Baby Octopus Salad

Earlier this week, I had lunch at Little Toyko, a local Japanese restaurant. I love sushi.

I tried something new this time - Baby Octopus Salad. I don't know what I was expecting, but it looked exactly like it sounds - and the picture to the left.

Eating the tentacles was okay. I couldn't eat more than one head though. Ugh! I don't think I'll be getting that again.

Tourist In Your Own Town - 2007

Carlos and I have been planning a small vacation for us. We finally went on it this past weekend.

We had decided to be Tourists In Our Own Town. The deal was that he would take care of the hotel reservations and I would take care of planning everything else.

Friday, we headed downtown to the Hilton Hotel, right outside of the French Quarter. The normal check in time is 3 pm, but Carlos called ahead and found out that we could check into our room at noon. We did.

I built our weekend around food so our first scheduled stop was to be Acme Oyster House. We were hungry, but wanted to wait for the lunch rush to be over so we decided to stop at the Riverwalk Shopping Center for a quick bite to eat. Carlos and I both had taco salads at Margarita Del Rio.

Good thing the salads were filling. There was a really long line once we arrived at Acme. We decided to move on to our next destination – The Hermann-Grima House. Picture of the home's dining room attached.

He and I both love museums and home tours, though I like to read the plaques more than he does.

After the tour, we meandered through the Quarter, down to the Satchmo Summer Fest which we found out didn’t open until Saturday.

Being the flexible guys we are (Carlos actually commended me on my flexibility!), we went to The Presbytere instead. We had gone to The Cabildo, the museum on the other side of St. Louis Cathedral about six months ago.

For dinner, we were going to return to Acme Oyster House, but the line was still too long. I asked a “local” where the best oysters besides Acme were. He told us Drago’s was the place to go. We started with a dozen charbroiled oysters. For entrees, Carlos had the Catch of the Day (trout). I had the duck. Both were terrific. We couldn’t eat there every night – or every month. The meal came to a bit over $80.

Here’s a pre-Katrina review of Drago's Metairie location. I didn’t see anything about their new (downtown) location.

We were heading off to sleep when Michael called. He and Spaces were catching a movie at 9:55 pm. I was so tired that I slept through most of it. Carlos hated the ending. It was nice to see Spaces and Michael though.

End of Day One.

Once Carlos posts his version of our weekend, I’ll have a link here.

Winn-Dixie Sucks!

I got into a small "discussion" with a Winn-Dixie cashier today. I decided to complain via their web site. After filling out the store information, this is what I wrote:

The above Winn-Dixie location is the most convenient grocery store to my house. Even though almost every time I have to deal with a surly casher, I have been going there for over 15 years.

After today, I am done with your store and your company. The cashier working Register 7 at 5:15 pm today (8/6/07) saw that there were two of us in line. Apparently that didn't dissuade her from turning off her light and immediately announcing that she was closed. Because there was only ONE OTHER line open, besides the two 5-10 items or less lines, there was no place for us two customers to go.

This is just not acceptable. I am tired of being treated like an inconvenience instead of a customer at your stores. I hope you fire this cashier and seriously rethink your hiring and training practices.

You have lost another customer to Wal-Mart.

Thanks for your time.

I hope that bitch gets fired!

It's The Little Things

It’s the little things in my relationship with Carlos that makes it special.

Tonight, The Simpsons had an episode parodying the TV show 24. Carlos loves 24 so I called him to tell him. His phone was busy. Once I left him a message, I found out why: He knows that I love The Simpsons and was calling me to remind me that it was on.

Love you, Baby.

Top Ten Favorite Male Stars of All Time

NOTE: Be sure to view the update to this post here.

My Yahoo group dedicated to Male Stars Shirtless
Join Us!

Maybe he starred in one of my favorite movies growing up (#9 and #6) or played a character that I could really relate to (#10, #8, #6, and #2), and I’ve followed his career ever since.

Maybe I love his acting (all of them, but especially #8, #7, #5, and #1).

Maybe his personal life fascinates me (#9, #5, #4, and #3).

Maybe I just think he’s one of the cutest actors around (uh, all of them).

