Dance Marathon at UF, 16 hours in. Maybe 17. Idk.

You’re really not supposed to look at the clock in these kinds of events. DM covers the clock in the study room, they never show a clock in the dance floor, and it used to be that cell phones were verboten/forbidden in the dancers favor such that they couldn’t look at the clock.

And yet you always somehow get the time. And it inevitably hurts.

After the rave hour morale and strength amazingly precipitously drop. The study room is really the only solace for some sort of distraction to get thru the next x number of hours.

Delirium doesn’t necessarily hit a high. But it does something.

And yet, still, that mantra of FTK runs through our veins. The miracle families constantly remind us of our duty and how grateful they are for it.

And that’s what keeps us going. We don’t know exactly how we/I’ll manage to survive the remaining stretch. But we know we have to. We know somehow we have to. And we will.

Somehow.

For the kids.

Review: Hiro Asian Sandwich Bistro

Does the wizard of casual pan-Asian food still have his magic touch or has he finally hit a Great Wall?

Review: Piesano’s Stone Fired Pizza (Tower Road)

I realize it’s been way too long since I’ve even made an attempt at blogging. But it’s hard, it’s a hard hard life.

Thankfully, I still have to eat.

If you’re a Seinfeld fan, Piesano’s should ring a name for you…it’s the pizza place that “Steinbrenner” falls in love with when George Costanza was eating a calzone from there during an office meeting. Steinbrenner refused to get food from anywhere else for a decent amount of time.

Once you get to eating Piesano’s in Gainesville, you might just feel the same way. And, because I’m such a nice person and since you haven’t heard a blog from me in forever, well, you’ll get two visits for the price of one review. HOW DO YOU LIKE DEM APPLES?!

My first visit was at lunch…I was with a group of people and we had to do an activity out there on Tower Road. Now anyone who knows Tower Road/West Gainesville knows that other than Haile Plantation and the South end of Tower (where the Publix is), there ain’t that much in terms of eateries. I just randomly Yelp’d and found Piesano’s, saw that it was good enough and took a risk.

I ordered a custom made pizza with meatballs and extra cheese, and I forget what the rest of the group ordered to be honest (oops). But we were waiting and my mind was preoccupied on other stuff at the time…and I didn’t notice that it took a little longer than I had thought until our nice waitress came out and apologized meaningfully that my order would take slightly longer because the pizza they had made for me first “didn’t look right”. They were making another pizza for me AND letting me keep the first pizza for free.

Wow. OK…but let me try the pizza. First of all, the first pizza would’ve been perfectly fine for me; it didn’t look that messed up at all, but I think they forgot the extra cheese. but I didn’t care, both pizzas were amazing…absolutely amazing. I don’t think the rest of the group complained about their food either.

Fast forward about a few months later, to about a week ago maybe. I was craving Italian food badly. But the Gainesville Italian scene quite frankly has gone kinda wonky the past few years. It held stable with Manuel’s being king of the crop, Pazza Bistro serving pastaphiles, Olive Garden serving the needs of those who like chocolate mints, and that was about it. Sure Piesano’s was around a while, but I didn’t know, so therefore it didn’t exist (kidding). But Pazza unexpectedly closed, Bella Donna fills a weird niche, and there’s really no good in-between place.

Then it came to me: Piesano’s is the place. Sort of.

After getting the blackened chicken parmesean pasta and trying my friend’s Chicken Parmesan…both of which I fell in love with, I realized that Piesano’s was the only hope to save that niche in between. Yes, its prices are somewhat akin to Olive Garden’s, but the food is vastly better. You’re not intimidated by the environment and prices like Manuel’s, but you’re not eye-tired with the familiar Olive Garden-ness of Olive Garden. And you’re not wondering “this was a hot dog place” as if you were at Bella Donna. You feel comfortable, relaxed, from beginning to end. Except the desserts were clearly not fresh and were brought in frozen. (Prove me wrong guys and I’ll give you an A+).

