Burmese food / Transit rules! / Strange economy / DIY sucks / Favorite restaurants in…

I just want to have something to do Ramones

Burmese food

We got lucky and dined in the Burma Restaurant (740 Sixth Street, N.W, Washington DC), in the local Chinatown. I had eaten Burmese food never before - not good, since the food was very good. S had fish cake salad, which was very fresh and the cakes were delicious. I had "tamarind fish", which tasted somewhat similar than would fish with raisin-onion sauce. Surprisingly good.

Transit rules!

We just arrived in Washington DC. We left Boston for NYC at 8 am by the Chinatown bus, which took us to Chinatown, NYC, in 4.5 hours, no problems there. The next Chinatown bus was supposed to leave NYC for DC at 1.30pm, but for some reason we needed to change busses, after which the driver started his lunch, etc, and then we got a free Downtown and Midtown sightseeing tour: from East Broadway to 42 street, then to 38th, to Port Authority, and Lincoln Tunnel. It took a while, but finally we were driving south a 7+7 lane turnpike. And we drove, drove, drove, and there were too many private cars filling the lanes. It took us 6 hours to DC, but who cares when one does not have to drive: one can read, sleep, discuss. I just do not get why anyone would want to drive himself, it would not make any sense. Only stupid sissies do not take the bus. And by the way: renting a car would cost $70/day + gas + parking, while taking bus Boston-DC-Boston is $65 per person.

Wednesdays, 2005-12-28

I just want to have something to do. Ramones

Strange economy

For the last 4 years, the GDP of USA has been increasing while the median income has been decreasing. So much for the trickle-down effect of the tax cuts and economic growth. There is something wrong or at least hard to justify in the the economic model: it is not that economy would serve the citizens but the other way round.

DIY sucks

I (or we) have experimented in doing household duties ourselves. Instead of using the Total Care Laundry, I walked to the nearest launderette. It took 90 minutes and cost $7 or so. Letting the professionals to do the jobs would have taken 5 minutes and cost about the same. Services rule! We also cooked some food ourselves: it costs some 40% of the cost of the local Chinese and takes a long time (shopping, cooking, doing the dishes). So cooking does not make any sense.

Favorite restaurants in NYC

Some of my current favorite restaurants in New York are

1. LaSani (on 29th St, close to the 5th av ) a Pakistan-Indian restaurant for eating nice fish, fresh nan, and great chick-peas. Very authentic. Large enough portions, all of them $7 or less.
2. Yummy-house (on the 3rd Avenue, about 12th Street ) a Chinese restaurant for eating pineapple curry fried rice and normal Chinese fare
3. Kenka a Japanese restaurant for eating great Japanese and indulging $1.5 pints.
4. A pizzeria ( under the Brooklyn-bridge, on Brooklyn's side) an Italian restaurant for eating decent pizza.
5. Grand Sezchuan (on Canal Street, next to the bridge ) a Chinese restaurant for eating very spicy Sezchuan-food.
6. Anonymous Vietnamese (at Chrystie/Hester in Chinatown ) a Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall for eating the best summer rolls imaginable.
7. Lotus Lounge (at Clinton/Stanton in the lower East-side ) an American cafe for cheap coffee, bagels, free Wi-Fi, artists, etc.

A limbo

I live in pre-middle-age-limbo. I do not have acne, nor any wrinkles. I do not like this. I would like to have some signs of my age. I need to get some anti-botox.
But at least I need to get a demonstrator protection suit shown on the right, for I do not want to get bruised by police batons during anti-war demonstrations. The problem is that I do not where to get the suit. The picture is from MOMA's Safety-exhibition.

Good schools

Newspapers tell us, that middle-class (and mostly white) people are moving away from, say, urban New York city to some small towns two-hours commute away. The movers invariable cite two reasons: the need for having 4000-sq feet houses for their large (2-kid) families and good schools. For some reasons the schools in the small towns are, still, much better than in NYC. I just wonder why this is so? Is it just the fact that the clientele of the schools is more uniform (in terms of race, income, religion, sexual orientation, choice of drugs, etc)? Why cannot the NYC have good schools? Is it just about money? And how long are the small town schools going to be good?
By the way, commuting for two hours each way, 5 days a week, adds up to 80 hours a month, or some 900 hours per year. Should the commuter use that time for earning some money and not for commuting, he might be able to get a larger house/condominium in NYC. Or, a smaller place but some time to spend with the priceless kids, whose well-being the whole big-house-business is meant to serve.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs December 2005".