Harrisburg-area "Kids Eat Free/Cheap" schedule

[Since my first post of this blog item, I've been contacted by folks associated with a really cool site, Kids Eat For (http://kidseatfor.com/), which tracks similar information, uses a voting system to keep data fresh, and even offers related iPhone and Android apps! When last I checked, the site was lacking many of the deals listed here, but thanks to the way it is set up, that's a problem you or I can solve. Click here to search that site for Harrisburg-area stuff.]

[Last Updated 08/31/2009]

I like to save money. The businesses near my home like to make money. Some of those businesses are smart enough to realize that if they give a little, I give a little, and we all wind up happy. I'm hear to talk about businesses near Harrisburg, NC that offer "Kids Eat Free" or discounted kids meals on certain nights. If you own a restaurant and offer these types of programs, my family (and others, too) will patronize your business, and will do so in preference to others that don't woo us through our children's bellies.

But since I've failed to find a reliable source of organized information about such offering in my area, I've decided to try to collect as much right here on this blog post. So, what follows is what I've found. You should assume that the definition of "kids" used here is "humans 12 years of age or younger".

Sunday

Dickey's Barbecue Pit (6189 Bayfield Pkwy, Concord, 704-262-3337) — kids eat free

Firehouse Subs (8111 Concord Mills Blvd. Ste 670, Concord, 704-979-9900) — kids eat free after 4pm with adult combo

Firehouse Subs (7712 Sossaman Lane Suite 100, Concord, 704-979-3737) — kids eat free after 4pm with adult combo

IHOP (230 E Wt Harris Blvd, Charlotte, 704-717-9600) — kids eat free 4-10pm

Zapata's Mexican Cantina (8927 J M Keynes Dr., Charlotte, 704-503-1979) — kids eat free with paying adult

Monday

IHOP (230 E Wt Harris Blvd, Charlotte, 704-717-9600) — kids eat free 4-10pm

Supper (4435 Hwy 49 Suite 100, Harrisburg, 704-454-7120) — kids eat free after 4:30pm

Tuesday

Denny's (8031 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord, 704-979-7474) — kids eat free 4-11pm

IHOP (230 E Wt Harris Blvd, Charlotte, 704-717-9600) — kids eat free 4-10pm

McAlister's Deli (8599 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord, 704-979-0600) — kids eat free

Texas Roadhouse (7801 Gateway Lane, Concord, 704-979-3090) — kids eat free 4-8pm

Wednesday

Firehouse Subs (8111 Concord Mills Blvd. Ste 670, Concord, 704-979-9900) — kids eat free after 4pm with adult combo

Firehouse Subs (7712 Sossaman Lane Suite 100, Concord, 704-979-3737) — kids eat free after 4pm with adult combo

Foster's Grille (8520 Pit Stop Rd. Suite 10, Concord, 704-979-3663) — kids eat free

IHOP (230 E Wt Harris Blvd, Charlotte, 704-717-9600) — kids eat free 4-10pm

Shane's Rib Shack (199 Ken Hoffman Dr., Charlotte, 704-503-3113) — kids eat free

Thursday

IHOP (230 E Wt Harris Blvd, Charlotte, 704-717-9600) — kids eat free 4-10pm

Friday

IHOP (230 E Wt Harris Blvd, Charlotte, 704-717-9600) — kids eat free 4-10pm

Saturday

Denny's (8031 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord, 704-979-7474) — kids eat free 4-11pm

IHOP (230 E Wt Harris Blvd, Charlotte, 704-717-9600) — kids eat free 4-10pm

Texas Land & Cattle (7779 Lyles Lane, Concord, 704-510-0021) — kids eat free 11am-4pm

Do you have something to add to this list? A correction to offer? Leave a comment, and let me know about it. Cost-conscious Harrisburgian parents, unite!

Are you a business owner in the Harrisburg, NC area who is not on this list? Perhaps it's time to get with the program.

