From the mind of Lisa Phone...

On the road again...

2009-07-13T14:17:00.004-04:00

On June 30th, I set out to transport Duane from Coral Springs to Brooklyn. Aside from being the most boring drive of my life, this 19-hour trip had some memorable moments.

Luckily, we were able to finish loading the car before the rain started because it didn't stop. It rained for 90 percent of the time that we drove through Florida. To make matters worse, we were already bored and suffered from the plague of incomplete jams. Basically, we were driving and listening to the radio on scan (the whole way there) and were trying to stop on the jam-worthy songs -- too bad the only time we heard songs that we remotely liked, they were within 30 seconds or less of ending.

Our first and only stop (other than to refuel) was in St. Augustine. At this point, it was dinnertime, and we ended up choosing Burger King. This BK was like something out of a bad '80s movie. The splattered paint effects on the walls and the weirdos that were there... I don't know which was worse. We ate quickly and escaped.

Shortly thereafter, we found our saving grace -- Jacksonville's X102.9, the only radio station that kept our attention! Thank goodness for that! X102.9 continued for a while into our Georgia drive, but, then, it was back to the incomplete jams.

I don't know if Georgia has state colors, but it should, and they should be orange (as a symbol of the never-ending construction) and red (for the endless line of brake lights). The term traffic gone wild does not even begin to explain my frustration. Mind you, there was no reason for this traffic, which made matters even worse. How about the white mini-van with "Love Is You" stickered on the back windshield? We hated that guy.

By the time that we got to South Carolina, it was dark. The boring scenery wasn't helping me stay awake, but maybe I should thank the drivers and their blinding headlights. You certainly can't fall asleep when you're being blinded by pretty much every car/truck on the road.

Another highlight was the flat tire that never was. The car was bumping all around, and it really felt like we had a flat, so, despite not wanting to stop ever because I wanted to get out of SC as soon as humanly possible, we exited to check out the tires, which were fine. Granted, I was thrilled and relieved that we didn't have a flat, but I was hating my life to think that the road was just in that bad of shape. Did South Carolina grow? It sure felt like this state got bigger.

North Carolina was equally annoying at first, but it quickly surpassed its neighbor to the south when we encountered the world's longest and most irritating detour. We had to get off I-95 and drive on country backroads for like 30 minutes. It was awful.

The rest of the states are a blur since (a) I was getting tired, (b) my co-pilot was nodding off like a bobblehead and could no longer take notes, and (c) I was driving the speed limit for so long (throughout Virginia) that I wanted to kill myself. Nonetheless, here are some noteworthy points:

The driver's seat in the rental car was the most uncomfortable seat I have ever sat in in my entire life!
The McCafe (creamy, steamy, and dreamy) billboard is the most popular billboard on I-95.
When you are plagued with incomplete jams, you are forced to make musical sacrifices and listen to crap that you would never listen to otherwise.
The most popular songs on the radio were Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me," Beyonce's "Halo," and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours."
If you're bored enough and plagued with incomplete jams for long enough, you might start hallucinating.

After all of that, we made it. I dropped Duane off at his new home away from home, helped unload the car, and headed to bed. Unfortunately, I did not do so without injury; I tripped up a step, scraped and bruised up my knee pretty badly. That was not the worst of it; in trying to catch myself, I ended up falling onto a gate, pushing most of my weight into it and bruising/cutting my chest. It hurt so badly that I felt like I was going to faint and/or puke. What a great start to a vacation...

Normally, I would recount all of the details of a trip, but, since this post is already lengthy, I'm going to try and keep it brief.

Day 1:
I slept a couple of hours after being awake for too many hours to count, hung out with AG, picked up Joanne and went to dinner at Gino's in Bay Ridge. Speaking of which, I need to review that on Yelp (lisaphone.yelp.com). After dinner, Jo and I went to pick up Duane and take him and some of his belongings to Williamsburg. Then, I took Jo home and hung out for a little bit before making my way back to 27B.

Day 2:
I woke up early this morning to return the rental car. Mind you, it was due at noon; I left Gerritsen Beach to head to Alamo on 40th and 8th in Manhattan at 10.30 am. I got there at 12.25 -- it took 2 hours to go 15 or so miles! WHAT THE CRAP?

Luckily, I had something to look forward to; I met Jennifer for lunch from F/Orange Circle Line Bagels, which ruled. From there, I went to Jo's and relaxed until she got home from work. We weren't able to do much that day because it didn't stop raining, but we did have Lobo for dinner!

Day 3:
Jo and I started the day with breakfast from F/Orange Circle Line Bagels and headed out for a journey to the trifecta. We should have taken it as a sign when we waited for 30 minutes for the A-train to never come, but we continued on and made it to the Staten Island Ferry for a high seas adventure!

When we got off the ferry, we got onto the craziest bus ever. There was a family of 7 (5 of which were kids) that ran that bus. From taking up the entire aisle to kids singing loudly enough that people couldn't hold their laughter in to being the most crowded bus ever... the hits kept on coming.

Three hours after we initially left Carroll Gardens, we FINALLY got to Denino's, where we devoured a pizza. From there, it was part 2 of the trifecta: Ralph's Ices.

Our mission was not over, though; we took another bus to the Staten Island Mall, where Jo quickly returned a few things. Then, it was back to another bus -- this one took us from the mall to 86th Street in Brooklyn. Over an hour later, we found ourselves having to take 2 more buses before getting back to Jo's apartment. What a mission.

It wasn't even over because we headed back to AG's after all of that.

Day 4, the 4th of July:
Jo, RG, and I got an early start and headed to the city to try to get discount tickets to see Rock of Ages. RG won the lottery! We ate lunch and headed back to the theater to see the show; it was awesome. Constantine might be my boyfriend. Hahaha. (Not if Joanne has anything to say about it!) I don't want to tell you much about the show, but if you like the idea of a musical set against an '80s soundtrack, go see it. I guarantee that you'll love it and laugh out loud throughout the whole show.

After the show ended, we had time to kill before the fireworks, and surprisingly, we weren't hungry. On a whim, we decided to go see a movie. We got to the theater, saw that The Hangover was about to start and quickly bought tickets. It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard and/or that much in a movie in my life.

From there, we headed to get a spot to see the fireworks, which were pretty amazing. After that, we took part in what seemed like a mass exodus and made our way to Union Square where we decided to have a late-night dinner at Coffee Shop. My food was delicious and the perfect ending to a great day.

Day 5:
AG made a breakfast feast and followed it up with a dinner feast! In between, Jennifer, Joanne, Tricia, RG, and I went to Prospect Park and took a little boat ride. There were 4 other people on the boat besides us and the captain. The boat ride was nice and relaxing -- so much so that I leaned back and closed my eyes while the captain was docking the boat. Little did I know that when I opened my eyes, Captain Jimmy would be so close to me that I could kiss him. I said, "dang... I didn't know it was going to be that kind of boat ride." Everyone was laughing, and RG quickly pointed out that this stuff only happens to me. He might be right.

Duane met up with us at the park, and we headed back for the dinner feast. After dinner, we had dessert, which was followed by a quick trip to Ralph's in Brooklyn before taking Duane home. We really are the fattest people ever -- who eats ices after dinner and dessert???

Day 6:
I took the Carroll Gardens car pool, hung at Jo's, had lunch with Jennifer, and hung out with Duane before meeting up with Jo, Allyson, and Oz at Joe's Pizza. I had to get my fix! From there, we walked to Magnolia, and we parted ways with Duane.

