Restaurant of the Week

Just because it might be where we eat dinner tonight (and because it's pretty good):

El Paso Taqueria [1642 Lexington Ave. (at 104th St.) 212-831-9831]
Head to the Upper Upper East Side for some delicious guacamole and tacos at reasonable prices. Throw in a mango margarita and you'll have the full experience. I had three tacos, one each of chicken, beef, and pork and was pretty full afterwards for just $8. Although I normally prefer pork tacos, I would say that the beef (Bistec) was my favorite one here. Of course, El Paso also offers all the other classic Mexican dishes and the Burrito de Hongos (mushrooms) is a solid vegetarian option.

Best Blog Post Ever?

We miss you Lester.

My first disappointment about China

I will not get to see Mao's body inside its crystal sarcophagus. Let's hope that when the bloggers take that inevitable trip to Anna Nicole's grave, we are not treated with the same lack of respect.

I've got company

I was just watching Freak Show and guess who makes a cameo signing baseballs for "1 Night Only" at the Imperial Viennese Glaucoma Ball? That's right, Marquis Grissom! I couldn't be happier for Marquis and perhaps if Comedy Central keeps showing reruns of this episode at 3:00 AM on Tuesdays, I can get a few more readers.

Gothamist inspired by Marquis?

Check out the picture from their recent post about the cold weather.

Look familiar?

Training the Kid

I was very impressed by his TV watching habits, particularly the fact that he knew about Mr. Show! I was less impressed by his math abilities. But I think that the pressure of me staring him down might have made a difference. I can be pretty intimidating.

Spot On

This wonderful article reminds me of a comment I once wrote about Everybody Loves Raymond: "Relax, I just wanted to tell you that I love that one where Raymond does something marginally wrong like going to play golf with his friends and his wife gets angry at him and his mother interferes somehow."

The nuts:

In the revised episode, taped late last week and scheduled to air in May, Remini's character Carrie Heffernan, the sharp-tongued but beautiful wife of portly Queens delivery man Doug Heffernan, will reveal to her husband she was pregnant and had an abortion without his knowledge. Carrie's revelation comprises the secondary, or "B," story of the episode, in which Doug eats a meatball sandwich against his wife's wishes...

"Leah did some brilliant acting," said Krespie, who called Remini's portrayal of a woman who had recently had an abortion "spot-on." "Our show does a lot of quiet, observational humor, and I think anyone who's had an abortion would be hard-pressed not to relate to, and get a chuckle out of, Carrie's situation."

Update (3/7/07): For some reason, I cannot find this article anywhere on the Onion web site! Was it taken down or is it just missing? The link above goes to another article. Can someone look into this for me?

Update (3/13/07): Thanks to Anonymous' comment, I now see that they put the article back up, but with generic names. Incredible! CBS/The King of Queens must have gotten really pissed off about it and forced the Onion to take it down. Luckily, anyone who reads this blog knows the real story.

Schiavo

Nice to see Terri back in the blogs, but this could definitely have been weirder and funnier.

The End of an Era

What I used to call Home Sweet Home:

Stumbling on Happiness

Tom, you only think that getting paid a million dollars to do your job would make you REALLY happy. Your mind is playing tricks on you. Read Dan Gilbert's wonderfully enjoyable book.

Iraq: Q & A

A very informative look at the situation, focusing on the insurgency.

Thanks Dan.

Restaurant of the Week

After having just eaten here again on Wednesday, I figured that I would recommend Caracas again. It's delicious. And they have good fruit drinks as well.

Caracas Arepa Bar [91 E. 7th St. (bet. 1st Ave. and Ave. A) 212-228-5062]
From what I have read, this tiny place might be the only authentic Venezuelan restaurant in the city (except for its To Go sister cafe next door). Caracas offers a variety of Venezuelan specialties, but the arepas (think stuffed english muffin, but made of corn flour) are the signature dish. Along with my assistant, I tried the De Guasacaca (guacamole and cheese), the Reina Pepiada (chicken and avocado), and the De Pabellon (beef, black beans, plantains, cheese). All the fillings were fresh and tasty. The arepas themselves were very good as well. They were a little too hard for me the first time I went, but the second time, the arepa consistency was just right for my delicious La Del Gato. For appetizers, start with the Guasacaca (Venezuelan Guac) and the Yoyos. All in all, Caracas will offer you a great meal for a great price.

One Week

T-minus 7 days until the blog party chez Nostra/Lucy. There will be haikus, the #1 post of 2006, and many bloggers. Apocalypto might be on in the background.

New Kid on the Block

This coming Monday, I will be training an intrepid NYU Senior to do my job on a part-time basis for the next couple of months (while I am getting a new job and traveling in China). I hope that he has the "right stuff" to take on all of my responsibilities, which should be fairly minimal now that it's the off-season. This will be my first real exercise as an authority figure at work. Should be interesting.

Self-Reflection

As part of the unpacking process here at the new Berger residence, I have been looking through my old notebooks and tests and teacher evaluations. These stretch as far back as the 1st grade and they have gotten me to think about what might have been for me...although then again, I'm still doing pretty decently for myself, so this is a pretty conflicted post.

For example, last night I stumbled upon my second grade ERB scores. I scored in the 99th percentile on that test. Apparently my math and reasoning skills were at a 6th grade level! Then I saw my 6th grade math tests. My average score was a 104 (but then again, I was ready for that stuff in 2nd grade). Why did I stop taking math in college? That was dumb. But anyway, one reason why I seemed so smart back then was that my competition was so much worse. In those days, I was in a class of 100 in a school of 1,000 that was generally pretty smart, but had its share of mediocre students. By the time I got to Yale, I was studying with 5000+ of the smartest people in the entire world (well, mostly...), a large number of whom had probably been in that same 99th percentile all their lives as well. All of a sudden those 104s didn't look so amazing. So during college and since graduation, I've had a lot more humility about my intelligence, which is certainly a good thing (although I still know that I'm wicked smart). I have a much better sense of the many people out there who are more intelligent than myself. But at the same time, seeing these past accomplishments has rekindled a bit of competitive fire in me and has made me think about striving to use the intelligence that I have to do some more productive things. Most of all, I know that I really need to work harder to be more successful. I hope it lasts.

Too bad life isn't an algebra test.