This evening, I’ll be going to the December Slashdot Meetup for Dallas, so I won't be able to watch Survivor (though I’ll be sure to record it on TiVo). I’ll probably be able to watch it on Friday or Saturday, but please don’t tell me who wins.

Let’s see — it’s down to Brian, Clay, Helen, and Jan. It’s been uncovered that Brian is a soft-core porn star, but I don’t hold that against him. And, both Helen and Jan seem harmless enough (though Jan seemed a bit of a kook at times, what with her burying every dead animal that they came across).

However, I do not want Clay to win. Not only has he been lazy in the tribe, but he’s also financially irresponsible with a load of self-imposed debt. Says The Smoking Gun, “[the] deadbeat Chuay Gahn tribe member was unemployed and collecting $949 in monthly unemployment benefits when a federal judge signed an order wiping away Jordan's whopping six-figure debt.”

This evening, I’ll be going to the Slashdot Meetup for Dallas. Like last month, it’s at Cafe Brazil this evening (the venues are chosen through voting, and it so happened that Cafe Brazil won both times).

I often order a make-your-own omelette, and I’m tempted to do so again. My favorite combination is sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and chorizo sausage. The problem I run into — every time — is that I’m never sure how to pronounce “chorizo” ;). Is it SHOR-zio? CHORE-zio? SHOR-see-oh? shor-SEE-oh?

I’m also looking forward to the dessert options available. With a dessert menu like theirs, I don’t think I could resist ;). I’m a big fan of chocolate-enhanced baked goods (chocolate cake, brownies, and so on) so I decided last time that I would have chocolate cake.

Of course, Cafe Brazil has about half a dozen varieties of chocolate cake, so I asked our waitress, “Which of your cakes is the most chocolaty?“ I could almost visualize the gears slowly turning in her head as she attempted to deduce the correct answer. After a moment, she replied “Well, I think triple-chocolate layer cake would be.“ (apparently using the line of reasoning that, if “one-chocolate” is a baseline, then “triple-chocolate” must be super-chocolaty indeed).

The cake was delicious — don’t get me wrong — but it was a bit of a chocolate disappointment. The icing was chocolate-flavored, but not intensely so. And, the cake-portion of the slice was almost sponge-like instead of a more preferable soft-and-moist texture.

So, this time around, I may still venture for a slice of chocolaty goodness. But, I’ll either decide on my own or decide after consulting with my dining companions (though not with the wait staff, natch).

I was amused by today’s quote from this quote of the day mailing list:

“Every now and then you’ll see a tattered piece of 1950s signage, something exuberant that harks back to flash bulbs and frozen glamour. Most have been torn down now, replaced by brutal information boards stamped out in Helvetica, the official typeface of purgatory. Helvetica isn’t designed to make you feel anything good, to promise adventure or gladden the heart. Helvetica is for telling you that profits are down, that the photocopier needs servicing, and by the way, you’ve been fired.”

—Michael Marshall, The Straw Men, on the way to Santa Monica.

Hmm, I wasn’t aware about the photocopier ;).

My flights are booked for visiting Pittsburgh over Christmas, Sunday through Sunday (Dec 22 - 29). Would anyone be able to give me a ride to or from the airport on either of those days?

To Pittsburgh:

• Northwest Airlines flight 698
• Depart: Dallas/Ft Worth, TX (DFW) - Terminal E, Sun, Dec 22 at 12:30 pm
• Arrive: Detroit, MI (DTW), Sun, Dec 22 at 4:01 pm
• Northwest Airlines flight 1914
• Depart: Detroit, MI (DTW) , Sun, Dec 22 at 4:55 pm
• Arrive: Pittsburgh, PA (PIT), Sun, Dec 22 at 5:55 pm

Back to Dallas:

• Northwest Airlines flight 3489
• Depart: Pittsburgh, PA (PIT), Sun, Dec 29 at 12:00 pm
• Arrive: Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (MSP), Sun, Dec 29 at 1:26 pm
• Northwest Airlines flight 405
• Depart: Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (MSP), Sun, Dec 29 at 3:27 pm
• Arrive: Dallas/Ft Worth, TX (DFW) - Terminal E, Sun, Dec 29 at 6:02 pm

Update: Katie has offered to give me a ride to the airport on Sunday, and Gary may be able to give me a ride back on the following Sunday.

Wes Kurdziolek, one of my friends from Virginia Tech, got a tattoo of tux the other day. Wes is also President of the Virginia Tech Linux/Unix Users Group, but that’s still quite a show of dedication to an operating system :).

There’s also video footage available (21 MB, DivX format).

I’ve written about The Mole before, and I was pleased to see a commercial for Celebrity Mole on one of the overhead-TVs at the gym. (The gym is one of the few places where I see commercials these days, since I use TiVo to skip over them when I watch TV at home.)

