[Malankazooie]

I'm a carry out/pickup person myself. Prior to covid I was okay with the delivery, but I've noticed some of the drivers look like the type who would sample the fixins during transit, right after taking a big ol' pull off their vape pen, and I aint down with some stoner's germs all over my food.

[Cause]

Tsundoku, on 28 February 2021 - 11:45 AM, said:

You order online or by phone and go get it when it's ready. No waiting.
You get the full meal - no dodgy "it wasn't all there" when the delivery dude eats it.
It's much cheaper than if you get it delivered.
Uber and those other arseholes don't get a cut, it all goes to the restaurant.
You get out of the house for a while, either with a nice stroll or a short drive that still costs less in fuel than it does extra to get it delivered.

What's the downside?

No car, so while I walk when possible for the benefit of getting my food quickly and n time when possible. When it’s a 30 min walk that goes out the window.

If it wasn’t for covid I’d much prefer walking 30 min, sitting down to eat and walking back. Delivery is so expensive here. I only do it when my cousin wants something or when I have some kind of promo offer.

I discover I enjoy little caesars. Pizza is 5 dollars. With fees, tax and delivery it comes out to 14. That’s tripled the rice! Madness. So I can’t bring myself to do it except when they offer 5 dollars off which they seem to do regularly

[Abyss]

Azath Vitr (D, on 28 February 2021 - 12:43 AM, said:

...I've always had a soft spot for ganglia....

Lizard person identified.
Initiate protocol green delta apprehension and dismemberment, priority able sierra able popeye.
No disintegrations please.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Did read almost every professional review of Kalaya I could find while contemplating what to order. Restaurant was kind enough to email me back yesterday---turns out Kalaya Thai Kitchen is no longer affiliated with Uber Eats, but Uber Eats keeps listing them... as closed until tomorrow every day, I think.

Almost seriously considered becoming a food critic... but I spent a summer in London right near what seemed to be the most critically acclaimed sandwich shop in the UK at the time, and I could never really appreciate the sandwiches that had more than a few main ingredients---the descriptions seemed amazing, but the different flavors just blurred into an overwhelming muddle. Tried to develop my palate in that direction for several years but never got far. (Though just this year I read that in Italy the conventional wisdom is that sandwiches should never have more than a few ingredients for basically this reason.)

I used to prefer to walk (up to around 20 minutes each way) for takeout over delivery, but since the pandemic started I've been reluctant to make unnecessary trips. Granted, if I could pick it up outside it wouldn't be high risk, given the lower risk of transmission outside, so my aversion might be irrational. OTOH if pickup is not available outside I generally won't know ahead of time if the restaurant is well-ventilated, crowded, etc. I'm on a strict no added sugar, low glycemic index diet which I will generally only break for something that's sufficiently different from anything I've eaten before---though being considered one of the best in the country (or the world) may count as different.

There's a non-Americanized, pretty well-rated Sichuan restaurant nearby that I was thinking of walking down to to pick up takeout... I was just about to order when I decided to double-check that the non-Americanized recipes don't break my diet. Since they're not sweet, I assumed they didn't add sugar... but it turns out Sichuan cuisine almost always adds a small amount of sugar, to balance out the vinegar.

'As a traditional kitchen ingredient second to salt, sugar has been used for centuries to provide structure, texture, flavor, and sweetness to all kinds of food. Sugar is such an important ingredient that "if you know how to use sugar, you are able to cook Sichuan food at professional level". Sugar may differ in color, flavor, sweetness, crystal size and nutrients. Each of these characteristics allows sugar to perform a variety of functions in cooking, in addition to providing a sweet taste.

[...]

Chinese food therapy is a mode of dieting rooted in [traditional] Chinese [beliefs about] the effects of food on the human health. Its basic precepts are a mix of folk views and concepts drawn from traditional Chinese medicine. [...] classifies Food items as heating, cooling and neutral. Heating food is [...] to be avoided in the summer and can be used to treat "cold" illnesses like excessive pallor, watery feces, fatigue, chills[...] cooling food [...] is [...] recommended for "hot" conditions, such as rashes, dryness or redness of skin, heartburns, and other "symptoms similar to those of a burn" [...]

