Idol Boys

I fear for Brandon Rogers tomorrow night.

 

He was one of my favorite guys on Idol in this top 12.  He has a fantastic voice.  I did appreciate that he sang a song dedicated to his grandmother from his heart... but, considering the competition, it was a bit too slow and didn't really showcase his voice as much.

 

And DialIdol has him in the bottom 2.

 

Sigh.

 

Maybe he'll be safe like Pedro last week?  But then I'm worried for AJ, who I have liked more and more over the weeks, and who is not getting that many votes because he had like no screen time during the auditions...

 

 

Tourists

An article in the New York Times today stated the following:

 

"Mr. Fertitta is spearheading Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's campaign to lure 50 million visitors a year to the city by 2015. That would be about six million more out-of-towners than the city, which is riding a long wave of tourism and economic growth, attracted last year."

 

Six million more visitors?  Is this place not crowded enough especially in December (traveling during "regular" hours in December is nightmarish in midtown!)? Where do you expect those six million people to go?!  I'm pretty sure they will not all fit in Times Square...

TAR 11.2

Dear Producers of The Amazing Race:

Please get Mirna and Charla off my TV screen NOW!!!!!! I didn't like them at all in their season, but was trying to make the best of it when I heard they were returning. But the minute they opened their mouths to speak, I wanted them to shut up and get off my screen. Two episodes in and they have completely worn out their welcome. Screeching and the hysterical breakdown with the taxi driver? That is not drama that is fun to watch. They make me not want to watch the show because I cringe and scream every time I hear their screechy grating complaining whining voices!

On a more positive note, please show more Oswald and Danny! I have loved them since Season 2 and would like to see more of a team that races well and has FUN and doesn't make everyone angry.

I only love a few of the teams that returned (like Rob & Amber, Oswald & Danny) and like some others, so here is my wishlist for replacement teams:

- Instead of Charla and Mirna, couldn't we have had Colin and Christie? Or Brandon and Nicole?

- Instead of David and Mary (not really fitting the definition of "all-stars"), couldn't we have Kris and Jon?

The rest I can live with. But please, please, please make Mirna and Charla go away...

Thanks,
c17

Navy Pier

I used to be able to see Navy Pier from my window. This wasn't the view from the apartment. In order to really see the pier from there, you had to lean up close to the window and look east (we had the south view). But you could still see the fireworks every Wednesday and Saturday night in the summer. It was nice to be able to take breaks from studying for the bar.

This photo was taken from a hotel window in June 2006 when we went back for a wedding. We never caught any fireworks shows that time because we had a lot of things scheduled, but we did get to see the pier. And we took walks down the pier. I think I read somewhere that it's about a 2 mile walk or something. It's nice and relaxing being out on the lake.

I remember in law school that I used to walk on the pier (or sometimes, on the lake path) on the days when it was just starting to get warm. After the long, cold winters, it felt so rejuvenating and exciting to be back outside with the hints of warm weather on its way. It helped being in law school at the time since I often had afternoons free and could go out and enjoy the weather before the sun went down. I am really looking forward to spring coming. There's something about the energy level in the winter that just makes everything so slow and exhausting. Let's hope the groundhogs were right (even though it's supposed to be the "biggest snowfall of the season!" here tonight...)!

Tao

Mmm... this shop looks so serene. It's the one attached to Tao in Vegas. I haven't been to Tao in NYC since my summer. It was one of the first summer lunches I went on. Yum.

Denny

Denny made me cry.

Granted, my defenses were already weakened after watching the series finale of the OC, but that last scene with Denny... that just made me cry.

And I wasn't even a huge Denny fan last season!

But he made me cry. Sigh.

American Idol 6.13

** Spoilers ahead if you haven't seen tonight's episode. **

Oh well. I had a feeling it might go this way. But there were still some surprises.

From the beginning - the list of guest stars this year is pretty good. Jon Bon Jovi!!!! I am so excited. And then the group sing. Somehow, I think that sounded better than most of the group sings on this show. It'll be stuck in my head now. "Sowing the seeds of love..." The other thing that I liked about the group sing was that everyone had their "solos" so close to one another that it was a really good way to do a one-on-one comparison and to pick out favorites.

