Stop #38: Anderson (#229)

The early part of October brought me and my quest to the Anderson Steak 'n Shake.


And by Anderson, I don't mean that guy who took over Oprah's time slot. Nothing against him, but he's not Steak 'n Shake, and he certainly doesn't house a Steak 'n Shake.

However, there's a decent chance you've heard of Anderson, or at least someone from Anderson. Especially if you watch some of the terrible MTV reality television (don't worry, I won't make you admit it here).

You see, Anderson is home to America's favorite "Teen Mom":

... it's Amber!

You may also recognize Amber's baby-daddy:

... it's Gary!

And you may be familiar with their shenanigans:

... domestic abuse!

I was hoping they'd show up, and then there could be a small recreation of what nearly went down back on Post & 25th. Sadly, they did not show up.

I hit (ha ha!) (okay, that's probably not actually funny, and neither is domestic abuse, but I do have to say that when you proceed with your domestic abuse in front of your reality TV cameras, you can't be surprised when you get called on it and, hey, the intelligence level that goes along with that kind of IS funny) the Anderson Steak 'n Shake with a friend from my part-time gig, Jen.

Jen's awesome people 'cause she got me some really cool wedding gifts:

A Steak 'n Shake t-shirt ...


... and the Steak 'n Shake trivia cards!


Turns out the trivia is not so much about Steak 'n Shake as it is about random facts that can be loosely tied to Steak 'n Shake.

Jen will share an example:

Every Steak 'n Shake Milk Shake is topped
with a maraschino cherry. How do you
pronounce maraschino?

While at the outset, this question SOUNDS like it will be about Steak 'n Shake, in reality, it is about CHERRIES and only loosely tied to Steak 'n' Shake through the fact that the cherries are tossed on top of the milkshakes.

They're still fun, but it made me a little sad, that it wasn't all Steak 'n Shake trivia directly.

Oh, and if you said it's pronounced "mar-uh-sheen-oh," you're wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. And have something in common with me. :)


Our server, Ashley, started asking us questions once she saw us sitting there with Steak 'n Shake trivia cards. I have to say, she was pretty fantastic, or at least I thought so, because she was actually excited by my quest. She asked questions, and then kept asking additional questions when she stopped by the table to bring us food and refill drinks and such.

That's pretty much all you have to do for me to like you, apparently: tell me my quest is cool.

Also, bring me and my friends fantastic food:


Yes, I am horrible: I got a Guacamole Burger, French fries, AND a grilled cheese.


... oh yeah. And Frisco sauce for my fries. Which I ended up using on the grilled cheese. Which is kind of like having a Frisco Melt minus the meat. So, while tasty, probably not something I'll do again until Lent. Unless I give up Steak 'n Shake for Lent. *Gasp* The horror!

In addition to being occupied by trivia cards while we ate food, Jen and I gave the anagram on the back of the placemat a go again.

And, wonder of wonders, discovered that it was actually a new anagram!


Did I mention it was a super-intense anagram? Seriously. Look at all those letters. Just look at them.

Fortunately, I did figure out what secret hidden message Steak 'n Shake was trying to convey this time.

UBYREREBL ASNPAEKC
YUTNROCLILKEST
OTBLOPROEL ' N USEGASA TLISEKL

translates to

ACKBAR'S BALLS, RUSTY SLINKY, GIN PEE, CAB LUTE, TROLL PELT, NOOO RUE EEK.

Clearly, someone wants us to use these ingredients to make some form of a witch's brew that would kill weasels, which we would later rue doing.

By the time we finished eating, got through some trivia, and finished up the anagram, a couple hours had passed -- and we STILL hadn't seen Amber and Gary.

It was a sad, sad night. Thankfully, Ashley was fantastic, so we at least left in good spirits.

Interlude #3: Glendale Heights, Illinois

My Steak 'n' Shake Spree continued with a non-official stop -- non-official because, once I got to Kathy's house in not-technically-Chicago-but-really-close, she suggested we go to, where else?, Steak 'n' Shake.


Kathy, of course, made her own personal sign.


As we arrived, Kathy pointed out the amusing: a Bally's right next door to the Steak 'n' Shake.


A Bally's which I could have used after this particular interlude in the quest, because it was here that I made probably the first -- and, really, only major -- mistake of the SnS Spree: I got another milkshake.

Key Lime, this time. I rhyme.

