Worst of the KFB

The Kitchen Fresh Blog completed its first year two months ago, so what better way to celebrate than emphasize some of the crappier moments in this space?

In the spirit of the Not Top 10 on Sportscenter, please find my five least favorite posts to this blog. In other words, I wish I had never written them.

In general, while reviewing the first year of the blog, I've noticed a few things.

Complaining about spare change seems to be a theme on the blog. As do rants about the Red Sox, weather forecasts, politics, and the Jets. Not surprisingly, these posts are of low quality.

My favorite posts were generally from things that have happened to me or from observations that I think are clever. I think the latter category may make me seem a bit smug, but it is my blog, after all.

Not-Top 5

1) Writer's Block posts. These are silly, and I've done it twice.

2) Speaking of posting things twice, why don't I tell the same story twice? I guess it was so traumatic, I had to tell it again.

3) I'm just an idiot. It's a chain restaurant!

4) I don't really understand the joke in this post... I wrote the joke!

5) In general, I had posted a lot about these vanity searches. Boring.

While I found these five to be the poorest in quality, in general, there were a lot of mediocre posts to the space, mostly revolving around current events, and posting links. I need a little better quality control.

Best of the KFB

As if having a blog wasn't self-aggrandizing enough, here is a post to that blog that highlights my favorite posts. Consider, it as "Blogman's favorites."

Of course, May 13, 2005 was the actual first anniversary of the blog, so it's great to put something together two and a half months later commemerating the event.

These are the posts in their order that they were posted.

1) My crazy roommate plays this silly name game. This is one of the stories that inspired the creation of the KFB.

2) Salads. I've never had a satisfactory answer to this question.

3) This post manages to capture two observations - one about complex family situations and the other about man-purses.

4) It's not often that I have my camera at the same time that I observe something funny.

5) Group dynamics. One of my favorite topics.

6) Sort of similar to #4, although the bottle wasn't going to go anywhere.

7) I can't believe this actually happened.

8) What is the convention on this anyways?

9) I found this to be fairly clever.

10) This still happens to me!

11) I haven't watched Law & Order in a while.

12) New York City is a strange place. Sort of the same theme as #7.

13) This post about Chien-Ming Wang is a bit silly, but wouldn't it be so funny??

14) Yet another true story about something that happened to me on the street.

Spare Some Change?

I have a personal policy not to help anyone asking me for change, regardless of what they look like or their story. The reason for this is that I've been hoodwinked before and so I don't like to be taken advantage of because I'm nice. Therefore, I just assume everybody asking for change or food is up to no good, and then deny their request.

Today, a couple asked me for change and for some reason, I felt pretty bad for them. It's made me re-think the policy. Instead of punishing those who actually need assistance because of those who might not, shouldn't I just accept that not everybody is honest and at least help those few that I can? It's not like I couldn't afford to drop a dollar here or there to help folks out, even if they all don't need help. I don't think this will change my policy but it's something that was passing through my mind this morning.

Changing Gears: Personal July Recap

Looking back at the blog, I've realized that I hadn't posted too many personal anecdotes, which is generally what these blogs are for. So here's a quick recap on my month of July, which featured many trips and goings-on.

July 2 - Live 8 concert in Philadelphia. I wrote a post about this.

July 4 - Fireworks at South Street Seaport. I never took any photos of all the things happening there, but it was jam packed. The friend I went to Live 8 with was also at the fireworks with me, and I told him I thought there were bigger crowds at the fireworks but he disagreed.

July 8 - Yankees versus Cleveland Indians. The second Yankee win I've attended. It was also visor night. There's a post about this, too.

July 11 - I skipped work during the day in order to get tickets to "As You Like It," a production of Shakespeare in the Park. It was a good show, with great production quality, and the stage was beautiful, especially at sunset. The lead, Rosalind, was played by Lynn Collins, who I guess has been romantically linked to Keanu Reeves. One thing about the comedy is that Shakespeare comedies seem fairly formulaic (I'm no literary critic). Someone cross-dresses, there's a misunderstanding and a bunch of weddings. They all lived happily (very happily) ever after. There you have another Shakespeare comedy! The other realization I had this day was that there are so many people in New York City who don't work. I'm not sure what these people do for a living but it's not working.

Week of July 11 - Also included a trip to Chinatown for dinner, drinks at the 79th Street Boat Basin, dinner in Times Square (Spanky's BBQ) and a dinner in Times Square followed by drinks in the East Village. Busy week but I don't have any silly stories to tell from any of these events.

