Monday, February 28, 2011

Stop #5: Brownsburg, Indiana (#299)

Date: February 25, 2011
Time: 0130 hours
Location: Steak 'n' Shake, Brownburg, Indiana
Crime: We're not sure ... but only true gangsters wear fedoras and look so fly. And gangsters commit crimes.


The fifth stop in the Steak 'n' Shake Quest brought us to Brownsburg and gave us a guest (as you have surely noticed, the handwriting on this sign was clearly done by a hand other than the hand that has handwritten all the signs so far in this quest). As you also have surely noticed, I just squeezed the word "hand" into that sentence in some form four times. I challenge someone to top that, and sound sillier doing it (but still make logical sense).

Also, we battled a blizzard -- and not the Dairy Queen kind -- in our venture.

But before I delve too much into that: details! As there was logic behind the choice to visit the Brownsburg location on this particular night, almost on par with the details behind our decision to start with the Nora location.

These details start with a story of a boy who played basketball at Butler last year. And that boy's name is Gordon.

See Gordon.

Gordon played basketball fantastically. He was also smart. He was also pretty. He was also my newest crush for a period of time there, and the source of a lot of tension with my then-roommate, who decided she wanted to be Mrs. Gordon and went to some games with me with hopes that he would meet her in "Historic Hinkle Fieldhouse!" and sweep her off her feet and carry her into the sunset, where they would get married on a sandy beach because isn't that every girl's dream wedding?

Okay. I'm overexaggerating a bit there at that end. Not every girl dreams of a wedding on a sandy beach in the sunset. If I had to have my wedding on a beach, I'd prefer one on a muddy beach in drizzling rain, personally, so that we could play Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" and laugh at the irony of rain on our wedding day, except more laugh at the lack of irony everyone credits Alanis with having.

As just one example.

At any rate. Gordon played basketball at Butler. And he was good at it.

See Air Gordon.

He was so good at it that he helped to get the team that year to the NCAA Championship game against Duke University.


See Gordon shoot the ball. Shoot, Gordon, shoot.

Actually, maybe don't see Gordon shoot that ball in that clip. It's almost too painful to watch. Scratch that, it's not almost too painful, it IS too painful. Especially when watching it once means you're going to push replay as soon as it's over and hope that maybe this time it'll go in, 'cause it is so damn close, after all. I bought the DVD of this game, and I wonder why 'cause I'm either never going to watch it all the way to the end, or I'm going to set myself up for a lot of nights of a lot of tears.

So instead, we'll change up the story line a bit. Or skip quickly to the next part, which is that Gordon was so good at basketball, that after that year, he didn't have to play at Butler anymore. Gordon was picked up in the NBA draft, and waved good-bye to the Dawgs.

See Gordon switch teams. Jazz, Gordon. Jazz.

You may be wondering what all this has to do with the Steak 'n' Shake quest, and I promise I'm getting there.

You see, Gordon was from Brownsburg. This became well-known "trufax" following the release of the hit-single (at least, around Butler itself, and likely in Mid-Majority circles, based on what websites are returned to you when you Google it these days) "Too Big Yo," in which Gordon rapped, "Yo, yo, the name's G-Time; big frame, big game, call me big time; ball hard, every night and every day; from the 'Burg, I rep it in a big way." (Emphasis -- as we typically put in scholarly articles, which this post is far from -- mine.)

And on February 24, Thursday evening, Gordon returned to Hinkle for a fundraiser event benefiting the Jukes Foundation for Kids.

So you see, avid readers (and you really must be, if you've made it this far in this post), the selection of the Brownsburg Steak 'n' Shake on this particular day was in honor of Gordon's awesome accomplishments.

It was also because I was kinda sorta hoping maybe there was the smidgenest of a chance that he would think, "Hey, I'm in Indy again, maybe since I'm in town, I'll hit up my home-town SnS. At 1:30 in the morning. When I will be unlikely to be swarmed by adoring fans."

Little did he know, he was in for an ambush. By yours truly.

Then again, maybe lot, that he did know. 'Cause he didn't show.

But that's okay! We had a different awesome visitor. And that was the visitor whose handwriting makes up the sign for this week's quest. And that visitor was ...

Mizener!