I had a feeling Paul and Rudy might go home, although I thought (of course Dial Idol helped with this) that Nick might go. I laugh when I see him now because Alvin noticed how badly he was slouching when he started singing on Tuesday and now that is really amusing. Anyway, I'm sad that two of the people I was really looking forward to staying going into this week are out. Oh well.

As for the girls, I was thinking Amy and Alaina, but it was Amy and Nicole. And they keep claiming it doesn't matter whether you're shown in the auditions. Right.

And it has taken me nearly an hour to post this because I am a sobbing mess after The O.C. I can't believe it's over. This season was really, really good. I can't believe this was the series finale. *sob*

Safari

Wild Animal Park, November 2006. I wish I were riding around the park and looking at the animals. So relaxing.

Early TAR Comments

Just started watching TAR All-Stars and a few comments:

1. I am really upset that golf ran over and I had not planned ahead for that, so I am now missing 15 minutes in the middle of the episode. Argh.

2. It's funny that the teams know each other and have nicknames already. "Don't you guys have your own cable channel or something?"

3. Oswald and Danny! Yayyyyyyy!! My favorite TAR team ever.

4. It is going to be a long season. Every time Charla or Mirna talks, I feel the need to yell at the TV, "Shut up!!!" Argh, I still can't stand them.

5. Nothing against Dave and Mary, but I don't think their performance in the last race qualified them as the "best of the best."

More (possibly) later.

Construction

Las Vegas, April 2006. It was nice and warm. I am glad that, outside of Monday, it's going to be relatively warm next week. It's going to be in the 40s!

Lending

I gotta tell you... I have such faith in my law school loan lender.

Let's start from the beginning. The due date for my payment was February 1st. The check was sent out at the end of January, albeit not as early as I usually send it because of the vacation and sick thing, but definitely before February 1st. I checked my bank account a few days ago and there was still no debit. I started thinking something was wrong, but it was after their customer service hours, so I couldn't call. I decided to call in the morning.

That very same day (as seems to so often happen to me), I got a statement in the mail from my lender stating that the payment was past due and that I should pay as soon as possible.

But I paid the bill! I had the check number, the date of the check, the amount, I could have given them any of the information they wanted to know. So here's my question: should it be the fault of a borrower who pays in good faith that the lender doesn't receive payment? I'm sure there's something in the loan documents that says they're not responsible for payments not received, but is that right?

I had no problem paying it immediately, but I was worried about a few things - late charges and borrower benefits (specifically the reduction for on-time payments). Could the latter be jeopardized even though I had done everything I could to make the payment on time and it just wasn't received?

Supposedly if I made payment within 2 days of receiving that statement (15 days after the due date), the benefits are preserved. So say Dan and Peter on the phone. I hope they're right. It just doesn't seem fair that if someone had really paid their bill, they could lose the interest rate reduction because of a mail mishap. I'm sure people could lie about this and there's no way to differentiate between them and people telling the truth, but still, it was extremely frustrating to think this could happen through no fault of my own.

So that prompted the second question: if they don't have the check, who does? Is it floating out there? Will someone else try to deposit it? (I had thought that once someone takes money from your bank account it's gone; I didn't realize you could actually contest improper debits. I also asked my dad whether they could do a fraud alert type thing like credit cards and just call me if someone tries to deposit the check). I thought about putting a stop payment on the check but then wondered what would happen if 2 months from now, it turns up at my lender. If they deposit it, will I then not only have paid for a stop payment, but would I have to pay for a bounced check fee?

I asked the people at the lender and the guy told me that was "a very good question" and he hadn't really been asked that before. (I'm sitting there thinking, good questions, that's kind of my job...). Eventually I got to someone else who had to check with their supervisor, and blah blah blah, no fee waiver if this should happen. Although I bet we all could agree that stopping payment on a check when it hasn't been received for over a month is extremely reasonable, they wouldn't waive the fee. It's a business, I get it, but don't they care about fairness and justice and don't they have a heart? (Amusing... this makes me think of law school...)

I asked her about that today, and you know what her answer was? "We deposit every check that comes to us, whatever company it's addressed to or anything."