July 16-17 - I visited Boston for the third time in three months. I've got a lot of friends up there so it's always nice to pass through the area. Before leaving, I got measured for a tuxedo for an upcoming wedding in December. Then, I stopped off in Connecticut at a BBQ hosted by the couple to be married in December. The weekend in Boston consisted of dinner, drinks and then dim sum Sunday morning. It was nice to see everyone, but I wish I could have spent a little more time up there. The drive was treacherous since I was very tired.

July 18 - I saw the Stephen Chow movie, Kung Fu Hustle. I enjoyed this film much more than Shaolin Soccer. It was much funnier. Someone told me that Ebert called it a combination of Bugs Bunny and Quinten Tarantino. This is a great description since it has the Looney Tunes type of silliness.

July 19 - The dinner destination was Spice Market, a hip and trendy Jean Georges restaurant that opened last year in the Meatpacking District. It was tasty, although a little expensive. We had chicken samosas and a spicy shaved tuna for appetizers, a grilled chicken and a cod dish for the main course, accompanied by ginger rice and for dessert, some sort of ice cream sandwich. I forget the flavor of the ice cream (Thai tea?) but it wasn't too sweet and very tasty. We also got drinks - a mojito and a mai tai. The decor is pretty cool, the restaurant is huge. There's so much hype, I'm not sure the place could ever live up to it, but it was definitely a hip place to be and the food was tasty. I don't know why there is such a difficulty in securing a reservation to this place (I made this one back in early July) because it wasn't packed when we arrived at 8pm.

July 22 - I moved. To a three bedroom apartment just down the road. My roommates are cool, although one of them hasn't moved in yet.

July 23 - Two milestones. I finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I saw reigning NBA MVP Steve Nash while at dinner in the East Village. No comments on the Potter book, except I like to brag about how I reserved it back in January at the NY Public Library and got it right after it came out. What is it that makes Harry so popular? As for Steve Nash, I didn't talk to him, but it was exciting since I don't usually have a lot of celebrity sightings (although in June I passed Ice-T walking down the street in Times Square).

Also on July 23, I had a really substandard experience at Cold Stone Creamery. Not only did we not get very much ice cream, but there were only three strawberries mixed in! While I'm complaining about Cold Stone, why must they try to up-sell the customer on everything? It's like trying to buy a TV at Best Buy, except instead of "Would you like a service plan?" the question is "Would you like a larger ice cream? More mixed in?" Are these guys on commission?

July 24 - I had the waffle ice cream sandwich at the Original New York Milkshake Company. This will not be the last time I have this waffle ice cream sandwich.

July 25 - After several months of missing Smallville, I'm starting to catch up. Five more episodes for the rest of the season. The episode from this evening? Lex Luthor is split into two, his evil and good sides. For some reason I'm finding Kristen Kreuk (Lana Lang) less attractive than in the past. We've been away from each other for too long.

July 26 - Out to dinner on the West Side, at a mexican place. Why isn't this place listed in Zagat or on MenuPages? Note to self: while a chimichanga sounds good because of the words "deep-fried flour tortilla," it really isn't.

Well, that's a recap. If anything cool happens in these last three days, I'll keep the KFB posted.

Fight Club

Ninth Rule of Fight Club: Do not tell the NY Times about Fight Club.

What a great snippet to get me to read the article:
"In small cities and towns where there is not much to do, cage fighting is making a comeback."

Speaking of fighting, I saw an ad the other day for the WWE Summerslam. The headline match? Hulk Hogan versus Shawn Michaels: Immortality has a price. Was that an ad from twenty years ago? No, it's 52 year-old Hogan versus 40 year-old Michaels. I don't know if I should be amazed that these guys at their ages can keep up with the physicality (steroids?) or amused by professional wrestling's inability to market new stars.

NBA Coaches

Larry Brown is headed to the Knicks at the tune of nearly $10 million per year. That will be more than Phil Jackson makes, around $7-10 million annually.

Mike Francesa on WFAN made a good point yesterday - when did NBA coaches make out so well on the pay scale?

The highest paid NFL coach? Parcells and Gruden make around $3 million, and Spurrier made around $5 million. I was looking for Bill Belichek's salary (he should probably be the highest paid) but it's probably in that range. It seems to me that these coaches work the hardest (not to mention often have personnel responsibilities) and probably would be expected to be paid the most.

MLB? Joe Torre makes about $8 million to take care of the Yankees, but his success with the team probably justifies it. Plus, the MLB season is the longest of any of the major pro sports.

So what is it about the NBA coaches that makes them so coveted and highly paid? Yes, they are a very visible personality on the sidelines, and are certainly instrumental in the direction of a team. But recent NBA coach successes aren't necessarily these big superstars. For example, Gregg Poppovich, Lawrence Frank, Stan Van Gundy and Mike D'Antoni have all had recent success without much "celebrity" status. It's clearly a demanding job, but I can't help but think the scale is out of whack.