Who brought a fedora. Because I've been wondering if I could pull it off.


Clearly, I should buy one. Though, as I've explained to several people already, when I get one, I'm definitely going to go for a more 1940s-gangster-named-Mugsy fedora, and less of an Indiana-Jones-carrying-a-whip fedora. Mizener explained the differences, which include brim width, and we be friends, so why would Mizener lie to me about such details? Exactly, he wouldn't.

Wait, is he giving me the bunny ears and ruining this otherwise fantastic photo? ...

It's okay. I got him back. Or, rather, Steak 'n' Shake did, as the anagram puzzle on the back of the placemat was clearly a "Your mom!" joke directed at him.

For

ZEN LBE MOO TAF SEAMRYMIZ

surely must unscramble to

SAFE TOYZ ABLE MIZENER MOM!


Wait a sec. Damn it all. It's a cryptogram.

Oh well. I'm sticking with our anagram. I can't imagine Steak 'n' Shake wanting us to pull any other message from that game, and especially not one like "Try our all new breakfast!" That's just absurd.

Although, now that they mention it, I haven't tried the all-new breakfast ... in fact, I never tried the all-old breakfast. I imagine I will have by the end of this quest. At least, the all-new breakfast. I probably can't find, nor would want to find, the all-old breakfast at this point.

While Mizener and I worked on the crypto-turned-ana-gram, Brett remained unamused and totally impervious to our antics.

Or it could have been that he was watching the weather. Because, though it was not three hundred kinds of disgusting outside when we came to the Steak 'n' Shake, by the time we left, it was like the Snowmageddon one would have expected when the term was incorrectly used for what was in reality an Icepocalypse just a few short weeks ago.

A quick refresher on your world-devestation weather patterns:

Snowmageddon

Icepocalypse.

While the first looks a lot scarier from the single moment in time that the camera captured, the ice was far worse to experience.

And so, following the our fedora fun, our anagram antics, and our comida conquests (a Frisco Melt and fries for me), we braved the blizzard and were Butler-bound, then homeward-headed.

And thus ended a mostly successful -- save for the absence of one basketball player sighting -- Steak 'n' Shake adventure.



EDITED TO ADD: For the record, the Gordon Hayward photos come from AP, AP, and ESPN, respectively. The video comes from YouTube, and based on the quality, I'm gonna go ahead and assume it was random person taping from a cell or something while watching on the TV in their home-type-place. But I think it's an awesome random person, because I'm going to assume they were cheering for Butler, like pretty much everyone else in the entire country was. Don't argue with me, it will make me cry.

Additional details: What We Eat

Well folks, I went home to Fort Wayne THE REGION DEAR STALKERS this weekend, and a friend told me, after I'd revealed the details of this quest, that I ought to record the details of the food I ordered at each Steak 'n' Shake, too.

Since we're not too terribly deep in yet, it is still doable -- definitely doable -- for me to backtrack and fill you all in. My memory, though not the sharpest, can at least remember the first four trips.

Nora
Chili
Frisco Melt
Fries
Chocomazing Shake (not actually ordered, but delivered by Daniel nonetheless)

54th & Keystone
Frisco Melt
Cheese Fries

Michigan & 86th
Grilled Chicken Salad
Chocomazing Shake

71st & Woodland
Chili
Cheese Fries

I know, I know. I don't change it up much. And, as a creature of habit, I probably never will. You're lucky I'm getting out of my shell and actually going to all of these Steak 'n' Shakes and not just settling (well, I'd hardly call it "settling," actually ...) for Nora, all the time every time.

Then again, if you're reading this blog, there really isn't any way that you could get lucky, at least not from a blogging perspective. Unless I died on the road to the next one.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Stop #4: Steak 'n' Shake @ 71st & Woodland (#29)

Thursday the 17th, Destination Steak 'n' Shake was on the Northwest side of Indy, at 71st and Woodland.


Unfortunately, I did not realize until after I took this picture that there were two Steak 'n' Shakes on 71st -- one on the West side, one on the East side. But this one is definitely the one on the West side, at 71st and Woodland.

It was a fun adventure, because Kate! joined us. Yes. I spell Kate!'s name with an exclamation point. 'Cause that's how she makes me feel. But for the record -- that is not the legal way to spell it.

