A laborious mind…

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to sit down and write with the intent of publishing immediately, so this is probably going to be all over the place. I wanted to get a few responses to things out there as well as some other random thoughts and updates.

Lots of people reached out to ask me if they were going to see me at the Baconfest down in Hudson, NY this past weekend. When I first heard about it a month ago, my interest was very mild. In my experience, these types of events get out of control really quick, and, once the media coverage passes a certain point, it’s easy to predict that they won’t be a good time. That media coverage for Baconfest passed that point weeks ago. I could gauge from my twitter feed alone that too many people were going and that it would be lame. I’m hearing that there was an article in the NY Post the day before that solidified lame status for this, and, according to reports, the food at most of the stands ran out after three hours. I feel sorry for the people who decided to make the trip only to pay admission (even though it was discounted) and get nothing. That sucks.

But, on the bright side, I had my own little Baconfest courtesy of the dreampuff Marshmallow stand at the Troy Farmers Market. Ginny was giving out skewers of candied bacon with caveat that you had to do something crazy to get one. I used a loophole and told her I’d pay $4 for a bacon chocolate malt ice cream sandwich. Neither was bad, but I maintain that people are carried away with this bacon thing. I’ve had my fix of sweet bacon dishes for a while now. Until the next interesting thing I see comes up…

Rachael Ray cooks with absolutely no finesse whatsoever. She is a brute.

After a bit of a training hiccup at the beginning of July due to a recurring back problem that was aggravated by my drive to get back into running a little too quickly, I’m back to working out 5-6 days per week. I’m focusing on cardio, and dedicating 2-3 workouts a week to just some intense cardio on the elliptical trainer while the other three days are my usual splits with weights on 1-2 body parts followed by 30 minutes of intense cardio on the elliptical trainer. As far as progress, while I’m documenting the numbers, I haven’t been focusing on them. But I’ll say that my summer clothes look and feel ridiculous on me, so it’s a good thing they’re going away in a couple of weeks. If I keep it going, I’ll need to buy new summer clothes in 2013.

I’m pulling for Dana on Hell’s Kitchen, probably because she yells all the time.

I knew that holding off on publishing all of the stuff I was able to gather about the Cambridge Hotel and Cambridge, NY until the Hotel Hell episode aired would be a good idea. That week of content was the most viewed stuff ever. By far. My posts were linked in a couple of  places that were a bit of a surprise to me. Audrey from the Times Union “Something borrowed, something blue” blog linked to my posts because of the engagement story that all of the posts told when taken together. The Company Store, who donated $75,000 worth of linens to the Cambridge Hotel for the Gordon Ramsay/Hotel Hell makeover found my post raving about their linens and decided to link to it on their blog! Pretty cool stuff! (I told you this wasn’t completely a food blog!)

I’ve been picking up my guitars a lot lately. They spent the better part of the last 5 years in their bags, but, now that they’re out, I’m learning lots of fun stuff. As simple as a lot of The Beatles’s songs are, learning some of the intricacies in those songs is teaching me a lot about music, and my approach of learning guitar by mimicking Metallica riffs is starting to make a lot more sense.

You know I think yelp is one of the least helpful things on the planet. Multiple things I’ve read in the last month have confirmed this.

In the same day, I’m going to eat at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze at the London and the legendary Churrascaria Plataforma. I’m planning on writing about both, not only to get them on the official derryX Dines map, but also because I expect both to be mind-blowing!

I have two restaurants that I’ve written reviews for that may never make it onto the blog. One is for Chick Fil A, and I’m only reluctant to post that one because I don’t want it turning into a bullshit boring political circus. What the hell? Maybe I’ll post it…The other is a review of Pizza King in Schenectady. The owner recently passed away by an apparent suicide and the future of the pizzeria hasn’t been announced. I’d feel like an asshole posting it if they’re closing. If it reopens, I’ll post it. Otherwise, the review will fade into the ether, but I may post a mathematics lesson about areas of circles that I’m telling you right now could be related to this.

A pair of sneakers that I bought six weeks ago mechanically failed. I’m not joking. For two or three nights, I came home from work with my feet killing me, and, one day when putting on these sneakers, I found that there was a big gap between the soles and the outside of the shoes, so my feet were pretty much slipping out at the heel. I’m embarrassed to say where I bought them, but I’ll say I got what I paid for.

Alright.

Go enjoy your families on this lovely Labor Day!