Our Long National Nightmare has Ended

Update: I found Angostura Bitters at QFC yesterday! Huzzah!
Mood: Enjoying a Manhattan

Mars

I'm not against trying to go to Mars. I mean, why not? I say, let's go there and feed all the starving people in the world. It doesn't have to be an either/or, does it?

I would be a lot more excited if there was a guarantee of giant monsters, or at least the ruins of a dead civilization. But as everyone knows, all the sexy space maidens are on Venus.

Awesome album alert!

This great out-of-print album is available for download here now. Get it while you can!

Side 1
01 Games People Play
02 Take A Letter Maria
03 Traces
04 Sunshine Superman
05 Hung Up Being Free
06 Spinning Wheel
07 She's Leaving Home

Side 2
08 Happy Together
09 The Windmills Of Your Mind
10 Requiem: 820 Latham
11 Into Something
12 Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head
13 You've Made Me So Very Happy
14 A Time For Us (Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet)

Bonus track from US edition
15 Catch A Robber By The Toe

Bad Martini Anxiety Dream

Last night I dreamed that one of my supervisors at work, Dr. V, announced she was going to treat the 'team' to a martini at a fancy hotel bar to celebrate finishing a project. I'm not that much into work socializing, but I went along with it, since I'm not the type to turn down a good free martini. I invited Beebo and a couple of other people along, figuring I could get my drink and then wander off to their table hang out with them.

After work, we get to the lounge, which is a large, fancy old-fashioned room like this photo:

(Copley Plaza Oak Bar, Boston)

and I find that, contrary to my expectations, we're not going to sit down in the swank chairs and wait for the cocktail waitress to come around and take our orders. Instead, in one corner of the room there has been set up a long fold-out event table with a bunch of drink fixings set out on it. It's got a couple of 1.75 liter plastic bottles of inexpensive domestic gin and vodka, a couple of lemons, and a jar of small olives, like what you'd find at a drug store's food section. This is where our celebratory martinis are coming from, not from the real bar. And to make matters worse, the mixologist will be Dr. V! One thing I don't really like is an amateur martini, and I have no faith that the doctor can make a competent one.

I'm looking around, trying to figure out if I can just slip over to my friends' table and order a real drink, but Dr. V says "Hey [Foulard], come over here if you want your martini!", and I have to comply. I request my normal gin up with a twist, and look back a moment later to see that a disturbing 'dirty martini' is being made. It's a cocktail glass stuffed with mashed-up bits of olive. "You've got to let it steep" Dr. V says, but I manage to correct her and then get a passable martini of the kind I requested, and eventually I drift over to Beebo & Co.

I think this dream is definitely influenced by my discomfort at work-related events, since they tend to be dreary (with a few exceptions), and my dislike of having to stand in line to get served. Most of the time I'd rather pay more to have a good experience. As far as martinis go, I can make one at home that's as good or better than most places, so I'm very picky.

Foulard loves...

..old European grooming products that haven't changed their packaging since the 1970s. They're usually pretty good, are relatively inexpensive, and give me that "George Lazenby as 007" feeling.

Louie and Michael, the repetitive racers

On this season of The Amazing Race, there are very few contestants that I actually like. Other than 'The Cowboys', my feelings range from indifference to active dislike--which is fine, because I don't care as much about who wins. Two contestants who have been working their way over from neutrality to hostility for me are Michael and Louie, the police detectives from Providence, R.I. In addition to their less-jovial-than-advertised personalities, I have found Michael's limited repertoire of catchphrases extremely grating. Here's a summary:

Louie, as you can see, is not the big talker of the duo. You could play a drinking game based upon waiting for one of Michael's little phrases--as Beebo pointed out, it's like waiting for the expressions 'fairy tale', 'princess' and 'falling in love' on The Bachelor.

Feel the Quality