I was really impressed with the food floor at the Isetan department store in Shinjuku.

Do yourself a favor and double-check the calendar to make sure Tsukiji is open. I had to wake up at 3.30am two days in a row because the first day I went, I found it wasn't open. This was not a happy moment for me.

I enjoyed seeing Tokyo from above at the city hall observation deck, too.

You can check out my former blog for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 12:55 PM on July 29, 2008

I've always appreciated the web site for the city of Buenos Aires. (Hmm... and yes it is now blue-ish. Under the former administration it was orange.)

There's quite a bit you can do online in terms of filing complaints, looking up information, etc. But it also goes several steps beyond just the dry government stuff to really direct you to things happening in the city. And there are things to browse such as blogs, online photo exhibits, etc.

It's... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:58 AM on July 11, 2008

For podcasts about nothing, I highly recommend "Jordan, Jesse GO!" by MetaFilter's own YoungAmerican. It makes me happy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:52 PM on May 31, 2008

Spanish is "I'm going."

(I've thought about this too and look forward to reading the responses.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 3:20 AM on May 27, 2008

Window -> Previous Recipients -> Remove from list
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 9:33 PM on April 29, 2008 marked best answer

No snark intended, but: Is it really worth $10 to get stuck with the label of "that guy" on the block? The answer to this question should tell you whether you are obliged to honor the dibs system, because obviously you're not going to find a city ordinance on this (yet.)

[Fellow Lake View resident, but no dog in this fight because I don't own a parking space or have a car.]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 10:34 AM on April 17, 2008

Don't know if it's what you're looking for, but on the Argentine side of things you might want to check out two albums by Andrés Calamaro: "Tinta Roja" and "El Cantante". Calamaro is an Argentine pop/rock star, but he did a few albums with traditional/tango songs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 10:53 AM on April 13, 2008

Where in Chicago are you?
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 7:06 AM on April 11, 2008

So you're on the North Side — maybe spend some time on the South Side today. Pilsen/Little Village?
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 7:40 AM on April 11, 2008

Thank you all very much.

This morning, I called both FrancisFrancis and an independent repair shop. Both told me it sounds like the boiler has cracked — probably because it froze in storage. Let my story serve as a warning to others!

For what it's worth, I had stored it in the same garage twice before over the winter and later taken it out with no problems. But it looks like I had just gotten lucky and now my luck has run out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 7:47 AM on April 7, 2008

Hotspot Shield has been recommended in similar situations. I just checked it out on my Mac, from outside the U.S., and it worked for me.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:26 PM on March 11, 2008 marked best answer

I worked at Chicago's other paper for a while.

I'm not 100% sure I understand the question.

I think Kass would tell you he's a journalist. He's also a columnist, which means he's free to inject his opinion in what he writes. Since he writes on the news (and not, say, relationships or lifestyles), he appears in a news section. The fact that he has his head floating above the type is supposed to tip you off to the fact that he's a columnist and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 11:47 AM on March 8, 2008

There are two issues here: (a) a structural/organizational issue about why Kass appears where he does in the paper and (b) a content issue about why he sucks.

As for (a), I see what you're saying about the columnist's position next to the "objective" news being a bit odd. I don't know how exactly to explain that except to point to tradition/history, as others have. I don't mean just because Royko had the spot, though. There has long been a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 2:52 PM on March 8, 2008 marked best answer

You will find both plug designs here, yes.

I have been in Buenos Aires for three years and never knew the "neutral and active wires are reversed from what is used in other countries." Uh. I also don't know exactly what that means.

But maybe ignorance is bliss! I regularly plug in my camera battery charger, my ipod and my MacBook with either two-prong diagonal adapters or two-prong round adapters, depending on the plug and what I have on... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 5:54 PM on March 4, 2008

I say this without an ounce of snark: Have you sat down with the manual for the SD1000? I owned mine for at least six months before I came across the manual stuffed in a drawer and sat down with it.

I was actually pretty happy with the camera before I read the manual, but I definitely learned quite a bit from reading the manual and can now fine-tune it better.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 7:30 AM on March 1, 2008

Have you ruled out Angelic Organics? That's the one I have the most experience with. I started with them maybe five years ago -- or six? Overall very pleased, though there's an almost cultish aspect to it that I can't deny.

I (a single guy who loves to cook) split the box with a family of three (two adults, one teen; they also love to cook.)

You can ask me more about it if you have questions, but since you didn't mention Angelic I won't run on... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 12:57 PM on February 13, 2008

Blogs.