Allyson bought me a pair of sneakers for my birthday -- thanks, Al! Jo and I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and went to Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory before heading home.

Day 7:
I went to Pennsylvania. Mind you, it took 5 hours to get there because Uncle Carl had to run errands; I did, however, get to drive the H2, which was pretty sweet. I got to see everyone except for the Bean before having to head back to NY in the wee hours of the morning.

Day 8:
For my last meal in Brooklyn, I drove the brown beast to Brennan & Carr, where Tricia met RG, John, and myself for lunch. Then, I headed back to get my stuff and go to the airport.

All in all, the trip was a good one, and, once again, I didn't want to come home. Oh, and, for the record, I got lots of swipes -- 15, but who's counting???

C is for cake, California, creamery...

2009-06-18T13:49:00.003-04:00

Before I start recounting the trip, let me post a picture of the Taco Bell birthday cake that I made for Duane. It was an intensely chocolatey cake; one layer was double chocolate and the other was triple chocolate. The whole thing was frosted with chocolate frosting and decorated with sugar crystals!

Now, let me tell you about the trip, which was definitely not what I expected at all. When I think of San Diego, I think of marinas and beaches -- basically, I imagine it to be all about the water. As you will learn, that wasn't quite how it was in reality.

The day before we left, Christina wasn't feeling well, which was not a good sign, but she loaded up on medicine and hoped for the best. I stayed up all night because our flight was early, and I wanted to sleep on the planes (not that I wouldn't be able to anyway, but whatever). Gina woke up and didn't feel so hot either -- another bad sign.

Day 1:

I was asleep before the first flight pulled away from the gate. That's how I roll. I woke up shortly before we landed in Salt Lake City. Our flight was late (because only one runway was open), and we basically had enough time to deplane and get in line for our connecting flight to San Diego. I slept on the way to San Diego, too.

The San Diego airport looks like no other airport that I have ever seen. It is like a mall or something -- a fancy one. Anyway, we stepped outside to look for the shuttle to our hotel, and the weather was pretty awesome. By the time that we got to the hotel and checked in, we were starving, so we quickly put our stuff down and headed out to find something to eat.

If the first dining experience in San Diego was to be an indication of the rest, I would have killed myself. We had lunch at Cappell's, a small Italian restaurant in downtown, which really should be named CRAPpell's because it was that bad. We ended up there out of desperation and severe hunger. I should have known from the first sip of fake soda that this was going to to be bad... very bad. I had pizza, which might have been the worst pizza I have ever eaten in my entire life. There was an overwhelming stench of bad body odor lingering in the air, and there were some flies hanging around. It was awful. We were not off to a good start.

Later that afternoon, we made our way to the Gaslamp Quarter. This was definitely the best part of downtown San Diego. We had an early dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. You can't go wrong with that.

On the way back to the hotel, however, we experienced something that I had never imagined to find there -- BUMS GONE WILD. I have never seen so many homeless people in my life. It was crazy. (I'm sure LA is worse, but this was nuts.)

Day 2:

Since we went to bed early the night before, we got an early start and took the trolley to Old Town. Again, this wasn't what I expected; I thought that we could spend the day there. Unfortunately, this historic area was too small and occupied us only for a short while.

From there, we headed to Balboa Park and took a free tram around the park. First, we ended up with some jerky lady and were lucky enough to end up with a driver who looked like Elvis and wanted to have his Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation on YouTube! The guy was crazy; he talked about his pet horse and tried to get the people on the tram to go see his band. He was a weirdo, but entertaining nonetheless.

After we left the park, we walked blocks and blocks and blocks to find a place to eat because there is no food in San Diego, the weirdest place ever. How is it possible to have this many office buildings and residences in the downtown area with so few restaurants? It took nearly an hour to find the 6th Ave Bistro. Mind you, we walked into this place and there was only one other customer, who was sitting at the bar with his young child. Who brings a kid to a bar? The kid was falling asleep when one of the waiters told him that he could take a nap in one of booths. As it that was not weird enough, the father dude left with a waitress while his kid slept there! Speaking of the waitress, she was a mess. She forgot our order, came back to confirm what Christina ordered, and ended up bringing me something else entirely. At that point, I didn't want to eat -- I noticed that the mustard on the table expired in January of 2008. I was done.

Fortunately, the day looked up when we took the ferry to Coronado. I love high seas adventures, and the ferry was a nice little trip. Coronado is beautiful, but the real highlight was MooTime Creamery. Oh man... I love ice cream, but this was out of this world. We all had dessert nachos and felt like we were in heaven. The 'chips' were pieces of freshly made waffle cone and were covered in marshmallow cream, hot fudge, and caramel. Then, you got to pick two flavors of ice cream to go in the middle. AMAZING! That was the only meal that I ate that day, but it could not have been better.

Day 3:

We made the trek to La Jolla. What a mission... it took forever, and I turned into Pukey Brewster on the bus. (I didn't actually throw up, but I wanted to.) My nausea was so bad that we had to get out of the bus early and walk a good amount (before we eventually got back on the bus because we still had too far to go). While we were out, we walked down to the ocean to set foot in the Pacific. That was a good plan until I got drenched. With my pants rolled up to my knees, I attempted to stand in the water, but the waves receded and weren't returning up as far on the shore, so I kept walking farther out. Still, nothing. Finally, Gina asked me to turn around, so she could take my picture. Once I turned around, a big wave crashed and got me soaked... up to my butt. Can I just tell you how much it sucks to walk around in wet jeans? Not only did I look like I peed in my pants, but my legs were so itchy that I wanted to cut them off.

We were starving yet again and managed to choose a good spot for lunch. We ended up at the Bull & Bear Bar and Grill (for those of you that love menu-reading as much as I do: http://72.51.35.40/bull_and_bear//). It was really tasty; I had a chipotle chicken wrap with chips and salsa. Other than the ice cream, this was the best meal that I had eaten.

With fuel in our bellies, we finally made it to La Jolla Cove. The views were intense. I wish we could have gone kayaking or gone down into the cave, but, still, it was worth the mission it took to get there.

We headed back to the hotel and kicked back for a while before attempting to decide where to have dinner. We took the hotel shuttle to Little Italy, and, upon the recommendation of our driver, had dinner at Little Italy Spaghetteria (http://littleitalyspaghetti.com). I ordered the manicotti and had to send it back because the pasta was so overcooked that it tasted like baby food. The second dish I ordered was better, but not good. If they can't make pasta in Little Italy, there's a problem.

After dinner, we attempted to go out, but the place Kane led us to was closed. What the crap? Why do things close so early in San Diego? Oh, I know... because San Diego is weird.

Day 4:

Before going to San Diego, I did a little restaurant research. One of the places that came up was Mexican Fiesta. What I thought was going to be a restaurant was actually a taco stand on the side of the road, but, still, the rave reviews made me want to try it. I got a chicken burrito. To my surprise, it was mostly dark meat (nasty) and some peppers and onions. That's it -- no rice, no beans, no cheese, no sour cream. It tasted more like an egg roll than a burrito. I was so disappointed I could have cried.

This was the sunniest and hottest of the days that we were there, and we chose to walk (a long walk, mind you) to Seaport Village. It was nice -- shops and restaurants set along the water. From there, we boarded the Seal Tour, an amphibious bus/boat tour. It started out as a bus on land and adapted to the water as a boat. I love the high seas! Hahaha. It was actually really cool. Christina took me as a birthday gift -- thanks, Christina!

