For lunch today, all

For lunch today, all of us headed out to Hot Doug’s (The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium). This was my first ever time, and after what I had… I can’t wait to go back!

I showed up with Justin and Dave. Notice that there’s a HUGE line stretching around the corner. We got into place, but not before noticing that Tori had arrived before us, and was already inside. Justin spotted her through the window, and a series of frantic pantomimes ensued (all those hours of Charades finally paying off).

After trying to communicate through the window (Tori was writing down things on a paper, and pushing it up to the glass), Justin finally went inside to confer with her. At that time, Alex, Linda, Jenn and Hillary all show up.

I love this picture.

Before you know it, cell phones are out and we devise this rather complicated (yet ingenious) plan. All of us outside pool together and decide on our orders. Then… we call up Tori on her cell phone, and she places the order for the group. This approach is simplicity itself!

Since the place is packed (and we’re a big group), we decide to head over to Hillary’s place nearby. All of us settle in for our grub, and I taste one of the most original hot dogs I’ve ever experienced. I chose the “Game of the Week,” and it turned out to be venison. So my hot dog was a blueberry-enfused Venison Dog.

Totally. Amazing. I can’t wait to go back. I’ve heard great things about the veggie dogs, and now I want to try everything on the menu there.

We all hang out at Hillary’s place and shoot the shit for a while. I’ve seen Hillary briefly here and there, but we all didn’t hang out much until Alex and Linda’s wedding. Today was the first time I saw her place, and really the first time I’ve hung out with her.

I discovered she’s a writer, and has some books published. We were all talking about the research she’s doing for her current book, which has phobias as a central theme. One of her reference books is The Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears, and Anxieties.

This book is awesome – and I totally need to get my own copy. We all took turns reading from it, and I mentioned the Battle Dome thread on WH that involved various phobias (ahh damn – that thing is three years old, and all of those images are all gone it seems).

As an extra chuckle, notice that the author of the book is one Ronald M. Doctor, PhD. Making him Dr. Doctor.