Food Network is running a Good Eats marathon tomorrow 1-7 PM Eastern. Don't forget to TiVo it up!
In other news, I've been making small improvements to the site. I've stolen N-E and Mike's hard work to add a recent comments area. Other improvements like a real banner and a different color scheme might be forthcoming, but don't hold your breath. (=
Things learned from a co-worker's bachelor party:
From this small sample list, I'm sure you could see that waking up for a haircut after 5 hours of sleep all that more evil. Although I got that done (tinges of red renewed once more) and took care of the rest of the things I needed to get done before J.'s wedding tomorrow, I was so dead tired afterwards and crashed for 2or 3 hours afterward. Now that I'm awake again, I can't help myself from yawning. *yawn*
Thank goodness it's a three day weekend.
Immediate gratification is such an evil beast.
After listening to the latest Aimee Mann album streamed from her site, I simply had to get it. Normally, I would be content with waiting a few weeks or so for it to show up, but I made the fatal mistake of looking the price up at BE BUSTY and saw that I saved very little by mail ordering it.
While at BE BUSTY, I ended up purchasing Frou Frou details, also pretty cheap for a B&M. Although, I'm a little sad that I broke down and fed the BB monster again, I'm rather happy that I have two very good albums to listen to this afternoon while I work. Plus the Aimee Mann cd had a bonus single of "Humpty Dumpty" included...I like getting bonus CD's.
Edit -
After repeated listens, I'm totally blown away by the Frou Frou album. I know it's probably nothing original, but I can't help but listen to it. I think I've gone through it 4-5 times so far in the short span of less than a day.
I find when I enter Linen-N-Things for one item, I usually leave with several more than intended. Case in point today: I entered with the intention of picking up a whisk and left with two brushes, a spatula and a candy/deep-fry thermometer. This is on top of the slotted spoon, strainer and funnel I picked up elsewhere earlier this week when I needed to make coq-au-vin.
I guess my only hope is that I run out of kitchen utensils to buy (eventually). Needless to say, this might take a while...my poor wallet.
The good people on the Avenue mailing list pointed out that HMV Australia is an excellent value for import singles even including shipping to the USA. I picked up the Aussie version of the Action single for 11.00 AUD (approx. $6 US) - quite a steal considering it includes all the tracks from UK Single CD's 1 & 2.
Since discovering HMV Aus., MyMusic and CD-WOW, I now officially have no reason to buy new music domestically (asides from the immediate gratification factor and the occasional super-deal): it's just that much cheaper to import. Sorta sad and cool all at the same time when you think about it.
Earlier today, I was running in Tower Grove Park. Things were going pretty well up until about halfway through my normal routine. That's when some random park maintenance truck decides that now's the perfect time to spew (yes spew) chemicals along the various roadways in the park. Since I was doing some sort of semi-strenuous activity, I was inhaling more than my normal share of Nouveau DDT or whatever it was.
I understand that parks do require maintenance and part of that maintenance includes chemicals. However, Y-DA-FAQUE does The Park MAN feel the need to spew it during an early weekend evening of one of the best days all summer? Does he have some intensely evil desire to expose a large number of people (including a number of children participating in end of the summer celebrations) to insecticides or whatever else was in that stuff? Or is it just some secret military test a-la the X-Files?
In any case, I now have a slightly scratch throat thanks to The Park MAN. Thank you SO much.
Resolutions are such tricky beasts.
Much like anyone else, I've made and then broken a number of them of the course of my life. However, every so often I'll try them again – it's usually an arbitrary decision – and then actually succeed. For example, during my senior year of college, my roommate and I tried to stop drinking pop; we both failed rather miserably within a few weeks. But so far this year, I've been pretty good at keeping my no-pop New Year's Resolution (minus the occasional good root beer & Clearly Canadian for nostaligia's sake).
Much like the Chaotic One, I've begun running again. Running is such an on/off affair for me. I think this last week is the first time in 4-5 years I've been seriously (def. more than once every half year) running.
The odd thing about my restart in running is that it was another of those whims I decided to indulge in: I came home after my weekend in C-U, decided "It's too nice a day to stay indoors. I'm going to run in the park." and that was that.
I'm hoping that the randomness of my resolution is a good sign for my running future.
I just found my tin of Altoids Tangerine Sours. They're such a delightful combo of sour and sweet - a bit harsher than Lemonheads in the beginning and a much mellower sweet afterwards. Plus they have that wonderfully weird edge that only tangerine has.
I've already eaten 8 in the short span of 15 minutes.
I'm so screwed.
The NY Times had an interesting article in last Sunday's Magazine. It talks about how trade is not the demon that the anti-globalization crowd makes it out to be. However, it makes a very important point about hypocrisy of developed nations: they demand the lowering of trade barriers while still propping up their own inefficent industries (farming most notoriously) and disallowing the forced technology transfers that allowed other nations to develop their own native industries.