Now, I reiterate, I did not feel even remotely sick at any point in the Spree, even though I had two milkshakes within a five-or-so hour period. Unlike the night before Lent began.

See that? That is the face of someone who is about to have
a lot of regrets. On Fat Tuesday.

Apparently, two milkshakes isn't enough to knock me down. Though I'm sure it's not helping in that goal to lose weight by the wedding.

While enjoying our shakes, Kathy and I also worked on some anagrams.

Kathy's solution for

ZEN LBE MOO TAF SEAMRYMIZ

was

FAT LIMBS MOO ZEN RYE MAZE!

I, of course, worked on the standard

LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS!

which translated this time to

OYE LUNK ALPACAS AT ACNE!

I maintain that LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS does NOT translate to ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES.

Speaking of pancakes, sometime during our visit with the Glendale Heights Steak 'n' Shake, Kathy and I decided that a brilliant decision would be for us to get up early enough the next morning to be able to make it to one of the other Steak 'n' Shakes in the Region and grab breakfast. So shortly after we finished our milkshakes and anagrams, we decided to head out and get some sleep.

And so went the Steak 'n' Shake Quest Interlude in a Chicago suburb Steak 'n' Shake.

Stop #23: Downtown Indianapolis (#?)

Stop 23 happened on the 23rd of June, which is one of my favorite days because it is, after all, my birthday.

Not only was it my birthday, but it was Fiancé's birthday, too.

Sadly, it may be Fiancé's last birthday, as he turned 30, which means he may well not live to see another birthday 'cause he's so damn old.

Of course, that didn't stop him from letting his maturity shine through.


Because it was my birthday, I enjoyed my current favorite, a Guacamole Steakburger. Again.


Fiancé enjoyed a chili. Well, he wanted to enjoy a chili. But actually, our friend Charlie was probably the only one to really enjoy a chili. As Fiancé's came out much earlier than the rest of the food, and he felt he should be polite and not eat until others got their food, nevermind that it was his birthday and all and, you know, the one day he really gets to get away with such behavior.


Charlie, on the other hand, had no qualms with the guilt associated with eating chili before others got their food.

Fiancé may have been the winner, however, as he did end up getting a fresh bowl of chili when the rest of the food actually did come out. So ... huzzah, Fiancé, for being a picky bastard? Even if he wasn't really in this instance, I'd like to point out that he most of the time is.

An added benefit of having a birthday at Steak 'n' Shake was that we got to open a couple of presents/cards there. Including this fantastic card from Sami and Matt, about an old man sharing his wisdom of what will keep you alive longest.


That advice was, namely, "Keep breathing as long as you can!"

Fiancé, please do that. :)

The birthday stop was also fun because we got to play the anagram game again.

And, in playing the anagram game, I got to show Sami my super mad skillz that make it so, when you Google "LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS," my blog is the first nine of 10 hits you get. She said her company would pay for search returns like that.

You hear that, Steak 'n' Shake? Someone would pay for the awesome skillz I have. Which, in a professional setting, would definitely not be spelled with a "z" on the end.

But back to the original point. Once again, we played the anagram game, and proved that, without a doubt, "LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS" cannot spell "ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES." In fact, it surely must spell "STOP A NUN A LA CAKE ALE." I'm not sure how one would go about stopping a nun with cake ale, but cake ale sounds possibly tasty, and so I'm sold.

Unfortunately, birthday Steak 'n' Shake was not all joyousness and rainbows and unicorns. It actually wasn't rainbows and unicorns, at all, even though it was mostly joyous.

You see, I decided, since it was my birthday and all, I should try the cookie milkshake attempted on the last stop again. This time I did it right, though: I ordered a cookie dough milkshake and a pair of chocolate chip cookies as soon as I sat down.

Unfortunately, my milkshake came out. But no cookies arrived.

I asked our server, and she said that they had been out of cookies, but that they were making more.

I thought, "Awesome. 'Cause I have no real cooking skills, but I have done chocolate chip cookies before, and they take all of, what, 10 minutes?"

Unfortunately, time passed. And passed. And still no cookies.

Every time our server came by, I asked, with a hopeful look that if I'm lucky resembled the look my mom's dog gets when you go anywhere remotely near her treat container. And every time, she said that they still weren't ready yet, until she finally gave in and said that they weren't ready yet, but when they were, she'd bring me FOUR cookies for being so patient.