It was also a fun adventure, 'cause it was the first time we'd gone to this Steak 'n' Shake. Up to now, all the Steak 'n' Shakes we've hit up have been ones that we have gone to in the past, whether with regularity or not. But 71st and Woodland, that was new. And thus, adventure! We could have gotten lost! Or died! But instead, we made it! The thought of how close we were to danger really gets your blood pumping, doesn't it?

It was definitely not the best Steak 'n' Shake I've ever been to, though. For starters, when we ordered our food, Brett and Kate! ordered milkshakes as well, but our waitress (according to my receipt, her name was Holly) completely forgot about them. Brett and Kate! had to order them a second time before the milkshakes were actually made and brought out.

Then, once the milkshakes were done and out, I stole Brett's cherry.


Also his whipped cream, 'cause Brett likes neither.

And after enjoying the whipped cream, a couple of chocolate chips that were mixed in with the whipped cream (I swear I tried to push them out of the way first, so that I was only taking the stuff Brett didn't want, but that's when he made the face you see in the above picture, so you can tell he had massive amounts of angriness inside of him. Then again, that could be, and probably is, just Brett all the time.), and cherry ...


... I realized I was craving something super-sweet too. Not a milkshake, not even a Chocomazing, but rather, a brownie sundae. I was craving it so hard I pined for it, in fact.


Alas, Holly never came back. Never. And I went sundae-less. Which is probably for the better, in terms of me not getting fatter. But was the other reason it was not the best Steak 'n' Shake experience ever. Because in addition to being super-awkward-looking in regards to my pining for a brownie sundae, I was relatively audible in voicing my hints at my desire for a brownie sundae.

And Holly was no where to be found.

I didn't cry in my chili, but I thought about it.

And then I decided to play the game on the back of the placemat instead. It was an anagram game. What else could the letters

LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS

spell, but

YEA ANULL TACO PANCAKES

?


Apparently, you can get your Taco Pancakes for just $3.99! (I don't know what the Yea Anull part is for, but whatevs.)

The company for the night was good though, despite Holly denying me my brownie sundae. We talked of many things, like cabbages and kings. By cabbage, I mean Christina Aguilera and her butchering of the National Anthem at the superbowl; by kings, I do not mean Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas' halftime show. We also talked of the computer gnomes that steal people's credit card information, so that they can make 15 copies of your credit card and promptly run them up on cold medicines at Walgreens, which they mistakenly think will cure them of their computer viruses without realizing that people medicines are not anti-virus programs. Brett deduced that the computer gnomes were clearly in cahoots with the sock monster, because he likes to use words like "cahoots" (or at least because I like to make it seem like he uses words like "cahoots") and because surely the sock monster has got to be in cahoots with SOMEONE so why NOT the computer gnomes?

As the night wound down, we headed out to get our group shot, and the other server in the building who rang us up was actually an enjoyable person. When he found out we were on a quest and that I was keeping up a blog, he said we should have ordered his special super awesome shake because it's "the best shake ever!" I argued and said it was no Chocomazing, but was glad that he seemed to like our idea.

Unlike Holly, whose response to our mention was more along the lines of what a normal person would probably think: "But why?" In the, "Don't you have anything better to do with your time?" tone of voice.

And no Holly, I don't. Don't be so critical!

And so, we let the guy server take our picture. 'Cause he actually liked the plan. And because Holly denied me my brownie sundae. Boo, Holly. Boo.


On the up side, Holly's denial did make me go out and buy the stuff to make my own brownie sundae at home. On the down side, I've now had three brownie sundaes in three days 'cause I need to finish off the brownies before they get hard and gross. ("That's what she said!" ... wait ....)

So if anyone wants a brownie sundae ... swing by my Pebble Pad. I promise I'll be nicer than Holly.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Stop #3: Steak 'n' Shake at Michigan & 86th, Indianapolis (#159)

Saturday, Feb. 12, was our third stop in this grand quest. It was at the location on Michigan and 86th Street, here in Indianapolis.


And there was all kinds of excitement. Because I discovered that you can buy Steak 'n' Shake stuff. And I don't mean food.


Seriously, the Michigan location had a display with lots of these brochures. (Although, I guess if I had ever looked at the back of the placemat that I was doodling all over, I may have noticed this earlier, sans info on specific products ....)

