Adventures in Gastronomy

How appropriate that the last blog entry title I made before going on vacation were lyrics to a Motley Crue song…and now the first one upon my return is yet another 80’s power ballad from the same group? Who knew they’d be the soundtrack to my life (aside from “Girls, Girls, Girls”, of course).

Anyway, I flew back from Paris on Sunday afternoon and it was apparently right on time. According to my friend, Mark (who I stayed with in Paris), there was very heavy rains yesterday.

The remaining days in Paris were great. Although their pitiful meteorologist predicted rain every single day, none fell. There were some clouds, but the sign shined every day. Since my last blog post, I REALLY took it easy in Paris. On Friday, I helped Mark prepare for a big dinner he hosted that night. For the first time ever, I believe, he actually allowed another person in the kitchen to help him cook. In fact, we spent 5 hours preparing (using his fancy Kitchen Aid mixer and attachments, we made spinach and ricotta ravilo from scratch, shrimp scampi, and an apricot mousse (also from scratch). We started cooking aroung 3PM and finished at 8PM – just as the first guest arrived.

The next day (my last full day) I ran some errands with Mark in the morning, then took a walk in the Marais to Place des Vosges and then to the Musee Carnavalet – a museum devoted to Paris history. It was really interesting, actually (and I’m NOT a museum person). There were various wings of the building devoted to specific kings, and each wing was decorated in that time period. The artwork consisted mostly of models and/or paintings of what Paris looked like at that time.

Later in the day, I hopped on the Metro and went to Pere Lachaise. I’d wanted to visit this cemetery since my first visit nearly two years ago but only finally made it on Saturday. I got to see the final resting places of Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Modigliani, Sarah Bernhard, and Oscar Wilde (his memorial was covered in lipstick kisses).

That night, for my final dinner, Mark and I went to his favorite creperie then walked along the Siene taking in the city sights and watching people take dancing lessons (one group was doing ballroom, another salsa, etc…). Still, my favorite part of walking in Paris is hearing the guys playing the accordion on various bridges…it just looks and sounds so “Paris.”

Sunday morning, Mark and I watched one final episode of Will & Grace (a series that always reminds me of Paris) before I hopped on the RER train to the airport. At Gare du Nord, this dreadful little boy and his Svengali-like father boarded the train. The kid removed a cover from a microphone and amplifier and proceeding to karaoke to “Those Were the Days My Friend” in French. Unfortunately, the kid didn’t know the words (in any language) so aside from the chorus, all he did was go “Laaaa, laaa, laaa, la la la, laa, laa, laa, laaaa la la”. Oh, and he was off key. Needless to say, nobody paid him…and his father ranted to him in some undecipherable language (not French, though).

The flight was fine…we arrived an hour early and Randy greeted me at the airport with flowers (the day before was our 9 month anniversary….awwwww).

And now I’m back to work. Last night I began sorting through the photos. I should have them posted in my photo gallery sometime this week (I hope).

It’s good to be home!

June 12th, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

Yep, Cole Porter said it best. The end of my trip is fast approaching with only two full days left. I’m making the most of it, albeit alone now that Randy has left.

Let’s see, we arrived in Paris last Saturday. Mark had us join him as he went to various produce stands and markets to acquire food for that evening’s dinner. And what a dinner it was! As he’s done with my previous two visits, he hosted an incredible meal. It started with foie gras (which he purchased at a nearby foie gras shop….a shop that sells only that item!!!). That was followed by cold tomato soup with avacado, a main course of pork, salad, cheese, bread, and finally chocolate mousse. Not a bad way to start the Paris portion of the trip!

The next day we joined Mark on a trip near the Arche de Triumph, then separated from him and walked/shopped in le Marais. That night we ate at a lovely little restaurant on the Ille St-Louis (just around the corner). It was a prix fix meal and came with a delicious molten lava cake (which I’m already craving again).

We visited the Centre Pompidou on Monday (my second time, Randy’s first). By the end of the afternoon, however, we were both museumed out (the place is enormous). Unfortunately, this was Randy’s last night in Paris. We all got dinner from a place in le Marais, then Randy and I went for a late night walk – ultimately ending up getting a drink at the Bear’s Den (drinking outside overlooking the street scene).

