Dead Tired

I am dead tired. 12 day work weeks suck donkey ballz. I really wish i could work 40 hour weeks. So tired...sleep....forever sleep.

Lakers!

We win! Woo!

Loud and Clear

Click this

The commercial is hilarious. I love the guy at the party. The device on the ear looks absolutely ridiculous.

New Beginnings

This blog had been neglected because the last month has been hectic. I moved, I graduated, and I started a new life and new job. It has been stressful because moving to a new place and starting a new job are not easy tasks. As I have mentioned in my previous post, everyone seems to be going through a transition phase.

One of my friends is still in China...and may remain there forever. I'm going to miss my cousin's wedding because of work. That same cousin is moving Midwest. Another cousin in starting school at USC. My mom is traveling outside the country. My sister is looking for a new job. Lakers may win another championship. This is crazy.

I realized this past month that I don't like change. I like routine. Granted, I love traveling and seeing new places and experiencing new things but I like those things to remain transitory. I want to be able to come "home" and get back to routine. In the past, I would tell my interviewer that I enjoy challenges. I don't any more. I want to push a button all day long.

Rethinking Public Transportation

I like the facial expression of the girl on the very right.
She's probably thinking, "ugh, I hate these coworkers and I hate the fucking bus"

I have been taking public transportation on and off for the past 5 years in Manhattan and in the other 5 boroughs and I have concluded that using PT is nether significantly better or worse than driving when analyzed within the context of my life.

There are positives and negatives to each method of people moving. However, for me, driving wins by a hair.

Time was a big factor in coming to this conclusion. It just takes too much fucking time to go from one place to another. Even within Manhattan, I think I could get to most places faster if I pulled the car out of the garage and drove there. It takes me 1.5 hours to go 30 blocks using public transportation whereas even in moderate traffic, I can be at the destination in 40 minutes. Of course, it'll cost more but if time is indeed priceless, then..well..there ya go.

I think people also forget that it takes time to walk to the station, transfer trains, walk to the building, etc. They see the time schedule on a train or a bus and think, "oh, it's a 35 minute train ride" or "it's on a 15 minute bus ride". They fail to realize that they need to be at the bus or train stop 5 minutes before it arrives, you may have to take another public transportation to get to said train stop, and you may have to even walk a few blocks before and after the train ride. Also, even if you get to the stops in time, the buses or trains may be late or they may be full so you have to wait for another one.

Take for example my morning public transportation commute the other day. I woke up at 6am to get ready and to catch the 7 o'clock bus ride to the train station. I have to leave at 6:45 to walk to the bus stop. It takes about 30 minutes (if you're lucky and you don't have handicapped riders) to get to the station. Then, I wait anywhere between 5-20 minutes for the train (depends on whether I catch the 7:40 or the 7:51 train. The train ride is only 35 minutes. Then I have to swtich to the subway, which takes 15 minutes to my actual destination. After that, it's a "short" 8 minute walk to my destination. From door to door, that was about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

When I drive to the same destination, it takes me 35 minutes total with light traffic and 1 hour and 10 minutes with traffic, door to door.

Public transportation frees you from the stresses of driving and you don't have to spend money on gas. However, taking PT is not without stresses of it's own.

It sucks when the bus or train is late. It sucks when you're trying to take those buses or trains during rush hour because you may not get a seat and you have to stand shoulder to shoulder or smelly body to smelly body with everyone for 35 to 40 minutes. It sucks when people are in your way taking up the entire walkway or staircase when you have a train or bus to catch. Not only that, the "convenience" of public transportation ends at watery border of Manhattan. Beyond that, you're on your own. All of these little things can piss you off.

Because of this hassle, many people take cabs in the city. But I don't know if they count as public transportation. With tips and tolls, I don't know how much you're saving in the end.

I have to start commuting to work next month. Let us see if I maintain this position. Before coming here, I was ready to give up driving forever and embrace the supposed greatness of public transportation. Now that I've experienced both, I'm leaning back toward driving myself to places.