Seriously, this is, like, the best thing I've learned in a long time.

  • You can buy a t-shirt that says "I ♥ Steak 'n' Shake"! Well, if you are a youth. Otherwise, you are restricted to shirts that just say "Steak 'n' Shake" on them. Which is only ALMOST as awesome. Which is why I'm going to stop eating so I can fit into the large youth t-shirt.
  • You can buy an official Steak 'n' Shake apron. Buy that, walk in wearing it over a white shirt and some black pants, accompanied by a black bow tie, and they might even let you back by the grill to make your own Frisco Melt!
  • You can buy one of their coffee mugs, complete with the Steak 'n' Shake logo. Though I won't, 'cause I already have one via Special Acquisition. (And one via legitimate garage sale purchase, but it's more fun to mention the Special Acquisition first, and besides, mentioning a garage-sale-acquired one implies that someone, somewhere, decided they no longer wanted their Steak 'n' Shake mug.)
  • You can get any of three license plates showing your love for Steak 'n' Shake -- though my personal favorite is "I 8 SNS". I should totally take advantage of these, seeing as Indiana is a state where you CAN get away with vanity plates because you're not required to have your license on both the front and back of your car, like certain other neighboring and lame states (Yes, I'm looking at you, Ohio, and all your police officers that specifically target anyone driving through your territory without a plate on the front of the car ... how come you haven't self-imploded yet and left behind the crater that we joked about using as a urinal when I was an undergrad?).
  • You can get a set of trivia facts and play a family-friendly game of "What do we know about Steak 'n' Shake?" I so, so, SO want it. Then you could look forward to posts sprinkled with true-fact information, slipped in subtly, such as "Brett and I went to a new Steak 'n' Shake tonight! It was great fun! Steak 'n' Shake is a wholly owned subsidiary of Biglari Holdings Inc. I ordered a Chocomazing tonight, and it was, of course, amazing! But I'm definitely going to have gained approximately 73.9 pounds by the end of this quest. Which will, of course, keep me from wearing my fabulous large-youth 'I ♥ Steak 'n' Shake' t-shirt. This plan clearly needs rethinking."
In addition, in non-bullet-point form, there's also a Steak 'n' Shake clock.


Seriously, how do I not have one of these already?


Oh yeah. Because it's $149.99.

Anyway. This brochure definitely consumed my attention for roughly 82 percent of the time we were at Steak 'n' Shake on Saturday.

And additional seven percent of my attention was dedicated to the fact that we actually got the shake glasses when we ordered shakes.


Unfortunately, in my photo attempt to capture the three of us that ordered shakes, showing off the shake glasses, no one else took the picture seriously. As in, you can't see ANYONE else's glasses. Bitches.

Not really. Becca and Kyle are great. And this stop in the quest was a successful one. Good food was had by all, except those who abstained from eating, because they clearly have no taste buds. :-P

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Stop #2: Steak 'n' Shake at 54th and Keystone, Indianapolis (#24)

Our second stop in this quest was scheduled for another Thursday night, February 10 (or, really really early Friday morning, the 11th, if you want to get really technical).

We couldn't be 100 percent sure that our intent to go out questing that night would be a successful venture or even a not-stupid idea, as it was going to be quite cold.

Actually, this map has nothing to do with our location. I know, it's fuzzy, but it's still possible to see, and worth noting, that the channel we've now decided is officially named Mariachi Weather listed that the temperature on Thursday would be -0 in Winnipeg.

That's right. They said NEGATIVE ZERO degrees.

I laughed. A lot. And then needed an excuse to put this picture somewhere. So now you all can laugh at Mariachi Weather, too.

Anyway. Since it was not -0 degrees in Indianapolis, we decided that the quest would take us to the Steak 'n' Shake at 54th and Keystone.


It's one that's relatively close to Butler. Fun fact, it's also the one where Nathan and I had our second date. It's also the one where I probably nearly ended the relationship before it even began, by telling the infamous raspberry ice cream joke. It took me 27 minutes, by his estimation. He got off lucky -- I've made that thing last 45 minutes before.

