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How To Lose A Best Friend Without Even Knowing It

Posted on May 17, 2010 by deep · 33 Comments

Update 5/21/10: Bob’s Friends’ Memorial 5/23 Info

Hiking with Bob, Mokelumne Wilderness, July 2003 (courtesy of Eric Arons)

I have developed a few life rules over the years & I have added one more over the past few days:

Rule #1: Avoid Death

New–> Rule #2: Make Yourself Known (Intimately)

Rule #3: Leave Things Better Than You Found Them

…

Rule #23: Avoid Tusks

—

A few days back one of my dearest friends committed suicide. Even writing that still brings tears to my eyes. It’s a very recent occurrence and we are all sitting here struggling – through pain and loss, confusion and anger, and mostly just struggling.

One of the saddest and most instructive things (yes, I MUST try to make some good come from the chaos) of this whole event is that I just lost one of my best friends and I didn’t even know he was one of my best friends.

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Swaran Jawa’s Mattar Paneer Recipe

Posted on May 6, 2010 by deep · 6 Comments

Note: If you want to skip the hype-splanation, and cut straight to the recipe, click here or go down to the “Click HERE for more” below…. Also note that I’ve included a plain text and a plain HTML version as well. I recommend checking back to this page before attempting to cook it, as I plan on updating the recipe from time to time. A short url for this post is:Â http://tinyurl.com/sjawamp

It is done. I have done it. I have perfected my Mom’s Mattar Paneer recipe!

You don’t know what I’m talking about? You don’t know what mattar paneer is? You poor, unwashed, heathen. Wikipedia will tell you that mattar paneer is “is an Indian dish consisting of paneer (cheese) and peas in a sweet and spicy sauce.”

What Wikipedia won’t tell you is:

“Mattar” = “Peas”, “Paneer” = “cheese” (actually, I just updated the Wikipedia article, so it now tells you this 🙂 )
It’s perhaps the single best dish my Mom makes (& she’s quite a cook!)
Paneer is easy-to-make, light, mild, cheese – kinda like a firm cottage cheese, or ricotta cheese in taste (very subtle) and has a texture almost like tofu
Arguments over who got the most paneer were the flashpoint for many battles at the dining room table between my brother and I. Eventually, my parents had to begin a strict equal apportionment regime to reduce conflict.
It is one of my three or four favorite foods.

So you might be thinking “Ok, so it is a recipe, and you can make it. Nice, but no big deal…” This suggests you don’t understand that I CANNOT COOK. What little cooking skills I have, I have learned in order to make this dish (& a few others like it). Seriously: Can. Not. Cook. Googled-to-look-up-how-to-boil-eggs-earlier-this-year.

Get it? And now after years and years of learning and figuring it out, my Mattar Paneer recipe is as good as my mom, Swaran Jawa, makes it. It’s now officially, crazy + delicious. I have been attempting this for years… Many of you have tried it and thought “Oh this is good” – but it hasn’t been – you just didn’t know better. But now, finally it is legit. Soooo good.

I should add that to be able to cook something as good as my Mom is huge for me, as I still have little common cooking sense. This means there are probably improvements, simplifications, and twists that you folks will come up that will take me years to figure out – so please put them in the comments and email them my way. Seriously – it took me literally 2 years of trying this recipe to realize that I could avoid burning the pot by using more oil. Yep. 2 years. (And actually, truth be told, I didn’t even realize it – my esteemed sous chef, Bob, figured it out. THANKS BOB) So feel free to help me learn faster.

Also, I’d like to ask that if you pass this recipe along, just make sure you give credit to my Mom 🙂 she deserves it! (Happy Mother’s Day Mom! AND THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!)

