My trip to Jack-in-the-Box.

Background #1: In my childhood, we NEVER went to Jack-in-the-Box. I think it's because they had some e-coli or salmonella scare or something so my parents just decided that we would never eat there again. When we got to Houston, Dan convinced me to give it a try and I actually liked it. Their chocolate milkshake is off the charts.

Background #2: In our apartment's mailroom, there's a big bin where people can throw any junk mail they don't want. About a month ago, we got a Jack-in-the-Box ad that had a coupon for a FREE smoothie. No catch. Just a free smoothie. So instead of being satisfied with my one coupon, I dug through that junk bin and got 10 more coupons. ROCK ON! People had just thrown them away without reading them. So we've used a few, but they don't expire until January. It's awesome.

Back to the story: So the week after the hurricane, a lot of stores were closed and we didn't have power so I was craving a nice cool beverage. Around 7 in the evening, Dan offered to watch Sam while I went to JITB and got a shake for me and a free smoothie for him. So I went there and there was a sign on the door that said the dining room is closed for the time being and the drive-thru is only open from 10-6. Bumma. No shake for me.

So the next day, I decided to go on a nice long walk with Sam to JITB to get a free smoothie. It's quite a walk - probably .75 miles and that's pushing Sam and dodging all the debris on the sidewalk from Ike. So I huff and puff and finally get there. There were two ladies who drove up at the same time so instead of me just going straight for the drive-thru with my stroller, I pretended to look at the sign on the building first so they knew that the dining room was closed and that I HAD to go through the drive-thru. So I get in line for the drive-thru with a stroller. I'm already looking so cool. Two cars in front of me, three cars behind me. Breathing in toxic fumes. A woman with a stroller.

So finally it's my turn to talk to the dude through the speaker thing but nothing happened b/c the sensor didn't detect me. I think the others were getting impatient. So the ladies, who had gotten back in their car to also go through the drive-thru, drove up a little bit so that the guy knew someone was there. So then I ran up to the speaker, just feet away from these ladies, and told him I just wanted my free smoothie. He says, "Sorry. The smoothie machine isn't working." Man, I looked like a doofus. To make things worse, I had pulled out the coupon and at the same time, dropped the only money I had - a measley quarter - and couldn't find it. So I didn't get a smoothie and I'm out a quarter.

Then I walked home.