Anyway. This Steak 'n' Shake trip was an exciting time, in part because our Minnesotan friend Becca was in town. And she loves her some S'n'S.


Do my eyes deceive me, or has Becca incorporated a Spanish upside-down exclamation mark in her exclamation of excitement over Steak 'n' Shake? Becca, ¡I didn't know you habla-ed español! :)

We entertained ourselves with some Tic Tac Toe for a bit while we waited on our food. I brought crayons, making entertainment on the back of placemats easy. Then the waitress gave me her number 'cause she thought I was hot. With, like, seven t's. Number obscured to protect Toni's privacy.


Okay, jay kay. Our waitress wasn't named Toni, and she didn't give me her number. Toni is a friend of Brett's who got married recently, and I need to get in touch with her to ask her about the DJ she used, as I'm currently planning my own wedding. The Steak 'n' Shake napkin was the handiest thing I had to put a phone number on so I could call it later. Or, rather, text it. 'Cause clearly, phones were not made for making and receiving phone calls. Or at least, you would assume that was the case, given the behavior mine has been having recently. (Note to self, change voicemail recording from "Hi! You've reached Marcy! Obviously, I can't answer my phone, probably because I'm at work, but leave me a message ...." to "Hi! You've reached Marcy! Quite honestly, I probably AM available right now, but my phone is being jank, and the truth is that as you're hearing this message right this very moment, my phone is just now deciding to ring and let me know that I had a call, but oh no, wait, the phone has decided that it already kicked you to voicemail and too bad, so sad, but Marcy can't take her calls right now! Moral of the story is you should not bother leaving a message if this is your first time calling and simply hang up, 'cause Marcy will probably call you back within a minute and immediately launch into some bitching about how she really just misses her old Nokia flip phone, the one that had no special features beyond, you know, ringing when she was getting a call, and letting her answer those calls, and allowing her to make calls." Then again, my phone probably can't handle such a long voicemail recording because it is, after all, totally jank. But I should try anyway, so I can at least bitch about THAT later, too.)

After getting Toni's number, I decided it might be an appropriate time to tell the raspberry ice cream joke again. This made Brett want to kill me. This made me happy.

Sadly, Brett did not kill me. He just drove me and Becca back to campus to retrieve our cars.

But before he did, we got the official group picture.

One last note -- man. The quality of our SnS location signs sucks. I may need to actually resort to preparing signs in advance. Or at least bringing my own paper to create the sign on, instead of relying on the Steak 'n' Shake placemats, which now come with reverse sides littered with print.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

A sign from above

I think this may have been meant as a sign that I was destined to do this quest. Or at least go to Steak 'n' Shake tonight.




I'm fine with either one.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Stop #1: Steak 'n' Shake at Nora (#36)

The first stop of the Steak 'n' Shake quest was initially scheduled to happen in the wee hours of February 1. Considering this, my most brilliant idea ever, didn't hit me until midway through January, it seemed fated that we would run this quest not for the calendar year of 2011, but rather from February of 2011 to February of 2012.

Plus, the world ending in 2012 gives us a good excuse if we end up not succeeding WE WILL SUCCEED.

Unfortunately, our quest could not begin that night, because the our state was hit with a ridiculous ice storm.

I believe the following illustration sums up what we were dealing with on those days:


The Steak 'n' Shake destined to be the first stop in this quest is just north of center in "Mostly Screwed" territory. I think. I'm actually not terribly good with geography; if it weren't for the weather we actually faced last week, I might place us at somewhere in "You get to live," except I know I'm not going to marry my first cousin.

Then again, given the weather we actually faced last week, I'd actually be more likely to confuse our area with somewhere in "Screwed."

At any rate, we had ice. A lot of it.

For example, that was my car.


And that was the thickness of the ice I was trying to get off my car. And I had cleared it off after the first night of storm, before the second one. So you can imagine the roads.

Brett and I ended up making the first trip three nights later, after I got off work.

When we got to SnS, I immediately insisted we begin planning. After all, this blog is going to get boring if all it is is us posting "Yeah. We went to such-and-such SnS. Fun times. Laterz." It will also get irritating if we're that vague and we type words like "Laterz."

So I wanted a better plan. Something to make the trips more entertaining, in part for post-worthiness, in part because I like to have a focus point myself.