Here is an interesting list

I agree with everything on that list

* Sent via BlackBerry *

Stop Signs

DMV needs to make their written test and driving test harder. They need to emphasize and reemphasize the 4 way stop sign, 2 stop sign, and yield rules much more than they are doing now. No one in this fucking area seems to know the rules of the road. Most remember to stop at a stop sign (thank goodness), but after that, they act like deer in headlights. They freeze and don't know what to do if there are any other cars around at the intersection. It's fucking ridiculous.

I HATE driving through an intersection with 4 stop signs, especially those with one lane for left turns and another lane for those going straight. That intersection is source of confusion for so many people every morning. I fear for my life when I have to deal with those fuckers.

DMV in new york offers discounts for those that take a "refresher" course on driving rules. I think this is a great opportunity to reemphasize the rules. I also believe that when you have to renew your driver's license, you should have to take a mini quiz and pass that fucking thing before you can get your new one. It should be a visual exam where you watch a video of cars approaching an intersection and you have to choose "who has the right of way".

Funny Movie?

I think I'm going to watch this movie. Looks interesting. Hopefully it'll have gratuitous violence and it will get a hard R rating (NC-17 movies are not played in many theaters so I'll take the R).

Trailer Here

Anti-QVC

The other day, on his blog, a friend posted about QVC and how he was seduced by the glittering jewels sold on that channel.

I don't watch QVC and I don't enjoy looking at jewelery in my free time. However, I did watch some other infomercials on tv that intrigued me.

One was the JawHorse. It looked like the perfect equipment for me. They addressed all of the problems I had when I was doing carpentry. I hate the fact that I don't have a sturdy surface and I hate using regular saw horses for projects. I may have to pick one up.

The other was DualSaw. DualSaw is sold by the "Pitchmen" and they argue that it will solve the problems of regular circular saws. One major problem of typical circular saws is the "kickback" issue. Because the DualSaw has...Dual Saws and these saws rotate in opposite directions, the "kickback" issue is apparently solved.

I would like to try these two products. If they work like advertised, I think carpentry would be easier.

Betrayed

In the next few days, Amazon will announce the new Kindle supposedly named Kindle DX. It is supposed to have 9.7 inch display. And, it supposedly supports PDF. Now, I imagine that a firmware upgrade on the kindle 2.0 may solve the pdf issue on this device as well but i'm pissed that they announced a new kindle so early. I thought at least I had a year before I needed to upgrade. Oh well, I'm pretty much sold on ereaders at this point so I may have to sell the kindle 2.0 so i can get kindle 2.5.

Hot Stuff

I cannot find salsa that is in the HOT flava anywhere. I don't know if they discontinued it but none of the grocery stores carry it. I went to the Super Stop and Shop as well as other stores like Dagostino, Costco, etc and they don't have it either. Wha' happen? Did everyone turn into pussies? Can they not take the heat?

I have to resort to chopping my own jalapenos and mixing it with the salsa to get it hotter. This is lame. I want my hot stuff back.

2009: Year of Transitions

This year has been very interesting. Everyone I know is going through some big change. I am moving and starting a new job. My cousin is getting married. My other cousin is starting college. A friend is on the other side of the world. My sister may be starting a new job. All of these changes are exciting...

Actually, I wouldn't call these changes exciting.

I would call them frightening.

I don't like change. I thought I liked change but I realized a short while ago that change is annoying. Change can sometimes mean that you need to confront the unknown and I think most people will agree that the unknown is scary. Most people turn to religion to comfort them. I have to rely on reality.

Anyway, I'm stressed out. I have so much shit to do and so little time. Where is Evie when you really need her?

Shattened

One of our patrons took the nastiest explosive diarrhea on the middle of the floor. It flew EVERYWHERE. The smell was so bad that everyone in the room projectile vomited EVERYWHERE. Yeah, it was one of those days. The smell was overwhelming. I felt very thankful I was not the janitor for the day.