Find the blogs that would be read by people who would be interested in the course. Send the blogger a note/press release about the course. Don't capitalize "course" in the note/press release.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:38 AM on February 12, 2008

Yeah. You can do a Google search for "U.S. proxy" and find a proxy, which you can then enter in the Network preferences panel if you have a Mac. (Sorry, don't know about Windows but I'm sure there are a bazillion pages out there on how to do this.)

I do this sometimes but not for Netflix specifically and I'm always a little wary of who might be watching my data when I do it.

Also, it's often slow. There are probably better options for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 3:35 PM on February 9, 2008

TeamSkeet sounds like an Olympic event.

CreamTeam sounds like porn.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 3:45 PM on February 6, 2008

The American College of Physicians has benchmarks that it recommends for evaluating a candidate's stance on healthcare, and then presents a breakdown on who stands where. The Kaiser Family Foundation also has a comparison engine. (I found these via Science Friday's recent broadcast on health care policy.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:35 AM on January 20, 2008

These smoked salmon waffles are certainly good for breakfast/brunch, but I've eaten them for lunch and dinner, too.

Favorite waffle recipe: overnight yeast waffles from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything".
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 3:04 PM on January 14, 2008

Thanks for the answers. The situation is complicated a bit by the fact that I'm thousands of miles away, so going out for drinks isn't really in the cards.

And I would love to say "congratulations," but like you say, rtha, it works best in person.

In the end, I think I'll be sending an IOU for free drinks when I'm back in town.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 4:13 AM on January 14, 2008

This site makes it sound fairly straightforward. (Scroll down to "Preparing flat fish.")
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:22 AM on December 24, 2007 marked best answer

Dulce de leche, as you suspect, contains milk by definition. Of course, in a world of chemicals and substitutes, it's no doubt possible to make a sort of faux dulce de leche without milk, but it's not really dulce de leche.

invitapriore, I have seen soy dulce de leche in the store here in Argentina, so you're right. (It's not very common and, no, I haven't tried it.) Here it's usually made with cow's milk. I know in other places it can be made more often with goat's milk.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:13 PM on December 23, 2007

Did you see this thread?
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 11:44 AM on December 11, 2007

Have you seen this?
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 4:59 PM on December 8, 2007

Sorry, I meant to link to the Presto itself. In any case, it's only half the battle because it's a receiving-only deal. (Of course, once you add the ability to send, it gets more complicated -- relatively speaking.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 5:02 PM on December 8, 2007

Do gay people exist like this?

Yes. But they're not necessarily easy to find. Also, maybe it's just me, but your type sounds really, really specific. Like, maybe impossibly specific.

Anyway, it's not like I've got it all figured out, so I'll try to keep my reply short. What I've found is that things that bring together people BECAUSE of their sexual orientation -- like clubs or bars or whatever -- are not... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:49 AM on December 8, 2007

You'll want to check out this question.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:42 AM on November 21, 2007 marked best answer

I'm 30. I joined facebook over the weekend. I asked myself the same questions you did and I'm still a little puzzled by it. Probably won't be sending anybody gingerbread men anytime soon.

BUT . . . already I found out that a guy I went to high school with in California is now in New England and is friends with the guy I sublet my apartment to over the summer -- in Buenos Aires.

Neither of these guys is my best friend and so I would not have... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 9:04 AM on November 14, 2007

What is it about Facebook that makes people care about people that, in real life, they don't care about enough to keep in touch with?

Reasonable question. I agree with hopeless romantique that it's a good stand-in for a high school reunion. I know my last reunion was a waste of time compared to the scant four days I've spent on facebook.

Smackfu has a great point above too, which is that it's great for travel buddies. A guy I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 9:47 AM on November 14, 2007

This Slate piece may also be of interest to you if you have not seen it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 4:45 PM on November 12, 2007

Give yourself permission to make some mistakes. Recognize that you may make some errors, but it's OK. Think of all the mediocre public speakers there are and realize, hell, at least you have an excuse -- one that, as mentioned above, will probably draw sympathy and understanding from a lot of people.

I am generally a perfectionist and can be very hard on myself when I make mistakes — in anything, including speaking Spanish. (I can still distinctly remember an error I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 7:26 AM on November 7, 2007 marked best answer

Why are you so certain this isn't "normal"?

If someone comes along and tells you to start worrying about it, what are you going to do exactly?
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 1:00 PM on October 30, 2007

What should you do? Get the hell out of there. Don't wait to get dragged into court or into further bullshit with her. Just get out of there. Would you even want to live 30 more days with someone this batshit insane?

