"I could shave my head... Save the earth. I could be Moby."
"No, you couldn't."
"That's not what you're supposed to say. You're supposed to indulge me."
"Sorry. 'Why yes, you could be Moby.' ...Except the music part."
"GarageBand! It's looptacular!"
--A guy and a girl at Berkeley Bowl.

Whoa. In Passing got nominated for a Bloggie.

I find it more than vaguely amusing that the site was nominated the year when I've probably posted the least, thanks to a newfound reluctance to quote the people I now spend ten hours a day with -- my co-workers. (My co-students in college were somehow fair game.)

Have I mentioned I'm surprised? In fact, I'm so surprised that I suspect some sort of orchestrated fan effort, (you crazy kids), but I'll suspend my incredulity and just to say thanks all the people who nominated the site. In Passing is nominated in some pretty serious company. LYD is one of my favorite reads, and one of the other nominees has an HBO Special.

So I suspect that to some bloggers the Bloggies are old hat, mainstream, the anti-bloggies are the hip newness (or maybe they're up to the anti-anti-bloggies by now.) But it's not every day that my weblog is put on par with some blogging superstars and the weblog of someone who is funny for a living, and I think that's pretty cool. Thanks.

"No. No way. Give me an example."
*pause*
"That doesn't even count, I was trying to show Jenna I could drive with my knee."
--A woman talking on a cell phone outside Pegasus Books

"So then you can spend another two months not doing anything about it."
"Hey! Currently blocking on that!"
"I can't believe you just used the phrase 'blocking' to indicate that you can't pursue a girl because she has a boyfriend."
"You knew what I meant."
--A girl and a guy at Andronico's on Shattuck

"Because anything that is not a positive response to the question, 'Do you want eggs?' could safely be considered a negative response."
--A guy at Jupiter.

"No, that can't be right. I don't think there could be a homeless shelter in Palo Alto."
"Well, there is, but it's actually just a facade to the police station. Walk in the door and you're hog tied and thrown on a conveyor belt that runs straight to Sacramento."
--A girl and a guy at the Kensington Bistro

"Y'know, when I go out with my girlfriend -- or whatever -- I really like it when she plays with her cell phone all night."
--A Starbucks employee, talking to a teenage couple earnestly engaged in text messaging.

"What kind of 'legitimate' excuse are we talking about? Legitimate like he was a hostage? Legitimate like car problems? Or just hungover?"
--A businessman talking on a cellphone in line for the ATM

"...it was great. We went to a different steak house every Friday. But I figured it out when he asked the waiter to leave the lemon out of his water."
"Huh?"
"He wasn't trying to take me out to nice places. He was on Atkins."
"Maybe he doesn't like lemon. Some guys don't, you know."
--Two women talking at a restaurant

"Today's Drink Reccommendation: A venti coffee in a grande cup.
Reminds Me Of: A foggy morning in London, walking around, seeing the Eiffel Tower."
--The coffee of the day reccomendation, written by "Lizzie", who is either Starbucks' most subversive or least intelligent employee.

---------------------------
For the record, I'm still anti-Starbucks. I have fewer choices when I'm traveling, though. Where by "fewer" I often mean "none."

"Remember Kenny?"
"New guy, Josh's old co-worker?"
"Yeah. Tonight he was leaving the office and said, 'I'm going to go home and cook these steaks.' I didn't really care, but I said, 'What steaks?' And then he says, "Didn't you see them defrosting on my desk? I bought them from this guy. He was selling them out of the back of his car in the parking lot at McDonald's.'"
"Ew. Ew. I don't even eat cow but ew."
"So in case the next story I tell you about Kenny starts with 'So we haven't seen Kenny in a few days...' Now you know why."
--A guy and a girl waiting in line for breakfast at La Note

"So I got an email from The Guy, and I thought --"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on. The Guy? I'm going to need a lot more context here. Knowing you."
"Shut up."
"Could say worse."
"Shut up."
--Two women talking at Andronico's.

"You look nicer."
"Yeah, I don't wear the contacts much."
"No. I mean you look like a nicer person."
--Two guys talking at Thalassa

"I don't know. Do you want to just go home and watch season 1 and cry?"
"No."
--A girl and a guy walking aimlessly around Reel video.

"So I get home, and she's sitting at the kitchen table with a notebook, counting all the carrot sticks."
"Again?"
--Two women talking outside Pegasus books

"Good call on the reservations. Makes it look like there was advance planning."
"There was. We made reservations."
"You know..."
--Two women arguing in the bathroom at P.F. Changs

"And there were actually parents livid with me for teaching their children that there was more than one way to think about women."
"To think about women like Marie Curie, or...?"
"Marie Curie or Pam Anderson. All the same. Doesn't matter."
--Two women talking in line at Caribou Coffee

"I remember the first time I met you. You missed all the meetings. Larry was lost without you."
"Oh yes." *coolly*"I didn't realize the time difference."
"Didn't the pilot mention it? 'Thank you for choosing BA, the local time in New York is 8am and the local weather is better than what you're used to?'"
"I took the company plane."
--Two men talking in the lobby of the W Hotel.

--------------------------------
Out in businesstriplandia, but no, of course I'm not staying at the W. I'm certainly using their lovely lobby wireless net, though. Thanks, Starwood.

"I'm saying 'bloated' isn't a problem for a person, but it's a problem for a budget."
--A man talking on a cell phone outside Starbucks

"Do you miss it?"
"Oh, no, we came to Dallas from Ahmedabad twenty three years ago. We are cowboys now!"
--A teenage girl, and a tiny elderly woman, talking at DFW.