A day so packed that it needs lj-cuts

Lunch at Yuki

1. Bear Stearns

This happened yesterday actually, not today. But I just didn't have time to write about it yesterday. I got a call from a representative of Bear Stearns offering a complimentary evaluation of my investment portfolio. He was really adamant about it being a free evaluation, but I could see from a mile away that it was but a prelude to hard-selling investment management services. So of course I refused and ended the call.

Besides, would I want to take investment advice from a brokerage under SEC investigation for a mutual fund trading scandal?

2. Yuki

Since I had to be in town anyway, I had lunch at Yuki, a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar suggested by jess_k. I had the the House Combination Box, one of the lunch specials. For the combination, I picked two kinds of sushi and the chicken teriyaki. I've been to a few of the sushi bar places in the area and I think Yuki is at least as good as Gen Sushi and Gourmet House, (Okay, Gourmet House isn't a very high hurdle. It's a Chinese/Japanese fusion restaurant that's only about average at both cuisines.) although I'm not particularly well-versed with the cuisine so it's all good to me.

The only slightly disconcerting part was when the waitress told me that they were making bets on which country I came from, i.e. whether I was from Korea, Japan, China, etc. (It's funny that people usually guess Korea first.) Goodness, is there nothing better on which to speculate?

3. Free Ice Cream

Thanks to d4b for pointing out that Yahoo! was giving out coupons for Baskin-Robbins ice cream to celebrate the anniversary of its founding. I got my free scoop at the Park Ridge store, and I chose the Pralines and Cream flavor.

4. Yet Another Unusual Automotive Problem

I was done with lunch and had to leave. When I turned the key in the ignition, the engine started, went up to 2,500 rpm, and stayed there for a few minutes. The "Service Engine Soon" indicator was on too. Once I started driving, the idle rev went back to normal.

In the evening, the problem happened once again, but it didn't stay at 2,500 rpm for quite as long.

So I decided to have someone take a look at it. According to the service tech, the only diagnostic code from the car's computer was that the speedometer was broken. Since I hadn't noticed anything wrong with the speedometer, that couldn't have been the problem. He also drove the car around the block but didn't see a higher-than-normal idle. I guess it may be something that, for now, happens only when the engine is cold. So I'll have to bring the car back when it gets a high idle all the time.