Not something I really needed on a day when I'd already had a piece of ice cream cake and was going to have a milkshake, but hey, at least I didn't realize she was probably being sarcastic until after the fact.

I, of course, left my milkshake sit untouched until those cookies came out, so I could give you this glorious photo of my concoction.


Sadly, this photo had to be timed, with Matt holding the cookie up until just as I pushed the button on the camera -- the milkshake was at that point so liquidy that the cookie would not stand upright as it was supposed to.

And what was worse? The cookies came out cold. Liar-liar-pants-on-fire, dear server at the downtown Steak 'n' Shake. Thanks for ruining my birthday!

Slightly kidding. The birthday was not ruined, even if the cookie dough cookie milkshake left me so disappointed that I fear I will never try it again.

("Don't worry," I know you're saying, "you still have 47 Steak 'n' Shakes to go! I'm sure you'll be up for giving it another try at one of them!"

And I'm sure you're right. Sadly, it won't be any time soon.)

Actually, it was, all in all, a pretty good birthday. I would like to thank Sami, Matt, Molly, Jen, Jamie, Charlie, Adam, Megan, and Marc for making my birthday awesome. And for making the quest more awesome, to boot.


Added note, I want to apologize for not being able to provide the store number for this location. I promise I went -- I just did not get a store number because somebody/ies pictured above got my Steak 'n' Shake, and as a result, I did not get a receipt. Thank you guys! :)

Steak 'n' Shake Stop #17 Interlude #2: Washington & High School (#233)

Friday night was supposed to be the ill-conceived yet totally-awesome Drunk 38th Street Steak 'n' Shake run.

You see, 38th Street is probably the sketchiest place we can think of. It used to be the go-to Steak 'n' Shake when I was an undergrad, up until we went one time and had our car parked in for a while because some sort of drug bust was going on out there.

At least, this is what we surmised, based on the fact that we were on 38th Street, there was more than one car with flashing lights, and it took forever for them to leave.

That's the kind of place this Steak 'n' Shake is.

Which is why it's really totally logical to go there at least a little tipsy. Hey, if you're not 100 percent sober, you can't really be that scared, right?

Fear not, my friends, we had a DD. This plan was well-thought-out. Brett and/or Fiance would both be sober to drive, and so Steak 'n' Shake Stop #17 would be the Drunk 38th Street Run.


So ... wait ... then why did the sign say "FAIL!"? And why does it also say "Washington & High School?"

The short answer, my friends, is that Brett is a wussy.

Thank you, Stacy-Keach-as-Ken-Titus, for helping me explain it.

And Brett, this response


does not change the fact that you are a

I know. Calling Brett a wussy doesn't exactly explain why, when the plan has been set to go to a certain Steak 'n' Shake slightly inebriated, we ended up not just at another Steak 'n' Shake, but at one that has already been hit on this quest.

But I'll get there.

Since Friday was my last day of class, it was a perfectly appropriate time to drink. So that is where the adventure starts.


Molly still has exams, meaning this wasn't so much a celebratory drink for her as a respite from studying.

We were enjoying our adult beverages, watching "Glee," and chatting about all things in life. Once it got to about time for us to head to Steak 'n' Shake, we wondered where Fiance was, as he was our ride. Before I had a chance to call him and find out, though, Brett called us to ask where we were (he was already at the 38th Street Steak 'n' Shake) and ask if we could go somewhere else because, and I quote, "There are some really scary people here."

At least, I'm pretty sure that's what Brett said, verbatim. But I was drinking at the time and more concerned with enjoying drinking with Molly for the first time than I was with remembering what exact phrasing Brett was using as he conveyed the message that -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- he is, indeed, a wussy.

After some phone tag between me and Fiance, me and Brett, me and Mizener, Molly and Brett, Fiance and Brett, and Brett and his soul (ha ha! that last one is a joke because one of those two just doesn't exist), we settled on a different Steak 'n' Shake and headed in that direction.

As Fiance drove, I tried to clarify which one we were going to for questing purposes, and he said we were going to one that had not been a part of the quest before.

Lies!

Because when we pulled up to this Steak 'n' Shake


I realized that I had, indeed, been here before.

With my sister, sister-in-law, adorable nephew, and soon-to-be-cousin-person.