Traditionally, Chinese brown sugar is warm, white sugar is neutral, but rock sugar is cool in nature. Many well-known Chinese recipes [are based around] different sugars.'

https://www.malafood...-and-sweeteners

Since vinegar slows absorption and the proportion of sugar isn't enough to make things taste sweet (underneath the other spices and flavors) it's not clear whether it's actually bad for my diet. Maybe if I eat a lot of fiber with it to lower the glycemic load. (I could try asking them to not use sugar if possible, but the restaurant prides itself on being authentic and non-Americanized, and I think it primarily caters to local students from China... it's ironic because one of the major issues with Americanized Chinese restaurants is that they almost always add a relatively large amount of sugar to almost everything (and many popular dishes are extremely sweet), but I didn't realize that Sichuan, Hunanese, and Cantonese cuisine in China also add a (much smaller) amount of sugar (or sauces containing added sugar) to almost everything.)

[Edit: at Cantonese restaurants I can usually get great steamed dishes with no sauce or sauce on the side---Cantonese cuisine tends to focus on lightly sauced or spiced dishes which foreground the flavors of the main ingredients---but the sauces and spices are really an integral part of Sichuan cuisine.]

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 01 March 2021 - 06:55 PM

[Mentalist]

Tenants moving out today, and renovations starting.

Countdown to being broke begins now,

[Cause]

Planet fitness!!!

America truly amazes me sometimes. There business practices would be illegal in South Africa. They only allow cancelations in person or through registered mail to the gym you signed up at.

When I left NY all gyms were closed due to covid. To my incredible shock gyms have reopened. God they must be covid hot spots!! So they resumed charging me and I can’t get them to cancel my membership. I’m not stepping foot into a gym until this is over!

Why can’t I do it over the phone? Why can they trust a letter but not email? Why not a fax? Also the fact that they say you better do registered mail makes me strongly suspect they just pretend to not receive cancelation letters if they not registered.

So I’ll have to jump through these ridiculous hoops.

[Macros]

Email them, phone them and send a letter.

But before that just cancel the direct debit.

Explain why in your contact

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Got an email notice saying my public transit card (Septa Key) will expire soon, and directing me to transfer the funds on it to a new transit card. So I went to their website to buy a new card.

A few months before the pandemic started, Septa stopped selling tickets online because their webstore got hacked. They continued allowing people to buy electronic credits for Septa Key cards on a separate website, but to get one of the cards you had to go to the station in person and sign a form.

I assumed they would realize that forcing people to go in person to get a new transit card during the pandemic is a terrible idea, but no, they're still making us do it.

However it seems I can deactivate my card to keep the credits to eventually transfer to a new card.

Ridiculous. Meanwhile, Septa's board wants to use $40 million of pandemic stimulus to construct a new rail line to an upscale mall in the distant suburbs. (...this after it was revealed tens of millions of dollars of public funding that didn't seem to be to helping improve the myriad problems with the transit system... were being straight up embezzled away.)

I read a few articles on how public transit, and particularly Septa, is actually well-ventilated and not particularly dangerous during the pandemic (assuming low ridership, social distancing, masks, etc.)---possibly less dangerous than an Uber with a driver who won't open the windows because it's cold out. But the extra hassle of having to buy a new card at the station is a significant deterrent... they're defunding themselves.

[Malankazooie]

That period of the year when the commute home has the sun right in the eyes during traffic rush. It's brutal. Had to navigate around a rear end collusion with airbags deployed earlier in the week. When the time changes that should alleviate it a bit.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'SEPTA will spend $40 million in emergency federal funds designed to help transit agencies keep buses and trains running during the pandemic to do design and engineering work for the proposed King of Prussia [upscale shopping mall surrounded by rich people who don't take public transit] rail project.

Philadelphia transit advocates spoke against the move Thursday before the SEPTA board unanimously approved the reallocation during its monthly virtual public meeting. [...] CARES Act money was intended to "ensure essential workers were able to safely commute during this crisis, not so SEPTA can extend engineering and design-work contracts," [...] said the money should be used to increase the frequency of service to alleviate crowding on some bus and trolley routes, to provide free masks, and for continued operations.

[...]

The project has an estimated cost of $2 billion and would require substantial additional federal funding.'

https://www.inquirer...l-20210225.html

[Cause]

I would actually like a bus or train or whatever to take to king of Prussia. I’m surprised Philly doesn’t have a mall. And here is the biggest mall in America so close, but without a car it’s. 50 dollar Uber which is not happening. Plus covid.

