I Hate Delaware

This "observations from the drive back" post has been in draft mode since Monday.

The drive back from NJ was rather... hellish. I left the house a little after 2pm, though I didn't get really get moving until 15 minutes later, that being the amount of time waiting in line for $2.03/gallon gas (12 cents cheaper than the station next door.)

Heading down on the NJ Turnpike, it started slowing down after the merge, as it typically does.

I passed the time by singing along with my Beltable Burn CD mix, which is composed of songs that I think I can sing -- there's a lot of Fountains of Wayne, Paul Simon, They Might Be Giants.

I used my phone earpiece to record myself, a kind of car karaoke experiment.

It turns out that those songs I think I can sing? Not so much.

I only had luck with a few songs from the Swingers soundtrack. I guess I'm not cut out for rock and roll.

Anyway, I tuned in to the turnpike traffic advisory radio & expected to hear about the usual delays at the Exit 1 tolls, with the usual alternate route suggestion of route 195 west to 295 south.

As alternates go, it's a pretty nice drive. Scenic, and never as crowded as the 2-lane southern stretch of the Turnpike.

I was kind of surprised to hear that because of big delays at the Delaware Memorial Bridge, they were routing people through Philly -- 195 west to 295 north.

295 north turns into 95 south, which is kind of confusing.

Anyway, Pennsylvania was pretty easy.

The lines at the Delaware tolls was brutal; since I had plenty of time to look at the map, I decided to bail and took 896 north to 2 west. This goes right through the University of Delaware.

It was pretty much all 2-lane at this point, so I settled back for a long, slow, dark drive on a succession of small roads through small towns.

Route 2 turned into 273, which takes you past Blue Ball Road (a road that I have travelled down many times), then to route 1 and the town of Rising Sun, which I have always wondered is as pretty as its name.

It's not, but that's okay.

Route 1 keeps going, through the town of Conowingo and across a hydroelectric dam of the same name.

It gradually heads towards Baltimore -- just head towards the pink sky from the city lights.

Eventually, it hits 695 around Baltimore (I like 695 around Baltimore, taking the Key Bridge, especially at night. The only thing is that there's still construction going on, so it's down to one lane in certain stretches. Really narrow one lane, which is fun when it's dark and raining. High pucker factor.), and then back into the rat race on 95.

Wrong Job?

I'm watching the Duke vs. UNC-G game on TV.

It's a Raycom/Jefferson Pilot game. The color man is Bobby Cremins (formerly head coach of Georgia Tech).

I think he would be better off coaching somewhere.

Nose Job

I was wondering why the bridge of my nose was hurting.

Apparently, one of the nose pads on my glasses tore off some time last night.

I cannibalized one of the pads from an older pair until I can get another.

Toe Job

At home last night, I managed to stub my toe against a side table.

"Stub" sounds so trivial. It was actually more like a kick.

Alcohol may have been a factor.



Photo Notes:

* This gave me chance to play with the Macro setting on my camera

* I need to trim my toe hair

Desktop Organization, Courtesy of Windows

Windows XP has a feature designed to help you keep your desktop neat and orderly.

When you get past a certain number of icons on your desktop, XP will thoughtfully hide new items, by displaying them off the visible portion of the screen.

It's quite thoughtful of them, actually.

It's the Little Things...

Here's to the following items:

* "Beers of the World" Sampler 8-Packs

* '24' Reruns

* Unspecified neighbor's open Wi-Fi connections

Dumb Things From Holiday-mas

* We went to Mass at 10:30. Mom still thinks it's 1986, when you had to come really early, or else you had to park 5 blocks away and then stand in the back. It's not, as I keep reminding her.

* I got my mom a can opener. An ergonomic can opener, but a can opener nonetheless. (That's not the dumb part, as my mom is really hard to shop for.)

I thought it was a side-cut can opener, but it's not.

* My sister (and I, after the fact) got mom and dad a Mac Mini, to replace the ancient Windows 2000 laptop they'd had. They already had a wireless mouse -- unfortunately, the keyboard that we have here is serial, not USB. So we couldn't finish setting it up.

Merry Holiday

Merry Christmas to all, and to all... go wrap your presents, slacker.

