bits & pieces

i'm in between freelance assignments, which is like being on vacation, so i have no excuse not to blog regularly. so here are some bits & pieces that on their own might not be enough for a full entry.

via abdul, we see that rishawn biddle apparently really dislikes julia carson. i'm having a hard time locating a single positive statement about julia in his "special report" over at the american spectator. (rishawn does point out that julia was "one of the first members of Congress to vocally oppose the War in Iraq", which i suspect he thought was a compliment, but the spectator's audience will not take it as such.) but on the other hand, it doesn't contain any racial slurs either, like the last time he wrote about julia, so that's a step up.

now that i'm no longer a homeowner, i'm virtually guaranteed to get screwed by any property tax relief plan. not totally reamed like lake county, but screwed nonetheless, because even if my landlord's taxes go way down, they're certainly not going to decrease my rent. that's okay; unlike some, i'm not going to oppose any change just because it won't help me personally. then again, i'm not going to assume any change is good, either. i'm not sold on the governor's plan—in particular i'm averse to amending the constitution—but something similar to his plan could work.

speaking of bits 'n pieces, milkshake masters steak 'n shake have been particularly hard-hit by the economic troubles that have been affecting the restaurant industry, as more people decide to eat at home or just grab something cheap. some locations are even considering the ultimate SNS blasphemy: reducing hours. i was particularly concerned on sunday night, when i drove to our local steak n shake to takhomasak for dinner, and the place appeared to be closed. as a result, i was forced to go to five guys instead (the food at five guys is great, but they don't have shakes). however, i've since confirmed that our local SNS (by the pyramids) is still open 24 hours, so sunday night must've been a fluke.

still, even with the restaurant industry's recent woes, the producers of fox's kitchen nightmares aren't getting a lot of applications from local restaurants to be featured on the show. on the show—my girlfriend's favorite; she's almost obsessed—star chef gordon ramsay tries to help a struggling restaurant turn its business around in one week. in the american version of the show, producers even spend a good chunk of change redesigning the restaurant interior, replacing busted kitchen equipment, and so on. if the show were to come to indianapolis, virago & i would definitely want to attend the reopening (hint to show producers), not so much to be on tv as to taste gordon's menu. though being on the show would be cool, too. ¶