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January 31, 2007
Thai Frown
I am constantly disappointed by the selection of good, mid-priced restaurants in downtown Chattanooga. Especially ethnic restaurants. Don't get me wrong, there are several great places to eat downtown if you're prepared to spend some money -- St. John's, Hennen's, Blue Water Grill, Hiroshi's, etc. are all great, but I'm not always prepared to part with $30-$100 to eat. And If you want to spend $10-$20 to eat downtown you are pretty much limited to bar food.
Tonight for instance, I was really craving some Panang Curry but there really aren't that many Thai restaurants in Chattanooga. There is Sweet Basil in Brainerd which is a little pricey, but very good. There is Sawasdee in St. Elmo which is reasonably priced and fairly good, but the women that run it kind of freak me out. Then there is Thai Smile 3 next to Rhythm & Brews downtown. Tonight I called in an order to Thai Smile 3 for some Panang Curry, go to pick it up...$13! Now if it was tremendously good it would be worth it, but it was made with Veg-All canned vegetables and was about as bland as mayonnaise. Really bad. Maybe that's why at 7:30PM I was the only person in the place.
I'm also confounded why fresh, healthy food is so much more affordable in California. I'm sure it has a lot to do with demand and transportation costs. But when I go into a Whole Foods store in the bay area the food is literally about half the cost of Greenlife. And I can find ten great Thai restaurants where I can get a great dinner entrée for less than $10 in one square mile...and it's made with fresh vegetables, not Veg-All.
It shouldn't be so expensive to eat a healthy diet in this town. I know it's unfair to compare Chattanooga to California's bay area, but if food can be so reasonably priced and tax-free there why can't it be here? No wonder we have an obesity epidemic here -- healthy food is prohibitively expensive to many, if not most of our residents. Our community should give incentives - in the form of reasonable prices and low taxes - to eat a healthier diet, not disincentives. Food here (unless sold ready for consumption) should be tax free and cheaper. Make up for the lost revenue with higher taxes on tobacco, alcohol, junk food, etc.
And for God's sake, let's get some good mid-priced Indian, Thai, Italian, and Japanese restaurants downtown.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 08:53 PM | TrackBack
January 30, 2007
Dawn and I Pictured in The Pulse Today
David Andrews took this picture of us back in December at the Stone Cup coffeehouse in North Chattanooga. And behold, today it was published in The Pulse.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 12:52 PM | TrackBack
January 29, 2007
"Young Folks"
Love the song. Love the video.
Peter Björn & John - "Young Folks"
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 08:08 PM | TrackBack
January 27, 2007
Is The "Donnie Davies" Video Dangerous?
Over the past few days many blogs that I read have been discussing the Donnie Davies controversy. Donnie appears to be a right wing fundamentalist Christian musician with a new hit called "The Bible Says". In the video (watch it here) he states in no uncertain terms that god hates homosexuals. It's an obvious joke though. Donnie is wearing a pink shirt, he has a moustache, and lyrics from the song include "Fill me with your love", "Get down on your knees", and "To get into heaven there's no back door".
I think most people agree at this point that the video is a joke and is simply politically incorrect satire. Newspeak and Slog both have well developed theories about Donnie Davies, positing that he may be improv actor Todd Quillen, or a member of the glam/satire band Bobby Conn and the Glass Gypies.
The video is kind of funny, and the attention that it is receiving (and that I am contributing to) is bewildering, but the scary part for me is that Google Video, You Tube, and Myspace have all deleted the video as hate speech. So, whether the video is "real" or not, should all of these online video streamers be so quick to delete it? Is this video at all dangerous?
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 05:42 PM | TrackBack
January 19, 2007
DJing At TEN Show Tomorrow Night
Just wanted to let you know that I'll be DJing the TEN Design Show tomorrow night. It will take place at the old church on 1601 Rossville Avenue right off of Main St. The event starts at 7pm and will go until about midnight, and is open to the public free of charge. Also, big thanks to Joseph Shipp for letting me use his powerbook for the event.
Let me know if you have any requests.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 09:38 AM | TrackBack
January 15, 2007
New Optometrist = New Glasses
After my terrible experience at Bordash Family Eye Center on Friday (see previous post), I am happy to say that I found an excellent new optometrist. Monty Riley, OD at Northgate Mall was courteous, professional and thorough, and his insurance biller had no trouble processing my insurance.
Here are my new glasses:
Hopefully I don't look like some hipster stooge with the plastic frames. I've got a month to return them if I don't like them (I'm still not sure if I do or not), so please tell me if they look terrible. I mean it...tell me.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 07:57 PM | TrackBack
January 12, 2007
Mike Bordash - Where NOT To Get Your Next Eye Exam
I need new glasses, so today I got an appointment to see Mike Bordash, of Bordash Family Eye Center inside Lens Crafters at Hamilton Place, for a routine eye exam. I took off from work early and battled traffic to get there for my 4:30 appointment. I got there on time, although I didn't receive an eye exam. Bordash might actually be a decent optometrist, but I'll never know due to his rude and incompetent receptionists/insurance billers.
First, I was told that I didn't have an appointment, even though I made the appointment less than 2 hours before my visit. After 5 minutes of searching (presumably) they found my appointment, but next told me that I didn't have health insurance. I do have group coverage from BCBS of N. Carolina through work, and I know that my policy is active. Finally they verified that I do in fact have insurance, but told me that vision wasn't included. Now I am one of the people that actually reads their benefit package from work, and I know that every insurance plan that my office offers includes vision coverage, but these women refused to listen. I ended up calling the HR administrator at work and she spoke to the receptionist and told her that my insurance is current, that vision is included, and to give me a vision exam. The receptionist replied, "Okay, let me see what I can't do." Then she told my HR admisistrator, unsolicited, basically my entire medical history over the past 10 years, a clear violation of my rights under HIPAA. After that, I just told them to never mind and walked out of the office. When I got home I called BCBS just to make sure, and yes, my plan is current and vision is included.
I will never go back. I've already filed complaints with the OCR HIPAA Division, Better Business Bureau, and am about to file a complaint with the Tennesse Health Department's Board of Optometry. Just a word of warning: if you need an eye exam DO NOT go to see Mike Bordash at the Hamilton Place Lens Crafters store. You very well may have a similar experience if you do.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 07:26 PM | TrackBack
January 10, 2007
I love my iPod Nano, but...
My lovely and considerate girlfriend Dawn was kind enough to give me my first iPod this Christmas. (The irony is not lost on me that I have been producing podcasts longer than I have owned an iPod.)
She got me a new generation Nano which is totally sexy. I love almost everything about it...except the material selection. The brushed anodized aluminum used in the new Nano is certainly lightweight, but it's just not sturdy enough. Mine already has a small nick in the shell. Now, it's a very tiny nick. You can barely see it and it certainly doesn't effect its performance, but I haven't been hard on it and it shouldn't be showing signs of wear already. I just think that since the Nano is so expensive compared to other mp3 players with similar storage space that they should use titanium for the shell. The amount of metal used in the cases is so small using titanium instead of aluminum wouldn't be prohibitively expensive. And since titanium is so much stronger than aluminum you could actually use a lot less metal in the case and make the things even slimmer and lighter. It just seems like the obvious choice.
Posted by Joshua Daniels at 07:59 PM | TrackBack