Lunch With George!

May 30, 2002 - World Noodles

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Agenda

World Noodles
Climbing
Keva Juice
Brownie

World Noodles Again

Yep-- we went back to World Noodles. And Teri joined us! Even though they have noodle dishes from three continents, I had no choice but to get Mama' Marinara (it's soooooo good). I don't remember what George had, but I know Teri had the Chinese Chicken Salad. She said that the overall flavor of the salad was good, but that the chicken was too dry.

Fred and his wife tried World Noodles recently, and were surprised to find that they have no restroom! As Fred said, where are you supposed to wash your hands? I guess they intend that their patrons should walk around the corner in the mall to the long hallway which leads to the public restrooms (it's quite a hike).

Climbing

I bought my first copy of Climbing Magazine. The feature story introduced me to Eric Weihenmayer-- an accomplished climber who has lead some of the most difficult routes in such notable places as Yosemite, and summited Everest via the South Ridge route on his first attempt. Oh, he's also completey blind! Weihenmayer had normal sight as a young child, but suffered from Retinoscheses (a genetic disorder which destroys the retinas) which rendered him sightless by the age of 14.

He has already climbed five of the "Seven Summits" (the highest points on all seven continents) by age 34, and continues to climb around the world and give slide shows to amazed audiences.

Eric seems to have a great sense of humor, and likes to tell blind jokes and stories (he's allowed!). Such as the story about the time when he mistakenly drank from his tentmates's piss bottle on a climb in the Andes:

"Jesus!" said Weihenmayer, gagging.

"What the hell, are you blind or something?" replied his friend, Chris Morris. "I wrote 'PEE' on the bottle!"

You can read the story in its entirely at Climbing Magazine's web site. For further reading, checkout his recently-published book, Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See. I haven't read it yet (I'm almost finished with the title, though), so I can't give a personal recommendation.

I still wonder how he was sure he made it to the top? If the guys climbing Everest with him were tired and wanted to go down, they could just take him to the top of a ridge or outcropping, say "Wow Eric-- you made it!", and head back down...

Keva Juice

Teri's meal at World Noodles left her unsatisfied... so we all headed for Keva Juice. Teri and I split a raspberry smoothie called Ragin' Raspberry-- they even put it in two cups for us. As soon as Teri put the straw to her lips, her brow furrowed. "Something's clogging my straw!" she exclaimed. I suggested that she blow through the straw to unclog it. Suddenly my spidey-sense was tingling! But before I could stop her, the pressure popped the lid off the cup and bright red smoothie plopped onto her shirt. I'm pretty helpful, huh?

Nonetheless, Teri enjoyed the smoothie, and I did, too. We had been buying smoothies at Jamba Juice, but they discontinued our favorite flavor (the "Raspberry Refresher"). for some reason, the smoothies at Keva Juice are also quite a bit lower in calories than the equivalent drinks at Jamba Juice. I'm not sure why, though. On possibility is that Keva Juice seems to put more ice in their drinks. That might contribute to the lower calories.

the Perfect Brownie?

Teri had to get back to work, so George and I headed to the Paradise Bakery where we shared a brownie. Wow! I think that might be the best brownie ever. It melts in your mouth, much the way the jumbo hamburger at Ted's does. I highly recommend it! We talked about more stuff, but the memories of those topics have been obliterated by the blissful perfection of that brownie.

Last modified 07/07/2002.

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