The Best Years?

I have a major soft spot for all cheesy television shows and movies that are obviously geared towards a younger demographic. This category features, but is not limited to, Saved By the Bell re-runs, The Princess Diaries, and anything starring Mandy Moore. The king of this category, at least for me, has always been Degrassi, a Canadian cult icon that is re-broadcasted on the N, Fridays at 8pm. Appparently I'm not alone out there: Degrassi is the most popular imported English-language TV show in the history of American broadcasting.

Naturally I was psyched when The Best Years, a Degrassi spin-off, was scheduled to debut in June. The story line follows 18 year old Samantha Best, an orphan raised in South Boston, who thanks to a wealthy benefactor now has the opportunity to attend prestigious Charles University (obviously Harvard) across town. Week after week Samantha battles her WASP roommate, demanding professors, and rude sorority girls, all while maintaining her tough-girl Southie exterior.

Americans often get accused of not being knowledgable about foreign cultures. While citizens all over the world get to learn about American culture from watching Jerry Springer, I have to wonder if the Best Years is a representation of what Canada thinks of our university culture.

Though the show takes place in Boston, you'd be hard-pressed to find a single character who talks with even a trace of a Boston accent. In fact you're more likely to hear "aboot" than "wicked" in any given sentence. Alcohol also plays a huge part in each week's episode. Apparently the writers aren't able to grasp the fact that the drinking age is 21? The show's characters enjoy hanging out at swanky Colony, which they frequent thanks to their fake ID's. It's maddening to think that they would never show a character smoking on TV (something as college freshman they would be legal to do) but it's perfectly acceptable to show under-age students drinking and a laisse-faire attitude towards tampering with a federal document.

While the Best Years doesn't have the bite of Degrassi, it is if nothing else a wacky social commentary on how we are viewed by our neighbors to the North. Since the Toronto-based writers made absolutely no attempt to convert to American slang and spellings, one has to wonder why they chose to use an American college town in the first place. Cultural hiccups aside, The Best Years is a fun show to watch, especially since they do show shots of downtown Boston between scenes. If you want to jam-pack your DVR with 90 minutes of glorious Canuck entertainment, the Best Years is on at 8:30 on Friday, immediately following Degrassi.

Restaurant Review #5 : 5 Guys Hamburgers

Restaurant: Five Guys Hamburgers
Address: multiple locations in GA, AL, TN, FL, SC, NC, VA, IN, OH, MD, DE, NJ, CT, and NY
Website: www.fiveguys.com
Rating: C

To be fair, this place is called Five Guys Hamburgers and admittedly hamburgers are not my favorite food. Five Guys is a hamburger chain with multiple locations through the eastern seaboard. While they aren't quite in New England yet, 5 Guys has quite a cult following throughout the upper South.

The menu offerings are very limited, which is on purpose I'm told. You can get a hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog, or grilled cheese sandwich - that's it. Customization of those four items are available via the dozen or so free toppings which vary from your standard relish to fried onions.

Since all food is made to order, Five Guys gives out free peanuts to nosh on while you patiently (and I mean patiently - this is a southern chain) wait for your meal. Since I enjoy peanuts as much as the next elephant, I thought that this was a nice touch.

For lunch I had a hot dog with french fries and a Diet Coke (bottled water isn't available). French fries come in two sizes (regular and large) and are measured out using a styrofoam cup because apparently someone didn't get the memo about global warming. After your styrofoam cup is brimming with freshly cut french fries, the fry guy throws an extra handful of fries into the bag, just so you can be damn sure that these fries equal your weekly USDA recommended caloric itake. I thought that the 5 Guys worker gave me extra fries because I kept giving him the "why the fuck does it take 10 minutes to make a hot dog" look. When I informed him that the extra fries really weren't necessary he said that it was company policy to do this random act of kindness. So much for being special.


At $7.01, Five Guys is definitely on the lower sphere of what I would expect to pay at a quick serve joint. However, the lack of options are a real downer. 5 Guys places in the same space as Fuddrucker's, U-Burger(Boston), and Wendy's, which I would whole heartedly recommend over this place.

Five Guys has multiple locations throughout the South. If any of you have eaten at Five Guys and dispute this review, feel free to sound off. I'm honestly perplexed by the fact that people south of the Mason-Dixon actually endorse this place.

