Do this: Get Spotify

The tech news media was completely gushing about Spotify a few weeks ago and as I try to be hip with the tech stuff (since that's the industry I'm in) I quizzed a friend who was using it and ended up with an invitation of my own.

While I've never been into Pandora or Rhapsody, for some reason, Spotify has really appealed to me.  Like those other services, Spotify is a streaming music service.  You can stream music from their website, and if you pay for an upgrade, stream from your phone as well.

I believe part of my enjoyment of this service is my horrible taste in music.  My taste is bad.  I love top 40 pop awful awful music.  I want to dance when I hear music and be inspired to run.  The name of this blog is I'm not cool -- and my music taste isn't.

So what's totally awesome is Spotify allows me to indulge my taste in crappy music without guilt.  The other day, Husband and I watched Burlesque.  Stop judging me.  It has CHER and CHRISTINA AGUILERA.  I thought about buying the soundtrack.  But I'm not sure I want to spend $11 on it.  No problem, with Spotify, I can listen to the album for free.  Or any of their 15 million other songs.  Like the Backstreet Boys.  I can't live without this and immediately upgraded to premium service, so I can listen to songs streaming on my iPhone.   With premium, I can even download playlists to my iPhone and listen to them when not connected to the Internet -- even the good music I occasionally listen to, like Otis on the new Kayne / Jay - Z album.

The Best Meal I've Ever Had

Husband and I went to Uchiko a couple of months ago.  It was good.  Really good.

And then we went to another sushi type place, like Uchiko, but not, and I kept thinking about how sad I was that it wasn't Uchiko.

Bizarrely, we got a DealSwarm deal to Uchiko (this is NOT some silly chain restaurant -- it was crazy that I had a COUPON for what would still -- after the coupon -- be the most expensive meal I've ever eaten.)  and made another reservation.

I'm allergic to everything:  shellfish, mushrooms, tree nuts and avocados.  Also, I'm a complete control freak. Combine the two things, and I'm a super picky eater.  Husband, not so much.  When we went to France, Husband ate EVERYTHING:  rabbit, beef tongue, steak tartare (which included a 5 minute half-French half-English conversation where I tried to explain to the waiter that yes, it's cold and not medium like my steak, and really he wants to eat it.  And he ate the whole thing.  I couldn't watch him eat it, it just looked so gross.)  I, on the other hand, subsisted on only croissants, French onion soup, steak, cheese, and crepes with Nutella the entire trip.

So, at some point when making this reservation, Husband suggested we just tell the waiter what I'm allergic to and let them bring us whatever they wanted.  And I agreed, mostly because I had just read this really awesome book Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat that discussed the crazy chef's menus this chef has and how much he really, really enjoyed trying to surprise his clients and come up with a great tasting menu.

So, we got to the restaurant, told them my allergies, and ordered the 10 course chef tasting menu.  We did insist that one of the courses include the pork belly, which we had last time.

I almost changed my mind -- how was I going to let someone else pick what I'm going to eat?  Instead, I slammed back a drink, figuring I could get something to eat on the way home if necessary.

It was the most.  Amazing.  Meal.  I've ever had.

The first 4, 5 courses were raw fish:  whitefish, tuna, light, amazing, citrus, just wow.  Then we had some crazy looking fish that tasted like a shoe.  That experience was recovered quickly by the most amazing prime rib I've ever had.  Prime rib isn't a food I request or appreciate.  But oh my God, this tasted like food from another planet of awesomeness.  It was so awesome that I informed the waitress that they must immediately stop serving sushi and only serve meat*.

Our next course was served by Tyson Cole, the chef.  I knew it was him because his name was written on his jacket.  He told us he heard we liked meat, told us about our next course, and ate some of it himself, this other meat from the awesome meat planet only Uchiko has access to.  Tyson was a cute, small man, and I wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home to cook beef at our house.**

And we ate a few more courses (I totally lost count, but I'm guessing it was like 12, maybe 13 courses in total), including some egg/truffle thing -- must have forgotten to tell them about the mushroom allergy -- which I though tasted like dirt, and Husband encouraged my feeling about this course so he could eat it all himself while moaning about how awesome it was.  It ended with the pork belly of awesomeness from planet Uchiko Awesome Meat, with an encore of dessert.  We got the dessert of the day which was some sort of peach cream/ice cream/homemade pop rock concoction.  I hate peaches.  I loved this dish.  I had poprocks stuck in my teeth for several minutes after eating it, popping away.

I was so sad when our meal ended.  I was sad that I would have to eat food that wasn't made by Tyson Cole, James Beard award winning chef.  Sad I didn't take any pictures of the meal to remember it by.  Sad that I would have to eat regular food day in and day out.

I can't wait to go back.

*I may have been drinking during this meal

**I may have been drinking during this meal and it was a very, very long meal

Things I Love: Barbies with careers

A long time ago, there was a Barbie doll that said, "Math is hard."  And it was sad.  So, Barbie's people came out with Working Woman Barbie.  I thought WWB was hilarious and immediately purchased her for my desk, being an actual working woman in 1999.  Barb came with a CDROM (which didn't work in Windows NT and so I never got to use), a laptop with several interchangeable screens (line graph, bar graph, random shapes), a briefcase, a grey cell phone, and several files (paper things to hold other papers.)  Barbie was apparently a magazine editor.  Barbie had two really awesome qualities, besides her accessories:

1)  Her skirt could be reversed from day to night.  I'm sure you can flip all of your clothes inside out too for an instant party.  Reverse the skirt, lose the jacket, and Barbie is ready to go dancing with Ken.
2)  A fact which I was sure about because Barbie TALKS!  She has about 15 phrases, half of which were about her date with Ken ("I can't wait to go dancing with Ken tonight!")  The other half were work related, or what Barbie's people think we discuss at work:

• [Email noise] "I have email!"
• [Phone noise] "I have a phone call!"
• "Saving money is smart."

And the absolute best:

"Let's go to a meeting!"

which is exactly what I say in the same peppy tone 4-8 times a day!

In 2008, I discovered Barbie for President 2008 (unbeknown to me, there was also 2004 and 2000 and perhaps others)  She came in a sparkly business suit and had a pink laptop and pink cell phone.  Sadly, President Barbie 2008 had the SAME cell phone as Working Woman Barbie from 1999 but pink.  Barbie also had seamed panty hose.  It is hard to picture Hilary or Palin dressing like this.  (Barbie also came with a gown for her own inauguration.)  I bought President Barbie and stuck her on my desk next to Working Woman Barbie.

But the Best Barbie Of All is one that I acquired in December -- Barbie I can Be Computer Engineer Barbie doll.  Yes, Barbie is a computer engineer!  Barbie wears pink flats, sparkly leggings and has binary on her t shirt.  She has a pink laptop and finally has upgraded her phone to an iPhone (though the original designs released had her with the SAME phone as my other Barbies.  She now has a Barbie iPhone app as well).  She also has cool pink glasses and a bluetooth headset.  This is, of course, how all of the computer engineers at my office look and dress.  

Barbie arrived in a box where she was sitting at a cube.  Clearly a Linux girl, she had a stuffed penguin on her desk and was eating Chinese food out of a container.  She either has an additional monitor or poster that has binary code on it.  (Her shirt also has binary.  Sadly, I haven't tried to decode it).

My Barbies sit on my desk at work, where they get many compliments and comments.