My immediate supervisor asked me why I came in late today. I was very close to kicking his ass and dragging his ugly face over to the shattened floor and rub his mug all over said bowel movement. Fucking cocksucker. I was there early and I finished my work before this prick came in this morning.

If you're wondering where the word "shattened" came from, ask the dude from the Bronx. He'll tells ya. He'll axe you why you're axing him though.

* Sent via BlackBerry *

Bathroom Ride

Some girl figured out a way to cheat the system. She rides the train for free by jumping into the handicap bathroom as soon as she boards the train. Then, she stays in there the entire time and bypasses the whole "pay for your ride" deal by avoiding the conductor collecting tickets. The bathroom she goes into is no ordinary bathroom either. It's a handicap bathroom the size of my room in my apt. I'm sure she could have a party there. There is a light that comes on at the top of the door that says "occupied" but no one looks up there.

I wonder how many free rides she has received. Each one way ticket costs 8 bucks so she must have saved some money.

* Sent via BlackBerry *

Fit

I am looking to purchase a new car. However, it's difficult to buy a decent car when you have no money. Actually, my balance is in the red.

I need something reliable with great gas mileage. I also want minimal maintenance issues.

I test drove the Honda Fit today and I liked it. However, the one thing that concerns me is the size. It's not as small as I had expected but it's not large either. When compared to most cars on the road, the Honda Fit does look relatively small. I also wonder whether it'll stand up to the California highway speeds.

So I'm torn. I don't know if I should just shell out $3000 more of my money that I don't have to buy the next level Honda Civic or if I should just buy a Fit. 3000 dollars is a lot of money and the money saved could go toward the purchase of my next car which will be a Porsche 911.

My computers

I really hate my computers. They're all old and dying. The harddrives associated with these computers are slowly dying too. As soon as I move, I'm replacing all of this shit. I've had it.

Esnips: Die fucker die.

Esnips has gone to shit. You can't search for anything because their search engine is terrible. And even if you get some results, the way these results are presented has to be the worst of any site. It's like searching through a site created by a fucking moron who also happen to have brain damage. This website should be shut down permanently. It's a fucking mess.

May Esnips die a swift death.

Macy's Petacular Fair

I went to the Macy's Petacular Fair. It was an interesting experience. Broadway and 33rd street was shut down for this extravaganza. Every yuppie in Manhattan showed up to show off their million dollar dogs.

There was also a small stage where kids could go up and sing songs. It was created by Disney (see Bolt the dog in that pic above?) so you could probably guess the types of songs that were available on the karaoke machine. I think I heard Hannah Montana's theme song 20 times while I was there. Before Hannah Montana, I think I never realized how great it is to have the best of both worlds.

A different stage had this teenage rock band rocking out. They were singing songs about how they did not particularly care for home work and did not enjoy parents telling them what to do. But the rocker conceded that to be a good person, he must obey and follow the rules. After all, being uncouth is not cool.

And then I saw this dog. I guess it's a Jewish dog. I never knew dogs could subscribe to a particular religion but it's 2009 and anything is possible. I think this dog was a holy dog of some kind because people kept grabbing his paws and started talking to him about stuff.

* Sent via BlackBerry *

Chelsea Market

I went to the Chelsea Market today. It was an interesting place but it was much smaller than I expected it to be. The length of the "market" is about a city block long and width is like what you see in the picture above. There are bake shops, coffee shops, wine shop, seafood market, a thai restaurant, a gelato store, housewares store, a few markets selling miscellaneous goods and a few more food related establishments.

The decor is definitely interesting though and I felt like i was walking through a hotel mall in vegas.

Look at this interesting wall. Look at it!!!

Ninth Street Espresso bar's coffee was pretty good. I really hate Starbucks. Oren is alright but this is better. I may have to come all the way here to get my fill. Not sure if it's better than Macchiato Bar. I must try both at the same time and compare.

The Topman Cometh

Topman is here. If you don't know what Topman is, you are clearly not with it. Apparently, Kate Moss is a big fan and so are all of her friends at Greenwich, Castro, and one guy in Cerritos. If you remember, I was given a task a few months ago to find a store that never existed. Well, the store exists now and it's in everyone's faces.

