The Habit Burger Grill: A Tragic Tale

Hidden discretely in a small strip mall in the heart of Elk Grove's Laguna area lies The Habit Burger Grill. And frankly, it should remain hidden for a long, long time.

If you're looking for a menu void of variety, outrageous prices and mediocre food, then The Habit is the perfect place for you to waste your money.

Upon entering The Habit, one might think that it's the poor-man's In-n-Out Burger, but The Habit doesn't even deserve to be compared to that establishment. It's a seat-yourself-while-waiting-for-your-number kind of restaurant decked out in every kind of brown you can imagine.

Brown counters, brown tables, brown seats and brown tile. Yeah, this place screams fun and excitement.

The Habit has both patio and booth seating with majority of said seats being against windows. While window seats are just dandy, looking at a barren parking lot and the occasional bird picking at fries left on the ground is not necessarily scenic.

The menu brings two kinds of emotions: disappointment and shock.

Disappointment comes from the ability to order only three kinds of food: burgers (called "Charburgers", and if that's not pretentious I don't know what is), sandwiches and salads. And the choices from what's available is even more restricting with each having each food item having about four or five variations. These include your run-of-the-mill cheeseburgers and chicken club sandwiches. Yawn. It's underwhelming to say the least.

Shock comes from jaw-dropping prices listed on the menu above the cashier. A burger from The Habit costs an average of $7 or $8. And don't think by taking the healthy route will save you either; a salad and a small drink comes up to a total of nearly $10. It just doesn't seem very fair since the extent of making it is throwing lettuce, chicken and dressing on a plate. Needless to say, one has to feel a bit cheated and has to wonder where all of this money is going.

While ordering the salad the friendly cashier asked if I wanted to have teriyaki drizzled on my caesar salad. Uh, teriyaki and ceasar dressing? Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but looking back, nothing could have saved this salad.

The time it took to actually get the salad seemed a bit outrageous, as it seemed everyone else got their order much faster. You would think that the salad was easiest thing to make!

Mmm... tastes like failure.
After sitting down with soda in hand and taking the first bite of this salad, the taste of dirty socks and old lettuce filled my mouth causing a cringe or two. I wondered what I had done to deserve such a revolting taste in my mouth, but then I remembered it wasn't me, the salad was just downright disgusting. And to top it off, the chicken tasted as if it were made out of rubber. Tasty.

Ten dollars apparently gets you a life-affirming experience, questionable breath and a small drink these days.

Even though The Habit does have a clean atmosphere and friendly staff, it doesn't make up for the lack of quality of their food. Funny, since their slogan is "There's no substitute for quality!"

Yes, there is, and that substitute is eating somewhere else.

Muse's "The Resistance": A Review

Let's just get it out there: sci-fi rock operas are all kinds of awesome.

With that said, coming with something straight out of the pages of Orwell's 1984, the British sensation Muse releases The Resistance. Muse, whose popularity has grown rapidly in the states with being featured on the soundtrack for the movie Twilight, brings more of their science fiction-tinged rock. But this time around, the band adds even more layers to their sound; from straight up Queen-esque rock anthems to the classical stylings from Chopin, there's a lot to take in, which says a lot coming from Muse.

Despite the complexity of the album, the Teignmouth trio manage to pull off the genre bending. Who would have ever thought Freddie Mercury and Chopin would ever come together, let alone sound so good?

The album opens with the pulsing, clap-your-hands worthy anthem "Uprising". This track tends to set the mood for the rest of the album, and that mood is sticking it to the man! Guitarist and vocalist Matt Bellamy (and, let's face it, pretty much the sole writer and composer of the album) sets the bleak scenario filled with governmental totalitarianism and mind control. And you know what, he's just not going to take it anymore!

But let's be honest, it does speak to many as we all have a little rebel that wants to act out inside of us, right?

The next track, "The Resistance", follows closely in suit, painting a world filled with "thought police" and the need to go into constant hiding. Weirdly enough, the song at times tends to have a happy melody to it.

Yay! Despair!

Albeit the doom and gloom, the track is extremely catchy, and you'll probably find yourself singing along.

The track "Undisclosed Desires" is one of the redheaded step-children of the album. Upon hearing it for the first time, the listener may ask why Timbaland or Lady GaGa showed up randomly on their Muse CD. The rythm-heavy song seems to be way out of left field, and would actually be better suited as a b-side.

The epic gets cranked up a notch with the track "United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage)", which can be considered as Muse's magnum opus of The Resistance. The track is just so energetic that you'll probably pull a Wayne's World and thrash around the car. No joke. This track is definitely a strong point in the album having a good balance of energy and subtly.

Another track that tends to stick out like a sore thumb is "I Belong To You (+Mon Cœur S'ouvre À Ta Voix)". Try saying that three times fast. Anyway, the track has its high points, but the lyrics and odd bass line makes it a track to pass on. The cringe-fest only gets worse when Bellamy attempts to speak French. And by "attempts", I mean he totally butchers it. And it has a clarinet solo. Yes, a clarinet solo.

The album finishes with a trifecta of "symphonies", each having their own distinctive feel to them. These tracks sound like they could come straight out of a movie or Italian opera, which is pretty much what Muse was going for. The tracks are heavy on instrumentation and bring the album around full circle, which makes the journey quite enjoyable. If you want to find out the ending to Muse's space opera, you'll have to listen for yourself.

