It all has to come together in the same day, so I can't really talk about it.  Gimme a week.

I'll still update here in the meantime.  Until then, get on Yelp (see the previous post).  Add me as a friend, and read my reviews.

Thats kind of a preview.  (And a clue.)

My Yelp Profile

But when everyone caught on, it started to just make everyone else become aware of not breast cancer in general, but your breasts specifically.  (Especially those of you who posted ‘None.’)

Now I’ve been seeing a number followed by ‘inches’.  Cute… the size of your feet. 

And how about the position one?  “On Top”; “In back”; or “To the side”.  Hmmmm…  how you wear your hair.

This is all ridiculously suggestive, and what I consider akin to people who post status’ like ‘Just is’, or ‘Pissed’, or ‘Grrr!!!’.  It all just feels like a plea for attention. 

By all means tell the story why you fell a certain way.  If you don’t know why… well, they have drugs for that.  I see the commercials all the time.

(I know this is going to piss off some friends of mine.  Sorry, it's how I feel about these posts.)

Kids need to go out.  They need to experience the world through their parent’s tutelage.  We have ignorant adults throughout the United States because we have lazy parents.  Want a new nature vs. nurture argument?  Ignorant is environnemental. Stupid is genetic.

I have realized the main problem, but I want it to be clear that I have never blamed a snotty little brat for being the problem.  It’s always the parent’s fault. 

I make my dinner reservations for 7:00 PM or later.  I catch the second to last showing of a movie at a theatre.  I’m in my mid-thirties, and I go out later than those in their 50's do, and later than children want to.

Midday and early evening is family outing time.  Past 7:00 PM is family home time.  I’m not asking parents to never go out past 7:00, just get a baby sitter if you do.  Don’t force your kids to go out when they don’t want to, they’ll start preferring not to go out at all because they’ll associate it with a burdensome, tiring event rather than a fun experience.

Lets face it, if I was out for dinner at 5:00 PM, I would expect families to be out, and with that, some extra kid generated noise.  8:00 PM though, I expect to see only adults.

Leaving the theatre at around 10:00 PM a couple weeks ago after seeing Sherlock Holmes, I watched someone walking into the theatre carrying a baby.  AT 10:00 PM, WALKIN IN... CARRYING A BABY.

STOP THIS!!!  It’s wrong on so many counts I’d just get frustrated and pissed off listing them all.  You MUST know this isn’t right, good, and optimal…  FOR ANYONE!!  You, the kids, me, and all the other patrons who want to go out at later hours don’t need the bother of your tired, fussy, noisy and belligerent little kid.  They are tired or hungry... or both, and they are acting out either because of that, or because they don't respect you to the point they know they can get away with it... or both.

Namely: know your manners.

Yes it is rude to wear too much cologne, and at times (unless you are allergic to it), it could be considered rude not to wear any.  If you should be making an effort to impress, like when on a date, not wearing cologne could send the message that you just don’t care.

So what’s the rule?

If you are wearing cologne, it should be immediately noticeable to you and only those whom with you are sharing an intimate space.  Basically only the people you hug.  If someone can smell your cologne from even a handshake away, you are wearing too much.

So how much is that? How do you get the right amount out of the bottle?

Spray (or drop) enough onto one wrist that it can be wiped onto the other and still wet enough to wipe both sides of your neck just under and behind your jawbone (at the TMJ). 

This may be one or two spays depending on the bottle, almost never three.

Only apply cologne to your skin, not your clothes.  Your cologne is supposed to mix with your body chemistry and enhance your scent.  It is supposed to smell different on you than it does on other people.  Remember that scent is the closest sense tied to memory.  You don’t want to smell like anyone in someone’s history.  That’s a gamble you don’t want.  Let the cologne from you be distinct.  That way you can develop your own memorable moments.

749 N Sierra Nevada St
Stockton, CA 95205

This place has an incredible track record on Yelp, so I tried it.

After looking through the grocery section for a bit, Amazing found ‘Muffaletta Mix’, something she remembers from her time in New Orleans, and asked if they make a Muffaletta sandwich.  First the answer was yes (because I think the people behind the counter say yes to everything, and then decide to understand what you asked), then the answer was no when she ordered it.  We asked if we bought the jar, would they make a Muffaletta sandwich, and she said yes.  I was pretty sure the lady behind the counter had no idea what she answered yes to, but at least the recipe for the sandwich was on the jar.  I’m not sure the person could read because we kept pointing to the recipe on the jar saying to make us that, but eventually felt it necessary to read it to her.

I ordered a turkey sandwich on ciabatta with provolone.

We also got some raspberry cookie sandwiches (the taste of the galaxy!!) and asiago pasta salad.

I guess they don’t stock produce, and getting a sandwich without lettuce or tomato from a place other than home was disappointing.  The bread was great.  Their ciabatta is a bit different that others I have had, and I really liked it.