(photo courtesy of Taylor Carrigan)

——

A few notes, before we jump into the recipe:

As my Mom likes to remind me, the two most interesting parts of this recipe can be purchased from an Indian food store: the gharam masala spice mixture and the paneer. I say “Mom, if I wanted to buy Indian food, I’d just go to an Indian restaurant!” But if you are looking to reduce the level of difficulty or time, those are great options. I do say make your own paneer at least once – it is EASY and SOOOO COOL.
If you are expecting this to look and taste just like mattar paneer you get in most Indian restaurants, you will be disappointed. And you will deserve a good flogging. I’ve come across very few Indian restaurants that don’t do a lame job of mattar paneer. Almost all restaurants (even good ones) commit the crime of making the base heavy with cream (bleagh) – even the Wikipedia picture is this style. Bleagh. And second rate restaurants usually skimp on the cheese, and the cheese they do make is not very goodâ€¦ This is the best version of mattar paneer I know, folks & it is not just because it is what I’m used to – the Indians I knew growing up loved my Mom’s version too.
This is best served over basmati rice or with naan bread (lightly toasted pita bread is a good naan substitute – the fluffier the better). I also recommend putting some plain yogurt on it if you are serving it with rice. Yum!
This recipe is in 3 parts, and two of these three parts are the key parts to two of my other favorite foods of all time, my Mom’s rajmah (red beans) and my Mom’s masala chicken! Once you get this down, those other recipes are pretty easy.
Iâ€™ve found that making at least 2x more base than you need & putting half of it in the freezer is the easiest & best way to make this recipe, because the base is the biggest part of the work. If you freeze half, next time youâ€™re most of the way there.
If you can’t do dairy, or are vegan – replace the paneer with tofu. This is commonly done & quite yummy. Also if you can’t do tomato sauce¹ (too acidy for an ex-GF – thanks for all the help Celeste!) you can substitute yogurt – still yummy.
I’ve uploaded a few random scattered pictures I’ve taken through the years – they will help you get a sense of what this all should look like. Hopefully I’ll get around to adding a definitive set someday.
I’ll be updating the recipe from time to time, so check back before you attempt it – it may have been improved. And hopefully, people will leave improvements in the comments.
Do not let the length of the following intimidate you because it is not as complicated as it looks!
This recipe makes about 8 servings. 1 serving is about 450 calories.

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Project Rickshaw First Report: Trials & Tribulations

Posted on March 6, 2010 by deep · 20 Comments

Given my fondness for bikes (the only way to fly!), and my fondness for cute girls, my tandem bike works quite well in my life. But, that being said, I also have a fondness for mini-skirts and high-heels (I know, I know) and things like that 🙂 So what to do?…..

A few weeks ago, the answer dawned on me:

Project Rickshaw!

Step 1: Find an awesome cute girl
(ahem)
Step 1: Find a rickshaw!

I checked Craigslist up and down the West Coast (& a few East Coast cities) and then eBay, and then Googled everything I could think of. Most of the links were about modern pedicabs and the like – but a few were gold, especially after I realized I needed to filter my search to classic Asian ones.* After much Googling I came up with a few different types like these…

Step 2: Find one actually for sale.
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Trikeasaurus 1.0 R.I.P.

Posted on February 9, 2010 by deep · 5 Comments

Trikeasaurus 1.0 is dead. The trailblazing tricycle of my affections can cart sound systems no more. She will be sadly missed. A moment of silence for the beast that sparked many a FlashDance and brought many many smiles to San Francisco (& me!)

(photo courtesy of KayVee.INC on Flickr)

Being a simple recreational trike, she was never really physically capable of the hard riding being Trikeasaurus required, but damn if she didn’t make a good try. Bent seat posts, broken fenders, and now finally, a cracked rear axle have taken a toll.

The cracks* in the axle have more to do with my new speaker-mount rig (super awesomely heavy duty, but alas too heavy) than the trike itself, but it just reinforced the fact that this light duty recreational trike was never designed for the kind of wear and tear I put it through…..

Fear not, Trike-fans! I’ve ordered a new Worksman industrial grade tricycle** to become Trikeasaurus 2.0. Trike 1.0 – we’ll miss ya!

*I’m planning on trying to get the cracks in the axle welded so it can be given/donated/sold to someone as it is still a useful light duty tricycle….

**I’m getting a “Mover“

The NYE Fun? Hell YEAH We Found It!

