I like to try all different kids of food. When you do that, you sometimes pick something you like, and sometimes you strike out. That’s just the way it goes (although I think there are a lot more wins than losses…I’m not very picky). However, there seems to be one kind of food that never seems to disappoint, and that’s Cuban food. Maybe its because they make ridiculously good sandwiches, and I’m a sandwich kind of guy. Maybe something about the pseudo-Spanish spices are just on my wavelength.
Anyway, all of this is just to explain why I found myself at the 90 miles Cuban cafe last weekend, the long odds it was up against, and how I ultimately wasn’t disappointed.
The cafe is very small on the inside. It’s more of a take-out kind of place. So when we showed up with the whole fam, we basically took up half of the available space. There’s only a high counter with bar stools, so it’s not exactly kid friendly, but they do inexplicably have high chairs.
Since everything sounded pretty good, we ended up ordering a metric ton of food. We were kind of sheepish about it, but A) we spent less than $30, and B) we ate all of it. So I guess it wasn’t so ridiculous! There wasn’t a single thing I didn’t like. The consensus winner was the chorizo and goat cheese empanada. We split on the yuca con mojo, but my cubano sandwich was amazing, and Sara’s bistec was equally good, if very different. There was much, much more (though they were out of shakes).
I even like their slogan, “Taste the Forbidden”. It makes me feel like I’m getting away with something. And gobbling down delicious empanadas also makes me feel like I’m getting away with something.
I mentioned before that I was considering getting some new glasses. Well, I have them, and I’m so ridiculously happy with the company I got them from, that I feel like shouting it from the mountain tops. Since I don’t have any mountains handy, I’ll do the next best thing.
The company is called Zenni Optical, and it is so ridiculously cheap that you will be sure there is a hidden gimmick somewhere. That’s why I didn’t want to blog about it until I actually got the glasses and checked them out. In fact, I would have been skeptical myself, except that my sister-in-law had tried it out with a test pair.
Me: “But how can they be so cheap? There must be something wrong with them.”
Sara: “The better question is, why are the other ones so expensive?”
This is a good point. There is absolutely no reason in this day and age why a little pair of frames should cost > $100, to say nothing of the lenses, etc.! But I never really questioned it before, because that’s the way it always was.
I purchased 3 pairs of glasses, 2 regular and 1 pair of sunglasses. For frames, lenses, anti-glare, anti-scratch coating, tinting on the sunglasses, absolutely everything, it cost me a grand total of $40. That’s including shipping and handling! The very cheapest glasses start at $7 (that’s frames and lenses).
The amazing thing is that the cheapness opens up a lot of avenues. I was nervous about trying out something totally different. But for that price, why not? I’ll just buy a second pair I can fall back on. Heck, I’ll buy 3 more pairs, in case the first two break! And for sunglasses, usually I just put tinted lenses in an old pair of frames. But for that price I can get real sunglasses for the first time in my entire life!
There are a few downsides. The biggest one is that you can’t actually try on the glasses. They have a “virtual frame-fit” feature that lets you upload a picture and “try on” the glasses, but it’s kind of lame. I would recommend trying on some real frames somewhere first, and then looking for similar ones on the webpage. You have to get an eye exam anyway, so you might as well look while you are there. You do have to measure your pupillary distance, which was pretty easy with their directions, but you probably can’t do it yourself. You could have your eye doctor do it for you, but Sara did mine and it was fine. You also have to wait for the shipping, which took me exactly 2 weeks. So it’s probably not good for an emergency pair (but then again, at that price, just order a couple of spares!)
There are probably other downsides too.
Sara: “You know they’re probably made by child labor, right?”
Me: “So are the other ones that they sell for $100.”
I am totally happy with them. They seem to be as good quality as any other frames I’ve ordered. My prescription was correct. I was able to get a little adventurous. I would recommend Zenni Optical to anybody (and I guess that’s what I’m doing right now).
When I put on my new glasses for the first time, Oliver took one look at me and just burst out crying. So I’m going to put him down for a “dislike”. Can you blame him?
Unfortunately, I didn’t get this one up before Christmas. So hopefully you found something else for the superheros and super villains in your lives. However, for all future transactions, you’re going to want to look up the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.
The crazy part, it’s not just an online store! It’s a a real life brick-and-mortar store.
I would love to visit sometime!
There are so many items for sale, that I can’t even go into all of them here. You should check out the online store. Some of my favorite categories include:
Capes – A must for any superhero. Including sidekick capes!
Robots – Such as a robotic shark. What villain doesn’t need a robotic shark?
