I do on this site, I do for fun. I conduct most of my interviews via e-mail at night and on weekends, at the same time I’m working on my next short story. Because writing, as much as I love it, isn’t my full-time job, either.

My friend Leigh Geraghty joked that I’m an “international man of mystery” because I rarely give details of my day-job online. I prefer to keep work and home life separate. I’m still putting that teaching degree to use, even though I’m not in a standard classroom and I don’t teach kids. I’m an instructor for a small training company and my work sends me around the country throughout the year, so I do actually get to meet a lot of my fellow writers as well as many of the folks I’ve been privileged to interview.

THE PRINCE OF HUMBUG

I tell stories. It’s part of my day-job (in fact, a part of just about every full-time job I’ve ever held but one), it’s part of my interviewing, and it’s the one creative act I feel confident I can pull off on a regular basis.

Some of the stories I tell are true (for instance, for my day-job), some are cut from whole cloth. Some are an odd mix. The story “Canopus” on this site is a good example of that. I’ll let you decide how much is truth and not.

My published material is all listed elsewhere on the site, so I’m not going to rehash it all here.

But I’ve been writing fiction, telling stories, for as long as I can remember. Super-hero fan-fiction in grade and middle school. Plays in high school and college. I wrote a space opera novel in 10th grade that was equal parts Ray Bradbury and John Jakes. I joined the Super-Team Amateur Press Alliance (S-TAPA) in 1983 and have been a member in good standing for 30 years (even if my fiction input has not been consistent).  I’m as like to tell a story at a campfire as I am to sing a silly off-key group participatory song.

The fact that I’m now somewhat consistently selling the stories I’m writing, well … it’s a dream come true, even if that whole acting thing didn’t work out.

CAN YOU BE COMPLETELY INCOMPLETE?

There’s a lot more I could say about myself, about my life history. It’s all great fodder for the stories I write, and some of it is even part of the stories I tell if you corner me at an event and I’m in a talking kind of mood: where all my various nicknames (Stormy, Thanny, Anton, “the other guy”) come from; the eight hour drive from Roanoke to New Jersey that once took 36 hours; community theater in an old train station where we’d have to freeze in place while the Amtrak zoomed past outside; the camping trip on the Delaware River with the Russian kid who said “I got my ass kicked by the river … I got my ass kicked by the rainstorm. How embarrassing is that?”

And then there are stories I keep to myself. We all have those, too.

I want to talk about the great connections I’ve made with fellow authors (a number of whom I’ve interviewed here), but that’s a full-on post of its own.

But I have to end this post somewhere, and this seems like the appropriate spot.

THAT IS, IF YOU WANT TO WIN

If you’ve stuck with me this long, I’d like to reward you with a little contest.  Each bolded segment heading of this post is a song title or lyric.  So here’s the contest:

1. In a comment below, identify as many/all of the original artists as you can. (Give me the title/lyric and then the author so I can be sure you’re putting the right names together.)
2. Yes, it’s okay to use iTunes, Facebook, Twitter or any other online search you want. My goal is to get you to check out some of these artists. You might like what you hear.
3. Every so often, I’ll check the comments and choose a winner from those who have made the most correct identifications. The choice of winner will be completely random.
4. Prize is a free copy of my book THE FIRFLAKE: A Christmas Story. You can find more information about the book elsewhere on this site.
5. Leave some sort of contact info (even if it’s just a Twitter handle) so I can get in touch for mailing information if you win.
6. All comments are set to be moderated (to cut down on spam stuff), so if you don’t see your comment right away, give me a few hours. Day-jobbery often delays my opportunity to approve comments.

And just for giggles, here’s that cover video of Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” again. And I lost another Kickstarter bet, so there will be a Britney Spears cover coming in a few weeks (we’re recording it over the holiday weekend). This vid’s just about to break 300 views! Go me!

