Curry Freeze

Before Cyclone Pitas became the place where everybody knew my name, another existed. It again, was mostly a lunch joint for me. A lunch that consisted of ice cream when the place was open from early March to Halloween. The time that the little ice cream shop, Curry Freeze, was closed every winter, did not hinder the workers remembering who I was. Pretty hard face to forget. Especially when you see it nearly every day.

Just like Cyclone Pitas, I had my favorite and never chose otherwise. So, with seeing my face and hearing my same exact order, the workers there, caught on to what I was going to get every time. It simply became known as "the usual."

Being as this Curry Freeze was pretty close to our home in Schenectady, one night, Jeff suggested we go there to pick up some ice cream. I, of course, was all for it. Little did Jeff know that I was already there for lunch that day! Jeff didn't realize how often I went there either. It was a deep, dark secret of mine in a way. 

As we arrived at the order window, the owner immediately saw my face and say, "Hi Alicia, you want the usual, right?" Boy, did this send a shock through Jeff's body. He could not believe they knew me by name and they new what my "usual" was. 

Jeff's response, "My God, how often do you come here?" 

Of course, with my poor lying abilities, I simply mumbled that this was my second time today. With that, he simply thanked the good Lord that I order yogurt. 

Missed Lunch

Today was my last day on the job. While I am super excited to start my teaching job and get back to school, I will miss the people that I worked with. I had some long goodbyes with a few of my favorites, but mostly walked away happy from my empty office space and to begin the next step.

Saying goodbye is always a tough thing. Even more so when you have found something you love. And I had just that dilemna today. No, not saying goodbye to my friendly coworkers, but to my favorite lunch stop. Ahh, Cyclone Pitas. The name naturally brings a smile to my face. I have only had one thing ever from there, simply because it is too good for me to try anything else. Today was no different. 

When the owner, Dave, asked me how things were going, I explained that everything was really good, except...I had gotten a new job on the other side of Cleveland. A bit too far to stop by for a quick and delicious lunch. Dave claimed to be happy about my new job, but I could tell he was sorry to lose his best customer. Me, I had the same type of feelings. How can I not be sad? When I walk in, I am always greeted with a, "Hi, Alicia. Are you getting your regular today?"

I can't argue with the words that Gary Portnoy sang at the introduction of every Cheers episode. Sometimes you really do want to go where everybody knows your name, and they are always glad you came. Cyclones Pitas was that for me since I moved here to Cleveland. Before that, I had another place...

Pile O Books

I like to write, but reading really isn't my forte. Well, not unless it is a children's book that I can, well, read with children. With that, I would like to show you a pile of books that I have accumulated.

That's right. All of those books, here with me. Why, you may ask. Because I got a new teaching job and need to study up a bit, for I start on Monday. I'm very excited to get back into the classroom. I have missed it way too much.

Out Cold

This morning was one I dreaded waking up more than ever. Not because I had to get up extra early, or because it seems to be darker each morning. I dreaded it because I knew how low the temperatures were going to dip during the night. I felt a loathing for having to bundle up to take Shea out for a nice little run.

However, since I am tough and dedicated to my boy, I did it. The snot in my nose froze up, my fingers froze through my two layers of gloves, and Shea had icicles hanging from his face, but we still went out. I did because, really, Shea doesn't understand that it is not nice out. He just wants to go out. And even with his bowels of steel, the boy needs to go to bathroom every once in a while! The whole time we were out there, I kept telling myself that it could be worse. It could be much worse. I could be in New York, where I got this photo text from a friend:

The -12 on the dashboard made me feel a little better about the +6 degrees I was running in. Since the temperature rose steadily, here (not in NY), throughout the day, our run this evening was not bad at all. We were certainly out there long enough to knock the Big Guy out cold now!

A Possible Debt Solution

Today, on my drive to Rochester to watch Jeff's game, I came with a solution to this nation's debt problem.  I just happened to be driving through the terrible state of Pennsylvania when this idea hit. It just came to me.

I say, we simply remove the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia. Relocate the bell somewhere significant, somewhere important like, say, South Euclid, Ohio or Rotterdam, New York. Once the Liberty Bell is moved, everything of importance will have been removed from the state of Pennsylvania and we can sell the land to a foreign nation. Maybe Canada would want it as a tropical summer destination. I don't know. But it certainly doesn't do the U.S. or it's citizen's any good. 

When I arrived in Rochester, thank goodness it's in New York, I ran my idea by some family members. My mother-in-law one-hundred percent agrees with my idea. In fact, her family refers to Pennsylvania as the Rectum of the United States. 

