Monthly Archive for June, 2004

Blog entry for Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Published
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Andy
on 6/30/2004
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It’s been a couple of days. I’m trying to get better.

Last night I got to drive to Newark, but it wasn’t really to do anything. Roxy needed a ride home from work. It took about an hour, and the Garden State Parkway is fun to drive on in a way. But after the outing to retrieve Roxy (and Brent, who was relying on Roxy for a ride), we decided to watch this film “Spartan” that I’ve been talking up for a while. It’s pretty good. Check it out.

Before I went to Newark, though, I went someplace I haven’t been to since I’ve been out here. That’s right, I went to McDonalds. Afterwards I came to the conclusion that I am finally ready to end my relationship with McDonalds. It’s been a long and sometimes trying relationship. Don’t get me wrong, there have been really great times (late-night cheeseburger runs!), and I know I’ll miss those fries sometimes, but I think in the end we’re just no longer good for one another. The nail in the coffin of our relationship? Disappointment. After a late night at work I was really craving a couple of cheeseburgers and some fries. I went inside, placed my order, and in only a few moments I was handed a nice, colorful paper bag containing the food items I’d grown to love over the years. However, they really let me down. Both burgers were dry and cold. I just couldn’t warm up to them. My fries had definitely been under the hot lights for a little too long. Suddenly, the attraction was gone. I started to ask myself what love really was. Was it the familiar taste? The texture? My friend Jeremy once told me he thought it was the temperature of fast food that keeps us coming back, that the warmth was what we really craved. I suppose that’s true. But all of those things, despite how I’d fallen for them in the past, just didn’t excite me anymore. So McDonald’s, I officially break up with you. I’m sorry, but it’s over.

Besides, there’s this cute Wendy’s down the street I’ve been meaning to get to know…

Also, here’s a great article about how McDonald’s is the devil.

Monday? Well, I didn’t do much on Monday. I’ve got interesting plans for tonight and tomorrow, though, so stay tuned. How’s that for a nice, short update? Took you all of a minute and a half to get up-to-date on Andy’s adventures. Bet you wish I’d keep it like this more often, huh? Well, we’ll see. Some days I have a lot to say, some days I don’t. Some days I like to ramble. You know, just keep on typing despite the fact that everything important I had to say has already been said. I don’t know. It feels weird to stop writing so soon, like I need to hit a word count limit. Speaking of, I checked my profile the other day. It keeps track of a lot of things, including the number of words I’ve written, which was just over 20,000. Twenty-thousand. Wow. That seems like a lot of words. That’s just about equivalent to what, my final thesis paper? Wow. That seems like a lot of writing. Perhaps I could just turn in my blog as my final project. I’d better make sure I include lots of filler words like this. If it’s not long enough, I’ll just mess with the margins and the leading. Don’t forget to use Courier New. It’s possible, with the right kind of skills, to practically double the length (in page numbers only) of any paper that you’ve written. There should be a class on skills such as this. Ah, geeze, I’m rambling again.

Keep it real, take care…

The Byzantine Empire and the best pie in the 5 boroughs

Published
by
Andy
on 6/28/2004
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OK, so now I’ll admit I’ve slipped into the bad habit of not updating as frequently as I should. I’m starting to wonder what I’m up to these days. Part of the whole point of this thing is to chronicle my adventures, as much for my own enjoyment as for anyone else’s.

So last you heard from me, I’d been to the city on Wednesday night to see the 5.6.7.8.’s. What have I been up to since? Well, Thursday was pretty uneventful. I don’t even remember what I did. You see, that’s why I need to do this daily. Now Thursday the 24 of June, 2004 is forever lost in a sea of more poignant memories. I think we’ll both live.

Friday was another story entirely. You see, there’s been a brash of people at the paper I work for leaving to take jobs elsewhere. On Friday there was a small get-together to honor one of them. It was at this restaurant called Beacon Street Grille. (Think of a non-gimicky version of TGI Friday’s or Applebee’s.) There we just had good conversation and a few drinks. It’s nice to be able to build a network of people out here. After Beacon Street, some of the younger crowd decided to go to this bar-type-place called the Boathouse. Not exactly my scene, but I can dig just about anything. The highlight was a friend recommended this beer called Magic Hat #9. The stuff is good. It has a hint of apricot, but it’s not fruity. Quite tasty. Apparently it’s only available in the New England and East Coast area. I’d get it again. You should try it if you can find it.