Posted on January 12, 2010 by deep · 3 Comments

or “‘Deep & Dan’s NYE Bike+Music Ride 2009” (our 2nd Annual roving NYE party!) ….

(Click here to view this video on an iPhone)

You know that feeling you get on New Year’s Eve? Since there are soooo many fabulous parties and options and groups of friends doing various things, it’s hard to figure out what to do! And then you second guess yourself all night: “Am I at the right party – is this going to be the most fun I could be having right now?”

Maybe you’re lucky and don’t suffer from that – but I totally do. Or did.

These last two years, I haven’t had that feeling at all! I’ve finally figured it out! I was right where I wanted to be & had a fantastic NYE. Since I’m a little slow, I actually had to be convinced both times – but both times it turned out to be perfect. And this New Year’s was even more fun than last!

Last year, my friend Dan & I put together our first “New Year’s Eve Bike + Music Ride” with our music bikes & a good number of our friends. Frankly it was a ridiculously good time. So you’d think we would just do it again this year and repeat our supa-fun time.

But somehow, we just couldn’t commit to it. Neither of us were super excited. Neither of us were quite motivated. We had this vague sense that it should/could/probably would happen – but that is not quite enough activation energy to get our selves into gear…

Luckily, our friends insisted. By the night before New Year’s we had agreed. By a few hours before our ride, we were getting seriously excited. About 30 seconds into our ride I realized “Whoah – there is NOTHING I’d rather be doing right now” and it only got better as the night went on.

This year our ride was bigger, but also it was a warmer night and tons of people were out on the street and cheering when we came by (sorry I don’t have more video of that). The cops were tolerant, the streets were full of happy people, we picked up new folks along the way, and entertained MUNI drivers, revelers, skateboarders, and the general public – it was BIG fun. We started at around 8 and biked til 2am!

I can tell you right now what I’ll be doing next New Year’s Eve as long as I’m physically able! You guys should come too! SUPA-FUN! I guarantee it.

(And if you want more video – I posted Dan’s excellent video after the jump – note that some of the footage is the same, but some is different)

.ps
And yes, just like last year I got up super early the next day and made it out to Breakfast of Champions with the Space Cowboys & danced out the morning til I collapsed. I LIKE MY NEW YEAR’S TRADITION!
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Take Back Halloween: Copsmacked but Unbowed!

Posted on December 1, 2009 by deep · 2 Comments

a.k.a. my first attempt to restart large-scale Halloween festivities in SF

Ed. Note:

Ok, it has taken me a month to get around to posting about my Halloween party. LAME. Sorry! I hope some of you (any of you?) are still interested.

If you are just looking for pix of this year’s Halloween costume, check out the previous post … Rowrrrrr! (click here)

Finally, if you wanna skip my blather & see all the pics of the festivities (rather than the select few I’ve used here), I HIGHLY recommend Kevin Kranzky’s pix (& video!) here, and Steve Rhodes pix here – BIG THANKS GUYS!

Also, feel free to send me copy-edits and the like for this post (or any others) – I never have enough time to do a decent job on them! I’d appreciate it!

Courtesy of Steve Rhodes

Late September: David Miles* (a.k.a. “D. Miles” a.k.a. “Skate Godfather”) and I ran into each other and started talking about the need to remake a great Halloween party for San Francisco, in the wake of the demise of the Castro St. festivities.

Early October: My enthusiasm for the idea gets weighed down by my fear of getting smashed by the City and my fear that my Halloween costume will be a huge FAIL.

A week or so later: My continued fear about my costume began to be overpowered by the notion that something BIG and FUN needed to happen to fill the void of the old Castro Halloween. My fear of party failure, however, remained intact.

A week or so later: I realized that to attempt nothing was far sadder than a failed attempt. So, in my mind, it was ON. The biggest question mark was what would the City do if I tried to start a new free public Halloween party, like the Castro, but perhaps, eventually, even better? Would they shut us down? Throw us in the hoosegow? Look the other way? Realize that this was Good Thingâ„¢ and embrace our efforts? There was only one way to know…
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Glamosaur: Halloween 2009

Posted on November 13, 2009 by deep · 3 Comments

(Click here if you just wanna see pix of my costume, or click here if you just want to see “making of pix”)

So my long tradition of ridiculously ambitious Halloween costumes continued this year with my second attempt at a dinosaur (to see more, click here for a quick summary or here for all the pics). I did pretty well – I give it a B-.

