Monday, April 29, 2013

Brandon visits and a neighbor yells for help

My best friend Brandon (he lives in California) visited over the weekend.  It was good to see him.  He's in Arizona to go to a safety workshop in Scottsdale today through Wednesday.  Before going to the workshop, he flew to Tucson a couple of days early for the visit.

I picked him up from the airport Saturday afternoon, we ate dinner at La Casita De Molina on Valencia Road, then went to Casino Del Sol to play some bingo.  Sadly enough neither one of us won.  After that, we came to my apartment and hung out with Anthony.  On Sunday, we had lunch at In-N-Out Burger at El Con Mall after a stop at Walgreen's, then went to Shoe Carnival, a brief walk through of Burlington Coat Factory, and a trip to Walmart Neighborhood Market on Craycroft Road.  I took him back to Hertz car rental on Speedway Blvd. today and he was off to Scottsdale.

Lucky was better this time during his visit.  He didn't hide the whole time, although he didn't eat at all on Saturday and only ate some dinner last night after Brandon went to bed.  He stared endlessly at Brandon.  I'm not sure if it was a protective thing (Lucky doesn't growl, bark or bite) or nerves.

Before I get to the photos, there was one incident I have to share.  Brandon and I were outside at about 2 a.m. on Saturday night chatting when we heard someone say "help, help".  We saw a man between building A and B to the south down on the sidewalk.  I wanted to walk over and see what kind of help the guy needed but Brandon wanted me to keep some distance and call 911.

I'm a person with a low level of fear about things like that.  Brandon was insistent that I let the police handle it.  I reluctantly made the call without going over to the guy.  I didn't think there was any danger and I thought it would be helpful to the 911 operator if they knew what they would be dealing with (serious injury, just drunk and stupid, basically how urgent the call really was).  Anthony caught wind of this when we went inside for a minute and he got quite agitated that I had even considered going over there.

The end result was that a couple of officers showed up, helped the guy up after determining he wasn't seriously injured, and got him into his apartment.

I often feel that one thing that is sad about the times we live in:  There are not enough people that are willing to help out a stranger.  I'm disappointed I didn't have the opportunity to handle it the way I wanted to.  It's likely that the police didn't even need to be bothered and I could have helped the guy.

Oh well.  There's always next time!

Brandon eats tacos at La Casita De Molina on Valencia Rd

Brandon checks his phone while playing bingo at Casino Del Sol
He hasn't noticed yet that I'm taking his picture.

Now he noticed.

Smile, you're being photographed by the Kenparazzi!

Brandon and Anthony in the leg wear aisle at Walgreen's.
Can't have enough panty hose.

Sneaky photo #1 of Anthony:  Shopping at Walgreen's.
I almost got the photo shot before he noticed.
Almost.

got milk? Magic Straws at Walmart Neighborhood Market at 22nd and Craycroft.
I think the magic is... there is no milk in the milk straws.

Gerber Macaroni and Cheese with Vegetables
Apparently babies prefer their macaroni and cheese (and vegetables) as pure liquid.
It certainly comes out the other end that way.

Baconnaise Lite
"Everything should taste like bacon"
I can think of a few things that shouldn't... like genitalia, for example.
Or water.  Or Diet Coke.  Or chocolate chip cookies.
By the way, it was on the clearance shelf.

Super Macho Dietary Supplement
"Bovine Glandular Concentrate"
Moooooooooooo.

The guy in the white shirt pushing that walker wasn't a very good walker driver.
I should have pointed out the Super Macho bull pills to him, maybe that would have helped.

Pudd'n Pouches
Go ahead, pound your pudd'n.  Just lock the bathroom door first.

Anthony and Brandon pushing the cart full of groceries to the car in the Walmart Neighborhood Market parking lot.

Sunday breakfast / lunch at the In-N-Out Burger at El Con Mall.
I asked Brandon to pose like this for the photo.
It's the first time I've told him to 'open wide' and he actually did it.

Anthony orders coffee and cake pops at the Starbucks drive-thru at El Con

Brandon tries on shoes at Shoe Carnival at El Con Mall while Anthony checks out Brandon's butt.

Brandon tries to decide which black shoes he's going to get.

Anthony bought me a new pair of dress shoes.
Thanks for your KENerosity!
(He's waaaay cooler than I am because I've never carried a Starbucks drink around a store and that's popular these days)

Sneaky photo #2: Anthony didn't catch me this time (and neither did Brandon).
They're in the water aisle at Walmart Neighborhood Market.

Anthony and Brandon: Tank top twins
(Don't you hate it when you get deodorant on your clothes?)