I rarely talk about restaurants west of I-75…I don’t think it’s right to review restaurants that are completely too far away for anyone’s own good (7+ miles from my residence). But let me tell you something….Gainesville is overrun by Mexican restaurants (both real Mexican and fake Mexican). To find something as pleasant as Piesano’s is rare, it really is. The service is admirable and the food is outstanding. It’s not fancy shmancy, but whoever said that Italian had to be fancy shmancy?

–

Piesano’s

Grade: A

Pros: phenomenal food both day and night, keeps it simple but flavorful, reasonable prices

Cons: Dessert was clearly frozen

Quick Reaction: Apple Event

Recall that I’m an Apple fanboy and that I have an iPhone 4S, but I honestly thought this was the weirdest/most disappointing keynote ever. It’s not just because the leaks were exactly spot-on to what was released today for the iPhone 5…but because Apple has finally hit a brick wall. They hit the brick wall somewhat softly (I’ll explain in a bit), but they really did hit a brick wall. Why?

There is no design change.

I could care less about the tallerness and two-tone background and glass+alumnium-only body and thinness. There IS NO EVIDENT DESIGN CHANGE. I don’t expect it to be shaped like a coconut, mind you, but rounded corners? More color schemes? Some sort of design change that wasn’t color-related? (and no, the FaceTime camera moving ABOVE the earpiece is NOT a radical design change, sorry). Yes, it’s slimmer. So what? Expected. Yes it’s taller, OK, cool, I can fit ONE more row of scramble with friends. YAY. I’m very glad actually that Apple didn’t follow the trend of going 4+” because I think the whole 4.7-5.1″ craze is absurd….but that’s it. The iPhone 3G(S) to iPhone 4 was a radical design change. The iPhone 4 to 4S wasn’t, as expected. But iPhone 4S to 5? I expected better. Samsung at least changed the design from the S2 to the S3 (probably to avoid another fracas with Apple but whatever), and Nokia’s phones look cool. This change though? Doesn’t fly with me. Not one bit.

There are no new features.

Panorama? On iPhone 4S’s  via iOS 6 coming next week (and been available through third-party apps and Android for years). Durability? Drop your iPhone 5 without a case and tell me if the screen doesn’t (horrifically) crack. New earbuds? Um….OK. sure. I don’t think people bought phones because of earbuds (minus the old HTC phones that came with Beats headphones standard). LTE? Already on some top of the line Android and Windows Phone handsets. Nokia came out with NFC (basically paying for stuff with your phone) and Wireless Charging for their Windows Phones, and the Nexus line is continuously advancing as well. New processor? Big deal. My iPhone 4S is fast enough. Camera with sapphire lens? Sweet, but again my iPhone 4S has actually replaced my camera now sadly but surely (although Samsung could take notice and put back in top of the line optics like they did with the Galaxy S2…heck the camera on there was better at times than the 4S). If you have an iPhone 4S and you tell me you want an upgrade to iPhone 5, I’ll be furious to say the least. I like my tech, and I like new tech….this isn’t new tech.

Apple went backwards

They violated what I think is an unwritten Steve Jobs’ tenet: no adapters. I don’t think he even liked Mini-DVI to DVI adapters (if any of you have Macs, you know that it’s a pain in the ass to get an adapter to connect to a monitor). Steve Jobs would’ve said “screw the consumers/product manufacturers, we’re going hog wild with this new connector and if they want to get on board, great. If not, fine.”

Honestly the iPod Touch is a more innovative “step”. 

The iPod Touch, to me, should be the more worthy “looker”. Yes, it’s basically a non-phone iPhone 4S (dual-core A5 processor, 5MP optics, all same as iPhone 4S probably), but it is the direct counter to Samsung’s Galaxy Camera.  Finally, the damn iPod Touch has a backside flash. If you want a thin point and shoot camera, I’m gonna come out and say it, but this would be my choice. In addition, I do love the matte finish; reminds me of the stubby iPod nanos of long ago.

