By, The BIO-WEST staff

We still miss Adrianne at BIO-WEST. She definitely left her mark here. She created files and directories that are still on the servers, wrote labels on boxes of software and supplies that will be around for years, and implemented procedures we still follow. Then, of course, the inside jokes and catchphrases she left behind surface periodically and unexpectedly. This happens less often as time goes by, but it's always so funny and a little sad when they do.

One thing that happens a lot is that new movies, TV shows, or music is released that would interest Adrianne, either because she would love it (like the new John Krasinski movie) or hate it (like Transformers 2) or because we wonder if she would love or hate it (like the really new John Krasinski movie).

Now that it's been six months since Adrianne passed away, a few of us went to Firehouse Pizza for a little remembrance. Firehouse was chosen because (like so many other things) Adrianne loved and hated the place. See, there are two Firehouse Pizza places here in Cache Valley -- one in Providence (just south of Logan) and one in Smithfield (just north of Logan). You might think that two locations of the same restaurant would be pretty much identical, and you'd be right, for the most part. As you can probably imagine, however, Adrianne had more complicated views on the matter.

Everyone knows that Adrianne held strong opinions about restaurants, even the fast food joints. For instance, she asserted that Del Taco is ten times better than Taco Bell; Carl's Junior is ten times better than Burger King; and Costa Vida is ten times better than Cafe Rio. I might have that last one backwards, but that's because a lot of us don't differentiate restaurants the way Adrianne did. She loved to make such fine distinctions, and in this case she went still further to detect unacceptable differences between two locations of the very same restaurant chain. She swore the Firehouse in Smithfield was superb while the one in Providence was a disgrace. From the salad to the soda to the service, everything about the Smithfield Firehouse was "way better" to Adrianne. She even claimed the Smithfield restaurant was a slightly quicker trip from our BIO-WEST office because, even though Providence is closer, you don't have to drive through Logan traffic to get to Smithfield.

Interestingly, there is a photo on this blog of Adrianne having lunch at Firehouse (the one of her smooshing her cheeks together), but it was taken at the Providence location, the one she thought was inferior. It must have been taken before she discovered the superior Smithfield location.

No one here at BIO-WEST really shared her opinion about the two Firehouses -- we took it as one of those Adrianne-isms that made her fun and interesting, but it seemed fitting to go to the "right" Firehouse to celebrate our friendship with her.

Here are some things we thought we should do at lunch to honor Adrianne:

1. Wear stylish trenchcoats (but it was too hot that day to do so).
2. Wear stylish, high-heel shoes (Jennifer took care of this one).
3. Talk about movies and music (aside from work that's all we talk about anyway, which is one reason Adrianne liked it here and why we liked her).
4. Order stuff that Adrianne ordered.
5. When the food arrived, trash talk the service and food of the Providence Firehouse.

From left to right, Whitney, Sandra, and Chadd enjoy the way-better food of the Smithfield Firehouse. In the right-foreground you see Jennifer's glass of Diet Coke with lime. Jennifer never drinks that, but it was Adrianne's drink of choice. Next to the drink is a plate of breadsticks that were so stale we considered sending them back (c'mon, Adrianne, is this place really THAT good?).


From left to right: Jennifer (left) is ready to tuck into their baked pasta, which is what Adrianne usually ordered, and Whitney is wearing her "South Harmon Institute of Technology" shirt, which Adrianne thought was really funny.


Jennifer wore the highest heels she had -- we can only hope Adrianne approved of their style and how they complimented the rest of the outfit.


After lunch, our server took this shot (maybe the service really is better here...).