If selling Pennsylvania isn't an option, which would be unfortunate, I have some recommended improvements for the state. First would be to put a little bit of effort into paving the roads. It is no longer the 1800's, dirt and gravel roads, especially as major highways, are frowned upon unless you are camping. Picking up all of the garbage that floats around would be another step in the right direction. One should be able to be outside in the state of PA and not be hit in the face with flying rubbish. And lastly, especially on a sunny, non-snowing day like today, get some plows on the roads to clear off the snow that fell days ago. 

Major highways on a clear day should not seem like you are driving in the arctic during a blizzard. The only problem I really see with selling PA, is that America would have an odd number of states. I like things nice and even. 

A Case of Bad Luck

My brother feels as though he is unlucky. The epitome of his unfortunate bad luck came just a few days ago on his 30th birthday. Mind you, this was days after getting five stitches removed from his forehead. Out to a nice dinner, he ordered the veal marsala. A solid choice, if you are going to eat baby cow. But poor Nick was brought out the veal parmigiana. When he told the waitress, she apologized but did not offer to get him the correct order or to compensate him for the mistake. Just his luck.

Then, I realized, that while Nick complains about bad luck and I don't, I may actually have a dose of it right now. Having woken up super early on this Saturday, I needed to take Shea out for a nice run and romp. I did this in blistering six degree weather, simply because I love that dammed dog. It was certainly bad luck that on this Saturday that I was required to get up early, that it would be, by far, the coldest day. 

The earliness came into play because a friend asked me to watch her little girl in the morning while she had a doctor's appointment. Of course, that wasn't a problem and I was happy to do it. Little Leah and Shea were getting along just peachy. So well, that one would almost think I was having good luck.

After playing with Shea and becoming best buddies, Leah had a little snack. Some yummy strawberry yogurt. A few moments later Leah began to cry for no apparent reason. I quickly went over to her to see what was wrong and picked her up. As soon as her feet left the ground, she vomited all over myself and the floor beneath her. With a pinkish color, there was an eerie smell of rotten strawberry yogurt filling the room. Shea, asleep on the couch at the time, did what I wished I could have, and ran upstairs. After a short bought of throwing up, Leah wanted some more strawberry yogurt. Must have been that appetizing smell. She was fine, wanting to eat and play just moments after. I, on the other hand, am sick with a bad case of bad luck! 

College Learning

Today I came across an article that basically did the research to confirm what I have said all along. Basically, the article went on to detail how very little college students actually learn in college. The ironic thing, a university researched and released this information. NYU to be exact, (one of the ranked teams Jeff's team beat this past weekend).

College Students Learn Very Little

I have longed supported this NYU study, while my thoughts were just theory. A theory largely based on my own collegiate experience. With that, I'd like to give you a run through of a typical day for me during college. I'd wake up at 10 a.m. and head to the cafeteria. Here I would have the choice between a plethora of breakfast foods, including a hot and cold buffet, all prepared by other who served me. Very realistic. Then, I'd head to class in my comfy sweats. I would drown out whatever blah-blah-blah the professor was saying with doodles in my notebook and eventually text messages to various people. 

After 30-45 minutes of doodling, I would head to the gym. Good thing I already had my sweats on. Here I would meet some of my friends. We would bulls%*$ with my basketball coach for a while and then go in and shoot around until we got hungry and decided to go get lunch. Another meal with lots of options being nicely prepared and served for me. Seems very much like my life now. Once reenergized, we would head back to the gym to play more basketball and watch any pick-up games going on. Then, I would usually have another class in the early afternoon to doodle through. 

At some point in the evening I would have practice, whether it was basketball season or water polo season. For practice I would be there and ready at least 30 minutes in advance to warm up for a two to three hour practice. After working hard and sweating, I would hop into my designated shower stall and sing show tunes to my showering teammates (who were in different stalls just to clarify!). Then I'd go with my best buddies to have dinner, again at the same place, prepared to order and served hot. My go to was grilled cheese. 

Majority of nights we stayed here until the cafeteria officially closed and they asked us to leave. We just enjoyed sitting there, talking nonsense, and quite honestly, by that time of the day, we were usually tired enough to not want to move. 

Back at my dorm room, Jeff would come over to visit and we would hang out, watch tv, and whatever else until we were too tired to keep our eyes open anymore. I knew when my alarm went off that next morning at 10 a.m., that I had a great day of mostly gym time ahead of me.  And I knew I would always have a good meal right at my finger tips.      

Beyond this, I knew there was a library on campus, but never really visited. I had school work sometimes, and squeezed in between dinner and my time with Jeff. I usually studied for any test, which were strictly memorization, at breakfast on my way to class. Surprisingly, I did quite well in college. I did learn a lot, but not what the real world was like. College was a fantasy land. Maybe that is why, it is considered by most, the best years of your life! Money, certainly, well spent. 

