Rant #1,559: Weekend Roundup

After a noxious week of work, it was nice when the 5:30 p.m. bell rang, so to speak, and the workweek was finally over.

But this workweek was slightly different than others, because once the workweek ended, a fun weekend began for myself and my family.

And as you know from previous posts, I work for the weekend.

We went out to eat on Friday, and because of time constraints, we decided to keep it local, and we went to the new burger joint that just opened right by us.

I will not tell you the name of it, but it is part of a small chain of restaurants. It is one of those elevated burger joints, and it cost a pretty penny to eat there.

After a long wait, we finally sat down, and while the food was decent, the price wasn't, and we will probably never go there again.

Not only wasn't the price right for us, but when I paid the waiter, I was brought back the wrong amount of change, off by $10. That, right away, was a no no, and yes, it was quickly rectified, but that is the reason I am not telling you the name of the place. You will have to experience it yourself.

After dinner, we went to a show at the Tilles Center, which is on the grounds of C.W. Post College, the school where I achieved my masters degree. This is just the fourth time I have been back there since getting my degree in 1983, and I was surprised I remembered so much about the place, but my memory must be pretty good.

Who did we see at Tilles Center? My wife treated herself, my son and myself to a concert by Lorna Luft.

Just in case you don't know, Luft is the younger daughter of Judy Garland, and her sister is Liza Minnelli. She has never achieved the iconic status that those two performers earned--she is kind of caught between a rock and a hard place with her mom and sister--but she has carved out an interesting career, in particular in Europe.

She performs occasionally in the U.S., and this was sort of a comeback tour for her, but in more than a career way.

This summer, she was treated for breast cancer, and her shows at the Tilles Center--there was one before the one we saw--were her first shows back after that ordeal.

She was in fine form. Her voice is huskier than her sister and her mom's voice, she carries herself differently than either of them did--she is not a dancer, while they were and Liza still is at heart--and she appeared to be quite nervous during the show, but she did a excellent job singing the standards, interspersed with stories about the song and/or the songwriter.

It was a nice show, something different for us to see, and even though we were tired by the time we got home, it was well worth the time to go see Lorna Luft in concert.

She is a real trouper, and the audience, my family included, appreciated that.

Saturday was our usual Saturday, running around food shopping, taking my son to his bowling league, and seeing my father in law, who unfortunately is in the hospital. He is getting better day by day, but for right now, this is where he is, and I know it brightens his time there by seeing his family.

On Sunday, we decided to take in a movie for the first time probably since the summer.

We saw the new James Bond movie, "Spectre," and while it is firmly in the Bond canon of films, I wouldn't say that you must run out and see it.

It was way too long, way too bombastic, but had some excellent fight sequences.

Daniel Craig has said he has tired of this role, and this is his final Bond film. He does look bored through much of the movie, but if, in fact, this is his final Bond film, he went out with a movie that is probably in the middle of all the Bond films, not a film you must see but one that kind of has its place.

Nothing more, nothing less.

So that was our weekend. It was fun, a little different for us, and it kept things moving.

How was your weekend as we get closer to Thanksgiving?