Before we got too deep into planning, though, we began to reminisce a bit. It's hard not to, when you're at the Nora SnS. Though I've gone to Steak 'n' Shake a lot over the last seven-to-eight years, it wasn't until Brett and I made it a regular, weekly trip a few years ago that a bond was really foraged. Prior to these regular trips, I liked Steak 'n' Shake because it was good food and open all the time -- convenient. After we'd been doing the regular weekly trips to the Nora Steak 'n' Shake, specifically, it became not just a convenient restaurant to hit up, but a haven of sorts.


This is the big reason we had to start at the Nora Steak 'n' Shake -- it's like home. Home, sweet home. Despite the writing in the photos looking like it says "Home swat home."

And for that same reason, we were easily sidetracked and distracted when we got there. We talked about how cool it would be if Ella, the second regular server we had, still worked nights. We talked about how awesome Waiter Tim, our first regular server, was. We joked about how weird Eric, our third regular server, had been. We talked about how important it is to be regular, or at least how important those commercials featuring elderly people make it seem. (Except that we really didn't.)

And then we came to our last regular server, Daniel, the guy who had most recently been regularly scheduled the graveyard shift when we were still going in during the graveyard shift on a somewhat regular schedule. We talked about how we missed him and wished he were still there -- he made the trips more fun, after all.

And just when I was ready to redirect the conversation to our quest and missions, who should walk in but Daniel himself.

Not to work. Daniel hasn't worked at Steak 'n' Shake for a little bit. But he was coming in to visit with former coworkers, I assume, and we grabbed his attention instead.

He came and sat down. And it was apparent quite quickly that he had been drinking, and no small amount, before he showed up.

(No worries, folks, a friend had come with him to do the driving.)

And so we became sidetracked again, as Daniel Salo (the name he now told us to call him) sat and chatted with us. But all was well, as spirits were high. At least, on our end, spirits were high. On his end, more than that may have been high, though it was hard to tell, for me, because I've lived far too sheltered a life.

We first told Salo about the quest. He seemed to approve of the idea, but quickly said we should not go to the SnS on Post. His logic was that he didn't work there and so it sucked; but by that logic, all Steak 'n' Shakes suck, and that would destroy the quest. So we're going to dismiss his concerns on that.

After that, we caught up a bit on what's going on in life. Well, a little bit, we did. Though at some point it came up that I was now planning a wedding, and Salo decided to hit on Brett so that he could go as his date. Sadly, Brett apparently has a girlfriend, so even if Salo does look nice in a dress, Brett's probably already taken.

However, it made for some fun and entertaining conversation, for a bit.

We headed out around 4:30 a.m., after some awkward moments between our former waiter, and his former coworker.

You know the rule, about keeping hugs to three seconds or less to avoid awkwardness? Salo didn't just break that rule, he trampled all over it, shared some of his booze with it to loosen it up a bit, then threw it out into the ocean, and everyone knows rules can't swim, so it clearly drowned.

He then tried to be awkward in a photo with us.


Despite the awkwardness, it was an overall good night, save for the fact that we accomplished little in the way of planning what else our quest would entail, beyond setting a routine weekday for visiting each of the Steak 'n' Shakes in Indiana. I guess the rest will have to wait until tomorrow night.

Monday, February 7, 2011

"Around the State in 70 Stakes. And Shakes.": The Quest

Starting a new blog is always a weird thing.

I have had many blogs in the ...
fourteen ... years that I've been actively using the Internet. Starting anew is always weird, 'cause you feel like you have to explain yourself. Someone could be reading that doesn't know you. Or someone who knows you might just want to know why you're blogging here, somewhere new, and not where you used to.

And really, all I ever want to do is just jump right in and talk about whatever it is on my mind that caused me to start a new blog.

I'm going to go with that feeling this time. If you know me, you'll get this -- I hope -- and if you don't, I hope you get to know me and enjoy reading.

I hope you find the answer to that question on your mind. Which at this point almost must be, "Around the State in 70 Steaks. And Shakes. What does it MEAN?"