Dumb Things From I-95

Drove up to the homestead Saturday morning, instead of my usual Friday night.

Got a late start (mostly because of the, um, alternate Friday night activities), so I was afraid I was going to run into traffic from the football game, but it was pretty light all the way through.

* The motto for Baltimore's Live 106.5 is the best hits of the "'90s, 80s, and now."

That's an awful lot of skipping around.

It's not alphabetical, it's not chronological, and it's not done for alliterative reasons.

Oh, and I recommend you don't visit the Live 106.5 Web site (http://www.mix1065.fm/). They've got non-closeable flash video ads, with loud, non-muteable audio, running in the lower right corner of the main page. So far, I've seen a lawyer and Ray Lewis (hawking some protein drink).

* Passed a pickup truck, apparently owned by a personal trainer. He had a little mailbox-thing mounted on the back of the cab, marked "Take One" and presumably filled with brochures.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a passenger, so I couldn't.

Meat and Cheese, 12/21/05 Edition

Periodically, a bunch of us old-skool AOLers (mostly alumni at this point) get together for meat and cheese at a local themed franchise steak eatery.

We swap the same old stories, slag the same old people and generally wallow in a pit of shared memories.

It's a pretty good time.

Cameras are not normally permitted at these events, but I was able to sneak this photo:

That's Shawn, Michelle, Mike, Jason and me. Incidentally, this photo features the three original AOL Webmasters.

I think this was Michelle's first Meat & Cheese.

Click the photo or this link to get the 800 pixel wide version.

Photo-wise, I only took out the redeye -- we really are that good-looking.

Shortly afterwards, though, AOL stopped hiring solely on the basis of appearance.

Hair Shirt Redux

I did it again. Pulled what I thought was a clean shirt from the closet, only to find shortly thereafter that I had worn it during a haircut.

Point of clarification -- I usually only re-wear outer layers, like sweaters. Unless I am really lazy.

Fight the Flush

Like about half of Asians, I suffer from the dreaded Asian Flush, which means that I lack a certain enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase2, causing me to have trouble breaking down acetaldehyde, a toxin that is a byproduct of the metabolism of alcohol yadda yadda yadda snooze snore bleh (click the wikipedia link, that's what it's there for.)

What that means is that, after a drink or two, I turn very red. (Once, when I was in Cancun, I had a beer with lunch. I was already flushed from the sun -- after the cervezas, I was purple.) Also, it means I am a cheap drunk, with the whole heart-pounding, head-spinning, got my drunk on going on.

Fortunately, there is a workaround -- a Pepcid AC antacid, taken shortly before (or even during) drinking, seems to counteraffect the flush. No one is really sure why -- the active ingredient is Famotidine, but anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that it works.

From personal experience, that is probably why I feel the effects of a few drinks more at home, when I don't take a Pepcid, than I do when I am out and about.

This is why you can usually find me with Pepcid (or the generic equivalent) in my glove compartment, keychain pill fob, jacket pocket, shaving kit and man-purse/laptop bag.

Break Fast With Benjamin

This morning, waiting in line to pay for my breakfast -- coffee and egg sandwich, with a rather generous side of bacon -- I was struck by two things:

* My typical breakfast experience in New York City consisted of popping in at any given deli and getting 2 eggs (fried) on a roll (kaiser), with a cup of coffee.

I especially liked how the counterperson would invariably turn the question "Salt, pepper, ketchup?" into one word.

* It takes a certain kind of person to pay for a $3.62 breakfast with a hundred dollar bill.

Specifically, it would be the person ahead of me in line, forcing the cashier to go to the back office and get bills so she could break his benjamin.

Simple Taste

I disproportionately enjoy Campbell's recipe for the One Dish Chicken and Rice Bake.

It is drop dead simple to make, since all you need is a can of cream of ______ soup, rice, chicken and rudimentary spices and thus is a staple of both harried homemakers and swinging bachelors.

I have two theories as to why I like it so much:

1. It harks back to my childhood, taking the role of comfort food.

2. I have exceedingly simple tastes.

I am inclined to go with the latter explanation.

Sink Strainer Showdown

Now is the reckoning.

Now we shall see if the $1.99 sink strainer is actually twice as good as the previous, dollar store $0.99 sink strainer.