Since Randy’s departure, I’ve been taking things more slowly. On Tuesday afternoon I visited le Defense (a 30+ story grand arch built in the late 1980’s). It’s a complete waste of time – don’t do it. The signs say there’s a “”panoramic view”….but all you get is the view in one direction….but you’re separated from the edge of the building by a tall 3 foot thick wall, then a “moat” type thing of a few feet, then another 3 foot wall. Basically, you can look straight out, but not around. Useless.

On Wednesday, I went to Vincennes Castle (or, Chateau des Vincennes in French). It’s a fortified castle built in the late 1350’s just outside of Paris. This was pretty cool. Unlike the Palace of Versailles (which is immaculate), this place is MUCH older and has had many lives. For a spell, it was once a prison (I even got to visit the cell of the Marquis de Sade).

Nowadays, it’s a historic landmark and you can explore the castle (the tallest in France, apparently) and the grounds. Unfortunately, the church building was having a new roof put on so I wasn’t able to enter it.

Today I visited the Catacombs. I’m probably getting some of this wrong but here’s what I could gather from the brochures: In the 1700’s, the city was having problems with over-crowding cemeteries. Bones were actually sticking out of the ground (I’m not sure why, but that’s what they said). Meanwhile, the city was excavating tunnels 60 meters under the city to obtain limestone to use in constructing buildings. What they did was take all of the bones from the city cemeteries and line the walls of miles of tunnels that flow underneath the city.

You enter at one subway stop and exit two subway stops later (the catacombs go below the subways and sewers…it’s very deep). And these tunnels are chock full of bones and skulls stacked in various formations. They’re literally lining the walls (and there’s no glass protecting you from touching them). It’s obviously very dark down there so my photos came out crappy (and you’re not allowed to use a flash). However, I did manage to get a few.

On that note – here are the Paris pictures!

First, one wall of the catacombs. Now imagine being 60 meters underground with low ceilings, no natural light, and dark nooks and corners. COOL! This is what you see.

And here is some French graffiti – found near le Defense.

Here’s a church near Forum des Halles (I’m sure I’d spell the church’s name incorrectly so I’m not even going to attempt).

You’ll find this statue (among many) inside the church.

Here is Chateau des Vincennes, amazing it’s nearly 700 years old.

Finally, a shot of a room inside the castle.

June 7th, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 4 Comments

I’ll try to keep this post concise, bit it’s going to be hard. OK – here goes: Prague is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. Period.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a soft spot for Paris (which has more cultural opportunities than Prague). And I still find Minneapolis so clean and attractive (for US cities). But Prague had the most gorgeous and clean architecture and lovely vistas and bridges. The people were friendly, the weather (compared to London) was lovely while we were there, it was a very affordable city (though that is likely to change once word gets out), and there is loads to do.

We arrived on a Tuesday afternoon to a spectacular sky. It was cloudy earlier in the day and it was breaking up – providing evening sun (which sets after 9PM) that cast light on buildings with perfect shadows for photo-taking. And the sky was ominous looking in the distance where the clouds had moved off to….but sunny directly above us.

The first thing we did was walk to the river and climb one of the Charles Bridge’s towers. From there we got a spectacular view of the region. For the record, Prague is known as the City of Towers…and for good reason. Nearly every old public building (not residential) comes with a tower or spire of some sort. And many of these towers are available to climb. All told, I think we climbed at least 4 of them – each with a slightly different perspective than the last.

We then crossed the river from Old Town to Lesser Town and had dinner at this lovely little authentic Czech restaurant. Surprisingly, I really loved Czech food (which was something that concerned me since it all sounded so heavy to me in guidebooks). They love their ham, pork, chicken, cheese, and saurkraut – and often incorporate all of those items into every dinner item.

The next day we walked through an outdoor market, down Wenceslas Square, and to the National Museum. The building is gorgeous – but it’s mostly a natural history museum on the inside (which we weren’t to keen on). Oh, another thing I loved about this city was that it offers student discounts to enter everything. By the end of our time there, I’d guess I saved over $20-$25 on entrance fees (compared to Randy) just by showing my Harvard ID.

After the museum, we walked toward the National Theatre (and the river again) before heading back for some rest before going to dinner at a cafe overlooking the Old Town Square.

On Wednesday, we explored the Jewish Quarter. Quite frankly. this tour was a waste. You pay an entrance fee to enter all of these old buildings (mostly churches) but the insides are no longer original – instead it’s all been replaced with various exhibits and displays. You’re also not allowed to take photos. The best part was the Jewish cemetery. Oh well, at least I got the student discount.