It means that within the next year, I will be visiting every one of the 70 Steak 'n' Shakes in the glorious state of Indiana. Well, I will, along with my friend Brett, for as many as he can. Brett has this habit of having medical issues come up that sometimes keep him from doing things, and sometimes should keep him from doing things but don't succeed. For example, he emailed me this weekend from the ER for some ankle sprain thing. Quote, "They said it was a really bad sprain and gave me a strong antinflammatory and some pain meds. Still hurts like a bitch though".

I guarantee, though, if I had texted "Sns?" while it was "still hurt(ing) like a bitch though", he'd have agreed to going. His "as many as he can" issue actually has nothing to do with health issues for him. I just wanted to write about his sprained ankle. Which hurts like a bitch.

Reality is, he's leaving this glorious state of Indiana at the end of May to pursue education in the area of instrument repair in Wisconsin. Hopefully the instrument repair he learns is applicable to all states and not just instruments in Wisconsin, but he'll be learning his trade there at any rate. I don't know why. I mean, do they even HAVE Steak 'n' Shakes in Wisconsin? I have a friend who lives in Minnesota who insists upon Steak 'n' Shake visits when she's in town because they have none up there. Wisconsin is close, so I'll assume they don't.

Guys, it's a safe assumption that Brett will DIE when he gets to Wisconsin. He will have nothing to eat. This blog might just turn into a "Save Brett from Wisconsin!" quest, rather than a Steak 'n' Shake quest.

Which brings me back to the original point of this post. The quest, to go to all 70 Steak 'n' Shakes in this glorious state of Indiana.

And I maintain it is a glorious state. Ignoring the hellish ice-storm that happened about a week ago and actually delayed the beginning of this quest, we must face the fact that Indiana, the crossroads of this nation, home of an internationally-known racing venue, and birthplace of a somewhat strange but decidedly likable singer, may-he-rest-in-peace -- Indiana, that Indiana, is also a state with 70 Steak 'n' Shakes. The only state coming in with more Steak 'n' Shakes than the great Hoosier state is Florida, which has 81.

Someday, I'd like to visit Florida. Maybe when I'm old and am forced to retire there.

Ha ha ha -- except that I'm not going to be able to retire. Ever. *weeps inside*

Anyway. Short of Florida, no other state, not one, has as many Steak 'n' Shakes as Indiana, not even the state where Steak 'n' Shake was founded. That's right, my friends, Illinois has but a mere 69 (insert immature giggle here) Steak 'n' Shakes! May it hang its head in shame.

So now that we've answered the question of what exactly this quest is about, the inevitable follow-up question (probably delivered with a slight note of disgust by those doubters) is "WHY?"

Firstly -- well, why not?

Steak 'n' Shake has been my go-to place for the last eight years. As an undergrad, I went regularly with my sorority following major steps in the initiation process for new members. I also went frequently with anyone in that organization (and its brother organization) pretty much any time we just wanted to hang out somewhere. Steak 'n' Shake is open 24/7 -- it's basically ideal for college kids who routinely pull all-nighters, or are having a good weekend and just need to get some food in those stomachs to keep all that jungle juice company.

Since graduating, I've gotten a "real grown up person" job, but my nocturnal habits haven't changed because I work a modified second shift. Every other "real grown up person" out there (well, most of them) get out of work at 5 p.m. on Friday and get a chance to go out for dinner or drinks with their friends to kick off their weekend. I get out of work at 1 on it's-technically-Friday-morning-but-let's-face-it-you-haven't-gone-to-bed-so-it's-really-still-Thursday-night. How is a person like me to kick off a weekend with such a schedule?

Ah yes. That familiar red glow, shining like a beacon through even the darkness of 1 a.m.

Steak 'n' Shake has never failed me. Well, except that one time ....
Don't worry. I'm not going to rehash a million memories here and now. There is no time, and besides, I've got to fill this blog with something other than posts documenting each Steak 'n' Shake trip. At that point, the blog is only 70 (well, 71, counting this one) posts long. And as you may have gathered by now, I'm simply too long-winded for that.

An additional answer to that "Why?" is that, from a practical perspective, now is the best time. Brett is still in town right now, and is probably the only person willing to actually drive around the state with me to go to these various Steak 'n' Shakes. I still work this something-like-second shift, but hope to move to day hours at some point before I finish my Master's program, and let's face it, SnS just has so much more entertainment and promise in those witching hours than it does during the traditional happy hour (which, by the way, is set to happen twice a day at Steak 'n' Shake -- can we count the ways that Steak 'n' Shake truly is one of the most awesome places to spend time?).

