To all my peeps in Minny

Here ya go, good luck with that evening commute, you're gonna need this...

So happy for Marty

OH MY GOD, DID YOU SEE THE OSCARS LAST NIGHT?!?!!?

No? Neither did I.

I did tune in briefly, and caught the Al Gore and Leo bit, which was amusing. That Gore sure can act.

I think the Hollywood let out a collective sigh of relief after seeing Martin Scorcese finally get his best director award. He was basically turning into the Dan Marino of directors.

I thought Departed was good 'n' all, I mean it was "great" even--I loved it... but best picure and best director? Really? Just seems a little lofty for your standard Scorcese flick. I mean, what made The Departed any better, than say, any of his previous 6 snubs? (Which were in reverse chrono: The Aviator, Gangs of New York, Casino, Goodfellas, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Raging Bull). And was The Departed even all that different from any of these other films in which the protagonists are tormented Northeastern males who act a lot like antagonists and generally follow a life of ups and downs before dramatically dying (via murder, usually) in the films final 30 minutes? No, you could argue this was maybe the third best of these (behind Raging Bull and Goodfellas), but certainly no higher than that. So what was the difference? The movies this year sucked.

I didn't see Babel, but wanted to. Didn't see Queen, didn't care to. Didn't see Letters from Iwo Jima, but probably should. I did see Little Miss Sunshine and loved every minute of it. Laughed so hard I cried about 4 times (all related to Alan Arkin's amazing junky granpda character). But really, BEST PICTURE nominee?

Here is what I am saying folks: bad year in movies.

Or, if you disagree with that statement, lets try: DC Josh needs to get out and see more movies in 2007.

TGIF

Just wanted to let ya'll know that I am drunk at work and you are not. Eat your heart out. It was our founder's 65th B-Day, and there was cake and champagne and beer. At 3pm. Awesome. I had about 5 glasses, trying to be as discreet as possible, but I got called out on the third pour. I think it was because in a 45 minute span, I was the only one who went back to the bottle 5 times. And once you're called out day drinking in front of co-workers, you really have just two options: (A) shyly sip the third glass, but never finish it and leave it half full on a table in clear view of many co-workers while you go back to your desk with your tail between your legs, OR (B) laugh, make a joke along the lines of "I thought it was apple juice" and unabashedly pound two more glasses of champagne. I did (b), without the lame joke.

I fucking LOVE champagne, and I am not afraid to admit it. I especially like this one:

Thank God its Friday.

mr chen's restaurant review

:) You have much skill in expressing yourself to be effective. :)

WTF?

Daily Numbers 6 5 4
Lotto Six # ' s 6 41 27 31 37 4

Ah-hah.

Do all fortunte cookies thrive on stereotypes like these, or are there PC fortune cookies, do you think? If there are, I bet they're organic, too. Why do we have to put such jibberish on the fortune? "You have much skill in..." No one speaks like that. Why not, "You are very good at___?" or "You do ____ exceptionally well?" And how the fuck is this even a fortune? This is a compliment. This does not pretell anything. And for chrissakes, what's with the fucking smiley faces on each end of the hackneyed English* that we stereotype all Asian-Americans speaking like?

"Woah," Reader says. "I think you're taking the whole fortune thing a little too literally. As a matter of fact, Merriam-Websters On-line Dictionary says that a fortune cookie is

Main Entry: fortune cookie
Function: noun
: a thin cookie folded to contain a slip of paper on which is printed a fortune, proverb, or humorous statement

Fine. But that still doesn't explain why we need to put the stupid phrase in a dialect of English that no one speaks, except in Charlie Chan movies and Yan Can Cook.

OK, maybe your sensibilities aren't offended yet. So you turn over your fortune and get the days "winning" lotto numbers? Or is this supposed to be the fortune telling part and I just never really understood these cookies fully before? Scary thought. But back to the lotto thing for a sec... Do they get a cut? Why are they promoting sales of lottery tickets? Don't they know that there are actual people out there who will believe this fortune shit and will probably go out and spend money they shouldn't be spending on the nights big pick six? [Note: these are probably the same people who think Asian-Americans really do speak in jibberish]

Needless to say, Mr. Chen's Organic Chinese already has one strike against it, and I haven't even gotten to the food yet. Of course I eat the fortune cookie first, don't you?

We got the General Tso's Bean Curd and "Singapore style angel hair rice noodle combination - Vegetarian." Which was quite the mouthful to order. Good thing I have much skill in expressing myself to be effective. We also had the steamed veggie dumplings and veggie springrolls. I dunno what it is about those little fucking things (yes I do, they're deep fried), but I just can't resist spring rolls. They were not part of the menu we had settled on but once I got on the phone and was in the heat of ordering, I broke down and tacked on the extra order of springrolls. This was Prez Day, and I was ordering takeout for me, Partner (heretoafter referred to as "P," or maybe just Pee) and our pal Steff (who you may know from Mindy's Blog).