As an employee of Sax, I guess I should have known that the competition was coming to America. However, I only sell men's suits and not the skinny jeans on the other floor. Topman is a British company that sells new and hip designs. I guess that means super tight clothing with lots of buttons.

Here is the front of the store. I don't know if the store is multi-floor because I could not go in. The line to go into this fucking store wrapped around the block. It's like going on a ride at Disneyland. I wondered how many of these people in line were actually going to purchase a $500 coat or a $100 tshirt. And look at that huge union jack. I felt like the Queen was going to walk out of the store at any moment. Actually, a queen did come out but it wasn't the queen.


See that Topman security dude? That guy has a lot of power right now. He is the bouncer and he gets to decide whether you are worthy to go into this super store.

Look at that shit. You see those two girls talking to the bald security guy? They were trying to cut in front of the line. I know that kind of shit happens at clubs but I didn't know people try to pull that crap for a fucking clothing store.

Whatever. The two women got pwned and they were left standing there looking stupid. I'll try to go in the store during the weekday when all of the posers and douches are at work. I didn't want to waste my time standing there for an hour.

Halal vs Halal: The Nightly Showdown

Pic of the actual famous cart (tanakareport.com)

In New York City, there are hundreds of Halal Chicken and Rice carts scattered across the island. These vendors dominate the street food business, like hot dog, roasted peanut, and pretzel carts did in the yesteryear. I think soon, if it hasn't already, Halal C&R will replace the Famous NY Hotdog as the street cart king.

There is one cart that is famous above all others. All new yorkers know the location of this cart. I am of course talking about the Halal Chicken and Rice Cart across from the Hilton on 53rd and 6th ave. You can't really miss it because when the cart comes on the scene, the line starts to form. But I'm not going to talk any more about that cart because that's not the focus of this post. (I talked about the famous one before in one of my previous posts.)

I want to talk about the other cart.

That's right. There is the other cart. People on the street refer to it by that name. There is another Halal Chicken and Rice cart on 53rd and 6th ave but it's on the southeast corner of that intersection. People know about it. People can see it while waiting in line at the famous one. But not many go to that other one.

That makes me sad.

I see the two guys in the other cart, standing around doing nothing while the famous cart is cooking up a storm and selling food like crazy. No matter how fast the two guys manning the famous cart dish out the delicious chicken and lamb dishes, the line just gets bigger and bigger. In fact, the line never stops growing on most friday and saturday nights because it's the food of choice after a late night bar hopping extravaganza. The other cart waits...and waits for an occasional tourist who doesn't know better or that really impatient person that decides to settle for the other cart.

The line at night (theeatenpath.com)

It's really interesting how this plays out every night and yet the other cart refuses to find another corner to rake in the money. Perhaps there are no more corners left? (I can certainly understand that.) Or perhaps the two guys at the lonely cart are determined to fight on.

So why is the famous one famous and why is the other one getting fucked in the lamb's ass?

It's because of the lamb.

I have tried the food from the lonely cart. I wanted to know why the hell the one on the southeast was doing so badly. The famous cart and the other cart's chicken taste about the same. They are both good and will leave you satisfied. Whitesauce and hot sauce are the same too for the most part. However, the lamb at the famous location is slightly tastier. I can't really put my finger on it but it just does. (It probably has more salt content or more fat.) The other cart's lamb is good but when compared to the famous one, it comes up short. The other cart gives you more food. In fact, the other cart includes the whole pita bread while the famous one just gives you half. The other one usually gives you more vegetables too. But because of that lamb, the cart across the street can't get the business.

I think the underdog has to do something drastic to turn the table on the famous guys. They should run a promotion or sell their food for a cheaper price. Maybe, they can throw in a free soda or something for a limited time. They need to build up the number of repeat customers.

That's enough post for now. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to eat my Halal Chicken and Rice from the famous cart. Mmmmmm....Chicken and Rice from the Famous Cart....