Blogging in Baltimore

I don't really blog that much about what I do for work since this is the Internet and nothing is really that anonymous. If you know me, you've probably figured out that I work in sales and that it's not all that exciting. What you may not know is that we partnered (the technical term) with one of our competitors, which basically quadrupled the size of my company. I've kind of been upgraded to the national product manager of one of our lines (we officially have three) and have been tasked with getting a second one off the ground.

I'm down here in the DC area meeting C-level executives to introduce my company. Because we're a start-up I am expected to get the appointments, present the company, and make a judgement call as far as compatibility. Convincing a high level executive that you are worth meeting with to introduce a company that they've never heard of is not the easiest job in the world. Therefore when I get those appointments I want to make sure that everything is 100% perfect. I qualify the hell out of them and e-mail multiple meeting reminders. I make sure that our top analysts are available during those meetings to answer questions should they arise. Most importantly, I always show up on time because I plan ambitious schedules and obviously I value everyone's time.

This time around I was joined by a colleague that did not value my time. He was so late showing up to yesterday's appointment that he didn't even make it until 10 minutes after the appointment was over. Today he was not only late for my 9:30 but he yabbered on so much that we missed our 11am completely. I. was. bullshit.

I don't fly off the handle that much but one of my biggest pet peeves is when a colleague is late to my meeting. This is America. We adhere to schedules. It's really a very simple concept to grasp. Sometimes things come up that are beyond our control (eg: multi-car pile-ups) which I completely understand. What I don't understand are people who feel that they can show up 15 minutes late to every meeting (fresh Dunkin Donuts in hand) and whine that they were late because of traffic, as if the whole traffic concept is completely new.

But hey, let's face it: every company's got at least one person like that, right?

After chewing him out to my CEO (another advantage of a start-up: you can drop f bombs to your boss and it's perfectly ok), I felt a lot better. I'm starting to realize that not everyone share my perfect world outlook and every once in a while that's ok. I can learn to bend and adapt as well as anyone - just don't be late to my meetings :).

Geeks and nerds the world over are queuing up for their copies of the latest and final Harry Potter book. I seriously don't understand you people. First you insist on dressing up like an asshole to attend your Star Wars movies. Then a bunch you losers lined us for a freaking WEEK to get your damn iPhone. Now you're all going wild about Harry by dressing like witches and British schoolchildren (which I suppose are one in the same). Luckily this is the last chapter in the series and I won't have to watch you all make a fool of yourselves until the movie version premieres.

I've never read a single Harry Potter passage. Becasue my feet are firmly planted in this place called reality, reading about 11 year old wizards and warlocks never really interested me. Regardless, if it gets children to read, I'm all for it. What I don't understand are grown adults, ones who pay taxes and are productive members of society, who are skipping work right now to get their copy.

Because seriously, what's in this book that you don't know already? I don't even care about the series but even I am privvy to the fact that Harry is going to die some tragic death. What secrets does this seventh chapter reveal? Does it give the true meaning of Pi or unravel the 7 Mysteries of the World? Can it tell you where the Holy Grail is buried or which team is going to win the 2008 Super Bowl? If it does, let me know and I'll join you in line this instant.

Restaurant Review #4 - Mediterraneo Caffe

Restaurant: Mediterraneo Caffe
Address: 134 Atwells Ave, Providence, RI
Website: www.mediterraneocaffe.com
Rating: A+

Background: I worked in East Providence for a little over a year where I become indoctrinated into Rhode Island culture. While I never quite got into coffee Awful Awfuls (milkshakes) or hot weiners (skinny hot dogs you can buy by the arm-length), I was fortunate enough to befriend Tash, who gave me the DL on Federal Hill. Federal Hill is Providence's Little Italy, an area lined with restaurants and bakeries that encompasses Atwells Avenue and DePasquale Square.

Like any coach preparing for a big game, planning is required before venturing into the Hill. To psych myself up for tonight's feast, I called the Troll. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey, I'm so sorry that you can't make it up for the birthday dinner. I actually looked into getting you a last minute ticket into TF Green but it was pretty expensive and it would've been a long day for you.

Troll: No, that's ok. I completely understand, you guys will have a lot of fun I'm sure.

