In case you have a really gud spam filter

Here are some qwali-tay emails near the top of my inbox. Subject: 'Lobster Celebration TakeOut the Whole Family.' Some female named Becky Machine wrote me about 'nawogewe.' There are however, possibly more practical emails like 'Mastering the Slot Machines' and the one about 'The Insider Secrets on how to Hypnotize Yourself and your Peers Within Minutes.' No emails today about male physiology and Viagra-themed products. But there's a mysterious note from Mihai Campy about 'llavyksk.' I bet Mihai Campy is really Becky Machine. They should change their name to Becky Campinmymachine.

The Hot List 2008

Who am I to be making my own hot list? Dare not doubt my tastemaking ability, dear reader, these ramblings amount to hot hot heat. Get a stack of tortillas ready.

Man, oh hot
Nicole Kidman, purple, H&M, Megan Fox, Michelle Obama, the American Voter, cursive writing, beer, corduroy, Kanye, K-os, being simple, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, anyone who's appeared in or worked on 'Deadwood', Disney World, really being green, the Post Office, service with a smile, mojo, Brad Pitt, any Hispanic leading male (Gael Garcia Bernal, etc.), any Hispanic leading female, John C. Reilly, magazines, Meijer and its hometown of Grand Rapids, chef'ing, Warren Buffett, cigars, Breil and Zenith watches, grey underwear and tube socks, Fluevogs, pork chops, salad, ibuprofen, pizza by the slice, water, French music, Rosetta Stone language tapes, blogging,imaginary friends and stupid little inanimate I've-been-there-see-I'm-in-a-photo traveling friends, house music all night long.

Aisle be late

...because I stopped at the grocery store for a bunch of things on a gi-massive list. Here's the kicker, list includes some like 50 items, guest-starring; Blackeyed Peas, Buckwheat Noodles, Wheat Sticks, Ground Cardamom, Ground Cloves and Collard Greens.

I pooched the canned collard greens and instead grabbed mustard greens. Wrong. Plus I guess for this Pasta Out of Africa recipe, we needed fresh ones (I got em a couple days later). Cardamom is mucho expensivo - I think the little jar was 7 bucks. After finding dry blackeyed peas, I later spy canned ones...there goes the dry ones...I may have actually circuitously backtracked enough to put them back in their proper place. Nothing beats three hours down at the Meijer (I stopped at the in-store Starbucks and did also try to peep some ridiculously cheap khakis, no proper inseem size I'm afraid to say dear reader). I could have watched Saving Private Ryan including all the commercials. Great movie. At least the frozen shrimp didn't melt. A deli counter stop would have pushed me over the edge.

Aisle be late EXTRA: So after my Chipotle work lunch one day, I decide to get a 'few quick things' at the Dominicks...Ibuprofen, a greeting card, toothpaste and TIN FOIL. Where the hell is IT? Nothing beats looking around for tin foil. or sandwich bags. or wheat sticks. Aaaaaaah, s'aright, work didn't miss me anyway, plus, the toothpaste was a buy-2-save a buck-40 deal. But as it turns out, we had a spankin' new tube of mouth paste under the sink. I thought I used the tube up really fast because of extra brushing related to said new job (see below post...apparently that was just in my head. I'm gonna go eat some mustard greens and floss now).

Gone, baby, gone

...but now I'm back. All it means is that I did indeed land some meaningful full-time work. The start of a new work enterprise invariably means a wrenching of the lunch diet. Yes, I am talking about A Lot of McDonald's Taken to go and Eaten in the Confines of My Car. In fact, here's a gastronomic breakdown of work week 1 and 2 lunch hours:

Friday (day 1) Employer-sponsored free lunch! (Corner Bakery)
Monday - McDonald's (Big N Tasty #4 meal) + Starbucks redeye
Tuesday - McDonald's (dbl cheese and fries - yesterday's leftover Sprite still cold and bubbly aww yeaaaaaah (lunch=$2.24!) + Starbucks Redeye
Wednesday - Wendy's (ckn homestyle meal) + Dunk Donuts coffee
Thursday - Chipotle (burr bol carnitas) + Starbucks coffee
Friday - Employer-sponsored free lunch! (Egg Harbor)
Monday - McDonald's (Big N Tasty #4) + Nordstrom's Cafe coffee
Tuesday - McDonald's (ckn club meal) *Employer knowing that I am coffee fiend purchases new c-maker and coffee supply = drinking office coffee
Wednesday - Chipotle (salad carnitas) + office cofee
Thursday - McDonald's (nuggets 10-piece ml) + Starbucks coffee
Friday - Employer-sponsored free lunch! (Lou Malnati's) + office coffee

What have we learned? I like cofee, carnitas, Big N Tasty meals (the cheapest ones) and more coffee.

BONUS: I work near McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook...the fries have been damn hot every single time at the Oak Brook and Hinsdale Mickey D's. I'm lovin' it.