Thursday, November 29, 2007

TANSTAAFL

TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. From the 1966 novel The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.

Is there really such a thing as a "free lunch"? Before you run away from this post - no, this is not about economics. Or is it?!

TANSTAAFL means that a person or a society cannot get something for nothing. (wiki)

A few months ago when I was looking for a new career/life/path/money making scheme, of course Google was on my long list of potential employers. It the hip company to get into. It's huge, innovative and has a LOT of money. It's on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work for. Wow. KIND of a big deal. The unconventional, young, fun culture is what we often hear about. We hear of the perks, the unique google "style", and its invoativeness. I was intrigued of course, who wouldn't be?! You'd be crazy to not want - climbing walls, razor scooters, swimming pools, free car washes, laundry service, gyms, and extensive cafeterias (if you can even call it that) with guest chefs every week, as your perks? OK most of those things are only in the Mountain View Campus in California, but wow. Just wow.

So being in search marketing, I work with search engines - mainly google and yahoo. I got a little tour of google NY yesterday as well a taste of their famous meals. The hallways were lined with serving containers of M&Ms, trail mix, chips, and random snacks and I have to gratuitously mention the razor scooter parking lot. As you walk into their cafeteria three men were putting on their google chef whites at their lockers, walls were lined with previous guest chef pictures and stats and then...the unveiling. Not just food made in the back room by microwaves and makeshift grills. Chefs making food right on the spot. All kinds of stations. Grill station, pasta, vegetarian, salad, sides, dessert, and I thought I was hallicunicating when I saw the gelato stand.

A good deal huh? Free lunch!! or is it. You have all the comforts of home - at work. That can be nice - until you realize on your way back to your desk from eating your free dinner that the office has become like home. Like a second home. Maybe that was the intention. Dazzle with the intentions of cutting down lunch time by having employees eat IN instead of taking long lunches and provide dinner for many a late nights. Just a theory. Maybe the unconventional company is a little more conventionally corporate than I once thought. After even working with google for a little bit, you realize that it IS very corporate, being that it's all about the money. But in their defense, you have to be super occupied with money when you're growing so quickly. Plus, I really enjoyed lunch!

mL

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Melp

Brandy Library
25 North Moore St
New York, NY 10013

The name pretty much implies it all. It is nothing like anywhere I've ever been. This is the opposite of a college bar in the basement of a dilapidated building serving communial drinks out of a bowl. You know what I'm talking about ahem 'the rat' ahem . It was refined. Leather chairs. Dark mahogony shelves. A bartender with suspenders and an arm band. It's like an old time gentlemen's bar. The problem remains: I can't drink, nor do I wish to sit and "enjoy" a great whisky. I didn't want to blow my spot and tell them that the only whisky's were taken shot style (once in a boot shaped shotglass). So, I figure I would experience the experience - partake in the old age tradition of having a real drink. I asked my fellow drinkers who are huge fans of the "BL" what I should take as a beginner drink. I had an Italian scotch. I never thought I'd ever say that. But my first taste couldn't be described better than with the word: brutal. It was shocking, warm, thick, and burned. It burned my lips, tongue, cheeks, and throat...basically everything. It was pretty vile - not really my style. Not saying it its bad. I guess it really is an acquired taste. On a positive note - it was really fancy and the food was pretty tasty.

Melp

This is my version of Yelp. My daily usage of this site proves much more helpful than books like Zagat. "Real People. Real Reviews"

The Tasting Room
264 Elizabeth St
New York, NY 10012

Hidden on a this small dark street, you can walk by this restaurant thinking that it's either closed or not even notice it. The inside decor is somewhat "barn-like" but in a quiet, dim lighted way that makes it trendy. Our table was kind of messy looking, like it actually belonged in a barn and instead of chairs, I felt we should have been sitting on a long bench. The other tables however were very nice dark wood. I guess for large parties it's hard to find a matching long table. There is quite a big selection of wines and knowing nothing about wine, I opted out for a salty dog, which is some grapefruit, vodka concoction with sugar and salt. Holy salt batman - all over the outside of the cup. The drink though was very tasty. Later we had a Hungarian dessert wine, Tokaji, which was by far the sweetest wine I've ever had. In true Melissa style, I felt the need to water it down, but I realized that was probably a socially unacceptable move.

to Start: Foie Gras "en Torchon"
Molasses Gastrique, Beets, Scallion
to Continue: Muscovy Duck Breast
Okinawan Sweet Potato, Mustard Greens, Pears
to Finish: Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Crème
Molasses, Bourbon, Coconut Macaroons

Let's not lie - ordering Foie Gras seems a bit pretentious but the book I'm reading got me intrigued. I imagined a liverwurst kind of taste in a pâté form but surprisingly, it was sweet. Unfortunately I was in a salty mood (despite the drink), damn molasses. I could have just eaten a bag of chips and been pretty happy. There goes any kind of classiness I could have otherwise faked. I actually felt less cultured than usual as I enjoyed the pâté less and less until I resorted to just eating the toast.