Here are some other sites with similar collections of information, though perhaps not focused specifically on the Harrisburg area:

• http://mykidseatfree.com
• http://www.frugalliving.tv/free-stuff/kids-eat-free.html
• http://charlotte.about.com/od/diningnightlife/a/kids_eat_free.htm

DISCLAIMER: I assume no responsibility for this information being incomplete, misleading, or downright wrong. While I'll try to keep it fresh and accurate, the onus is on you, the Reader, to verify this information before packing up your Suburban-full of hungry little monsters and heading off to terrorize one of these fine local establishments with an eye on saving a few bucks. Ya dig?

NOTE: Some of the information in updated versions of this post has come via the comments associated with the post. So if you read a comment that appears to suggest something already present in my post, chances are pretty good that the comment was there before I made the change/addition. Not that you should care anyway — we're here to discuss free food, not reading comprehension.

The Internet is weird

WARNING: Some of the content linked from this post contains, shall we say, unnecessarily strong language.

Through a series of links traversed today, I was reminded of a cheesy rendition of a song I did some time ago (and posted on this blog). But it wasn't my song rendition that prompted me to write a blog post today. It was watching somebody I've never met lip-syncing to it that did the trick.

Man, the Internet is weird.

SubConf 2009 is in my future

I'm in the process of booking travel and lodging for my October trip to Munich. Yep, it's almost time for the annual SubConf Subversion conference, again. This year, I get to do something new: the keynote! In addition to that, I and some other Subversion developers will be hosting another Subversion roundtable discussion. We did this at last year's conference, and — at least according to the conference organizers — it was a wildly successful opportunity for Subversion's users to talk directly with the folks that write the software they use. If you are a Subversion user or developer who'll be in or around Munich on October 26th, I hope you'll consider joining us for this roundtable discussion. And of course, if you can attend the full conference (October 27-29), I'm sure you'll find it immensely beneficial to you and your organization's understanding, appreciation, and use of Subversion.

Speaking of that keynote presentation, I'd like to offer you the opportunity to help me out with it. (Did you like how I made that sound like it was actually you that would benefit from this?) Check out my post on the Submerged blog about this topic: http://blogs.open.collab.net/svn/2009/08/how-has-subversion-changed-your-world.html

Encouraging openness at Intuit

Yesterday, Intuit (the company that brings you such well-known software products as Quicken, TurboTax, and QuickBooks) announced the launch of code.intuit.com, their new open source community for "developers interested in creating connected online applications for small businesses". While the company isn't opening up any of its own software right now, the goal of the new community is to rally folks around its Intuit Partner Platform. I can't boast any experience with this platform, but from what I've read and seen about its various key components, it looks pretty slick!

You might be wondering why — given my lack of personal experience with these products and platforms — I'm writing about this at all. What's the connection between code.intuit.com and me? Two words: "open source". The Intuit folks were discerning enough to recognize that while they wanted to create and nurture a true, viable open source community, this was a new venture for them. So they've assembled an advisory board consisting of open source veterans to help guide them as they develop their new community. I am a grateful recipient of the invitation to participate (along with Jay Sullivan of Mozilla, Michael Coté of Redmonk, and Jason van Zyl of Apache Maven) on that initial advisory board.

I'm really looking forward to being a part of this, not so much for what I can bring to the table but for what I can learn from the others in the process. It will be interesting for me to see how the experiences I've had with the Subversion and other open source software projects — and even with my employer's own community site — will apply here. One thing's for sure: I definitely need to re-read Karl Fogel's Producing Open Source Software book!

For more information, read the full Intuit public announcement at http://ippblog.intuit.com/blog/2009/07/announcing-codeintuitcom-ipp-open-source-community.html.

If your first flush won't succeed...