Now the addressee wasn't really my point, but that made me think. They just deposit every check that comes their way? Seriously? Can they do that? What if they get something that's addressed to like ConEd and when the person mailed their bills out, it accidentally stuck to the back of the lender envelope? They would deposit the check to ConEd? (Too many hypos, I know).

I thought it strange that she mentioned the "whatever company" thing, because I could see if she said something like "no matter if there is a special note on your account" (I asked for that yesterday) or "no matter what the date is" or something like that. Maybe she messed up and meant "no matter who it's from" or something. Who knows.

Anyway, all this slushy dirty snow is getting disgusting. And it's too cold to melt. I want to go someplace warm and sunny...

Wednesday's TV

Beauty and the Geek had an amazing ending. I am so happy that Megan and Scooter won and that CeCe lost! It was so exciting seeing Nate going around telling people not to vote for him and CeCe. Somehow I still don't think she's learned anything. She had some of the most horrible and disparaging comments. Editing is one thing, but they couldn't invent the things she said out of thin air. It would have been horrible validation if she won.

American Idol spends way too much time showing us auditions of people who aren't very good, and then they cram the entire Hollywood process into one week. How are we supposed to get to know the people we're supposed to vote for? How are we supposed to get invested? I thought Hollywood week would be like 2 weeks.

Medium was pretty good tonight and I'm glad it was able to showcase other actors. The sentiment between Allison and Joe felt so real. Sad that a guy would go so far as to create via plastic surgery the exact likeness of his wife and then murder his real wife in order to get her massive inheritance.

Bones made me laugh out loud, and I am really glad I wasn't eating during the opening scenes. I love this show! I really want to rewatch this episode, but sadly there is like no room on the DVR. There are only 3-4 definite free hours and 6 hours to tape tomorrow night! What to do, what to do! 24 and Heroes are clogging the DVR...

Tacos and Snow Showers

1. I have had chicken tacos for the past 3 days for dinner. Chips and guacamole 2 nights, chips and salsa 1 night. I guess I am on a taco kick. Just like San Diego. I miss all the tacos from San Diego.

2. It's snowing. I like it when it snows and isn't windy. It's actually kind of warm outside when it snows and isn't windy. I don't like the snow when it: (a) turns into dirty slush on the street; (b) turns black from cars driving on it; (c) becomes "wintry mix" with sleet; (d) turns into heavy cold rain (like it is predicted to do tomorrow); (e) is blowing around in a harsh wind; (f) becomes a slippery sheet of ice; or (g) buries the city in so much snow that it becomes hazardous to people's health (although the amount of snow does make for great photos).

3. I noticed that in the Northeast people open their umbrellas when it snows, but they don't really do that in Chicago. I had opened my umbrella one snowy day in Chicago and felt conspicuous because I was the only one. Everyone just wears hats, it seems.

4. RCSP: San Diego, View from Balboa Park.


5. I'm tired.

6. I had more to write about but my mind is empty and I can't remember what. At work today there was an "attorney Valentines Day cocktail reception." That sounded amusing over the loudspeaker system.

7. There is an article in the NYT today about how taking an afternoon nap at least 3 times a week is good for your heart and cuts down on heart disease. Think this can catch on in American work culture? Yeah, I doubt it too. But I wish. It would improve our health and well-being...

8. "You don't plan sincerity. You have to make it up on the spot." Denny Crane. Boston Legal entertains me.

This list is kind of disjointed because I have been writing it all night while watching TV and doing work.

9. I had the Veronica Mars theme song in my head for a good part of the day.

10. While we were at dinner, there was a skinny Chinese dragon dance going down the street with people handing out flyers for the Chinese New Year show at Radio City. Cold out, slippery outside, not ideal for a dragon dance on the street. But amusing to accompany dinner.

Hope everyone has had a good night! Happy Valentines!