Here are my Top Ten Favorite Male Actors of All Time.

One is dead (# 5).

One is currently over 65 (# 4).

One is only 22 (#7).

One was born on my birthday - March 31 (#6).

Two have virtually left acting (#9 and #4).

Two are gay (#9 and #4). Coincidence for above?

#10
Peter Facinelli

Current Age: 34
My Favorite Movie of His: The Price of Love
Best Movie To See His Body: Foxfire


#9

Steve Antin
Current Age: 48
My Favorite Movies of His: Inside Monkey Zetterland
and It’s My Party
Best Movie To See His Body: The Last American Virgin


#8

Ethan Embry
Current Age: 28
My Favorite Movies of His: Empire Records
That Thing You Do
Can’t Hardly Wait which also stars #10!
Celeste in the City
Best Movies To See His Body: The TV show “Freakylinks”
and the movie White Squall


#7

Kevin Zegers
Current Age: 22
My Favorite Movie of His: Time Share
(I’d also list Wrong Turn because I like the movie, but he’s killed off in the first 30 minutes. Oh, SPOILER.)
Best Movie To See His Body: Transamerica


#6

William McNamara
Current Age: 42
My Favorite Movie of His: Doing Time on Maple Drive
Best Movie To See His Body: Chasers


#5

River Phoenix
Age at Death: 23
My Favorite Movie of His: Stand By Me
Best Movie To See His Body: My Own Private Idaho


#4

Tommy Kirk
Current Age: 66
My Favorite Movie of His: Swiss Family Robinson
Best Movies To See His Body: Village of the Giants
Bon Voyage!


#3

Ryan Phillippe
Current Age: 33
My Favorite Movie of His: White Squall
Best Movies To See His Body:
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Cruel Intentions
54


#2

Stephane Rideau
Current Age: 31
My Favorite Movie of His: Les Roseaux Sauvages (English Title: Wild Reeds)
Best Movies To See His Body:
Presque Rien (English Title: Come Undone)
Sitcom


#1

James Duval
Current Age: 35
My Favorite Movies of His: Donnie Darko
Totally F***ed Up
Go
Comic Book Villains
Best Movies To See His Body: May
Nowhere
The Doom Generation

Vivaldi, Dude

A very impressive interpretation of my favorite Vivaldi piece.

No Smoking

As I type this, I have been Smoke Free for 33 days.

I tried my first cigarette on a summer camp overnight camping trip in 1980. I was 13.

I have been smoking regularly since I was 15. Until February 26, 2007 at 1:00 pm (the exact time I quit smoking), I hadn’t gone more than 12 hours without smoking a cigarette for the last 25 years.

I have tried to quit before, but always went back. I really think I have quit this time. To all my fellow smokers from an ex-smoker, I wanted to pass on all the techniques I am using.

Warning: My pointers are working for me. I can’t guarantee they will work for you too. At least two of them are the opposite of what the Quit Smoking books tell you to do.

#1 -
Zyban is a wonder drug.
About six months ago, I had a physical. I told my physician that I really wanted to quit smoking. He prescribed Zyban. It does not contain nicotine, but does greatly decrease nicotine withdrawal. The instructions say to start taking it a week before you plan on quitting smoking. That way, the drug will build up in your system.

I didn’t read the instructions so I started taking it the day I quit smoking. It seems to have worked just as well – at least with me. I didn’t have ANY physical nicotine withdrawals! Amazing.

Psychological withdrawals are another subject.

#2
Stick with your regular routine – and add more stuff to it.
I am very set in my daily routine. (My friend Gina has said that I would be very easy to assassinate. You can pick any time of any day and know exactly where I am day-to-day, week-to-week.)

A major part of my routine used to be smoking. On weekdays, I would have my first cigarette of the day right after I got up in the morning at 6:35 am. My second would be after I had dressed for work, but before I had brushed my teeth – at 7:10 am. My third of the day would be around 11:00 am, when I took a break at work. My fourth would be at 5:10 p.m., when I had gotten home from work and settled in a bit. And so on.

Since I have quit smoking, I have an extra 15 minutes in the morning to fill – and with an activity that wouldn’t remind me of smoking. I have found myself taking very long morning showers.