The next day we decided to take the funiculaire up Petrin (Love) Hill – a huge park across the river. The park is enormous and we climbed to the top of Petrin Tower (a mini Eiffel Tower) which afforded spectacular views from perhaps the highest vantage point in the city. It’s simply breathtaking to look down at all of the red-roofed buildings and distant rolling hills.

We finally returned back into Old Town (where we were staying) and climbed the old Town Hall Tower. This tower offered the best view of the old downtown area.

On Friday we finally tackled Prague Castle. This really isn’t a castle, per se. More of a palace with a few churches inside. It is enormous, however, and more of a fortified town. Still it was interesting. Perched atop a large hill, the castle has gigantic gardens, a gothic cathedral (with yet another tower we climbed), a shopping district, the former royal residence and housing for the workers (built into the side of the fortified wall).

By that night we were exhausted. We did a little bit of shopping (gift for mom, of course) and walked through the city a bit more…soaking up the architecture and atmosphere.

The only two downsides to the trip were that the city was swarming with tourists – even midweek. I think this was the most touristy place I’d ever been to. The second downside (for me, as a non-drug user) was that there was only one time (out of dozens) where we walked through the Old Town Square and weren’t asked if we wanted to buy drugs. It’s not dangerous at all (the place is swarming with people day and night and there is a constant presence of police to offer directions or assistance). I guess pot (or ganja, as they kept calling it) is something the police worry about.

All in all, I absolutely loved Prague. I can’t recommend it enough. I suspect it’s going to get more expensive as more and more people discover it’s beauty…and when it starts using the Euro in the near future. Hopefully these things won’t ruin the city. I definitely want to return and explore more of the city – and more of the surrounding hills (where you can find castles and old towns.

Here are just a few (of my) crappy photos. Randy’s are better and the bulk will eventually appear in my Yahoo Photo Gallery.

This is the view from Charles Bridge (on that first day I mentioned with the spectacular sky)

That’s me (duh) on the wall of Prague Castle, overlooking Lesser Town.

…and Randy, same bat channel, same bat time.

This is the view looking down from the tower at Old Town Hall.

This is one of the buildings overlooking Old Town Square.

Finally, Prague Castle from the Tower on top of nearby Petrin Hill. The green-topped tower in the center of the photo is the one we climbed.

June 6th, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

I’m nearly 13 days into my vacation and I’m just now finally able to blog about what I’ve been doing. Oy vey.

Let’s go back…way back. We left Boston on Thursday, May 24th and arrived in London on Friday morning. Randy got us bumped up to business class and what a difference that makes! The seats were wide, there was leg room enough to practically lie down, they serve alcohol (free) before the flight even took off, and you get a 4 course meal instead of the grub you get in coach. You even get to order your dinner off a menu!

Oh, and the funniest part was that our flight attendant was the same flight attendant I had on my first trip to Paris nearly two years ago. Back then, he gave me and Brad a bottle of wine. This time around he gave me two bottles! WOO HOO.

Upon arrival at Heathrow, we took the subway into town instead of the Heathrow Express train (which we discovered would only have saved us about 10-15 minutes in the long run, yet would have cost $30 more to ride).

Learning that wet and windy weather was expected for much of our trip, we took a brief nap then headed out to explore London in dry air. We went to London Bridge, Tower Bridge, London Tower, the Gherkin, Lloyd’s of London, some church near there, and to my favorite London lunch place: Pret a Manger (one of the only affordable places in the city).

The next day we toured Greenwich: Royal Observatory, Queen’s House, Greenwich Park (straddling the Meridian), and viewed the Cutty Sark – which had burned down just a few days before (we got to see and smell the charred remains). Later in the afternoon we headed into the heart of London and walked along St. Paul, the Millennium Bridge and finally to Tate Modern Museum.

By afternoon, it was raining.

…and it didn’t stop until we left 4 days later. The temperature also dropped into the 40’s and the wind was also approaching the 40mph mark. Oh yeah, sinct last year it was 95+ degrees and humid, I didn’t pack a jacket this time. Needless to say, it was miserable.

