Ranking Everything

We have been away from home since the evening of Sunday, December 30 -- and there is a long and wordy blog to prove it (hanajonramblingon.blogspot.com).  We did have one brief two day layover at home a week ago, but other than that we have been moving from apartment to hotel room to motel. Two days here, three days there. Lots of time changes but sleeping has been fine because all the beds are good, everywhere we go.

We rely quite a bit on reviews that others post: where to eat, what to see, the state of the apartment.  Because it is Jon who does the research most of the time, he probably gets a lot of requests to post reviews himself.  He never writes them because that is a form of documentation, and documentation is not at all natural to him.

This is further proof that opposites attract.  If those requests came to me, I would fill out the form instantly, with comments.  I did do a bunch of the Airbnb reviews because reviews are required.

Public feedback is not our strength but we have been privately ranking just about everything.  And when we are on a trip, Jon is religious about recording every financial transaction, in categories. This travel habit dates back to his youth when his family took road trips and Jon absorbed the importance of the record keeping rituals. In any case, he is meticulous about the accounting when we are away from home.

So we rate every meal that we eat out, and we compare it to its own potential, not to other restaurants. We rate it on the experience/venue, the quality of the meal, and the value.  Because we are generally frugal, we are not rating fine dining establishments. We look for local places with good reviews. 

Yesterday we drove from Shreveport to Texarkana so I could get a bus to Little Rock.  Jon left work so he could drive me 75 miles north on the wide open highway.  We didn't have a lunch plan but we figured we would deal with that after we successfully purchased the bus ticket.  Bus ticket in hand, we had 25 minutes to spare. Jon did a quick search and found a popular barbecue place just up the road.

Venue: a renovated gas station.  Tables in the area where the garage bays were. Orders taken in the area where the cashier used to be. Kitchen was outside in a repurposed fire truck. The person who takes your order takes three steps to a door, opens the door and walks to the truck and delivers a piece of paper with the order on it. Rating:  5 (out of 5)

We didn't have time to stay and eat in the dining room, so we took our sandwiches and went back to the bus station (because I wanted to, Jon would have pushed the envelope and eaten in that rustic room).

Food: That was the best barbecue we have eaten in years and years.  Whenever we go through the South, we stop and find what is supposed to be good barbecue. This was outstanding. 5. Great flavor, perfect moisture, not soggy not dry not too spicy but full of interesting tastes.

Value: Who cares.  It was so good that we might need to go back to Naaman's on purpose some day.

Okay, now I want to rate the two Marriotts that I have stayed in this week.  The one in Shreveport was smaller and fancier, in a lousy location.  The one in Little Rock is downtown, attached to the convention center.  Location much better, but no pool!  The one in Shreveport has a lovely pool but it is outdoors and you can only drool over it in January. The Shreveport room had a delicious love seat couch that was perfect for spending the whole day lounging, knitting, reading. It also had multiple work stations and a highly satisfactory office chair.  So I give the Shreveport hotel a 5 and this one a 3.

When we get home, we have no plans to go anywhere for a while.  But when Jon cooks, he always critiques his own dishes, and it will probably take us a few weeks to get out of the habit of rating the food.  But the bed is going to get a 5, no question about it.