Of course, I didn't make this realization until after spending a few moments being excited about Breakfast Tacos. After all, one of my anagrams came up with an advertisement for Taco Pancakes -- this is at least sort of close 'cause you're taking the Taco and making it a breakfast item, like Pancakes.

You're almost there, Steak 'n' Shake. Almost there.

So I got frustrated. 'Cause this stop actually doesn't count for the going Around the State in 70 Steaks. And Shakes. Though it does get a post because it is a Steak 'n' Shake adventure. It just means there will be 70 +1 posts in this blog.

... Okay, there were already going to be 70 +1 posts because I sometimes post with no actual stop having occurred. Like when I get Steak 'n' Shake emails. Or when we have epic Facebook conversations about Steak 'n' Shake.

The good news is, despite the fact that this trip was a repeat stop, it was still a fun time. Or at least turned into one.

When we first arrived, we were sad because Brett had ruined Drunk 38th Street run.


Yes, these are their sad faces.

But then our server came over, and the night got much better. Her name was Alyson, and she was awesome. And not only 'cause I was vaguely tipsy and in that state I have a tendency to think highly of everyone. She was really friendly and joked around with us, was impressed by my box of crayons and the "free gift!" that came with it (a crayon sharpener), and she brought me a breakfast placemat so I could use the back to make the sign.

Then she crumpled the sign up before I even finished it, 'cause she didn't understand that part of the joke was going to be to cross out the 38th part and write in our correct location. She asked if I knew where I was, and she may have thought I was an idiot, but she still brought me back another placemat so I could do it right.

She asked what was wrong with me when she saw my second sign, also complete with a crossed-out "38th."

In short, Alyson was awesome. One of my favorite servers to date in the quest. 'Cause let's be honest, it's not fair to compare any of the servers from the quest to people like Waiter Tim and Ella and Salo, who were fantastic because they got to know us. Though Alyson struck me as the kind of person who would be equally fantastic if we frequented that particular location.

I ended up ordering my new favorite, the Guacamole Steakburger. And then I felt obligated to take a picture of it. From the menu.


Thanks to Codee, who allows me to take a bazillion pictures, and being tipsy, which allows me to be completely indiscriminate about what those pictures actually are, you get images like this.

Though, thanks to my current sober state, you won't actually be bombarded by such images.

Along with my Guacburger, I had fries and chili, and it was fantastic.

As we ate, we goofed around a bit.

The anagram had a new meaning this time.


Instead of LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS translating to something about taco pancakes, this time it was about NCAA pens, with a statement proclaiming "LOL A YUCAN ATE NCAA PENS!" I'm not really sure why a Yucan eating NCAA pens is laugh-out-loud funny, but hey, I guess it is to the people who make the Steak 'n' Shake placemats.

It's probably really fortunate that this anagram, which for sure has never spelled "ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES!", does not have an "I" in it. Sadly, neither does it have an "M," meaning we can't spell "TEAM," either.

I also stole Mizener's fedora again, so I could look cool.


Then I stole Fiance's glasses, so I could look for a moment like I'm maybe the type that sometimes enjoys recreational pharmaceuticals.


No worries, I don't even sometimes enjoy recreational pharmaceuticals. I hate it every time.

Ha ha, jay-kay! I don't actually even use recreational pharmaceuticals.

Although I do, apparently, need an updated contact prescription. Again. 'Cause Fiance's glasses actually made me better able to see. Damn my eyes.

Too late.

Overall, it was a fun night, even if it brought me no closer to my goal in this quest.

And even Brett seemed to have a good time, as he smiled.

I know, I know. "Pics or it didn't happen!"

Well my friends, prepare to be shocked:


Other acceptable responses to my claim would have been "If it's on Facebook, it must be true!" -- 'cause eventually, this picture will make it there, too.

Also, Alyson was awesome -- but I don't think anyone's ever tried to take the group picture vertically before. It just seems so strange.


Moral of the story: If you make plans while sober to do something later when you've had a bit to drink ... stick to those plans. Otherwise you might make stupid decisions you will regret later. Or, worse, go to a Steak 'n' Shake you've already visited in your epic Steak 'n' Shake quest.

Stop #16: I-69 & 96th Street, Indianapolis (#261)

Stop #16 actually may well have been in Fishers, instead of Indianapolis. I'm not entirely sure where, up there, Indianapolis ends and the suburbs begin. Unless it's Carmel, where it is apparently mandated that all buildings be made of brick, including such places as Best Buy, Burger King, and the doghouse in your backyard -- which is the only reason I can tell I'm in Carmel.