It turned out to be a pretty late night, but I didn’t mind. The next day was Saturday, after all. And what a Saturday it was. I of course slept in. I mean, why wouldn’t I, right? Roxy’s had it in mind to do some gardening work, and I wanted to help. I kind of like gardening. So we had a meager breakfast (time to go shopping again) and then got our hands dirty transplanting and planting. It was kind of fun. Roxy’s friend Dope (obviously a nickname, to protect the innocent) was on a train on the way down to Asbury, so when he arrived we had to stop and go pick him up, which we thought would be a quick thing. Instead, we ended up taking him to the Asbury Park boardwalk to show him all the history. He’s a photographer, and the old architecture and general decrepitude of the Asbury shore are like a photographer’s dream, so he was snapping a lot of pictures. After we walked to boardwalk, we went to eat at this little Mexican place called in another town called La Hacienda. It’s very good, very authentic Mexican dining, with tables on the sidewalk. So cool. Then we walked down the street to this ice cream joint. Ice cream is good.

The rest of that day and night was pretty mellow. Dope came back to the house with Roxy and I; he’s staying for a few days. There was fun and conversation and music and a few adult beverages. A very memorable evening with good company.

Sunday was a whole other adventure. We (we being Roxy, Dope, and myself) decided to head into the city to check out the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of those great art museums they talk about in your humanities books. It was very cool. It’s located on 5th Ave, and juts off into Central Park. The view from the roof garden is spectacular. You really get a sense of the city, and of how big Central Park is. You really feel you’re in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. While at the museum, we saw a Byzantine era exhibit, which is mostly religious imagery and symbolism. It’s really amazing how much money religious people have spent over the centuries to make objects. God is rich.

Another exhibit was the Eqyptian exhibit. It was very cool. They had a whole large room devoted to a temple that had been transplanted, complete with a reflecting pool around it. What really struck Roxy and I about the stones, though, was the grafitti. Between and even sometimes on top of the ancient hieroglyphs were taggings by people from centuries ago. People would carve their name and the date into the stone, defacing it. We had kind of thought grafitti was a 20th century thing, but the guide said people have been defacing things like this all through history. Many of the taggings we saw were the 18-whatever version of Mike Wuz Here.

Only being able to spend a few hours at the museum, we didn’t get to see everything. It was a nice little taste, though. And speaking of tastes, our next stop was a good one.

We walked down 82 St., past where we’d parked. (Roxy says we have good parking juju. We were very close to the museum.) We were looking for a good slice of New York pizza. We found it. We stopped at this awesome little Italian restaurant called Lacotta (I think, I’ll double check.) There, I had the best authentic Sicilian pizza I’ve ever had. Perfect carmelized onions, sauce to die for, a crust that was perfectly crispy yet gave very easily when you bit into it. Really, we talked about how good the place was for about a half an hour afterward, and again later that night when recounting our trip to a friend. I can’t say it was the best. It’s the only New York pizza I’ve had so far. But it was damn good. But, to be fair, if you’re a New Yorker and you know better pizza can be found, by all means, share the wealth. This is a call to all New Yorker’s: Where can I find the best pie in the 5 boroughs? I really would like to know. I love pizza.

We decided that was where we’d cut off a really great day in the city. I mean, who wants to spoil that by walking all over until our feet were tired. Granted, when I think about it now, we probably spent more time driving to and from and around Manhattan than we actually spent in the city. Traffic seemed pretty bad to me for a Sunday, but then again I’m not from around here.

It turned out that the next day, that is today, was our friend Mouse’s birthday. So after we left the city, we went straight to find Mouse and take her out for some birthday ice cream. We went to this place called Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream. The gimmick here is they use a giant cold stone to prepare and mix their ice cream treats. It was very cool to watch. Now, the ice cream itself was pretty good. It wasn’t like “omigosh” good, but it hit the spot. Next we took Mouse home and had some tea and chatted while Dope gave Mouse a foot massage. (This is apparently something he specializes in.) That made for a good end to a good night and a good weekend. Hopefully today there will be more fun to be had.

OK, I must apologize for the long entries. I know you kinda want to skip over it. That’s another reason I should try to wright every day. It keeps the entries to a sane length. Take care…
ON AIR: nada

Give me a break

Published
by
Andy
on 6/24/2004
in Log and Observations
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Cripes. I don’t post on my internet weblog for 4 days and people think I’ve DIED? Are these posts that riveting? Is it like getting ready to watch your favorite TV show and finding reruns for three weeks in a row? Perhaps you’ve fogotten there are other means of contacting me?

So what have I been up to since early Sunday morning? Not much. It’s been a rather uneventful week, up until last night. Last night rocked. But let me catch you up on the non-events first.