CANCER CAN KISS MY....- Anthony R Cardno

This week got away from me. I’d planned on Wednesday to post the first of a series of email interviews I’ve been conducting with writers, musicians and artists (this one with Evelyn Lafont, author of THE VAMPIRE RELATIONSHIP GUIDE, Vol. 1) but migraines and work stress got the best of me throughout the week.  I’d considered posting the interview tonight, but something else has happened that I want to write about.

I had a great night out with friends, but came home to the news that yet another of my oldest friends has succumbed to cancer. Had a feeling the news was coming because her husband posted something on her Facebook yesterday (her birthday) about he and her mother sitting with her as she peacefully “approaches the next passage in her life.”  That could have been read any number of ways, but it was feeling all too much like what turned out to be the end for our friend Karen just a few years ago.  What hurts is that Karen and Kris were bestest friends in high school, and to have them both leave us essentially the same way so few years apart stings.

So yeah. I’m feeling better than I was two hours ago when I got the news, but …. fuck cancer. Just fuck it.  I’m sick of it hurting my loved ones, of taking them from us too early. Karen and Kris were two of the most beautiful souls I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. We fell out of touch, then fell back into it thanks to Livejournal (in Karen’s case) and Facebook (in Kris’). I managed to have good reunion time with Karen before she left us, but never got that chance to see Kris face to face. Another regret.  I’m angry, and I’m crying. And then I’m laughing at the memories. And then back to angry again. I suspect sleep tonight will be rough (considering it’s already 2:30 am).

And of course I don’t hate cancer just because of its effect on my family and immediate friends. I hate it for what it’s doing to jaylake , who is a hero of mine for his cancer battle and his fantastic writing, and for how it took the beautiful Lis Sladen (of Doctor Who) from her family and her fans so early. And for how pervasive it has become across all social strata, taking so many every day regardless of whether are famous or not, rich or poor.

So.  Another name to add to my List of Those I Walk For come my June Relay For Life in Mahopac. Another person to think of as I’m taking my laps, and to remember fondly our good times at the very school where the Relay takes place. I will walk at least one lap carrying Kris on one side of me and Karen on the other. They supported me and put up with me when I was at my least-perfect, and their memory will carry me around the track in June.

And in honor of Karen and Kris, and Jay, and Lis, and everyone else I walk for, I going to make my first official plea this year for donations to my American Cancer Society Relay For Life event, June 5-6 at Mahopac High School in Mahopac NY.  I will be at the event, and I will be selling copies of my book THE FIRFLAKE to raise money. If you’re in the area, please come by and say Hi.

If you’re not in the area, you can make a donation to my effort (and thus, to my team and to the ACS) by clicking on this link: www.tinyurl.com/My2011Relay or by copy-pasting into your web-browser address bar if the link is not clickable when you look.  Any donation is helpful.  If you donate, please leave me a comment to let me know who you’d like me to walk in honor or memory of. That part is as important to me as the money is.

And if any of the writers or musicians I know want to donate copies of their books or cds to be sold at the event to raise money, please contact me!

Why I'm Switching - Anthony R Cardno

I’m switching, and that’s all there is to it. It’s time for a change. I’ve made up my mind, you can’t talk me out of it, there’s no turning back.

Switching nights for my Interview posts, that is. Why, what did you think I meant?

I’ve been posting interviews (in the weeks when I have them to post) on Wednesday nights, but Wednesday nights have become increasingly crowded for me. If I make it to a computer in time, I try to check in on the weekly live ustream that Forrest, Andre and Alex Burnham do at 7pm (who are they? Check the links to the right, music lovers!). Then at 9pm the #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Chat) session starts on Twitter, and I hate missing that. So by the time I’m really ready to start putting the post together, it’s late and I’m cranky and it creates more stress than it should. This interviewing thing is supposed to be fun, right?