After the tour, we had lunch at San Diego Burger Co. where I had a mediocre bacon cheeseburger. As soon as I finished eating, I had to get up because there were way too many birds for my liking. I felt a stupid little bird's wings fluttering against my arm; I almost had a heart attack. I took shelter inside the burger shack until Gina, Christina, and Kane finished their lunch. We walked along the harbor and had a mini-photo shoot of Gina and Kane, portraying the famous sailor and nurse kiss.

Later that night, we went back to the Gaslamp, and, finally, we saw people! It was nice to see the streets lively for a change. We had dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery (http://www.rockbottom.com). It was pretty good until some bad singers took the stage. Christina and I left, walked around for a bit, and went back to the hotel.

Day 5:

Christina still wasn't feeling well; from the night before we left up to this point, she actually felt worse. We took our time to get ready while Gina and Kane were at the Midway museum. We had lunch at Los Panchitos, a fast-food type Mexican place, and, once again, I was disappinted by another dark meat-filled chicken burrito. Oh well...

We walked around downtown for a while before heading back to Coronado. Alas, we had good Mexican food at Costa Azul (http://www.costaazulcoronado.com)! I figured I'd go with a chicken burrito one last time, and it paid off. The meal was delicious! We followed that up with one last trip to MooTime Creamery -- I had a s'more sundae and loved it.

We parted ways with Kane as he made it back to the ship and took the ferry back.

Day 6:

My birthday! Woooo-hoooooo! We left the hotel and headed for the airport. Two flights and three airports later, we made it home! We did have a birthday Cinnabon and a birthday Krispy Kreme doughnut to celebrate, though!

___________________

Of course, some other highlights happened during the trip. Christina started doing a Dracula-like impersonation of the Terminator. Kane overused the phrase, "I must admit." We walked less than I would have liked, but more than Gina, Christina, and Kane wanted or needed to. I slept on the floor one night atop a makeshift pillow bed in between an actual bed and the wall in a space so small that you'll have to see the picture to believe it.

Wow.

2009-04-29T13:09:00.002-04:00

Only in 2009 will you find a web site devoted to text messages that probably shouldn't have been sent at all and definitely shouldn't be read by strangers -- especially out of context! Having visited textsfromlastnight.com, I am slightly horrified. Maybe that's a bit harsh, but you should really read some of these. I wonder if the creators are making money off of these drunk dial texts. Why didn't I think of this?

I was probably too busy talking to Duane on the phone for hours about places we can go eat. Lately, we are on a counter-service kick, meaning that we want to order our food at the counter and sit down to enjoy it sans waiter/waitress service. We are open to suggestions for future options. In searching, I found a dessert option in Lola's Cupcakery. I need to go there... soon.

Seriously, I should have gone to culinary school. If only I didn't max out on my student loans...

Lately...

2009-04-28T11:44:00.004-04:00

I need to go back and fill you in on my life and times throughout the month of April (in case you care).

After the skateboard cake, I made a cake based on the Twilight cover (the book, not the movie) for Brittany's 16th birthday. Plus, I cooked a mini-feast for the party.

After all that, I had to get ready for my trip. The night before I left was Katie's birthday party. Duane agreed to take me to the airport, so we figured that we would just hang out until I had to be there at 4 am. Frank hung out for a while, too; it was like old times. Eventually, it was time to leave, and I was beyond tired.

Day 1:

The flight was fine; it was getting to Brooklyn from LGA that was a mission -- especially on no sleep. When I finally got there, I was able to take a power nap before I met up with Julie and Danny (who flew into LGA a couple of hours after I did). Oddly enough, we only hung out for a half-hour, talking on a street corner. Go figure. Hamptons met us there. From there, we walked for quite a while until we settled on a place to have lunch. The place, Bamboleo, in the West Village, was alright at best. Luckily, we followed it with Cones, which made up for the disappointing meal. We walked for a while longer and headed home.

The next LONG WALK was later that night when we searched for a place to have dinner. After walking around for a couple of hours, we ended up just getting pizza at Sal's (not to be confused with San Remo -- hahaha). It was good, but we were tired. Walking that much probably wasn't a good idea given the next day's events.

Day 2:

I went to NY for the sole purpose of completing a mission/goal: Walking from Harlem to Brooklyn (which Hamptons and I dubbed as the Harlem Walk). After one failed attempt and another spontaneous, but unsuccessful attempt, Hamptons and I were determined to get our Harlem Walk on before it got too hot. We scheduled the HW for Easter Weekend, and I am pleased to say that we did it! We started out on 125th and St. Nicholas and walked down CPW, down 7th Avenue, made a pit stop at Joe's, and, eventually, crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. Our finishing point was at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, a perfect stopping place and an excellent reward.

Later that night, as if we did not walk enough already during the past day and a half, we walked to Park Slope to have dinner at Lobo. (The one on Court Street was closed.) As usual, the food was delicious, but, we couldn't get dessert there, so it was time for yet another walk. We went to the Chocolate Room and had the fondue. It was pretty awesome.

Day 3:

Saturday was the day of the swipes. I wanted to swipe my MetroCard as much as possible, and we achieved that goal. We went to the library only to discover that it was closed, which prompted us to get another swipe immediately as we got back on the bus. We also decided that the theme of this trip was change '09; it was all about doing new things, so, at one point, we tracked down the Cakeman Raven and sampled a piece of red velvet cake (as those are the only slices that were available). Earlier in the day, we even took an access-a-ride to Ikea and took the smelliest bus ever back; if you don't believe me, ask Hamptons or Mike.

Day 4:

On Sunday, we had a feast (courtesy of A.G.) and did the family thing.

Day 5:

On Monday, I walked to the 78th precinct to meet my uncle and went to Sal's a.k.a. San Remo for lunch. From there, I headed into the city to meet Allyson, R.G., and Hamptons for dinner at Max Brenner. Anthony was supposed to go, but proved to be the missing link yet again. Anyway, dinner was pricey. My dessert cost more than my dinner! It was good, but the portions were way too small. Hello---I only got 5 waffle fries, literally. After dinner, R.G. and I went on a nearly 5-mile walk. We ended up exploring parts of downtown Manhattan that I didn't even know existed. By that point, we were so far from any train that we needed that we decided to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge at 1.15 am.

Day 6:

On the last day, I had lunch with Allyson. We tried to live on the edge and go somewhere new -- BAD IDEA. Allyson learned that she shouldn't listen to her co-workers. It was raining, so I went back to the apartment for a power nap before meeting with Hamptons for one last walk over the bridge before heading to the airport. Getting home was awful. My flight was delayed for 3 hours.

Since getting home, there are a few things worth noting:

1. Soap opera Saturday: Duane and I attempted to resume Social Saturdays! Little did we know that there would be more drama than the daytime soaps.

2. Failed Friday: Our last Fun Friday went down in flames, but Duane did get an early birthday present as Clap and I buried the hatchet. Who knew? Plus, we ate awesome BBQ, and John Joseph was more entertaining than we'd imagined.

3. The Night of the Interesting Couples: While hanging out in the parking lot of the Shake, waiting for Frank, Duane and I saw several couples that were so interesting that they were photoworthy. If only we had a camera...

4. I made a quick (thus, far from perfect) cake for Kane. In sticking with a naval theme, I went with an anchor with USN (United States Navy) on it. He loved it!

Since this post is long-winded enough, I'll save my movie commentary for next time.

Skate or die?

2009-04-02T15:27:00.004-04:00

Maybe the subject line is a little intense, or maybe the skateboard cake made me a little nostalgic.

