You never know when you'll be hit with a good idea

I've known for several months that I needed to create a new training class due to be taught in a week and a half. I've thought about it and discussed it with a friend who's working on it with me, but it's only been in generalities.

I want the class to not only be informative, but also interesting - so people will perceive it as valuable and tell others about it. I knew I needed to seriously commit some time to the details, but I kept procrastinating.

Last night, my husband and I were at a Mud Hens baseball game, one of our most enjoyable summer pasttimes. I felt myself 'zoning out.' I bet I was 'gone' for an hour. Dick says I was staring off into space and he was a little worried.

My mind was exploding - one idea begat another and my only regret is that I had nothing with me to take notes and didn't want to destroy the creative process while I sought pen and paper. I made notes as soon as we got home and hope I haven't missed anything.

I'm still not quite ready for the class, but I feel a whole lot better about it.

Have you ever gotten inspiration in an unlikely location?

New restaurant so disappointing

I won't mention the name of the place, but last Sunday Dick and I were looking forward to checking out one of Toledo's newest restaurants. This spring, it moved into the space vacated by another restaurant which we didn't like. (We tried the previous one twice: bad service, poor selection and cold food).

It's very close to the Mud Hens stadium. Our first clue was when we walked in less than an hour before the game and it was almost empty. We sat down next to a table of three who were asking each other, "Do you think all of the waitresses left?" That was our second clue. A waitress approached a third table (that came in after us) before we were approached.

After way too long, a waitress approached us and took our beverage order (she approached us first, but we insisted she take the other table's orders first). They had no non-alcoholic beer. Their menu was a poor photocopy and dirty.

Our drinks came in a respectable amount of time, but the waitress attempted to walk away before we insisted she take our order.

We didn't order much because of the time factor. My food wasn't hot. Dick did love their fries. When we left 50 minutes after entering, the table next to us had not yet been served their food.

Is it any wonder so many businesses fail within their first year?