Random thoughts
No new pictures, because the camera's broke. Liz's camera finally died, and now it only takes black pictures. Useful if you want a picture of the dark, but otherwise not so much. So what does that mean to you, dear reader? No pictures of the nice new bed that was delivered on Tuesday.

I'm beginning to realize how utterly spoiled we were in Syracuse with the Central New York Regional Market. I've been trying to find an equivalent in South Florida, and so far I've come up empty-handed. This morning, I went to what looked like the most promising one in the area, the Pompano Beach Green Market. Not even close. There were about a dozen booths, almost none of which were actually selling produce. Worse yet, there was a terrible Southern rock band playing. The guitarist had a rebel flag guitar. So, apparently there are parts of South Florida which are the Southern United States. Not where I live and work, though. Perhaps it's too early in the season. Perhaps I turned up too late. I will try again later in the season.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I went down the street to the CD Collector. It was a decent used store, but nothing like the Sound Garden, the legendary Syracuse (and Baltimore) CD store. However, I had better luck at the fish store. I picked myself up a nice piece of tuna for dinner and made some mental notes (Conch fritters, conch chowder, lobster bisque... these could be potentially useful...).

I also stopped at the British Depot and picked up some frozen British foodstuffs. So, perhaps a Piccadilly Steak & Kidney Pie review soon... I also stopped by CD Heaven while I was in the neighborhood. Again, a decent used store. What was more interesting about the CD Heaven trip was one of the customers. When I walked in, there was a guy on a cell phone looking through the recent arrivals bin. He kept telling the person on the phone, "No, he's busy. He's got headphones on." After a couple minutes of this, he tapped the guy at the listening station on the shoulder and told him he needed to "talk to her." Listening Station Guy then proceeds to have a five-minute argument with someone he later described as this "crazy Israeli woman I've been with four years." The conversation mostly revolved around her screaming and carrying on and why should Listening Station Guy have to try to have a conversation with her while she's "acting like a maniac." The conversation ended with him saying that he "whished [she] had someplace to go too, so [he] wouldn't have to deal with [her] anymore" and that if she did have somewhere to go he would "drop her off there."

Crazy.

Following this, I decided to go home via US-1, so I could stop by the CD Warehouse on Sunrise Blvd. So far, this is the best used place I've found. The two times I've been in, I've found loads of stuff that I actually want to pick up, although I've resisted much of it. The Fugazi discs I passed up in the new arrivals a couple of weeks ago are now gone (I bought two of the four they had). What they don't have is a great new selection. This is where I think I'm going to miss the Sound Garden. For all the stuff they don't carry that I complain about (much of Frank Zappa's catalog, some of the weirdo stuff that I end up buying at Other Music when I'm in NYC), they have a mostly excellent selection of new discs (especially new releases) and very good prices. I just don't think I'm going to find that here. I think I'm going to have to frequent several stores that specialize in particular genres, rather than the one-stop shop approach I've been used to.

But I have not spent all of my time shopping. Last night, I got in some drinking. I met up with a couple guys from work and another guy who doesn't work there anymore for some rum & cokes and political discussion. And bad karaoke. Really bad karaoke. Except for the metalhead looking longhair guy who sang Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." That guy could actually sing.

Tonight's dinner was seared tuna with a cilantro-lime Madeira sauce. On a bed of greens. With roasted asparagus. It turned out reasonably well, especially for my having had to use a nonstick pan. The rest of the week had been mostly burritos. Mahi-mahi the last couple of days. Chorizo before that.

Speaking of food, the Lexis holiday luncheon was this week. It was at the Capital Grille, which I get the feeling would normally be out of my price range. I had a lovely meal of seriously rare filet mignon, spaghetti squash and mashed potatoes. When I ordered the steak rare, I got the warning that it would be cold and red in the middle. Perfect. I think some of the other people at the table thought it was a mistake. Hell, no, that was some serious beef. Dinner was leftover pizza from the previous night's takeout from Mauro's Pizza By The Slice, a rather decent New York style pizza shop down Hollywood Blvd. The slice/extra large pies are 26 inches. $16 for a plain, which is pretty cheap. As it was, I got three meals out of the medium (18 inches/$12) I bought on Tuesday.

I could really go for a coffee. Particularly a nice cup of espresso. I think I'm going to go see if that gelato cafe place is still open.
- posted by Johnny B @ 8:51 PM