Lairs – You can go high-tech with the forcefield generator, or low-tech with the prehistoric guardian fern.
Lab Supplies – Including bottles of chaos, antimatter, or immortality, evil blob containment capsules, and even a tote bag! I like the unstable mutation catalysts. I don’t know how many times I’ve gone all over the city looking for “claws for hands”.
Secret identities – Pick from several choices, such as “Selfless Firefighter”, “Cocky Fighter Pilot” or “Cranky Head Chef”
The thing that makes this album interesting, is that all of the lyrics were written by British novelist Nick Hornby. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to write music for someone else’s words. I mean, obviously people do it all the time, and I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to write music at all, even to your own words. But Ben Folds has always written his own lyrics, so it must have been a challenge.
So the lyrics are very story oriented, but Ben’s own style is very much storytelling anyway. So it probably wasn’t too much of a switch for him. That being said, having a literary writer definitely gives the songs a little something different. All in all, I thoroughly enjoy the album (thanks Anna for lending it to me!), and I like it better than the previous one (Way to Normal).
So, here are my 5 favorite songs on the CD, in reverse order:
5) Levi Johnston’s Blues – I’m willing to bet this is the #1 song in America about Levi Johnston (of Bristol Palin’s baby-daddy fame). Basically it’s just about how he was a regular 18 year old dude one minute, and the next minute was the focus of an entire presidential campaign (at least for a little while).
The lyric: I’m a f—–‘ redneck, I live to hang out with the boys / Play some hockey, do some fishin’ and kill some moose / I like to shoot the shit and do some chillin’ I guess / You f— with me and I’ll kick your ass*
*This entire chorus was taken wholesale from Levi’s MySpace page before it was sanitized by the political machine.
4) Claire’s Ninth – All Claire wants for her 9th birthday is for her divorced parents to get together and take her out for dinner. This song is flat out amazing. It somehow manages to capture both the sarcasm and embarrassment of being a pre-teen, and also the feelings of the parents: sort of a strange mix of regret over what happened and how it affects their daughter, but at the same time sort of oblivious to how they’re hurting her.
The lyric: Or what we were, you’re all that’s left / It used to be our birthday too
3) Belinda – This is a song about a singer who wrote a love song which became his biggest hit, the song he will be forever known for. The problem is, 40 years later, he’s not with the girl anymore and he’s forced to sing the song over and over, night after night. I wonder if this one rung especially true for Ben Folds, who’s written a love song or two over the course of his 4 marriages.
The lyric: There’s a lot of 40-somethings wouldn’t be in the world without it
2) Saskia Hamilton – The entire song is based on falling in love with the name of poet Saskia Hamilton. Seriously. The entire song is just about her name. Aside from being very catchy, the video is pretty awesome too. From what I understand, Ben Folds just contacted some dude who made cool youtube videos and asked him to make a video for the song. It turned out fantastic. The entire thing is filmed in the guy’s bedroom. This had me screaming, “Saskia Hamilton!” at odd times for at least a week.
The lyric: She’s got more assonance than she knows what to do with
1) From Above – The premise is that soul mates do exist, and we walk by ours every day without ever noticing. The song follows two such people through their lives. I liked this song immediately, but it wasn’t my favorite at first. However, after hearing a few times, the lyrics are so poignant, and the music fits them perfectly. How sad to think that each person has a perfect second half, and the vast majority of everyone will never even meet them.
The lyric: Maybe that’s how books get written / Maybe that’s why songs get sung / Maybe we owe the unlucky ones
It’s almost Christmas. Do you have all your shopping done? Not to worry.
The key to lying about buying someone a Christmas present is to really sell it. You can’t get away with “It’s in the mail” anymore. You need documentation.
For the low price of $5, they will create fake documentation to “prove” that you ordered a present.
Once you’ve given us all the info we need, and paid your $5, we send you a fake order form for whatever you ordered from a fake store. A few days later, we send out a second email, this time stating that the product’s been placed on back order. Finally, a few days after the holiday/gift-giving occasion has passed, we send out an order cancellation.
It doesn’t stop there. If you’re the type of person who tries to weasel out of giving presents, you might run into some suspicion with this tactic. They emails they send even contain a fake link to a website, and if someone goes to that site, it displays a message saying the website is down.
Isn’t the Internet great? I mean, it doesn’t enable you to lie. You were going to lie anyway. You could even have generated your own fake documentation. No, the Internet makes you lazier. Now you don’t even have to go through the effort. Pay the $5 and get on with your life.
Thank you, unnamed genius, for creating this business.
Shane Halbach 