Mom & Pop(corn)

I had a great day. When I got home from work things got even better. I found a lovely package on the back porch.

As soon as I got inside I took a knife to the package, eager to see what was inside. Now, I am not a big reader, but there happened to be a book inside. A book I was quite happy to see and will, in fact, read. As I dug further into the package, things just got better. A couple packages of Goldfish, something, I had actually debating buying for myself today at the grocery store. Even further, a few bags of popcorn kernels. Not the microwavable bags, but simply bags of kernels. That's good, because I like to air pop my popcorn anyways. The only problem is that my air popper is sitting at my parents house. 

But, wouldn't you know, it was my dear mother who packed this package. The woman who, although never uses it, sees my popcorn popper everyday. So, along with all that other stuff previously mentioned, was my beautiful popcorn popper wrapped in bubble wrap. 

You know you've got a great mother when she can take care of you hundreds of miles away! 

Snowy Slope

It snowed here in Cleveland for about five days straight. The past two days we have had a nice break. But, I believe, according to the very accurate weather forecasters, snow is on the horizon again.

With that, I am reminded of a time right after I got my driver's license. It must have been the winter of 1999-2000. At the time my brother, Nick, and I were sharing a car. A beautiful silver Honda CR-V. Beautiful until Nick, of course, wrecked it up.

When I think about it, it is amazing that with all the wear and tear I put on that poor CR-V, that Nick is the one who wrecked it. I remember specifically heading to basketball practice on a snowy afternoon. I was very impatient at 16. I did not want to take the time to clean the snow off of the car and figured that I could simply run the windshield wipers. And that worked, but only for the front and back windows. To save time, I simply unrolled all four windows and rolled them back up. That worked quite well too, except for the window on my driver's side door. 

When I unrolled it a second time, I put it all the way down and held my arm against the window to push the snow outward. My genius, time-saving idea did not work. The snow fell inside the window and right onto my lap. Without thinking, I opened the door and stepped out to brush the snow off. Before I got my second foot out of the door, the CR-V went barreling backwards down our nicely sloped driveway. 

By the time I sprinted and dove into the car, slamming on the brake with my hand, the CR-V and I were across the street, just getting on to our neighbors lawn. I quickly gathered myself and checked out the scene. No damage done and nobody watching. Perfect! Nothing more than a simple running warm-up for basketball practice! 

Don't Eat Yellow Snow

It's nice to have a good dog. Shea fits that bill, I would argue, a large amount of time. When he's not chasing deer, trying to steal food, and stealing socks, he's a good dog.

The best part of him being good is when it's super cold out, we can just open up the back door and let him venture out to relieve himself. With a quick shake of the treat jar, he is sure to come right back when he is finished.

Being such a good boy, he knows what pee does to the lawn and the snow. Who wants brown grass or yellow snow? Not me! Without any direction at all, Shea took it upon himself to pee on the lawn next door. Every time he goes out, he sneaks through the bushes and lets go. 

Obviously, I don't really condone this. I try to tell him to stay on our lawn. He doesn't listen often, but hey, our snow is awfully white. 

Knock Em Down

I'm not hard to please. When the teams I want to win, win, I am happy. One of those teams I obviously am rooting for, much more than any other to be honest, is Jeff's Case team.

Tonight, they made me more than happy. They knocked off the 24th ranked team in the country, NYU. The game was awfully exciting and fun to watch. And, with the victory, I am extremely happy. See, very easy to please!

Game Summary

Changing of the Signs

Why did they do it? Who do they think they are? Some astrological people decided to change the astrological signs.

Changing of The Signs

Personally, I don't care. Not because my sign didn't change, but because I don't really believe in that crap anyways. I feel like if I were to write a horoscope for someone I could make general enough statements to get some daily events correct. It's not rocket science.

But, please, whatever you do, don't tell my grandmother I said that! She is a firm believer in horoscopes and astrological signs. In fact, the second question she will ask a new person she meets is, "what's your sign?" (The first is, "are you Italian?")

That is why I am upset they made this change. All that my grandmother believes in life is now down the drain. All of her classifying people based on their sign and thinking she knows someone's personality before even asking them three questions. These people who made these changes will have completely turned my grandmother's minuscule, 89-year old world upside down!

Clear Communication

I couldn't love Shea more. I often catch myself looking at him with pride. The same pride that I hope to some day view my own children with. There are only a few things that remind me that he is not a child birthed from my womb.

The four legs, fur covered body, and long tail are really the extent of it. On top of that, I had always questioned his form of communication. But tonight, it seemed to come full circle.