It doesn't matter if you are right and she is wrong. It only matters that she would appear to be a whackjob. Life is too short. Move out and move on.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 1:11 PM on October 24, 2007

The other thing you might consider is whether any credit cards you have include extended warranty. One of my credit cards doubled (or maybe tripled, I don't remember) the manufacturer's warranty.

Before I got my MacBook, I had a PowerBook for three years with no AppleCare. Well into the second year, the hard drive failed. I submitted the repair receipt to my credit card company and they sent me a check.

All that said, I'm not against AppleCare by... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 5:18 AM on October 22, 2007

I would agree with PDF. But definitely do what mdiskin says and give a mini summary in the body. If the stuff's on the web, include a link, too.

I just yesterday had someone tell me that she was very interested but couldn't figure out how to read any of the PDF files I sent.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 4:52 AM on October 20, 2007

The FAQ says the answer is yes:

What does “global repair coverage” mean?

If you take your Apple hardware with you when you travel and happen to need repair service, the AppleCare Protection Plan offers global repair coverage. You can either go to an Apple retail store or contact Apple for information on how to obtain service. Service will be limited to the options available in the country where service is requested. Service options,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 9:06 AM on October 18, 2007

I don't know your location or your level of familiarity with Chicago, so this may or may not be an obvious suggestion. But have you tried the Chicago History Museum?
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 9:43 AM on October 17, 2007

Following these instructions may help. (That link doesn't want to work for me at the moment, so you can check out Google's cached version here. Scroll down to "Managing Your iPod with Smart Playlists.")

This method depends on having your tracks rated. For help on that, you may want to check out AutoRate, which takes a look at your unrated tracks and assigns them a number of stars based on how often the track is played and how often it is skipped. It is not... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 7:08 PM on October 16, 2007

Can't you just load them into Preview and then export them as PDFs? This would be very simple. Perhaps I am missing something.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 9:37 AM on October 14, 2007

I do see that you want to edit the images. Even so, it's possible that Preview (or iPhoto) has you covered. Look under the Tools menu of Preview.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 9:41 AM on October 14, 2007

Wow. Talk about your unanswerable questions. It's so meta my head might explode.

You're new here, so it might pay to check out the FAQ:

Ask Metafilter questions need to have some possible answer or should be asking for information that will be put to some practical use. Chatty open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of Ask Metafilter and push other questions off the front page. If you want to avoid having your question flagged and possibly... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 7:17 AM on October 13, 2007

I will tell you that I saw my first flying cockroach of my life here and it scared the living crap out of me. There are not usually screens on the windows here and I have no air conditioning in my apartment, so I leave the windows open in the summer to survive. And I had a little guest fly in. But this only happened once, so I don't know that they're especially common.

I would say it's more like NYC, where it's a problem that must be dealt with, with spraying and whatnot.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 6:45 AM on October 11, 2007

I don't think you should tie it to a specific week on the calendar, but I do think you should come out sooner rather than later. And, really, why not make it next week?

If your roommates are your closest friends, then they should understand. It might be a little odd at first, but it will all settle down quickly enough (unless you know them to be raging homophobes, but then hopefully they wouldn't be your closest friends).

There are always going... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 5:03 PM on October 7, 2007

It's a mediocre way to keep in touch, but it's a great way of satisfying the curiosity of all those people who are thinking, "I wonder what ever happened to chickletworks. . . "
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 12:33 PM on September 17, 2007

Not Minneapolis-specific, but I'll mention chemistry.com. It costs money and I have to say, I was not impressed for my first few months on it. But it eventually paid off. Might be worth a shot.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 8:14 AM on August 27, 2007

If he's interested in farmers markets, he might like to stop in at the Green City Market. It's on Wednesday and Saturdays. Get there early. 7.30am is best. It's all downhill from there.

So many good restaurants to recommend, but one low-key place that has never disappointed me and usually flies under the radar is First Slice.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 12:54 PM on August 17, 2007

You've probably heard of some or all of these, but you may want to check out: Andrés Calamaro, Los Rodriguez, Federico Aubele, Kevin Johansen, Uruguayan Jorge Drexler and honorary porteño Joaquín Sabina.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 2:42 PM on August 11, 2007 marked best answer

Thank you all for the quick answers. The half-pints are boilng away as I write this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by veggieboy at 8:35 AM on August 10, 2007