But we continued our London adventures over the next few days: Victoria and Albert Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Soho, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street, South Kensington, Buckingham Palace, and of course, Harrod’s: the most ridiculous place I’d ever seen. It’s like Vegas in London. Tacky as all hell…with statues of Dodi Al-Fayed and Princess Diana as angels or some such nonsense in the elevator vestibule. Then there’s a statue of Daddy Fayed as a Pharoah in another escalator vestibule. In the men’s department there’s another statue of Daddy just standing in a suit. It’s the silliest thing (and the place is way over-priced – $80 and up for a single pair of underwear).

But that’s par for the course in this most ridiculously expensive cities – where it costs $4 to go one subway stop and Thai food for three people (without drinks) costs you $75.00.

Long story short – I was eager to leave London. This was my second visit there and this was the second time I didn’t really like it. Ít’s too dirty, too crowded, and too expensive. Most museums are free (a definite plus), but everything else sucks your money away in no time. I wanted to give it a second chance and like to think that I went into it with an open mind….but London now has two strikes against it. Is the third time the charm? Who knows….I suspect it will be a while before I return, though.

However, Randy has been a great travel companion and his friends (who we stayed with in London) were wonderful.

It’s funny, London seems like a distant memory at this point since we left it over a week ago. But here are a few of my photos from that portion of the trip. As always, Randy’s photos will be better and I’ll eventually post all of the photos in my Yahoo Photo Gallery in the future. These are just a sampler. Oh, and I’ll write about Prague tomorrow.

Here is London Tower….the day before the monsoons

And here is the Gherkin…I kinda’ like it.

These are the stairs inside the Queen’s House in Greenwich. I’m rather fond of how this one came out. You’re not allowed to take photos in there…but I did anyway. Shhhhhh!

June 5th, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 2 Comments

I’m now in Paris (having arrive bright and early yesterday morning).  The 4 days in Prague were amazing. I can’t recommend that city enough. It was the cleanest and prettiest city I have ever scene. The maze of streets and medievil alleyways fascinated (and confused) me at every turn. I actually ended up in the wrong direction a few times (and I normally have a keen sense of direction and a good handling of maps).

Anyway, we were both said to leave and wished we had cut the London portion of the trip shorter (damn you, rain) and extended the Prague part. It’s a city we’d both like…no, love…to visit again.

And now we’re in Paris. We arrived yesterday and the weather has been great (70’s sunny). There’s a rumor that’s set to change, but we’ll see.

I hope to post photos later this evening (Sunday) or sometime Monday. Randy ditches me on Tuesday morning so I’m on my own the rest of the trip (until Mark gets the weekend off). After all of the walking and climbing (Prague is known as the city of towers…and I think we climbed all but one) I could use a few days of rest.

June 3rd, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 1 Comment

Hey, all!

Things are going well in Europe. I’ve not yet suffienciently gotten on Randy’s nerves yet…and he’s avoided getting on mine. The weather in London was pure crap. The first day was nice, but it rained Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Ugh.

We did manage to get to loads of places, though: Royal Observatory, Victoria and Albert Musuem, (the recently charred) Cutty Sark, London Tower, Tower Bridge, the Gherkin, Harrod’s (unbelievable), National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Soho, London City, Piccadilly Circus, South Kensington…and more (I’m sure I’m forgetting).

We arrived in Prague yesterday via EasyJet (I don’t understand people’s complaints about this budget airline. The plane was new, the crew was friendly, the ride was efficient. Anyway, Prague is AMAZING. It’s unbelievably beautiful, our apartment/hotel is in the heart of everything and the weather is far better than London (albeit with clouds). But over the next three days the weather is to approve. So far we’ve only done Old Town Square (our backyard) and the Charles Bridge. We’ve still got the National Museum, Prague Castle and dozens of other places to see.

Alas, the hotel’s free computer doesn’t have a USB port so I am unable post photos until I get to Paris this weekend. So please be patient, my dear poodles, and I will overwhelm you soon. Well, as long as I can figure out this damn Czech keyboard. Things are in weird places…there are extra letters and some keys have 4 functions (for example one single button does four different things, but I can’t figure out how to shift (or control) to get the other functions to appear.

So, that will be my reason for any typos today. It’s the keyboard, it’s not me.

May 30th, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

And that’s just what I’m doing this evening. After work I’ll be hopping on a plane and crossing the pond one more time. I’ve got my gummi bears, I’ve got my magazines, i’ve got my iPod(s) (bringing the old Mini…just in case) and I’m bringing my Ativan. I think the latter item is the most important.

