Due to an earlier incident...

...updates to this blog have been temporarily suspended.

Well, due to my current lack of internet access, anyway. (I never thought it could happen to me!)

I hope to have this situation sorted out by the end of the summer, at which time I'll be back...and better than ever! (Well, probably the same as ever, but it sounded good. Never stop striving for self improvement.)

You've got to pick a Pocky or two.

Yet another amazing resource found on the world wide web. I love the internet!!

Mum's the word.

Does anyone actually hate their mother enough to bring her to Outback on Mother's Day?

Yes we have no bananas.

Thoughts over a steaming stack of banana pancakes: Why in this country do we only have a single variety of banana? I mean, just like apples, oranges, pears, grapefruit, etc., different varieties of banana exist in the world. And yet in any given supermarket or grocery store across this vast land we're limited to that single measly familiar one. (I'm talking mass distribution here - I know you can find a few others throughout the city at bodegas, specialty markets, etc. but that is definitely not the case in grocery stores across the country.) And to further boggle the mind, I've been told by a few reliable sources that even that single variety of banana does not taste as good these days as it once did years ago.

So I ask you, what gives? Why only one variety of banana, and why has that single variety declined in deliciousness over the years? And furthermore, why has this topic consumed so much of my mental energy? I've come up with a few different theories, which maybe I'll share at a later date. And maybe I won't. It's always possible I'll move on to some other imponderable...

Homicide Handbook

Ever wonder what could possibly drive a sane person to kill another human being? Here's an answer: a walk through midtown at lunchtime on a sunny spring day. That'll do it.

Guess I'll die another day.

Ok, as things finally seem to be relatively back to normal in my life, I'm going to get back to the regular updates. Now that the weather has been nice enough to consistently keep my office windows open, I've noticed that around 3:00 or so everyday there's a man somewhere in the vicinity who begins shouting the same unintelligible phrase over and over, for hours on end. It always continues until I leave the office, and I have every reason to believe long after that, as he shows no sign of stopping or slowing down. To me it sounds like the rantings of a crazy person, though one of my co-workers thinks he's selling something down on the street. I have no idea. And while I have to admit that I do find it mildly annoying, you just have to admire that kind of dedication to something. I mean, screaming for hours on end, every afternoon. I can't say I've ever been that dedicated to anything in my life. I guess I'd rather be sleeping or watching tv.

Chowhounds Unite!

I am addicted to Chowhound.com. I've never posted anything or even made use of any of the thousands of posts, but I just love reading them. NYC restaurants are one of the best things about living in NYC, and though I've been trying (pretty successfully I might add) to not eat out so much these days, it's so great to be able to just sit back and read all about all of these people's restaurant experiences. I swear. It's better than television. Maybe even better than...dare I say it...the Food Network.

Ok, maybe not.

Ok, so since my last post I have finally returned to health and feeling normal. Even got back to running on Friday evening (3.5 miles and felt great to be out moving around again after a 2-week hiatus), and ran a 4-mile race on Sunday. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm back to normal and feeling good about it. Unfortunately, according to my doctor, I seem to be fighting some as-yet-unidentifiable illness that has required numerous trips to his office in the past week with plenty of poking and prodding, and will no doubt require a good deal more. In fact, though he's glad that I feel good enough to get out and run and work out, he seems to think it's weird that I do. So that's that. Definitely a little frustrating, but hey, it's a gorgeous day out which is making it a little hard to feel bummed about anything at the moment.

Doing my Civic Duty in a delirious stupor.

No updates last week, because I served jury duty for three days and then proceeded to get sicker than I have been in I can't remember how long. We're talking fever, shaking, delirium. Oh boy, was it fun. Then, to top it all of, there was a death in my family, which of course kept me from going to the doctor until much later than I probably should have. What can I say. Some weeks are better than others.