How About a Little Arm Chair Travel?

I know I am not the first to say it, but I am so sick of this cold cold winter. The fastest cheapest way to escape this perma-frost (and those of you who have been to my home know how accurate that statement is) is to let my mind take a little trip.

Some people hear a song or smell an aroma (or odor) and are instantly somewhere else. Me, I taste a certain food, and presto, I am in another place.

The other evening Glenn and I dined at the Mega Coney Island (desperate times call for desperate measures). I ordered, well actually Glenn did too, a gyros with a side of fries. While I stacked the fries on the open faced gyros, I immediately was back in Greece and the year was 1994.

Have you ever had a food experience that is so perfect that all other similar food experiences are measured against it? Gyros in Kolanki Square (Athens, Greece) would be one for me.

Everything, I mean everything about it was perfect. For starters, gyros in Greece, need I say more? Secondly, Kolanki is a very nice part of Athens were everything is clean and cute. The gyros stand was on a pedestrain street that had little bistro tables sitting under twinkle-light festooned trees. I am sure that I went there for lunch on occasion (remember I was there a whole semester), but it is the evening/night visits that easily come to mind.

The standard gyros at this particular stand was stuffed with freshly sliced, perfectly seasoned lamb, homemade tzatzki (the Greeks do not hold back on the garlic, yum!), Mediterranean-sun riped tomatoes and french fries. French fries on a sandwich, as opposed to next to the sandwich was a new thing for me. (As noted earlier, I still prefer my fries on the sandwich.) And, to top it all off - a draught Heineken. Beer at a fast food joint (that was what the gyros stand essentially was) was quite a novelty for the college-aged me! Oh, it was all so good.

I have searched high and low, but a more perfect, or even equal, gyros has eluded me. Athens anyone?

this post is dedicated to my Grecian twin, Jenny T - I hope you are reading this girl!

Aborted Social Experiment

On occasion over the past year I have told people that Glenn and I would not be updating our television/television services to accommodate the February 2009 digital transition. After gazing at me with a puzzled look most people would tell me all the things we could do to continue receiving the new digital television signal.

Yes, cable/satellite is offered in our area. Yes, we know about the government rebate coupon for digital converter boxes.

No, this was not about money or technology. This was going to be our (I mainly mean my)GREAT SOCIAL EXPERIMENT OF 2009. I kept on thinking how great it would be to not be lured into watching something that probably numbed, or maybe even destroyed some of my brain cells. It would be like old times - we would spend our evenings being productive or finding a more "noble" form of entertainment (enter a lot of NPR listening and the viewing of documentaries on DVD). I was so excited to try this out. I even felt a bit proud of my determination.

Oh, we had our critics: "How long do you think it will last?" "How long will your marriage last without TV?"

Like I said, I was bound and determined. My resolve started failing the slightest bit when the "number of days until the digital transition" icon was on the bottom of my TV screen. However, I started to go into panic mode when one of our PBS stations made the transition early. Well, the black hole that appeared where channel 28 used to be really made it hit home. They were not joking or exaggerating - they really took away my signal. O.K., I told myself, be strong, you have a strong enough character to go with out TV. Then, my second PBS station suffered a similar fate. And, for the record, the majority of our TV viewing would be on PBS. The time for strength, determination and principle was over. Getting the new digital signal was my new priority.

In my state of distress I remembered that my parents had an extra (a whole different story) flat screen TV that would probably be able to receive the new digital signal. So, it was, in the end, Mom and Dad who saved the day. Yes, I am happy to report that the new TV, does, indeed, receive the digital signal.

But, it is even better than that. There is a whole world of digital only stations that I can now view. It's kinda a hybrid of old school TV and cable/satellite. Depending on the time of day and the weather, I have been able to get a station called RT (Russia Today, just in case you want/need to know the weather forecast for any major Russian city), a similar station devoted to India and my current favorite a PBS special station called Create (a bunch of how-to shows).


Man I am in H-E-A-V-E-N - so much for my great social experiment!

I've Finally Done It - My (Blog) Inauguration

I have been thinking of doing this (writing a blog) for a while. Others have been urging me a little more strongly than I have been urging myself. When I signed up for a certain blog subscription I had to create a google account. While doing so, I was given the chance to create a blog. I figured if I could create a blog within my limited computer attention span, I would do it.

I have no idea what this is really going to look like. I have very little technology in my life. I do almost all of my internet surfing at the public library and do not own a digital camera. The thing that I (and probably everyone else) really likes about certain blogs are the photos. We'll see how into this I become and maybe, just maybe I'll take the digital plunge!