3 Stations East

QotD: My Dream Room

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:22:13 -0500

In your ultimate dream house, what does your favorite room look like?

I won't post full details, but it does have a bidet.

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QotD: I Dunno, Where Do You Want To Go?

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:18:26 -0500

When you go out to eat, how do you pick where to go?
Submitted by Kristine.

In SF, I pretty much ask all of you on Vox.

I've also found Chowhound and Yelp to be invaluable - lots of good advice there, although there have been a couple of bum recommendations (ie, lousy Chinese.)

Also, don't forget the Wheel of Food! The first time I tried it out here it recommended a place I'd already been. At least it was a good choice.

I've been consciously trying to avoid chains whenever possible but this isn't a hard and fast rule. I've generally had good food experiences here, and only one or two "meh"s.

In Chicago, we stick to our favorites and/or friends' favorites!

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QotD: Pizza Preference

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 09:45:38 -0600

How do you eat your pizza: folded, flat or with a fork and knife?
Submitted by danimass.

Depends on the pizza, of course.

Chicago-style pizza always gets eaten with a fork and knife because it's so damn thick, but I usually finish off the crust without utensils.

Square-cut is always flat (duh), and on that one occasion every year when I actually desire a NY style pizza, I fold it.

Of note: I think it's Wrong to eat a thin crust pizza with a fork and knife. Very very Wrong.

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QotD: My Autobiography

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 09:14:49 -0600

What would the title of your autobiography be?
Submitted by princesskasren.

I think the title Normal sounds good. It's probably been done, but given no one is normal and/or perfect, it would be ironic. Don't you think? A little too iron... okay.

The more interesting thing would be the subtitle, I think. I'm very tempted to claim a song title as a subtitle. But whilst looking at, say, my top 25 played songs ever there's nothing there that works well. Careful? Thankful? Spring Released? Seven Nation Army?

I'd probably fall back to an R.E.M. song or - perhaps - lyric, then, given how influential that band was on my musical tastes. When the Light is Mine, already taken for said band's video DVD, is pretty good. But really, when it comes down to it, "King of Birds" probably has one of my favorite lyrics by them.

"I am the king of all I see/ My kingdom for a voice."

My Kingdom for a Voice doesn't even need the aforementioned title of Normal on it. So, I'm changing my horses mid-post here and declaring that my autobiography will indeed be titled that.

And look at that.

Bookcover

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QotD: This Week's Top 25

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:27:26 -0500

What are your top 25 most played songs?
Submitted by Cooxie.

Top 25 Songs Ever

Elliott Smith clearly made a dent. Surprising: no R.E.M., Sleater-Kinney, New Pornographers.

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QotD: Home Sweet Home

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 12:41:13 -0500

What is your browser's default home page set to?
Submitted by Kelev T. Cat.

My Backpack page!

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My Very Own QotD: Push on Comments?

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:44:22 -0500

Here's a question for you. How many comments need to be in a blog or forum post before you start just thinking, "Ah, crap, that's too many comments"?

I'm curious about this, as I've had to deal with long comments on a lot of my own sites. And it's dawned on me that there isn't a really elegant way to kind of skim the cream off of those comments.

If I've got 87 comments on a thread, do I need to read all 87? Probably not. But maybe.

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QotD: I'm reading (or about to read)...

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:47:11 -0500

What books are on your nightstand?

I don't have a nightstand. There's no room for one in our current bedroom (Jeani has one.) Welp!

As for reading? Books? sigh...

When the year turned I decided to try something ambitious: I'd read a book a month for the entire year. And I started with Assassination Vacation.

Assassination Vacation

Sarah Vowell

I figured, "Well, I like Sarah Vowell when she's on NPR. How bad can it be?" So I went to the library - I had to do this "I'm a reader too!" thing right - and started reading it there. And I liked it.

Somewhere between chapters 2 and 3, though, I lost interest. The book sat on my desk and went unread. It just kept going unread until it was time to return it.

With that, my Great Reading Experiment of 2006 was canned. Sad, yes. But there is a glimmer of hope: when we move in October, I'll be back to taking the train to and from work. And sooner or later I'll run out of stuff to watch on the iPod, so books will most likely be in order.

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QotD: In Heavy Rotation

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:08:26 -0500

What albums are in heavy rotation for you right now?

Heavy Rotation... that sounds like a good name for a bimonthly music collection....

Surprise

Anyway, the big surprise that has popped back into my lineup is Paul Simon's Surprise. It's an appropriate title. I've been starting to enjoy a little more of Simon's music - eccentric as he is - and took a gamble on this. It's solid. It's textured and mature, and has a lot of great, deep hooks that stick in my head for days. Plus, lyrics that are just fabulous ("Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?", "You can not walk with the holy if you're just a halfway decent man") The whole thing does indeed have Brian Eno written all over it, but that's good: it's a solid combination of Simon's pop sensibilities (and near-misses, of course) with Eno's layering and diverse instrumentation.

I guess the biggest surprise about it is that it's held up well for me over the past few months. I suspect I'll be able to return to it in a few years and still feel strongly about it. It's speaking more to my Adult-with-a-capital-A side, versus a lot of the pop music I enjoy that just speaks to the here and now.

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QotD: Howdy Neighbor!

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 09:06:37 -0500

How well do you know your next-door neighbors?

Not at all.

Our neighbors on the east side are college students and their leases follow the school year, so we already have some new students moved in this year. But the previous tenants had a number of loud parties that kind of bugged me. (I'm really big on that.)

On the west side, we don't know them either - although Jeani did meet one of them when our upstairs neighbors (who we also didn't know) moved out.

In our new place, we've already been introduced to the upstairs neighbors (the owners!) and the folks next door. That's not bad! And the owners said they'd introduce us around the neighborhood. Very nice.

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