I received word from my publisher that my Java book will be used in the context of the plot of HBO's Sopranos.
If you're familiar with the characters in the show, Svetlana, who will be taking care of Uncle Junior this year, will be using my book to teach herself Java and set up some kind of Web based business.
I'll let you know when I have a firm air date
Friday, November 1, 2002
Thursday, August 1, 2002
Le Bec-Fin No Reply?
It baffles my mind that a 5 Star Restaurant doesn't address a legitimate, written complaint that I sent (and posted here) in my letter of July 2, 2002.
No wonder they lost a star!
No wonder they lost a star!
Wednesday, July 10, 2002
Le Bec-Fin 1 Star Rating
As you may have read, on June 21st, my wife and I went to Le Bec-Fin. We were not pleased.
Here is a letter I just sent to the owner of the 5 Star Restaurant, Georges Perrier.
John Smiley
July 10, 2002
Mr. Georges Perrier
Le Bec-Fin
1523 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Dear Mr. Perrier:
At the recommendation of several of my friends and family members, my wife and I had lunch at Le Bec-Fin on Friday, June 21st at 11:30 in celebration of our wedding anniversary.
Everything I heard about your fine restaurant was true---and my meal of Snapper was wonderful. Unfortunately, my wife's meal was ruined and I am taking the opportunity to write you about it.
Prior to arriving at your restaurant, my wife and I had checked your web site, and I had decided ahead of time to order your fish of the day feature, and my wife had decided to order one of your Veal dishes. The day of our lunch, there was another Veal dish on your menu that did not appear on your web site--Veal Medallions--and that's what she ordered.
To start, we both had delicious tomato bisque. When our meals arrived, I dug heartily into my Snapper. She looked at her veal dish, and I sensed something was wrong. She ate a few pieces and asked me to taste it--I thought it was a delicious cut of veal--I honestly believed it was. She then remembered that the meal was to be accompanied by Asparagus---she didn’t see any, at that point became convinced that she had received the wrong dish. She called over one of the waiters, who apologized profusely and told her she had received Sweetbreads, and immediately set out to get her the correct meal.
I must tell you that as soon as she heard this, she turned a few shades of pale---she kept asking me what Sweetbreads were, and earnestly believed she had either eaten cow brains or intestines (later, when we got home, I learned that Sweetbreads most likely is the thalamus gland of a calf).
While she waited for her correct meal to arrive, I continued eating, not wanting to have my meal turn cold. Hers arrived 10 minutes later. At that point she ate a few bites, and stopped---as I said earlier, basically her meal had been ruined.
I must say that your staff was very apologetic---we received a 'complementary' dessert, which to me seemed strange, since dessert is included in the price of the lunch.
I'm writing to you in the hopes that you can prevent this from happening to someone else in the future. A friend of mine, who speaks French, suggested that the French words for Veal medallions and Sweetbreads are very similar--perhaps the waiter wrote the order in French. I do know that his last name was McNab, so somehow I doubt that's the explanation.
I know that you take pride in your restaurant, and it certainly appeared that your staff does too. Personally, if this had happened on my watch, I would have found another way to make it right besides offering us a complementary dessert.
Very Truly Yours
John Smiley
Here is a letter I just sent to the owner of the 5 Star Restaurant, Georges Perrier.
John Smiley
July 10, 2002
Mr. Georges Perrier
Le Bec-Fin
1523 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Dear Mr. Perrier:
At the recommendation of several of my friends and family members, my wife and I had lunch at Le Bec-Fin on Friday, June 21st at 11:30 in celebration of our wedding anniversary.
Everything I heard about your fine restaurant was true---and my meal of Snapper was wonderful. Unfortunately, my wife's meal was ruined and I am taking the opportunity to write you about it.
Prior to arriving at your restaurant, my wife and I had checked your web site, and I had decided ahead of time to order your fish of the day feature, and my wife had decided to order one of your Veal dishes. The day of our lunch, there was another Veal dish on your menu that did not appear on your web site--Veal Medallions--and that's what she ordered.
