Success may be imminent

Well, my roommates and I will probably have to bite a bit of bullet when it comes to renting, but we've found a pretty solid place to look at tomorrow in Gramercy. Hopefully it goes well...from the online listing, I'd be down with living there for a couple of years.

Only in America

Sometimes, I wonder about the sanity of this country. At Eschaton, a political blog I read on a daily basis, Atrios (the main poster) used to have a much more frequent edition of postings entitled 'Bobo's World' (Google will prove useful) about some of the odder happenings from around America. While it's become less frequent staple at the blog of late - a good sign, perhaps? - I then read stories like this...and we wonder why the American public school system is generally held in low regard. Bringing an autistic child to the front of the room and then having the rest of the students vote him out of class should be a firing offense. At the very least, it deserves a harsh reprimand and the teacher to undergo some kind of sensitivity training.

But what marginally bothers me more are the commenters on the website, who, while outnumbered, defend the teacher's actions and/or blame the autistic kid.

What the hell?

On the other hand...

I almost always enjoy setting up new computers. There was a new arrival (a laptop) today, so I'm having fun uninstalling all of the useless crap that comes pre-installed and installing more useful things.

Just to make it clear...

Looking for apartments in New York City is no fun.

Interesting

Today was the first time I stepped foot in a Whole Foods store. I've heard good things about them and their business practices (mostly from my academic readings), as well as getting a kick out of the fact that their CEO, John Mackey, used an Internet sockpuppet to promote his company's stock on Yahoo! Finance forums, of all places.

Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised that they effectively allowed you buy meals and had seating for it. I picked up a chicken Caesar wrap for a price of $5.99. For what it's worth, it was cheaper and of better quality than anything I would've gotten at the Au Bon Pain on my university's campus. Also, the 30-minute round-trip walk to and from the store probably helped burn off any calories I picked up from lunch. That's a good deal.

The negative aspects of positive things

Alright, that was a rather lame play on the Bad Religion song The Positive Aspect of Negative Thinking. To my main point, though - sunshine is generally considered a good thing. However, too much of it - such as when one gets sunburned - is a bad thing. And then it gets worse when your skin begins to peel.

That's the current state of most of my left arm and the tips of my ears. Good stuff.

That time of the season

Went in and got a haircut today. My girlfriend will probably not be pleased (she much prefers my hair to look 'homeless', to use an analogy from The Office), but it was time to do the deed. While I don't mind longer hair in the colder seasons, it just burns me up during the summer and contributes to my already-high tendency to sweat excessively.

At least act like you care

I know Northwest Airlines is merging with Delta, but they could at least provide some semblance of reasonable service. On the Pacific portion of our flight to Hawaii, the lead flight attendant seemed to ramble at will and didn't seem particularly aware of what was going on. The flight back was particularly brutal; we had an extended layover in Kona (on the Big Island) that went too long. Meanwhile, the AC was off, and passengers (including ourselves) had to effectively beg for water.

Back in the day, Northwest used to be my family's airline of choice for accumulating miles on. Those days are long gone.

Finally got the new phone

I decided on the Moto Q...I'll be reviewing it more comprehensively (relatively speaking) tomorrow. All in all, it seems to work pretty well. My only complaint is the lack of some kind of scrolling wheel, but it's a relatively minor flaw.

Incompetence in the workplace

I wasted about 90 minutes of prime afternoon time in the mall, waiting for someone at the local AT&T shop to set up a new account. I come home, talk to someone on the phone for 10-15 minutes, and my new account is set up - all I need to do is pick up a phone.

People should know how to do their jobs. When I ran the operations at a student-run bank, no one would have ever gotten away with the mind-blowing incompetence that was on performance today. Opening a new cell phone account should be one of the easiest tasks to perform.

Afternoon delight

A particularly good snack that I've made in the past is guacamole. The linked recipe is what I use (minus the cayenne peppers), and it always turns out very well. Today, I finally decided to measure out the amount of onions I used...in the past, my eyeballing half an onion to be half a cup usually was off, making the flavor infused with far more onion than necessary. It turned out well today, so I'm happy about that. Maybe in the future, I'll get adventurous and try adding the peppers.

Terms of endearment

"Brick of meat" has to be a new one. I'm not even sure that's a proper culinary term.

:)

Decisions, decisions

Sometime this week, I need to go get a new cellphone. I'll be moving off of my family's plan onto my own, so I figure I may as well score a new phone at the same time. I've decided to get a PDA-type phone, but not a Blackberry, which doesn't have 3G capability (at least not through AT&T, my service provider). I'm deciding between the Moto Q and the BlackJack II, which wasn't on my radar but has some pretty good reviews on the AT&T website and at CNet. The local shop will be getting a visit from me tomorrow to test out both, but I'm currently leaning towards the Moto Q, which, while slightly bigger, will probably be easier for me to use because of its larger size (and keypad).

What sucks is that the package for unlimited data and messaging costs $50/month - which will be more than I pay for my phone plan (the basic $40/month). It kind of makes me question if it's even worth it and if I should just stick with my current phone (the now-defunct Motorola SLVR) and just get a new phone plan. I'm sure I could find another way to spend the $600/year in savings.

That's actually a fair bit of money once I type it out.

This is good pasta sauce

This recipe for pasta sauce is most excellent...it has a bit of a kick to it (thanks to the red pepper flakes), making it a flavorful, slightly spicy addition to your dinner. I first used it for a meal I made with my girlfriend back in December, but my mother has since become a big fan and makes it with pasta nowadays. It's also fun to make, what with squishing canned tomatoes with your bare hands and all.

Ain't nothing like a New York slice of pizza

Too bad that the prices have gone up, though. A slice of plain 'ole thin-crust cheese pizza now sets me back at least $2.50 at the local joints in town. I highly doubt that the two-slice + soda special for $4.50 at Fascati's, my preferred chomping grounds last summer, exists at that price anymore. Damn commodity prices...

Best dinner from vacation

Although we ate at many great places in Hawaii, one restaurant (at least for dinner) stood head and shoulders above the rest. This restaurant had arguably the best sushi I've eaten stateside. In particular, their ahi sashimi sushi roll was out of this world.

Back from Hawaii

Well, it was a blast while it lasted. My girlfriend and I had a great 4 days or so on the island of Maui; I wish we had a few more days to visit a couple of landmarks and bum on the beaches. Nevertheless, it was most excellent, and it's always a pleasure to go back to the paradise in the middle of the Pacific. I'll get some pictures up once I've settled in back here in New York.