We have no firm plans in any destination despite the fact that I’ve been browsing websites and tour guide books for months. Randy has a few of his own (wants to go to British Museum in London and Montmarte in Paris). But my itinerary is rather empty. I’m not much of a museum person. I’d much rather just explore the city (architecture, streets, parks). I’m sure we’ll come up with some compromises. If not, I am in Paris and extras 5 days and can do the rest on my own: me and my iPod.

Oh, and it’s my birthday. I love websites like Friendster and Ringo because since those sites have existed, I get a lot more birthday wishes. Reminders are good. At 36, I’m going to be requiring electronic gadgets to remind me of things (my memory is not what it used to be).

Another good thing to keep me remembering things are memes….and I just got this one from J.P.

So here are the rule of the tag:

* Post a similar post like this one and add a linkback to the person who tagged you.
* List down 5 reasons why you blog about the things you blog on your blog.
* Choose your 5 tag ‘victim’ and tag them nicely
* Write a comment on their blog letting them know that you tagged them. Voila!

This should be easy, no?

1 – I blog first and foremost because it’s therapeutic. I suspect it’s no coincidence that I first started blogging about 6 months before ending a nearly 10 year relationship. The blog was a way for me to communicate with others (even if I didn’t specificaly chronicle that we were falling apart). When we actually did break up, it was all on here (go back to the fall of 2004 if you’re interested).

2 – I blog to get advice and/or opinions. Lately, the topic has been about iPod’s a lot. In the past, I’ve blogged about purchasing homes and such and the advice I get from readers is invaluable.

3 – I blog because I like to play devil’s advocate and get people’s juices flowing. I love for people to read it and think “hell, yeah – I know exactly what you mean.”. Even better, I love it when readers think “who the hell do you think you are?”

4 – I blog because I think I can be funny and I think I have stuff to share. Yeah, yeah, yeah – that’s not always the case. But I do always try to incorporate some humor/sarcasm/exaggeration into my postings. And more often than not my blog title each day humorously relates to the topic at hand in an “unrelated” sort of way (such as today’s reference to 80’s hair-band masters, Poison).

5 – I blog because it keeps my mind active. I honestly don’t write anymore. I never write letters.  Emails are getting shorter and shorter. Text messages eliminate prose altogether. At least here I can construct complete paragraphs (whether grammatically correct or not).

So there you have it: My 5 Reasons to Blog. Now it’s my turn to force this responsibility onto others:

(Since I suck at providing links, here are the names. Their links are in the red section on the right)

• Vexed in the City, Karyn
• DesignerBlog, Will
• Manley One, Mark
• Life of Bryan, Bryan
• Tao of Davis, Jessie

May 24th, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 6 Comments

Most of you are probably unaware of something called Chapter 91. For Massachusetts, it essentially means that development along protected waterways is limited and public access to water must be incorporated into any designs* (if you can build at all).

If that was the case, I’d be for it 100%.

A court ruling has determined, though, that this legislation includes ANYTHING that is (or was) built on land that was once water-adjacent. This puts most of the Boston waterfront, South Boston, South End, Bay Bay, and Fenway on the list despite the fact that these areas were developed on landfill…in many cases over 150 years ago. That’s absurd, Washington Street in the South End was water (marsh) adjacent in the 1700’s…but hasn’t been for nearly two centuries. To consider any part of that neighborhood relevent in a discussion of a “waterfront” community is absurd.

The problem now is that there is a large development taking place along the Cambridge/Somerville/Boston border near Lechemere that is well inland. In fact, the land between it and the Charles River has been developed already (some as park land, some as offices, some as condos/apartments) and not a single corner of this plot of land touches any body of water. Yet this massive area of land, reclaimed from landfill generations ago currently sits as a weed infested, construction material strewn, wasteland. A development called North Point was planned and has begun construction. Currently 3 condo/apartment buildings are 90% complete and future development is planned for retail, a relocated subway stop, condos, apartments and an enormous central park.

But that’s now on hold because some stupid Cambridge NIMBY’s (stands for “Not In My Back Yard”…meaning people who refuse to let anything get built…ever) have won in court by claiming that this is “protected land” in accordance with Chapter 91.

Great! In an area in dire need of more housing an enormous swath of land that is currently useless and all but abandoned will get to remain just that: useless and abandoned. I may not have liked the design of NorthPoint (it was too reminiscent of Charles River Park for me), but it would still benefit the community/cities.

