The Holtonian

Duck Tours, The Back Inn Cafe should back out of the restaurant business, and Honda vs Toro who will win the prize to be my mower?

We had a busy weekend with my folks in town. We finally got the Armoire done and set up so a restful weekend was much deserved. My parents got in Saturday morning and we hung out for a bit and then went to Lunch at Sticky Fingers. Then we hit the boats

Duck boats that is. We took the duck tour and despite some nasty rain it was a lot of fun. It was great to see the city from a unique perspective, and I'd recommend it to anyone who didn't already own a boat, if you own a boat then just go putz on the river and you'll get the idea.

Then we came back home and wife made some great dinner, egg plant parmesian... good stuff. Sunday we churched it and then hung out at home all day, napped and all that then went to the Back Inn Cafe For dinner.

I must say the Back Inn was a bit of a let down. I hadn't eaten there in a good 10 years or so and it really isn't worth the price of admission. The scenery/setting is great, overview of the river. But the room we were in had the worst accoustics (Hard wood floors, windows, wood walls, wood ceiling, I mean we couldn't hear ourselves think it was so loud. Mainly it was one party that was drinking and was very obnoxious and as soon as they left it got better but it still some curtains or something could really cut down on the noise. That and I didn't get my Caeser salad when everone else got theres, and they didn't give me a free desert or anything. And we're not talking about a few minutes, it was a good 15/20 minutes after the wife got her salad that I got my salad, and then it wasn't even that great--its the same one that Tony's serves. The dinner itself was ok, but definately not worth the price they charged. I mean it was good but not that great. St. Johns or Canyon Grill would have cost the same amount and would have been a 100 times better. Part of the problem is the food just lacks any sort of punch, its all sort of bland. I thought that problem was only related to Tony's Pasta but apparently its pretty much infected the entire art district. So I won't be going back there anytime soon.

But the evening was good. We watched the fire works from the balcony of the Art Museum, which wasn't as good of a spot as I had hoped, but we beat traffic which was really what I was going for.

Today was a different story, wifey left for Clarksville TN to spend the week with a friend up there. SO i'm batching in. My parentals took me to Home Depot (Yep Crabb I finally spent money at Home Depot) for my 25th birthday (a month or so early). We chipped in (parents and I) and got myself a super swank Honda Mower. They were going to get me a Toro but I said I'd pay the difference and spring for the Honda.

Here's why I went for the Honda (warning this is sort of boring.. .but so is most of my blog).

A Toro motor is great, no problem with the Toro. But here's the thing: Toro's cheaper models come with a Tecumseh engine. Their top of the line mower comes with a Briggs and Stratton engine. Now any mower you buy at Lowes has a briggs and Stratton engine, my current mower has a briggs and stratton, my pressure washer has a briggs and stratton, Lawn Boy's have briggs and Stratton, and Murray's have Briggs and Stratton. Pretty much everyone has a Briggs and Stratton. So if all mowers pretty much come with the Briggs/Stratton motor, why do the Toro (which is a better brand than most) come with a Tecumseh motor on its cheaper ones? If the nicest Toro comes with a Briggs and Stratton and retails for 469 or so, then why not just spring for a Murray that's cheaper and get the same motor with a cheaper brand? Pretty much its the engine that makes the mower, all the other stuff can be easily fixed and replaced when it breaks, but the engine has to last. So that sort of weirded me out, so I opted to go with the most trusted engine in the world... Honda.

And on another Honda note, i found a honda pressure washer for only 30 bucks more than I paid for mine, and it had more PSI, but less horse power... how that works I have no idea.

So i got a great Honda mower, and won't probably use it till Thursday or so. Though I may use my other one just to use up all the gas in it. If anyone wants a mower that still runs let me know, I'll sell it cheap, I also have a gas grill super cheap.

So overall a great 4th o july. Its been real laid back and oddly enough I feel like my head's been in the clouds. But the work week will bring me back to normal I guess.

Posted by holtonian at July 4, 2005 11:57 PM | TrackBack