Sunday's TV

Short blurbs about Sunday's TV (skip if you didn't watch and don't want spoilers!):

Apprentice LA: Trump's word of the day apparently was "ass." He said it so many times. Someone got by "by the skin of his ass." He was going to "fire his ass." Over and over and over. The episode was about bees and honey. And the winning PM who didn't do anything and acted in the boardroom like the greatest thing ever. I did like Aaron though, and thought it was a little unfair that one team could market the fact that they had an Olympian giving out honey when that's not even a possibility for the other team. Also, I'm a little sick of the tents thing. This is not Survivor where people might expect that for their living situation. Not necessary. I'm fine with MB doing it in Fiji because they sort of expect to live with nothing, but living in tents and bathing outdoors is not a "job interview."

Grease: You're the One That I Want: I don't record this one but saw some clips of it. (I got bored before Grease Academy and then when I tuned back in for the voting part was a little dismayed to see that most of the finalists looked... the same). What I will say is that it appears that the group sings a better group medley than the American Idol finalists do. The Idol group sings are never really that good.

Desperate Housewives: Pretty good, although Zach really gives me the creeps. Who would have thought Andrew and Carlos would become my favorite characters? I do wonder what will happen to Orson though. Live or die? And did he really do it? The running was suspicious. Although maybe he thought it was about the hit and run...

Brothers and Sisters: My favorite Sunday show! I sure hope people were watching this instead of the Grammys. The intro phone calling was fantastic and just felt so believable and real. I love when they have the siblings call each other on the phone. It makes me laugh. I really enjoy this show and hope it comes back for another season. It quickly became one of my favorite TV shows of this season. Highly recommended if you haven't seen it yet!

And I tuned in late early this afternoon so I was only able to record the second half, but I have watched that second half of Baby Panda's First Year about Tai Shan about 4 times today. He's irresistibly adorable.

Sandwiches

I miss Jimmy John's.

Back Posts

I intended to put up the travel posts awhile ago, but I finally started. So here's Germany!

Servers

"The server may be a little bit broken temporarily."

Is that a real IE error message? It just sounds funny.

Party Pandas

RCSP: From the gift shop at the SDZ. Aren't they so cute?

Not so cute is the smoke wind blowing through the middle of the apartment. I can feel my lungs turning black.

Odds and Ends

1.  I usually come to work dressed head to toe in fleece and then change into my work clothes.  I like wearing skirts more than nice business pants, but with a wind chill in the teens and the fact that it would be a little inappropriate to go to a nighttime business event in fleece, I'm stuck in business pants all day.  I wish I were wearing a skirt.  Yes, Chicago is colder than it is here.  But in Chicago, I was in school and could get away with wearing fleece all day every day if I wanted to.  That made the cold and windy temps a little more bearable.

 

2.  While I was waiting for the elevator yesterday to get my dinner from the nice delivery man, I thought of a question I wanted to ask on the blog.  If you work or live in a building with elevators, and the elevators light up to tell you when they arrive and if they are going up and down, what color are the lights?  For example, our up light is white and our down light is red.  My immediate thought was whether this was purposely done to correlate with the fact that heaven is up and hell is down. 

 

3.  If you exit a building, do not stand directly in front of such exit blocking anyone else from exiting because you want to talk on your little red phone.  Argh.

 

4.  Has the snack wrap become the most ordered item at McDonalds?

 

5.  I love the Asian guy who was shown on Idol last night.  I hope he makes it through to the voting rounds because he had a fantastic voice.  I recognized no songs from the "name that song" montage.  And it seems like a lot of people have criminal pasts (well, maybe just 3 or 4) but some are allowed to go to Hollywood and others aren't?  I don't get it.

 

6.  That Lost special last night seemed like a commentary extra from a DVD.  I didn't get any of the promised "answers."  There was a nice section where they showed the connections between the characters, but you could get that from reading TWoP.

 

7.  Wednesday and Thursday nights wreak havoc on the DVR especially during sweeps.  Last night, I taped bones, Beauty and the Geek, American Idol, the Lost special, Lost and Medium.  (I skipped Top Design, I didn't find it as good as Top Chef or DesignStar).  Tonight, there's Ugly Betty, Survivor Fiji, Grey's Anatomy, The OC, Men in Trees and Shark.  And only 5 definite hours free on the DVR.  Uh oh.

 

8.  I want to go on vacation to a beach paradise.  If I were at home, I would post a photo of San Juan or Paradise Island.  Mmmmm.  I could go for Hawaii though and I want to go to a farmers market to try all the fruit.  And to take photos, of course.