Upon dealing (again) with the temperamental handle on the men's restroom toilet at the Rocky River Coffee Co., I was reminded of another such beast that I was privileged to visit daily when I was working with CollabNet's Subversion development team in a small office in Chicago's centenarian Old Colony Building. The building doesn't offer bathrooms on every floor — we had to travel a couple of floors (from our 10th floor office space) to use it. It's diva-esque disposition was such that only precise manipulation would convince it to function properly. My co-workers and I, having reverse-engineered the requisite love this bowl thrived on, one day decided to share our results with other building tenants by way of a posted, poetic sign above the tank:

If your first flush won't succeed, A second flush this bowl may need. (The most effective second flush Comes while the first is in mid-gush.)

We were thankful, of course, that the thing could be forced to work at all. There was a more convenient urinal which lived in a tiny closet halfway up the stairs between the 9th and 10th floors — a men's toilet with no women-targeted counterpart (reflecting the realities of the workforce balance 100 years ago) — which at some point simply stopped flushing altogether.

I'm not sure which particular quirk of my psyche compelled me to share this story. But there ya go. (Karl, Ben, Fitz: I miss you guys.)

Review: Forty Six, Kannapolis, NC

Next door to the historic Gem Theatre in Kannapolis, NC is a restaurant that I've been dying to try out. There, on West 1st Street, nestled between the old-school Cannon Village retail strip and the quite new North Carolina Research Campus, lies Forty Six (www.restaurantfortysix.com), an upscale establishment focused on promoting a "culture of healthy food". Thanks to Amy's parents offering their childsitting services tonight, we were finally able to try this place out. For you impatient readers who interpret "healthy food" to mean "nasty food" — as might our four-year-old son — let me simply summarize our experience by saying that your interpretation would be completely wrong.

Forty Six presents a visual theme consistent with the research angle of the NCRC. As the first of what will hopefully be many new restaurants there near the campus, the establishment — which takes its name from the number of chromosomes in the human genome — is decorated with science-y things: beakers serve as vases on the tables; molecular diagrams of edible atoms (caffeine, chocolate, etc.) line the walls; the ceiling is crowned by famous quotes about knowledge and its pursuit; and (my personal favorite) the bathrooms are labeled "XY" and "XX". This is all done tastefully, of course. The first impression of a trendy big-city restaurant gives way only gradually and never completely to the geeky stuff, the theme providing fodder for discussion without distracting from the all-too-rare experience (for us, anyway) of feeling like you're at least a thousand miles away from fast food.

Amy and I had reservations for the first time slot (Forty Six opens at 5:30pm on Saturdays), and were promptly greeted and seated upon our arrival. This was just the beginning of over an hour of quality service from the staff of this restaurant. Our server, Mallory, maintained the ideal distance: we never had to wait for her to visit, and we never found ourselves waiting for her to go away. Keeping my water glass filled without my even noticing? That's the target, folks, and Mallory nailed it.

We began by ordering a "safe" glass of red wine — a Mondavi Cabernet — and the Duck Quesadilla appetizer. We enjoyed prompt delivery of both, plus a basket of bread with accompanying bean-and-tomato-based dipping sauce. The quesadilla — which was served with a black bean tapenade and a salsa featuring cucumbers and pineapple — was tasty, but unfortunately didn't last long between the two of us.

Salads were next. Amy ordered a half portion of the Warm Walnut Encrusted Goat Cheese Salad. She's a huge fan of apples in salads, and was not disappointed by the Granny Smith slivers in her selection. We hadn't really studied the menu with an intent to memorize it, so it was cute to watch her uncover tasteful surprises as she navigated the Balsamic-dressed greens. ("Ooh! Is that bacon?!") Only a chunk of goat cheese survived her appetite. I had a half portion of the considerably simpler Forty Six Salad: mixed greens, mandarin oranges, and chickpeas with a green goddess dressing. There was no exciting progression through my salad, but its taste and presentation made it worthwhile.

