I'm still sick. Not only is my voice still going out, but I'm getting over some food poisoning as well. Last night, Janet and I decided to go to Mifune for some noodle soup. It seemed logical… the best thing for a cold is chicken noodle soup… that's what we were planning on having… well, beef noodle soup… but it's close enough. I spent the hours of Midnight to 2 am hunched over the bathtub expelling the soup out of my system. But, why should I be the only one to have such fun! Janet spent the evening perched over the toilet as well. Next time we want noodle soup, I'm sticking with good old Campbells.

I'm sick. I hate being sick. When I got back from Colorado Springs on Thursday, my throat was hurting a little bit, but I figured that it was just from the recirculated air on the plane. Friday morning, my throat was still hurting, but I figured that if I had my vitamins and some juice that all would be fine. I was wrong. This morning, I couldn't speak. Though I have been getting progressively better, thanks to the Cepastat lozenges that I have been sucking on for the last few hours, it still hurts to talk and I am feeling awfully tired. I have been trying not to push my luck… instead of talking, I have been typing on the computer notepad (and then tapping Janet on the shoulder so that she'll read the damn note&#41. I'm starting to feel like that guy from the Real World London who couldn't talk after getting his tongue bitten off. But, it's worth resting my voice if it will mean that I have the energy to go out for beer at the Toronado tonight! Sigh. Well, time to have some more tea.

On the list of  Things That Make Me Tense, riding MUNI and going to Safeway (our grocery store here in SF&#41 are pretty much near the top. Doing both in one day is enough to send a person to the nearest gun shop, which is why we have to take turns being the one who has grocery detail. Today after I got off of the sardine can, I mean the train, I did my shopping in a relatively stress-free atmosphere.  I started putting my groceries on the checkout counter when all of a sudden, from out of nowhere swoops a woman who starts putting all of her stuff on the counter at the same time, thereby combining our groceries together. She couldn't even wait for me to put the little plastic divider on the counter, nor could she wait for me to put my little basket on the basket pile at the end of the checkout.  After the dust from the whirlwind cleared, she noticed that our groceries were now combined and finally decided to separate her stuff from mine. Unfortunately for my blood pressure, in doing so she took half of my produce, then got a little touchy when she noticed me plucking my green peppers and yellow onions from her pile of food. I guess she had to then further punish me by doing the hovering thing, where the person behind you in line stands about one inch away from you, so close that you can barely swipe your card into the card reader machine. I'm not one of those people who are paranoid about someone seeing their PIN code, but isn't there, like, an unwritten at-least-pretend-not-to-look rule?

Can San Francisco fuck up simple food any more?!? Today, I went to lunch at Max's by my office [on Fremont Street] and ordered a Corned Beef and Pastrami Sandwich. The Corned beef and Pastrami was great, and the corn-rye was good as well. The problem is the damned condiments. The horseradish is not real horseradish…it has eggs in it and tastes like mayonnaise. Then, the mustard. Oh, the mustard. It sucked. Why not use simple Goulden's or Plochman's mustard??? The Beaver brand (mustard and horseradish&#41 used throughout this city is vile. It's weak and flavorless.. it can't stand up to the corned beef. ARRRGH!
The same thing goes for Blueberry muffins. My ex-Senior Manager (A New York City ex-patriot&#41 and I have searched the city for a good blueberry muffin. But in San Francisco, every muffin has Wheat Germ or Oatmeal or some other non-muffin crap in it.
It's sad. San Francisco can do ethnic or complex food really well, but it screws up the simple stuff. Give me a good Dunkin Donut instead of some fru-fru San Francisco donut any day.