Shea Speaking

When Shea decided he had had enough of laying on the couch with Jeff and I, he went and laid down in the corner. A few minutes later, he began crying and whining. I accredited it to the fact that he wasn't getting all of the attention anymore. Jeff and I continuously inquired about what was wrong, but for some reason, Shea would not answer us.

Finally, after my heart breaking off in small pieces for too long, Jeff and I asked Shea to come here. Once he did, he opened right up. This time when we asked him what was wrong, he gave us a nice, clear answer. He laid down and let out a brilliant fart, letting us know exactly the pains of his whining. He needed to go and he needed to go now!

Communication at it's finest!

Free For Tips

My husband is trying to make me fat. It was clear, say, around Christmas time. Do you remember the stocking stuffers he got me?

Stocking Stuffers

Beyond that, another gift he got for me was a gift card to Cold Stone Creamery. Why, you ask. Because I don't have enough trouble not going there every day since it is only 5 minutes away. Now, with a gift card, I have even more reason! Not to mention the gift card is worth much more than an ice cream or two. 

Anyways, as I was out and about on my lovely Saturday, I got a hankering for some Cold Stone. Luckily, it is very close and I had my handy-dandy gift card. There was nothing else to do, but stop. 

Once inside, I was greeted with much enthusiasm. Apparently not too many people stop for ice cream when the temperature does not quite reach 20. As I chose the "love it" size (the equivalent of a medium), I chatted politely with the man mixing my ice cream concoction. I decided against getting Shea an ice cream, as I remembered seeing a Frosty Paws in the freezer that I could give him. Also, that allowed me to save all the amount on the gift card for myself! 

When the man went to put my "like it" into the dish, he found out he had scooped too much. It wouldn't fit. Basically, he had made me the large size and had to use the largest dish. I wasn't complaining. He then proceeded to check me out. He was having difficulty with the gift card and the cash register, so I took that time to debate if I should tip him or not. I began thinking about how he tried to chit-chat, how he really was giving me a large for the price of a medium, and mostly, Jeff is big on tipping and would want me to tip the guy. So, I threw some cash in his pathetic little tip jar. 

Now, an additional person was with him, both struggling with the cash register. The card scanner was not working. Finally, defeated, they smiled and handing me the large ice cream and said, "have a nice day." After arguing with them for a minute, I accepted my free ice cream.

While I wished I had gotten Shea a free ice cream as well, I was sure glad I tipped the guy! 

Just Beachy

I'm not sure where my grandmother thinks we live, but it isn't Cleveland.

For each time I speak to her, she asks if I have been to the beach lately. And no, she doesn't ask to see if I've been basking in the glory of the sun. She asks because she fears for Shea and I's lives at the beach. 

She apparently knows more than the average folk. Because, according to her, there are all sorts of mutant oceanic life. I'm not talking about fish with three eyes or a missing fin. I'm talking about mutants that jump out of the water and swallow large dogs whole. According to my grandmother, they look something like this:

So, with each phone conversation, I remind my grandmother that she, in fact, lives closer to the ocean than I do. But, since I have a handsome dog, the mutants are more likely to go after me. I guess, being 600 miles or so from the ocean, I will never understand the warnings with each phone call, although I have come to expect them. 

Dingleberry

My friend Jen is a comedian. It's been mentioned on here before. Her comedy act utilizes her ukulele and her singing prowess. She puts on shows all around the area and, having been to a few, always entertains!

Past Post: Jen Shen

For Christmas, in support of Jen and her comedic talents, I put her newly released CD on my list for Jeff. Following through on that, Jeff got me an iTunes gift card so that I could download the songs, which I have already done. With that, I added her songs to the playlist that I most frequently listen to on my iPhone. I have it playing during the work day, as well as when I go for runs. 

Since I never wear headphones and just play my music aloud for all to hear, I am very careful about not having songs that are too profane or songs that will get me dirty looks whether it be from co-workers or parents walking by with young children. While Jen's songs are extremely funny and have a hint of dirty to them, they are not really what anyone would think of as raunchy. So, I knew I was safe with them on there. Plus, when I hear them, they make me laugh. Who doesn't need a good laugh during work sometimes? 

Then, yesterday, it happened. I was running through the neighborhood and a Jen Shen song came on. I keep my music fairly loud so that I can hear it through my jacket, hat, and the wind breezing by my head. Again, not a raunchy song entitled, "Dingleberry." Of course, once "Dingleberry" came on, a nice family was walking out to the car parked right near where I was running by. Although not appalled, they  certainly looked at me funny. 

I guess I can't blame them. I would probably look at someone funny who was running along to the tune of "Dingleberry" as well.