Tag: fabulous

Why Ruth’s Chris?

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I had dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Houston recently and after I got the invitation I asked myself about that name again.  It has been one of those things that have fascinated me for as long as I can remember.  Why is it called this?  Shouldn’t it be Ruth Chris’s Steakhouse or Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse?  I’m so confused.  I just chalked it up as one of those mysteries I would never know.  And then I found out why and I just had to share it with others who may have felt this same way or had this same question.

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So, first off, there really is a Ruth.  In 1965, Ruth Fertel, a single mom looking for an opportunity, saw a steakhouse for sale in the classifieds. She didn’t know much about restaurants or steak, but she took a chance and mortgaged her home to buy Chris Steak House. Ruth mastered all the ins and outs herself, from butchering and broiling steak perfectly to serving guests. (taken from the website directly)

Ruth worked and lived by the mantra, “Do what you love, love what you do.” She had the reputation of being a driven, hard-working person who never met a challenge not worth overcoming. Ruth was successful because of her strong work ethic and keen ability to understand her guests.

Ruth had never planned to expand, but in 1976 a kitchen fire decimated the property and she was forced to relocate in order to stay in business. Within ten days Ruth had the restaurant up and running. But the Chris Steak House name was not allowed to move with it because the terms of sale when she purchased the restaurant prohibited her from opening a new restaurant with the Chris Steak House name.  Ruth added her own name to the new sign, making it “Ruth’s Chris Steak House.” Now with her own name in lights, the tongue-twisting name was born. Later Ruth admitted the name was strange, but she managed to work around it.

So that’s the answer to the big mystery of the name Ruth’s Chris Steak House.  And, now I’m craving steak.  Damnit.

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This made me miss Heath Ledger…

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There’s a video out there that’s been really pointing to a possible inspiration for Heath Ledger’s character performance of The Joker in The Dark Knight.  It is uncanny to watch Tom Waites interview…and while I originally went to see what all the fuss was about, I stayed to watch the whole interview because it is fantastic.  Take a look at the video…what do you think?  I think it’s pretty amazingly similar.  It really made me miss Heath Ledger and wonder what his role would have been in The Dark Knight Rises…given some of the older characters who showed up…Rest In Peace Heath.

Special thanks to towleroad.com for reminding me how great he was…

The New iPad…

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Of course you know by now that I am an absolute fanboy of the highest magnitude. When I first heard about the new iPad I was really excited. I wasn’t sure why I was excited other than the usual reasons. But something seemed really amazing about this particular iPad. I remember when the iPhone 3 switched to iPhone 4 with the Retina Display. My eyes were completely shocked! It was so hard to look at the iPhone 3 after that…it looked crappy! I couldn’t imagine that my eye had not caught the lack of detail that I now saw on my new iPhone. This experience was the exact same thing when I opened the box to my new iPad. Looking at the comparisons of the iPad 2 and the new iPad it really is hard to tell from looking at the screen. It’s like watching a preview for an iMax movie on a standard definition television screen! You can’t explain it. You just have to see it.

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I could feel another difference immediately was the weight. It isn’t much heavier. But I’m amazed at how much a difference this makes in my hand. The weight, of course, is to make room for the new battery that is required for the new iPad and you can feel it. You can also feel the heat from the battery when it is processing all the data for the retina screen. It’s not terribly annoying, but you do feel it. I guess its a trade off for a beautiful screen shot! If you didn’t have an iPad 2 it probably won’t be noticeable. But you will certainly love the lighter feeling and thinness if you are moving from a first generation iPad.

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The new camera is pretty amazing as well. It’s a similar camera to the iPhone 4S, which I take ALL my pictures with. It’s such an amazing camera that I just can’t imagine using anything else, short of moving to an actual professional camera. I love the Apps I can use to edit the photos and really love the Photo Stream capabilities that the iCloud makes possible. I can now take a picture on my iPhone and immediately edit it on my iPad, which has a lot more apps to choose from and is easier to see the details.

I can’t tell you to run out and get a new iPad just yet. The problem with upgrades in technology moving and changing so quickly is that we’ve come to expect massive leaps. This isn’t a massive leap, and probably not a required leap. But I will tell you that looking at the screen and feeling the power behind the processor and the LTE connection speed…which is WAY faster than my home internet connection…makes it a compelling reason to update. I’m one of the early adopters, meaning I love the cutting edge stuff that isn’t all worked out and perfect. I love the exploration of new products. And, lets be honest, no technology upgrade in the last three years is done and completed they are all moving forward in ways we’ve never imagined. If you have an iPad 1, I’d say go upgrade immediately. You will NOT regret it at all. If you have an iPad 2, I’d say you could wait for the next version of the iPad, but you don’t have to. It is here now. The future of tablets IS this new iPad and lucky for your eyeballs, it’s here to stay.

If you have questions or comments, let me know! This is a very brief review of the new iPad. I’ll post more articles as I get more experience with it. For those of you who’ve gotten your new iPad today…welcome to the future in your hands!