Speaking of nostalgia, the other night, after the Astrea Corp. show, Frank said that he felt like we were hanging out in the Cheers parking lot. I told him that I wished we were; then, we could go grab a slice at Casola's and would not have ended up going to Peter Pan Diner (or as Jasper loves to call it, The Pan). I miss Cheers. I miss going to shows multiple nights out of the week. I miss the scene. Ahhh, those were the days.

Now, instead of going to shows, I bake cakes.

This is my life. It's too depressing to even type about (at this moment).

Back by popular demand?

2009-03-24T13:09:00.005-04:00

Forgive me. As you can see, it's been a long time since my last posting. (I feel like I'm making a confession.) First, I mourned my defeat in the cake contest. I had a difficult time coping, and I thought that I would resume blogging after recovering from the loss.

Then, I found myself preoccupied with other things. People asked me when I would blog again, and I kept putting my return my off for no particular reason. Alas, I am back. You can thank Allyson for that; she actually put in a written request. Haha.

I have yet to bake a cake in 2009, but rest assured -- cakes are coming soon. However, I did make cupcakes for Brianna's baby shower, which I will display for your viewing pleasure. I made two different designs. Below is a picture of both; then, I included a close-up of the sleeping babies.

In the past 3 months, I've watched too many movies to recount, but I will take this opportunity to voice my confusion by and displeasure with watching Sir Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz as a couple. I watched Elegy a couple of days ago and was a little horrified by their coupling. (The movie wasn't all that either.)

To ease back into my return to blogging, I'll keep this first one short, but I promise that I'll be back soon. Stay tuned.

The ultimate Christmas cake

2008-12-15T16:15:00.007-05:00

As I mentioned in a recent posting, I designed a holiday cake. In fact, I had a cake party in its honor.

As you can see, the cake was definitely cake party-worthy, and a good time was had by all who attended.

The reason for the cake (given that it is premature for a Christmas cake) was I am entering it in a contest. I have been trying for the past hour to send the images, but to no avail! This is so frustrating.

In the meantime, nobody ever saw Gina's birthday cake, so I might as well post that now, too.

As everyone should know, Gina loves chocolate chip cookies, so what better medium for her birthday cake design? Getting the John Mayer logo right was quite a task -- given that you can't just roll out chocolate chip cookie dough, but I was pretty pleased with the end result. She loved it. I can't believe it took me this long (almost 3 months) to post a picture of it.

Let me get back to resolving this email issue...

Clarity.

2008-12-03T13:16:00.003-05:00

I opted for a short and sweet subject today because my aim is to clarify a few points.

Make no mistake... the missing rap lyrics were not mine. I cannot take credit for the brilliance embodied within them. Trish may be on to something, though -- the person that stole the index card may have been the same person who made the disappointing Oreo sundae shake.

Also, I picked today's subject for this segue -- the guitar that I am trying to win for Gina is, of course, autographed by John Mayer! One of his songs is titled Clarity. Oh, and, he bakes cakes, too.

How was that for another nice segue? Speaking of cakes, consider this an official statement: I owe Tricia a cake as soon as we are in the same place, and time allows for the baking of said cake.

Who has an iPhone? If you have one or know anyone that does, please download the game, Freedom Run (or get them to download it). Oz made it, so I am encouraging everyone to get it and play it like nobody's business. Warning: There is no ending. Your goal is to score as many points as possible and get on the leaderboard. That's it. Simple enough, right?

It's too early in the day for me to making any meaningful statements. That will be another day's mission.

The Case of the Missing Rap Lyrics

2008-12-02T17:29:00.002-05:00

I know the subject sounds like a Nancy Drew mystery, but I assure you that it is much more serious. Last night, Sash the Mosh discovered that one index card (on which she wrote part of the lyrics to her I.F.T. rap) was missing. She searched high and low, but to no avail. Hopefully, she will find the missing index card today. I dedicate this posting to her in the hope that she finds those brilliant lyrics.

Also, I owe my loyal readers an apology. I have been slacking. I promise that I'll step up my game. The good news is that I am back! (It's not like I ever left my computer, so I don't even have a good excuse for why I haven't been typing away.)

Anyway... let's go with some stream of consciousness type stuff:

- Scrabble (via Facebook) occupies more of my time than it should.
- I am going to make an INTENSE holiday cake in an attempt to win an autographed guitar for Gina. Anyone hungry? I'll have samples for those who are interested and can show up to where the cake will be.
- The job search is so dreadful that it hurts my feelings.
- I am in yet another 3-star rut. Hopefully, today's Netflix will break the pattern.
- Oh man... I got the most awesome sneakers to add to the collection. I'll have to take a picture and post it for you to see. They are SICK!

That's enough of that.

I need to figure out what I'm doing right now. I should be on my way to Delray to have a mini-reunion with Merin and Matt Fox. After all, she needs me. In fact, she called and left a message, saying that Matt was talking crap about Scrabble and that she needed me to come up there to regulate. Nice, right? It's good to know that my Scrabble addiction pays off every now and then.

You know what I hate? Well, lots of things, actually, but, in this instance, I am referring to one specific thing. I hate when you have something (in this case, an Oreo sundae shake from Burger King) that rocks your world, but, when you have it the second time, it falls totally short of your expectations. That's such crap. I had the shake a while ago, and it was awesome; last night, it was missing some key components. Talk about lame...

Now that I have depressed myself a little more, I guess I should bid farewell for now. I promise I'll be back with more nonsense from the depths of my mind.

I hate Halloween and the aftermath.

2008-11-05T13:27:00.003-05:00

As you should all know, I really hate Halloween. Gina wanted to have a creepy Halloween party, and it gave me an excuse to make this:

The party was crazy and chaotic, and, despite the fact that everyone had fun, I hated my life. It looked like an explosion went off in the middle of my house. Mind you, we have had parties in the past with more guests that we had on Halloween, and it was never this bad. Needless to say, I'm glad that it's over.

In the days that followed, we were busy cleaning and entertaining our house guests (people that traveled to attend the party). It felt like a non-stop party. We went out to dinner on Saturday and had a mock football party on Sunday -- that's another thing that I hate: FOOTBALL. The house might not ever be clean.

On Monday, I went to see Eagle Eye. It was more confusing than you can imagine at the beginning, but it all made sense eventually. I liked it a lot even though it was not what I expected at all. I might not have known what I was getting myself into because I had no idea what it was about beyond the general premise of Big Brother watching us all.

I woke up way too early on Tuesday to take Nick to the airport. Then, I picked up Gina and rocked my vote.

After it was all said and done, I was exhausted. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep, missed shows a la TiVo, and Netflix.

Until tomorrow...

Cakes are cool. Period.

2008-10-28T11:59:00.004-04:00

Last night, I was on the phone with Sash the Mosh, and we were talking about some of the brilliant ideas that we have collectively had and the statements of fact that we make. Thus, it was only fitting that today's subject be what it is. After all, cakes are cool. That is a fact.

Speaking of cakes, after my Halloween cake is completed and (hopefully) devoured, I am going to start the planning phase for the ten cakes that will make up CAKE-FEST. I am open to suggestions both in terms of flavors and designs. Please feel free to comment with any ideas that you may have. I appreciate it!

On a totally random note, I have been meaning to mention this for a while now; in fact, at one point, I was even going to devote an entire posting to the topic. The Hop-Stepper and I got into a conversation about music, which evolved into some talk about specific artists and left us thinking: Where in the world is D'Angelo? I did a little research and found out that he was in and out of jail (among other things). Check out this link if you're interested -- http://www.spin.com/articles/dangelo-what-hell-happened.

