Procrastiblog

January 30, 2007

Fun at the Post Office

Filed under: Not Tech — Chris @ 2:52 pm

The post office has some odd rules that seem crudely designed to discourage people from mailing bombs or anthrax. For instance, you probably know that a return address is now required for all mail, lest if be delayed as “suspicious.” A related rule is that a package may not display any “advertisements” (i.e., names or logos) for any company that is not the sender. It is not enough to scribble out a logo with a marker; one must cover it with brown paper-backed packing tape. Postal employees make compliance with this rule especially pleasant by being both inconsistent and snide about it.

A rule which is new to me is, I think, as follows: if a package weighs more than a pound and the postage is affixed in the form of stamps, then the package must be presented in person to a post office employee. This means: don’t put it in the automated service kiosk and don’t hand it to the guy in your office mail room. H tried to send a package to her cousin last week and decided to use some very old stamps I’ve had since five first-class postage rates ago (they were very nice “collectible” stamps that were given to me as a gift and I want to “ruin” them by using them for postage… because I’m a friggin’ idiot). The package was actually delivered back to us, with several bright green stickers explaining why a piece of mail with adequate postage would not be forwarded to its recipient. (One nice thing is that they didn’t cancel the postage.)

The box is now sitting in the living room, waiting for one of us to face the living death that is standing in line at the post office. Be warned.

UPDATE: That’s weird. I just had my all-time least aggravating trip to the post office.

(Actual) Fun at the Post Office

Filed under: Not Tech — Chris @ 11:36 am

After my griping of this morning, it’s only fair that I report on my trip to hand H’s mysterious package to a postal employee in person. Before I had even gotten in line, a man magically appeared from the back room of the post office and asked me if my package had correct postage pre-applied. I told him it did and pointed to the admonitory stickers affixed. He took the package from me and disappeared into the back room, almost before I could thank him. I was in the post office for less than two minutes.

Now I only hope we don’t get it back with more stickers.

January 25, 2007

The Penultimate Chef

Filed under: Not Tech, Top Chef, TV — Chris @ 4:38 am

Wow, I thought Sam was going to take it. Marcel really stepped up and cooked this week. And Elia took a nose dive, from sweet and talented to just another bully to clawing desperately on her way out. What is wrong with her? And what is wrong with Ilan? Which do you think is more debilitating: Ilan’s inability to sac up and just pretend Marcel doesn’t exist, or Ilan’s inability to cook anything that doesn’t contain saffron?

P.S. There goes the prevailing Internet theory that the timeline manipulation (and ex post Elia-cropping) in the last episode was meant to whitewash Elia’s involvement in the whole affair because she was the winner… What’s the deal, Bravo? Because, if Ilan wins, none of your editing did anything to make him look any less like a quivering sack of shit… And it’s got all the Internets confused and paranoid…

January 22, 2007

Presidential Cohorts

Filed under: Not Tech, Politics — Chris @ 4:44 am

The presidents from JFK to Bush I (1960-1992) were all born between 1908 and 1924. That is to say, over 32 years the presidency was held by an age cohort (the World War II generation) of just 16 years. Both Clinton and George W. Bush were born in 1946, a gap of 22 years from the next-youngest presidents (Carter and George H.W. Bush). The only failed major-party nominees who fall into this gap are: Walter Mondale (b. 1928), Michael Dukakis (b. 1933), and John Kerry (b. 1943). Nobody born between 1924 and 1943 has even come close to being the president. I don’t have the time to look up all the 12 million people who are running in 2008, but I’m sure John McCain is the oldest and he was born in 1936. If he is elected (and he won’t be, knock wood), he would be the first (and almost certainly the only) president born in the 1930s. What’s the deal? Were all the children born of the depression jerks or what?

Now that I look at it, there’s a similar gap from Eisenhower (born 1890) to Johnson (born 1908). Since there’s only one or two presidents a decade, on average, it sort of makes sense that the birth distribution would be uneven. But still, isn’t it strange that an entire generation didn’t bring forth one worthy man? Who’s the all time best Washington politician born 1924-1946? Bernie Sanders? Daniel Patrick Moynihan? Dick Cheney?

The BSG is Back

Filed under: Battlestar Galactica, Not Tech, TV — Chris @ 4:34 am

A pretty strong start to the second half of the season, but… I’m losing track of which Cylons are which. And tell me: is there anything Helo could possibly do to get charged with treason? Anything at all?

P.S. If there’s anyone in the world who actually checked out Battlestar Galactica this season on my recommendation, I apologize. I mean, did you understand a single word?