In the evenings, I fill my time - and my mind - with anything that will keep me busy. So far, I have cleaned out all of my closets and every kitchen cabinet. I also find myself not going directly home after work so I won’t be reminded of that after-work cigarette.

#3
Quit drinking alcohol.
For so many years, I would pop open a beer and light a cigarette. Damn, a cigarette tastes so much better with a beer – and vise versa. On days I wouldn’t drink beer I might have four cigarettes. On my drinking days, I could easily have three times that.

The past times I have tried to quit smoking, alcohol has always been the catalyst for my starting again. This time I realize that I cannot have ANY alcohol – at least for the first two weeks.

And I definitely can’t go to a bar for at least the first month. Being around beer AND smokers would be really hard.

I am now beginning week four so I have been drinking a bit of beer – but always quit (usually after two and a half beers) when I get the urge to smoke.

#4
Chew lots of gum.
And brush your teeth a lot. Every time I get a craving for a cigarette, I pop a Dentyne Ice Arctic Chill – the best gum ever – into my mouth. It gives my mouth something to do and I eventually lose the urge for a cigarette in my mouth. The first week, I was chewing around 15 pieces of gum a day.

When I am home and thinking about smoking, I brush my teeth. The first week I must have brushed my teeth five times per day. Now – in week four – I am down to my regular twice daily.

#5
Quit on the spot. Don’t work up to it.
Every past time I had tried to quit, I had set a definite quit date. This time, I said to myself that I would quit “after Mardi Gras, after Steve’s bachelor party, and after these two packs of cigarettes are gone”. On February 26 at 1:00 pm, I smoked a cigarette. When I was done I looked in my pack and realized that I was out of cigarettes. I said, “Well, I guess that’s it. I’m now a non-smoker.”

And 33 day later, I still am.

More on this subject in my next post.

A Year of Music

I love making mixed CD’s, usually with some kind of theme. The planning stage sometimes takes days or weeks.

Here is the track listing for the mixed CD that I am working on tonight. I came up with the idea when Carlos and I were discussing movie titles with names of the months in them.

* - I own this song. (All the other ones I’m still looking for.)

Song Title - Group
*January – Pilot
February – Jesus Jones
*March – Jackopierce
April – Deep Purple
May – Colin Newman
June – The Church
July – The Innocence Mission
August – Love
*September – Earth, Wind & Fire
*September – Jackopierce
*October – U2
November – Duncan Sheik
*December – Collective Soul
*Bonus Track: December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night) – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

How Many of Me?

I went to this web site, entered my first and last names, and had it tell me how many people with my exact same name exist in the United States. Here are the results:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I guess they have to be wrong. I'm sitting here typing this.

I then put my boyfriend Carlos's full name in. Here are his results.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 807 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I am so glad I ended up with the one (out of 807) I ended up with!

Favorite Paradoxes

You know you’re a geek when…
You name a blog entry Favorite Paradoxes

The Birthday Paradox

I love probability. (I was even a math major for a while in college.) One example of explaining probability theory in real life is the Birthday Paradox: Given a group of 23 (or more) randomly chosen people, the probability is more than 50% that at least two of them will have the same birthday. For 60 or more people, the probability is greater than 99%.

I've tried it out at a few parties I've attended over the years, and it has always held true. Try it the next time you’re with a large group of people.


The Grandfather Paradox

I've always been fascinated with time travel. The Grandfather Paradox states: Suppose you traveled back in time and killed your biological grandfather before he met your grandmother. As a result, one of your parents (and by extension, you) would never have been conceived. But this would imply you could not have traveled back in time after all, which in turn implies your grandfather would still be alive and you would have been conceived, allowing you to travel back in time and kill your grandfather.

There are theories on how to get around this paradox – such as the creation of a parallel universe by your actions or the laws of nature forbidding the action – but I’ll have to tackle those in another entry.

I’ll leave you with this link to a web site called Temporal Anomalies in Time Travel Movies that discusses most of the popular time travel movies. I've spent hours there! I think my favorite entry at that site is the one that discusses the 1986 Disney movie Flight of the Navigator.