I drove my buddy Al to the eye doctor last week. I highly recommend his doctor. The waiting room had comfortable chairs, TV’s, and a few beers on tap. I thought it was a little strange that they named the waiting room Owen’s Café. It’s even located down the street from the actual doctor’s office. Anyway, Al was done quicker than we thought, so happy hour got started quicker than we thought. We stayed at Owen’s for just a few drinks. It’s a nice place. It used to be the Prime Time Pub. It looks nicer now. So, as we were about to leave, I asked Al where we parked the car. He tells me that it is across the street. Now, Al’s eyes are dilated and he’s been drinking and I have osteoarthritis in my toes and I’ve been drinking. Watching us try to cross Cottman Avenue during rush hour, was like watching Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles play "Find the tan colored car in the middle of speeding traffic."

We traveled north to General Grant’s. We were a little early for happy hour, but I wasn’t too upset about that. Who has the finest looking daytime bartender? General Grant’s!!! Julia always kept my pint filled….if you know what I mean. Just as I was reaching for my leftover Mardi Gras beads to throw to Julia, our wives walked in. We wished them a Happy Valentine’s day and ordered some drinks. I told the bartender to order as many half priced appetizers as my bride wants. Nothing is to good for her on Valentine’s Day. Hell, I woulda sprung for bottled beer if she’d asked.

We were all sitting around and having a good time. Everyone was drinking beer except for Vince. Oh yeah, did I mention my daughter and Vince were there. Take a guess what Vince was drinking….. Go ahead, guess……. Alright I’ll tell you. Vince was drinking a "white russian." Not that there is anything wrong with white russians, but the amount of time he spends drinking white russians and watching figure skating is starting to worry me. The next time I drop my car keys in front of him, I will make sure to kick them all the way home.

We had many laughs and many drinks. Al was wearing a shirt with something that resembled and arrowhead on it. It was very distracting to me. I kept poking at it. Al didn’t like that, but I did it anyway. There was nothing else on the shirt except for that symbol. It was like the "crop circles." I thought if I poked at it long enough it would open up a new dimension where beer was free and Christian Brothers Brandy was delivered to your doorstep by the Brandy Man…… Or maybe a world where Happy Hours are from noon until 8PM with half priced appetizers as far as the eye can see……..…..uummm, sorry I kind of got off track there.

Well, we stayed about an hour past the end of happy hour, which means I paid full price for one hour too long. Sean the evening bartender served up our final drinks and we left. My complements to the kitchen staff. The food was so good, I was still tasting it the next day. Seriously though, the appetizers were great, especially the fried perogies.