Quality Or Personality?

I'm having some inner turmoil over two of my favorite things. Bagels. Pizza.

To a non-New Yorker those might not seem topics worth writing about, but those of us who live here care deeply about our native dishes.

Here's the problem: there are two bagel shops in my town on my way to work. Shop #1 has great bagels, but the service is bordering on rude. The guy that runs the place has the personality of a post; the entire staff makes you feel like they are doing you a freakin' favor waiting on you. I think I've been in there hundreds of times over the years, yet I've never received a good morning, let alone a recognition that I am a too-frequent customer.

But the bagels are great.

Shop #2 is staffed by smiling, personable people, who seem to go out of their way to make you feel at home during the minute or so it takes for them to wait on you. The shop owner knows my name, and uses it when I come in. It feels good walking in, it feels good walking out.

But the bagels are, at best, so-so.

Now, when I'm buying a bagel, I'm not looking for a friend--I'm looking for breakfast. So does it really matter how it gets tossed at me?

Pizza. This is almost heart-breaking. Let me start off by telling you that there are 4 pizza places within a 5 minute walk from my house. That's right--4! We usually frequent one in particular, though they all make good pies in general. Our regular guy knows us, we know him, he knows my kids by name, we know a ton of the same people. He's generous with the charities, PTA's, etc. in town. A good citizen, a good guy.

But lately his pizza has been wildly erratic. Sometimes great. Sometimes bordering on inedible. Sometimes right on; sometimes the sauce is sour, or the cheese barely there.

I have some ideas about what's causing it, but who knows?

Last week we had out-of-town relatives staying with us. We had to order pizza. I felt guilty, but I ordered from another place in town, one who consistently puts out great product, cause I couldn't take a chance on my regular place.

I felt guilt with each bite.

Bagels and pizza. Like water and air, two of life's necessities. What shall I do?

Friday Very Quickies

No time, no time, but.....

....In the interests of fairness, given that I think that Murtha owes me money (see yesterday's post), then most assuredly Alaska's Republican Senator Ted Stevens owes me for that asinine bridge to nowhere he shoved through for the Alaska island with about 40 people on it. At $223 million, that's $.74 per person, or $2.96 that he owes me and mine.

.....And, by the way, my math stinks. Murtha-the-crook only owes me about a penny. I'll just take it off my taxes next year, save him the postage.

....Hearing all this green talk lately, Live Earth, etc. How delicious would it be if we eventually found out that global warming is caused by the flatulence of whales, manatees and baby seals, and that the only sure way to save the Earth is with a club?

.... Harry Potter comes out tomorrow and I know that my house is in a buzz waiting for it. Daughter-the-elder will read it first (probably by Sunday) then I'll grab it. Our biggest problem will be keeping Daughter-the-younger from reading the last chapter and spoiling it for us.

Yes, she can be that twisted. Comes from her mother's side of the family, I do believe.

...And now a quote from the great Theodore Roosevelt:

"This country has nothing to fear from the crooked man who fails. We put him in jail. It is the crooked man who succeeds who is a threat to this country."

Memphis, TN, October 25, 1905

Murtha Owes Me $1.33

Story out of Washington is a too typical one dealing with Congressional earmarks--those spending plans that Congress allows its members to slide into bills, without debate, that help the representative's district.

Betsy's Page has a great little blurb on an earmark shoved through by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), he of immediate-pull-out-of Iraq fame. Murtha lied and said that the Department of Energy approved a $1 million dollar grant to a research institute in Murtha's district--except the Department not only didn't approve it, it opposes it! And, wait for it....nobody can find out anything about the "institute"--or if it was ever formed!

Yet in a 98-326 vote, Congress rejected an amendment which would have killed this payment.

There are 300 million Americans. Forget how many pay taxes, forget in what proportions. Even if we just divided the million bucks between us all, that comes to 33 1/3 cents each.

I have four people under my roof. Murtha the crook owes me $1.33.

Delish!

Summer wouldn't be summer without a J.W. Jackson mystery by Philip Craig. This year's offering is Vineyard Stalker.

I love this series-- set on Martha's Vineyard, each book gives a nice little mystery. But what keeps me on edge waiting for the next installment are the characters, who by now seem like old friends-- and Craig's loving chronicles of life on that island.

The characters have evolved over the 18 years and 20 books-- as has Martha's Vineyard, for good and bad. You can start at the beginning, or simply pick this one up-- you'll get back a fun read, references to the Red Sox and Dostoevsky, and always a great recipe or two!

I've Been Gone This Long?

Didn't realize how long it's been since I blogged!

It's been so long that:

.....Paris went into jail, out of jail, into jail and is free at last, in a release almost as celebrated as the end of Martin Luther King Jr.'s stay in the Birmingham jail. I can't wait for the book, the made-for-TV movie, Paris happy meals at McDonald's etc.

....I was able to make up my mind between Rudy and John McCain. In way of disclosure, I should say that my daughter is now an intern on Rudy's campaign-- but it was truly McCain's immigration position that pushed me, pardon the pun, off the fence.

That, and I've never been a fence-sitter on anything, and I didn't like the feeling. As the great John Gorka said: You're gonna get splinters if you ride that fence.

...Hillary and Bill, the masters of no shame, actually chastised Bush on his commutation of Libby's prison term.

.... Al Qaeda continues to act with impunity in the same region where we sent hundreds of thousands of troops, and Osama continues to walk free.

So, in a short recap, the pop-tarts continued to dominate the media, nothing was done about securing our borders, the Clintons continued to show a massive lack of class, and W's posse continues in its virtually unblemished record of incompetence.

I didn't really miss that much, did I?