And, probably most importantly, from the practical perspective, I currently live in Indianapolis

(for all those stalkers out there: I currently live in The Region. No, I don't know which city. But trust me, I live up there somewhere. I totally wish I lived in Chicago. I spend all my time rooting for the Chicago Bears and bitching about how Indiana's DST is all wrong. If you don't believe me, check the Steak 'n' Shakes. Around noon. That's your best chance of finding me and trying your "Does this smell like chloroform?" pick-up line, before you actually pick me up and hide me in your basement and force me to put the lotion on my skin, which I promise I already do because I spend most of my second paycheck at Bath & Body Works, but this is all neither here nor there ....)

and if you're on a quest to go to the 70 Steak 'n' Shakes in Indiana, there's no better place to start a quest from, than Indianapolis. After all, 33 of those Steak 'n' Shakes are in Indianapolis itself, or in the surrounding suburbs you can reach from Indianapolis relatively quickly. That's nearly half! (Don't say you aren't learning anything useful from this blog. Look at how I'm teaching you math! AND I'm acting excited about it, so that you might get excited too! Sort of how you ask your puppy, "Want to go to the vet?! Aren't you excited to be getting fixed?! Of course you are! Now that's a good boy! We're just going to love our trip to the vet that's going to result in you not being able to create any more puppies!" Except my contagious enthusiasm is not going to result in any readers being neutered.)

And as for the other 37 Steak 'n' Shakes -- while many are a distance from Indy, none are as far as some would be if I lived in any other city in this state. If I lived in Fort Wayne, for example, the trip to the one down in Terre Haute would take nearly four hours. If I lived in Evansville, driving to any location in The Region

(where I currently live, stalker types ... so remember that on whatever day we plan the Evansville trip, no one will be expecting to see me for a solid day ... just sayin' ... you know ... you might want to target me on that day if you plan to kidnap me and dump my body in Lake Michigan, or if you really, really hate me and want to kidnap me so you can dump my body in Ohio ....)

would take more than five hours. One way. AND, if I lived in Anderson, and was trying to go to a Steak 'n' Shake in Tokyo, Japan, it would take a whole 35 days and 21 hours to get there. And that route includes kayaking across the Pacific Ocean in Step 26! AND, worse yet, toll roads! (Me 'n' toll roads have a bad past, worse than most people's. Don't ask.) Driving from Indianapolis, that same trip would take only 35 days and 20 hours.

So, you can clearly see the benefit provided by starting such a quest in such a city as Indianapolis. In fact, according to Google Maps, not one of these drives is going to take more than three and a half hours. If Brett's driving, it's a safe bet that not one will take more than three hours. Plus, we don't have to kayak or swim anywhere, unless we want to. And, of course, no tolls. Victory!

"But Marcy," you may say. "Liking Steak 'n' Shake -- albeit in the abnormal ways that you must -- and living in a central part of the state are certainly not reasons alone to up and decide one day to go to all the Steak 'n' Shakes in your state." Because, in case you weren't aware, you do use phrases like up and decide. "Marcy," you are still saying, "for serious, why are you going to all the Steak 'n' Shakes in your state when you could just as easily go to one favorite location in Indianapolis and waste less time in driving and less money on gas?"

Amen, amen, I say to you, people in glass houses sink ships, or would, if it weren't for my horse.

And so. Welcome to the blog for our Steak 'n' Shake quest! Brett and I will document this quest as we check different SnS locations off our list. At least, I will. I can't promise anything in regards to Brett posting. For all I know, next time he'll accidentally slam his fingers in his car door and be lacking an ability to type. But this documentation will happen one way or another, and will likely cover exciting happenings of our Steak 'n' Shake quest. Because trust me, when we go to a Steak 'n' Shake, it is pretty much always an exciting happening.

Check back here for our adventures, as well as opportunities to join us when we come to a Steak 'n' Shake near you! Brett and I appreciate your visit:




Also, if you've got any Steak 'n' Shake gift cards just laying around, those would probably be appreciated by us in exponential fashions as we progress in this quest. :)