I learned this week that I’m obsessed with Cuba and that the interwebs are conspiring to push me over the edge. The primary catalyst for this little obsession is Lauren who insists on posting these brilliant and captivating pieces on the real pre-post-embargo Cuba. This mixed with those rad car photos on GoBackpacking that I mentioned a few weeks ago plus TravelZoo keeps emailing me super cheap fares to Havana. I fully suspect that there’s a consortium of Cuban masterminds co-ordinating this entire effort. They loiter on a Havana street corner in the afternoons, bellies full of China town bean sprouts, enjoying a good laugh at my expense. That said, I decided that if I can get well ahead of schedule with flogging my apartment stuff then I can go for a week. I have to fit it in before I leave for Japan, so it’ll be a long shot.

I learned that my favourite night out in Austin is still the Alamo Drafthouse. I don’t understand how there isn’t a swarm of copycat theaters everywhere. It’s such a perfect setup. A great menu, plus a great beer list (they have Fat Tire on tap!), all served to you while you watch your movie. What the hell else do you want? Hilarious clips, commercials and trailers before your movie? Oh yea, they have that too. That place is seriously the cat’s meow.

I learned that my “sleeping-in satisfaction” test is still accurate. When visiting a city I purposely sleep-in late just to see how satisfying it is to waste away the day in a cool place. It seems that the cooler the place, the more satisfying it is to sleep late. New York measured really quite high on the scale, so it is obviously a great place. I was only there for two days, but I can easily see why there’s so many unattractive I ♥ NY shirts in the world.

I learned that Bolivian prisons are seriously weird from reading Jason’s account of his dodgy visit. I wonder though if that prison model might not be a better system. It’s almost the same idea as colonial prison islands I guess.

I learned this week that if a batshit crazy man holding a severed head offers you a tooth you should accept it. I’d probably recommend a “thank you, sir” also for good measure.

Okay, so the aforementioned Vegas schwag . I’m not really certain why I find these naked lady pens so hilarious, but I always have. I had one when I was like 13 or so, and it was the greatest damn thing. So when I saw them in Vegas a couple weeks ago, I had to buy them. Unfortunately for me they only came in packs of 3. Which means I have 2 extra pens to give away. If you would like a naked lady pen to dazzle your classy friends with just let me know – rerunaround [at] gmail [dot] com. If you’ll feel better about it, you’re welcome to work for your free pen with poems about insensitive souvenirs or pictures of your current unsatisfying pen or whatever you want. All three pens write in black, but you’re welcome to indicate your preferred pen colour from the pic.

I know Americans read this, and I know how sensitive some of you folks can be to things that are not violence, so I won’t say what happens when you turn the pen upside down. Let’s just say it would be a big hit during recess for sixth graders. I would have bought some men pens also, just to be fair, but they don’t seem to make them. I assume because most women know that “tacky” doesn’t just refer to duct tape and sweaty backs.

That pretty much wraps up this week. Back to the grind of replying to insane craigslist people. If you miraculously happen to want a furnished apartment in downtown Montreal, let me know. Here’s a few pics from the last week for the illiterate folks.

I liked the little water thingies on top of so many buildings in NYC. So when I saw three together like this it was a kodak moment. Clicky for the bigger version.

The capitol building in Austin, where all that crazy Texas government business goes down.

A really bad resolution shot of a mesquite tree in Tucson. My dad is the BBQ master, and he’s so hardcore that he hand picks his own mesquite out of the desert. Kinda shames your crappy little bag of briquettes doesn’t it?

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Week Sauce: Vegas Schwag Edition is a post from: Rerunaround

Peanut Butter & Co has a wicked menu of peanut butter based fare. Plenty of unique PB sandwiches that you’ve probably never tried. Such as the White Chocolate Wonderful sandwich (white chocolate peanut butter and orange marmalade) or maybe The Elvis Sandwich is more your style (A grilled peanut Butter sandwich, stuffed with bananas and honey. Try it with bacon for that extra indulgence). Personally, I had the Dark Chocolate Dreams Sandwich, which is dark chocolate peanut butter and cherry jam, stuffed with shredded coconut – it was delicious! They have quite a bit of their menu online for you to stare at and day dream about.

If you’re really hardcore into the peanut butter life they also have a shop. You can load up on any of their 10 different peanut butters, gift items or even their cook book. There’s plenty of ways for you to indulge your peanut butter obsession.

My only disappointment while eating there was that I didn’t spot anyone with a “PBJ4 LIFE” knuckle tattoo. Could have just been bad timing on my part I guess.

I had never heard of the PB & Co sandwich shop before until it came up on Twitter. So I have to thank @ottsworld and @cultoftravel for bringing it to my attention, and @mikebarish for being macho enough to help check it out. It’s reassuring to know that there’s other sensible peanut butter loving folks out there.

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// shawn

ps: Internet law decrees that I must present you with this educational safety video in light of the subject matter of this post. Proceed to rock out with your banana out.

pps: If you need the iphone ringtone for that song, just let me know.

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- OMG NYC PBJ! is a post from: Rerunaround