Staying with this random approach, I have not given you my movie ratings of late. This is due to a couple of factors -- one of which is that I cannot seem to get a good rotation going. This weekend, for example, I attempted to watch Flight of the Red Balloon (a foreign film that put me to sleep on more than one occasion) and Standard Operating Procedure (a documentary that lacked the ability to keep my interest at all). It was disappointing.

Nonetheless, here is a (long) list of the other movies that I watched in the past month:

Sex and Death 101 -- I gave it a 3; it probably deserved slightly less, but you know the deal.
Birds of America -- The title should have given me a clue; I HATE BIRDS. I should have known not to rent it. The movie actually had very little do with birds, but, still, it was no good. I only gave it a 2, and that is because I managed to sit through the whole thing.
Tortured -- Despite the fact that it was quite disturbing, I liked it enough to feel comfortable with my 3-star rating.
Death at a Funeral -- How is that a preview can look so good, but the movie itself can fall so short? This was 2 star-worthy at best.
The Visitor -- Can I just say how much I miss Six Feet Under? This movie starred the actor who played Nate Fisher, Sr. I gave it a 3, but I may have been slightly biased.
Run, Fat Boy, Run -- I really liked this. 4 stars -- wooooooo-hoooooo!
My Sassy Girl -- Surprisingly, this weird romantic comedy was pretty good -- 3 stars.
Leatherheads -- While I normally think that you can't go all that wrong with George Clooney, you can. This was bad. I barely was able to sit through the whole thing; I wanted to give it a 1.5, but was forced to give it a 2.
It's a Boy Girl Thing -- This was dumb. How many times can you watch mind-switching tales? You know what I mean... movies where the characters' minds move to the others' body...
Arranged -- I gave it a 3. I watched this a while ago, and, honestly, I don't have anything to say about it one way or the other.
The Neighbor -- It was slightly amusing, which is why I gave it a 3. I might have been feeling generous, though.
I Could Never Be Your Woman -- This was a movie about a couple with an age difference like that of Ashton and Demi (since we're on a first-name basis, apparently). Haha. It was alright. I laughed a couple of times, which translated to a 3-star rating.
Ballet Shoes -- Duane recommended it, so I gave it a chance. It was not bad, but not as good as I thought that it was going to be. Still, I gave it a 3.
Felon -- This was surprisingly good -- a 4!!!
Finding Amanda -- AWFUL! I hated it. Matthew Broderick, come on. Is this what his career is coming to?

I know... I watch too many movies. Mind you, this list includes only Netflix.

If only you knew how much TV (shows and more movies) I watch...

Food is good.

2008-10-24T14:13:00.004-04:00

I was very excited about my last entry and the proclamation of my new mantra -- cue the title of today's entry. Despite my excitement, I had to hold off on updating the blog because I was waiting for one person (that I don't even know -- a friend of a friend) to read it. UNREAL. There will be no more of that.

In light of the mantra, I have been thinking about blogging about my love of online menu-reading. As much as I love this guilty pleasure, it's horrible. I usually read the menus when I'm hungry, which makes it worse and much more self-torturous. What is even crazier is the fact that I am not alone in this! Both Jeni Breadsticks and Sash the Mosh both do this! What is wrong with us?

As if that wasn't a good enough example of how food-obsessed my friends and I are, here is a better one: A road trip in the name of food! We are driving to Fort Myers just to go eat at Red Robin. The commercials for Red Robin are always on TV, but the closest and only location in the entire state is in Fort Myers. You do what you have to do for the love of the food -- what else can I say?

Back in the good ol' days when I had a (very crappy) job and was living in NY, we used to have cake parties every weekend. I'm taking that to a whole new level. After my dinner with Merin the other night, CAKE-FEST is in the planning phase. In preparation for the first Cakes by Phone photo shoot, I will have to design and make 10 cakes, which will have to be eaten! How awesome is that?

Speaking of cakes, I finally made up my mind about the Halloween cake. I hope that it looks as good when completed as it does in my mind.

All of this talk about food has gotten me really hungry. I need to eat. I shall blog tomorrow.

Does absence make the heart grow fonder?

2008-10-14T13:27:00.004-04:00

Hopefully, it does, and, hopefully, it makes the readers of this silly little blog yearn for more. This is the longest that I have gone without posting since I started this. Rest assured, things have been hectic, which is why I have been incommunicado. The upside of this that there are many stories that need to be told, so prepare yourself for a long game of catch-up...

The first noteworthy interruption in my usual routine was the trip to New York. I can really sum up the whole trip in one word: FOOD. After all, food is good -- just ask Joe. Those three little words, uttered by a stranger, were the constant theme of the trip and became our mantra. ("Our" refers to myself and Jeni Breadsticks.)

Below are the day-by-day highlights (and extreme lows) of the trip.

Day 1:

We settled for not-so-good pizza due to starvation; Jeni actually liked it... correction, loved it. All she talked about was the meatball pizza...

Dinner at Duke's, which was awesome as usual! If you never ate there, GO! It was great food, great company, and we probably should have ended the night there... but we didn't. We went to Fat Black Pussycat, and, mind you, I was stoked to go. Before I moved, this was my favorite place. I should have left the place alone and preserved its memory. Unfortunately, we went, and it was nothing like what I experienced previously. A live band, a bad crowd, need I go on? There were only 3 redeeming factors: (1) Nick and quadruple B; (2) the hybrid; and (3) the fact that the place is around the corner from Joe's Pizza (my all-time favorite). Too bad, I wasn't able to partake in the heavenly delight known as Joe's because my stomach was killing me. A bad club will do that to you. Haha, not really, but it sounded good. (If anyone is interested in further explanation of these other factors, let me know, and I'll come back to them.)

The cab ride home was great. Anyone who knows me knows that I talk to strangers, especially in the situations where you don't expect to have conversations (i.e., taxis, elevators, trains, etc.). Our cabbie was from Ghana. We laughed and had a better time in the cab than at the club. It's all good... live and learn.

Day 2:

We had lunch at Jackson Hole, the place that made me love hamburgers. We went to a location that I had not been to, and I am thinking that was a mistake. I was disappointed. I don't even want to think about it. I could cry.

Then, we went shopping. I HATE SHOPPING.

The highlight of Saturday was dinner at Lobo! I dream about the salsa and the burritos! I wish I was having both right now. The meal lived up to my expectations!

After dinner, we went to Camp, where we encountered the weirdest freak of a woman, who placed a telescopic eyepiece up to the bar's front window to watch the game that was being played on a TV at the back of the bar. Mind you, this freak of a woman was doing this between my cousin and I as we were having a conversation on the other side of the window. Needless to say, it was weird and uncomfortable. Then, Nick, the freak that he is, started taking pictures of her. She FREAKED out. Eventually, she came inside, touched Jeni (the camera-owner), and told her and Nick to GET RID OF IT (in a very demonic voice). IT WAS CRAZY! At that point, I stepped in and said my piece. When I walked away, she called me a B. What the crap. She left and came back, and R.G. discovered that she was worried that her picture would end up on YouTube or something. What a weirdo. If I had the picture, I'd post it right now. (Jeni, this is your cue to to post the picture as a comment.)

If that was not enough excitement for one night, we saw a fire being put out by the NYFD.

After that, we hung out at Hamptons' place and ate some cake.

