The more things change...

the worse they get.

A little backstory: those of you who went to UIC probably recognize the image. Busy Burger was a cheap burger joint on Taylor Street. It actually still is but we'll get to that. Everything in there was done on the cheap. The prices were low, the soda was unrecognizable (I don't mean that as a shot at say Mello Yello, I mean I literally have no idea what brand of soda they were serving), it was a little dirty, and they didn't even take credit cards. But most importantly the burgers were awesome. They were thick, juicy and cheap. It may have been all the grease still on the fryer adding flavor but those were delicious burgers.

Rewind to earlier this summer. At some point driving down Taylor Street I looked over and noticed that Busy Burger had done some remodeling. Some serious remodeling. It didn't look like a relic from an era that never really existed, it looked like a college burger shack. "Oh well" I shrugged.

Back to this past weekend. Cass and I had meant to grill burgers to stay in with Fielder but it was raining pretty hard. Since we were both in the mood for a burger and I hadn't had it in a while I suggested we call Busy Burger. I checked online and saw that they delivered. I don't know that they did this before but I know they didn't have their menu online before and I realized that their prices had increased. "Just more updating" I guessed.

We placed our order and it came and I was immediately disappointed. I mean immediately because when I went down to get the order at the door I reached in and grabbed a fry. Instead of the crispy fries I was used to I found soggy skinny mockeries. I was irritated but I wasn't going to let it spoil my night. "No biggie" I accepted.

We toasted the fries in the toaster to crisp them up a bit. As we were waiting we got our meals ready and I noticed that the burgers looked a lot more thin than they used to be. Now instead of a thick juicy patty there were thin ones. I was worried by this point but I held off judgment until I took a bite. "Things have gone horribly wrong" I realized.

The burgers now are thin, charred on the outside and dry on the inside. It is a cheap piece of meat. It was always a cheap piece of meat but it used to be delicious and now it is not, and it cost less before.

We didn't let it ruin our night and to be honest at the time I wasn't all that upset but we just got a new dog and were riding an emotional high at the time. Those burgers were a real buzzkill.

I don't know if they changed owners or what but everything is different now, and not for the better. We won't be going back. We can't go back.

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An update on Fielder: I pet her for the first time yesterday. She is bonding really well with Cass and seems more spooked by men so we think the mill was run mostly by men. She is still nervous but is calming down to an outrageous degree. The first night she slipped down between the couch and the wall and I had to pick her up out of there. She was so freaked she ran and jumped off of the opposite edge of the couch and landed in the Charlie's water bowl (about a four foot gap). Earlier today Cass was driving her to the vet. Fielder was in the passenger seat. A cop car pulled up next to her at a red light and the cops pointed and were making cute faces. Fielder then decided to try to jump through the windshield (or up on the dash, it doesn't really matter), which she smacked into and fell directly to the floor of the car.

When I got home from working out she was curled up on Cass's lap (today is the first time she has done this). Apparently she had been sleeping on the chair nearby, wrapped up in one of my sweatshirts. Then she looked and seemingly asked to be picked up so Cass did so and Fielder fell asleep immediately. I came in and she woke up but was still very relaxed so I tried petting her and she let me. She was a little startled at first but calmed down and fell asleep while I was scratching her head.

We are very excited by the progress.