Captain's log, stardate 200612.19.19

Elevated rapid transit is awesome. I can tell you that the elevated sections of the Paris Metro are the best parts of the system, in terms of riding experience. Do the noise and arial obstructions outweigh the convenience? Anyone in Chicago will tell you 'no.'

So why do I like monorails instead of heavy elevated or light rail? Because elevated monorails DON'T DERAIL.
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Let's see, for breakfast I made a cheese omelet and some bacon.

Went to Ross to buy my chair; stopped at the Spanish Table to buy a bottle. Wandered around the Market for a while, had a cup of chowder and a crab roll for lunch. Forgot to drop off my pants for buttons; oh well.

For dinner I made steak and potatoes, deglazed again with some sake. I had some of my left over pie for dessert.
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So I went into work today to to pick up some stuff, and found that a colega had left me a little tin of chocolate walnut cookies. Delicious. She wrote "to: khuya" in Arabic, which means "my brother."

See? Arabic and Tagalog are the same language!
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I keep forgetting; I saw Mario Battali yesterday, as I drove past Zeitgeist.

Food Panic

I didn't ask what it was called. It's a spicey noodle roll with a slice of sausage in it.

Today, a friend of mine T told me to check out My Canh on Martin Luther King, a little dining room near the Buddhist temple. And after work today, I started feeling the food panic associated with carb addiction; my head started to hurt, and I felt like I was going to kill somebody if I didn't eat something. Any way, I jumped into the car and found my way down into the construction zone.

When I got there, finally! I was seated by a 15 year old girl, who put me on the empty side of the restaurant. I wanted some rice, some grilled stuff, some leafy stuff, and some fish sauce, but T told me to order Five Spice Chicken, which is two thighs fried with secret spices. He was right, it was delicious, and cheap too; less than seven bucks. But since it was a la carte, I missed out on the variety. And the vegetables; I ate all the lettuce garnish. What!?

Anyway, I was still hungry afterwards, so I crossed the street to Tony's Bakery (past Western Co. Doughnuts, past Than Thao--which looked yum) and bought me a creme bun, which was barely sweet, a four pack of steamed sio pao (it's exactly the same as the filipino version), and the salad roll seen in the photo above.

That's a pretty hoppin' corner. There's a McDonalds, a Baskin Robbins, My Canh, a market selling furniture and Korean blankets, Western Co, Than Thao, Tony's, Saigon Dynasty, Viet Wah, and a ton of other small businesses. Hopefully when the light rail is built, they'll clean up the sidewalk, make it pedestrian friendly, and make a decent crossing there. If they don't make a crossing, the business district will be sliced in half; an urban callostomy.

Sigh. I have no faith in Sound Transit. You can tell by the way they name their stations that they're compensating for not going down Rainier Ave. Also, they PROJECTED that there would be 12 accidents per year, 3 fatalities per year. Light rail wonks like to say it's only homeless people, dogs, and idiots who try to beat the train, but you know, even three of those per year is too much for me. Chalk it up to my consistent ethic of life.

Monorail is going to be quicker, cheaper, less intrusive, quieter, safer, and most of all, cooler. Don't believe me? Check out this video. Still don't belive me? You're an idiot.

Sigh. Time to grade.