 

9.  Does Zoo Atlanta have a store online?  I couldn't find it.  I would buy so much Mei Lan stuff if only I could!

 

10.  I always endeavour to find 10 items for these random lists.  How very Monk-ish of me.

Snowband

This morning on the Weather Channel, one of the weatherpeople said something like, "We've been showing you all those snowy and bitterly cold cities to show you the extreme weather going on right now.  I'm sure some of you are tired of seeing the cold weather.  Let's go to Phoenix!"

 

They then show the guy in Phoenix where it is 53 degrees early in the morning and he's going on about how warm it is, and how he was playing golf and called his family up in Michigan, etc, etc, etc.  And then they decide to do a split screen and while the guy in Phoenix is talking about how warm it is, they show Parish, NY on the other screen and how it's getting buried in the snow.  All the while if you're just listening, you're hearing about how warm it is and how great it is that it's warm and how people are going to Phoenix on trips because it's warm... and those poor people stuck in the NY snowband can't get out and go anywhere because they've had like 100 inches of snow!  Mean, mean, mean....

 

I suppose it could have been worse.  They could have had a correspondent lounging on the beach under a palm tree in San Juan.  It could have been worse.  Sigh.  I could go for a nice trip to the beach in San Juan right now...

Lake Effect

It was a really mild day in October last year.

I went to Rockefeller Center on my lunch break. The Fire Department was having some special event, teaching people about fire safety and giving out red plastic hats. People flocked to Rockefeller Center, and anywhere outdoors, to enjoy the pleasant sunny weather.

I miss being able to leave the office during lunch to take strolls around the city. Of course, I could still do it, but I would have to bundle up and put on my hat and scarf and mittens, and brave the bitter wind. I would probably be frozen in a couple of blocks. I've survived worse winters (3 years in Chicago!) but somehow wearing work clothes just makes the winter feel a little bit colder (if that makes any sense). So the past 2 days I have gotten soup from the cafe in our building. Business at lunch up there seems to be pretty busy, so I wonder if everyone else is doing the same.

The lake effect snow that they are showing on the Weather Channel seems brutal. So much snow, so much wind, and neverending. They have a table with the measurements of the "NY Lake Ontario Snow." The first thing I noticed: there's a Mexico, NY? I just googled it and the little map that showed up showed that it's near... New Haven, NY. I thought when I enlarged it, it was going to show Chicago, NY as the other city nearby. But Google doesn't seem to be able to pull up a "Chicago, NY" so maybe one doesn't exist.

I have been slowly reading my SDZ Zoonooz newsletter and it makes me miss San Diego. It was so nice to just wake up, not have anything to do and to spend hours at the zoo or the Wild Animal Park. Probably the most relaxing trip since the cruise we took over 3L spring break (over a year and a half earlier). A big plus that it was warm. Warm trips are good. Unless it's like a ski trip or something, I think I am inclined to make my winter vacations warm ones.

Sleep soon since I have to be at work early (for me) tomorrow. Good night!

[Note: I vaguely remembered blogging about this trip to Rockefeller Center before: here's the entry. Turns out I also posted pictures. The same picture. Now, that, I did not remember. Oh well. Cannot dictate what the RCSP chooses.]

BL

I watched Veronica Mars and then turned on Boston Legal and wow! Dean O'Dell is still alive! That was my first thought.

American Idol 6.7

About Simon Cowell: "He's not even American, how can he tell who sings and not sings?"

Because British people can't judge whether or not Americans can sing.

Right.

That girl looked depressed before she even started singing, so how can she blame it on them being "rude"?

The other 2 girls so far have been good. Interestingly enough, I think their names rhyme. (I'm only 20 minutes in on the DVR).

Sunny

According to the Weather Channel's website, the current conditions are "sunny."

 

It is a little after 7:30 pm.  Somehow, I doubt they really mean "sunny."  Perhaps "clear" would be more accurate?

Jelly Belly

I picked up these Jelly Belly-Kirkland Signature fruit snacks made for Costco this weekend, and they are SO addictive.  I rationalize it by telling myself that they are made with 7 different fruit juices and fruit purees, so it's full of good fruit vitamins and not that bad for you.  SO addictive.

