I regret to report the following information

I received a one-two punch this afternoon while reading one of my favorite local news sources, Gothamist. At your own caution, please read this article.

Now, I loves me the grits. When I see grits offered on a New York City restaurant menu my inner child jumps up an down with joy, and, of course, I order them. And when I have the time, I will make grits at home (to be more exact, cheese grits, yum!). I never knew that you weren't supposed to inspect your grains (ie, grits, rice, quinoa, etc) before you cooked them. I just thought was something everyone did, you know, to check for pebbles and bugs. Oops. My bad for assuming. Apparently, basic food preparation, and basic respect for grits, is not something this restaurant is concerned with.

Too bad, because secondly, this restaurant was on the cupcake challenge list of places to purchase from in the future. It looks like we'll have to strike it off of the official roster. Can't you see the comments now? Cake: 6. Crunchy and full of protein. Dee-lish.

response to Isaac

If you haven't had the chance to read Isaac's post from yesterday regarding the interviews he's been conducting, please take the time to click here and read it before you continue with my post.

You're done? Ok.

The following one-sided conversation took place today between 11:00am and 11:05am.

Isaac's voicemail message: Hi, you've reached Isaac, [job title and job location withheld]. Please leave a message.

Me (in a blase sounding voice): Um, hi. I'm returning a call from this number (munching on corn chips). I'm waiting for a call for a job I applied for (crunch, smack). Oh, wait a sec. I've gotta turn down my Law and Order. I love that Stabler. He's so cute. Anyway, this is Tara [last name withheld] and I'm looking to relocate from Chicago. I think I want to do that. I'm not sure (crunch, chip bag rustling). So, I guess... yeah. I think that's it. Ok. Bye.

as if I needed another reason

We, the people of the box office, in order to form a more perfect day, hate, hate, hate, HATE going to the Duane Reade on Broadway between 42nd and 43rd Streets, and try to find reason beyond reason to avoid it. Not only do they have about 2/3 less snack food inventory than the Readage on 42nd and 8th has, not only are the people who work there less caring and less on top of their jobs than their counterparts on the west side are, but now it is more dangerous to walk to that particular location.

As found in my favorite local news source, Gothamist, glass fell from one of the upper floors of 1 Times Square yesterday. As construction continues on the desperately awaited Walgreens that will soon grace our neighborhood in said building, material from a level that is not being worked on crashed onto a car below. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

It's not the flying debris from one of the superfluous construction projects in the Times Square area that concerns me. It's the inconvenience of having a drugstore, in possibly one of the best locations ever imagined because it is so close to my office, having one more strike against it. If only I didn't have to walk a half of block further so I can get staples such as baked cheesy puffs and lime corn chips. What a life I could have had.

alla rip van winkle

If it wasn't for the comment of concern from laurenj, it probably would have been another week or so until my next post. I feel like I fell asleep from my blog and woke up 100 years later. But since there is a demand for my writing, I am willing to oblige.

Where-o-where has tarak been over the last couple of weeks? Well, last week I spent a few days in Toronto. My friend Jessica really wanted to see the musical We Will Rock You (the Queen jukebox musical for those of you not in the know about those sort of things) and invited me along. Toronto is a beautiful city. Really walkable. Surprisingly clean. Tons of green space. If you smooshed Park Slope with Prospect Park, the Financial District, and downtown Tampa together, you would get a close approximation of what Toronto is like. I could easily come back to visit.

There is also a big arts and entertainment community there. Jessica and I got caught in the rain on Tuesday walking to our hotel and we happened to run into a film shot. Anyone want to be an extra? Unfortunately, they weren't hiring that day.

The show was good. That's all I say about that. We ate very well, shopped a lot, and I felt so relaxed the entire trip (minus the bus trip there and back).

I came back on Thursday, went to work on Friday, and got on a bus again on Saturday morning to go to the German Alps Festival in the Catskills at Hunter Mountain. My goodness, talk about one of the most beautiful views I've seen in a long time. I went with my other and we listened to German rock bands, ate extremely good German food, and rode the ski lift to the top of Hunter Mountain. In a little co-inky-dink related to my title, we saw two stone carvers sculpting a Rip Van Winkle statue at the top of the mountain. The carvers only work on the statue during the summer months on the weekends (so people can see the carving process) and they estimated that the statue will be completed in 2010. I may have to go back in a year or two to see how they're coming along.

And then rest day on Sunday. I didn't do a damn thing. Screw the laundry. Not gonna make anything harder than leftovers. It was really nice to just veg.

As to what I was doing the two weeks before my international trip, I've been focusing on being more sensitive and open with my other since we started going to counseling. He's admitted to me that he's never really took to heart much of what I said when it came to our disagreements and now what I've been saying is starting to sink in. As much as it hurt to hear him say that he wasn't listening to me, I'm glad he admitted it.

Well, I guess that's it. Really looking forward to going to see the Cyclones with all of my favorite peeps and also looking forward to today's half day at work. I feel sooooo exhausted and need a nap. But I want an iced coffee. I'm so conflicted, can I have it all?