One more note about the Brown signing, regarding the Knicks roster. I took a look at the 2003-2004 roster (pre-Isiah Thomas) and there's only one player who is on the '05-06 roster, Allan Houston. I just can't help but think with Brown now in the fold, the Knicks will make yet another round of changes to the team. It would be nice to have a team I could recognize and begin to root for (although I have to admit, I'll also take a good team).

Toll Free

Now that cellular phones are so ubiquitous, do you think toll free numbers actually help companies? After all, the toll free number prevents long distance charges, but with cell phones those are nearly non-existent. In addition, a toll free call still counts against your cell phone minutes, so it's not really "free." Perhaps most people still have their land line, so the toll free call is nice, but for most of my peers, who have cell phones as their primary phones, it doesn't seem as useful.

Late Night Subway

Waiting for the subway late at night is never easy, as the trains run infrequently and it's the most common time to have service changes and outages. But you know you're really in for it when the "money train" or the "trash train" pulls into the platform. Particularly the trash train, which is like a bunch of flatbed subway cars that have dumpsters on them. Not only do you realize there's no hope for a train to come in on your track (and the train moves quite slowly, so even if it leaves there will still be delays), there's also a ton of trash in the subway station with you.

Yet Another Reason Why People Don't Vote

People don't vote because our politicians spend less time on things people care about and more time wondering how long daylight savings time should be and making comments like "The beauty of daylight-saving time is that it just makes everyone feel sunnier" (Edward Markey, D-Mass).

I Think My Next Computer Will Be a Mac

Despite all the things I might complain about with Macs - stringent software restrictions, high prices, lower number of software titles, "trendy" computer user base, I think I may have to make the switch in a few years with my next computer. I'm sick of worrying about security features, and incompatible iTunes updates.

The announcement of WindowsVista doesn't make me any more excited either. What a stupid name. I think the pose in this photo is hilarious too.



Addendum: I've noticed a lot of free video content on the web (CNN.com, ESPN.com, etc) requires windows media player, which unfortunately is not available for Mac. This adds a little monkeywrench into my plans of Mac switching, although hopefully by the time I have to make any decisions, everyone will have embraced quicktime formats.

Safety versus Individual Rights

I understand that the police want people to feel safer, so therefore are initiating searches of people's bags on the subway. But it still makes me feel uneasy.

Look, I'm not carrying anything that anyone would take away or get me into trouble. Still, there's a few things that concern me with the searches.

1) I don't really expect them to last that long. I get the sense that once the London bombings fade from memory, these searches will be viewed as more of an inconvenience and an annoyance. Think of how people view increased airport and stadium security these days.

2) That the searches aren't that effective and are more for show. This really worries me. Maybe it's just something for peace of mind but not won't actually to do anything. The Police Commissioner said they would search fewer people if the subway was busier. Shouldn't they be searching more people when the subway is busier? After all, isn't that when these guys are most likely to attack?

3) This is the most paranoid concern: what's to say if an apartment blew up that the police wouldn't start randomly searching apartments? We're definitely looking at a conflict of search and seizure versus individual rights. Granted, the MTA can set rules and you don't have to use the subway or any other public transportation. Also, it will be more than 99.999% of people who are compliant with these regulations. But still, what happens if a guy gets caught with something and then the charge gets thrown out in court because of illegal search / seizure? Obviously, you can't legislate to what "might happen in court to get the charge thrown out." But when I hear politicians (Bloomberg) say things like, "We know that our freedoms are threatening to certain individuals and there's no reason to let our guard down." I have to think, "If you keep rummaging through my stuff, then soon there won't be that many freedoms for those people to worry about."

But still, I don't want the terrorists to win. I'll stay vigilant.

Product Endorsement

I laughed when my friend told me he had put his Sandisk Cruzer Mini flash drive in the laundry and it still worked after going through the washer. Of course, I then proceeded to do the same thing. Mine still works too. So here's a KFB product endorsement for the Sandisk Cruzer mini flash drive. You can accidentally wash it and still keep your data.

China - Part 2 - Xi'an

In Part 1 of the China Trip Posts, I gave a glimpse of the city of Xi'an. Here are a bunch of additional photos from Xi'an. Next time up will be the Terra Cotta Soldiers.

Xi'an was traditionally known as an arts and cultural center, and generally seemed a little less cosmopolitan than Beijing, Hong Kong or Shanghai. Perhaps that's just the parts of the city we visited.


The bell tower of Xi'an. It's in the center of the city wall, but the city now extends far beyond the walls. This was an alert-type tower. We went to dinner at a dumpling restaurant near here that was pretty cool, as the dumplings were shaped like the meats they contained (such as little chickens, ducks, pigs).