The Muscvoy Duck or duck from the region in west central Russia or Moscow, tasted like duck from northern queens or Flushing. Four quarter inch slices of duck breast with a layer of fat atop it and a crunchy skin. The slightly rubbery rareness of the meat warranted a walk through history on how you can eat raw bird. I'll believe it - I'm still stomachache free as of now. I actually did enjoy the duck despite everything - I could have eaten more. The Japanese mashed below it was sweet which once again made me crave salty boxed mashed potatoes. The mustard greens (which at the time I thought was spinach) were deliciously salty but only lasted 3 leaves as the portions was really small and my appetite was really big.

The finishing touch was a thick chocolate pudding-like creation with three neatly laid out macaroons. I guess I'm supposed to say something like, "How decadent" but in this case, I might have to go with "eh". Not to say that it wasn't good but it was a bit much, in a way I cannot describe. There was a cheesecake shared with me (see: stolen)that was absolutely great. Light but not too light, fluffy but not to fluffy, cheesy but not too cheesy...the perfect after dinner dessert.

overall - The best part was the stolen cheesecake. I left wanting a greasy burger.

mL

Friday, November 16, 2007

Groupie Love


My boyfriend: Christofer Olofsson
Languages: English, Spanish, Swedish
Hometown: Jönköping, Sweden
Talents: Piano, Singing, showing his beer belly
Where we met: Paris, France
Our first date: he sang to me
Nicest gift: he built me a tree house
Relationship issues: long distance, having to compete with his 28 friends

~Love is a feeling that we don't understand - but I'm gonna give it to ya~

mL

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

International train

the purple 7
Manhattan to Queens Express
mariachi band

Monday, November 12, 2007

I am a blogger

Hi, my name is Melissa and I am a bogger.

I feel that there used to be a stigma around blogging/bloggers. Maybe it still prevails but being that I am now what one might call a blogger (hence the blogspot.com in the URL) it is for your everyday people, as far as I'm concerned.

What kind of stigma surrounded bloggers? Lets see... Computer obsessed. chatroom frequenter (a/s/l?). nerd. pocket protector. Counterstrike fanatic. enough stereotypical descriptors, I hope I did not offend anyone. The bad connotative nature of a typical blogger has diminished some for many a reason.

History lesson: It all started with so called "escribitionists" - which is a person who keeps a diary or journal via electronic means and in particular, publishes their entries on the www - coined in 1999 (wikipedia). These so called blogs were being maintained manually but in time, ease of use tools were created. This made it feasible for a larger pool of non technical users to create their very own fancy schmancy blog. This started to change the demographics of people now blogging. Popularity increased in 1999 and by 2001 everyone's whole life story began to appear on the endless web abyss. Everyone has something to say - and now they have a channel to do so. It had spread all over; from news, to corportations, to politics, to consumer sites. The Iraq War was the first "blogwar" where Iraqi bloggers created "warblogs" to spread their experiences and realities. Presently, its easier than ever and more mainstream than John Mayer.

Why do I have one? It's the thing to do - obviously. Honestly, I can't say. I would have amputated my right arm sooner than joining xanga but suddenly, here I am - google brainwashed with some free time. BaM Melee of Voices was born. I want my eProps! To Wiki's point - the tools given to us are unlimited. What did I need to do to set this bad boy up? Enter my google id/password, pick a template and start typing.

So here I am - using this blog. I ...am ...a ...blogger.

mL

Thursday, November 8, 2007

what's a blog?

Greetings - Noobie here.

Well you're looking at the product of a very bored night and a few too many voices in my head trying to break free (hence the title of this blog).

If you are expecting deep thoughts, revelations or self enlightenment please adjust your expectations. You are in for: random thoughts, complaints, insignificant observations, a haiku thrown in here and there, possible bad suggestions/recommendations, current habits and obsessions, and anything you can possibly imagine. I don't fancy myself to be a good or even creative writer, so adjust your expectation further. Unfortunately, there will be no fancy rhetoric or soliloquies.

As of yet, I do not have any type of theme for this blog - but I guess that's the beauty of it, you don't know what to expect. Possibly nothing, for this might be the first and last post. Like a shiny new toy, this might bore me in a good 3.82 days and get thrown out like another bad piece of web trash.

This is mostly to entertain myself. At times of reflection, at work, at times of boredom, etc. Feel free to comment - it is encouraged. It will further entertain me.

This is already getting lengthy for a first post.

mL
(i will also sign each post as if I weren't the ONLY one with permissions to post on this site)