Nemo's Cousin

RCSP ("Randomly Chosen Screensaver Photo"): Cute little clownfish from one of the exhibits at Underwater World in Sentosa (Singapore). This little guy was "defending" his place against two other clownfish in the exhibit. They started swimming closer to his little anemone and he furiously swam toward them to wave them off. It was amusing.

Sun

I need to find a better way to refer to the random photos I post here. The ones where I have my screensaver choose the photos from my pictures at random. They're not really "photos of the day" since I don't do this everyday.

On an unrelated note, the "Welcome to Fiji!!!!" part of the Survivor Fiji ad is getting really annoying.

This photo is from Vegas, April 2006. Can you guess which hotel?

Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Confetti

I am cleaning up the coffee table while watching the Superbowl and came across a note I left for myself awhile ago for a blog entry. Since I have yet to write said entry, I figure I will write it now. Or at least tell you what it was about.

It was back at the end of last year when our smoking neighbor was like a billowing smokestack night after night. The bathroom would get so bad that you couldn't walk in there without having to hold your breath. There's no window or vent in the bathroom, so it was like walking into a smoking cave. For non-smokers and/or asthmatics, it was not a pleasant situation. I almost couldn't bear to walk into or past the bathroom and would do everything I could to avoid it.

One night, it was so horrible that I went and looked for all of our rental documents to see if there was anything in there about smoking. Of course, there wasn't (I had read some stuff online about how some developments had provisions for smoking so I wanted to check). There were prohibitions about dogs, when you could practice music, but nothing about smoking that drifts into neighbor's apartments. It made me wonder why rental buildings would prohibit things that may interfere with your enjoyment of your apartment but were not health hazards (e.g. practicing music at certain times) but not things that both interfered with your apartment and were health hazards (e.g. smoking if it's in your neighbor's apartment). It was just frustrating to me because there was nothing I could do. The person who was smoking had the ability to go elsewhere, but I couldn't. I couldn't go elsewhere to sleep because the air being pumped out of our bathroom was a thick cloud of smoke.

Anyway, that was what I had written about. I also had a note on the same page inbetween the smoking notes that said "confetti" but I have zero clue what that was about.

Cold

Even though the Bears are in the pouring rain in Miami, they are probably very glad to be somewhere where it is 70 degrees, instead of at home where it is currently 1 degree with a -18 degree wind chill. It is supposed to be high 20 degrees here tomorrow. Brrrrrrrrr.

Links

The Coca-Cola Black History Month ad was really nice.

And yes, I followed the American Heart Association's ad and checked my risk on their website.

Pouring Rain

Over the past few weeks, careerbuilder.com was running those ads promoting their Superbowl ads and how they were getting rid of the monkeys. Well, we saw the first one and I miss the monkeys. The Chevy car wash in the middle of the street one was amusing on first view, but I think it would get annoying on multiple airings. I'm not really blown away by the ads this year...

Dalmatians

Did the Budweiser ad with the cute little white dog and the Clydesdales screw up for anyone else? It kept catching during the second half of the ad so we didn't see the whole thing. Did that happen to anyone else or was our cable just screwing up? I'm sad, because I love ads with Clydesdales and this one looked like it was actually good. No other ads of note since my last post. I wanted to see what would happen to the cute little dog. :(

Side Note

I think the fact that I am writing short messages every commercial break during the Superbowl is really driving up my February total. But I don't feel like writing one big long message. And I just feel compelled to write short messages about nothing. :)

Off the top of my head, the only ads that really have made an impression on me are the FedEx moon office, the Sierra Mist combover. Maybe Snickers. I think that's it so far.

Bud Light

Cute Chevy ad.

Bud Light English teaching ad was so politically incorrect, but kind of amusing.

Oprah-Letterman? Really? I thought there was that whole thing where he was trying to get on the show and she wasn't responding? Are they friends now?

I Think We Just Kissed

Do something manly! Aaaaaaaaaah! Hahaha. That Snickers commercial was funny.

I like how the Survivor ads are reliving highlights from past seasons.

I can't believe it is POURING in Miami.