That brick Steak 'n' Shake will be a fantastic one to visit, now that I think about it ....

Anyway, Stop #16 took us to the Steak 'n' Shake on 96th Street, just off I-69.


I was really excited about this stop because, first off, it was done without too much prior planning. Friday morning began the texting game, and when I found out my sister and brother-by-legal-standards were coming down to pick up a chalupa (technically, a chinchilla, but ever since first seeing one a few years ago when visiting me and my then apartmentmates' apartment and seeing my former apartmentmate's chinchillas, they have referred to them as chalupas ... so let's hope they don't eat the little guy, though it would be a good excuse to use his fur for a coat. Or, you know, a mitten, given that that's about how much fur you could get from a single chinchilla ....), I quickly got in touch to see if they'd want to meet at a Steak 'n' Shake on their way down.

Another reason this trip was exciting was that it marked the return of the Brett.

Brett was actually the one handing off the chalupa to my sister and BBLS, so it was handy to have the familials meet us at the Steak 'n' Shake -- they could then follow Brett to his apartment to adopt their new kid.

As a sidenote, since my sister and BBLS's current pet, Maybelle, is a puppy that I refer to as my niece, I suppose Max the Chalupa will have to be referred to as my nephew, meaning the Chalupa that would have previously referred to Brett as "Daddy" is now somewhat my relation, if you include animals in such figurings, which I clearly do ... Brett, does this mean we're related? If so, I'm scared.

Anyway, my sister and BBLS were tired.


After all, they had spent a good chunk of the day driving. I suggested we meet at this Steak 'n' Shake because it was on their way down from Fort Wayne THE REGION OBVSLY GUYZ CUZ THAT'S TOTES WHERE I'M FROM! I found out later that they had actually come down earlier in the day with a plan to blow their tax refund on a new toy.


It is a helicopter. And clearly, Max the Chalupa needs to be afraid. Because it is chalupa-sized.

At any rate, they went to Circle Center Mall to pick this thing up, then backtracked back north for Steak 'n' Shake, only to head back to the Broad Ripple area to pick up their chalupa.

It was a fun trip to the Steak 'n' Shake though. For BBLS, it was the first time he participated in the anagram game.



Apparently, to him,

LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS!

actually means

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!

No one tell him that the letters don't actually match in, in either types or number ....

What you say?

For those that don't get the reference (like Fiance, who shames me sometimes with his lack of knowledge ....), this knowyourmeme site can explain, and the second video down is a fantastic source.

Speaking of Internet memes that people should know yet don't, Brett is as yet unacquainted with the wonder that is Antoine Dodson. Brett, have a couple videos. I promise they're better than "Friday."

Original newscast:

And the fantastic musical version:

You have now been cultured to catch up with the summer of 2010. You're welcome.

Speaking of culture, we were unfortunately sitting near a group of high school kids (I'll take things that are unrelated for 200, Alex ... "What is a need for a smooth transition in a blogpost?"), which caused a bit or a lapse in maturity at our own table when BBLS decided to illustrate his anagram with a "waterslide," which Fiance then decided to ... um ... phallicize?

SPOILER ALERT: If you have kids out and about and near the computer, you may want to put them away at this moment.


Maybe I should be concerned about what Fiance is keeping in his pants. I'm not sure any human appendage is supposed to look like that. And if one does, the owner of said appendage may need to seek medical attention.

Eventually we got our food and ate it (a salad with French dressing, a fish sandwich, cheese fries, and a very berry strawberry milkshake for me; for the record, likely the LAST fish sandwich of the quest, as Friday was Good Friday and thus the last Friday of Lent), and were content.

Well, we were sort of content.


We were sort of faking for this picture, because we were a little less than super-excited about our service. Some things were forgotten, some things took too long, and some refills never came. I'm not really one to complain, which is probably why it's a good thing I've got Fiance around, 'cause when the manager stopped by the table, Fiance let him know the troubles. Though I've got to say, I worry Fiance gets harsh sometimes -- having been a server, I think he has higher standards. However, the manager was very friendly and apologetic, and that made up for it for me. What can I say? I'm easy to please.

And so ended our Stop #16 in this awesome quest of awesomeness.

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.