January 21, 2007

Top Chef Rashomon

Filed under: Not Tech, Top Chef, TV — Chris @ 6:55 am

I wasn’t going to blog about this week’s Top Chef—partly because Tom Colicchio already said pretty much exactly what I was thinking—but I’m doing some late-night web surfing while I wait for some evening coffee to wear off and I come across this stunning little factoid: the footage was edited in a way that tends to cast the participants in the “prank” in a more positive light (WTF?): they were yucking it up and shaving their heads after Cliff assaulted Marcel and, according to Marcel, the assault didn’t end when he broke free and left the room. (Via Reality Blurred and Java Junkie.) From there, things get way out of hand… We have people analyzing the lighting and video quality in the footage and digging up new conspiracies.

And here’s an interview—conducted before this episode aired, but months after the events depicted—with Sam, Ilan, and Cliff being totally unrepentant (which you might also guess from Ilan’s—possibly fake—MySpace page). Way to class it up, boys.

P.S. Besides being a passive-aggressive jack-off, I couldn’t believe Sam’s whole wuss-bag, “I’ll do it if you do. No, not really. You guys are crazy!” attitude about the head shaving. It’s “crazy” to cut your hair really short? Even for a man? (And how long was Ilan’s hair, anyway? About two inches?) Maybe it’s “crazy” when your lustrous, flowing tresses got you voted New York’s Sexiest Chef…?

January 19, 2007

Why It’s OK to Agree with Hippies

Filed under: Not Tech, Politics — Chris @ 1:35 am

LizardBreath makes the case for carrying puppets:

My knee-jerk reaction to “hippies”, any sort of silly, embarrassing leftists, is that while I don’t want to be seen with them, I probably agree with them about most things. Even if their politics are reflexive and not well thought out, they’re using basically the right rules of thumb, and on any issue that I haven’t thought out thoroughly myself, I’m more likely than not to come down on the same side as they do. Where I haven’t figured out an opinion that I can solidly back up yet, and usually where I have, I’m lining up with the people dressed as sea turtles…

You can’t successfully get anything right by trying to avoid agreeing with silly people. There are too many silly people, and they’re all over the map — no matter how sane, or well reasoned, or intelligent some position is, some absolute ninny out there agrees with it. The best thing to do is not to let prejudice affect your decision-making. But if you’re going to be swayed by prejudice, and we all are, trying to avoid idiots is going to lead you astray — better you should align yourself with the gang of idiots who you think have the best track record generally.

Follow those liberal idiots!

January 18, 2007

Restaurants In Japan

Filed under: Food, Not Tech — Chris @ 4:51 am

[Editor’s Note] This is old material imported from my now-defunct Wiki

Here’s the first thing you need to know about Japan: you’re not going to find anything if you don’t have a map, preferably a map with the thing you’re trying to find clearly marked on it. If you buy a guidebook, it will warn you that things are hard to find. This is a lie. Things are impossible to find. Very few streets have names, very few buildings are numbered, and very few numbers go in order. Outside of Tokyo, and even in the less touristy parts of Tokyo, very few businesses have Roman script on their signs—an establishment’s name written in kanji is an essential item for finding anything.

The second thing you have to know: if your Tokyo guidebook is more than a year out of date, it will be almost completely worthless for restaurant recommendations. Said worthlessness will be disguised for a time by the difficulty of finding anything, but eventually you will figure out that the restuarant you are looking for is not just very hard to find, but non-existent. In fairness, the guidebooks will suggest that calling ahead is a good idea. In fact, if you have your heart set on eating at a particular restaurant, calling ahead is absolutely required, or else your heart might very well get broken.

The good news is, if you’re willing to eat almost nothing but noodles and rice, you can get a decent meal at almost any ramen, udon, or soba shop you pass. Tasty, filling, and usually pretty cheap.

I spent my honeymoon in Japan in June 2005 with the guidance of Time Out Tokyo (3rd edition 2003) and Lonely Planet Japan (8th edition 2003). Here are some addenda for travellers of the future.

Time Out Tokyo

Time Out does not give the kanji for anything. Outside of the central city, this can be a problem.

Edogin

(p. 125) Couldn’t find it. Ended up at a perfectly wonderful, seemingly quite popular place in the same area near the fish market. (BTW, the guide books aren’t kidding when they say to arrive early for the fish market. We got there around 11 AM and it was like a ghost town—no signs of commercial activity whatsoever.)

Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium

(p. 128) This exists and is in fact quite easy to find. Time Out errs in not making it clear how strange and interesting this theme park dedicated to steamed and fried dumplings is to the Western visitor. Definitely check this out.

Bangkok

(p. 128) Couldn’t find it. In addition, Roppongi is overrated. Like Bourbon Street mixed with Times Square. (Every neighborhood in central Tokyo is like something mixed with Times Square.) We ended up at Freshness Burger, which wasn’t too bad, if a little stingy with the meat.

Pumpkin Cook Katsura

(p. 148) We scoured the neighborhood looking for this restaurant and I’m pretty confident in saying it doesn’t exist. Kiddy Land, around the corner from where this restuarant used to be on Omotesando, is a great place to stop for Japanese toys.

Senba

(p. 149) We were pretty tired of searching for restaurants when we came looking for this one, but I’m pretty sure it’s not there.

Lonely Planet Japan (Tokyo)

Lonely Planet gives the kanji for all the restaurants (and other sites) that appear on the neighborhood maps. Location on a map + kanji = good stuff.

Keika Kumamoto Ramen

(p. 194) No English sign; kind of a surprisingly dumpy little place. But the ramen was quite good. The salad comes with corn flakes.

Junikagetsu

(p. 196) No longer exists. This was kind of mind-bending, because this was kind of a “food mall” that occupied a whole block. We thought we might be losing our minds when we couldn’t find it. But the waiter at the (very tasty) okinamaya restaurant on the 4th or 5th floor across the street confirmed that the building had been torn down and replaced with a mall full of clothing stores.

Lonely Planet Japan (Kyoto)

Tagoto Honten

(p. 366) Don’t be fooled by the description of this restauarant as “one of Kyoto’s oldest” soba restaurants: it is located in a shopping arcade and looks brand new. We walked past this several times before we realized it was the place. There is no English sign, as I recall.

Morita-ya

(p. 367) We found this one, though not with the help of an English sign. It is quite good, though fairly expensive and has a very pleasant deck on the river.

Omen

(p. 369) Found this one with no problem, just a few blocks off the Philosopher’s Walk.

Harajuku Girls

Not a restaurant, but none of the guide books make it clear that the infamous fashionistas of Harajuku show up in full force on Sunday afternoon, in the square just South of the JR station. You will see the odd Gothic Lolita on other days of the week, but Sunday is the day to see them on parade in Harajuku.

January 17, 2007

Hillary/Obama/Edwards Three-Way

Filed under: Not Tech, Politics — Chris @ 5:10 pm

Michelle Cottle at The Plank speculates on the Democratic primary race:

The safe-money bet is that we’ll hear this minority v. chick storyline approximately 7,500 times if both senators [Clinton and Obama] indeed make a play for the White House, which has me wondering: What will this mean for the oh-so-white guy currently rounding out the Democratic triumvirate of top-tier candidates, Johnny Reid Edwards?

Will Edwards suffer from not being included in the media frenzy certain to rise up around Hillary v. Obama–all those inspirational stories about American social progress and the chance to remove the asterisk from the assertion that “anyone can grow up to be president”? Will some people come to resent Edwards as another entitled white guy trying to spoil the party?

Alternatively, will all the talk about race and gender and trailblazers and cultural barriers ultimately turn people off or make them question the qualifications (or, god forbid, the electability) of the two aspiring “firsts”? In the end, will Edwards benefit from being the candidate utterly without novelty appeal in this race?

John Edwards, here’s your winning campaign slogan… You can have it for free. “John Edwards: He’s a man. And white.”

P.S. This is the exception that proves the rule: I have no opinion about the 2008 presidential race. I don’t plan to have one until Q1 2008 (at least).

January 16, 2007

Hey You Kids, Get Off My Lawn

Filed under: Not Tech — Chris @ 8:36 pm

So I’m standing on the R platform at Atlantic Ave and there’s a group of awkward pre-teen boys running in circles, chasing one another, shoving, tackling, and wrestling and just generally being stupid and irresponsible (not to say annoying) and, basically, I’m standing there devising plans for how I’m going to live with myself when one of these kids falls down onto the tracks and gets run over when the slightly older, completely unamused lady standing next to me walks over and gives them a talking to. Where do you grow the balls to do something like that? To yell at some kids you’ve never met when they’ll probably just laugh at you and ignore you and make faces behind your back?

They didn’t laugh at her—though they seemed terribly pleased with their own raffishness—and they did knock it off—though there was some backsliding as the interminable wait for the train wore on. Could I do that? Could I bend obnoxious children to my will?

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Blog at WordPress.com.