Physician, heal thyself

Some day I'm going to write a post in my personal blog that talks about people who promote services that never use them. It irks me to no end when people start a Web 2.0 service, but don't seem to use it themselves all that much. (I have to say, however, that Paul Buchheit is an exception; one of the principals of FriendFeed, he frequently uses the service to share items with his followers, and constantly engages with other people on the service.)

But when I get around to writing this post about people who don't use the services they promote, I'll have to start with myself.

Yup, that's right. Ever since I started the Empoprise-NTN blog, I have not played a single NTN Buzztime game.

But I came close to doing so last night.

I was in a celebratory mood, having just baselined three marketing requirements. (I know that you probably wouldn't celebrate such an accomplishment, but I certainly would.) I knew that I had a 7:00 meeting to attend at my church, but I figured that I would leave work, drive toward my church, stop somewhere along the way, play NTN Buzztime trivia (and, coincidentally, watch the Lakers at Celtics game) until 6:30 or so, then proceed to my church meeting.

The question was, where to play? I like the TGI Fridays in Yorba Linda, but the eastbound 91 should be avoided at all costs during the afternoon commute, so that was out of the question.

Because Diamond Bar is smack dab in the middle of my planned drive from work to church, I ran the Site Finder, centered on the 91765 zip code, to find some likely places along the way.

Oak Tree Lanes
reviews (2) 0 990 N Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar , CA 91765
map 333 1083

Black Angus Chino Hills
reviews (2) 7.5 3968 Grand Ave
Chino Hills, CA 91710
map • website 103 1134

The Gem Sports Bar
reviews (3) 7.7 5771-A Pine Ave
Chino Hills, CA 91709
map 2867 1600

Buffalo Wild Wings
reviews (1) 7.7 3160 Chino Ave
Chino Hills , CA 91709
map 574 97

TGI Fridays
reviews (4) 9.5 23040 Eastpark Dr
Yorba Linda, CA 92887
map • website 592 1118

JTs Beach Club
reviews (2) 10.7 15334 E Whittier Blvd
Whittier, CA 90603
map 415 1679

Tequila Hoppers and Grill
reviews (2) 11.3 60 N Mountain Ave
Upland , CA 91786
map 1964 867

The Olive Pit 12.3 834 E Lincoln Ave
Orange , CA 92865
map 3544 2918

Lamppost Pizza Corona
reviews (5) 12.7 300 N Main
Corona, CA 92880
map 818 154

Draft Picks Sports Club 12.8 15856 E Imperial Hwy
LA MIRADA , CA 90638
map 3269 2308

Danny Ks Cafe and Billiards
reviews (9) 13.3 1096 N Main
Orange , CA 92867
map 29 909

Bostons Gourmet Pizza
reviews (1) 15 11260 4th Street
Rancho Cucamonga , CA 91730
map 2631 855

Good Ol Boys Saloon 15.5 10624 Katella
Anaheim , CA 92804
map 1897 2120

National Sports Grill 15.5 5970 Orange Thorpe Ave
Buena Park , CA 90620
map 2836 3279

Lofflers Sports Bar and Grill
reviews (4) 15.5 8901 Katella Ave
Anaheim , CA 92804
map 3038 2028

Buffalo Wild Wings
reviews (4) 16.5 12411 Limonite Ave #650
Mira Loma , CA 91752
map 1237 37

Black Angus Santa Ana
reviews (4) 17.4 1350 N Tustin
Santa Ana, CA 92701
map • website 3544 3626

Buffalo Wild Wings
reviews (4) 19 8188 Daycreek Blvd #140
Rancho Cucamonga , CA 91739
map 311 201

Events Sports Grill
reviews (3) 19.7 10560 Magnolia Ave Unit A
Riverside, CA 92505
map 1734 1991

Michaels Sports Pub and Grill
reviews (3) 20 15192 Golden West St
Westminster, CA 92683
map 1272 1020

Mr Bs Restaurant Sports Lounge
reviews (4) 20.2 11272 Los Alamitos Blvd
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
map 159 893

East Side Marios Lakewood
reviews (2) 21.7 4771 Candlewood St
Lakewood, CA 90712
map 132 1096

Baja Willies
reviews (3) 22.2 7891 Warner Ave
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
map 979 1248

Centerfield Sports Bar
reviews (5) 22.2 17296 Beach Blvd
Huntington Beach , CA 92647
map • website 1310 1988

Corrigans Sports
reviews (1) 22.4 4700 Airport Plaza Dr
Long Beach, CA 90815
map 3350 3138

Wardlow Station
reviews (1) 24.1 1174 E Wardlow Rd
Long Beach , CA 90807
map 1398 518

Rocks
reviews (1) 24.1 3445 Long Beach Blvd
Long Beach , CA 90807
map 3168 2833

Shannons Bayshore 24.4 5335 E 2nd St
Long Beach, CA 90803
map 1664 2414

Yankee Doodles
reviews (1) 24.4 4100 E Ocean Blvd
Long Beach , CA 90803
map 451 2219

Liquid Lounge
(coming soon) 24.5 3522 E Anaheim St
Long Beach , CA 90804
map 3544 3626

Max Sports Grill
reviews (1) 24.9 18862 Beach Blvd #114
Huntington Beach , CA 92648
map 2707 1299

Incidentally, I was saddened to see that the Beer Hunter in Rancho Cucamonga no longer appears on this list. I don't know if they've dropped NTN Buzztime, or whether Beer Hunter itself is closed.

I ended up concentrating on the two NTN Buzztime locations in Rancho Cucamonga. (Oh, how I wish McAlan's Pub had kept the service.) I considered going to Buffalo Wild Wings - I haven't played at a Buffalo Wild Wings before (although I almost did), but the chain is clearly a huge supporter of NTN Buzztime. However, for locational reasons, I decided to go to Boston's Gourmet Pizza (Buzztime page here) instead.

I got caught up in the commute, so I missed my window to get involved in the 5:30 game. No problem, I thought, I'll just get there before 6:00, get one game in, then head to church.

Well, I got there at about 5:45 and walked around the place, which was very crowded. Did I mention that the Lakers were playing last night? Every TV, with the exception of one, was tuned to the Lakers game. The one TV was tuned to...poker.

While I'm a fan of the trivia games, I'm not the biggest proponent of poker. I played it once, failed miserably, and have only played trivia since.

I guess I could have asked them to turn a TV to trivia, but I figured with the Lakers game and all, the chances of that happening were pretty much nil. (And I still remembered what had happened when I visited the Olive Pit in Orange for the first time in several months, only to discover that they had dropped trivia in favor of poker.)

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to go to the Buffalo Wild Wings at Victoria Gardens by this time, so I didn't get a chance to play last night.

And the Lakers lost.

But the church meeting went well, so it wasn't a total loss.