But credit Apple for not giving into NFC.

I know it seems REALLY odd, but Apple is looking towards Passbook as their future rather than supplying an NFC chip to do the dirty work for them. There has to be some sort of mischievous reason why, but I also do think that NFC  is STILL not ready for prime time just yet. With credit card number theft happenings on the rise, think about how “easy” it could be to wirelessly steal your credit card info from your phone without you knowing it? In addition, tell me one place in your city that accepts NFC payments right now. Didn’t think so.

The iPod Nano is weird.

Color scheme is off (worse than the iPod Touch’s color scheme), and I feel like I’m looking at a bad Chinese knockoff at times. Bluetooth is actually a nice addition though, and I’m amazed that they fit it into such a small body.

All in all, a disappointing day.

I wasn’t going to get an iPhone 5. Now I know I’m REALLY not getting an iPhone 5. There’s no point. I’m content with being on 3G, and while a 4″ phone isn’t too big for my hands, my current 4S fits me just fine. I’m just glad to get my grubby hands on iOS 6…ON MY BIRTHDAY WHEE.

Don’t expect the iPad Mini to be better…or maybe expect it? 

The iPad Mini will not have what you seek. It’ll have a 7″ screen and that’s about it…..unless it has a new screen technology we don’t know about. Or maybe something else? Apple wouldn’t put up a new event for a product that was the exact mini copy of its current products unless there was something radically different about it. The iPod mini? Different because it was cheaper and had colored bodies compared to iPod. The iPod nano? Flash storage. I expect Apple to do something similar, but it needs to be good. If this keeps up, you might see me with an Android phone next year. Maybe.

 

PS: I have no energy to talk about the new iTunes. It looks crappy though; the play controls are too close to the X/-/+ buttons on the Mac version as far as I’m concerned. And I hate organizing by album. But to each their own. 

The Bad and the Good about The (2nd) Midtown Crackdown

2 years ago Midtown faced a pretty big problem…the city commission was doing its first big crackdown on bars who were knowingly serving alcohol to minors OR not checking IDs for alcohol sales. Swamp, 101 Cantina, and a few other places were forced to not let ANYONE in under 21 after 9PM; doing so would be costly and almost “fatal” to the business because the punishment included further fines and/or revocation of license to sell liquor. When the probation period was over, there was a full page ad in the Alligator proclaiming that “Prohibition is over!”. And, for the next two years, Swamp was cracking down a lot more while 101 Cantina went back to its old ways but was a little more stringent on alcohol sales themselves (although I went in on happy hour Friday and didn’t get ID’d when ordering a drink…and remember, I’m 5’3″ and still have a baby face, AND I was clean shaven that day actually…I know, I felt hell freeze over too.).

Fast forward to now, however, and there’s a crackdown of a different kind: fire code enforcement. I noticed this the very first week when I arrived back in Gainesville in early August…it was one in one out at Salty…at 9PM. Now don’t get me wrong, Salty Dog Saloon does do one in one out…but at 11. 9PM? 9PM? When I finally got in, it was crowded but not tremendously crowded…I’ve certainly been in worse situations where my face has been smushed into a back or two. I hopped over to Balls…which is almost never one in one out unless people are bursting through the front windows…but of course it was one in one out there too. And when I got in, I could actually 1) breathe 2) do jumping jacks (which I kind of did). And then I screamed “what the hell it’s a %$^&ing miracle!”. Balls and Salty Dog are known to be crowded beyond belief…especially Balls (I’d like to think that’s how it got its name because it gets to be “hot as balls” there), and to enforce fire code seemed like it was stripping both of these dives of their soul. I hated Balls because it was so packed, but I’d always go just to visit this one person I know (just cuz she was there all the time…here’s to you Katie, even though I know you don’t read this). Now I just hate it because it doesn’t have Bud Light (but it does have Coors…props). And Salty I never really liked that much, but I always did go because I liked it enough. Now it’s a hassle to go to a place that I only like marginally(except Tuesdays, $2.50 zipperheads yo. What the heck am I saying, I don’t have time to go out on weekends much less weekdays). I think a lot of people I know like these two bars because it really is a melting pot (granted a Greek melting pot, but still a melting pot), even if it’s crowded. But it’s part of the whole scene…you go in, take some battle hits (aka major spillage of beverage on your articles of clothing), and you come out happy. Maybe. And it doesn’t have the glamour/outdoor luxury of Swamp (but Swamp has my heart no matter what), and that appeals to some.