Variety reports that ABC has finished casting — and shooting — its celeb edition of “The Mole“. “The Mole 3” will star celebrities Michael Boatman (Carter on Spin City), Corbin Bernsen (Arnie on LA Law), Kim Coles (from Living Single), Erik von Detten (from Dinotopia), Baldwin brother Stephen Baldwin, comedian Kathy Griffin, and supermodel Frederique. Ahmad Rashad will be the host. The show quietly wrapped production earlier this month following nearly two weeks of on-location production in Hawaii. The six-part series is likely to air begin airing in January. […]

“Celebrity Mole Hawaii will premiere on Wednesday, January 8th at 10PM ET [9PM CST] following the series premiere of The Bachelorette.”

The other day, AAA gave me a call to make sure that I was happy with the service (well, I suppose I was, since I didn’t need to make use of it yet).

They also asked me whether I was aware of all the discounts available. I knew about the various hotel and car-rental discounts, but apparently there’s much more than that.

The lady on the phone mentioned just a few, but I was unaware of most of them. For instance:

• 15% off at Fresh Choice restaurants.
• 10% off at Hard Rock Cafe
• 30% off carry-out food at Papa John’s
• 10% off at Amtrak
• 10% off Apple Computer deals from Unitek
• 20% off floral arrangements at FTD.com
• 30% off at Lenscrafters (exluding contact lenses)
• $3 off CDs and DVDs priced $10 or more at Wherehouse Music

Ok, so some of them aren’t useful on an everyday-basis (I’m not sure when next I’ll use Amtrak, for instance). But, I’m especially stoked about the 30% off (!) at Papa John’s carry-out and $3 off at Wherehouse Music, as I can make use of those right away.

(Keep in mind that these discounts are from the AAA-Texas website, and might not be valid elsewhere.)

I was noticing a slight “klunk” in my car (an Alero), as I went around turns around 15 - 20 mph. So, yesterday I took I took it to an Oldsmobile dealership (Sewell) to have them take a look at it (especially since my car is still under warrantee).

I drove in to the Oldsmobile/Cadillac service area, handed over my keys, and waited in the customer lounge. Of course, the Oldsmobile brand is now defunt, so most of the other customers waiting in the lounge along with me were Cadillac owners.

It was as if I had stepped into Sunnyvale Retirement Home — the median age must have been 80 (well, ok, maybe 70). I sat and read some magazines alongside four or five old ladies with badly dyed hair and various degrees of hair loss (the old-age type of hair loss that affects some women).

Scary clientele aside, the waiting area was pleasant and clean. The floors were a shiny-grey tile with a persian-colored rug. There was also coffee, tea, and spiced apple-cider mix at a nearby counter. More over, they also had Krispy Kreme donuts at the counter, of which I had a couple through the course of the day.

As car repairs go, this wan’t too bad. I was there for about six hours, but it only felt like it was maybe four hours ;). All the same, I can’t help but wonder that Cadillac’s customer base may be getting older and older, only to die off over time.

There was recently this thread on MetaFilter on french toast. In the main entry, there were quite a few links to recipes. However, the one that interested me most was this recipe from the July 1992 issue of Bon Appatit for overnight french toast.

The basic ingredients are the same — eggs, milk, sugar, bread, and so on. However, the eggs are “marinated” overnight and then baked in the oven. Mmm, sounds tasty. And, it takes some of the guesswork out of when to flip the toast (as a french toast beginner, I end up flipping too early or too late more often than I would like).

In addition to that overnight french toast recipe, there was also this link to “monkey makes yummy croissant french toast!” in the comments. There, a stuffed monkey shows the steps of making french toast. It’s cute, but informative at the same time. And, the directions are clear enough that I’d find the site to still be a useful reference even without the adorable monkey.

Of course, in addition to moneky recipe for french toast there’re many other recipes in the Cooking with Monkey series. In particular, I think I'll check out the Guacamole with Nachos recipe, as that sounds tasty yet something that I wouldn’t want to do incorrectly for fear of ruining any otherwise perfectly-good avocados ;).

While driving to Bed Bath & Beyond last night, I was listening to Sirius Radio’s Metal channel when I heard a cover of AC/DC’s classic “TNT” by Six Feet Under, a death metal band. From their website:

Launched in 1995, Six Feet Under, was originally conceived as a side project by then Cannibal Corpse lead throat Chris Barnes along with Obituary guitarist Allen West, Death’s Terry Butler and drummer Greg Gall. Chris’ departure from Cannibal Corpse that same year expedited the bands rapid evolution beyond a one-off Death Metal super group into the world's most respected name in extreme music. The combination of speedy riffs, down tuned groove and lyrics inspired by the horrors of the mind and the world at large had established SFU internationally as the reigning, if not, most feared Death Metal act. […]

Imagine, for a moment, what a growling death metal version of “TNT” would sound like, and you’d probably be fairly close. It was at once slightly amusing but surprisingly catchy ;). And, as it turns out, it’s available as an mp3 from their website if you want to hear what it sounds like.