(click the picture to see all the pix)

The genesis of this year’s dino, other than my general fascination with the beasties, was the last dino costume, the Deepasaurus (from Halloween 2006). While parts of it worked well (the head!), the totality of the costume left a LOT to be desired. As my friend Peat generously put it at the time “It’s a good 1.0” 🙂 Ironically, just as I was finishing that costume, I realized how to make it much better, and with MUCH less effort!

So now, 3 years later – I tried it.

(click the picture to see all the pix)

What I ended up creating, while much better than Dino 1.0, was a far cry from what I wanted (I made some mistakes!), but still I can’t really complain. It looked great in the end! My costumes are always an iterative process anyway… and I’m pretty happy with Dino 2.0 – The Glamosaur!

Read on if you want to know how I did it…

Continue reading →

The ‘Deep Slate: November 2009 Edition

Posted on November 3, 2009 by deep · Leave a comment

[Ed. Note: 10/31/2015: This “post” was originally an email I sent to my friends on 11/03/2009. I have posted it today in 2015, and backdated for archival/search purposes]

(my apologies if you get this multiple times & if you donâ€™t want to get this type of stuff from me, just let me know)

Hey folks –

Usually, I write two emails for the ‘Deep Slate, one for just the simple list of my voting recommendations & another which is the detailed “whys & wherefores” , however for today’s election that won’t be necessary. The two bits will fit in this handy email 🙂 I’ve included the boilerplate “who I am section” at the bottom for those of you who are receiving this who don’t know me.

Please feel free to forward this far & wide….
————————————-
To find your polling place:
http://tinyurl.com/yfbsg9
——————–

LIST:

A: yes â€“ Move the City to a 2 Year Budget Cycle
B: YES â€“ Add Board of Supervisor Aides
C: No â€“ Sell Candlestick Naming Rights
D: NO â€“ Creates a Mid Market Special Sign District
E: Yes â€“ Block Advertisements on City Property

Treasurer: Jose M. Cisneros
City Attorney: Dennis Herrera

DETAILS:

A: yes â€“ Move the City to a 2 Year Budget Cycle
This measure would change the City’s budgeting process so that every year, they would prepare budgets for the next two years. Thus every year, there would be an “expected” budget for the subsequent year. There are arguments that this would do very little good, but I haven’t seen much to suggest it would make things worse. Optimistically it would add an element of slightly longer term thinking into our budget process. Additionally, it closes a loophole exploited by the Police Union & the Firefighters Union (two of my least favorite) to get special budgeting treatment outside the City’s normal budget process. I say yes.

B: YES â€“ Add Board of Supervisor Aides
This is actually the best and simplest measure on the ballot. The City Charter allows for supes to have only 2 aides & was created in a bygone era when Supes were expected to be part-time & have little to do. That is certainly not today. Supes staff time is stretched way to thin and the quality of work suffers and the job is remarkably taxing. Adding additional aides would be a BIG win for the quality of government in San Francisco. YES.

C: No â€“ Sell Candlestick Naming Rights
This is an attempt to change the City’s prior (initiative) decision to keep the name of Candlestick Park as it is & allow the naming rights be sold. While the city is in DIRE need of cash, this isn’t really a good deal as it gives half the proceeds of the sale to the family who own the 49ers & the rest to the City – even though the City owns the park.

D: NO â€“ Creates a Mid Market Special Sign District
This is bad bad bad for a number of reasons. Even though I’d love to find ways to fix the perennially-blighted mid-Market area, this plan is just bad. It would let a private entity (the business owners, – so no electoral oversight) essentially side step and normal City process to add large scale electronic billboards and keep the majority of the money raised to be used as they see fit. Some portion would be donated to youth programs in the Tenderloin, but that is just the lipstick for this particular pig. Vote NO.

