You Can Has Cheezeburger

Portland has a fantastic food cart scene. Lots of little shacks, like the Brunch Box, that throw down with some delicious eats at very reasonable costs. I had read a bit about this in the New York Times Frugal Traveler article on Portland. During our visit we hit up a bunch of these places for serious gut busting meals.

The Brunch Box is famous (in my mind) for the YouCanHasCheezeburger. Its name is derived from www.icanhascheezeburger.com and it is a cheeseburger, minus the bun, plus two grilled cheese sandwiches. The eating experience was sublime. The thick pieces of toast, covered in butter and grilled with processed cheese gave way effortlessly to the 1/3 pound burger. It was almost difficult to taste the meat through all of the greasy, fatty, cheesy goodness.

With each bite I do admit to have felt arterial clogging, but I have faith in science to overcome this. The next day we went to a Mexican cart where they made burritos the size of artillery shells. Someday, when I have made enough money to ensure the next generations have a bright future, I may just need to retire to Portland where I can stroll the downtown hunting for inexpensive food and eat myself to death.

Meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Made it through Atlantic City this time around. First time in a long time I've been there and the weather was good. Usually I go to the beach house in the dead of winter, to do my best to kick the depression up to eleven. Living in the tropics has made me soft, I know.

Didn't quite realize the Guardian Angels were still roaming the streets, keeping us safe. Felt like I had somehow stumbled into 1978 when I saw them. I mean, seriously-- vigilantes on the streets of Atlantic City? Would have made Bruce proud.

Now there is a big building project, it'll be the tallest building in the state. Four huge cranes are towering over the boardwalk and ocean below. It's been bought by Chinese investors, because the locals all went broke.

Yankees Win, Shanghai Visit, and Other Thoughts

We had a big weekend. Stayed in Shanghai on the Bund, spent a lot of time in the French Concession and saw lots of friends. A brief recap for those of you scoring at home:

-Saw the traveling Salvadore Dali exhibit at the Shanghai Museum of Art. Mostly his later commercial works: illustrations for books, ideas for theater costume designs, his work on Spellbound with Hitchcock. Not terribly awesome. The Shanghai Museum of Art also failed miserably in designing the layout of what is probably the biggest exhibit its had. Rather than dedicating sufficient space to the works, they were all cramped together on the first floor, while floors 2-5 remained sparsely filled with Chinese propoganda art and caligraphy. Not impressed.

-Woke up early on Saturday hoping to catch the last few innings of the Yankees' game. Ended up watching for close to 5 hours. Great work by the best team in baseball all weekend.

-Spent most of Saturday afternoon at the Boxing Cat Brewery, where they actively encourage over-drinking and barfing. We witnessed more than a few expulsions of semi-digested alcohol during the Canadian/German attempt at the 12 rounds. Fairly gross. I feel bad for the waitress who got partially barfed on. Yikes.

-Saturday night we ended up at a fancy pants bar called Glamour that was on the Bund. Saw some Middlebury people, Sophia's coworkers, and our good friend Micah. Numerous 1951 martinis were consumed. Gin was spilt on the wrist, evaporation stances were employed, and my words were filled with passion, my olives filled with anchovies. Strong evening.

Time behind the firewall

I've been spending a lot of time up in the Hangzhou/Shanghai area, where Blogspot is blocked. As I am too lazy to find ways around the Great Firewall, there are no postings on facebook, twitter, or blogspot during these trips. I actually just concentrate on work (yikes).

Last week saw the following facts and figures:

-6+ minute solar eclipse watched from the top floor of our factory.
-4 hours of Guitar Hero, with the Metallica edition especially enjoyable.
-0 trips to Hooters, a terrible mismanagement of time on the part of all involved.
-2 hotel rooms and 1 guest bedroom dominated by my sleep.
-1 flight canceled so I could drive 2 hours, have a 15 minute meeting, then drive 2 hours back to Shanghai.
-45 seconds of a new Baron Davis viral video clip being put together by a company I visited.
-3 new production lines in the planning stages.

and my favorite of the week:

-44 arrests in New Jersey for corruption, money laundering, and all those other things that give the Garden State a good name.

Finally, if you haven't seen the Onion in its new, Chinese State-Owned Enterprise form, you haven't really been living.

Mid-Summer Despair

No long weekends on the calendar until October. Farewell white sand, thatched umbrellas, and clear waters. We'll meet again.

Unhappy Cab Driver

"Please turn off the god-damned flash."

Big Sky

Up above Sun Valley, Idaho; clouds bigger than New Jersey.