Stamford Hates Leaves

I get it, leaf-collecting truck, you are backing up!!! And have been doing so for the last 10 minutes! But guess what! My baby is sleeping!!!

OK, there. I just had to get that out. (Oh, and now they are using a LEAF BLOWER to get what the BEEPING TRUCK missed. Right outside my baby's window.) I mean, I'm glad they are taking the leaves out of the road, because the leaves cause the cars speeding up and down my residential road to careen dangerously close me as they roar around the leaf piles.

Oh, it is quite a symphony of machines outside the window right now. Thank God for "Ocean Waves" on repeat on the baby's CD player.

Aaaaand now the leaf truck is speeding past my house with leaves in its plow.

Every year. Every year, this leaf craziness impresses me. Aaaaand now I hear the baby stirring. Beep, beep, beep. The war on leaves. Because leaves, I guess, are evil.
Click here to read more.

Thankful For... Stamford Edition

I am thankful for...

--the lactation consultants at Stamford Hospital, and the mother's group they run on Wednesdays and Fridays
--the Stamford Police, who I think do a really good job, even if I mostly just see them directing traffic around annoying construction sites
--Vinny's Backyard BBQ, for being so baby-friendly, yet always having plenty of wine and thin crust pizza
--Stamford Museum and Nature Center for being free on Wednesdays, and for having such cool exhibits
--Bellini's awesome, if pricy, baby furniture
--the baby section of Bed Bath and Beyond
--Beldotti's Bakery and DiMare Pastry Shop, for making great cookies so easily available to me
--Mrs. Green's, for carrying kooky organic stuff, so I don't have to drive to Whole Foods Greenwich
--Tully Health Center Walk In Clinic
--new blog, Stamford 411, by the Advocate staff

What about you? What Stamford stuff are you thankful for? What did I forget?

I'll go back later and add more links, but for now, I hear the baby fussing! Click here to read more.

On Spam and Eggplant

Oh my god. The baby distracted me for a second, and rather than REJECT 28 spam comments, I PUBLISHED them. I hate myself, but this gives me a chance to share with you a really funny piece of spam I got a long time ago and saved because it was just too funny to trash. I blogged about eggplant parm, and someone left this comment:

ooo... i am an eggplant superfan! sigh. i want the spicy eggplant sooooo badly right now. with rice.
Here I bought a sauce pack so as to skip all the seasonings! and i will try this friday after work. (address of product etc.)

I like the wistfulness of the opening line, and the love this spammer clearly feels for eggplant. I also like envisioning his busy work week, pining for eggplant until he has time to make it on the weekend, but not enough time to season it himself.

I am an eggplant superfan too, especially when it's in the spicy green curry from Little Buddha. Click here to read more.

Not So Smart Car

Last night around 5:30, we passed through a quiet four way stop, and my husband said, "Whoa!" It was dark, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a car passing behind us.
Me: "What, did that car almost hit us?"
Husband: "No, his lights weren't on!"
Ironically, it was a little blue Smart Car stupidly forgetting to turn on headlights, driving around Stamford almost invisible to other drivers.

You really do need to be on your toes around here. I can't tell you how many drivers seemed determined to sideswipe me as I drove around this weekend. Click here to read more.

High Ridge Starbucks Hideousness?

Did the High Ridge Starbucks purposefully change their design to this cold, open space, or were they just preparing for a square dance tonight? I don't know, because I haven't been there in a while. I'm hoping it's just temporary. You know, for the rave they're hosting tonight, so they had to move all the chairs out. Seriously what is going on with that place? The space seems very unwelcoming.

My husband reported that the staff was also very "enh." He waited a while for my pumpkin spice latte, then said, "Is there a pumpkin spice latte coming?" And the barista said, "Oh, I forgot it," in a very "whatever" tone. Not, "Oh, sorry 'bout that." I mean, at least pretend like you care.

Contrast that with the very friendly girls behind the counter at Beldotti's where we stopped after for some banana bread. That's what we had for our late lunch today, plus an AWESOME black and white cookie!

And then we had Layla's for dinner. It was a true day of laziness for the Stamford Talk household. Click here to read more.

On Faces: Stamford Chimp Attack Victim

I'm scared to look at her face, I think because it's going to make me feel bad for her. Although, from what she says, she doesn't feel bad for herself, so I'm not sure why I'm being overdramatic about it. I think we've all felt pretty bad about the case from the start. What happened to Charla Nash was, obviously, terrible.

So, I appreciate the Stamford Advocate's headline:
Disturbing video: Stamford woman attacked by chimp reveals face on...

"Disturbing" is a subjective term, but I'm going to take their word for it. From what I can see in the still shot that starts the video, she simply does not have much of a face. And that's all I want to know. I feel guilty for saying that, but I have enough trouble sleeping as it is without having that image to think about as I lie awake trying to get back to sleep after the baby's nighttime wakings.

Pretty amazing recovery she's made, though. I recall they were worried about brain injury, and if Nash can go on Oprah and advocate for tougher exotic animal laws, she must be doing OK. I'm happy for her daughter, that even if her mother is physically disfigured, she can at least have an intact personality. Charla Nash seems like a pretty cool lady from what I've read about her. Click here to read more.