The greatest thing since, well, sliced bread

Last week, I finally bought a toaster. Why did I wait this long? Well, the biggest reason was that I just couldn't really find anything that fit both my demanding tastes and my cheapskate nature. Toasters are somewhat of a luxury item here (I saw some that were $300) so there weren't a lot of cheap options. Second, I don't have any counter space in my apartment and I took a long time convincing myself that I could rearrange things so that I wouldn't have to leave it on the floor. And finally, every time I found one, I either gave up on the purchase because my arms were already full of groceries, or I just didn't have the patience to wait in a ridiculously long line -- electronic stores in Lausanne seem to be chronically understaffed. Anyway, a price/convenience nexus formed at the store near my apartment the other day and I decided to pick up this winning model.

Fig. 1: I've tried the "Crusty Normal" and let me tell you, it's a piece of crap compared to the "Crusty Plus". Do you think a "normal" toaster would have a defrost or reheat setting?

Although the price (19.90) was awesome, I have to admit that I probably would have paid twice as much just for the name alone. How could I go wrong?

Once I had the toaster, I had to have the toast. As traditional European bread is not particularly well suited for toast making, I had to make a run to the supermarket for a loaf of (what I would consider "normal") sliced bread. Fortunately, there was a wide variety available.

Fig. 2: I for one am proud to see the American flag on this product. Frankly, there are a lot worse things that we could be associated with than delicious, pre-sliced bread that does not go stale within two hours of purchase.

Things to note: this is allegedly "XXL" toast for "BIG" sandwiches -- please. Also, note the patriotic packaging -- this wasn't even the only brand to feature an "American" theme for its sliced bread. From what I have noticed, "American" branding is used to sell sliced bread, peanut butter, and pop corn. I guess if I were forced to come up with a list of distinctly American food items (not obvious brands, like Coke or Spam), these would be near the top, maybe I would add pre-sliced cheese, chocolate chip cookies, and BBQ sauce. One final linguistic note: notice how the loaf of bread is labeled "toast." Of course, it's not actually "toast" until you put it in a toaster, but I guess in French it's "toast" whether you toast it or not. Oddly enough, in Italian, "un toast" refers to a sandwich that has been made on sliced bread and then toasted. Maybe it's just me, but I find it kinda funny that the word was borrowed by both languages and then the definition kinda floated in different directions over time. Anyway...

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In totally unrelated news, a few weeks ago, I went to Zurich for a concert and as my plans were somewhat last-minute, I had to make hotel arrangements the night before and thus ended up in a place called the Zic-Zac Rock Hotel. It certainly wasn't the best smelling hotel I've ever stayed in, but I have to admit that it did have some charm. For example, all of the rooms were themed on a different rock group. Here's the list:

Fig. 3: I guess with so many rooms, the Zic Zac Rock Hotel was bound to have a couple of less than rocking rooms. Foreigner? Heart? Bryan Adams? At least there isn't a Winger room.

Each room was filled with posters, fake gold records, and even custom-made paintings of the band. I guess for certain bands, this would be pretty cool. In my room though, the theme was Prince.

Fig. 4: Can't sleep, Prince will eat me. Can't sleep, Prince will eat me ...

I dare you to go to sleep with that thing staring in your face.

A weekend in the city

Hola, amigos. I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I have been up to mon cou lately and have not had a lot of free time. OK, a lot of this "busy-ness" business was more of the leisure variety, but with the apartment change and all, it really wasn't until tonight that I've had any free time since my last entry. So, time to catch you up to date!

As mentioned earlier, Mike P (of the San Diego P's) is in Stuttgart for a few weeks. As he had already made some plans with work-type people for the following weeks, last weekend was the only free weekend he had to come visit Switzerland. Even though I was somewhat drained (physically as well as financially) by my visit to Stuttgart the previous weekend, I knew that it was a moral imperative to dig deep (p. as well as f.), get on a train, and meet him in Zurich. As I was making these plans though, I was contacted my Dr. Loren Swenson of Grenoble who informed me that he was free this weekend and would be making a visit to Switzerland. After a brief rearrangement of his train ticket, the three of us were set to meet in Zurich Friday night around 9pm.

Zurich, which has been called "the most boring city on Earth," is a pretty cool city. The downtown area is clean, friendly, and absolutely packed with cafes, restaurants, bars, and clubs. For the more artistically inclined, there are some beautiful churches (most of which are farely barren on the inside -- thanks Zwingli!) and the rivers and lakes that cut through the city are also picturesque. Rick Steves is not much of a fan of the place (he suggests spending one afternoon in the city if you will be in Switzerland for at least two weeks), but then again, Rick Steves suggests that you avoid Geneva and Basel like the plague, so he cannot be considered the most objective observer of Swiss cities. Further, as much as I hate to admit it, I doubt that ol' Rick spends much time hanging out in the bars and clubs -- many of which are open almost all night -- and thus he is missing out on a significant portion of the city's charm.

Our weekend was not particularly momentous, but we had a fun time and I did get a couple of good pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me at all times, so I missed a couple of highlights. For example, did you know that there is a Jamaican bar in Zurich that is open until 5 AM? I highly recommend it if you are Jamaican, or if you enjoy Red Stripe, or if you just enjoy hanging out with Jamaican-Swiss people.

Fig 1: The two PhDDs. The second "D" is for the double-dose of pimping.

This was Saturday morning at a street-side cafe. There were literally tons of these places, and since the weather was unseasonably nice, we spent a good deal of Saturday just hanging out and people-watching.

Fig. 2: Il y a un bateau, et dans le bateau, il y a trois minous. Ils s'appellent "un", "deux", et "trois" ...

The flea market in Zurich was incredible: huge, well-organized, and good quality. As none of us were particularly keen on toting something back home on the train, we didn't buy anything, but it was an interesting experience to look. I took a picture of this because it reminded me of the only joke that I know that straddles two languages.

Fig. 3: That's me, the second from the right.

The Zurichois have always been known for their extreme sense of style. I was lucky enough to talk these fine people into posing in a picture with me so that I could catch up on the latest trends. If you're wondering why it looks like this picture was taken in China, it's because we were inside the Zurich-China Friendship Garden.

OK, enough about Zurich. Tschüss.