Beth, I am in your neck of the woods, or closer to it, since I am pausing in Aptos (for dinner and TAR) on my way up to Belmont to meet the movers tomorrow.

I have not had the dark chocolate M&Ms, or anti-depressants, though both have been under consideration at different times.

I haven't even seen the new dark chocolate m&ms.

About the Seurat: that room is a generally too crowded on the weekends. However, if the weekend is the only time you can get there -- I would still go.

Hiya, Perkins! looking forward to lunch the weekend after next!

Me too, Kristin!

I'm sure M&Ms are yummier than antidepressants. But more likely to give you a bloodsugar crash...

I've been reading a blog called "noodlepie", of a guy who goes around rating various Vietnamese food places (street food, carts, scuzzy "restaurants" and nice restaurants, all), and posts a lot of pictures. It's GREAT, but a little freaky. I mean--rice porridge for breakfast, great! Rice porridge that involves pig's blood and chopped up eels? Um. Pardon while I back away slowly.

I'm also wondering if I can eat the chicken by the time I'm there (see: bird flu, risk of). As I tried to point out to a coworker, there are not too many parts of a chicken that I am absolutely reluctant to eat. But of a cow or a pig? There are many more parts that are lots bigger, that are GROSS. So it would be much easier to be able to trust a chicken dish, when not so much speaking the language. We'll see! (OK, trip is in six weeks, but LOTS of stuff needs to happen before then. Really need to concentrate on work, for a bit, tomorrow. Um)

Beth, I am in your neck of the woods,

yay!

Timelies, everyone.

Hi billytea!

I have way too much stuff to do tomorrow morning, and really nowhere near enough time to do it.

Also, just messed up my shoulder again. Feh.

However, I just finished reading Angels in America, which left me in a kind of neat mental space.

I'm currently plotting the death of car rental places.

The best quote so far came from priceline that quoted $20/day, $100/ five days.

Then added after I went so far, another $65 for "Taxes and fees"

WTF?

Any frequent travelers want to help me find something better in Phoenix? or is that very good for a rental car? It seems outrageous to me.

did you try rent-a wreck?

[link]

Daniel, $165 is not all that bad considering it falls under the "weekly" rental category. This is the business traveler rate. To get anything cheaper, you'd have to rent at the weekend rate or reserve far enough in advance, neither of which is possible.

Does the $65 in taxes and fees include the insurance provided by the rental car agency? IF it does, and you have a platinum-level credit card or your personal vehicle insurance covers rentals, decline it. It will save you a ton of money. Do you have AAA or other association memberships? They may provide a discount. Even a BJs or Costco membership could work.

I've looked and the cheapest I found was $180/week, including taxes and fees.