Perfectly Good Baby Names My Wife Has Vetoed
- Joseph
- Howard
- Frank
- Santana
- Albert
- Buck
- Frano
- Ahab
- Whistle
- Abednego
She’s OK with “Zinzan” though.
Archive for the 'Journal' Category
Time for a Little Tipple
I went to a bottle store yesterday to pick up some beer. I was in a bit of a hurry so I just quickly grabbed a 30 pack of Heinekens from the shelf. As I picked it up I thought it felt a little on the light side. Not enough weight in it to be two and a half dozen beers. When I took a look at the box it seemed to me that it didn’t really seem big enough to have 30 beers in it either. After a couple of minutes of puzzled inspection I figured out that it was a 30 pack of 7 oz bottles. Seven ounces!. I have never seen these before in the United States. Maybe they are some sort of Pennsylvania-only phenomenon. I don’t know. I just have no good explanation for it.
The Parthenon
There is a full size replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee (“Athens of the South”). In some ways it is more impressive than the original Parthenon. It is in much better condition than the original, for example. Also, inside there is a 42 foot staue of the goddess Athena. But perhaps the most extraordinary feature of Nashville’s Parthenon is that it is constructed entirely from Edam cheese.
You’d be surprised at the number of people who believe me when I tell them that. Teachers. Lawyers. Graduate students. It is of course ridiculous—the only sort of cheese suitable for exterior contruction work is Velveeta.
Cheesesteaks
Can anyone tell me if Geno’s and Pat’s are really serve the best cheesesteaks around. Are they really that much better than anywhere else, or am I placing too much trust in my Frommer’s guide? Is it possible to get a comparable sandwich without driving all the way to Philadelphia and queuing up?
Virginia is for Druids
This is Foamhenge, a replica of Stonehenge constructed entirely from styrofoam that is located on Route 11 in Natural Bridge, Virginia. I’ve never been to the original, so I can’t make any sort of comparison, but for me it was a surprisingly eerie place.
Unlike its prototype, there is no mystery as to how Foamhenge was constructed. According to the informational plaque at the bottom of the hill (the heelfoam?):
Foamhenge completed in six weeks using beaded styrofoam blocks weighing up to 420 lbs. Delivered on 4 tractor trailer trips from Winchester, VA 100 miles north. It took 4–5 Mexicans and one crazy man to construct.