Me: I'm glad that you're cool with this. Actually, the real reason why I called you is because I have a pretty important question to ask you. Do you have a sec?

Troll: Sure

Me: Well, as you know, we're going to Mediterraneo tonight which is my favorite restaurant ever. I guess my question is, should I get the lobster ravioli? I mean, they kind of overwhelm you with these huge raviolis crammed with lobster. Then for extra measure, they throw a couple of jumbo shrimp on top. To describe them, these shrimp are like the size of the steak that falls on Fred's car in the opening credits of the Flinstones. Do you think that it's just a little much?

Troll: You are such a fucking asshole. I fucking hate you.

There is nothing more exciting than setting the radio to 92 PRO FM and driving down I-95 towards Providence, especially since I fived the entire state last week. Every once in a while a restaurant comes along that is so outstanding that you want to tell everyone you know about it, just so you can use it as an excuse for a future visit. While there are many, many excellent restaurants in Federal Hill, none of them can hold a candle to Mediterraneo.

The menu is a bit eclectic: while they have some traditional red sauce items, the menu heavily relies on seafood and gigantic steaks. I could write pages and pages about all of the wonderful items to try on the menu but the truth is that you really can't make a bad choice. While the kitchen is always willing to accomodate special requests, you certainly won't find anyone common enough to chow down on chicken parm in this place.

Though definitely not priced out of the stratosphere, Mediterraneo certainly isn't cheap. While the prices are pretty much in line with what you'd expect to pay in Boston or New York, for Providence this is a completely different level of dining. The staff knows this and goes out of their way to make you feel like a superstar. Whether it's the free valet parking (yes, take note North End: free parking) or the complimentary limoncello shot at the end of your meal, one of the three waiters assigned to your table will ensure that your palate is dazzled and your water glass full.

I gave Mediterraneo an A+ because it's seriously my favorite restaurant ever. If you want to try it out for yourself, take I-95 to exit 21 - Atwells Ave. Street parking and complimentary valet service are available. If you're a T person, find someone with a car to take you, or take the Attleboro/Stoughton line to Providence station and cab it.

7/18 in the 781

Even though Attorney Lee thinks she only "glows in the morning sunlight", all of my friends radiate excellence 24 hours a day. Thanks to everyone who showered me with phone calls, birthday greetings, Glenfiddichs, MySpace shout outs, text messages, e-cards, real cards, blog entries, and e-mails. I'm not much of a birthday person, but it means a lot to me that you all made me feel special anyways.

30 minus three

At 7am, the Troll rang me up from Baltimore to wish me a happy 27th birthday. It's a tradition we have. Since she teaches summer school, we haven't actually spent a birthday together in almost 10 years. The closest we come is our frightfully early birthday conversations every July 18.

Growing up as a fraternal twin, you learn to share everything, including the day of your birth. With our joint friends we would have joint birthday parties where we would occassionally be forced to share a joint gift (on behalf of all twins out there I say to the joint gift thing "yeah, fuck you too"). We shared a room growing up (with bunkbeds!) where I was subjected to years of what I later found out was the third loudest snore ever recorded at a Johns Hopkins sleep study. Obviously if you can laugh about something that traumatic now, you are definitely going to be BFF's for life.

Following the Communist principle of share and share alike, on the 16th anniversary of our birth Dad bequeathed us a 1989 Chrysler New Yorker, which of course I never let Troll drive. She would call me lard-ass, I would sucker-punch her and snatch the keys. It was a really great system until we seperated to go to college.

My sister and I have been living in different states since 1998. Even though our birthday crops up in July, she teaches summer school so it's tough for her to get back up to Boston. Aside from showering me with conservative dribble in manner of a Boston Herald subscription, my parents celebrate my birthday by taking me out to a restaurant of my choice. We're heading down to Federal Hill tomorrow and although I'm excited about going to my favorite restaurant ever, it saddens me that Troll won't be there to celebrate our special day.

Next week I am going to be in Baltimore for work so we are going to celebrate our birthday, albeit a week late. We've got our joint birthday planned already: we're going to dine in style at Ruth's Chris and then go white water rafting in West Virginia. Even though we are completely different people, we'll always have at least one thing in common: our birthday. It would be great if aside from the 7am phone calls if we could make a summer outing another recurring tradition.