Forty Six offers several seafood dishes, but that's not really Amy's thing. She was eying the lamb, instead. Upon consultation regarding entree portion sizes, Mallory reminded us of Forty Six's healthy dining focus. However, she was confident that we could happily split an entree if we so desired. As it turns out, we so desired. Now, in our marriage, the proper cooking temperature of meat is always a point of contention. Amy's a "medium-to-medium-well" kinda girl; I'm a "rare-to-medium-rare" kinda guy; and there's not much overlap there. But this presented no problems for us tonight: the chef was cool enough to divide the chop prior to preparation and cook each half to order. Our bone-in New Zealand lamb chops arrived cooked to perfection, wading in a pool of Balsamic Demi Glaze, with roasted red potatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash cheering from the sidelines. The lamb was simply divine. Amy is a sucker for a good potato, and was thoroughly pleased by hers. I was looking forward to those squash sides, which I found good but perhaps a little more al dente than preferred. As we wrapped up the entree course, we were glad we had decided to share one. Apparently, the term "moderate portion sizes" as employed by Forty Six is open to some varying interpretations.

As any decent, God-fearing woman will attest, a delicious meal such as we were enjoying cannot be considered complete without dessert. Mallory presented the options: triple-layer chocolate cake; red velvet cake; banana pudding; and some others, all of which had much more interesting descriptions than what I can recall now. Amy rightly noted that "we always go for the chocolate-y stuff", and encouraged a different tack tonight: the red velvet cake (and a pair of cappuccinos). Mallory delivered all of this promptly (she was aware that we were trying to make the 7:00pm movie next door at the Gem). This cake was the absolute reddest red velvet cake I've ever seen; multi-layered, with a cream cheese icing between the layers, and a dollop of whipped cream on the top. Unfortunately, it was also considerably less moist than I'd hoped. The cake's components were all good, but those components shouldn't require me to hit my cappuccino as often as they did. (Alas, the cappuccino itself was unremarkable.) Overall, not the best finish to the meal.

Despite not being wowed by the dessert, Amy and I both left Restaurant Forty Six tonight feeling comfortably full yet immeasurably happier having shared this experience. I sincerely hope we have the opportunity to return there in the future.

Green church growth

In my previous post, I ranted a little bit about today's raging green hype. But as implied there, Christians are not without some responsibility in all this business. So I'll turn this around on those of us who do claim to understand the purpose of Creation.

Green thoughts were fresh in my mind yesterday when a pastor friend of mine (Paul Batson) and I were driving toward a meeting in Charlotte. (We were off to meet with a couple of area pastors about church real estate.) So I found it interesting that Paul brought up the topic of how church properties tend to be some of the foremost examples of underutilization around. It's a reasonable claim, actually: a building big enough to hold hundreds of people in one giant space, plus additional classroom space, but actually used for, what, maybe six hours a week? Church, how do we deal with this monumental waste of resources?

I'll go further, and personalize this. My church has just entered into a building program because we're having trouble fitting people into the temporary accommodations currently in use after outgrowing the previous worship and educational space. (Did you follow that?) Was this the right decision? I mean, I understand the desire to avoid multiple worship services and multiple small group periods in the name of keeping all the membership together with that comfy feeling of unity. But might better use of existing space — and money — demand the opposite approach?

I'm no social scientist, but I've noticed that almost every time I check the number of friends that someone I know has on the social networking site Facebook, the number tends to hover between 200 and 300. This caused me to recall something I'd heard long ago about some theoretical maximum number of social connections that a person could maintain stably. I did some Googling around, and I think Dunbar's Number was that figure. British anthropologist Robin Dunbar theoretized (based on the physical size of a region of the brain) that folks could keep about 150 such connections. (A more recent and more directly derived estimate of about 250 came out of research by anthropologists H. Russell Bernard and Peter Killworth.)

What does Dunbar's (or Bernard-Killworth's) Number mean for large churches? Does it explain why many people start to get antsy when their congregrations grow too large — why they start to feel disconnected? Does it allow an interpretation that having more moderately-attended church services benefits the sense of Christian community better than holding fewer gatherings of humongous crowds? And how does this all play into better use of church resources?