/matt/blog

One thing I love:Long road trips with no cops.

One thing I hate: Sinks with the faucet right next to the back of the basin. How am I supposed to wet my hands?

I was driving home from In-n-Out burger this evening and a car in front of me stopped quickly in the middle of the road. When completely stopped, the lady driving opened her door, threw a half-full cup of soda down on the ground right next to her, and commenced driving…

What the hell?

…that it’s a waste of time to look at the weather report.

Mike and I got into LA on Thursday night and I’m all settled into my dorm at LMU.

What are the chances that 3 days after Tyler’s little incident I’d have one of my own?

 I came out of Chipotle to see a note of my window. I assumed it was some “Check out my car club at www.blah.com” sheet but…well…

Click for bigger versions.

Drew this in about 20 minutes

This is my future:

I awoke the next early next morning and remembered we had forgotten our restaurant. Since I’m traveling abroad the week before finals, I had a term paper to write before we could have any fun. I spent about 2 hours finishing my paper with a couple hours of flash games mixed in.

Steve and I decided to go to “La Mafia” restaurant instead of the Sinatra one. It was raining outside so we hailed a cab to take us to the big central metro station. Once there, we took two cabs and got in the general area of La Mafia. A quick walk taught us La Mafia was closed, so Sinatra was next. This walk was a bit longer but we eventually found the three-story lounge in a back alley somewhere. The restaurant looked more like a chic bar, and not an italian lounge. Sinatra music wasn’t even playing! The menu was equally as depressing, with no pasta and some overpriced dishes. After a bottle of wine and some bread we were out on the hunt for some pasta.

Since Sinatra was Steve’s idea, I chose a place with some 4-cheese ravioli. The food was alright, the beer was passable, and the wine was bad. Once we emerged, it was close to 12:30am and about time to head home via the metro. A walk to our original station showed us that the metro closes at midnight behind steel doors.

Neither one of us wanted to pay for the cab, and we both were curious to see who wold break down first and need to stop walking. The restaurants we were at were in the port area of town, while the hotel was about 5 miles away, all the way across town. about 3 hours later, after waking some bums up asking for directions, mooning Japanese tourists in McDonalds, and a quick chat with a hooker, our hotel came into sight. Finally, we made it and collapsed into bed, our feet covered in blisters.

I’m really surprised I made it, seeing as I almost bought the cab a few times but I was coaxed out of it after seeing how close we are. Past a certain part it just became a matter of principal to finish, and ceased being a contest of stubbornness.

So I’m in here Spain on business. I guess I’ll talk about some of the fun I’ve had.

Day 1!

I got here to BCN airport around 7am. Steve (my boss) was nowhere to be found. He was supposed to pick me up and he was nowhere to be found. I’m in a foreign country, unable to speak the language, and was without the name of my hotel or a working cell phone.

I dug out some euro-coins that my mom gave me and dropped them in a pay phone but they fell through. I tried this a couple times before taking a closer look at the coins. My mom seems to think Mexican pesos are the same thing as euros. So now I have a handful of pesos, along with my two heavy backpacks digging into my shoulders, and heavy wheeled suitcase.

Upon asking information for an ATM, I was lead on a pingpong game back and forth between both wings of the airport and eventually it was where I started. I got some cash, figured out the phone and found Steve had hopped on the wrong train. Fortunately, he was on his way.

He arrived about an hour later, and we took a cab to Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I (super snazzy.) Dropped off my gear, and decided to check out “La Rambla”, a large street with performers, restaurants, outdoor markets and tacky shops selling pheasants and pigeons.

We stopped for some tapas and beer and ended up being annoyed by a clown who decided to perform right next to our outdoor seating. After lunch we got a couple meters down the street before taking another beer-break; this time extra-large.

Upon walking a bit more south, we decided to sit down for some more refreshment. This time, a homeless woman was begging for change from all the tables. Steve, a tad tipsy, decided it was time to practice his Spanish. “Yo…estoy….buscando…una esposa…española?” She ended up hugging him until we got her a coke and the management chased her off. Later “Rose Marie” came back to give Steve her number. NICE!

We stumbled back in the direction of our metro station, somehow ended up running through a sex-shop and a casino and ended up in a tourist’s store in search of ice-cream. Steve found his girlfriend a snowglobe which she had been wanted and we left. Arriving at the metro station, we hopped on our train. At the next stop, a bum sat down next to me and began giggling to himself. He started slapping the chair next to me loudly and we hopped off the train to wait for another. I decided to lay down real quick on a bench and forgot I was holding the bag with the snowglobe. “KSHHT!” as the bag touched the ground a bit too quickly, glittery water running all over the floor. I had to trash it and run on the train quickly to the sound of “Awww, man. That was my snowglobe! You bitch!”

Steve and I headed toward our hotel to wash up before going to “Restaurante Sinatra” later for some Italian food and lounge music but as soon as we got in our room we found ourselves asleep in our respective beds at 5pm.

My friends,

Today marks the end of an era. An era that comes every 5 years or so, but is silenced quickly once it does. Of course what I’m talking about is Pizza Hut’s Dippin’ Strips pizza.

This thing was amazing. A rectangular pizza cut horizontally once and vertically several times resulting in a bunch of “strips” which you can dip into one of three sauces; marinara, ranch and garlic (swap that with a cheese sauce, and this invention would become an legend.

When I was in middle school, this pizza came out and my friends and I tried it to our delight. Then one day it was gone, snatched from beneath my drooling mouth. I never forgot that pizza, and thought it would never return until I saw an ad for it a couple weeks ago. Quickly, I ordered one and tasted my entire childhood in that dippy-strippy goodness. I’ve had one about once a week since then.

Which brings us to today. I rarely eat breakfast so I’m always starving for lunch. My girlfriend’s over and I suggest pizza. Dippin’ Strips, it must be so. The phone conversation goes like this:

PH - Welcome to Pizza Hut, my name’s Devin, how can I help you?

Me - I’d like a pizza for delivery, please.

PH - Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalright can I get your phone number?

<Several minutes of him messing up my phone number>

PH - OK, whatdya want?

Me - I’ll take a medium Dippin’ Strips

PH - I’m sorry man, we don’t carry those anymore.

Me - ……WHAT?!

PH - I know man, every time we get something good, corporate takes it away. Remember those cheesy-bites? They’re gone too.

Me - B-b-but no. Those were awesome!

PH - I know man, it sucks.

Me - C-Can you just make me one? I won’t tell anybody.

PH - Corporate took all our dough.

Me - God DAMN coporate! Fiiiine, I’ll just have a medium half-peperoni/half-pineapple….

This depresses me greatly. Finally the Muppets and had I found some common ground.

You’ve ruined this alliance, Pizza Hut. Corporate, do you hear me? I’m coming for you.