Shoulda kept my mouth shut

Second time today that I probably should have kept my mouth shut. Really should have kept it shut this time, though.

We were walking home after dinner and passed a young woman leaning against a car. She seemed very annoyed, banging her umbrella against the car while she leaned on it or pulling the handle of the umbrella in and out.

Shortly after we passed her I realized I'd left my umbrella at the restaurant, so we turned around and went back.

When we passed by the same way again, the young woman was still leaning against the car, banging her umbrella against it. It seemed like the kind of thing someone would do if they were upset, so I opened my big mouth and said, "are you okay?" She mumbled something and I tried to explain that I wanted to make sure she wasn't stranded or something but all that I managed to say was that since we'd walked by twice and she was still there I was worried.

She mumbled something else and looked the other way, so we kept going. Jeff then told me that what he heard her say was, "It's my car. I'm allowed to be here."

Dude! It was dark. I thought she looked young, maybe not even old enough to drive. She could have been stranded and forgotten her phone. She could have lost her car keys and forgotten her phone. Who knows!

I was only offering to help, although really what could I have done? Nothing probably. I shoulda kept my mouth shut and minded my own business.

Littering is still littering

As Jeff and I walked down Newark Ave., we passed a man who was tossing a paper coffee cup into the street. "That's not cool!!" I said to Jeff. Jeff, knowing me a little too well, warned, "okay, don't start anything..."

But I was too enraged. "Hey, that's not the trashcan!" I called out to him, just as he was entering a store.

He looked back in surprise. "Well... uh..." he stammered. "It wasn't my cup! These people! They leave their trash in front of my store!"

I immediately backed down and said, "Sorry! Sorry! I thought it was yours."

If only I'd had 10 more seconds to collect my thoughts, though, because no, he was not at all justified, even if Newark Ave. does seem to be a trash magnet and it must be frustrating having a business there. I should have replied, "As unpleasant as it may be, when I find litter in front of my building, I pick it up and put it in the TRASH, not in the street."

Instead I ranted at poor Jeff the whole rest of our walk. "Hey wait," I said to him. "Why did you tell me not to start anything? Do I embarrass you?" He said that no, he was afraid I might get into a confrontation I didn't want to be in. I do admit that I felt a little more ballsy about yelling at a man with Jeff by my side.

(Business starts with a B and is between Coles and Jersey.)

Remembering with food

A sizable little crowd came over on Memorial Day, including four kids and a dog. The following items were grilled: hotdogs, veggie dogs of various flavors, Bratwursts, veggie patties of various flavors, turkey burger sliders and hamburger sliders, corn on the cob, onion slices, sauerkraut (on a piece of tin foil).

I decided to do sliders because the problem at BBQs is often that I want to try different things, but one burger fills me all the way up. My dad advised cooking them over a high flame (not that we are skilled enough in the grilling arts to control the flame or the height thereof), but I attempted to follow his advice.

My mom advised adding to the turkey burgers: mayo, finely chopped onion, and herbs. I added oregano and parsley flakes. She warned me that turkey burgers are bland, but I have to say that with her additions, they were delicious. Cheddar cheese and mustard help, too.

Our guests seemed impressed by the fact that I had made the burgers "by hand," ie, not bought the pre-formed disks. My dad makes the best burgers, hands down, and he makes them by hand, so I feel that is the only way to go if you're serious about burgers. To the hamburgers, he adds Worsestershire (or however you spell it), lemon juice, salt and pepper. I forgot the lemon juice this time, but it is a good thing to add.

We were a wee bit pressed for time before this party, as we often are before our parties, so some things got left by the wayside that we should have done, such as cutting up a pineapple and cutting the grass. I hope no one got any ticks or anything.

New Jersey love/hate

Things I love about New Jersey:
-Jeff
-the kitschy boardwalks
-Jersey City
-my in-laws
-my in-laws' pool
-my in-laws' snack pantry
-the beauty of the refineries, especially at night
-how easy it is to get to EWR from Penn station
-that the smoking ban was passed several years ago
-the Italian food (both made by my extended family and in restaurants)
-that anti-pasto is a staple at every gathering of more than 4 people (maybe that's just my extended family and not all of NJ, though)
-that you can buy liquor in the grocery store

Things I hate about New Jersey:
-the way you have to turn right to turn left and vice versa
-all the mall traffic
-the PATH train
-Bergen county being closed on Sundays
-having to pay to go to the beach and it still being really crowded
-only being allowed to put my first and last name on my drivers' license
-the stench of the refineries
-that a taxi from EWR to home costs $35, even though it's only a 15 minute drive
-the St. Patrick's Day parade in Hoboken

And last, but not at all least, I hate its horrible reputation. Don't knock it until you've tried it!