Click here if you do dislike registering but still want to read.
I'm now back in St. Louis after a three day weekend of some very late nights (for us 8-5'ers) and mad dental work: I used my customary "I'm going to the dentist in Springfield" excuse to hang out with with the usual crowd. Oddly enough, my trip to C-U also coincided with Matt H. showing up as well; we seem to have this weird synchronized trips thing going on. Must be one of those weird cosmic coincidences.
Mini-golf (twice in one day!), tossing the 'bee, appliance shopping and playing with OyToy's trio of feline allergy inducers were a few of the weekend activities. I also got to eat at Biaggi's again. Mmm...Biaggi's.
Additionally, I got to hang out with Jen before she moved up to Chicago. I can't believe we've known each other for ten years...time flies I guess. Crazy. Hope Chicago treats you well! I'll come and visit sometime.
Sadly, Monday rolled around, and I had to depart for the "reason" for this sojourn: the dental appointment. Asides from the heavy rain and the early hour (pre-8 am...ugh), that portion of the trip went pretty smoothly. I now have super slick teeth. Whee.
My departure from Springfield was a bit on the confusing side though. Since it was close to lunch time, I thought it might be a good idea to grab some lunch at Schlotzsky's. Unfortunately, the one location I was thinking of had since been replaced by a Bellacino's. Additionally, I had to do a u-turn in the Meijer parking lot because the left turn for East I-72 had been replaced with a right turn.
At that point, it struck me that since my parents moved away from Springfield, I only get these weird six month snapshots of a very specific part of the town. I have this strange time elapsed memory of the city I grew up in that's slowly being rewritten every six months. I guess it's all very strange but natural. C'est la vie.
I left work today with a pretty strong notion of going to the gym before heading home. Instead, my car's battery decided to die some time earlier in the day. After leaching several hundred dollars last week in repairs to make things very good, my car thinks this is the ideal time to pile on.
On the upside, I'm glad this didn't happen while I was on the way to Champaign on Friday. Additionally, installing a new battery and hearing the car fire up again was gratifying. I don't know why, but I felt more of a sense of accomplishment completing this simple auto repair than most of the programming I've done. Perhaps it's the instant feedback factor. Or maybe I just enjoy hands on work..
An ice cream company dropped off a cooler full of their new ice cream featuring Splenda. Splenda is this new sugar substitute that "tastes more like sugar because it's made from sugar". Supposedly, they alter sugar so it no longer looks like something the body wants to consume so it goes straight out of the system. According to one of my co-workers, it's all the Rage among the Atikins diet people.
To be honest, it didn't taste that bad. It still tasted slightly off compared to the equivalent sugar versions, but definitely acceptable. However, I'm going to pass on it...why bother if you can get the real thing and not worry about the potential side effects?
"Ask and you shall receive" sometimes works.
A few days ago, I really had the urge to see Saint Etienne in concert. They, for those of you uninitiated in the sublimeness that is S.E., put on great live shows.
After a brief bit of surfing, it turns out that Saint Etienne is coming out with a new album! According to NME, the release date for Finisterre is Sept. 30th. The first single, Action, is due out August 26th. Those of you curious what Action sounds like can go here.
I guess it won't be too long before they hit the States again. (=
In other musical news, Ivy is releasing Guestroom on Sept. 10th. Samples of Say Goodbye can be found at Minty Fresh.
Also, I can't believe it took me an hour to choose one CD yesterday at Border's. I guess getting 50% off makes it that much harder. In the end, I bought Aimee Mann Bachelor No. 2. N-E and DeLish bear full responsibility for this purchase. After all, while I was in Seattle, they sang along to the Magnolia soundtrack in N-E's car in addition to us watching the movie later on that weekend.
Such devious individuals...
Restaurants that is. Bon Appetit's September 2002 issue is their annual Restaurant issue. This year's focus is on neighborhood restaurants.
Among the local St. Louis establishments meriting notice is Chez Leon and the "Dang! It's that tasty!" Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.
Other places that might be of interest to you include: Monsoon + Kaspar's in Seattle, Pump Room + Cafe Matou in Chicago, West 24 in DC, Delfina + Citizen Cake in San Fran & Suze in Dallas.
Interestingly enough, Joe Roger's Original Recipe Chili (The Den) in Springfield, IL made the cut. It always neat to see a place that you remember from your childhood make the grade. I never tried it out personally though...I can take heat, but evidently this is on the order of legendary "YOU MAY DIE" spiciness. On the other hand, Jeff would probably be right at home there if he hasn't tried it before.
This amusing ancedote is slightly late (heard it earlier last week), but it still deserves to be heard -
One of my managers was on a random beach in Louisiana when he noticed that everyone was carrying around bottles of A1. When he asked one of the locals, the person said that they were because of the jellyfish. He, like most everyone else who was listening to his story, assumed that maybe they simply had a weird A1 & raw jellyfish fetish - much like how some people will eat raw mussels/claims with just sea water. Alas, that was not the case: it seems that A1 has some sort of chemical that reduces the swelling & pain from jellyfish stings.