Moon Office

Love the FedEx ad about the office on the moon. Love it.

The auctioneer wedding was amusing and Toyota Tundra left me wondering "why on earth would you do that?"

Turnover, turnover... this rain is really turning things upside down today!

Combovers

That Sierra Mist Free beard combover commercial was hilarious. Better than the karate one. So far that Sierra Mist one is my favorite.

Commercials

I'm dumb. The commercials came on and I forgot these were the special Superbowl commercials and I started surfing the web instead. So we had to rewind so I could watch the Budweiser commercial. I'm so dumb. But so far so good for the Bears so Alvin is happy! Look at that rain...

The Budweiser commercial wasn't bad, the Blockbuster one was ok but I felt bad for the mouse, and I wasn't so into the Doritos commercial. *shrug*

Groundhogs and Winter

1.  I can't believe it's February.  Happy Groundhog Day!

 

2.  Supposedly neither Staten Island Chuck nor the nation's favorite groundhog Phil saw their respective shadows today.  Then why is it going to be high 20s/low teens next week?  That is too cold!

 

3.  Yes, I know the Midwest was like high 10 degrees today.  I have gotten weak since I left.  There was one winter break when I came back to NY and bundled up to go out one winter day and was wondering why it was so mild.  Of course, everyone else was bundled up and cold.  Now I'm one of those people...

 

4.  It's hard coming back to work after being gone for so long.  I end up taking too many breaks.

 

5.  I miss Singapore.  It may have been rainy every day, but it was so warm.  And the food was excellent.  I could go for more chili crab...

Photos

I love looking at food photos (and there are oh so many on Flickr... yay!).

 

I also love looking at photos people not from NYC take of NYC.  It's always interesting to see what types of things catch someone's eye.  Things you see everyday.

Top Chef 2.13

Sam should have won.

 

Yes, I know he wasn't in the final 2.  I didn't watch much of Top Chef last season, but I've been reading that maybe the reason he wasn't in the final 2 was because he was too similar to last year's winner.  I hope that isn't the reason why, because that's not a good reason!

 

What did the finale of Top Chef teach me?

 

- Ilan was still extremely bitter about Marcel - even after he won.

 

- Food & Wine spoiled the whole thing (fine for me since I read spoilers for reality shows), and then tried to pretend they didn't by twisting the Marcel feature into a bogus "he might also be the winner!" article.

 

- Marcel gave the classic "I didn't come here to make friends" line almost all the non-winners of reality shows give.

 

- Elia claimed Ilan's food tasted better than Marcel's even though she didn't even know what Marcel made.  I used to like her more before she shaved her head.  Unrelated events, I should think, but her attitude shifted 180 degrees once the show started airing.  It's like she jumped on the "Marcel sucks" bandwagon.

 

- Betty shrieks.  Still.

 

- The final 2 should have been Sam and Marcel, or Sam and Ilan, or, if Cliff hadn't gone so over the top, Sam and Cliff.  That was my final 2 pick from the beginning.  Basically, I think Sam should have won.  He saved that hearts of palm dish and I was almost drooling over it and I am not a huge heart of palm fan!

 

- Course by course I think it should have gone: Marcel, Ilan (the fish looked amazing (of course Elia made it...) v. Marcel made a salad?!), Marcel (the vegetarian dish that looked amazing), no opinion on the beef because I don't really eat it to be able to tell the difference, Ilan (but only because I prefer fruit-based desserts and sorbet).

 

- They basically acknowledge that Marcel is a better chef and will be far superior in the future, but claim that Ilan is a better chef "now."  Maybe this is because he has made all these dishes before...

 

- I wasn't a big fan of Marcel during the show but I actually wanted him to win because I think what he was doing was more creative, better designed and I wanted to try the food more.  With or without the kampachi.

 

- I want to go to Hawaii because the food looks amazing.  All that amazing film of fish and brightly colored fruits and vegetables... I love food photography, and the food there looks so good.  And the weather is great.  And I really want to go to Hawaii right now.  It's really cold here.

 

So that's what the Top Chef finale really did for me.  Made me wish that Sam had been in the final 2 and won, and made me long to go to Hawaii.  Excellent.