But maybe this fire code crackdown thing is really for the better. Let’s be serious for a minute and consider the bar shooting that happened in Tuscaloosa some months ago…God forbid if it happened here in our fair city but if it did and it happened in one of these uber-crowded bars, people would be trampled for sure. Fire Codes are meant to be enforced for a reason…and while these businesses will probably lose money because they can’t stuff as many people in one period of time as they did before, the public well-being must be considered. Inevitably this will also get people more excited about Downtown…and while I’m not a big fan of Downtown yet, there are some great bars to go out to Downtown…and it’s not like public transportation is lacking (Later Gator anyone?). Granted, the downtown sophisticates may not be happy about this, but it’s not like there’s a lot of space to put more bars in Midtown anyway (oh wait, here’s an idea….close Gator City and Envy since both are doing horrible jobs of attracting people all of a sudden. I don’t even think people go to ladies’ night at G City any more).

However, downtown’s expensive…no matter which way you slice it. Most places do charge cover and with downtown you sense that there’s a little bit of an elevated sense of decorum (notice the word “little bit”.). In addition, while we do have public transportation, people do like to park cars as well…and downtown parking stinks more than midtown parking at night…and who wants to pay for a taxi anyway? And while noone likes segregation, there’s always been a sense of dichotomy between mid and downtown. Midtown belongs to the undergrads, Downtown is for the grad students. But who knows, maybe this new crackdown won’t do anything? Maybe Swamp will go back to its days of prominence because of all of this? Maybe Gator City will come back to usefulness (doubtful)? Maybe house parties will be IN again? Or maybe I should go and study some histology right now?

 

Credits to this Alligator article for confirming what I suspected.

It’s not good bye, it’s see you in a bit.

In some ways the title of this post is true, yet in other ways it’s completely misleading. Let’s get the BS out of the way though…the fact is, if middle to high school didn’t represent a jump of epic proportions to you, or high school to college….then this is this jump. This is where, for good or bad, whether you like it or not, you won’t see a lot of your friends that you made in at least the past four or even eight years anymore. Sure, the internet revolution has changed some of that….we’ll still ‘see’ and ‘talk’ to some of our friends through the wonders of Facebook, Twitter, and the grand reincarnation of MySpace (OK, not so much the last one), but unless teleportation is invented and perfected in our lifetime then this is where the divergence starts to occur.

And, in some ways I’m OK with that…most ways I’m not, but I guess I don’t really have a choice in this particular matter.

I have been blessed and honored to have known some pretty fantastic people in my lifetime so far. Each and every person that I’ve befriended or even become acquaintances with has enriched my life in such a way that I probably would have not been better off not meeting them; yes, that even includes  people who’ve managed to piss me off or just rub me the wrong way over periods of time. Every friend or acquaintance of mine constitutes a puzzle piece of a huge mosaic. Sure, there’ll be some parts of that mosaic that aren’t pretty, but noone’s perfect (I’m certainly not even close to 22% perfect, and I obviously calculated that 22% precisely). The wonder of that mosaic, however, is how beautifully it comes together even despite its flaws.