I didn’t try Amazing’s sandwich, but she reported it was good.

The cookies were merely good, but the Asiago Pasta Salad was EXCELLENT!!!

3 out of 5

Will I go back?  I probably will not, unless I get an odd craving for that pasta salad.  Going through a neighborhood where you feel like you have to be ready for a fight just for a sandwich that isn’t as good as Gian’s on the Miracle Mile just doesn’t make sense.

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant

6041 Pacific Ave.

Stockton, CA 95207

Kind of a disappointment.  I often order too much food at Chinese places, mostly so I can try a bunch of things… my favorite way to eat.  I ordered:

Fried Prawns – A favorite of mine.

Crab Puffs - Known more commonly as Crab Rangoon, and Amazing’s favorite.

Cherry Pork – Something unique, so I had to try it.

Orange Chicken

House Fried Rice

The prawns had a lot of breading on them and rather small shrimp.  It was strange they weren’t curved at all.  Straight prawns are odd prawns.

‘Crab Puffs’ – Whoa there on the onions!!!  These weren’t so much ‘Crab Puffs’ as they were ‘Onion Puffs’.

Cherry Pork – Pretty darn good and a unique flavor.  I think I could have done without the maraschino cherries in there.  And if they insist on putting them in there, couldn’t they remove the stems?

Orange Chicken – I’m not even sure I got Orange Chicken.  I got deep fried chicken filets sliced into strips on a bed of shredded lettuce.  There was a sauce packaged with my to-go box, so I used that on the chicken.  It was overcooked:  dry and tough.  The sauce was not orange sauce.

House Fried Rice – I asked if they had ‘House Fried Rice’, she said yes, and gave me their ‘Combination’.  Pork, chicken, and shrimp in the same fried rice.  Not for me.  Other than that, the rice was overcooked and bland.

Since I got this all to go, I can only review the food, which I give a

2 out of 5.

I certainly won’t be going back there.  With Dave Wong’s Deli being close to the same price point, I’d only go to New Shanghai for the Cherry Pork.  I wanted to try the duck they have on the menu, but they didn’t have it in the kitchen to make for me.

I assume it's because the air is different enough to conduct the heat from inside your lungs faster than regular air.

The building Amazing and I work in is right next to a freeway.  The back of the building faces the freeway.  When we got back from lunch today, I parked in the back and when we got out of the car I noticed I could see my breath, but didn't notice that when we left the restaurant just down the street and only minutes before.

I told Amazing it was because of the exhaust of the freeway, and that our breath would be noticeably less foggy looking even just in front of the building where the building would separate us from the freeway.

Amazing wanted to try it out, and sure enough, we could hardly see our breath at all in front of the building; where the back of the building, next to the freeway, it was pretty hard to miss.

Can someone provide a better explanation of the phenomena than I have provided?  I'm sure there is much more science to it, and I wouldn't mind knowing. 

OK, break over.  Back to work.

So sure, I'll update my facebook still, I won't update my twitter account... still.

But when I have a great experience (which lets face it, happens often in my life), I'll post about it.

Most recent one?  My best friend had a CD release party for one of his bands last weekend, and the same band is opening up for a major artist this coming weekend.

Before that:  Christmas in Missouri.  Really.  Included with that was tasting some sweet wine that was called 'semi-sweet', some other really good wine from grapes I've never heard of, and a tasting of International Gold Medal winning goat cheese at the local Phillips 66 gas station.

White Castle = Disgusting

Steak 'n Shake = Impossibly fun to say aloud.

I can cook a full dinner for 8 in 1.5 hours (including sauces and with no prep), a feat which amazed some in the party of 8.

Emerils Cider Brined Turkey works on a wild turkey, but not as well as the store bought.  Still tender, moist and good though.

Changes since:

I have a girlfriend that has taken a lead role in my life.  She is as awesome as me.  (The mutual concession of our only argument thus far produces that last assertion.)  I shall call her: Amazing.

I quit smoking months ago.  

Amazing is as much of a foodie as I have always wanted to be, so most of my money seems to go to food (it's close against cars).  We have been together for 7 months and have had 'nice dinners out' a couple dozen times I would guess.

A supplement to the food passion, I have been cooking a lot more than I ever have, and self-teaching in the kitchen.  Only the second date I had with Amazing, I made Beef Wellington for the first time - also using a recipe of my creation (admittedly not much of a departure from standards).  It turned out wonderful.  (Both the food and the date.)

I have taken way too much time off from Business School.  I plan to return in the spring.

I'm still a car-nut.  So much so, I have 4 different cars than whatever it was I had since my last entry in this blog.  And again, feel like I need to get rid of some.

Wine is still a big part.  Even more so now that food has taken a larger role.

I stopped working out.  :(  

I'm about the same weight I was last year, but many of those pounds on me are from a different source.  I'll keep a record here of my weight.  I was 177 pounds last Sunday.

Thats it for now.  Keep coming back for new posts.