Shabbir's Diary

The flamingo swizzle stick..

..is a sign of beverage quality. Who knows what it has to do with Mexican culture.

Mustard-crusted rack of lamb

My friend Eric recently blew through town on his way to the field for the Kerry campaign. We got a rare few days with him and in celebration of his presence I cooked a rack of lamb. Here's my cooking diary from those days.

Dulles Airport

While waiting to board my I heard over the walkie tallkie, "All flights going in and out of Boston need ice service in Dulles. We are out of ice service in Boston."

I'm hoping this refers to beverages and not wing de-icer.

The chicken foot...

..is not tasty, but it is a hazing ritual.

Mmmmm dim sum

We love it when new people join Mindshare.

All hail our new master, Voluson 730.

It shows us things we cannot see, in places we cannot go.

"On the nature of self and memory" film festival

Warning: I'm going to include spoilers to the movies Marnie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and The Butterfly Effect in this entry.

"Our 'mistakes' become our crucial parts, sometimes our best parts, of the lives we have made." -Ellen Goodman

Without really trying, Sarah and I had the above-named film festival for the past week. "Marnie" had been sitting in our Netfix pile on our tv for months, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was brought over by my sister after she rented it from Blockbuster, and "Butterfly Effect" was bought off the satellite dish when I realized I had missed it in theaters.

In all three movies the main characters experience a trauma in their past and are unable to come to terms with it. Believing their lives would be better without these experiences, they each relate to their past in flawed ways and ultimately realize that your past, including mistakes and accidents, are a key part of who you are, and can't be edited for improvement even if you wanted to.

Mmmmmmmango!

There are worse things in life than a mango smoothie for lunch. Filling and made well by the Juice Joint guys.

"I feel blessed" by Sarah

http://www.imber.net/archives/000789.html

Lunch is not a good value.

5 shrimp and lettuce with caesar dressing is not worth $6.