Day 3:

This day had a lot of promise; it was supposed to be the day of the Harlem Walk -- an 11-mile walk that Hamptons and I had been planning for YEARS. It didn't pan out. Disappointment seems to be common on this trip.

Lunch was overpriced and not that good, so we were hoping for dinner to be much better. We went to Pete's Downtown. The food was good, but overpriced for what it was, and the waitress sucked. Oh well. Fortunately, dessert was at Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Talk about heaven in a cone...

That was not the end of the food for the night... we stopped by Joe's to get a pie since I didn't get to have it after the fiasco known as Fat Black's.

Day 4:

Nick agreed to take us to the airport, and we went on a mock driving tour through Brooklyn, so Jeni could take some pictures. Really, all we did was eat. Jeni had a slice of the meatball pizza that she loved before we even headed to BK. We had a late breakfast at Le Petit Cafe. From there, we started the tour, and I got a bagel -- I even got the dude to hook it up and find me the one that was the most well-done. Then, Jeni got biscuits from Popeye's when we were at Coney Island. I had my favorite lemonade from Roll-n-Roaster, and I had corn fritters while Jeni had mashed potatoes. We really didn't stop eating...

Then, we flew home.

On to the next interruption...

After the food adventures of NY were over, I had to get some sleep before driving to Orlando by myself. Can I just say that driving anywhere that takes longer than 2 hours to get to by yourself is just boring? I hung out with a different set of cousins for a few days and even got to spend a day living life as Bean while I pretended to be her to get into Disney World. Hahahaha. Sorry, Mickey.

During our day at Disney, we didn't do much. Despite the fact that we went to MGM (now, Hollywood Studios) and EPCOT, we really didn't do anything. The best part of the day was sitting with Natalie on the boat ride in Norway when, according to her, "the polar bear almost gave us a heart attack." Mind you, she's not even 3. She definitely makes the list of my favorite kids (seeing as I hate kids in general).

After Disney, I drove home. While in Orlando, I had a crazy allergy attack, which caused me to stay in bed for the days that followed. Today is the first day that I don't feel like my head weighs 58 tons and can actually sit up to type this long-winded entry.

On that note, stay tuned....

P.S. Jeni tried to post a picture comment, but to no avail. Alas, here she is, the freak who should learn not to spy with telescopic eyepieces and to keep her hands to herself:

Water parks of the world?

2008-09-29T13:17:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, I was chatting online with my favorite guy who is wise, when he told me that he was going to a water park in Israel. At the time, I thought that it was weird, but I didn't question it. Then, last night, Duane and I were talking on the phone, and, for some unknown reason, we were talking about the idea of an Israeli water park. We agreed that water parks seem to be an American amusement, and we couldn't get our heads around the concept of non-American water parks. We conceded that a Canadian water park makes sense, but a water park in Israel? I told Duane that I would do some research on the subject, and it turns out that there really are water parks all over the world. Who knew? If you want to know more about this, you can visit www.waterparks.com.

Gina got the most awesome board game for her birthday. The game, Eat It, is a Trivial Pursuit-esque game, where you work your way around the board in an effort to collect all of the pie pieces (or, in this case, pyramid cards) and eventually have to answer a series of questions correctly to win the game. It was another family game night, and, according to Tommy, the cosmic forces worked in our favor as we found ourselves on the same winning team again! Ahhh, victory is sweet (no pun intended)!

Last night, I watched Felon (with Steven Dorff and Val Kilmer). It was really good -- 3.75, which translated to a 4. Criminal justice (if you can call it that) is a crazy concept. Watch the movie.

This morning, I woke up early to serve as an airport shuttle for the third time in less than a week. Maybe this is my calling.

For the record, I really hate waking up early. Anyway, when I got back I put on Finding Amanda, which was absoultely terrible. I hated it. Matthew Broderick rules, so I really cannot understand why he would have wasted his time on this piece of garbage.

In other random news:

Only 4 days until I leave for NY! I can taste the pizza already!
Gina loved her birthday cake.
I made a Facebook profile.
The Cupcakes by Phone made for Gina's birthday party on Friday night (not to be confused with the Saturday night family party) were a big success!

That's all for now. I need to get motivated.

Am I your guitar hero or what????

2008-09-23T15:10:00.000-04:00

If I was not before, then, I better be your guitar hero now that you have had the opportunity to check out these two pictures of the latest (and, quite possibly, dopest) cake in the Cakes by Phone repertoire thus far. I have opted to show you two pictures to ensure that you get the details -- plus, the angles are a little awkward, and I want to you have the best viewing experience possible! Tommy loved it!

The next cake is on the way. I had a plan, but I think that I have to deviate from it. You'll have to stay tuned to see how it turns out. Plus, since it is Gina's birthday, I have to go all out and make her cupcakes (which are easily transportable) to take to her impromptu party on Friday night. What a lucky girl she is to have a sister that will bake her a cake AND cupcakes...

In the absence of many of the regular game night crew, it was awesome that we had family game night last Saturday. Cranium was the board game du jour, and the birthday boy did tell me that I was godlike. That was a highlight. Throughout all of the randomly-selected team changes, Tommy and I remained on the same team, and we were undefeated! That's what I like to see!

This weekend's movie-watching included 88 Minutes, Snow Angels, and The Art of Travel. First of all, 88 Minutes was really good, 4-star worthy, in fact. Snow Angels left a lot to be desired, and I would have liked to give it a 2.5, but resorted to a 2. Lastly, The Art of Travel, while not great, really made me want to go on vacation without a plan. I gave it a 3 for evoking such sentiment. It was actually pretty cool (even if nobody else thought so -- the average star rating was less than 2). Don't get me wrong -- it was far from critical acclaim, but I liked the concept behind it. Also, the beginning part was AMAZING! You'll have to watch it to see what I mean.

Speaking of travel, I am going to the airport tonight to pick up Christina and Cathy before they head to Costa Rica tomorrow morning. I am soooooooooooo jealous! Luckily, my trip to NY is only one week and three days away; that will have to be the much needed consolation prize.

On one final note for today, I want to address Jamie's comments (since she wins the award for best follower as judged by her frequency of comments). Borrowing her term (and adding an apostrophe to make it more official and gramatically correct), 'twould be sweet to meet for dinner during the your visit home. Also, for the record, I love pancakes, and it would never be weird to eat pancakes made by someone else.

Did you miss me?

2008-09-18T23:46:00.000-04:00

It seems like it has been a long time since my last post. Surprisingly, I have been keeping somewhat busy. I spent a good portion of Tuesday dealing with public health in the form of a county-run clinic. (That's what happens when you don't have health insurance.) Yesterday, I went shopping for some cake-decorating accessories and ended up getting some other cool stuff, too. Today, I had two different reunions -- one planned, one last minute. I was able to spend some quality time with a couple of my oldest friends.

Last night and this morning (because I fell asleep last night), I watched Miss Conception. How is it that a preview can make a movie look so good when the full-length film is actually pretty bad? Much to my disappointment, I had to give it only 2 stars. What a pity. What made it even worse was the fact that the previews featured before the movie were good. As a general rule, if the previews shown before a DVD movie are bad, the movie will be bad. I guess the contrary is not true. Who knew?

Unbelievable as this may seem, I have not watched any TV/movies tonight (yet). I just spent nearly two hours on the phone with Hamptons, plotting and scheming about our future bakery! How dope will that be! I wish we could fast-forward to the point in time where we are successful professional bakers/pastry artists/cake decorators.