Tuesday nights in my world are less busy (at least currently) and therefore I have more time to polish the interview posts before I hit “publish.” So, Tuesdays it is. I also intend to increase the non-interview post frequency — on subjects writery, musicy and fundraisery. (No, those are not really words. I’m a former English teacher. I can make up words if I want.) — to every Friday evening.

Tonight’s interview, which will be up in the next hour, is with Luke Herr, aka Koltreg, the writer behind SOCIALFIST and CHANGELING.

Next week: author Chad Helder (THE VAMPIRE BRIDEGROOM, THE POP-UP BOOK OF DEATH).

After that? I’ll be chatting with author Jay Lake (MAINSPRING, GREEN, THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF GRIEF, the upcoming ENDURANCE), and author BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT (THE NORTHSTAR SERIAL PART ONE, the upcoming THE WORKER PRINCE) will be back for a second interview. Webcomic writer-artist Allan Wood (ALLAN, BLUE CIRCUS) is upcoming, as well as pop culture reporter Joshua Estrin (Celebbuzzz on Twitter), author Neil Ostroff (AFTER, DEGENERATES, THE DROP OUT), and … well, that’s probably enough teasers for now.

Check back in a little while for the Luke Herr interview, and please go back and revisit my earlier interviews!

CHAIN RESTAURANT SERVICE - Anthony R Cardno

For my day job (i.e., the one that pays the bills while I pretend I’m a writer and blog a lot), I travel a lot. Some months I’m on the road two-and-a-half weeks without a stop home.

As you can imagine, I eat out a lot. Hotel restaurants, well-known chains, and if I’m lucky the occasional locally-owned ethnic restaurant as a change from all those chains. While this does have a positive effect on my reading stats and occasionally on my writing stats, it also has made me something of a expert on restaurant service. Which is not necessarily something one needs to be an expert in unless one is a restaurant critic for a newspaper (and those seem to be in dwindling demand these days, just like book critics). Still, when I experience service that is more than just good, I like to spread the word.

Tonight I ate at a Ruby Tuesdays here in the northwest corner of Indianapolis, just off of 465. I was greeted at the door by Vivi. Vivi is one of those genuinely upbeat, friendly, dare I say even effervescent, people you occasionally encounter. She didn’t just say “hi” and ask “how many for dinner?” “Hello! Welcome to Tuesdays! Dining alone tonight, or waiting for someone? Let me show you to a table.” and so on. Not overbearing or cloying, just upbeat. Same thing upon leaving: asked me how dinner was, as expected, but also responded to my question about how to avoid the massive pile-up of traffic on Michigan Road by walking out to the parking lot with me and pointing out all the possible routes I could take to get back to my hotel, and marveling at how much worse than normal the traffic seemed to be.

I was also impressed with my server, Matt. Set aside for the moment how much he looked like Alex Bennett, the book-blogger over at Electrifying Reviews, which resemblance had me constantly doing a double-take. He did something servers at chain restaurants rarely manage to get right: he checked up on me throughout the meal without hovering or being intrusive (remember, dinner time is reading time for me!) and without being negligent. That’s a hard balance to strike, in my oh-so-humble opinion, and Matt managed to pull it off. He also didn’t make me feel rushed at the end of the meal. I took my sweet time drinking my coffee because I really wanted to get to the end of the chapter in Mira Grant’s DEADLINE, and he didn’t give off that “please pay your bill and move on so I can get another paying customer in my section” vibe that you usually get from servers during the dinner rush. I’m not saying he wasn’t thinking it (I’m no mind-reader, after all, much as I’d like to be), I’m just saying he wasn’t projecting it; another skill many young male chain restaurant servers seem to lack.

I’m obviously living up to my blog’s title, Rambling On, tonight. Kudos to Vivi and Matt at the Tuesdays on Michigan Rd in Indianapolis for how well they treat their customers. I sent a note through Ruby Tuesday’s website complimenting them. I might even go back tomorrow night, and I try never to eat in the same restaurant two nights in a row.