The food arrived just in time, I think Pee and I were pretty famished. Steff got hungry once the food got there. (Yes, you need to know these things). The General Tso's had one of those little chile peppers next to it on the menu, indicating it was "very hot." Bullshit. It tasted like sweet and sour with one dried red chile thrown in. Boring. And on top of that, "Bean curd" turned out to be nothing more than fried tofu. What is weird about this--and we three had a good long chat trying to get to the bottom of it, to no avail I might add--is that they had bean curd and tofu both on the menu. Indicating to me anyways that they were somehow different. Maybe like texture wise or something. Sure, you're calling me and idiot and saying that tofu IS bean curd. I'll give you that, but why put both fucking synonyms on the menu? Why doesn't the menu just say General Tso's Tofu? This makes just zero sense when you see the menu, too, because it is right next to something with Tofu in the name? Were they going for variety? WTF?!?! Another strike against Mr. Chen's. No, make that two more strikes against because in all honesty I was really bummed out about the lack of kick and boring flavor and the really really REALLY rubbery-spungy not at all exciting bean curd/tofu. The Singapore style noodles were fine, and the veggies were good. I'd get that again, maybe. I have this thing where if I am getting a bunch of Chinese food to share I like to make sure we get stuff with both noodle dishes and rice dishes. 'Cuz I like variety, don't get me wrong, just not when I am trying to figure out what the hell is the difference between tofu and bean curd.

The steamed dumplings were a bona fide hit though. And by golly, them spring rolls were mighty good eatin'. But these things should be good, they are simple friggin' app's. Seriously.

At the end of the day, I just cannot endorse Mr Chen's to someone. Especially not when I live one block away from the best Szechuan in the District. Really, you must check out the ma la menu at the Great Wall Szechuan House. The MF'ing bomb. Goddaaammmm GodDAMM makes my mouth water just thinkin' about it.

Oddly enough, I've never been put off by their fortune cookies either.

*ok ok ok... I get it is probably not a good thing to deride a stereotypically racist manner of speaking by saying hackneyed English, which I think comes from making fun of the way people from Hackney spoke the Queen's English. Well as Val Kilmer said in Tombstone, my hypocracy knows no bounds.

Weather Watch

New Segment here at Domestique! We're gonna track the weather of four cities around the country for the next month or so with en eye towards bikability. Being able to bike, which has the distinction of being both my preferred and only form of transportation, is going to be a factor in deciding what sort of climate I might be able to move to next. I am afraid this metric might severely hurt Minneapolis's chances, so let's just say it might be a factor in the decision, but by no means will it be the only one.

Without further ado...

Seattle, WA (98195)

Feb 18 Today

Mostly cloudy this morning with showers developing this afternoon. Snow levels above 2000 feet. High 47F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

Feb 18 Tonight

Showers this evening becoming a steady light rain overnight. Low 43F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

Feb 19 Tomorrow

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 49F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch.

Feb 19 Tomorrow night

Periods of rain. Low 42F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%.

BIKABILITY RATING: 19 spokes (out of 32, of course). Hmm, tough one to judge without seeing it in person... sorta windy, not too cold, and rainy. True, Seattle being rainy isn't exactly newsworthy. But look at those temps? 40s? Nice. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Verdict: if it ain't coming down too hard, its bikable, but not pleasurable. Might require travelling with a dry change of clothes. Minor inconvenience, but I'm still mobile.

Berkeley, CA (94720)

Feb 18 Today Mostly cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 63F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Feb 18 Tonight Mostly clear. Low 42F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Feb 19 Tomorrow Plentiful sunshine. High 64F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Feb 19 Tomorrow night A mostly clear sky. Low 41F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

BIKABILITY RATING:29.5 spokes. Beautiful biking weather, except that 20 mph-er. If its in your face going up those famed hills, my guess is it's pretty brutal. Temperature looks about perfect tho.

Minneapolis, MN (55414)

Feb 18 Today Sun and clouds mixed. High 21F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Feb 18 Tonight Mainly cloudy. Low 17F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Feb 19 Tomorrow Mostly cloudy. Turning warmer. High around 40F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Feb 19 Tomorrow night Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 22F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

BIKABILITY RATING:7 spokes. My guess is snow and ice still abound, and that is what is really driving the rating down here for me (I'd a "roadie" as they say, no mountain bike in my stable). I can bike in cold, maybe not the night time low type cold, but 20's and up are fine for me. But add in the wind, and damn, that shits pretty cold. Hard to motivate for morning rides, this weather pretty much confines one to commuting only. Anyone know the ins-n-outs of bringing a bike on the newfangled LRT out there in 'Sota (lookin' at you here, James)? Is it OK, do they shun it?

