Oh my god…I really would like for her to stop this madness. While I understand the principle idea of what she’s doing, she simply isn’t playing for the team, dammit.

Here’s a quote from the other day:

“Now is not the time for our party to have a dialogue about which states should count. We cannot move forward as a united party if some members are left out. I want to be sure all 50 states are counted and your delegates are seated at our convention. Join me in making sure your voices are raised and heard.”

However, earlier on, when all of this stuff went down with Florida and Michigan, she said:

“It’s clear this election [Michigan is] having is not going to count for anything. I personally did not think it made any difference whether or not my name was on the ballot.”

This whole ‘contradictory statement’ thing is becoming a pattern, and that makes me a little scared forwhat we might have in store if she were to become President.

Pack it up.

Some of you may wonder just where I have dissappeared to. Never fear…I have not dissappeared. I have merely been pre-occupied mainly with something I did not expect myself to be pre-occupied with…and that would be yelp.com

I think it all started when I wrote about Torchy’s Tacos. It has gone downhill since then.

For those of you that don’t know, yelp.com is a user-driven review site/social network that allows one the opportunity to voice opinions about places…doctors, stores, restaurants…to other people. The whole ‘wisdom of the masses’ mentality for the Web shines full force here, and I’ve been enjoying writing reviews of restaurants I’ve been going to. I figure that I do my fair share of eating in restaurants; I consider myself fortunate to be able to do that. I know some people have to really make the time and effort to go out to eat. Therefore, I thought I might knock out two birds with one stone and do some reviews so I can:

1) Write a little more because I sure like writing and…

2) Pass on my experiences to those who might be looking for a well-deserved night out so they can hopefully avoid the swill

God, I’m so noble.

Besides yelp-ing…I’ve been playing GTA IV…probably one of the greatest games in the history of video gaming. I say that with full confidence and absolutely NO sarcasm whatsoever. There is something pretty amazing about this one that few games manage to capture. Violence, insanity, sexual innuendo and general bad stuff aside, I can pretty much promise you there hasn’t been a more fully realized non-contrived video game character than Nico Bellick. He’s a complicated person. And he’s further complicated by what you choose to put into him and put him through. The stats say I’m approximatley 11% of the way through the game, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. I’m excited to see where it takes me.

And then a friend of mine at work got me started back on WoW. That’s all I’ll say about that. As a matter of fact, that’s what I’m going to go do now…

In the meantime, if you want to see what I’ve been writing on yelp, go here. You’ll hopefully get a chuckle or two…

For several years, I have avoided the Blackberry phenomenon. It’s a little weird because I have been known to enjoy the gadgets. But really, when it comes down to it, I’ve never liked the thought of being ‘connected’ and accessible 100% of the time. I’ve also always thought that a phone should just be left to being a phone. I don’t need anything super-fancy. It just has to be kind of cool looking and usable.

Then I started my new job where they pay for me to have a Blackberry…

At first, I wasn’t so OK with that because of the reasons stated above. Not only that, but I started thinking about ‘those people’ in meetings where they have their BB in one hand and they are half paying attention and how annoying that can be. I don’t ever want to be one of those people.

Now that I’ve had it for a several weeks, I’m actually figuring out that it’s a pretty useful tool, and if you use it right (like anything else) it can be something that increases your productivity and communications quite a bit.

I’ve noticed is that it actually suits my communication style a little better as well. I don’t like the phone very much at all. I make it a rule for myself to make phonecalls as little as possible, and when I am on the phone, I tend to want to cut to the chase pretty quickly.

When you’re on the phone, you’re on the spot to come up with something to say right then and there. When you’re e-mailing or BB Messaging or texting, you have some time to think about what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. It forces you to be concise as well, and that’s something I’ve had to work on for a while. I’ve been known to send out some monster e-mails…

The only thing that I’m even mildly annoyed with is the fact that, when someone e-mails me or communicates with my via BB, I feel the need to be responsive. I’m a firm believer in the idea of unplugging and unwinding so your brain has a chance to recover from the rigors of a work-week. I guess I don’t have to be responsive 100% of the time. Nobody is holding a gun to my head saying that I will be executed if I’m not super-fast on the draw. I suppose that if you are 100% responsive, you are setting yourself up for some small amount of failure in that you are creating the expectation, the appearance, that it’s just fine to ask you to do things anytime, anyplace, anywhere. That’s not fair to yourself, and to some degree, it’s not fair to the other person because you get it in your head that if you are going to be available, then they should be available too when they might not necessarily want to be.

