--It’s snowing like a snappin’-bastard outside.The schools are closed, the beer stores are undoubtedly doing a
turnaway business, and there will probably be an unusually high number
of local babies born in nine months.
Toney and the kids are home today, so it feels like the weekend.We (Toney) made a few England-related calls this morning,
including one to the hotel where we’ll be staying in London.She had a question about our reservation, and I requested she
also ask about wireless internet service.
The guy told us they offer it, but it’s nine pounds per day(!), with
no discounted weekly rate.“I
suggest,” he said, “that you use the internet café around the
corner.It costs fifty
pence, unlimited.”
So, I’ll be using the internet café around the corner.Nine pounds per day?!Holy
crap in a Bundt pan!
Toney also spoke with a person at AAA, about exchanging a little
American money for the British kind before we leave.I know we’ll be able to use ATMs and credit cards over there,
but would feel more comfortable arriving with some usable cash in our
pockets.Ya know?
She learned that if you exchange less than $500, you’re going to get
bent over the proverbial chesterfield.At that level they start waiving the outrageous prison-rape
fees.So, for $500 we’d
get approximately ₤245.And
that might take us through lunch on Day Two...
Maybe we should go for more than the minimum?I don’t know.I
like the idea of no fees, but don’t
like the idea of being robbery bait.I’ll let Toney decide… I’m not very good at making
decisions at this point; Harry Truman would be appalled at my serial
hemming, not to mention all the hawing.
And speaking of that…After
our incredible Five Guys lunch, Steve and I went to Best Buy
yesterday.I wanted to look at
their cameras, and actually hold the one I was thinking of buying in
my hand.
And guess what? I’ve
changed my mind.Yes, I
know it’s shocking, but also true.I’ve decided I don’t need a thousand dollars worth of
camera.I mean, I’m
mostly going to be taking pictures like this
one.Do I really need a National
Geographic set-up?Is it all that important to capture the detailed contour of
every riffle?Somehow I
doubt it.
Best Buy keeps that shit under high-security glass!And if I know myself, I’d just use it as a point and shoot
camera anyway.I’d just
stick a lens on there, set it to AUTO, and go.
So, as of this hour, I’m leaning toward this instead.No worries about lenses, no Japanese tourist gadget bags…And the cool part?It
would free up enough fundage that I could also order one of those big,
honkin’ 80 GB iPods.Yes,
I think it’s the way to go.
As of this hour.
At Best Buy I also intended to buy a CD by a band called Vampire
Weekend.The thing is
getting rave
reviews, and is on sale this week for $7.99.But the store was out of it, which is standard for that place.I’m not kidding, they rarely have sale items in stock.And it infuriates me.The
shit borders on bait-and-switch.
I asked an employee about it (very friendly and helpful, btw), and she
told me the Wilkes-Barrestore has two in stock.So I might take a ride down there tomorrow.(I’ve been wanting to visit Barnes & Noble next
door, anyway.)And if they
don’t have the Vampire Weekend, perhaps I’ll accidentally turn
over a refrigerator?
Steve and I have been exchanging Christmas gifts since we were little
kids.I can’t remember
how it started, but it’s never stopped.So, we gave each other Christmas presents yesterday, in late
February.This year he got
the My So-Called Life
box set, and a Smoking Fish cap.And
I received every episode of Monty
Python’s Flying Circus on
DVD.
Very cool!The only
downside?Within a week
the Secrets will be walking around the house reciting lines from the
show in a British accent, and I’ll be grinding my molars down to
dust.
And speaking of British accents, a couple of you suggested I watch a
show on the Travel Channel hosted by a hipster named Anthony Bourdain.An episode aired a few weeks ago in which he visited London, so I commanded our DVR to
record it.
Last night we watched it, and I thought it was interesting.However… the guy ate some of the most disgusting stuff I’ve
ever heard of.Like roasted
bone marrow, for god’s sake.Bone marrow!Seriously, it showed him sitting in a restaurant somewhere, and the
waiter brought two sections of femur, or somesuch, and he spread the
“filling” all over a biscuit, and gobbled it down.
I’m not exaggerating when I tell you I almost vomited straight into
my bowl of salted peanuts in the shell.
All through the show he ate garbage meat, the stuff that usually
(as far as I know) gets tossed into the inedible barrel.He had pig’s head soup, and they actually showed the head
being lowered into a pot of boiling water.Wonder if you receive a prize if you get an eyeball in your bowl?I don’t know.
It was intestines and scrotums and spinal cords, and I don’t even
know what, all throughout the program.At one point he ate something he called “blood bread,” which
had a fried egg on top of it, and my lower jaw retracted.I’m pretty certain it was a Twinkie soaked in slaughterhouse
drippin’s.
Toney couldn’t even watch it, and left the room.It was like an episode of Fear
Factor, but the dude kept
acting like he was in a state of culinary ecstasy.His eyes were rolling back in his head, and he kept moaning…I thought they might eventually have to call in a clean-up crew.Sweet Maria.
I liked the feel of the show, and the guy seems interesting, but if
it’s just him traveling the world eating stuff like pan-seared
anuses, you can count me out.Thank
you very much.
One final thing, before I call it a week here… Steve alerted me to a
long-awaited DVD announcement.Check
it out.I’ve been
lobbying for this news (inside my head) for a long, long time, and
I’m very excited.
What other neglected TV shows would you like to see come to DVD?Besides, of course, Get
A Life?Tell me about it, won’t you?