To start, we both had delicious tomato bisque. When our meals arrived, I dug heartily into my Snapper. She looked at her veal dish, and I sensed something was wrong. She ate a few pieces and asked me to taste it--I thought it was a delicious cut of veal--I honestly believed it was. She then remembered that the meal was to be accompanied by Asparagus---she didn’t see any, at that point became convinced that she had received the wrong dish. She called over one of the waiters, who apologized profusely and told her she had received Sweetbreads, and immediately set out to get her the correct meal.
I must tell you that as soon as she heard this, she turned a few shades of pale---she kept asking me what Sweetbreads were, and earnestly believed she had either eaten cow brains or intestines (later, when we got home, I learned that Sweetbreads most likely is the thalamus gland of a calf).
While she waited for her correct meal to arrive, I continued eating, not wanting to have my meal turn cold. Hers arrived 10 minutes later. At that point she ate a few bites, and stopped---as I said earlier, basically her meal had been ruined.
I must say that your staff was very apologetic---we received a 'complementary' dessert, which to me seemed strange, since dessert is included in the price of the lunch.
I'm writing to you in the hopes that you can prevent this from happening to someone else in the future. A friend of mine, who speaks French, suggested that the French words for Veal medallions and Sweetbreads are very similar--perhaps the waiter wrote the order in French. I do know that his last name was McNab, so somehow I doubt that's the explanation.
I know that you take pride in your restaurant, and it certainly appeared that your staff does too. Personally, if this had happened on my watch, I would have found another way to make it right besides offering us a complementary dessert.
Very Truly Yours
John Smiley
Friday, June 21, 2002
Le Bec-Fin 1 Star Restaurant
My wife and I visited Le Bec-Fin today for their Fixed Price lunch.
For those of you who don't know, it's Philadelphia's only 5 Star Restaurant.
How can we get a bad meal at a 5 Star Restaurant?
Worse yet, how can we get a bad meal and not have our lunch comp'd?
For those of you who don't know, it's Philadelphia's only 5 Star Restaurant.
How can we get a bad meal at a 5 Star Restaurant?
Worse yet, how can we get a bad meal and not have our lunch comp'd?
Monday, April 1, 2002
My Java book to appear on the Sopranos!
I received word from my publisher that my Java book will be used in the context of the plot of HBO's Sopranos.
If you're familiar with the characters in the show, Svetlana, who will be taking care of Uncle Junior this year, will be using my book to teach herself Java and set up some kind of Web based business.
I'll let you know when I have a firm air date.
If you're familiar with the characters in the show, Svetlana, who will be taking care of Uncle Junior this year, will be using my book to teach herself Java and set up some kind of Web based business.
I'll let you know when I have a firm air date.
Friday, February 1, 2002
Food for the Poor Project
My son Kevin, as part of a church project, has asked me to direct you to a website that he's created in his efforts to feed the hungry.
http://www.johnsmiley.com/foodforthepoor.htm
If you are so inclined, feel free to visit and check it out.
Many thanks for Mark Weiss for his generous donation last month!
http://www.johnsmiley.com/foodforthepoor.htm
If you are so inclined, feel free to visit and check it out.
Many thanks for Mark Weiss for his generous donation last month!
Tuesday, January 1, 2002
Visual Basic Student Projects
Just a reminder that you can view my students' VB projects on my Web site:
You can check out Fran's Flowers project at
http://www.johnsmiley.com/flowers.htm
and Sneaker Projects at
http://www.johnsmiley.com/sneakers.htmA
s always, my thanks to the students for graciously sharing these projects with everyone.
They're beautiful works of art--I hope you enjoy them.
You can check out Fran's Flowers project at
http://www.johnsmiley.com/flowers.htm
and Sneaker Projects at
http://www.johnsmiley.com/sneakers.htmA
s always, my thanks to the students for graciously sharing these projects with everyone.
They're beautiful works of art--I hope you enjoy them.