But for the vast majority of that picture, I’d say it looks pretty beaming to me. And even though I’m not the artist of this mosaic, I feel the same way as (I”m sure) an artist does when he gives up his piece of work to be put up on display: proud, but sad to see it go. Of course, I can visit this piece of art any time I please….that’s for another philosophical discussion later on, however.

To be honest, I’m excited but scared to start this new book of life…it isn’t a chapter because, you see, a book has its own set of goals…and one book can only hold so much. The past twenty-two years of my life have constituted a book well worth reading (but too much time and effort to write about, for now…trust me I tried). But what happens now is well worth the start of another book.

I’d list all the characters of the previous book and thank them each individually for making my life so whole, but that’d take me forever. But I want every reader/Facebook friend/real friend to know that you have made my life, and I am forever grateful for that. And even though distance, time, and countless hours of lecture and schooling may separate us for a while, I want you to know that I will still do my darndest to be as accessible as possible til the day I die. Not that I’d be a big help, but if you ever need anything I will try and be there…even if it’s just for a quick chat or coffee. It might take me a few days to get back to you, but fortunately elephants never forget. Oh wait, I’m a democrat….um…donkeys are cute?

I love you all, and it really isn’t good bye…it is just ‘see you in a bit’….or ‘two bits…four bits…six bits… a dollar’. 

What I learned from traveling “alone”/in NYC

My last post related to NYC. I promise!!!!!

• New Yorkers are nice. Promise. Unless you tick them off. It’s nothing personal. But if you speak to them all smiley, they’ll smile and converse with you freely as well. 
• A smartphone is definitely needed.
• ….with an extended battery. (Apple stores are great to charge iPhones, but your’e not gonna get 5 in one city like NYC. Not to mention, even in NYC they’re spread out all over Manhattan Island).
• There are cheap places to eat that still offer GREAT food. you just have to find them. I came into the city thinking that I wanted go to some fancy-shmancy restaurant that has expensive prices and small portions.
• You’ll never explore all of New York in one trip. Or two, or three, or four, or five, or six….maybe 7.
• It’s better to go to NYC with a theme in mind. For instance, my trip this time around was centered mainly around food. And I, for the most part, wasn’t disappointed.
• Of course, the only regret is that I probably gained at least 5-8 pounds.
• I thought I did…in five trips…then I realized I only maybe satisfied Manhattan. Didn’t even touch other boroughs. ::sigh::
• I personally think if you’re travelling with friends you should make time to spend them but also make time to spend by yourself. It gives you the best of both worlds…there were times, admittedly, where I’d get a little lonely walking around the city by my lonesome, so I was very fortunate to have friends who either lived in the city or were coincidentally visiting the same time as me (I’m so popular, I know…hah).

Special shoutouts to Neha, my Aunt Dawn and my cousin Sowon for letting me crash at their places for the past five nights. Also, shoutouts to Anisha, Nita, Cortney, Danielle, Caitlin, Scott and Justin for making this trip memorable and worthwhile; it was a joy to see you all in NYC, especially because it was kind of unexpected haha.

Now for the serious stuff:

