"Wow, it looks a lot like In-N-Out," I said to the girl working at this new burger place in the old Taco Shop Co. location at 45 W. Valencia Road.

"Yeah, a lot of people have been telling us that," she said in a monotone voice that perfectly communicated her absolute disinterest in the subject.

The fries are hand-cut, and they come with some sort of aioli that tastes great. The prices are also super low, and it was doing decent business yesterday afternoon. Frankly, I liked it better than In-N-Out, for what that's worth.

• Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

Singles ads are notorious for their sneaky little phrases that mask reality. We all may have learned — perhaps the hard way — that “big boned” generally means obese, “homebody” means couch potato and “mature male” often translates to a guy who is roughly 103. Those seeking “adventuresome” men or women are usually out for kinky sex while a guy who “knows how to treat a woman” probably drags her around by her hair.

Help wanted ads are much the same way. With the Bureau of Labor Statistics telling us the nation’s unemployment rate was still jammed at 9.1 percent as of August, plenty of people who have not yet given up on the job hunt are surely finding their own array of sneaky phrases. As a freelance writer who is always scouring job ads, I have learned to quickly dismiss potential prospects that contain a number of catchy lines.

“Great exposure in international market,” means no pay for writing bobblehead descriptions for a website based in China. “This is a very easy job,” means very little pay, or a rate of about 0.07 cents per word. Any ad that proclaims a job is perfect "for the right person" is sometimes seeking a person who thinks it's right to be subjected to slave labor, work weekends, evenings and Christmas Day, and count parking the boss's car as part of their duties.

Tricky phrasing is especially apparent when it comes to job descriptions. No longer is a sales clerk a sales clerk. The position is spiffed up and now called a “store associate” or “retail ambassador.” A busboy has become a “table purification expert” while the poor sap who gets stuck refolding towels after customers unfurl them all over the home department is a “replenishment-merchandising associate.”

My money isn't tied up with Bank of America thankfully, but it's crap like this, corporate banking world, that's causing people to camp out on Wall Street. "Thanks for floating us with your taxes after we made all those stupid decisions, now let's pay America back by screwing you when you want to actually have access to your money!":

Bank of America Corp. plans to charge a $5 monthly fee for its debit-card users, joining a number of other banks that are pressing their customers to help recover lost revenue from new regulations.

The largest U.S. bank by assets, Bank of America on Thursday said it will begin charging many of its nationwide checking account customers $5 each billing cycle they use their debit card to make a purchase. The fee, set to kick in early next year, will apply to its standard accounts but won't apply to most of its premium accounts targeted at mass-affluent customers. The fee also will not be triggered by transactions made at automated teller machines.

The fee won't apply to customers in certain premium accounts.

Bank of America and other debit-card issuers, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Regions Financial Corp., are trying to offset an estimated $6.6 billion annual revenue hit stemming from new limits on so-called debit-card swipe fees.

"The fee won't apply to customers in certain premium accounts." Of course they won't.

Interim City Manager Richard Miranda is making some big changes to the city staff.

The biggest ones: Miranda is bringing back Liz Rodriguez Miller, a former assistant city manager who left when Mike Hein was atop the city's bureaucracy, as an interim assistant city manager to oversee public safety and neighborhood services. He's also elevating Andy Quigley, who came to Tucson a few years back to oversee the Environmental Services Department and got handed Tucson Water when Jeff Biggs stepped down a while back, as an interim assistant city manager to oversee operations and public works.

Miranda is also creating a business/economic development manager position and plans on doing an external search to fill the job. Chris Kaselemis, the city's Housing and Community Development administrator, will be assisting "with the scoping and recruitment for this position," according a memo from Miranda.

Sean McBride, an assistant city manager brought in under the recently fired Mike Letcher, will become the interim director of Information Technology. Christina Parisi, who was an assistant to Letcher, will be on special assignment to the IT Department, where she will work on "marketing and communication outreach efforts for the city via the web and social media," according to Miranda's memo.

There are a handful of other changes outlined in the memo, which you can read in its entirely here: Org_Changes.pdf

Whoever likes free money, raise your (virtual) hand!

Okay, for the four of you that didn’t comply, please click on another link. Everyone else, read on.

Casino del Sol’s renovated poker room finally opened last week after several months of work. The upgraded, expanded room boasts 13 poker tables, nearly as many flat screen TVs and a self-service food/drink area that several nights a week includes free buffet-style grub.

But, back to the free money …

To christen the redone room, Del Sol is giving away $40,000 through a series of drawings every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through the end of October.