In a world where things are becoming increasingly more and more ‘on-demand’ we need to be cognizant of the effect this has on our relationships with others. We need to be understanding that people are people are people, and that just because they have the tools to be reachable 24/7, that doesn’t mean we should abuse it or take advantage of it. Afterall, the world isn’t going to end if that Sujnday e-mail isn’t sent until Monday. Or maybe it’s that you can choose to send out the e-mail, but don’t unfairly expect a response if until a reasonable hour.

So for now, I’ll view it as a nice tool that my company has bestowed upon me and hope that everyone is just as thoughtful as I will try to be when it comes to a reasonable amount of communication.

The same guy also did Pole Position, Pong & Space Invaders. Pretty cool, though he must have quite a bit of time on the hands…

Today, friends, was a breakthrough in culinary happiness

We’re not just talking, like, “That was some fine cuisine” good. No…no…that’s just way to little. We’re talking, “Oh my dear sweet god…there has never been, and there never will be, similar foodstuffs that could come anywhere close to the goodness of what I just put into my belly.”

That is what I experienced today at Torchy’s Tacos…pure culinary genius. Little (but big for tacos) bundles of pure heaven served within shining sheaths of aluminum foil.

I truly believe that if I all of a sudden died right after eating these tacos, I would have died one of the happiest individuals on the planet. I would have died thinking, “I have experienced Taco Nirvana.”

If heroin is the true drug connoisseur’s “Drug of Choice”, then I would have to say that these tacos are one above that.

If I could direct inject them into a vein, I would happily tap a vein or five and start pumping away.

I hope my point is made.

Torchy’s is located on West 6th street in the parking lot of a restaurant called ‘Woodrow’s’. Note that I said in a parking lot; these glorious little bastards are served from a trailer. A new friend at work told me about it, and I was excited. These are TACOS we’re talking about…and who can’t get excited about tacos in Austin?…especially when you’ve been taco-deprived for most of the years of your life.

But I had no idea that I’d basically be falling in love.

I ordered a breakfast taco with potatoes, egg and cheese and a Green Chili Pork Taco, flour tortilla (instead of corn) hold the cilantro, please. Upon getting back to the office and sitting at my desk, I promptly unwrapped the breakfast taco. I was surprised at the fact that it wasn’t completely soggy and gross as I had just walked about 5 blocks to get back. I also got waylaid for about 10 minutes at CVS because they didn’t have enough cashiers. But that’s a different story…

I noticed they put some green chili salsa and what I think was green chili queso in with the bag. I threw the salsa on but decided to save the queso for the other taco.

Within my first bite, I recall seeing Jesus. In person. Dressed in a nicely cut wool suit. With really pimp looking sunglasses. He was pointing at me saying, “Son, that is the best taco you’ve ever had, right?”

Right.

It was the kind of experience where you feel like every bite is magical, like you want to savour it as if it were going to be the last bite of something you ever take. Everything was in its place and as it should be…a beautiful greasy mix of eggs, potatoes and cheese all glommed together in one of the tastiest (most likely 100% lard based) tortillas ever.

After finishing the first, I quickly moved to the second…the Green Chili Pork Taco. This one was something special because I am a green chili fiend. And even though we live in Texas, green chili just isn’t as prevalent as I thought it would be. But here we had it ready and available in a taco, ready to be consumed with much vigor.

After dumping some of the green chili queso AND the remainder of the green chili salsa, I took a bite. Again, Jesus, standing there in the wool suit, pointing at me with a smile and saying, “Son, I sinned. I lied to you. But that’s OK because I’m Jesus. That first taco was child’s play. This one you’re eating now…THIS one is the best taco you’ve ever had, right?”

Right.

I’m not even going to try and explain how good this thing was because, honestly, I don’t think there are any words to describe it. Let’s just say that my life has changed. I now know that not all tacos are anywhere NEAR created equal.

If you haven’t been and you live in Austin, I need for you to stop what you’re doing right now and go there. NOW. Go there and eat a taco as if your life depended on it.

If you haven’t been and you don’t live in Austin, do yourself a favor and buy a plane ticket to come down and have lunch there.

You will be happy.

Here’s the menu for you. I’ve been told that The Trailer Park, extra trashy (read “take the lettuce off and smother the thing in lots of queso) and the Ranch Hand are unbelievable. If they are better than the two that I had, then I’m note quite sure that my taste buds would be able to take it without my head spontaneously combusting.

Why are you still reading this? Go now.