Everything is amazing, nobody is happy.

Everything is amazing, nobody is happy. That is the title of a clip on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus). Comedians typically make fun of everyday things to show us absurdity. Well, you'll see it here. Technology and innovation have dramatically changed our lives - mostly for the better, but what do we do - nobody is happy. Check it out.

The Omnivore's One Hundred

I was reading My Table online - a great publication by Teresa Byrne-Dodge (www.my-table.com). The following struck me as interesting - not necessarily appetizing. This is a list composed by an English blogger named Andrew Wheeler at Very Good Taste (www.verygoodtaste.co.uk).

The instructions were to bold all of the items I've eaten and cross out those I would never consider eating. Instead of crossing out, I've colored them red. I've added personal comments in Italics. Here's my list. What's yours?

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea - not sure

3. Huevos rancheros - Trini, I miss you

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding - what is it?

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp - caught a big one once

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari

12. Pho - hmm

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi - related to Ali Baba?

15. Hot dog from a street cart - Prefer them from Jerry's Famous Deli in Marina del Rey

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - Boones Farm

19. Steamed pork buns - let's not go there

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi - this sound too much like a tv show

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects - grasshoppers with Jim

43. Phaal - some of these worry me

44. Goat's milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini - prefer them straight up, olives on the side (cheers Janet)

58. Beer above 8% alcohol - Cheers to you, Crisp

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S'mores

62. Sweetbreads - nothing sweet about 'em

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian - this and the two above are kind of scary

66. Frogs' legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis - with Randy and Melissa at a Robert Burns supper

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost - ??? I need a food dictionary

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum - married to him!

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers - Thanks Nancy

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

I'd like to say that the list has made me hungry. But I can't. Bon Appetite!

To disconnect or not to disconnect

This is my first foray into blogging. It comes quickly on the heels of signing up for Twitter (yesterday), and it is my attempt to not just use technology but be part of the product of all of this innovation. I usually watch from afar and follow with my cursor, but here I am. I'm not certain that anyone cares, although I have two followers on Twitter - and I am the follower of five. Tomorrow I sign up for Constant Contact and perhaps Facebook.

So there's nothing left but content, so here goes.

My thoughts for this February 17th: The phone on my desk is cordless. It just beeped and lost its signal. It continues to search for its base, which of course it is cradled upon. So I wonder, how many days have I had like that? Too many to count, and in the past month, perhaps more than I care to admit. Sometimes I'm disconnected. Other times, I want to be disconnected, to lose the signal. I tried it last July and went off to Decatur Island (San Juan's) in an effort to write and finish a book. The plan was no phone calls, no email, no work, well, you get the picture. I couldn't do it. I tried. Or did I? We are so connected with all of this technology. I went armed with a cell phone, two Apple computers, three email accounts, and a web site to design (for my consulting practice). So I have to ask, why am I signing up for Twitter, Linked In, Xing, and am committing myself to blogging, Constant Contact, and Facebook? Don't we by nature want association, connection, conversation? Am I really the introvert, loner that I think I am? Do I really want to 'drop out' for a period of time?

I think so. I can be connected - remotely. I can have quiet, alone time to see what's happening in the world, fill my cup, create. Sometimes disconnecting isn't about severing ties, it's about changing the rope. What do you think?