by Debbi | Aug 6, 2010 | Cool Stuff
In honor of Discovery Channel's Shark Week this past week, and just because we like sharks, here's a little joke my aunt sent.
Two great white sharks swimming in the ocean spied survivors of a sunken ship. "Follow me son" the father shark said to the son shark and they swam to the mass of people. "First we swim around them a few times with just the tip of our fins showing." And they did. "Well done, son! Now we swim around them a few times with all of our fins showing." And they did. "Now we eat everybody." And they did.
When they were both gorged, the son asked, "Dad, why didn't we just eat them all at first? Why did we swim around and around them?"
His wise father replied, "Because they taste better without the crap inside!"
Cheesy, just like the Sandbar.
by Debbi | Jul 31, 2010 | Cool Stuff, Events
Shark Week, the week-long Discovery Channel series, starts Sunday!
Shark Week started in 1987 and is held annually in late July/early August. We've never celebrated it at the Sandbar because it sneaks up on us every year. Not this year!
Shark Week kicks off tomorrow with "Ultimate Air Jaws" at 8 p.m. CST, followed by "Into the Shark Bite" which give you close up views of shark attacks from inside the shark's mouth. Check out the full Shark Week episode guide to find your favorite shows.
Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m., a live, interactive dive tour kicks off on the "Shark Cam," followed by tiger, hammerhead and whale shark feedings.
The Shark Week website has all kinds of cool stuff: shark facts, games, and you can even Shark Yourself! Upload a picture of yourself or someone else and add eyes, a mouth and other shark features.
Stop by this week and watch some Shark Week features with us! Our signature drink, the Shark Attack, is $2 on Tuesday and $3 on Thursday; all other days it's $4. Happy Shark Week!
by Debbi | Jul 22, 2010 | Cool Stuff
A few weeks ago on Twitter, the topic of meat flavored vodka made the rounds.
I saw a link to an article about Smoked Salmon Flavored Vodka, launched by the Alaska Distillery in Wasilla. This flavor follows a similar launch last year of bacon-flavored vodka, by the Seattle-based Black Rock Spirits. (Is it a coincidence that both of these strange spirits are coming from the Pacific Northwest area?)
Flavored vodkas are certainly popular, and according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, vodka is the highest selling spirits category in the country. But when I think of flavored vodka, I think of fruity stuff like raspberry and strawberry and grape. Not garlic or bacon or salmon.
The meat flavored vodkas were apparently intended for use in Bloody Marys, but bartenders and customers have found other uses for them. The article even mentions a drink called the "Luau," a vodka, pineapple juice, and butterscotch concoction that doesn't sound very tropical to me.
Have you tried an unusual flavor of vodka? Would you?
by Debbi | Jul 18, 2010 | Cool Stuff, Social Media, Web/Tech
Do you have an iPhone or iPod Touch? Want to keep up with local businesses in Lawrence? Check out the Lawrence KS app, a guide to Lawrence restaurants, bars and shopping!
The app was created by our friend Jacinta at LangfordMedia, a web/social media/mobile marketing company in Lawrence.
The application is great for folks who live in Lawrence and especially if you're just here to visit. View business hours, menus, drink specials and more- including live Twitter feeds if the business has an account. You can browse businesses by category, or you can choose "near me" to find places close to you.
The app costs 99 cents, which is a steal. A really cool feature of this app is that a portion of all proceeds will be donated to the Lawrence Public Schools.
If you own a business, you can request the business to be included as a "featured listing." These are the first places a user sees when launching the app. If your business isn't currently listed in the app, contact LangfordMedia.
Be sure to check out the website for more details!
(This is a completely independent review of the Lawrence KS app. It was not paid for or requested by LangfordMedia. In fact, I paid for the app myself. I just think it's cool and wanted to share the info.)
by Debbi | Jul 14, 2010 | Cool Stuff, Off the Wall
We've got a lot of stuff on our walls, but Dave always manages to squeeze more stuff up there if it's worthy. We think you'll like the latest addition.
When Dave, Andrew and Joe were in Vegas last month, they went to Diablo's on the Strip. The bar had a spinning wheel they used for specials- different shots and drinks listed on the wheel, and the staff would spin the wheel every half hour. Whatever they landed on was the special for that next half hour.
Dave was inspired by the wheel, but of course it had to be adapted for Kansas and our strict liquor laws. Any special we run has to be the same all day, we can't change prices during the day.
We get a lot of people who come in and want to have a round of shots with their group, but they don't know what they want. Bartenders always have a go-to shot, but it gets boring suggesting Alabama Slammers all the time.
So, here's our version of Diablo's wheel.
It has different shots- from Dirty Bananas to Big Wave Daves and Tootsie Rolls to all the flavored Skittle vodka shots. The bartender spins the wheel, and whatever it lands on, that's the shot. It's not a game, and the prices aren't any different than normal; it's just a fun interactive way to help customers decide.
Stop by and let us know what you think!
by Debbi | Jun 23, 2010 | Cool Stuff, Off the Wall
If you love Jimmy Buffett or the Sandbar, you'll love this.
We celebrated former staff member Erick's birthday last weekend at a party at his parent's house. (His parents are very cool Sandbar friends, too.) The family members are huge Buffett fans and have traveled to many concerts over the years and collected lots of memorabilia.
Where do they display it? Why, the bathroom of course.
A friend of theirs who owned a display company (I think) gave them a lighted palm tree. There's grass skirts and coconut bras on the walls. Flamingos and margarita and parrot images are everywhere. A huge frame above the counter has pictures from every Buffett concert they've been to (with Erick in the same Hawaiian shirt every time!) and sharks on top of it. We even gave them a Sandbar tabletop frame advertising Landshark.
And there's a fish tank. With real fish.
Who can top this?
