Un-Fairway

Fairway is one of those places where I always think, "I should go there more often." And I schlep there (this time with Luke) and then discover why I don't. Because it's in an area where the people are notorious for being insufferably rude. And they were. They'd stop right in front of me, or push right in front of me. Or look at me like I was a huge inconvenience when I stopped to look at something. Seriously. Rude. AND....the prices were either wonderfully affordable, or insanely overpriced.

But I did have some nice moments in there that resulted in some luxury-type purchases. The coffee guy there was wonderful, pleasant and listened to what I liked and didn't like in coffee. He steered me to a coffee from Panama that I bought a half pound of to test out. He ground it for me and asked what kind of machine I had - I said, "One of those horrible drip machines." He laughed and said "I drink about 10 cups a day, you want to know what kind of coffee maker I use?" Thinking he's going to point the way to coffee nirvana, I nodded eagerly. He held this up:
I was stymied! I have one of them at home! I can't wait to try my new custom-picked coffee in the one-cupper with his no-fail formula (2 full tablespoons of coffee + 6 oz. filtered water = good coffee).

And the cheese counter. Oh man. I could have looked for days. AND they had samples! So I bought some delicious smoked mozzerella that we had on ham sandwiches today and I picked up some Dutch Parrano (which Fairway states is a hip cheese that is a cross between a Gouda and a Parmesan) that I plan to use to make myself a little cheese and cracker snack plate later.

I also bought some halvah which is such a yummy treat that I occasionally let myself be tempted by. My Egyptian brother-in-law says that in Egypt that treated it like peanut butter and slathered it on toast. How crazy delicious does that sound?

So, all in all......not so great. The insane crowds were not worth the little gems I discovered. If I find I can't live without coffee from Panama and cheese from Holland, I'll have to go off-hours.

Or just brace myself to be insufferably rude back.

Britney Spears' Stunt Double
I kid you not. I was waiting (read: held captive) in the waiting room of the OB's office yesterday for an hour. The larger portion of which I was in close proximity of which can only be described as "Britney Spears' Stunt Double". This woman-child (she wasn't older than early 20's) was dressed in torn, stained sweats that were ill-fitting. (I understand, she recently had a baby, but I mean, c'mon, at least find the clean clothes to wear out of the house) She was chewing her gum so loudly that you could hear it in the next office. Tommy got up to give me his chair since the room was packed. After I settled in, she PUT HER FEET ON THE ARMREST OF MY CHAIR. I was thisclose to saying something, but my inner filter kicked in. So I gave her dagger looks (which of course went over her dim witted head). She spoke on her cellphone to her groomer to have the dog ready that evening "Yeah, have her groomed and her nails clipped." I said loudly to Tommy, "Heh, look at that sign right behind you." The one that said, "Cell phone use prohibited in the office." Not soon enough she was taken in and came out and announced loudly to her companion "Well, they said it's infected." Ewwwww. Just when you think it's safe - there's another Britney out there.

An Open Letter to the Patrons of the North Babylon Library Who Borrow DVDs

I know how exciting it must be to borrow new(ish) movies like Spiderman 2 without having to go to Blockbuster.
I know it must really be hard to try to take care of something that isn't yours.
I know it must be even harder to do something simple like take a DVD from its case and carefully put it in your DVD player.
Perhaps you were missing a coaster and needed a flat round object to put your drink on.
Or maybe you lost your frisbee.
Regardless. Those DVDs do not belong to you and contrary to what you might think, other people would like to be able to VIEW the movie once you're done watching/slobbering/chewing on said movie.
The world is not your oyster.