Sunday night was fun. Actually, it’s not a non-event at all. It was an event. There was a mojito party/bonfire at Mouse’s place, attended by Roxy, Mouse, J, and myself. There were mojitos and s’mores and “Malcolm in the Middle” galore. It was good times. What is a mojito, you ask? Let me digress…

< tangent >

While rooting around the Web, I stumbled upon a new favorite Web site, or at least a frequently visited one. It’s a perfect cross between entertainment and usefulness. It’s www.droogle.ca. It’s an imitation of Google, obviously, but it is also an extensive mixed drink database. So go there and type in “mojito” and see what you get. Also type in your favorite expletive. Lots of larfs.

< /tangent >

So back to the mojito party. Actually, that’s about it. We sat around a fire, ate s’mores and drank mojitos. Oh, and there was some darn good chicken-type sausage for eats before the fire was started. Yum.

Monday? What can I say about Monday. I went to work, a little tired but OK. I left work, went home, worked on some projects, then watched a movie when Rachel came home from work. Monday was good and mellow.

Tuesday? Tuesday was great. Again, went to work, came home, had some pizza. Then Talula called and invited me to go to a bar near Asbury with some other Press kids. (I say kids, even though I’m usually the youngest by about 10-15 years.) It was good times. Some beers and some laughs.

Wednesday? Now there’s the real ticket. My Wednesday has been the highlight of my week thus far. I drove to Brooklyn to see a band called the 5.6.7.8.’s at a club called Southpaw. You’ll remember the 5.6.7.8.’s as the band that was playing at the House of Blue Leaves in Kill Bill Vol. 1. Three Japanese women playing guitar rock. They were a blast to watch play. The club was pretty cool, too. And I only got a little lost in Brooklyn trying to find the place. Well, maybe a bit lost, but J and I did get there in time. Last time we depend on phone directions from J’s sister. We met Roxy and a long lost friend of her’s, who lived in Japan for a while. After the show, we had to take Roxy’s friend back to Manhattan where he’s living, but not before we stopped at Yaffa cafe on St. Mark’s. This was my first return trip to an establishment in the city, so that was cool. The drive home was a little tiring, but I made it just fine, by about 4:30 this morning. And get this: I made the whole trip with my T-Bird. That’s right, the T-Bird has now touched Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan roads. It’s been over the bridges and through Holland Tunnel. Very cool. Indiana just won’t seem the same to my poor car.

What else is on the plate for this entry? My dad forwarded me a great email. Actually, it’s just a link to draftbruce.com, a site that asks you sign a petition asking Bruce Springsteen to put on a concert at Giants Stadium at the exact same time as the Republican nomination is declared, which will be Bush, duh. Hey, that’d be awesomes. I signed it. So should you.

Take care…

ON AIR: The Killers - Smile Like You Mean It

Touching comets, aspartame, and terrorists

Published
by
Andy
on 6/20/2004
in Observations
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How ’bout those terrorist guys, eh? Every time I hear about heinous crimes against humanity like the recent beheading of yet another American, a little part of my brain says we should severe every connection we have with the Middle East, pull all Westerners out, build a big wall around the damn place, and sell tickets. It would be like “The Road Warrior: Beyond Thunderdome.” These people seem to think God told them to kill everyone who doesn’t agree with them. That’s a difficult motivation to tackle. I mean, we can deal with greed and power and pride, but people who believe they are doing God’s work are hard to talk down. What’s worse is they become heroes. The saddest part about the whole thing is that many Saudi’s cheered the killers on, despite their government’s support of American interests. Enough about that.

Tonight while at Target, I purchased a bottle of the new Coke product, CocaCola: C2. It’s Coke’s very late match of Pepsi’s Pepsi One, even though it has 45 calories instead of 1. Basically Coke tried to make a cola that was sweetened half with aspartame and half with sugar. It doesn’t taste that bad, but still has that diet soda aftertaste. To be honest, I’m against the use of aspartame. It goes by many names. Sweet N Low, NutraSweet, etc. Newer labels like to use the term “phenylalanine,” because the public is growing suspicious of the term aspartame. Sure, artificial sweeteners reduce the amount of sugar you consume, but the side effects of over use can be devastating to your body. Aspartame can act as a neurotoxin in many people. It’s a carcinogen. Why has the U.S. government done nothing about it? Because Americans spend trillions of dollars on diet products. If the government were to outlaw aspartame, the industry would come to a grinding halt. If you don’t believe me, check out this Web site, sweetpoison.com. If you want to lower your intake of sugar, stop eating and drinking products that are high in sugar. DO NOT just switch to the same products except with aspartame. It’s a very unhealthy choice.

