-Shobs, 2011

Snow day (?) commenters

Best part about waiting to hear if there's no class tomorrow? The comments on the school's announcements page. Here's a good sample (click to make it bigger):

Comments found at : http://emergency.washington.edu/2012/01/17/uw-seattle-continues-normal-operations-through-this-evening/#comments

MOD Pizza: The next generation of chain restaurants.

MOD Pizza

NE 42nd St & 15th Ave NE

6/10 on my bangin' scale

MOD Pizza has an awesome concept. Any personal-sized pizza is one price (~$7). Get in line, and add as many toppings as you want (like Subway). Give them your name, and it'll be ready in 5ish minutes (like Starbucks).

Now, a second awesome concept: happy hour (4? - 7pm) beer is crazy cheap here ($5/pitcher). They also often have $1 PBRs. When the weather's nice, you can throw these back while lounging at their outdoor tables. Oh, how summer in Seattle of you. And, for dessert, you can have the culinary masterpiece that is a ding-dong.

What more can you ask for? Oh, right. About the pizza. It's ok. I personally enjoy the Jasper (tomato sauce + mozzarella + sausage + mushrooms) with a few extra toppings depending on my mood (remember, no extra fee!!). It's not the best, but it's better than nothing. (Imagine there's no pizza. The horror.)

Mod Pizza's Jasper (sausage and mushroom) with added pineapple and green bell pepper.

One thing to note: You may want to watch out for their pesto pizzas, because sometimes the sauce is just glopped on top in pesto colonies. I'm all for the sauce being under the cheese, and also spread out... so, if you're like me, you might just stick to the tomato-based sauce.

MOD pizza. It's the perfect place to come after your IM softball game, when you're tired/hungry because you've run approx 200 feet in 1.25 hours.

Kasbah
NW 85th & 15th (right on the 48 line, perfect for a bus adventure)
7.5/10 on my bangin' scale


Definitely get the Bastilla:

Kasbah's Bastilla is sweet and salty deliciousness... and it features the island that Tom Hanks lived on in "Castaway!"

The outside is reminiscent of a fancy Zeppole (the Bastilla has perfectly crispy dough, powdered with sugar), while the inside is a savory chicken stew.

The Atlas Tagine (lamb, carrots, onions, and other spices) is falling-off-the-bone-so-soft lamb meat. Tasty, lip-smackingly good. You'll probably finish it all.

Couscous T'Faya-- a moist chicken in carmelized onions, raisins, and those round, white bean thingamajigs-- is also a great choice, and still tastes great the next day if you can't manage to finish the Bastilla and the couscous (which you won't be able to).

Vegas if you're too cheap to shop, gamble, or drink much.

If you're nearly broke or just cheap, at some point you might consider taking a trip to Las Vegas. Airfare and hotels there aren't too much... but what is it like there if you refuse to spend? Let's see...

1. The first thing you're gonna want to do is walk around the strip. Since you're cheap, you'll probably get in after midnight because those flights are the cheapest. Great! At midnight it's cool out, and you can experience the sights/lights in all their glory. Fake Paris, New York, ancient Greece, Venice, Egypt, etc. You'll laugh until you pee.

The Excalibur at night. It's much grosser on the inside.

Fake Brooklyn Bridge at night (front) with woman's ass (behind).

2. Even the skeeziest of hotels (although we stayed in the cheap but quite nice Tuscany Hotel and Casino) in Vegas will probably have a pool. Since it's hot in the day, go there.

3. There are also indoor villages to explore in the daytime. By indoor villages I mean you can go to "Paris" or "Venice" or "New York" for an hour. Basically, it's Epcot with more alcohol. My personal favorite place to explore was Caesar's Palace. Walk by Cleopatra's barge, see large statues mimicking the classical style, and watch giant fish in an aquarium.

The gondoliers at the Venetian are pretty dece singers trying to keep afloat in these difficult economic times.

The Bellagio is supposed to be elegant or something, but it's just as trashy as the rest. See galloping plant horses (or whatever they have on display) in the conservatory. Leave your lead pipes at home.

 
4. Try a buffet. When you first get to Vegas, you'll have grand plans to try several buffets, but after making your way to the Bellagio buffet (known to be one of the best), you'll probably be buffeted out. Glorified college cafeteria? Yes (or so I am told. We didn't have such things at The George Washington University). A tip: Go with only one other person and sit at the bar instead of a table. You'll skip the 30 minute line that way.

5. Get a (singular) drink. I recommend going to Bond at the Cosmopolitan. It is the bar in the front with the pin-up girl-esque dancers. It has excellent DJ-ing, and with seats for around 50 people, it's not too big. You can try one of their fancy cocktails like "The Nutty Professor" or "If You Like Pina Coladas" ($12-$14, which is why we are only recommending getting one). Then find a table of excessively drunk old people and sit near them. Watching the old people dance, flirt with people at other tables, and embarrass themselves will provide hours of free entertainment.

The "If You Like Pina Coladas" at Bond. Mmm. Delicious.

6. Gamble $2 after spending an hour looking for the funniest slot machines (ex: Vampire's Embrace, The Village People, Maltese Fortune). Play only the minimum bets on 1 and 25 cent slot machines. Odds are you wouldn't win, anyway.

Maltese Fortune, among the funniest of the slot machines.

Shows are expensive, so I didn't go, but excellent talents like John Edward, Donny and Marie, Tim Allen, and the ever-present Celine Dion make me wish I'd gone to some. I encourage you to tell me how the shows are when you go.

Rihanna is not old.

While Jay-Z and Eminem dated themselves by sampling "Forever Young" (1984) and "What Is Love" (1993), Rihanna chooses to sample vintage (2002) Avril Lavigne.

This is the only reason why I like Rihanna's latest song.

Rihanna's refrain:


Lavigne's short yodel outburst:

My Favorite PBR ad

What if God was one of us?