Leaky Faucets

How can anyone go out every day with a huge mole on their face anchoring several long, gangly hairs?  Even if you can’t afford to pay a dermatologist to remove the mole, you can at the very least snip those hairs.  The Chinese lady at my Laundromat, whom I have to see almost every week-presumably a relative of the owner-certainly has a mirror in her house.  Does she not care?

73rd Street in Jackson Heights-my street– is officially on the map.  On Sunday, our very own Samiul Haque Noor from Sammy’s Halal was the winner of the Vendy Award, given to New York City’s best street vendor by The Street Vendor Project, a non-profit organization that supports-you guessed it-street vendors.

Every day, when I walk home from the subway I pass Sammy’s cart which features South Asian cuisine.  I have to admit, though, I’ve never tried it.  Now I’m curious.  If his food was considered tops in the whole city, it must be good.  Next time I’m in the mood for Halal chicken or beef, I know where to go.

  

For some reason the Browns-Broncos game was televised in New York yesterday.  I’m sure they could’ve found a better game.  I don’t get to see the Browns much these days as they are rarely on national television and I don’t have any type of cable or satellite NFL package.  My only choice is to go to the Browns Backer bar on the Upper East Side, which is usually not worth it when the team can barely get a first down.

Anyway, the Browns suffered a pitiful defeat as expected.  What bothered me most, really, was the fact that every time the Browns play the Broncos, they have to again bring up the crushing losses in the AFC Championship Games in the late ‘80s.  You know “The Drive” and “The Fumble.”  Enough is enough already.  I was a vulnerable adolescent when Elway ripped out my heart and then Ernest Byner stomped on it the next year.   I’m still convinced to this day every time I see the highlight that Rich Karlis’ overtime kick was wide.  No matter how many times I see it, I don’t believe that it was good. 

As a Cleveland sports fan, you get used to this kind of disappointment, but these two losses were by far the worst for me-much worse than Jordan’s jumper over Craig Ehlo (that is also incessantly replayed) and the Indians’ meltdown in the 9^th inning of Game 7 against the Marlins.  I accept the fact that my teams are always at the losing end, but I don’t need to be reminded of it so much.

Come on kids, you can play this one at home.  It’s called how many Republicans can you find behind bars, under indictment or just under investigation.  Bonus points if they are currently running for office.  First there was Delay-let’s call him the big fish.  Then Ney and Foley.  And now Nguyen out in Orange County, California.  This one is quite ironic, a former Vietnamese refugee using illegal intimidation tactics to keep legal immigrants who are now citizens away from the polls.  I guess he didn’t have much confidence that they would vote for him.

How absurd is it that you can purchase a plane ticket from New York to DC one week in advance of travel at a much cheaper price than an Amtrak ticket?  Aya and I are going to DC next weekend and we’ll probably end up taking the cheap ($35 roundtrip) Chinatown bus.  I don’t care much for flying and will avoid it when I can.  I would much prefer to take the train but will not pay over $200 each for such a short trip.  It’s the same thing when we visit Maki in the Philadelphia suburbs; the train costs over $100 per person.

I’ve been complaining for years (at least to myself) about Congress’ lack of support for Amtrak.  It only gets worse as they continue to cut funding for a vital alternative to flying or driving.  If we were serious about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, we’d promote mass transit in the form of trains, particularly for short trips.  The infrastructure needs to be modernized and fares need to come down.  The European model of inter-city train travel should be replicated here, but sadly will not be.  In the ‘50s, the decision was made that the automobile would be the future of this country.  Out of that grew the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956.  Unfortunately, this short-sighted decision has contributed to our current predicament: large, gas-guzzling SUVs flashing their blinding lights into smaller cars on the interstate, while those who want to travel comfortably and cheaply by train cannot do so.

Since I got back from the vacation, a few people at work have asked me if I put on a few pounds while I was away.  The truth is, as much as I worked out, I ate even more, so yes, I’m certain I gained about five pounds.  Hopefully, not more.  I haven’t had the nerve to put myself on the scale since I got back, but I can tell.  It’s not that easy to gain weight while training for a marathon; I usually lose 10-15 pounds during the 18 weeks of hard training.  But I seem to have done it.  It’s also not easy to not gain weight when I go to the Philippines considering that we had three big meals every day-mostly out of the house-and dessert almost every day.  It was a vacation, right?

I am a bit worried now that after the marathon I’m going to let myself go and put a lot of weight back on.  It always happens to some extent over the winter, but I usually lose all the weight in the spring and summer.  I guess I’ll have to be extra vigilant about what I eat this winter (especially during the holidays) and try to find some exercise to complement the limited amount of running I’ll do.

It’s official!  We received our first baby gift in the mail: a Baby Einstein activity gym.  I guess there’s no turning back now.

We’ve become somewhat addicted to the show “24.”  It started in the Philippines as we plowed through Season One in Gahum’s home theater.  We started Season Two on the plane ride home, but alas, our laptop’s battery only lasted about three hours enough for only four episodes.  We’re now only four episodes away from finishing Season Two, after which we’ll take a break for a while.  Once you get into it, it’s a bit difficult to stop, even if you know you need to get some sleep.

The conspiracy that is woven into Season Two’s plot might seem far fetched, but unfortunately I think it is probably one of the most realistic parts of the show.  The idea that the government would allow its citizens to be harmed in order to advance their own power is very real especially as it pertains to the Bush administration.  I think the show’s creators were aiming directly at the administration with these nefarious plots.  President David Palmer makes political calculations, but he is a man of integrity and honesty, rare qualities in real politicians.

I know I haven’t written in a while.  Didn’t have much computer access on my vacation, and although I got back to the States on Friday, I was tussling with jet lag for a few days.  I’m finally back up to speed sleepwise, so hopefully I’ll be writing more now.