Lastly, do you remember being a kid and looking up at the stars and wondering what they felt like? Well, I did. And just the other day we got one step closer. According to this Washington Post article, NASA scientists sent a spacecraft into the solar system in 1999. The spacecraft just passed through the tail of the comet Wild 2 (pronounced “Vilt”). While in the tail, it opened a catchers-mit type device and collected a sample of the particles in the tail. It’s going to be returning to Earth in early 2006 with it’s cargo. This will be the first time since our visits to the moon that we’ve actually collected something from another celestial object and brought it back to Earth. In my mind, it’s freakin’ amazing. We sent a spacecraft to a comet, collected a sample, and are bringing it back. It blows the mind that we humble creatures are capable of such feats.

Take care…

ON AIR: Mazzy Star - Five String Serenade

Philadelphia is very old

Published
by
Andy
on 6/20/2004
in Log
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That was the first thing that really struck me about Philly. Everything looked like it had been there for a very long time, much more like a European city than an American city. (Granted, I’ve never been to a European city, but I’ve seen lots of pictures.) There were lots of narrow, cobblestone streets and lots of very old brick buildings.

The second thing I noticed is that the streets look like the streets from Sesame Street. I expected to see Snuffleupagus dancing down the street at any given time. But that would have been kind of cool. There were lots of people sitting on doorsteps, but none of them were singing.

Our main reason for going to Philly was so Mouse could get her hair cut. (I’ve started using aliases, per request of a certain someone who is very, very, very shy until she drinks. Just kidding.) So the group this time was Mouse, Talula and myself. After Mouse got a decent cut at this place called Le Bomb Chele, I insisted on getting a Philly cheese steak while in Philly. So I did, at this place called Pat’s. It was pretty darn good. Made with Cheese Whiz, which is awesome. Not so good that anything less than a steak from Philly would be a disgrace, but good enough.

After that, we went to another section of town. I can’t remember what it was called. We walked up and down a street for a while and then stopped in this place called Fat Tuesdays. It was all dressed up like, you guessed it, Mardi Gras. It was kind of touristy, but they did have killer frozen daiquiris. I had one called a hurricane. I have no idea what was in it, but it was good. I’m usually not one for girly drinks, but this was above and beyond the usual ice-and-fruit-juice-with-a-touch-of-liquor-to-make-it-a-”drink” fare. They must have had a dozen machines behind the counter just churning this stuff out. It was really the only thing people there were drinking.

After that, we walked to another area where we ate at this restaurant called Taco House. I only had nachos, because I was still pretty full. Talula (I feel dumb using aliases) used to live in Philly, and she recommended the place. It was really a hole in the very old wall. But it had that old city charm.

Our next stop was at what Talula claimed was one of her favorite Philly joints. It was a dive-type bar called Dirty Frank’s. On the wall outside of the door was a giant mural covered with pictures of famous Franks through the ages, from Frank Sinatra to St. Francis. It was a neat little place. They make a strong jack and coke, too.

The next section was too far to walk, so we moved the car. Parking in Philly is worse than parking in NYC, at least it seemed that way last night. We went to this bar called the Khyber to see this band called Mcluskey. The band wasn’t my usual type. They were a kind of screaming punk band. But anything sounds good when played loud and hard in a small, crowded, hot bar in a city. Not sure I’d pay to see them again, but I got no regrets.

The final stop for the night was this bar/hangout called Sugar Mom’s. It was very cool. Of course, if you didn’t know exactly what you were looking for, there’s no way you could find this place. It’s in the basement of a poorly labeled building with is set back a way from the middle of a cobblestone ally. Luckily Talula was there to guide us. Sugar Mom’s looks like a scary wine cellar with no wine. It was huge for a city building, with brick pyramid-shaped pillars holding up the ceiling. There were old arcade games and pinball machines and tables set up everywhere. The place was far from crowded. It was very laid back. The music wasn’t too loud. A place I would probably frequent if I lived in Philly. We just sat and talked. Mouse got hit on by a very drunk black guy. We played some pinball and generally just hung out and drank until last call. Then we had to find our way back to the car, which was pretty far away by this point.

Leaving town, Mouse drove us through downtown so we could see independence Hall, which was pretty impressive. Very old. Lot’s of history. That about defines Philadelphia. Perhaps I’ll return some day. Take care…

ON AIR: PJ Harvey - Pocket Knife