Each drawing is worth $250, and is based on who’s name gets picked out of a rolling bin of tickets collected for each time a player hits a full house or better in a live cash game. So, of course, that means you’ve gotta get into a game and hit some high hands in order to be able to scoop up some extra cash.

The drawings begin at 5:30 p.m. on Fridays, 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and will be ever half-hour or so. Each weekend will see $8,000 given away.

The $40,000 giveaway is one of many promotions Casino del Sol is running in the weeks and months leading up to the opening of its hotel, which goes live on Nov. 11. That’s 11/11/11 for all the numerologists who stumbled across this post.

Del Sol’s poker room also has a variety of promotions tied toward frequent play, whether it be in terms of hours logged in cash games or performance in tournaments. Players are currently trying to accumulate 40 hours of live play by early November to get a free entry into a $20,000 freeroll tournament Nov. 17-19.

Clearly, getting this feature on Wednesdays hasn't really been working all that well, so it looks while I'll break up the stellar recommendations of our music writers into posts for Thursday and Friday. Then again, I might change my mind next week. It's the surprises that make life worth living, right?

In this segment, tracks by Donovan, David Bazan, Tippy Elvis and Grandaddy. Tomorrow, five additional songs for your perusal.

I remember when 47 Scott was getting ready to open and murmurs rippled through the local food scene that the location was cursed, that no eatery could succeed there. Boy were they wrong.

The last time I sauntered into 47 Scott it was packed, and I mean PACKED. Deciding to wait out the storm, I headed next door to the intimate little cocktail bar Scott and Co., where people were lined up for drinks and the bartenders were slinging them as fast as they could make them.

Ah, sweet success. Anyway, Travis Reese, one of the owners of the eatery, says the patio area is finished and that he's started offering late-night dining. They also just debuted their new fall menu, and put out a fresh cocktail menu at Scott and Co.

If you haven't had this places pomme frites, which come sprinkled with rosemary, you simply must. Paired with one of the amazing cocktails crafted by nationally known mixologist Ciaran Wiese, it's an experience you will not soon forget.

In writer Jeff Biggers' latest article, he points out not just how disgusting John Huppenthal's recent remarks were in front of the Pima County GOP comparing Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program to Hitler's Nazi Jugend paramilitary organization, but the continuing error Huppenthal and his supporters make attacking Mexican Americans.

One of the areas of Chicano history the classes cover are the contributions of Mexican Americans during World War II — the largest of any ethnic groups during that time. Biggers points out Huppenthal's comments arrive a week after the 61st anniversary of Medal of Honor award winner Arizona war hero Sylvestre Herrera.

Biggers then asks what many are almost, almost tired of wondering: When will the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice finally intervene?

While Huppenthal, who aired a controversial radio ad last fall that he would "stop la raza," is no stranger to inflammatory speech making, this latest episode comes on the heels of Attorney General Tom Horne's recent charge that the Mexican American Studies program "must be destroyed" and shocking testimony by a Tea Party activist at a Tucson school board meeting with his scenario for "civil war."

At the same time, Huppenthal recently endorsed the recall campaign of disgraced Senate President Russell Pearce, who has openly associated with neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations.

The questions beg: Have the extremist Arizona politicians and their Tea Party supporters gone too far in their witch hunt of the Ethnic Studies Program, and at what point will the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice be summoned for an investigation?

I spoke with owner Robert Stawicki this morning and he says he’s serving up five kinds of pierogi, stuffed cabbage, Polish sausages, potato pancakes and all sort of other great Polish eats. He’s also brought in a nice supply of Polish beer, vodka and liquor.

Stawicki was involved in Amber Restaurant and Gallery until 2009 when he sold his share. He opened his first restaurant in Warsaw, Poland, in 1998.

Prices range from $5.50 to $9.50. Call 891-1244 for more information.

• The panel at the Desert Cup announcement at Kino Sports Complex.

It's definitely nice to see Kino Sports Complex in use (even if I still grumble that it should be located downtown), and as part of what looks to be a busy 2012 for the facility, FC Tucson announced that four Major League Soccer teams will participate in a four night tournament held between February 22 and March 3. Two additional teams could also come for spring training, but not play in the tournament. Four fields at Kino will be converted for a month, and with the stadium which will be set up soccer-style for the tournament itself, will all be returned to baseball form.

Nelson Rodriguez from Major League Soccer was optimistic that this second go-around for the Desert Cup (which brought over 10,000 fans to its final night this year at Hi Corbett) could be the start of an expanded presence in Tucson for the league, including 12-14 teams here for spring training, player combines, a soccer convention, and community interaction.