Pick Your Poison

At my desk. You know, actually doing some work... and I get this message from my friend Korte,

"Hey... what are you, some kind of blog variety crack dealer? You give 'em a taste and then shut off the supply? I need my Murky Words, you bastard."

Sorry to disappoint, K. The ever changing MP3 on the sidebar not enough? The 1,110 word posts every other day proving too little? The links to other blogs on the right not giving you enough to read? The Friday posts of unusual and quaint web sites not interesting enough for you to surf? Meh. Stick it, son. I'm busy.

Still, it's nice to be loved. I hope all crack dealers feel as warm and fuzzy inside as I do right now because clearly, theirs is a profession that is truly thankless. Think about it. Police officers on your case; addicts who can't pay up begging for a free rock; local competition trying to cut into your business using price undercuts and a Glock... Tough life, man. Tough life.

I've never tried crack - although some of my best friends are crack addicts, and they say the stuff is good. But no, it simply isn't for me. Drugs in general just aren't my thing. I DO know plenty about addiction though. Yep - I'm addicted to lots of stuff. In fact, here's a sample:

• Toscanini's Grape Nut Raisin Ice Cream - Toscanini's is my new favorite ice cream. They have a few parlors around the Boston area which I actually haven't been to in a day and an age (but like crack, its really good.) No, lately I've been buying their packaged goods at the supermarket. They've only released a few varieties so far, but the Grape Nut Raisin is surprisingly my favorite. Try some yourself and see what you like, but one word of caution - avoid the Burnt Caramel AT ALL COSTS. Looks like unhealthy dog poop, tastes like charcoal.
  
• Trainspotting - Watching a movie about drugs over 30 times is not the same as taking the drug. Still, sometimes you just like to live vicariously through the characters and pretend to be an addict yourself by being addicted to their tale of addiction (and if I ever use the phrase 'live vicariously through' again, shoot me in the head.) This has been my favorite film since I was a trendy college hipster back in 1996, when it was released. Listing this as my favorite film almost ten years later is kind of embarrassing as it shows my utter lack of coolness. Still, I'm going to stick to my needles. Phenomenal soundtrack, ridiculously funny, and terribly disturbing. Watch it.
• The Boston Red Sox - No surprises here. Just a boyhood love affair with America's team - who are also the World Champions, by the way. (Honorable mention to the World Champion New England Patriots as well.)
• Harry Potter - Literary crack. Not at all good for you. Not a very challenging read. Some would even argue it's not even a very well written read. Still - I can't.... put..... th.. th.. them... DOWN! I haven't even started the new one yet, either. You can expect significantly fewer posts when I do. Just saying.......
• Samuel Adams Boston Lager - Noticing a geographical bias here? Sorry.. can't help it. Anyway, this is a damn good beer. I was actually going to list Harpoon IPA here, but my sister-in-law would have had my head (Boston Beer Company employee. Yep - they make Sam Adams, and as a faithful servant she gets two free cases of beer a month. I am, like, sooooo jealous.) In either case, both are fine locally produced brews..... although I haven't had either one in quite some time......
• Replay Music - I'm hesitant to write anything about this, largely because I'm afraid too many people will catch on and they'll make it illegal. But, for a one time fee you can download this program which captures streaming audio and converts it to MP3 files. Further, if you subscribe to a music service, like Yahoo or Rhapsody, which allow unlimited streaming of complete albums, it will split the tracks and tag them for you. So essentially you can download as many albums as you like for around $40 plus the cost of a subscription music service. A steal by all accounts. I've had the thing a week and I've already downloaded more albums than I'd normally purchase in a year (which is way over $40, by the way) Keep this quiet, though. Don't, like, post it on your friggin' blog or anything.

So there - it ain't crack but it's close enough. These things make me happy and significantly change my life - which, really, is what any good drug should do. But if I ever need the real thing I know where to go. Pepe and Manuel hold court outside the bodega up the street, greeting all passersby with kind smiles and sparkles in their eyes.... and if THAT'S too much effort.. well, that's why we have the Internet (speaking of addictions.) Happy fix!