Vegans

I'll preface this post by stating that I have no qualms with vegans. Everyone is entitled to eat what they want, and I surely don't want anyone telling me what I should and shouldn't be eating.  But I will say that in my opinion, vegan is just a euphemism for pain in the ass. 
I think it would be interesting to go the opposite way and be a straight carnivore. Nothing but meat.  A meatatarian... Imagine going to the restaurant and saying "I have an 'anything but meat' allergy" and see what happens.  "well we have steak...chicken..." "okay, is that chicken breaded? I don't want any breading on that... is it fried? because I don't want to use any vegetable oil or corn oil or canola oil.. but you can fry it in chicken fat only." "excuse me, this steak has peppercorns on it... i specifically said i am against the unethical treatment of pepper plants. Was this marinated in soy? It can only be marinated in bacon grease."  There is a piece of parsley on my plate!

North 28th gets Stephen Powers art piece

Overall project

Look at that art piece!

Our North 28th project at, you guessed it North 28th Street, in Brewerytown got a sweet new art installation by noted artist Stephen Powers.  You may recognize his work riding along the Market Frankford El trains. He did all the Philly love letters.  I'm not sure what this particular piece is about, but it looks to me like it's some sort of engagement. Guy on one knee with a pizza? Or is that an abstract diamond?  Either way, it's still pretty cool.

Designer rugs

I don't know how or why I thought about this the other day, but  I did.  People have those bear skin rugs with the heads still on.  I think it would be cool to have a giraffe skin rug.  Those long spindly legs and that long neck could make a nice stair runner.  Think about it. 

No Questions Asked

My bike was stolen off my front porch yesterday along with two of my neighbors bikes.  Pretty ballsy to steal something off my front porch, especially when a lot of my neighbors are home all day everyday. But I have a feeling I know who it was.  I've felt like my house was being staked out a few days ago by some thug kids. By thug kids I mean kids in their early twenties with no jobs.  I want to post some "Stolen bike" signs around my neighborhood and post a reward... no questions asked. Then first thing I would do if someone came forward to return it is ask them why they stole it.  I'd be like, i was kidding about the no questions asked part.... and the reward part.  And then punchasize their face... for free.

Supermarket shopping

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I love supermarket shopping.  I love to eat, and a store that is full of food is right up my alley.  All the possibilities! I have to admit though that I kinda hate Wegman's.  Sure it has quality food, and the cheese selection is great and their seafood is better than other supermarkets.  But I can't stand their aisle arrangement. It takes me twice as long to find the things I usually buy. For one, it's not laid out logically like a normal supermarket with like things near each other, or things that complement each other next to each other. Like they have peanut butter and jelly listed on the aisle markers. They shouldn't do that.  The aisle markers should only be for categories, such as Condiments.  Peanut butter and jelly needs to be with all the other condiments like ketchup, and mustard, or they should have some near the bread aisle. Good luck finding anything.
Anyway, I am getting tired of the "foodie" culture.  The other day I went to Talula's Garden in the city.  It's a fancy-schmantzy place on Washington Square that serves great local fare. I was just really put off by all the food stories the waitress was telling us, like "this cheese is locally sourced from free range cows in lancaster county where the farmer milks his own cows and goats and they are hormone free, and we get them once a week by a little old amish guy"  But every cheese had a story.  I was waiting for her to tell me that the "cheese had a good time on it's way here, and likes nothing more to be spread onto bread gently by a tiny cheese knife, and just can't wait to be eaten."

But going back to the point, I saw this in the bagel aisle and was put off by it. "Ancient grain?" ancient grain my ass. I wanted to ask how old it was.  Is that in bagel years? Aren't all grains pretty ancient? As far as I know, my ancestors were eating all sorts of grains 3,000 years ago. Just because you were eating Wonder Bread up until 3 years ago doesn't mean I was.

Biggie smalls

"Earth day was the worst day.... now we sip champagne when we thirstay!"

Baller

As far as vacations go, this one didn't feel like much of a vacation.  This was hard work for an out of shape slug like me.  I wouldn't recommend a trip to Peru to many people; maybe world class athletes, adventure seekers and masochists. The Inca trail was awesome though. 26 miles of stairs... 14000 feet in the air; stairs up, and stairs down. Amazing that people could build that trail out of huge stones in that terrain using no animals or iron tools. The reward of Machu Picchu at the end made it worthwhile.

in case you didn't know where it was on a map.

some girl and her llama

a band rolled through cusco

the last 400 feet of a 6000 ft ascent

surreal

our crew. john, brittany,will,dan, sarah, me