A fabulous new revelation in bicycle transportation! THE SIDEWAYS BIKE!! Paul Singh sent me this link, and boy oh boy, is it kooky! This is perhaps even more ridiculous than the steam bike that I posted earlier, you be the judge!

So,
You can take the Japanese out of Japan, but you can't take Japan out of the Japanese. Jennifer and I made an excursion up to Mitsu-Wa, the biggest Japanese supermarket outside of Asia this past weekend to satisfy a long burning desire to get some cool Japanese stuff again. The place is in Edgewater NJ, right across the Hudson from NY city. It is the most gorgeously situated supermarket I've ever been to, with picturesque views of the Upper West Side and bazillion dollar condos. We restrained ourselves pretty well, but I have to say, it was hard. I had to constantly remind myself that I didn't really like all Japanese foods, but the excitement at seeing things that I only remember from Nippon was sometimes too much. I ended up caving in and buying natto, something that I didn't really like in Japan, but that I wanted to eat again for some reason. Natto is the fermented, snotty soybeans that japanese people love to love and love that foreigners don't like. It's kind of like eating compost-flavored boogers with soy sauce on top. I don't know how it ever passed for food initially, but apparently it's very healthy.
I also scored some good sake for cheap and accidentally bought about 10 shiitake mushrooms for about $10. I was looking at the wrong price tag on the shelf, but once they scanned, I wasn't going to take them off the bill. They'd better be good, that's all I can say. We also got some fish broth, so I can imagine myself whipping up some of my favorite tako-yaki sometime soon. Nothing satisfies a guy after a hard, cold winter's day like battered octopus balls.

Ok, so the super awesome post is still coming, I was stupid-busy this weekend, but that's ok because I just got some great news! I'm going to be a STAR!!!

According to various studies, I'm a shoe-in for greatness for two key reasons: I'm tall, and I drink!
It's long been known that tall people earn more, on average than their shorter competitors, but get this, according to two Princeton economists, it's because I'm just smarter than you stumps. Another recent STATISTICAL study showed that those people who self-identified as drinkers could expect to earn ten to 14% more than those tee-totaling weirdos that I see hanging out in the library on Friday when I'm drinking my free (or at least, I've already paid for it) beer during Penn Design's Happy Hour. Plus, since I go to bars at least once a month, I can chalk up an additional seven percent on top of that earlier bonous.

What it totals up to is this, I'm gonna be RICH and I don't even have to try, just stand around in my tall-shoes and drink!

Goddamit!

Those weather forecasting bastards totally got it wrong! THe weather here is fabulous, and I couldn't be more disappointed. I was looking forward to being the only one moving as the city suffered its icy gridlock.

I will wait, and then on the appointed day, I will have my fun.

Ooooh Yeah, the "Wintry Mix" is coming to get us!! I can't wait to ride around on my super-sweet studded snow tires!! They totally rock and with them, so do I!!!

In other news, economics is bullshit. It's like philosophy, but worse, because it pretends applicability. Take that, Soren Anderson!! Take that Adam Smith!! All I've got to say is that I'd rather read an internal memo from the National Toenail Fungus Council than another page on the Allocative Efficiency of Interregional Trade.

Also, forthcoming this weekend will be a super post about the most amazing story I've heard this year, and no, I don't mean 2007, I mean the past YEAR, so at least the best story I've heard since February 1st 2006!