Slurpees, Family and the Phillies

Philadelphia
April 4-7, 2011

This week mom and I went to visit Granny and Pop and the rest of the family in NJ. We arrived late at night on the Monday evening and caught the end of what turned out to be a bummer of a national championship game in the Philly airport. On the way to Granny and Pop’s house mom and decided to get a Slurpee. Normally that wouldn’t be blog worthy but I had an epic throw down with the 7-11 checker.

Mom and I have been on a bit of a sugar free Slurpee binge of late. I’m well aware of the fact that a 32oz Slurpee in San Diego and Eugene costs $1.59, so when mom signed the Visa slip and it read $5.24, I was confused. I grabbed the receipt to look at it thinking maybe the prices were different in the east or that NJ recently instituted a Slurpee sin tax. Upon reading the receipt I noticed that the checker had charged us for two Tron special edition Slurpees at a price of $2.49 each (plus tax). Normally I wouldn’t care that much about a dollar but for some reason on this night I decided to go back and tell the guy that he wrung us up wrong. I showed him the receipt and said it wasn’t a big deal and that I would just like two of the commemorative cups and straws and I’d be on my way. He told me that I could have one. I said, I paid for two and I wanted two. He then told me I was lucky to have one since the sign said what I bought cost $2.49. I walked him over to the sign and he said, “See” and pointed to the Tron sign. I then pointed to the sign for the drink we bought and said, “See”. He then chuckled a little and said, “Okay you can have one straw and cup.” I said, “NO. I want two cups and straws because that’s what I paid for.” He then said, “but you already have a cup.” I said, “Yes but it’s the cheap plastic cup that comes with every Slurpee. Why don’t you just give me a refund and rering me for what I bought.” He then said, “It’s okay, just take one cup.” I again reiterated, I wasn’t willing to take that deal. Five minutes later I finally got him to agree to refund my card and then charge me appropriately for what I bought. After finally making it to the house around midnight, mom and I hung out with Granny for a bit and then called it a night.

We got up at a decent hour for us on Tuesday and made it to Perkins for lunch with Granny, Pop and Ben. As many of you know, I LOVE Perkins. For my west coast readers it’s a cheap, old person’s restaurant. The portions are huge and it serves breakfast all day. Just my kind of a place! After lunch the old people went home for a nap and Ben and I went bowling. Neither of us played great (no games over 200) but we played okay (all games over 150).

For dinner the whole family came over and we had take out Chinese. Later in the evening my friend Enyo, who recently moved to Philly to work at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, stopped by. It was fantastic to see her.

Wednesday morning mom and I got up early to go and see Ben at work at the Philadelphia Pretzel Factory. Ben is currently managing the store on Main Street in Moorestown. Mom wanted to see the production process in action and I was excited to sample. We tried the store’s newest product, the cheesesteak pretzel. It was ridiculously good. I’d highly recommend it to anyone.

Next, we met Beck and baby Jake at Panera. Jake was hilarious. He wanted a banana so bad he was nearly convulsing. For the rest of the poor kid’s life I intend to greet him with a squeal and shaking arms simply because of this lunch.

Wednesday night Ben, Leah and I went to the Phillies vs. Mets game. It was a blast. As you may or may not know the Phillies have what in all likelihood is the best starting pitching rotation in history. The night we went Joe Blanton was pitching (the worst of the starters). The game turned into a high scoring affair with the Phillies winning 10-7.

Thursday it was time to head back to good old PHL. Overall it was another successful family visit. China is up next on my travel agenda...

Until then,

Katy