Speaking of baking, the next cake masterpiece will begin tomorrow. Be on the lookout for upcoming pictures...

I am out of the 3-star rut!

2008-09-15T15:20:00.000-04:00

I finally gave a movie more than 3 stars! On Saturday night, I watched 3 movies (or parts thereof): (1) Chaos Theory, (2) Awake, and (3) part of The Invasion. The first was disappointing; I liked the concept, but it just did not come to fruition the way that it could (or should) have. I gave it a 2, but was thinking closer to 2.5. The second was surprisingly good and was the movie to get me out of the 3-star rut. I gave it a 4 because I really liked it! Gina told me that it was awesome, but I had my doubts. Lastly, The Invasion was so bad that I did not even want to waste my not-so-precious time watching the whole thing. I hated it and only gave it 1 star.

Other than movie-watching, the weekend was pretty uneventful. I was a human GPS; R.G. called me to find out where this bar was and for other suggestions because he and the rest of the crew were not dressed appropriately for the place at which Tricia planned to party. The ironic part of this was that he was in NYC, and I was sitting at home in South Florida. Nice, right? I love that. Maybe that is my calling... maybe I will bill myself as the world's only real-time human GPS.

Last night, I finally ventured out of the house. D-Rock and I went to get ice cream at Cold Stone with a pit-stop before at McDonald's (because we agreed that we should eat some type of dinner before we ate ice cream). I had something different, which was really awesome. The Make-a-Wish Foundation launched a couple of creations, one of which is known as Jack's Creation (marshmallow ice cream with Oreos, chocolate chips, and fudge). That was the one that I got, and it was delicious! I could go for it right now... mmmmmmmm.

The next cake is in the works, so be on the lookout for the developments. I am awaiting images for my inspiration after which I will be drafting blueprints. Hint, hint, Britt.

On the job search front, I sent my resume out to several proofreading/editing jobs in the event that I do not get that freelance proofreading job that I really want. Keep your fingers crossed!

Last night's episode of Entourage was really good. As usual, I cannot wait until next Sunday. They really should consider extending the episodes to an hour in length. The half-hour (or, more accurately, 20-something minutes) passes too quickly.

Other TV notes of importance: the new season of House starts tomorrow night! I can't wait! Bean, I wish we could have a season premiere party!

That's all for today...

Spanglish comments?

2008-09-13T12:25:00.001-04:00

What's up with the bilingual comments? Two of my blog groupies (haha) are now Spanglish speakers/writers. Who knew? Jamie started with "para que," and Jennifer numbered her list of points by typing out, "uno, dos, tres." Weird, right?

Speaking of Jennifer's bilingual list, I want to address a couple of points. I find it highly amusing that she will resort to any ploy whatsoever to get me to go to NY. For example, her recent attempt to persuade me to schedule another visit so we can watch a movie when she gets her high-society movie projector. Hahaha. Oh, and, while I am talking about her, I have to give her props for making the Dean's List (and for being a newfound Scrabble addict)! GO J.G. TO THE FIRST!

Oddly enough, the one person that would be expected to use Spanglish in a comment did not. Maybe it was because she was too busy contemplating weighing her carry-on bag on the Publix scale. Only Jeni Breadsticks! For the record, we probably should not start packing yet. We still have 2 weeks and 6 days until our departure (but who's counting)!

There is no news on the job front. I wish there was. I need to find something... soon!

Last night, I watched Turn the River, which deserved a 2.75. I was feeling charitable, so I went with a 3-star rating. Hopefully, the next movie that I watch will get me out of this 3-star rut.

I am supposed to venture out of the house tonight. Will it really happen? Only time will tell...

Comments by number

2008-09-12T11:48:00.001-04:00

Some of you may take the time to read the comments that people leave and my responses thereto, while others may not. The artist formerly known as my 17-year-old best friend definitely left a series of reply-worthy comments, and I am going to devote today's posting to those (in chronological order -- she commented each posting in the order which they were published for your reading pleasure).

(The comments from the beginning...)

1. GET NETFLIX! I can send you the next free trial thing that I get, and we can be friends!

2. You might be on to something with this webcam gaming, or you could starting playing Scrabble with me online!

3. There is no need to stop numbering things. It creates order. I like it.

(I love it when people love my Cakes by Phone.)

1. The comment speaks for itself: "cake=excellent" --- You read it here, folks.

2. I have yet to go to Moe's. Maybe it is my insane sense of loyalty to Chipotle. How do you feel about Chipotle?

(Replies to the self-proclaimed "number-free" comment...)

I am going to NY because I miss it. I need a change of scenery. I need to escape the sauna-like heat of here. I need to be reunited with the NY foods without which I cannot live. I miss my friends and family up there. Plus, I got a really cheap plane ticket (turned free ticket when my amazing friend, Jeni Breadsticks, hooked it up).

(Another comment sans numbers...)

You are right. A slice of lasagna pizza does always make the world a slightly better place. Mmmm.

Also, I agree and admit that working for hippies is a problem. These are the things that one must do in a time of financial instability.

(We're back to numbering.)

2. Edward Burns is awesome. He is an actor/writer/director that has been in some really good movies, such as 15 Minutes, Confidence, Saving Private Ryan, Sidewalks of New York, and, more recently, 27 Dresses. He rules.

3. Since you asked, I can tell you that (a) I have ranked and rewarded over one hundred movies with a 5-star rating, and (b) I don't even want to count those that received 4 stars from me. To give you an idea, the cream of the crop list includes: the complete Back to the Future series, Confidence, Good Will Hunting, The Life of David Gale, Pump Up the Volume, The Silence of the Lambs, the entire DVD collection of Six Feet Under (one of my all-time favorite TV shows), Suicide Kings, and The Usual Suspects. That is just a small sample. Once you become a Netflix-user, you can view all of my ratings (of which there are over 1,600 to date).

4. I wish that your new rating system could be implemented! Unfortunately, one cannot rate a movie multiple times on Netflix. There is no way to get around the whole-star rating system. 'Tis sad but true, I'm afraid.

(Responses to comments post-numbering...)

There could be worse jobs than handing out flyers for $10 an hour. Actually, what are the flyers for? The purpose of the advertisement might influence my opinion.

Who knew that anyone would describe me as "super cute" when it comes to anything? Weird, right?

For the record, everyone needs to get Netflix (not just you, Jamie). Netflix higher-ups, you should reward me for all of my advertising efforts.

THE END.

P.S. Jamie and Jeni, you both got personal shout-outs on here; the least you could do is click "FOLLOW THIS BLOG" already. Dang....................

I might be addicted to Scrabble.

2008-09-11T23:28:00.000-04:00

It's true. I love Scrabble. Now that I found a nice online version (scrabulous.com), I am really hooked. I tell myself that I will just play a game or two before I embark on x task. Next thing I know, much more time has lapsed than should have. It's all good. I'm stimulating my mind. Right?

Surprisingly, there has been no cake-baking this week -- despite the fact that there have been several birthdays. Nonetheless, my fiddle inquired about the Homer (and a giant doughnut) cake that I made last month. In case anyone else is interested, I figured I would put it up here.

Let's see... here is a bulleted list of today's highlights:

My client/stalker appears to have stopped texting me. That's a big plus.
I applied for a freelance proofreading job that I would LOVE to have.
I took the day off from the hippie's work.
I was the email blast master, sending out hundreds of emails about Saturday night -- a good hip-hop night at Brass Monkey.

I told you that my life is not that exciting. If those were the highlights, can you imagine what the rest of the day was like?

