Thursday, January 29, 2009

I finally figured out who Vicki reminds me of... Denise Austin, sister-in-law of Bedo's former tennis pro Pam and current potato shill (yes, I know she's made like 108 workout videos--I have even owned some of them). I think Vicki is trying to be her.

While I thought the football theme this week on Top Chef was silly, it was so nice to see Stefan cut off at the knees for once. Go, Jamie! However, I'm seriously worried about Jeff's mental state. They offer counseling when you're kicked off, right?

Btw, I so wish I could wear hats cutely because I adore Aretha's inauguration hat, which I didn't see 'til I got into the office because I was still on my way in when she was so beautifully singing "God Save the Queen."

Btw, Part II: Anderson Cooper said tonight that he's surprised PR people don't advise corporate execs not to do dumb things. Anderson, what makes you think execs listen to PR people?

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The other weird part of my journey to the frozen north was the cab ride from the Minneapolis airport to my hotel, a generic major chain suite-type business traveler hotel located at 525 North 2nd Street, about two blocks from Game Infomer's office. Before I got into the cab, I handed the very young and none-too-bright driver the reservation printout with the hotel address right there at the top and said that's where I needed to go. He appeared mystified, and repeated the address back to me as he got into the drivers seat.

"Yes," I replied. "I think it's downtown."

"Ok," he said, doubtfully.

We started off on the highway leading away from the airport and after traveling a couple of miles, the driver retrieved an unmounted GPS device from somewhere under the passenger seat and started fiddling with it... while still driving. Thankfully it was midnight and there weren't a lot of other cars around as we lurched about the road. Eventually, he handed it back to me and asked if I could enter the destination. I got as far as punching in "525 2" before it spat back a bunch of address listings from which to choose. Apparently there is also a 2nd Avenue in the area, so I was careful to select the listing for 2nd STREET. I handed it back to the driver who seemed quite relieved, and the device began giving us directions in crisp British Received Pronunciation.

"Continue for 500 meters and exit left."

"Continue left."

"Continue left."

This worked very well until we exited the highway into the downtown area, where the driver proceeded to ignore the GPS completely.

"Continue 100 meters and turn right."


We pass the first intersection.

"Recalculating. Continue 100 meters and turn right. Turn right"


We pass the second intersection.

"Recalculating. Turn right"


After a couple blocks of this, we end up under an overpass at the Target Center, and the driver is completely confused.

"She is saying the wrong thing," he tells me, clearly baffled as to why not following the distinctly stated directions from the GPS has not brought us to our destination. Since it was very, very late and I was very, very tired and his English was very, very poor, I didn't feel like starting an argument by pointing out the obvious. He asked again to see my printout.

"Ohhhh... here is the problem," he announced after studying the paper and the GPS for sever tense moments. "You put 2nd AVENUE."

Again, I did not want to provoke a confrontation, and muttered something about it being all so confusing.

He punched some new info into the GPS and off we went again, passing many strip clubs and dive bars. This time, the driver listened to most of the GPS directions and only ignored a few, and suddenly there was the hotel.

Amazing how that works.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Got home last night from my 30 hour trip to wild and exotic Minneapolis where it was about 10 below upon arrival at nearly midnight on Sunday, and about 5 when I left yesterday around 4pm ("felt like -10," according to Weather.com). "Wild" applies more to the Denver stopovers, where a storm made de-icing necessary, and they were worried about the wings icing over again while the tail was being done. Minneapolis was actually mostly clear but extremely dry. There was so much static electricity in the air that just rolling over in bed set off miniature lightning storms among the sheets. Even though we had to hike a few block to breakfast and then a few more blocks to our meeting at Game Informer it really wasn't all that bad. I had a capilene top on under my cotton sweater, gloves and a hat and I was perfectly comfortable... other than the snot inside my nose freezing. That was a very odd sensation.

Keep your hat on, Mary. It's cold.

I flew United because there weren't many choices, and it's interesting to see the marked cultural difference between them and (efficient) airlines like Southwest and JetBlue. United still makes a huge deal out of "perks" for their business and wealthy/idiot customers with things like boarding first over a--I kid you not--red carpet (a red mat slapped down over the same ol' dirty airport gate carpet we all walk on). It's bizarre to me why anyone bothers with first class for flights under two hours; a free drink or two does not justify paying double the economy price. However, since United is squeezing the economy seats so close together in the back to the point where even I at 5'3" have trouble crossing my legs, paying more begins to make more sense. If you want an inch or two more space without paying first class prices, they also offer "economy plus" for anywhere from $14 to over $100. I ended up in one of these seats between Denver and Minneapolis (without being charged the fee) and in my case it didn't make that much difference, but the flights were short.

