Tara aka baby girl is a TPVA superstar

The Last Round Up -2009 BBQ Block Party

These will most likely be the last pictures I took with my old Chocolate phone to ever be posted, I took these about a month ago at the Block Party. The lines were insane. There were a good number of vendors, but not that much variety; chicken, ribs, brisket, pulled pork and sausage. There could have been other choices. I saw a few people I knew Andy from Atlas Meats, Big Lou, and Doug From Grub Hut. It was fun. The lines where brutal. I will try to get a fast pass next time.

Five Guy's Burger

Here is a picture of a Five Guy's Burger. For some reason they don't let pictures be taken in their restaurants. I asked about it.



Man, oh, man do I like a Five Guy's Burger. For a chain they make a nice burger. Oh, yeah I put french fries on my burgers. I believe this was with grilled onions, pickles, ketchup, bbq sauce, and hot sauce. Their hot sauce. Not so hot. So, I added a little sriracha.

Picadita

Despite the breakfast dim sum feast. I got hungry again. Headed out to Cocoyoc. Last post I neglected to give the address 211 Wyckoff. I got something called a picadita. I don't think I've had one before. It's a crispy tortilla with crema and cheese with toppings. They provided red and green salsa. Both are tasty. The red seemed more spicy. Now I'm stuffed. I think I'm going burrito next time. Sorry for non-epic nature of the pictures. It's a bit dark in there, and my hands were shaky.

88 Palace

Went to 88 palace today. Right under the Manhattan Bridge. Used to be known as 888 palace, or triple eights. Used to go here a lot, but last two times I was pretty unhappy. Cold uninspired food with no variety and little or no unusual choices. This time I was happy happy. A dish I had never seen before. Not sure what it was called, but it was a spicy taro dish with red peppers. Yummy. Almost everything was hot and fresh. I'm sure it's hard to keep bringing out fresh things. They have to try to sell through on items, because dim sum can't be reheated as far as I know. Carts end up coming around multiple time with the same items. Things can become cold, or badly over steamed. I was impressed by change from my last visit. It will not be so long until I return. I hope they can maintain this level of quality.











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SkipDR Classic part 2

I ran it again. The right way. The disc loaded and played fine. I ejected it and it wouldn't read again. I tried the SkipDR again it it still doesn't read. I don't know what to think.

SkipDR Classic

If you're anything like me you don't read directions. I'll figure it out. How hard can it be? Sometimes I'll skim them. Just to get the gist of it. This can be a real problem. I have made many mistakes on this because of this. When I started to work with the SkipDR I did look at the directions. Just not very close. So I was using it completely wrong. Now the disc is playing. So I recommend that you read the directions. I'm going to try another disc. I have a lot of scratched disca.

PS My old man took me to Harold's in Edison NJ for lunch today as a reward for helping him around the house. Very cool. The decor seemed ever so slightly schlocky, but it could just be me. They give a ton of food. Perhaps too much. But since they expect sharing it probably works out in the end. We ordered two sandwiches which would be a bagel platter in most places. You get three baels. I got nova. He got baked salmon. We shared. Then we got a plate of rugelach. Very good. For ninety dollars we had a huge meal. Depending on where you went in the city it probably would have been a lot more. Didn't take any pictures.

photo round up part five

Still working to burn off the last of the old phones pictures. Here are some pictures from Dumpling Man. Compared to Chinatown prices they are very expensive, but seem to be the same as tkettle. I really enjoyed them, and would go back.

Operation get of my fat ass

Wasn't feeling well again. Thought I was coming down with strep. Doctor didn't think they saw anything. Told me to come back if I was still feeling sick. Great. Weighed me. Not good. Blood pressure was ok. Decided I should try to be more active so I walked over to Grand & Remsen diner. Ok Greek Diner. I got the chicken souvlaki. It was a mile walk both was. Got a good sweat on.




Here is one random picture of local color. I've seen these in all the boroughs I've been in except Manhattan. I'm not sure when they're from.

Diner, dessert and a rain storm

Taqueria Cocoyoc Corporation

This afternoon I went to my favorite neighborhood taqueria. It was a bit dark there so the picture of the food is hard to make out. Man, oh man is it tasty stuff. It's a tiny little place. Although it has a small backyard area. On the way there the weather was fine, but on the way back. It was really bucketing.

After the tacos I went to the Calibella Backery and got some pasteries. They were yummy too. One of them was supposed to have cheese in it, but I couldn't detect any. It was doughy and chewy. The other had guava in it and was not too sweet. Just the way I like it. Too sweet and you lose the distinct fruit flavor.

A follow up to my iphone comments. one problem I've noticed with the AT&T service is that it has really problems acquiring a signal indoors. When I was at the resturant today I could not open a website. I had to walk outside to get a signal. I have had this problem on several occasions. It's very much like my experience in the late 90's with cell phones. You would have to get close to a window to make a call if you were in a building. Weak.

photo round up part four

Crif Dogs. Can't really complain. A good dog at the right price. I still prefer a well done dog from Katz's, but Crif Dog's more than satisfied the hot dog craving. I will be back.

more co-worker photo's

Here are some pictures of Donna. Man, my hands are shaky.




Ok, so I've had the iphone 3gs for a little while, and for the most part I love it, but there are some problems. The AT&T internet for the phone is much slower than my Verizon mobile broadband, about half the speed. While they support streaming audio like Last.FM I have found that trying to listen while walking around Jamaica and Hempstead you end up buffering as much as listening. The network is just too slow. It's not so bad for browsing, but You Tube videos load slowly. Check your watch slow. One application at a time is a drag. The iphone 3gs is not a mini computer. It is many things, but it is not a replacement for a laptop. The lack of flash is a major disappointment. Today I had my first major problem. I was trying to listen to Last.FM, and the screen went black, and an apple icon appeared. I put the phone in my pocket and ignored it for a few minutes. Later I pulled it out, and a few of my icons had gotten corrupted. I unsynchronized and resynchronized all my apps. I had to reenter my information which took more time then I wanted to spend. But things seem ok now. It appears to be related to some 3.0 firmware problem according to the Apple site posts I read. They believe the new 3.01 update will fix it. Hopefully it won't happen again. I love my iphone. Don't get my wrong. I do recommend it. But it is not a mini computer, and the closed nature of it sucks. There is no reason to make people have to use the app store. I can load any software on my Macbook that works with the OS. This is the way it should be.