As the weekend approaches, you can bet there will be a large number of people out there frantically cleaning in preparation for an open house. You’ll see the “Open 1-4″ signs as you drive around, and the “For Sale” signs will jump out at you, especially if, like me, you’ve been toying with the idea of buying (either for investment or to live in). I can rarely resist an open house. I love looking at how people decorate, and (lately) I’ve been amazed at the prices they’re asking, and even more amazed at the prices they’re getting. And supposedly summer is the slow time of year because of the heat.

One of my favorite restaurants in town is Pei Wei. I don’t know if I’ll ever get sick of a warm platter of Pei Wei Spicy with chicken and a warm bed of rice. This dish is so flavorful and lives up to its spicy name. Since I’m so fond of this dish, I rarely order anything else, but other tasty dishes (.pdf) are Honey-Seared, Mongolian, and Blazing Noodles, all available with your choice of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, scallops, or vegetables/tofu.

Aside from the delectable eats, Pei Wei is just a great place to meet up with friends. The place is almost always busy, but that just provides a pleasant buzz of chatter that doesn’t quite mask the music they play. I’m always impressed with their musical selection. Sometimes I’ll hear some nice jazz vocalist and other times it’s some cheesy 80’s hair band. Regardless, the eclectic mix just adds to the ambiance.

I had a great time tonight. Since moving here a couple weeks ago, I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with my cousin Renee and her fiance Miguel (pictured above). As an added bonus, I was able to arrange for our cousin Juliana to visit for a few days in honor of Renee’s 22nd birthday on Sunday. I’m really happy that we’re getting a change to spend time together!

Over the course of the next few days, I plan to sleep in, shop a bit, indulge in a few drinks, get together with some great friends to celebrate a special girl’s birthday, and just enjoy every little moment.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

all ya hungry children, come and eat ‘em up.

I discovered a wonder of modern science a few days ago, thanks to a good friend’s recommendation. I think I’m built for colder climates, because hot weather makes me sweat like a pig. Oink. Even dipped in antiperspirant, I’ll end up sweating enough to make me hold my arms to my sides in fear for the rest of the day. No longer!

For any of your other locals who suffer from hyperhidrosis, your salvation has arrived. It’s Certain-Dri! And before you say this is spam, it’s not. It’s just a bit o’ friendly advice for those whose bodies attempt to create their own wading pool every summer.

To celebrate my newly dry armpits, I’ll be braving the city for a couple of social excursions this weekend. Tomorrow night is dinner, beer, and some pool over in Tempe with the college kids. Saturday is dinner, gin & tonic, and some karaoke over in Phoenix with the blogger kids et al. And then Sunday is all for me. I’ve been reading Atlas Shrugged… 1400 pages should be enough to soak up the rest of the summer.

According to the Business Journal, Robinsons-May stores will become Macy’s in fall 2006. And at Fiesta Mall and Paradise Valley Mall which have both stores, one of the stores will close at each mall.

Stuff like this happens all the time, of course, but does anyone remember back when Robinsons-May was Goldwater’s? And when Dillard’s was Diamond’s? I miss Goldwater’s the most, I think, because the name was so synonymous with Arizona.

It was sad to see Goldwater’s go. As for Robinsons-May becoming Macy’s? Not such a big deal to me. Doesn’t tug at my heartstrings at all. It’s just another corporate buyout. I guess the sad part of it is knowing that those local institutions like Goldwater’s are now few and far between.

During my senior year in college, I took a course in Spanish to fulfil my foreign language required. Oh sure, I could have taken German or French which perhaps would have been more advantageous since I was studying music, but I figured Spanish would come in more handy.

On my first day of class, the instructor, a harsh, weathered-looking woman with frizzy dyed-black hair that was turning green, asked the class who had never taken a Spanish class before. I raised my hand and so did the girl sitting next to me, Kristina. Everyone else had completed at least one Spanish class in high school. She looked at the two of us and said it wouldn’t matter because one day very soon we’d all be on the same page and all learning new material. And that was true. Of course, it didn’t stop her from flying through the first seven chapters in mere weeks leaving Kristina and I behind in the dust still trying to figure how to ask, “Is the library on campus Mr. Lamas?”
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In a city as visibly polluted as Phoenix is, I feel especially responsible for doing my part by taking the bus to work every day

While most humans don’t like mint jelly, ants sure do. I’ve had a little ant problem recently, tiny pharoah ants specificially, which are all over the southwest. After doing some research I found that spraying ants with insecticide only kills the ants you see, and not the ones in the nest. It can also fragment a colony and cause it to separate and form new colonies. Not good! Using poisonous non-repelling baits is the best way to get rid of ants. There are several websites that state ants like mint jelly better than any other flavor (who knew). Anyway, what kills the ants is the boric acid powder that you mix in (get it at Walgreens). Since ants feed communally through a process called trophallaxis, they share the baited jelly with other worker ants and the queen. The boric acid acts as a stomach poision and eventually wipes out the whole colony as the food is shared.

I mixed some mint jelly and boric acid, and then squirted it into 2″ sections of drinking straws. I then taped them where I’ve noticed ants. I’ll be damned if not 10 minutes later they’re all covered with ants gorging themselves on the stuff! Ahahahahahah, AMF!

By the way, who has watched the movie “Joe’s Apartment”?

ICE, no not frozen water, rather In Case of Emergency. It’s an acronym and concept that started recently in the UK (if I remember correctly from a recent news article). It was hit upon by an emergency worker over there after the recent attacks. The idea is to put a contact in your cellphone labeled ICE or .ICE and program it as the number of a person you wish to be contacted in the case of an emergency. (By putting a period before ICE it should make the entry appear as #1 in your contacts). Anyone finding your cellphone, be it a citizen or emergency worker, would immediately know who to call. Obviously, for this to work, the word needs to spread, so all you other metrobloggers out there in other cities, pass it along!

Tempe Town Lake was unusually…fragrant today.

I’ve always wondered what makes certain songs just pop into my head. Just this minute for example I started singing “Thumpety Thump Thump, Thumpety Thump Thump, look at Frosty go!”, Bizzare. Maybe it’s because I have a frosty beer bottle in my hand, or due to the “Christmas in July” cliche. Who knows.

One man’s trash… I scored some free chairs from the 70’s the other day, made by a company called Thayer Coggin and designed by Milo Baughman.

Chicks don’t dig… light blue courdoroy pants.