E: Yes â€“ Block Advertisements on City Property
This measure essentially just makes our existing ban on new outdoor advertising enforceable. Vote Yes

Treasurer: Jose M. Cisneros
Cisneros has done some pretty good stuff, esp. in regards to predatory pay-day-loans places . On the other hand, he has yet to take much of a stand about California’s BROKEN budget process, and especially Prop. 13 which is LAME. & But he is unopposed, so go ahead an vote for him (or not.)

City Attorney: Dennis Herrera
Herrera has been a pleasant surprise as City Attorney and has done some pretty good work in many areas, in particular SF’s landmark health care efforts, marriage equality (Prop 8 stuff), and making the City Attorney’s office a professionally run department . I haven’t agreed with his stuff 100% but on the whole, I have been impressed.

——————–
Thanks again to the number of folks who have asked me for my opinions. I know I say it every time but it is quite true: I really am honored. Any questions or flames can, of course, be addressed to me….

Ok – so to figure out how to value (or devalue :-)) my opinions you should know the following:

â€¢ My opinions come from my experience in local politics over the past 13 years & the tons of candidate interviews I’ve done with the San Francisco League of Conservation Voters & the SF Bicycle Coalition & all the lobbying I’ve done at City Hall, etc etc…. As you know I don’t get a dime for this, I’m a software engineer by day, and a political activist in my spare time.
â€¢ The 3 biggest “norths” of my political compass are environmentalism, social justice issues & good government (reform type) issues.
â€¢ I’m President of the San Francisco League of Conservation Voters & on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. While my views are definitely shaped by my activities in these organizations, my endorsements do NOT represent their views.
â€¢ I’m basically an idealist, an optimist, and a humanist.
â€¢ In some of these races it is a matter of picking between flawed options….
â€¢ Ballot measures are REALLY a bad way to govern. Most of the things done in ballot measures SHOULD be done in the normal legislature, where they are easier to fix if they turn out wrong. Another problem is that you have to boil complex issues down to yes/no votes – which rarely is a good idea. But this is what we have, so keep in mind that some good ideas make bad ballot propositions & a lot bad ideas can be made to be sound like good sense in ballot initiative form because the devil is often in the details. And also note that often, these measures are grey – there is often a lot of balancing going on…..
â€¢ 90% of my experience & knowledge is about local issues – so understand that state issues are a little greyer for me unless I say otherwise. Thus, some of the endorsements (as marked) below are taken from compiling what the California League of Conservation Voters, the SF Bay Guardian, and the Sierra Club have had to say.

Parkers Farm Makes Me Reconsider My Atheism: The Best Peanut Butter In The World

Posted on October 17, 2009 by deep · 23 Comments

Note: Numerous updates to this post have been made – see bottom.

Many of you know that there is only one dangerous addiction in my life. I don’t drink, or smoke (bleagh!) or do any of the (frankly, more interesting) substances available. But there is one seriously controlled substance in my life: peanut butter. I luvs me some peanut butter.

I could go on and on explaining that love, but suffice to say there was a point when the young ‘Deep, circa 5 or 6 years old, decided to seek a better parenting opportunity¹ by running away from home. To begin my new life on my own, I carefully chose the three things I’d take with me: a blanket, a spoon, and a jar of JIF Extra Crunchy: I have always been serious about my peanut butter. It is a conscious effort not to eat peanut butter every day of the week².

So about a year & a half ago, I came across this blog post by someone who loves peanut butter even more than I do (shocking! & perhaps a bit scary, actually) & ever since I have been looking for this “Parkers Farm” Peanut Butter of which he speaks. It had been a long and fruitless search and I had all but forgotten, until one day on Facebook, one of my friends mentioned her favorite snack³ & happened to include the brand of the peanut butter involved! I realized that she knew where to find the legendary peanut butter! Woot!

