Wow. What an interesting social moment that must have been.

Certainly a confusing one.

Turned the corner off Howard onto Third in SOMA yesterday afternoon and found myself staring at three New York yellow taxicabs lined up at the corner, big as life. Very disorienting.

Later I found out they are filming part of the movie version of "Rent" here. Hence the NY cabs. They have turned South Park and part of 6th Street into an ersatz East Village.

The other day, we received a big US postal service envelope (written on the side is a message saying the letter enclosed to us was damaged on route, but here it is anyway). Inside is a little envelope, addressed to us--at our temp abode--with 2 Swiss stamps (stamped mid-April), and there is nothing inside. Weird, but weirder still is the fact that only Verizon knows our temp address; we're picking up our mail at our place round the corner. Now, who could this be from? And what was originally inside?

speaking with someone from eastern europe whose name would mean in Hebrew "who didn't wipe his buttocks?"

husband opened the front door the other day. Man standing there in a white coat and asked H if he wanted any fish, H said No and he said "Oh, OK then".

A woman is fast asleep in our office bathroom.

Got an error message that the printer/photocopier was out of paper. Checked, and it was full of paper, and there were no jams to be cleared. Printed document on a second printer, no problem.

Sent next document to second printer. Got a message that IT was out of paper. Checked it. Full of paper, no jams. Sent document to first printer. No problem.

Fly

the founder of a certain food site made a post today on his site's indian food forum saying, in response to the question of whether people like north or south indian food (whatever this means,) that he loved "hyderabadi and madras curries". i responded asking what exactly "hyderabadi and madras curries" were. i just went back to see if there had been a response and discovered that not only had my post been deleted but he has also edited his own original post to now read "hyderabad and madras-style curry dishes". of course he didn't mark his edit.

edit: i am tempted to now ask what "hyderabadi and madras-style curry dishes" are.

Stopped in at the local bagel shop for a dozen. Told the guy “yeah, I'd like a dozen bagels” and proceeded to ask for three plain, three sesame, three poppy and four garlic (they have a baker's dozen policy). When I went to pay, the total was $5.99. I handed the guy a twenty. He says “You got a penny?”. Umm...no (WTF?). So he takes a penny from their penny dish (is that just a Vermont thing?) and rings in $20.01 as cash tendered. Cash register calculates change: $14.02. He counts out a ten, four singles and two coppers, which I promptly add to the penny dish.

So I get home, and I start slicing the bagels to put them in the freezer (it's a kid thing...they're afraid to slice bagels, and they go so hot&cold on them that often a whole dozen sit moldering in the bread box). There are 16 bagels, including one blueberry.

My wife's watching Titanic and called me in to see Carnivale Cruise Line commercial. Bang for the advertising buck.

I'm at the car wash and I see that this one guy buffing out a car has this stylish pair of red trimmed white athletic shoes. But the Did I just see what I think I saw? moment is when I notice that inset below the ankle on each shoe is a shiny steel rim. And when he walks they are spinning and spinning and spinning. Segue to Chris Rock material.

Saw a piece on the news on Wednesday about the new giant Airbus, talking about how it replaces the 747 as the largest commercial passenger plane. Today, Saturday, I passed a pile of trash on the street that was topped with a discarded model of a 747.

We made a couple of impulse purchases at CD Warehouse this aft. Mine was the AC/DC DVD "Family Jewels" (don't ask).

I ask what happened to Bon Scott. Died in the back of a car after a drinking binge, says hubby.

"So what did YOU buy?" I ask him.

Hank Williams' Greatest Hits.

Flyfish

Just saw a big blow up Santa in Union Square Park.

Jean-Georges at the Beard awards reception, waving his hands and yelling "86! 86!" when the food at his station ran out.

Maybe not everyday, but surreal.

I belive 16 is a boolean dozen.

Just a little more than a byte.

I just got off the phone with a guy whose surname is pronounced "dorky".

I just chatted with a co-worker who is recovering from reconstructive surgery necessitated by a mauling from her dog, a rescued mutt who has lived with her for seven years and until the attack had been a good companion. She's now taking the dog to veterinary neurologists and oncologists to see what's wrong with it, or maybe it just needs Prozac? she says.

Ori, I just spit water all over my keyboard.

A date with Carmen Electra. Up for bid on eBay. For charity. To "win" you have to be a guy between 15 and 20 and have more than $400,000 (based on the current bidding) to blow (presumably, TAG, the sponsor of sorts is going to pay for the actual date). Have I missed something? How many 15-20 year olds have $400,000? If a guy's got that sort of cash lying around, can't he get his own dates without buying them? If the winner is under 18, he has to have an adult do the bidding for him. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2004580...5210042,00.html

edit: Update: Ms. Electra won for a mere $407,500.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/magazine/08WWLN.html?

Note second paragraph

Looking up from my desk at the enormous office TV screen to see Jimmy Page playing guitar, and ringing the bell, for this morning's opening of the New York Stock Exchange.

mongomania has crossed 1000 posts...

Pasta Fagiole at the Olive garden last week.

Bad chili with ditallini pasta added in.

http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manhat/messages/189435.html