The Resistance may be foreign to many expecting to see more of the same from Muse and might be written off at first listen, but when given the chance, the album is definitely a grower. The concept of the album is interesting itself, and provides a fun musical ride for the listener. All in all, despite some bumps in the road, Muse succeeds in making an operatic and epic album.

The Resistance is in stores now.

http://muse.mu
http://www.myspace.com/muse

California University of... Phoenix? Say What!?

So here we are once again with the California State University system trying to find some kind of solution to their ever-growing fiscal woes. Rising fees, furloughs, dropping enrollment rates, oh my!

But according to this article, William Tierney, a professor of higher education at the University of Southern California, seems to think he has the answer: sell the CSU system's assets worth $2.3 billion and all 23 campuses to the University of Phoenix, a for-profit university.

This drastic decision is proposed to save the CSU system from utter chaos in the future and to protect their mission of "giving students greater access to quality higher education at an affordable price, keeping them in school and sending them into the labor market with bachelor's degrees."

Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of the University of Phoenix the image of the full-time dead-end job employee with an education as worthless as the piece of paper it's written on comes to mind. You cannot be serious when your target audience watches your commercials during Maury and Judge Judy. Reach for the stars there, guys!

The University of Phoenix's main student body consists of part-time working adults who want to get a better education to achieve better job opportunities. The CSU's, on the other hand, consist of quite the opposite consisting of full-time students ages 18-25. One has to wonder if the University of Phoenix put their hand in the pot, this attitude may change. Will the "college life" mentality be lost? Is the CSU system going to become nothing more than a night school? Would the integrity of the CSU's be lost? This is only just the tip of the iceberg.

Students of these for-profit schools rely heavily on financial aid in order to continue their education. This money usually comes from the federal government or the institution themselves. Where is this money going to come from to support these students? How does that get the CSU's out of the hole?

Another note to make is putting instructors through some kind of instructional Darwinism to "weed out weak teachers and to ensure that those who graduate are prepared to teach." Now, how is pitting professors against each other beneficial to anyone? Explain how that would bring any kind of relief in any shape or form? It doesn't, that's the answer. Professors shouldn't have to prove their worth; they got the job for a reason! Teaching styles tend to be objective anyway; one instructor may be more beneficial to one student than to another. I mean, that's what ratemyprofessor.com is for anyway now, right?

According to Tierney's article, if the University of Phoenix acquires the CSU system, it will be more apt to produce graduates ready for the work force in hopes to combat a 12.2 percent unemployment rate. But who's to say that the CSU system doesn't already do that? Employers are more likely to take someone who's been through the CSU system with a bachelor's degree more seriously for a position than someone who took an 18-month course online.

Jobs may be scarce now, but in time this recession will have a turn-around. If anything, with the bad economy, CSU's should promote their graduate programs to continue students' higher education.

Has anyone gotten a graduate degree from University of Phoenix? Doubt it. Would anyone want to anyway? Doubt it.

So if the University of Phoenix does end up buying out California's higher educational system, just be prepared to see a commercial for CSUS during afternoon television. Hopefully it doesn't interrupt you from watching Maury.

Proposition 8: When Karma Attacks

Gay marriage.

These two simple words can polarize a group of people right at its utterance. This touchy subject has become even more of a hot-button issue after last year's ballot initiative. After Proposition 8's conclusion and decision, many same-sex supporters still have a sour taste in their mouths. But who could blame them? The right to marry that was once available and in the blink of an eye was snatched away.

Now after the screaming, the crying and what seems to be endless amounts of appeals, those who supported the ban are now being ordered to reveal themselves and the true nature of the "Yes on 8" campaign.

According to an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, a federal judge has ordered those who sponsored the "Yes on 8" campaign to hand over campaign strategy documents in order to see if the campaign itself was "motivated by prejudice against gays".

Well, duh.

And of course, the "Yes on 8"-ers are waving their hands in the air demanding we've got it all wrong. It's not that their campaign was solely based on bigotry and bias. Oh no. They just want to keep the sanctity of marriage. As a result, they are insisting these documents be kept confidential because it "allows the losing side of a campaign to pry into the most intimate strategy discussions."

Is there such thing as a sore winner?

And by admitting fault, the gays win. And we just can't have that, can we?

Not only have the "Yes on 8" campaigners been shady about their dealings and campaign plans, but also about the people themselves who've supported them financially last year. In January, a federal judge ordered the "Yes on 8" campaign to release the identities of those who had submitted donations. Even though these records usually become public after the actual voting decision is finalized.

The "Yes on 8" campaign raked in over $30 million toward their campaign and refused to disclose the over 1,500 names of supporters. According to an article by MSNBC, the secrecy was necessary because it would "put the donors at risk of personal harassment or boycotts to their businesses". The judge later denied their appeal and the records are now open for public view.

How does that saying go again? If you lay down with the dogs, you get up with the fleas.

It's nice to see that many are becoming weary of their constant doublespeak. You cannot base your whole campaign on prejudice and expect to come out unscathed. It's apparently not about the children or about marriage anymore, it's about saving as much face as you can.

If someone can be openly gay and proud of it, then a Proposition 8 supporter should have to do the same and not hide behind a piece of paper or a lawyer. It takes courage to be yourself and be apart from the status quo, and it looks like those who support the ban are still coming to terms with that.

How does that saying go again? If you're going to dish it out, you better be able to take it.

It's their turn to have the sour taste in their mouth.

Oh, and if you're feeling a little vindictive, you can view the list of donors here.