I stopped at Carl’s Jr. on Lonetree Blvd. in Rocklin on October 9, 2009. I have no idea what I ate; if they had those Chicken Parmesean sandwiches, I had one of those…but I’m not sure. On a side note, their Big Carl with an extra bun is a great way to enjoy that sandwich.  There’s even a Facebook Fan Page and Group Page for that fantastic “modified” Big Carl!

This is a quickie…I’ll get right onto the bathroom. First, I thought the “hammered steel” look was great on the stalls. I don’t know whether it really was hammered metal or just a “skin”-type dealio. Either way, it was pretty damn cool. Other than that, the bathroom was pretty standard…paper towels (yay!), a handwashing reminder (complete with Carl’s Jr. star), and a door that pushed open from inside the bathroom.

People forget, but that last one is pretty freakin’ important. Let’s face it…some people just don’t wash their hands. Sure that’s gross—and can spread disease—but ya know, people are gonna do whatever they’re gonna do. The least stores can do is make that door open out from the inside, so if you don’t wanna touch it you don’t have to (and you don’t have to waste paper towels). I won’t recommend a Chuck Norris kick to open it, but a gentle push with your toes oughta do the trick. 4 rolls for the stalls, overall cleanliness, paper towels in a fast food joint, and that door!

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Home of gourmet burgers (Zagat rated them #1) and Endless Fries™, Red Robin is sort of 50′s-ish diner in execution…and sort of not (I’m pretty sure 50′s diners never had in-floor TV’s or flat screens in every corner). They have fantastic drinks, too…all-in-all a recommended restaurant. I even got to watch my Panthers take the lead over the Cowboys while I was there Monday (9/28/09)—we won’t discuss the second half…(40 years of Monday Night Football!!! crazy!!!)

The bathroom is a pretty happy place at Red Robin (like the rest of the restaurant)—lots of bright vibrant colors and a friendly reminder as you walk in to wash your hands after using the restroom (check it out in the entrance picture). Oddly enough there’s only one urinal in here, too (and emergency lights…still laughin’)—maybe it’s a new-restaurant-in-Lincoln thing (both Red Robin and Mimi’s were built here within the last couple of years). Three-and-a-half rolls for the clean well-lit brightly colored bathroom.

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I dropped by Mimi’s for breakfast yesterday (9/28/09)—they have good food and a wide array of breakfast (and lunch and dinner, but I was there for breakfast) options. I’m especially fond of the Pain Purdue—cream cheese and orange marmelade stuffed between two layers of French toast. I wouldn’t recommend this as a daily meal but on the rare occasion that I have it, I’m sure it shortens my lifespan. Oh well, it tastes good. I’m not sure why they serve muffins with the pp but they do, so that muffin became this morning’s breakfast (when a single muffin has more calories, fat, etc. than French toast stuffed with cream cheese…well, it’s best not to do that more than once in a great while). Not realizing it, I got Mimi’s Meaningful Muffin, for which they donated $1 to Share Our Strength®, an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger. All I was thinking was “Pineapple Coconut Crumb sounds pretty good…” (it was, by the way). If you’re interested, you have two more days (the muffins are served til 9/30/09) to grab one. I suggest you do—help out a great cause and get a tasty muffin.

Overall, the bathroom is clean and well-designed. I’m not sure why there’s only one urinal, that seems odd where the minimum is usually two. It’s not a big deal or a dealbreaker, just odd. I love the tile floor you can see in picture three, and I had to laugh when I looked at the emergency lights (shown in picture four). The thought of getting stuck in a bathroom when an emergency occurs and having it lit up like a football stadium makes me laugh. Yeah, I probably do need help. Three-and-a-half rolls.

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So there are no pictures here, because there were too many people and the last thing I need is to get dragged out of an arena for “disruption” or “being weird.” I was there for the Seahawks/49′ers game on 9/20/09 (game-wise, I’m not sure the Seahawks even showed up, but maybe the 49′ers are gonna have *shudder* a good year). For what it’s worth I’m a Carolina fan, so my team isn’t starting off to a good year, either. Frank Gore tore through Seattle for over 200 yards—it wasn’t pretty. A fight broke out when some random 49′er fan hit a Seahawk fan’s girlfriend, and then a bunch of 49′er fans broke it up (most of the fans were pretty cool til after the game, then they sounded like 49′er Nation…frankly my experience wearing a Broncos jersey to last year’s Broncos/Raiders game was better from a fan standpoint…although there were more fights in Oakland).

This bathroom sucked. At least it was clean with running water, but I hate troughs. They’re stupid, they don’t really save space (let’s face it, most guys aren’t willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder while using the restroom), and they’re really pretty disgusting. Add to that the fact that there are tons of bathrooms at 3Com (just about between every other section), and both the HP Pavilion and Raley Field have urinals. I’m sure it’s a sign of the age of 3Com, but especially in this economy, it seems more fiscally responsible to renovate the bathrooms than it would be to build an entirely new stadium. Starting with the bathrooms would be a great plan, and then renovating as you go along should still be cheaper than building a new stadium from the ground up. We can’t all be Jerry Jones. Two-and-a-half rolls because the bathroom was clean and had running water, but again…I can’t stand troughs. I’ll do my best to get pics next time.

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