The movie left me starving. Well, probably not the movie, but the hodgepodge of food I had consumed during the day had provided all the energy it could and my stomach was telling me it was time for another meal. The only problem? I was not familiar with any of the restaurants near the Angelika.

After ruling out desert and appetizers as well as brunch and sushi, we decided on mexican.

“Hola, como estas?” the chips and salsa maitre d’ greeted us. We muttered the greeting back. Another quick flurry of syllables and I was lost. Apparently it meant “enjoy your meal,” but I only remember enough spanish to get me to the bano and to avoid dirty water. Even those phrases I tend to forget in between trips to spanish speaking lands.

The waiter approached and after ordering a margarita, I was feeling much more comfortable with the language.

Returning for dinner orders, I quickly realized I was the only person hungry. “I’ll have the #4,” a easy tex-mex mix of enchilada, taco and rice and beans. I have a theory about the comparison of makeup of all mexican dishes, but that’s another post.

“And for the ladies?”

Erika ordered tortillas, flour. This seemed to confused the waiter, but I think only because his tip wasn’t increasing dramatically enough.

“And for you?”

Sarah likes lemons. For her Diet Coke I suppose. Just a bowl. “Just a bowl of lemons,” she requested.

“What type of lemons?”

Quizically we glance at each other. Round? Sliced? Mexican? How exactly do you respond?

Seeing our confusion, the waiter clarified. “No, no. What color of lemon?”

Now we were completely lost and I was trying to not to let loose the hysterical laughter building up. Lemons are yellow. That’s it. Limes are green, Oranges are orange, Apples are….well, that’s a bad example, but Lemons are YELLOW.

Sarah quietly and politely responded, “Yellow.” I think there was a bit of trepidation, uncertainty and disbelief in that one word.

The waiter left and we released the barrage of absurdities that had entered our minds since we entered the restaraunt.

I guarantee they were talking about us in the kitchen.

Here’s the lite-brite I threw together today (click on picture to link to site)

Apparently creamy peanut butter….

…contains peanut!

With business travel taking me to multiple cities and multiple brands of hotels, the important question inevitably arises, “Why am I paying for Internet at the Mariott, but not at Holiday Inn?”

3 cities and 5 residences in 5 years.

This weekend I finally moved into my permanent residence in Dallas. After finally getting a breather from travel and the holidays behind us, my next mission was to find and move into an apartment. It’s amazingly difficult to decide where to live in a new city when you work out of your house and don’t have any major conditions for physical location. In San Francisco I was bound by price and wanting a true urban experience. In Austin, my house was predetermined by a vacant bedroom in a houseful of good friends. Dallas…well, it’s taking a lot of getting used to (again), but thanks to another set of good friends, I was able to focus on my new job and the transition without the pressure of a new domicile.

I am truly excited about finally moving into my own place. IKEA gift certificates in hand, I have purchased a new (King size) bed and am slowly unplacking boxes…some of which have been taped up since September of ’03. This is definitely going to be an experience!

• The power plugs are identical to the US, except with wider mood (read “voltage”) swings
• The water’s OK to drink, mostly.
• America has already settled in….I can see an Office Depot out my window as I type.
• I can pick up Hooters Costa Rica shirts for my souvenirs.
• McDonalds, among many others, provides servicio express. That’s delivery to you and I.
• Parking attendants are really extortionists who stand in parking lots and scratch your car if you don’t tip them.
• You won’t get a ticket for driving while intoxicated, but you will for talking on your cell phone.
• Red lights also seem optional.
• Prostitution is legal. And I read that in a book, reallly.
• One day is not enough time to be a tourist if you have to work half of the day.

If you haven’t read Tipping Point, read it. If you haven’t read Blink, read it. If you have know idea who wrote these books, you need to read something that Malcolm Gladwell has written. And what better than a story about cookies. Okay, maybe not exactly about cookies, but his deconstruction and descriptions of how we view everyday life will have you questioning everything around you in completely different ways.

The past three days, my laptop has been all farked up bad kitty. Normally, that would not be something that affects Branden, aside from hearing the story. But this week, it has been a bitch. I think we finally got most of his issues fixed, and Branden had to retrofit his a bit to hopefully prevent something like that from happening. Getting ready for travel next week as well.

Welp, I’m off to watch Family Guy and then sleep. Going to try and make tomorrow SUPER productive.

If you look around and don’t see any urinals, double check that sign on the bathroom door.

Definitely been a while since my last post, and now seems like as good as time as any to start again, so here we go.

Lately my cell has been low on battery much too often. Which is weird because I plug it in most nights and, if I notice it being needy, I charge it in my car. But it’s become much more of a nuisance. I think Jennifer mentioned something to me about her phone (which is the same model) having a power problem and if mine had been acting up. It wasn’t at that point but I was becoming much more worried this week.

Until tonight.

I came home with a low battery and went to plug the phone in the wall charger (because Toyota decided to only allow the cigarette socket to be powered when the car is on versus Chevrolet who lets you utilize that jack at all times, but I digress) and noticed that the wall charger wasn’t actually plugged into the wall socket. And probably hasn’t been for at least a week, maybe longer. I think I might have found the reason my cell phone has been blinking red at me.

It’s okay, just shake your head and laugh, I am.