This is not a man with a blog.

Joys of junk

By Shabbir | November 10, 2003 | Comments Off on Joys of junk

411: Yeah, it’s my basement. My ex-wife is locked behind that door in the oubliette. Listening to: Outkast’s new album, “Speakerboxx – The Love Down Below” (The Love Disc). About a month ago I set out to build a weight room in my basement. I’ve got all this extra room, and usually, the discussion with…

Gotta feed the beast.

By Shabbir | November 5, 2003 | Comments Off on Gotta feed the beast.

It’s called Jasper White’s Summer Shack. It should be called, “big corrugated metal warehouse where sadists attempt to kill you by overfeeding you the best seafood they can find”. Ok, that’s over the top, but I’m speaking from experience. My friend and his wife introduced us to the Shack last weekend, and I’m pretty much…

San Francisco election slate card

By Shabbir | October 30, 2003 | Comments Off on San Francisco election slate card

Jennifer Granick is one of the people I most admire in the world and were I ever arrested in California, would be the first person I’d call. In addition to those accolades, she also puts a voting guide together for her fellow Californians that has the right combination of policy analysis, personal opinion, and humor.…

Obsessive behavior from the East

By Shabbir | October 29, 2003 | Comments Off on Obsessive behavior from the East

411: Hosting my first dinner party in months. Listening to: James Brown covering “Georgia On My Mind” It’s Matsutake season. To be more accurate, it’s the end of the season, which lasts only about a month. Notice how that doesn’t induce any weird reaction in you. That’s because you’re not Japanese. At my favorite Japanese…

Kickin’ it with the ruling class

By Shabbir | October 25, 2003 | Comments Off on Kickin’ it with the ruling class

411: Guiltily swilling my martini and puffing a stogie. Listening to: Public Enemy, “911 is a joke” I just learned about a cottage industry of companies that buy up defaulted debts of poor countries and then attempt to foreclose on the assets of that country around the world. If you’re Pakistan and your economy is…

It’s just…chicken.

By Shabbir | October 21, 2003 | Comments Off on It’s just…chicken.

411: Fogging up the glass display case at Cakelove Listening to: The sweet sweet sound of a ’97 Honda Civic before I talk it’s owner into buying after-market exhaust I just had “the chicken“. It was good. It took me an hour to find the place, and then I waited in line for forty minutes…

Next stop! Fenway!

By Shabbir | October 19, 2003 | Comments Off on Next stop! Fenway!

411: On Boston metro T train, in town for a wedding Listening to: The conductor (quoted exactly below), since the batteries in my iPOD are dead. Next stop, Fenway Park! Ya’ know, whenever I go by Fenway, I think of my father, and how he used to take me to the games at Fenway when…

And he just sat there and cried into his steak.

By Shabbir | October 13, 2003 | Comments Off on And he just sat there and cried into his steak.

411: Changing planes in Charlottesville… I’ve been traveling for 12 days. I left 12 days ago to go to Boston to see Sarah, and then I got the funeral call. When I left the funeral, it was Wednesday, and I thought it silly to fly back to DC and then fly up to Boston 12…

Perils of blogging.

By Shabbir | October 8, 2003 | Comments Off on Perils of blogging.

I recently logged over 100 entries, covering several years of my life, so a little soul-searching is appropriate. And, of course, I need a place to put this quality photo at right of Matthew Lesko. People know that I blog. This isn’t a problem. I actually tell people I blog in the hopes that they’ll…

That’s not the spirit, that’s in-room WIFI.

By Shabbir | October 5, 2003 | Comments Off on That’s not the spirit, that’s in-room WIFI.

411: Crossing the Mighty Mississippi in a rental car, Kid Rock blaring, ignoring the casinos (which don’t have poker rooms anyway) “All you have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to you.” A bunch of different things have converged in the last few days, as I pondered what…