You're Kidding Me, Right?

i'm not much of a drinker; in fact, for a large part of the past two years, i've been better known to abstain than to drink. and although i now enjoy a glass of wine every so often, i'd say i'd still be quite happy to have a cranberry/lime/soda replace a glass of wine -- sweet, no surprises, and i'm clear-headed when the night is done.

this summer, apparently, mocktails are in. good for me! (wait, who am i kidding? i haven't been following trends in the bar world, i've been busy studying/working/being lame on the phone!)

but mocktails it is, says this NYT article: <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/dining/20appe.html>, so it must be true.

and yet... even "all the news that's fit to print" sometimes can't disguise pure idiocy:

... no amount of passion fruit purée will hit the spot for cocktail purists of the dry martini ilk. For them, Sheridan Square in the Village offers what might be the most restrained mocktail in town, the Mineral Cocktail. Made with Badoit sparkling water, mineral drops and mineral water ice, it’s the brainchild of the chef Franklin Becker and the bar manager Rainlove Lampariello, designed to be healthful, light, and easy to knock back.

I haven’t sampled one, but Mr. Lampariello swears it tastes “like putting a pebble from a river in your mouth.”

a cocktail made of... three different kinds of expensive water!? that tastes like a pebble?!? give me a break. next you know they'll be charging for the privilege of air on tap. oh, wait, oxygen bars... i'd forgotten the world is full of rich nutjobs who'll even pay to breathe.

In Anticipation Of A Normal Life, Resumed

in 2 weeks i'll have moved into a new apartment *and* finished my 50-book exam.

i've been reading for the exam since memorial day (minus the several weeks in july that i was on vacation and at rare book school in charlottesville), so i've been feeling rather studious/nerdy/exhausted for weeks now. but the packing just began today, at full speed -- and already there are about 8 boxes worth of books/kitchen stuff/sweaters/linens/random trinkets sitting in my living room, waiting to be joined by the other 8 (and the 4 suitcases of varying sizes) that will get packed over the next ten days.

i can't wait!

Thank God For Senuti

3188 songs, 10.2 days, 13.63 GB... all locked up, thanks to the fact that macs control ipods better than pcs do. maybe i was doing something wrong, but getting one's music off one's ipod is well nigh impossible on a mac -- just as is getting one's photos off one's sony digital camera without erasing the contents of the memory stick. it has something to do with the files being invisible, i think.

but then brian and adam told me about senuti ("itunes" in reverse -- genius, eh?). simple download, one-click install, native to mac, and easy as pie. it looks just like itunes, except that it works in the opposite direction, allowing you to (see large green arrow) transfer music to a hard drive.

i think i've made one gross mistake by not fiddling with the preferences, so that all my music is currently getting sorted by artist and album (so many folders! gah!), and i'm a teensy bit sad that my nice [artist] - track name.mp3 naming system has been replaced by a rather more primitive trackname.mp3 system, but these are the days of front-end-not-back-end computing, so who's complaining?! at least my beloved music is safe -- and i get to keep the ratings and the playlists, too!

CityLurve: Philly (Redux), or: The Changing Eatery Scene In My 'Hood

admittedly, i've only lived in philly for a year... and i don't spend as much time exploring the city's culinary variety as i would like to.

but my most recent return to the city, after a month away (i was in bombay and charlottesville, which explains the radio silence on this blog), has been awesome, not only because it feels like a real homecoming, but also because i've noticed that change is on the food horizon.

it began earlier this summer, in fact. mid-may, i noticed that a large, empty ground-floor store on the same block as my new-apartment-to-be was getting frantically painted and polished. turned out it opened soon thereafter: the newest iteration of the green line café -- see <http://www.greenlinecafe.com/2008/06/new-green-line-on-locust-now-open.html> for the joyous news on the green line blog. it looks large, and welcoming, and it brightens up the whole block. i'm not a coffee drinker, but it looks like i'll have to start!

mid-last week, after my return, i was walking from the english department to the pool and noticed that the optometrist/optician/ophthalmologist on 34th and walnut had finally closed while i was gone -- about time, as it had been threatening to do so all spring. coming in its place: the naked chocolate café (<http://www.nakedchocolatecafe.com>). excellent!

and then, as i found out on friday night while poking around centre city for outdoor-seating BYOB options, melograno (on 22nd and spruce) has just closed down (although apparently it will be reopening in the fall at 20th and sansom). to come in its place -- something called memé. if it's anything like its neighbourhood buddies audrey claire (<http://www.audreyclaire.com>) or tinto (<http://www.tintorestaurant.com>), or even its former avatar (which made up for its lack of website by having outdoor seating, accepting major credit cards, and serving up delicious mushroom-filled food), i will be pleased.

i like knowing where one might go to try out a particular cuisine/feature in philadelphia -- whether BYOB, or wine+cheese pairings, or ethiopian, or sushi, or most recently (after today's bout of research on yelp and citysearch), dim sum. (my answers: audrey claire/mercato, tria, almaz cafe, swanky bubbles, ocean harbour/joy tsin lau.) what's even better is the assurance that more good things keep happening in this town. bring it on!

Coincidences?

just yesterday i was listening to a dutch woman tell me how she and her three closest friends in philadelphia -- all dutch, too! -- all had birthdays in the latter half of march.

then i saw this on my facebook sidebar, under upcoming birthdays:
Amanda H***
Anna K*****
Alisha P****
Aude W******
Arshiya B***
Ameya N***

i like finding patterns in the most uncommon of places. i think that's why i like being a bibliographer so much -- there's patterns everywhere, and almost nothing is a coincidence (as long as you can find physical evidence for it, like binding threads or ink squash). it makes my librarian side inordinately happy.

happy birthday to all 6 august 4th a's!