Need help with Visual Basic? Check out my VB Experts Page
Need help with Visual Basic?
Check out my VB Experts page.
Some of you have heard about this, but to many of you it's a new idea.
I get tons of email questions (100+ a day) about VB. I also gets lots of emails from people asking me how they can become better VB programmers.
Most times I ask the people asking the questions to post them to my Yahoo helpwithvb group.
Recently I decided we could kill two birds with one stone by creating a web page with identified experts in certain areas of VB, that people could access to either read an article on click on an email link to an expert.
That's where you come in.
You may be thinking "I'm hardly an expert, how can I help?"
The answer is I want to narrow the expert focus so that everyone---even a beginner new to Visual Basic---can chip in and help out.
For instance, you may not be a VB expert, but could you be my identified expert for the Listbox Control?
If not the Listbox Control, how about the Text property of the Listbox control?
If you check VB Help, you'll see that there are only 3 paragraphs or so written about the Text property--could you be the expert just on that portion of VB?
Here's the link to my new VB Experts page
http://www.johnsmiley.com/vbexperts.htm
You'll notice that the page is entirely blank--for now anyway.
That means there's a spot for you to help out and be the recognized expert. The benefits can be tremendous---not only will you be a recognized expert at something, you'll gain confidence and experience (and learn something) in the process.
Teaching and helping others is a great way to get really good at something--are you willing to try?
How will this work?
Based on the feedback you give me, I'll create a topic tree, along with your name and a link to your email address. Someone who needs help will be directed to the Experts page, and if they see a topic with an expert, they'll click on it to send you an email. The help you provide them will then be up to you.
You can choose to give them help for free or name a price for your services (Keen.com is a great way to do this)If you are willing to try, please send an email to
becomeanexpert@johnsmiley.com
Include your name, your email address, and the topic for which you wish to be the identified expert.
If you have a support web site, include that also.As time goes on, you can grow your expertise in any way you desire---you'll be able to write articles about your expertise, or get paid for it if you desire by setting up a paid link to Keen.com.
You may even be able to host your own minicamp!
Check out my VB Experts page.
Some of you have heard about this, but to many of you it's a new idea.
I get tons of email questions (100+ a day) about VB. I also gets lots of emails from people asking me how they can become better VB programmers.
Most times I ask the people asking the questions to post them to my Yahoo helpwithvb group.
Recently I decided we could kill two birds with one stone by creating a web page with identified experts in certain areas of VB, that people could access to either read an article on click on an email link to an expert.
That's where you come in.
You may be thinking "I'm hardly an expert, how can I help?"
The answer is I want to narrow the expert focus so that everyone---even a beginner new to Visual Basic---can chip in and help out.
For instance, you may not be a VB expert, but could you be my identified expert for the Listbox Control?
If not the Listbox Control, how about the Text property of the Listbox control?
If you check VB Help, you'll see that there are only 3 paragraphs or so written about the Text property--could you be the expert just on that portion of VB?
Here's the link to my new VB Experts page
http://www.johnsmiley.com/vbexperts.htm
You'll notice that the page is entirely blank--for now anyway.
That means there's a spot for you to help out and be the recognized expert. The benefits can be tremendous---not only will you be a recognized expert at something, you'll gain confidence and experience (and learn something) in the process.
Teaching and helping others is a great way to get really good at something--are you willing to try?
How will this work?
Based on the feedback you give me, I'll create a topic tree, along with your name and a link to your email address. Someone who needs help will be directed to the Experts page, and if they see a topic with an expert, they'll click on it to send you an email. The help you provide them will then be up to you.
You can choose to give them help for free or name a price for your services (Keen.com is a great way to do this)If you are willing to try, please send an email to
becomeanexpert@johnsmiley.com
Include your name, your email address, and the topic for which you wish to be the identified expert.
If you have a support web site, include that also.As time goes on, you can grow your expertise in any way you desire---you'll be able to write articles about your expertise, or get paid for it if you desire by setting up a paid link to Keen.com.
You may even be able to host your own minicamp!
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