Roller Coasters, Fire, and Fear! Oh, My!

For those of you who do not know, I have a somewhat irrational fear of fire. This includes everything from being unable to light a match, to stressing over nearby wildfires, to worrying that my apartment is going to randomly catch on fire. But, I learned a very valuable lesson concerning my fear on Saturday night. Even though fire scares the living bejesus out of me, when I'm faced with a real fire, my fear does not disable me. On Saturday night, Kaitlyn and I went out for drinks with a friend from class at a brewery in Hamburg. When we stood up to leave, I noticed an unusual flickering out of the corner of my eye. The woven basket centerpiece filled with dry shrubbery had caught on fire from the nearby candle! I silently freaked out, but composed myself enough to huff and puff the flames right out! :-D

       Nicole : 1
       Irrational Fear : 0

Tonight I went to this really cool restaurant with some fellow meteorology graduate students. The restaurant had no waiters or waitresses. Touch screen computers acted as our menus, and metal roller coasters served as our waiters. To order, I just had to flip through the computerized menu and touch anything I wanted. After inserting a credit card-like piece of plastic, I could painlessly order the food based upon my seat number. The food was then delivered by individual blocks on a roller coaster. Drinks were put in these small, car-like cup holders, and the food was delivered in large metal pots. A lit sparkler stuck out of any pot that was too hot to touch. It was such a random but enjoyable experience! Can you imagine being able to think up the idea for a restaurant where food and drink are delivered on a roller coaster? Some people's imaginations scares me!

One of the tables - you can see the multiple
 touch screens as well as the roller coaster used
to deliver food. 

A closer look at the roller coaster. One of the
drink cars is also visible on the far left.