After getting the scoop, I immediately went and bought some. And……. lo! I had been delivered from darkness! It is truly the best peanut butter I have ever had. Whether you like all natural or not, whether you like creamy or not, whether you like sweetened or not, it doesn’t matter. This is IT:

Parkers Farm Peanut Butter
the U.S. Strategic Peanut Butter Reserve (a.k.a. my fridge)

in San Francisco, it can be found at Whole Foods South of Market. [UPDATE 11/23/09: I have been informed that it is also at Whole Foods in Noe Valley & Delessio’s Market near the PanHandle.] All Whole Foods don’t carry it, but here is a link to the Parkers Farm company & I think they have a link to some of the distributors.
It is kept in the refrigerated case (like where they keep cottage cheese and butter.)

If you like mainstream peanut butter (as I do), you’ll find the honeyed ones are where it is at! If you like natural peanut butter, I still think you’ll like the sweeter honeyed ones, but by all means go for the “Plain” if need be. I prefer the “Honey Crunchy”, but the “Plain” is also great & a significantly different excellent experience from the honeyed ones. The “Honey Creamy” is practically as good as the “Honey Crunchy.” There is a “Plain Crunchy”, but they don’t seem to carry it at my Whole Foods.

The second amazing thing about this peanut butter, after the taste, is that it’s ALL NATURAL – and the ingredients are ONLY: peanuts & salt or peanuts, honey & salt (in the honeyed case). WOW.

The third amazing thing is that unlike all other natural peanut butters I’ve tried, the oil doesn’t seem to ever separate! They have some process miracle going on in there. Fascinating. My mind keeps returning to this question – how do they do it?!!!

So, get to it people! You won’t be disappointed! And if you are ever at my house, feel free to ask for a taste spoon. And thus I shall spread The Gospel!

‘deep

^2. Unfortunately, the latest pictures of me suggest that I have been… 🙁 BUT I HAVEN’T – which of course, begs the question “What is the point of gaining weight if you aren’t doing it by getting to eat peanut butter 24/7?” – clearly my life (& my waistline) is amiss! I need to fix that – but the good news is that means more PF Peanut Butter for all of you 🙂 Use it well! â†©

^3. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SHANTHALA!!! And big thanks to my favorite blog Daring Fireball, & ESPECIALLY Davenetics for bringing me to the light.

.ps It is amusing to me that both of my food reviews have taken on biblical tones, and probably heretical ones at that. I’m clearly gonna burn in hell. 🙂â†©

Update 4/19/11 – OPERATION CHICAGO GRAB:

As of 2010 sometime, there are no longer any supermarkets in SF that carry this PB 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 You can bulk order it from MN but it comes with a LOT of packaging and CO2 emissions 🙁 🙁 🙁

We were visiting Chicago this past week & on a hunch I checked a few Whole Foods – sure enough on carried Parkers Farms PB!!! I grabbed 6 tubs (only 1 was honey) & blithely headed to the airport. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to check our bags & I naively hoped I could get it through in my carry on (it was sealed PB!).

Needless to say Operation Chicago Grab was a tragic failure. 6 Tubs! Lost! At least I got the TSA agent to take the PB home with him, rather than just tossing it!

Update 10/12/12 – OPERATION KIMBY GRAB:

Earlier this year, I finally got a hold of someone at the company. They are no longer bulk-shipping and thus the only places you can get this stuff is in the Midwest. 🙁 :-(. At least I don’t have the carbon temptation anymore 🙂

Luckily Kimberly was headed to Minnesota to visit friends. PARKERS FARMS IS IN MINNESOTA!!!!

Operation Kimby Grab was a big success:

2012’s OPERATION KIMBY GRAB: Success – 6 tubs!

Update 9/11/13 – OPERATION FLYING PEANUT BUTTER:

I had a business trip to North Carolina & realized that my return flight connected through Chicago. BWA HA HA!

With a little work online, I extended my layover from 1 hour to 4 hours! With much legwork online & much shenanigans in Chicago (setbacks, resilience, excellent use of public transit (CTA subway FTW!) to avoid rush hour) I bought 22 tubs from a downtown Whole Foods, taped it all up in a box & rushed back to the airport. Peanut Butter checked as baggage!Â

Upon arrival in SF, 4 of the tubs were cracked & there was some spillage, but most were completely intact & nonetheless, there wasn’t a lot wasted. OverallÂ HUGE SUCCESS!

