Life in the Dominican Republic

There is a new message board that deals with the Dominican Republic that has just started. Only 26 members last time I looked but the person who has set it up is very well connected with the internet and the Dominican Republic so I am confident that once it goes public it will rocket.

http://lifeinthedr.com/forum/ . This person came into the restaurant and told me he was also fed up with the Pasty White Boy and his ego so he decided to do it himself. Unlike another board that came to life for the same reasons the people behind this one are serious people who plan on making it a premier message board site. . I was happy to see it come to life and plan on contributing to it when time allows. Check it out and let me know what you think. Log on and post a message! If you have a blog put it on your blog so others know about it.

Hasta Pronto! .

I forgot to post this picture...

This fellow was in last night and had dinner. I said to him after he was done and ready to leave, "Please come back again". His reply was, "You have wireless internet and Miles Davis playing, of course I am coming back". Great response for me for sure. He really made me feel like I was doing something right here. Today we had a nice steady breakfast crowd which included at least half of the people who had dinner here last night which is another piece that give you confidence that you are doing a goodjob. Difference was that this morning everyone was on computers while eating breakfast. Cool.

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I have just been exchanging emails with Carina and Helmut about the Dominicankids website. Last night I spoke with Dawn about me paying 100% of my concentration on the Restaurant and needing to spend some effort on the charity again as I have neglected it. So we are all back on track from our busy lives and going to put some more effort into the good work again.

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If you have anything such as goods and or services that you can donate please log onto http://www.dominicankids.com

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We are currently under construction a Dental Clinic which will offer free dental care to children primarily and to adults time permitting. I will soon have pictures to show and put together some infomation about where the money is going to. So far individuals have picked up all the expenses of the building, renovations and dental equipment but we will have at least one full time dentist and a assistant working full time once construction is finished. Please check us out and if you are traveling here bring something down we can auction off in our weekly auctions. Together we can do great things!

Hasta Pronto!

Ok, now this is starting to become fun!

Today for the first time since opening the restaurant I enjoyed being there. We now have such a good staff building up that it isn't nearly as tiring as it was just a few days ago. I got to meet and greet a whole bunch of customers and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

My buddy Herbert was in along with Camden Tom who just got in from Minnesota. Some fun conversations!

Earlier tonight Lee and Joanne came in to Quixotes for dinner. I didnt get their pictures because I am a dope. From now on I am going to take pictures of customers and friends who come in. Dawn was in the restaurant and we all hung out at their table while they ate and chatted. It is always a pleasure to spend time with these nice people. I hope they come back to the restaurant often so I can see a lot more of them than I have in the last year or so. We spent New Years Eve together at their home and had a great time with them.

Dawn is already talking about writing a sitcom about QuiXote's Restaurante. She says that there is so much material that she absorbs that she can write forever and she also says this will make more money than the restaurant. Some of the stories I can tell are just "TOO GOOD TO MAKE UP".

This is a customer I chatted with tonight pictured below. He is in the Construction Industry and is living and working in Tortola. I don't think I have ever met anyone that lived there!

Hey, say hello to Dr. Bruce and his friend from Florida. I don't see DR. Bruce nearly enough and that was even before I opened the restaurant. It was great to see him and hangout with him for a while. This is my ex wife who stopped by to have dinner with another guy. Doesn't she know I get very jealous when I see her with another man? Ah I love her anyway but she is now out of the will. This is John and his boyfriend in law and the two sisters. Hmmm... I should of cropped out their heads since the gals are so much better looking!

Over all I had a nice time tonight and Dori didn't even bitch too much today:) Yesterday was very quiet and tonight was pretty busy. No big rushes but we were busy all day long and right till closing. Got to go to sleep as I have to be at work in 6 hours:( We are closed Mondays btw so you don't waste your time. Hasta Pronto!

Another day at the salt mines...

Yesterday we moved into new territory. The Hotel emptied out and our captured audience left to return to where they came from. .

I thought that with the hotel at 25% occupancy till Friday that we would have a break which is needed since Dori and I have been working from 7am till as late as 1am every day.

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We started off slow with about half the breakfasts we did the day before but we got real busy in the evening for dinner after doing a decent lunch.

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It wasn't our biggest day but we did more dinners last night than before and had people waiting at the bar for tables. Had a new waiter name of Greg start yesterday evening who did a great job. He had experience at La Roca and other places. He worked real well with the bartender and I only had to wait on about 3-4 tables all night and just mainly was the cashier and host. Certainly easier than being the Waiter, bartender and Cashier like I was for the last 9 days with very little help. We let go of one gal that was working with me in the evenings who just got in my way and slowed me down. She couldn't even get an order right from other Dominicans. UGH that was tough.

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During the day I have Nelson working. He previously worked at the German Restaurant by the Bakery and speaks English very well also. He is doing a great job along with the bartender and is able to carry the whole restaurant also with little help from me.

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People are liking the food and giving great feedback. We are instituting changes starting today with the way we are doing things thanks to our customers feedback. Food will come out better because of it and I thank you for it. If you eat here and there is anything that isn't right that isn't 100% obvious PLEASE say something as it is a tremendous help to us. We cant taste every dish that comes out so we need your help.

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We have decided to close on Mondays so we can keep up. It also helps with the schedualing of personel and for the time being it is what we are going to do although it means a loss of 15% of the sales most likely. I need to complete the construction and I can't do it with people here during the process. We had fixtures installed with people eating and it was horrible.

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Ok folks, just remember this Escottism...

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"Friends don't let Friends go into the Restaurant Business" LOL

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This has been a great learning experience for me and I actually enjoy it but working from 7 am to as late as 1 am every day gets old quickly. Can't keep this

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Hasta Pronto!