Pardon our dust

So I'm trying to tweak this blog with zero, and I mean, zero, HTML experience. It may very well end in disaster. Thanks, HJ, for the consult. It's gotten me started. In the meantime, please be patient if things look maladjusted for awhile, or until I run out of patience with the attempt. In the meantime, here's a shot of us under the "Bean" from Friday's day in the city:

I like that my block head is hidden by my iPhone. Thank you, weird sculpture/fun house mirror, for not making my head look freakishly large.

By the way, any of you with any kind of further HTML skills and would like to do a consult on the potential blog overhaul, I welcome the feedback.

Obsessing

Isn't amazing what our senses can recall? With our hearing, the first few notes of a song can throw you right back into high school. And that can be good or bad. The sense of taste evokes mountains of memories for me. For instance, in 1998, I had dinner in the cellar of a winery in Napa Valley and to this day, I can still taste the cream of fennel soup I had that night. Every time I have fennel, I drift back to that dinner and that amazing soup. I obsess more of the sense of taste than anything else. It can be paralyzing. It's happening right now. To me. You see, I happen to really like these:

The Flapjack. The English Flapjack.

I first got hold of these devils on a British Airways flight a few years ago and pretty much cleaned out the entire "larder." I love them. They could not be easier to make. Unfortunately, I need this to make them:

Golden Syrup. Doesn't need to be Lyles. But I need me some Golden Syrup.

I have looked high and low here and can't find it. I came thisclose to jumping a flight to London a few weekends ago to get the stuff. That's how gripping this current obsession is. So, foodies, if you know where to get this stuff, let me know. HELP ME!

Filthy rumor has it that one of the Whole Foods in the city might carry it. My mother-in-law is in town and we are going to take her into the city, so here's hoping I can swing by one of those stores and they'll have it. That would make me extremely happy.

Meet n'Greet with a State Trooper

So I had myself a little meet n'greet with a State Trooper earlier this afternoon. Turns out that this:
texting while driving

is, in fact, against the law. Turns out they weren't kidding when the law went into effect earlier this year. I was minding my own business, hurtling down the I88, getting more and more annoyed by texts coming in from the Help Desk at work. They were pestering about an issue that wasn't mine. I was texting the dope back, telling him to leave me be as I was in my car, when I looked to my right to see the State Trooper right alongside me. On went the flashing red lights and within seconds, I was pulled over, getting this:


Ah, good times. First words out of the officer's mouth: "Sir, do you know why I pulled you over?" Seriously, what was I going to say. In the seat next to me, in open view, were two devices, my Blackberry and my iPhone. I would do myself absolutely no favors in saying that I had no idea. So I copped to it, saying, "Yep, I know. Does it help that I was telling the guy to stop texting me because I was driving?" Based on the Trooper's stony facade, no, no it did not help. So off he went back to his car to write me up. He took his sa-weet time to write up the ticket. While he was doing that, I have to tell you my mind drifted to the scene from "The Blues Brothers" wherein Jake and Elwood evade the State Troopers in my fine state in an epic chase through a mall. For just one second, or maybe two, I wondered what it would be like if I suddenly pealed off. Ridiculous is what it would be. Simply ridiculous. I mean I just don't think the Avalon could take on a mall the way the Troopers did in the movie.

No mall chase for me. I'll just pay my fine and hope it doesn't hit my insurance. So listen up, kids, no texting while you drive!

There are no words

It's been said that a picture says a thousand words. Sometimes there are pictures that are worth something like ten thousand words that leave you speechless. For example:

Really. There.Are.No.Words. Except to thank Awkward Family Photos for running an 80's photo contest and for landing this one in the Top Five. The site is pure genius.

What to say about the picture? Leaning against a Dodge K Car. Wow. Is the Olivia Newton-John "Physical" wanna-be the girl from "The Love Boat"? And where to start with the he-she on the end? That's where there really are no words. Thoughts?