United's policy of nickel-and-diming their customers to death causes other problems, too. While their system of boarding the window seats first, followed by middle and then aisle makes a lot of sense, the new charges for checked bags mean that everyone wants to carry on their luggage so the people in aisle seats who end up boarding last are SOL because the overhead space generally fills up before they even set foot on the jetway. I had trouble on two of the flights even finding room for my small duffel. At least the people whose bags were yanked away to be checked weren't then charged for it, but I wouldn't have been at all surprised if they had been.

In United's favor, they have friendly pilots and their cabin staff is generally nicer than American's.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

It's finally raining here. Not a lot, but it's a start. Of course everyone felt the need to randomly crash their cars into each other this morning due to the shock of moisture falling from the heavens for the first time in several weeks.

The right person went home on Top Chef the past two episodes; Ariane was hanging on by her fingernails, and Radhika doesn't have the leadership skills to run a kitchen.

Food Network has two promising new shows: Chopped, with Ted Allen (who featured the same two "celebs" on the second episode as he did on the same week's ep of Food Detectives), and Will Work for Food with the slightly annoying Adam from TNFNS, a kind of foodie Dirty Jobs. Adam possesses none of the charm or sex appeal of Mike Rowe (sigh), but the first episode was promising--especially after he got stung by a bee. I was very proud of myself, by the way, when watching Food Detectives that I knew that alligator nuggets taste like fishy chicken and come from the tail. Gatorland taught me well.

Speaking of Food Network, I am waiting with bated breath for the first issue of Sandra Lee's new magazine. Rachael Ray she is not.

In the comics. I'm appalled by Sally Forth lately. Since when do they move people out of Human Resources to head up Marketing, even in the most completely f'ed up companies?! Francesco Marciuliano may be a hipster geek, but this is too much. In other comics news, I've almost completely stopped reading Get Fuzzy.

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Monday, January 19, 2009

Oh, Serena, clashing plaids? What has Gossip Girl come to? I'm even feeling sorry for Chuck.

If you've been avoiding switching to compact florescents anywhere but in the garage because their light tends to be blue and weird, I've been really impressed with the 75 watt equivalent Feit Electric bulbs I got for about $1 for 4 at Longs (some kind of PG&E subsidy). They don't have that unsettling delay before lighting that older bulbs had--instead they start up immediately, but a little dimmer and gradually increase to full brightness over the next few minutes. It's kind of like having a gradual alarm clock light without the insane expense. The light quality is warm and good for reading. I've put them in my living room and bedside lamps and they're working really well. Best of all, they're small so they don't stick out over the top of the lampshade. Check 'em out.

I'm all atwitter over the amazing deal I got on my second Rebecca Minkoff Mini Nikki in Dusty. If you dare gaze upon the wretched excess, the album is here.

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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Still weirdly warm here, at the same time the rest of the country is freezing. It's also dry as a bone.

Kitchen adventures this week included a six-cheese gnocchi parmesan recipe out of Veggie Times--a kind of gnocchi lasagna. It took almost an hour to make, twice as long as their estimate, and ended up being really bland. I also realized that I don't care for gnocchi all that much. Considering it called for a lot of pre-packaged things that added up to almost $12 for 8 servings (though you could certainly shred your own cheese or make your own tomato sauce if you had the time and inclination), this isn't something I'm likely to make again. It did give me a chance to use my 8-quart stockpot for the first time, however, which was exciting.

I am really liking the tofu shirataki noodles they have in the tofu section at the grocery store. For one thing, they're about 40 calories per package in contrast to pasta which is about 200 calories a serving, and they have a good chewy texture. Says on the back they're endorsed by Hungry Girl.

I've stopped watching The Real Housewives of Orange County. The women are just too hateful and self-involved. The Atlanta women certainly behaved badly, but never on this level of viciousness. It's also sad the producers have apparently booted DeShawn from the next season of RHoA for being "too boring." She and Lisa were the most normal ones on the show, and her husband is such a nice guy.

Top Chef lumbers on, now down to four women and four men, with Jamie from Absinthe hanging in there. The new judge is bizarre--his vulgar comment about copulating with raw meat almost made me barf up my gnocchi.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Suddenly it's May here: low 70s, sunny and windy. All the trees are being fooled into thinking they're late for spring and releasing pollen by the truckload. It's all very unsettling.

Recent recipe successes include a thai-ish peanutty noodle dish from the Trader Joe's cookbook that was passed on by a co-worker and took literally less than 7 minutes to make start to finish. I tossed the remainder of the peanut sauce with some cabbage leftover from the hot & sour soup, which turned out well. I wanted to make a gnocchi casserole this weekend, but so much food was forced upon me at Jared's birthday celebration that I have to wait a few days before attempting to consume anything so robust.

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