I read that the governor is getting involved. Not just for NorthPoint but for any other development that could take place in downtown Boston since a good chunk of that land (even if 1/2 mile inland) could be considered within the jurisdiction of Chapter 91.

In lighter news – (stop bitching, Karl), I fixed my most recent iPod problem thanks to the tech-saavy brilliance of Keith! WOO HOO If anybody has problems with artists appearing multiple times on your iPod, check out his comment from a few days back! You rock, Keith!

*I’m not a developer or lawyer…and what I know is simply based on articles in newspapers and online chatboards. I do NOT claim to have a complete understanding of Chapter 91.

May 23rd, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 3 Comments

I can’t believe we leave for vacation in two days. I started packing last night and am second-guessing my decision to pack light. Since we’re going to be flying so much (Boston to London, London to Prague, Prague to Paris, Paris to Boston) I didn’t want to have to check luggage at each destination (and the low-cost carrier’s we’re using to get around Europe have more strict carry-on allowances). I’d rather the convenience of getting up and going without waiting for luggage that could potentially get lost.

Besides, despite this being a 2.5 week trip, we will have access to a washer/dryer in each destination so there is no sense in packing more than 4 or 5 days worth of clothes. But Mark (my friend in Paris) ordered some stationery while he was in the states back in April and I agreed to bring it to him once it arrived. It has arrived and the two boxes take up half of my suitcase! I’ve pawned one box off to Randy to pack and that has helped. But it’s still making it a tight fit.

Complicating matters is that unlike last year’s trip (which was late June/early July) this year we’re traveling a bit earlier in the season and it appears that the weather is going to be drastically different. Last year, it was sunny and 80’s (or higher) every day. Easy packing decision: shorts and t-shirts.

This year, it appears that temperatures are going to go from mid 70’s and humid on Friday to lower 50’s the next day. That means I have to pack jeans…and maybe a jacket. Oh, and showers are expected so that means adding an umbrella and water-proof shoes. Oy vey.

Maybe I’ll just ship his paper.

Oh, but there is a silver-lining (hence my blog title today). Randy has Executive Platinum status with American Airlines since he travels over 100,000 miles per year. Somehow he managed to get us free upgrades from coach to business class. I’ve never flown anything but coach before so I’m not sure what to expect. Randy says better wine and food and bigger pillows and blankets. But the part I like best is that while coach has seating in rows with 2 seats, then aisle, 5 seats, then aisle, then 2 seats, the business class seating ratio is 2/3/2 with more legroom in front, more space on the side, and seats that recline further back.

I could get used to this. 

May 22nd, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 7 Comments

I had a lazily busy weekend, if that makes sense. We got together with lots of people, but did it all within the confines of our own homes so we didn’t have to really go anywhere. Friday night Randy came over and we watched DVD’s. Saturday we did a bit of shopping. Saturday night we had Ben and Sandy over (to his place) and we BBQ’d dinner, played games (Pictionary, Aggressive Uno, Monkey Ball) and had birthday cupcakes. And Sunday we got together with Marin, Roger, Chris, Pete, and Jeff for dinner, conversation and more birthday cake.

All in all, a good weekend.

And I didn’t even complain in this blog! But since you brought it up…..

(oh wait, I brought it up. Never mind)

Anyway, on Sunday night some of the guests were readers of my blog. And some light-hearted ribbing went on about how I piss and moan about my iPod. A lot. I admit it – I’m guilty. Another person commented about my recent post about anti-discrimination laws (although that post wasn’t so much complaining as it was ranting or, worse, rambling).

I started to wonder if I bitch too much on here. But then I started wondering why I blog in the first place. I mean, if I didn’t rant about politics, technology, people, religion, and, generally, societies ills, what else would there be to blog about? I mean, I don’t intend for this blog to have a completely misanthropic tone every day. And I do hope that it comes off as sarcasm more often than not. For example, I’m not completely helpless with the iPod. I’m just lazy and don’t want to have to research solutions. And when I kvetch about politics, I often do it to play devil’s advocate to see if somebody can comment and sway my opinions in any way (it’s been known to happen).

Anyway, I’ll try to lighten things up around here. How’s this for a start?

You can’t go wrong with cute puppies (even if the look dead).

May 21st, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl . Comments: 8 Comments