2013’s OPERATION FLYING PEANUT BUTTER: HUGE Success – 22 tubs!

Update 9/14/14 – OPERATION CHICAGO BUTTER: TRAGIC FAILURE

Since it was my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, I had trip to North Carolina & so I booked my tickets carefully so that I had a long (4 hour!) layover in Chciago on the way home, just like last year’s Operation Flying Peanut Butter.

I figured this would be a cake-walk since I had figured out all the logistics last year & written down careful notes.

I packed a cooler on my might out and lugged it everywhere on my trip, knowing that as annoying as it was, it would pay off in spades on the return leg.

Things started going wrong immediately upon arriving at the airport for the flight back via Chicago: They wouldn’t let me get the cooler during the layover. They would *only* check it all the way through to SFO. DAMN, I had lugged it around for nothing. FINE. I would not be denied. I would get a box at the grocery store like last time, tape it up & check it.

Upon arriving in Chicago, the woman at the gate asked me she could switch me to the direct flight leaving right then. I said, “No! I have important things to do during the layover.” 🙂

Seconds later, however, I was dealt a death blow: I called the Whole Foods I went to last year, and they did not carry Parkers Farm peanut butter. WTF? I immediately called all the other Whole Foods I could & none of them did. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. This must have been because of the recall. DAMN YOU LISTERIA.

Devastated, I realized I could at least take an earlier flight (leaving soon after I arrived in Chicago) & avoid sitting around in Ohare airport for the extra hours. I hustled over to the gate & they informed me that I couldn’t jump on that flight since I had to stay with my baggage – the cooler! until it flew out later that night! DAMN YOU COOLER.

So I waited and waited for my flight & then finally made it on & home to SFO. Once at SFO I waited for an hour for my cooler to pop out of the baggage claim. IT DID NOT. I went to the baggage claim desk, where they calmly explained to me that it made it here on the earlier flight. MEANING I DIDN’T NEED TO WAIT IN CHICAGO AFTER ALL.

5 TIMES THE HASSLE. O TIMES THE PEANUT BUTTER. OPERATION CHICAGO BUTTER: TRAGIC FAILURE

Notes for Future Smuggling Operations:

If anyone is flying through Chicago, Minneapolis, or anywhere in the Mid-west & has time to grab some peanut butter for me on the day of their flight, please let me know! Â I’ll do the legwork of finding it, all you’ll need to do is be the Peanut Butter Mule!

Notes forÂ Peanut ButterÂ Mules:

The PB has to be checked baggage (see the tragedy of Operation Chicago Grab above)
Unless you can refrigerate it, it’s important to buy it on the day of your flight to SF.
I will repay you with dinner anywhere in SF & of course reimburse you the cost & baggage charge & whatever else.

Notes for ‘Deep:

Make calls BEFORE booking tickets.
Call all the Whole Foods nearby. Ask for the “Grocery” dept.Â
Ask if they carry it & specifically if they have honeyed & how many. (Many carry it, but some only carry plain varieties and some have both honeyed and plain.)
Note that we have confirmed that the Canal St & Halsted Street locations had both. I went to Canal St (a short walk from Clinton CTA station)

FlashDance 23: Ferry Plaza-riffic

Posted on August 4, 2009 by deep · Leave a comment

(photo courtesy Mike Bolger – check out his blog & pix here)

Saturday Night was our first FlashDance since the mega-over-the-top madness of the special Michael Jackson Memorial FlashDance. And while nowhere near as huge (nor will they probably ever be! 🙂 ) this one was big, simple, low stress, and just kinda perfect…

I was surprised at how many requests for MJ there were (like I don’t play enough! 🙂 )… but also the Bollywood stuff was well….

AWESOME!

Palak, my adopted little sis, with backup support from Kobie & Melissa(?) and an awesome tourist from Paris, busted the above totally impromptu Bollywood extravaganza to “Dhoom taana.” (I hope to have better video of this soon if someone sends it in! – I think a couple of folks shot it!)

I can’t wait for next FD!

click this link for the playlist: Continue reading →