Seriously, though... I watched Married Life this morning, and it was highly disappointing. Can you imagine Rachel McAdams hooking up with Pierce Brosnan or Chris Cooper? The movie was boring, unrealistic, and just pretty bad. Since I did watch the whole thing without turning it off or stepping away, I will have to give it a 2 (which translates to "didn't like it" for all you non-Netflix users).

Oh, and I think that I might write a poem about cake. Christina, the self-proclaimed lover of cake, said that she wasn't talented enough to do it. Mind you, she really is, but, maybe I can write a silly little rhyme, and it will motivate her to write one, too. It will be food for thought... literally.

Blasts from the past can even make me smile.

2008-09-10T11:48:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, yes, it's true. Last night, I was reunited with a long-lost friend. We chatted for hours, and it felt like no time had gone by at all. Friendships like that, which stand the test of time, RULE!

On a completely unrelated note, I hate it when you try to watch a movie and keep falling asleep during it. For the last few nights, I have been trying to get through You Kill Me, but I cannot manage to stay awake. I don't even have to be tired; I put it on and within moments, I'm sleeping. The next night, I fast forward to the point that I last recall and try to finish it, but, next thing I know, I am sleeping. At this point, it is not even that the movie is good; I just want to get through it. Come on, Ben (Kingsley)...

Speaking of Sir Ben Kingsley, I still cannot wait to see The Wackness. When R.G. first told me about the movie, it was because he was interning for the project. He failed to mention how awesome it was... and how awesome the soundtrack is! It was only in (very, very) limited release here, so I have to wait for it to make it to DVD. I really can't wait!

On the job search front, I have yet to start today's round. I did, however, plan on applying to yesterday's assortment of jobs. Unfortunately, I need to re-format my resume as a CV for one of them. Plus, I have to find an appropriate writing sample for several of the others. Oh, and I even have to create my cover letter in an attachable document. What a mission...

I told my sister that I'd take her to the mall, so I guess that means that I actually have to wear something other than pajamas. I hate the mall (and my life). Hopefully, I can live to tell you about this (unfortunate) adventure.

A few things...

2008-09-09T23:09:00.000-04:00

1. I am so happy that Entourage is back.

2. I might love Edward Burns.

3. I bookmarked a list of the most random jobs ever today.

Now, I will elaborate.

Regarding the first point, the show rules. If you don't watch it, you should. Adrian Grenier definitely makes my top 5. I cannot wait until Sunday -- I have something to look forward to each week.

As for the second point, I watched Purple Violets last night, which I gave a 3-star rating, and was reminded of how awesome Edward Burns is.

Finally, today's search resulted in the following collection of jobs: A domestic legal fellow for a non-profit advocacy group; a human rights program associate; a strategic research analyst; and an assistant research editor for a travel magazine. I am designating tomorrow as application day. Wish me luck!

The hippie that drives me crazy...

2008-09-05T19:54:00.000-04:00

Thank goodness it's Friday. It seemed like a good thing to say, but I don't really mean it. Every day is part of a weekend when you live a life of leisure. Don't get me wrong, though -- it's not all leisure, all the time.

Today, for example, I had to do a round of research, which the hippie assigned as "another urgent task." Copying and pasting names and contact information hardly seems urgent. In fact, all it seems is tedious, boring, and mind-numbing. After three and a half hours, I had to stop. I thought that I might lose it. The hippie is the worst. I want to quit, but I can't because I need the money. Being broke sucks.

This is the shortest post ever. I am too hungry to think or type.

This one is for the Hop-Stepper.

2008-09-04T15:52:00.000-04:00

My routine is completely out of whack. It is nearly 4 o'clock, and I have yet to begin today's search for a job. I woke up this morning with a plan and good intentions, but I had an unexpected visitor. We ended up talking about a lot of different things, and, before I knew it, I was behind schedule. (Wait... you cannot really have a schedule when you have nowhere to be and/or nothing specific to do.)

On a side note... if you are going out with someone that does not want the same things out of life that you want, you should probably cut your losses while you are ahead. I keep trying to explain this to my friends, but they seem to miss the message. Maybe if it is in writing, it will help them learn this life lesson.

I just finished watching Smart People. Ideally, I would have rated it a 2.75, but since that is not an option, I generously rounded it up to 3 stars. Unfortunately, I was unable to get to the mailbox before the mail lady made her rounds. I guess that means that I will be without an additional movie for the weekend; my Netflix addiction will have to be satisfied by something else.

Less than one month until I leave for New York... I really need a change of scenery.

Another day, another cake...

2008-09-03T16:35:00.000-04:00

Since my last entry, I have been considerably busier than usual. Between two cakes, two John Mayer concerts, and out-of-town visitors to hang out with, I had things to do (for a change).

On the job search front, today, I bookmarked a few leads (to which I need to go back and actually apply). Yesterday, I sent my resume out to somewhere that escapes my memory.

When I am not busy with my daily job search, I find myself in the kitchen, baking cakes gone wild. This is the most recent in the Cakes by Phone collection. By the time it was photographed, the "Miller" was not sticking in place as well as I would have liked, but you get the idea.

I wish I was Mexican because I love burritos more than life itself. (Granted, that doesn't say much these days since I am not loving life.) Anyway, I had a burrito from Tijuana Flats, which, while good, has nothing on Chipotle. Feel free to weigh in on your burrito comments.

Speaking of opinions, the last two movies that I watched were Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (3 stars) and August (which I gave 3 stars despite my disappointment). Tonight's Netflix fix is Smart People; I will let you know how that goes. The cast alone is promising; I remain optimistic.

Until tomorrow...

Where do I begin?

2008-08-29T12:39:00.000-04:00

I must admit that I am somewhat surprised that I am doing this -- allowing uninvited strangers inside the depths of my mind. It has gotten to the point that I need an outlet of some kind. Given that my life is not what I want it to be, maybe this will be therapeutic. Maybe some readers will be entertained by what I have to say... maybe I will even find a job... who knows? Here goes nothing...

Beyond the normal journaling of the mundane happenings of my daily life, I also will keep you posted on the dreadful job search. (For those of you that do not want to relive this painstaking process, I warn you to feel free to skip that part of my rambling.)

Today, like any other day, I hit up the usual job search tools that I visit day in and day out, but, unfortunately, I came up with absolutely nothing. Can you tell me how it is possible that (a) there are so many jobs listed when our economy is less than flourishing (to say the least), and (b) I cannot find a viable option out of any of these? I applied to a couple of decent jobs yesterday that I have yet to hear from -- one of which is in Minnesota, the other of which is in NY. Keep your fingers crossed.

Oh, and, last night, I watched Son of Rambow. It was good, but I was expecting a lot more. If Netflix allowed me to rate with fractional star ratings, I would have given it a 3.25 (out of 5 for you non-Netflix addicts), but I was limited by the whole star rating system and was forced to give it only a 3. (I find this troubling because I have definitely watched movies that I also rated a 3, which paled in comparison.)

Speaking of things I watched yesterday, I was watching the Travel Channel and saw a couple of shows that made me hungrier than usual. Plus, there is a store that I want to go to in Seattle, namely, the REI flagship store. That place is INSANE! There is a 65-foot rock climbing wall, and there are even indoor hiking trails for you to take your choice of hiking boots for a test hike. It was unreal.

It is pretty sad that those were the highlights of yesterday. I am in desperate need of a game night... or a vacation. I need something to occupy my mind and my time. A change of scenery would be ideal, but game night always cheers me up.