I reserve the right to add to this list.

Cheap tastes good

Sandwiches are ridiculously expensive in NYC. Even a simple turkey, Swiss, lettuce and tomato on a roll costs at least $6. At my company cafeteria, I can get the same for $3.50, but the rolls are always stale. I cannot enjoy this favorite sandwich of mine unless the roll is soft and squishy.

I was getting this sandwich several times a week from a deli near work and paying the approximately $6 price (it varied, depending on who made the sandwich).

And then one day, when walking home from the train in Jersey City, I stopped like I always do to give change to the homeless guy who stands in front of the Paradise Deli. (Jeff and I are his "favorite couple!!" or as we like to refer to us after we pass him, the people putting his son through college, most likely.

It was a particularly cold night and he asked for a sandwich, so I thought what the hell. "Turkey and cheese, please!" he said as I went inside. (He's the nicest homeless guy I have ever met.)

I watched the guy behind the counter pick out a nice squishy roll and slice some Boar's Head turkey. All the meats and salads were wrapped in plastic. I tried not to think about why they must be carefully wrapped, but wrapped they are.

The sandwich rung up at $3.50. Bargain! I took it to the homeless guy who thanked me profusely. I said, "that's my favorite sandwich, too" as I handed it to him. "Really??," he said, "turkey and cheese??" It then dawned on me that he probably prefers American cheese, not the Swiss that I selected for him, but oh well. Free is free, buddy.

And from that day on, I have been stopping at Paradise Deli a few mornings a week and picking up a turkey and Swiss to bring to work. I skip the tomatoes so that it won't get soggy. I look forward to it all morning and as soon as it's noon, I can't wait any longer. It's a damn good sandwich. And no, not just because it's cheap.

All full

I'm still figuring out how to get everything switched over to my new host. It doesn't help that Cyberpixels is totally unresponsive. I made the massively stupid mistake of not backing up before making the switch. My new host is saying, "It's easy! Just get your old host to switch your domain over." Um yeah, you don't know my old host. So, in the meantime, I still have this space, which all of like 3 people read. But oh well.

We made some headway on the apartment this weekend. I emptied 2 boxes of books because we realized that not finishing unpacking before the holidays due to some theoretical plans to paint was unreasonble. But there are still a good many more books. And that was after listing a bunch of them on Bookmooch and putting a good many into bags for Goodwill also.

It is so outrageous at this point that we aren't completely unpacked. It's embarressing, actually. But we have reached a point where there are no more obvious places for things to go. In the old place, my desk was in the middle room and next to it was a table, so piled on the table was all the extra stuff that didn't fit in my desk. Not the ideal situation, for sure, but with no table next to my desk, where does all that stuff now go?? And no, getting rid of it is not an option. And putting it downstairs in storage is pointless. Why store desk supplies in the basement? That stuff needs to be accessable. I think I do need to be more ruthless about what can be stored downstairs, however.

My old bedside table is next to my desk and it is still filled with the same junk that is has been filled with since I got it in 1999. It's the general repository for small things. But it has three drawers and perhaps some of that stuff can be consolidated and some desk stuff can go in it. I must be ruthless!

On Saturday we went to New Hope, PA, and Lambertville, NJ, for an early anniversary trip. They are both cute little towns, separated only by the Delaware River. We parked on the Lambertville side, walked around there for a little while, and then walked across the bridge to New Hope, walked around there a little while and then ate dinner. A coworker had said that Lambertville is better, but I didn't believe him. I had to eat crow this morning and admit that he was right. New Hope is mostly kitschy shops, while Lambertville is still an artsy town. Short trips like that are great because they are so inexpensive and there is very little travel time involved and certainly no cancelled flights. And we can bring liquids back with us! I decree that there will be more local trips in the future.