Comments on: Thanks for the burger, but no thanks

By: Gray

Gray — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:46:17 +0000

Big difference from the original post – had I been less knowledgeable about the different form of energy used in cooking you would have been significantly overstating your case and knowingly spreading false information. If you remain here that will be filed away under your user name far longer than anything you say about this unit.

Wow…. “Somebody” had a crappy Thanksgiving….

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:31:39 +0000

Working in temporarily in New England a few years back, I spent my first Thanksgiving away from home and family. I couldn’t rationalize spending the money for air fare or driving the 500 miles to Maryland and 500 miles back over a four day weekend since I would soon be home for Christmas anyway.

So, for the first time ever, I ate Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant then went back to my hotel room. Good food, horrible experience. I missed my family so much it hurt.

I quit that job and hope I never spend another holiday away from my family again.

By: an unrepentant kulak

an unrepentant kulak — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:34:19 +0000

Funny, I had a similar experience my first year away at college (minus the burger and fries — that would actually have been a step up!) 2000 miles from home, a plane ticket back for the long weekend was a prohibitively expensive luxury given that I’d be going home soon for Christmas, and I had rationalized that I had a paper to write. I figured I’d keep busy, but didn’t realize how lonely I’d feel until I sat there eating out of a can in my dorm room on a quiet, near-empty campus. I called home, put on the cheer, told them all was well, but man was I surprised how down I felt, irrational though I told myself it was to place such importance on one day. No doubt that experience has helped me to appreciate the togetherness of future Thanksgivings all the more. Either the next year or the year after that, I accepted a friend’s invitation to have Thanksgiving with her family in New York, and was grateful for the warm welcome I received from her very kind and friendly family.

Thank you for the the story, Neo. Yet again, you’ve reassured me that I’m not alone. Hope you and all present had a fine Thanksgiving this year.

By: strcpy

strcpy — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:54:42 +0000

“The ‘char-broil’ in the name suggests radiant cooking; the ‘oiless frying’ suggests IR exitation, so it really doesn’t make any sense….”

So, you have now downgraded to the same spot I’m at – you simply do not know. Big difference from the original post – had I been less knowledgeable about the different form of energy used in cooking you would have been significantly overstating your case and knowingly spreading false information. If you remain here that will be filed away under your user name far longer than anything you say about this unit. Especially true since you obviously knew it from the beginning, not that I gave you something new to think about.

BTW – “char-broil” is the name of the company and they produce many items that neither char nor broil so that shouldn’t be terribly confusing. That is no more “confusing” than Browning Firearms producing several lines of clothing. To note – Char-Broil produces a few of those a fore mentioned commercial cookers so they *do* actually know something about it, they have been making a push to get it into small, cheaper home units – however while $1500 – $2000 is “cheaper” it still isn’t really cheap. This being $150 and that small is a pretty big leap, either that or they selling for a loss hoping you will buy their larger offerings.

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:15:25 +0000

I’m sure many people would consider being sick with cold and home alone on Thanksgiving a worst kind of fate.
I was enjoying it – if only the pain in my forehead and the sneezing would stop…

By: Jimmy J.

Jimmy J. — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:04:09 +0000

As an airline pilot I spent more Thanksgivings and Christamases away from home than at home. Working in a service industry, especially when you are junior, requires that sort of thing. That usually meant dinner in a restaurant of sorts, so getting a traditional meal of turkey and trimmings normally wasn’t a problem.

However, one time I arrived at the layover hotel in Cleveland about 7PM. I rushed to my room, changed clothes, cleaned up and hurried down to the restaurant, looking forward to treating myself to the usual Thanksgiving meal. As I entered the restauarant the hostess greeted me with the pleasant rejoinder that, “We’re closed! We closed five minutes ago, and you’re out of luck.” I thought, “Happy Thanksgiving to you too,” but did not say it as I vacated the premises.

I was too tired to wander out looking for a place that might be open. So, dinner that night consisted of a package of Ritz crackers and a coke from the hotel vending machine. A call home to chat with my wife and children lifted my spirits somewhat, but I’ve always remembered that as the low point of all the holidays when I had work.

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:03:04 +0000

As a young faculty member honking for tenure, single and 3000 miles from home, I spent four of five Thanksgivings alone, in the lab. It wasn’t scarring; in fact, I have almost no recollection of it. Most of the other junior faculty were in the same boat, and considered that this was no time to fritter away four or five days of precious time.

The fifth Thanksgiving I drove down to Philly to viist my cousin, whose father-in-law buttonholed me about how cushy life was in academia.

By: melanie

melanie — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:54:59 +0000

Yesterday’s company was good: my husband.
The food was less than special: airport food court.

We travelled over three thousand miles to remember my husband’s grandma, who passed away last weekend.

By: kaba

kaba — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:51:58 +0000

Thanksgiving Day of 1969 was spent on a remote mountaintop in Vietnam. It was the end of the monsoon season and raining heavily. Consequently choppers were only flying for medivac and emergency resupply. So dinner consisted of C-rats heated over a heat tab.

Such moments have made me appreciate subsequent holidays spent with friends and family all the more.

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:12:19 +0000

Decades ago, I closed up the fraternity house late Wednesday and went to the local down-scale bar for a burger before heading home. It was about eight at night. The folks who chose to go to that bar were the saddest, loneliest bunch I have ever seen.
Ordinarily, the place was jumping with students and blue-collar folks and full of noise and life.
What a difference.
As candidates at Ft. Benning, we got four days off, except for a formation at ten in the morning every day.
We made our own fun.
Rather be home.