Slightly related, I had a nice hot and cold platter at Mandarin House that included jellyfish. Mustard can be so wonderful if used correctly.
The weekend movies were Mumford & XXX. Mumford was a very cute movie. Nothing earth shattering, but very entertaining nonetheless. XXX, on the other hand, was very much your summer blockbuster action movie - some very cool stunts/action scenes, hokey plot + questionable acting in places, but overall, an enjoyable ride.
Phrase of the day - Naturally Phallic : a co-worker's description of the Quizno's chip mascot's head.
This NY Times story tells how a man in Rome has been arrested for taking coins from the Trevi Fountain. According to the article, the authorities estimated that he raked in up to over $1000/day for 15 minutes of work. Asides from Goonies quotes and the ever-so-fleeting desire to investigate this & pan-handling as a way of life, this article also reminded me of a children's book I read a long time ago about two(?) children (brother and sister?) that ran away from home & lived in a museum. One of the things they'd do is bathe in the fountain & loot the change for food. Anyone know what the name of this book is?
Speaking of children's books, I recently read the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Although they are classified as children's books, I thoroughly enjoyed them. They definitely fall under the darker side of kid's reading though...more along the lines (and perhaps darker than) A Swiftly Tilting Planet.
Shadowmarch is drawing to a close. Shadowmarch is Tad Williams' (most famously known for the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series) grand experiment in selling subscriptions for Internet episodic storytelling. The very unique part of the experiment is that there are no constraints on the actual content - just plain HTML that you could save/print/etc. Unfortunately, the financial side of things didn't work out. Although I'm glad the story will go on in deadtree versions, I don't particularly like that I'll have to wait 2/3+ years to find out what happened after the end of Season 1.
Probably the worst thing about actually getting in to work early when there's no reason to is the fact that it's that many more hours before lunch. Normally, you have a set of rituals that will take you up to a reasonably later moment in the morning. By that point, it's not that bad a stretch until lunch, with or without stimulants.
Right now, I can feel the boredom seeping in even though I have plenty of work.
Regardless of how nice leaving at 3:30 or so is, I think I'm going to stick with coming in at 9. Life is so much simpler that way.
This entry is officially brought to you by my parents' computer, which is only dial-up enabled. Bleh.
I drove to the parentals' place this afternoon. It was good seeing them; they got back from their tour of Italy and Finland two weeks ago and had all sorts of interesting stories to tell.
The overall travel plan for them was Florence, Italy -> Helsinki, Finland -> Estonia. While in Florence, my parents sampled the fine crafts (leather in particular for my mom) and also some time in the yet unspoiled Tuscan countryside. In fact, an acquanitance/colleague of my father invited my father over to his 11th century farmhouse. Supposedly, the road the runs by his farm was built during Roman times. Very cool.
In Helsinki, my parents were able to catch an opera festival that was staged in castle in the northern part of Finland. Evidently, that area is heavily forrested & just filled with lakes. In fact, the castle itself occupied an island in the middle of one and is only connected by a drawbridge.
While in Helsinki, my parents were able to hop over to Estonia, which is actually rather close. Being another former Soviet sphere nation, the city they visited had the same problems as Budapest - one side undeveloped & lovely, the other wretchedly ugly with decaying buildings, etc.
In any case, I'm rather envious of them. Really envious. However, they did buy me this very slick Sagaform cheese knife. Can you tell I like consolation prizes?
Also on this trip, I played delivery boy: dropped off 2 boxes of wine & my old tv (still has the Longpigs sticker on it!). Hopefully this'll be the last large delivery in a while.
Jet and Mike just departed an hour or so ago.
They arrived here late Wednesday night as part of the last leg of the Great American Roadtrip Part II. Since I was a fool, I hadn't eaten by 9 pm that night. So, instead of utter heinousness, I made & we had mandu - potstickers/gyoza/etc. - instead and talked about random stuff to an appropriately late hour.
Today started pretty slowly (surprise). We eventually made it out to the Smokehouse Market, home of some of the best sandwiches I've ever had. This was followed up by bubble tea. While in the area, we drove through Forest Park. Unfortunately, we arrived 5 minutes before the planetarium closed. As a consolation prize, I forced both Mike & Jet to watch His & Her Circumstances because it's THAT GOOD.
Dinner was at Llewellyn's Pub, a Welsh pub with some very good Fish & Chips. Brian joined us later for a drink.
I hope Jet & Mike didn't find their stay in St. Louis too boring. It would have been better if the weather had been more...cooperative i.e. not hot.
BTW...
Quote of the day - virelai: i won't eat your gonads if youc ome[sic]