When you climb up the bell tower, which isn't that tall, this is some of the view. One friend asked, "What are all the green cars?" They're taxis. Speaking of taxis, imagine a place where everyone moves like a NY taxi driver (pedestrians, mopeds, bus drivers) and that's what Xi'an was like. Referencing two of my favorite amphibians, crossing the street was like Frogger, and riding in a taxi was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.


You can walk up on the Xi'an city wall. It extends like this all the way around what was originally the city.


This is a summer palace that Chinese leaders had used. It's just outside of Xi'an. I believe Chiang Kai-Shek got kidnapped here back when he was in charge.


This is called the wild goose pagoda. It's part of a Buddhist temple. We paid extra to climb up this, but it totally wasn't worth it. The view was crummy and since it was a hot day, all we got was dehydrated.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I reserved the latest Harry Potter book at the NY Public Library. Just picked it up today. There were 800 reservable copies, and I was 200th on the queue. Of course, I reserved it back in January...

I have just begun to read it, and am pleased to find that it is shorter than the last book (there was a trend where each volume had been getting longer and longer). The biggest problem with these books? I know how it's going to end. They're all unsolveable mysteries. Making matters worse, since there's magic in the world, anything can happen. Anything! Oh, the ceiling turned into cotton candy? It's magic! Look, that man has six arms! Magic. Let's turn back time... You get the picture.

I also hope there isn't much about a Quidditch match. What a stupid game. Maybe it should be an Olympic sport.

Ribfest

I can't believe my last post to the blog was about feces as a means for electrical power. It appears as well, that my "Yankees won't make the playoffs" prediction may not come true after all.

About a month back, I had the pleasure of attending Nashua, NH's annual rib-fest. Here, you pay admission to a little outdoor fair and then can purchase ribs from a bunch of vendors. The session is held on the grounds of Anhauser Busch's factory in Nashua. While the ribs were tasty, here are some photos from the day that have nothing to do with ribs - the clydesdales and a stunt plane that flew over the site.

And yes, I got the itis.


Doesn't it look like this horse is in prison? So sad.


Stunt planes are fun.

Poop Power?

I don't know if this is cool or gross but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to work in a biogas plant.

Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees - 7/8/05

I'm falling behind with posts to the blog.

I still have 100+ photos from China that need to be posted here, and some things from the Nashua, NH Rib Fest a while back that also need to make it up here. Then I also would like to do a Best of / Worst of the first year of KFB. For now, enjoy some shots from the rainy Indians / Yankees game. Actually, it was raining early but cleared up to a nice night. Also, it turns out to be my second victory this season.


Chien-Ming Wang. This may have been his last start of the year, depending on the DL situation. I have also seen Kevin Brown, Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, and Carl Pavano pitch this year, so pretty much all the regular starting pitchers.


The theme of today's photos is, players who weren't on the Yankees back in April when I saw a ton of games. For example, center fielder Melky Cabrera.


Melky Cabrera has a silly looking photo for his shot on the big screen.


No Tony Womack here! It's Robinson Cano.


Coco Crisp of the Indians. You couldn't make up a better name.


Ah, Tier Reserved, my favorite place to sit.

Getaway Car

I think all crooks should drive the Ford Escape as their getaway car.

Newsstands and US News

I was looking around for a magazine today, and couldn't find it anywhere. I stopped by about four or five of the corner newsstands asking for the magazine, and none of them had it. In fact, several of them looked at me as if they had never heard of the magazine. Then I realized that these newsstands only carry porn and cigarettes. I hadn't ever noticed that before.

The magazine I was looking for? US News and World Report. Nobody carries this thing. It's like the black sheep of news magazines. More newsstands had The Economist (which is like the British hippie cousin of news magazines). It makes you realize how US News has been able to turn the "Top 10" list into a year-long publication. There's top colleges, grad schools and hospitals. When will they come out with "America's Top Religions?" They would be able to have all sorts of categories, like "miracles performed," "martyrs," and "fundraising." The best categories, of course, would be "selectivity" and "reputation."

Sandwiches Without Bread

Imagine: Roast beef, bacon, melted cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce and ranch dressing...

Sounds like a great sandwich, right?

Nope, it's a Quiznos salad!

Here's another: Black Angus steak, bleucheese crumbles and balsamic vinaigrette. Tasty!

I'm amused by the "healthy" options at these fast food chains, like salads at McDonald's and Wendy's that include fried chicken on them, but this is a bit much, isn't it? Quiznos suggests, of course, that these salads are low carb, and thus more healthy. Here's the facts: if it sounds like something I'd like, it's probably not healthy.