And lastly, we've got Washington, DC. I'm including this as a baseline comparison since I am now very familiar with winter biking in DC and which conditions allow for it and which don't (at least for me). And also, it's entirely possible I actually won't leave the District area, so it seems like it should be included here (even though I am tired of this post and really just want to be done now).

Washington, DC (20009)

Feb 18 Today Cloudy with rain and snow showers. Windy. Cold. High near 35F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of precip 30%. Feb 18 Tonight Some evening flurries with clearing conditions expected after midnight. Cold. Low 18F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Feb 19 Tomorrow Mainly sunny. High 37F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Feb 19 Tomorrow night Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 32F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.

BIKABILITY RATING: 16 spokes. It really sounds worse here than it really is outside. That said, we were recently hit by a nice snow and ice storm that has the roads a mess. The weather, otherwise, is fine (mas o menus, its still a little cold for my liking). But it's really the roads that are the problem here.

Weekly winner: Hands-down, its Berkeley. Berkeley could very well win every week, and it really isn't fair I suppose to compare these disparate climates. But then again, Berkeley isn't even an option yet, and probably won't become one.

Al Franken for MN Senate 2008

Well, I suppose since I am both Minnesotan and a political nerd, I should have something insightful to say about Al Franken running for Senate against slimy Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008. Sigh. I guess. But only because you've been begging me for it. What can I say, I am nothing if not responsive to the demands of my readers.

... Crickets chirping ...

Al Franken decided about two years ago he would run for Senate in Minnesota when he bought a house or condo or something in Minneapolis. (He is from St Louis Park originally.) He made it official yesterday. Apparently the Star Tribune doesn't consider him very credible... "Seriously, Franken's Running For Senate" is their headline of his announcement. Nice unbiased coverage, Strib. Waytago. Or maybe they are trying to make it sort of a play on words, since Franken's a comedian and all. Or was. Whatever.

God, I just couldn't care less about this. Would I vote for Al Franken? Maybe. Let's give the guy a year or so to see how he responds to the criticisms and the oppo-research and all the other shit they dig up about him and air liberally all over the media and talk-radio. My hunch is that he has said and done too much in his past that is too extreme to make him a viable candidate outside of Minneapolis. But, this is a state that voted for a former boa-wearing wrestler for Governor (for chrissakes), so who can really handicap things at this point? He sure beats the hell outta Mike Ciresi in my book. Who has done amazing things in taking down big tobacco, but seems more interested in buying himself a Senate seat and hearing himself talk than really doing anything, IMO. I'm sure he's a great person, don't get me wrong. I just have never found him particularly inspiring.

Smilin' Norm is going to be tough to beat. He is a giant douche, probably in my 5 least favorite senators,* and for all intents and purposes sucks at his job. But he is pretty good on TV. He is starting to make nice speeches about opposing escalation in Iraq (but one million bux says if there is ever a BINDING resolution in the Senate, he won't vote for it). And, most importantly, he's an incumbent. And Minnesota likes splitting its Senators between the parties. And if you think McCain is the '08 nominee (I do), then MN also has the leading Veep candidate on the GOP side as its sitting Gov, meaning GOPers up and down the ticket are going to get a lift in 08. Not to mention the lift with having the convention in the Twin Cities.

*Yes, I have lists of these sorts of things.

Meaning, I really don't know if Franken is a good candidate or a bad candidate or a credible candidate or what. I think Amy could have taken down Norm, but she's already in. Rybak (Minneapolis mayor) might have it in him. Coleman (St Paul mayor) doesn't. Tim Walz is reportedly not interested and is leaning towards supporting Franken since Al helped raise a shit can of money for him in his tight race. And I am not sure who that leaves. Mike Hatch? Puuhhhlease. This guy needs to be done running for stuff. Judi Dutcher? Her too. Not sure who that leaves, really, and like I said, Norm (that fucking douchey-douche-douche-douche) is going to be tough to beat. At this point, 18 months away from the election, all I can say is that Franken, by the fact that he'll have near unlimited resources, has as good a shot as anyone else.

2 for 2!

Great news for me, I just heard back from my second grad school, and I have been accepted to the University of Washington School of Public Health. Still waiting on those hippies out in Berkeley (don't they know I'm one of them!?!?), but I am just thrilled to have options now.

The choice as it now stands:
(a) U of MN
(b) U of WA
(c) Defer, enroll in culinary school
(d) Defer, become bike messenger
(e) Defer, continue working 9-5 office job

Leave your vote in the comments.