Damn I thought I could buy nee septa cards through the mail? I haven’t done it yet because of covid, but one cases are slowing some and hopefully vaccines will be around soon I’d like more freedom.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 04 March 2021 - 02:36 PM, said:

I would actually like a bus or train or whatever to take to king of Prussia. I'm surprised Philly doesn't have a mall. And here is the biggest mall in America so close, but without a car it's. 50 dollar Uber which is not happening. Plus covid.

Damn I thought I could buy nee septa cards through the mail? I haven't done it yet because of covid, but one cases are slowing some and hopefully vaccines will be around soon I'd like more freedom.

There's already a bus from Center City. The train line would supposedly cause less pollution. It might be a good idea if they had actually finished fixing the existing basic transit system they've been trying to fix for years (mechanical errors causing major delays, in both the subway and regional rail). And if they had already done an excellent job of adapting to COVID-19. As the inability to mail out new transit cards (or allow people to renew their existing cards---they all expire after one year I think) demonstrates, they haven't. The pandemic relief money should obviously go to pandemic relief first, not projects which primarily benefit rich businesspeople who are probably paying off the Septa board (with perks if nothing else).

King of Prussia is only the third largest mall in the United States. Philadelphia had a mall next to Jefferson Station for a long time; it's been renovated and turned into 'the Fashion District' though I haven't been there. (Most of the major upscale fashion designers didn't have stores in Philadelphia---people would have to go to King of Prussia or NYC for Prada, DKNY, Versace, Moschino, etc. So Philadelphia has been trying to bring more of that to Philadelphia. Granted, Septa serves South Eastern Pennsylvania, not just Philadelphia.) Jefferson Station is also right near Reading Terminal Market, which is like a large gourmet food court with some critically acclaimed food. Candytopia and Wonderspaces (lightshows / SFX art / VR etc.) are also right around there. And they apparently added a mainstream movie theater. So it's probably pretty similar to an upscale mall.

For a multi-story mall near Philadelphia I'd recommend Willow Grove (former amusement park, they made the carousel into a multi-story display, recently they added VR pods that iirc rotate and move around; you mentioned the Cheesecake Factory before and they do have one, though unfortunately the bookstore is across the street from the mall).

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 04 March 2021 - 04:19 PM

[Malankazooie]

So the residual effect from the -20 ℉ we had last month has really taken grip. We've had spring like temps here the past few days in the upper 50s and tickling the low 60s ℉. But gosh darnit, the ice won't go away. It's flippin' bizzare how it just won't relent. This ice just needs the faintest of shade to survive. It will greet you with the biggest middle finger every morning.

[worry]

Security, we've got a zucchini thief in the produce section. Yah he's just standing there.

[Mentalist]

SO much BS about what I do and don't need permission for to renovate. Makes my head spin.

Also, my mom is really falling apart. Dealing with my elderly grandparents stuck living with us, and working ridiculous amount of hours last year, and having not had a vacation for more than a year is really getting to her, and there's almost nothing I can do, aside being there to listen to her vent, which does help her, but only in a limited fashion.

Most of the time it keeps me from worrying about my own issues, at least. But then I just end up feeling guilty for not feeling as bad about my own life, and eventually it all feeds back into my own existential dread, b/c I haven't swam since November, having played soccer since mid September, and with the renos ongoing, I can't really even go for a walk without feeling bad that I'm not doing something constructive.

Life just overall sucks right now. Hopefully not for long.


On the bright-ish side, next week I'll be too swamped at work to feel sorry for myself, as I've got the busiest week I've had in the last 3 years or so coming up. So that's a silver lining.

[Morgoth]

just placed the opening bid on a new apartment. I can't believe I am willing to offer such a terrifying amount of money.

[Macros]

Just do some more filthy lawyering stuff.

All the dirty money you need!

[Morgoth]

all that dirty money is now swallowed up by a new apartment. I am elated and terrified in equal measures.

[Aptorian]

Hiding that dirty money in the walls, eh? Smart.

[Mentalist]

Morgoth, on 09 March 2021 - 12:45 PM, said:

all that dirty money is now swallowed up by a new apartment. I am elated and terrified in equal measures.

Congrats and welcome to the club