• Best dessert place (this includes cupcakes/cake/anything of sort): Holey Cream.
  Holey cream was the only place that did not disappoint in the slightest. The ice cream they had was phenomenal, and I didn’t even have their homemade ice cream flavors. You can also put ice cream and doughnuts together…YUM.
• Worst Dessert Place: none, but that doesn’t mean NYC gets away with it just yet.
  I was directed to two cupcake places and one doughnut place by various friends. People kept on edging me towards Crumbs, Baked by Melissa, and Doughnut Plant. Crumbs looked good…but admittedly I went at an off-peak time and the icing seemed sort of dry. (I HATE dry icing…that sounded awk). Good cupcakes, just not great. Baked by Melissa….was….interesting. Really small cupcakes, and they packed enough flavor…for $1 worth. But you kind of expect something more magnificent and magical to come out of a little bundle and it just didn’t happen (holy crap I’m sounding awk). Doughnut plant….I tried one of each type: yeast and cake. The yeast one was a val-something chocolate (I’ll hereby call it Fancy chocolate), but there was nothing tasty about it at all. I could’ve gone to a Dunkin Donuts and had something better (and I hate Dunkin Donuts). The carrot cake donut, however, was amazing. It was exactly like a carrot cake and yet still felt like a donut at the same time. Overall, a disappointing muster from the NYC dessert scene.
• A good place you should go to if you make it rain cash: Omen or Momofuku Ssam Bar
  I honestly didn’t want to go to Asian places while in NYC, but both of these places made me eat those words quickly. Omen is a wonderful modern Japanese restaurant in SoHo that only takes cash or Amex, but does a great take on some classic Japanese fare. Not to mention, their preparation of sashimi is exquisite and fresh to a point where I even had my senses titillated (I’m not a fan of sushi/sashimi). But their other dishes are very well prepared (I recommend the filet mignon and the portabello mushroom). Momofuku is also very good because it plays off of Asian fusion so well…and it isn’t some weird hybrid Asian/Italian, Asian/American fusion…it’s Asian/Asian fusion. Done very well, and highly recommended especially if you can’t go to the other Momofuku restaurant which is highly-renowned: Momofuku Ko.
• Honorable mention: Boqueria (flatiron district or SoHo)
  If you want more traditional Spanish tapas fare with a modern twist, head to Boqueria. Even the simplest sounding dishes burst with flavor. GO FOR ANYTHING WITH POTATOES YOU WON’T REGRET IT.
• Best Pizza: none. Worst Pizza: Merilu.
  For all you Gainesville-ites, lemme put it this way: I would have Five Star any day over this restaurant’s pizza. For everyone else: Cardboard + grease tastes better. I’ve never been more deceived by Yelp until I went to this place…after going to “original Ray’s” (there’s about a handful of them in Manhattan btw) and being disappointed by their white pizza I had to redeem myself somehow. Merilu just confirmed my fears: I need to go to Lombardi’s and the pizza place at the end of the Brooklyn Bridge. The chicken and bacon pizza was craptastic (worse than crap), and the normal mushroom/olive oil/basil pizza was just crap. Please trust me and don’t waste your money…I don’t care if I went on an off-peak time.
• Best place overall: The Kati Roll Company.
  Very rare do you go to a place that enlightens you in so many different ways than just in a culinary fashion. The Kati Roll Company does that. It challenges your perception of Indian food…who would think to put chicken tikka in a wrap? Sure it seems easy to think about it, and I’m sure countless cookbook cooks write about it, but at the same time execution is key and Kati  Company does a fine job. Not to mention, it took me a few days to realize that there was no rice in the wrap…and I’m fine with that. The sauce, the perfect blend of ingredients….it wakes you up. It’s definitely flavorful as you eat it and then after you’re done the sting from the spices reminds you that you actually want more. And all for $4.50-$5.50 a wrap. It was the only restaurant I went to twice in my whole time at NYC because I needed something to save me from the terror that was Merilu (see above bullet point).
• Other restaurants to mention: Meatball Shop and S’Mac.
  Meatball shop is really cool because you can choose from an array of types of meatballs + types of sauces that you never thought possible. When you go there, go crazy. Share with friends. As for S’Mac, I highly recommend the Cajun mac n’ cheese. I’ve also been told to get the buffalo chicken one, which I will…whenever I go back to NYC best.
• Dobbs Ferry exclusive: Dobbs Dawg House.
  If you’re ever in a riverside town like Yonkers, Ardsley, Hastings or, well, Dobbs Ferry…make your way to Dobbs Dawg House. The hot dogs are uberly unique, and their french bread cupcake is to die for. (Your blood vessels won’t thank you, but your heart and soul will!)

Excuse me while I go run my life away on a treadmill now.