Scrumptdiddlyumptious

J's friend A is a chef/restaurant consultant. Since he has been working in Baltimore, a couple of us descended on a mutual friend's apartment to feast on his cooking. I was sous chef :). Everything was so good, I left nothing on any plate.

With gale-force winds attacking the northeast, I took Amtrak down to DC. The Regional seemed to take forever, especially with three yakety-yaks sitting in front of me. With only 700 miles to go until I hit silver status on Delta again (not like it's worth it), I really wanted to fly, but I most likely would have never left NYC. I ended up missing the opening hours for the Bible exhibit at the Sackler; the rest of the gallery is very nice though, especially the free admission.

Sunday we went to Wegman's, to which I have not visited since after the Finger Lakes Wine Fest last year. Yeay for Wegmans!

There's Always Next Year

The Mets just lost. Damn. This would have been the perfect year to win, being 20 years after the Amazin's. The Card's catcher looked like a big frog when he burst into the air after that last slider.

Well, we did better than the Yankees.

What If ... Maybe Not

I admit it, I troll around weddingchannel.com. Yes, I do look up registries and sign guestbooks for my friends, but every once in a while, I cyberstalk people I know but from whom I am definitely not getting an invite. People from work, acquaintances, ex-boyfriends, et alia.

Two and a half years ago, I was quasi-set up on a blind date. A co-worker mentioned he had a roommate whom I might really click with, but never followed up. So I found him on Friendster and started chatting him up. We had a lot in common - travels, interest in Soka Gakkai, IT jobs - and our emails were really long. So we met up at El Cid for tapas, one of my faves where Monica and I got fabulously sloshed. It went pretty well. I was trying to avoid meat during Lent, and he was adhering to Atkins, but we both compromised a little bit. I got the feeling he didn't like my dropping the f-bomb, and when I mentioned I went to Cornell, he told me at first he went to Harvard, but then said he attended Polytech. I don't consider myself a "label whore" and don't think I pass as one, so that was a little odd. At times conversation was a little stilted, but it definitely is not something that I laugh about with friends now. I wasn't seeing fireworks, but I was intrigued. It had potential.

Then work and travel got in the way, and he got a bad cold. We never managed to meet up again, and then Ross happened [shudder]. I always wondered what happened; our mutual friend told me he hadn't been dating anyone else. Apparently, destiny also got in the way for him a few months later since he met his now-wife in Vegas. My cybertrolling recently brought me to his wedding website. He seems happy, albeit with less hair. Maybe I'm a little superficial, but he doesn't look as good as when I met him.

I have no regrets, and I harbored no fantasies about us maybe reuniting or whatever. And I love love love my J (I know he's reading this :) ). It's just interesting to see how life pans out for people.

I-Don't-Need-a-Bag Lady

[climbing up on the soapbox]
Yes, I am a tree hugger. I care about the air we breathe and the water we drink, and I want to be able to appreciate the beauty of our natural surroundings for years to come. Those of you who know me know that I recycle obsessively, but a lot of people forget the reduce portion of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle equation. It's harder for us to fathom this since, unlike many other nations, we are never asked to pay a nominal fee for items like plastic bags and ketchup packets, but reducing the amount of things we consume means less energy is used to produce more, and there is less waste - how many of you have seen plastic bags blowing in the wind? It kinda looks like urban airborne jellyfish.

There are really simple changes to behaviors to reduce consumption. Next time you go to the grocery store, try not to take a produce bag for items that don't need it. If you are walking around the corner, ask the clerk not to double up shopping bags on non-heavy items. In fact, bring already-used bags, a cart (they're trendy now!) or a sturdier, reusable bag. I saw a lot of people in Sydney with green canvas totes specifically for this purpose. Refrain from taking plastic cutlery with your take-out if you have reusable forks and knives handy. If you're getting a drink at a fast-food restaurant, try to drink it without a straw and a plastic cover. If you buy one item at a store and you already have a bag to put it in, chuck it in your existing bag sans new shopping bag (word to the wise - make sure you take the receipt!).

Repeat the mantra after me - I don't need a bag.

Thanks for listening.

[dismounting from the soapbox]

Hungover Down Under

Last night I had some people over to enjoy some of my imports from Oz. Well, not all of them I personally brought over, some were courtesy of Empire Liquors on Queens Blvd. It was great. Ten to twelve people killed over seven bottles of plonk (Aussie for booze). My downstairs neighbor started banging on her ceiling around 1:30am, so that's when the party started to die. I was fine until the rose, then J noticed I was teetering around. Missing dinner and cutting back on carbs will do that to me.

Unfortunately, I woke up at 7am today feeling like someone hit me on the back of the head with one of the empties. Tried taking Advil and yakked that right back up. J had to scrape me off the bathroom floor. We then passed out for six more hours, and I woke up as if the headache never happened.

We're off to meet J's big bro (from his frat) and do touristy stuff in New York. I never get sick of traipsing aimlessly through Central Park and looking at exhibits at the Met. The $20 entrance fee doesn't even faze me; the museum is so huge, and the last couple of times I have entered for free with a family pass.

Burnt Out of Shape

I am really tired today. Did not sleep well last night. My job is not stressful, yet I feel out of sorts. Plus, I just took a step class, in my perpetual effort to slim down, and could only manage 40 minutes of it. Granted I had 2 risers, and the old hag next to me said "You know, it's none of my business, but you should really take one of those off, you look ridiculous." Bitch.

I need to get my ass in gear, I'm so out of shape. Think I just about got rid of the 5 pounds from Oz, but there's still the 5 I gained from travelling. And then the 10 that I wanted to lose on top of that.

I'm so depressed. At least my nails look halfway decent...