When I say I frequent Free Birds in the Heights, it means that I am literally there every Friday night for the past year. In this time, I have struck up a dialogue with a few of the regular employees. There is one in particular that seems to be on the same schedule as me. We chat a lot about things like black beans… guacamole… my glasses… his nap schedule, and his difficulty in describing salsa to Spanish speaking people (Salsa. Salsa? Salsa. Salsa?) He reminds me of a Bronx Hipster that I might be friends with (you know, Puerto Rican with a love of Indie Rock).

Anywho, this Friday I get my usual order and have just finished paying Bronx-Hipster when the guy next on line whips out a University of Houston ID Card. Apparently, Free Birds gives a dollar off to UofH students.

I turn (I am Jewish, so you know a dollar-off WILL catch my attention) to see ask what it’s all about.

“Yeah, apparently we’re giving a dollar off to UH kids. I just heard about it today,” says BronxHipster.

“That’s awesome,” I reply. I am currently both a UH employee and a UH Grad student (I have an ID card for whateva’ you want).

But before I can revel in my new found savings, BH says quickly, “But I don’t know if that applies to alum.”

Wait, wait…. what?! So I am automatically assumed to be a UH alum because… because.. WHY Bronx Hipster?  Because I’m OLD?!?!?!?

I have only one response to this:

Huh… … …

1. On Thursday, the electricity went out in my office building. To be fair, they were doing work on something and hit a power line or something legitimate, however, at the time this seemed CRAZY. Picture yourself and your entire office powered down: no Internet, no lights in some parts of the building, your smart phones which are probably linked to “the system” down meaning no emails! How do you even communicate?! You are forced to talk amongst yourselves over your cold lunch because, naturally, there is no microwave.

(OK despite there being a logical explanation for the power outage… what followed is what really blew my mind.)

2. In speaking to a vendor on Friday located in Buffalo, NY, my phone cuts out. He calls back and apologizes to me (here I think it’s my fault because our phones had been weird since the power issue) No, he says, I’m sorry, my power has been going out all day.

3. I go to grab a cup of coffee from Catalina on Washington to find them crazed! Their credit card machine has been down all day and they will have to manually write down the card number!

4. In chatting with my Jazzercise teacher she says she has not gotten any emails on her phone all day, but has had multiple emails when she actually checked. (this is weird, c’mon)

5. I get into my car to find that all of my pre-programmed radio stations are gone! All new radio stations have replaced them, and they are all bad country.

6. In doing the laundry on Sunday, I spill bleach all over the floor!

OK number 6 has nothing to do with anything, however, it still sucked.

PS check out Crystal Jackson’s blog for more on how the world is ending.

I feel like I’ve finally had enough time to digest the Arcade Fire’s new album “The Suburbs,” that came out this past week and sadly I am not one of those people who gets albums early (Joanna!).  After a slight sophomore slump (IMO) the much anticipated (by everyone and me) new album came out last week to “universal acclaim.” So is it good? Yep, it’s pretty darn good.

Butler and crew said in the NYT that they intended to make a cohesive album, and I’d say they succeeded. Each song has the same theme and feel, and while the songs are much different than the previous albums they stay true to that Arcade Fire “sound.” My one problem with this album is that it never rocks. Ever. There are plenty of places that it could, “Ready To Start” literally has 18 different points where it could start rocking and chooses not to. On purpose? Maybe, but I am missing the “Neighborhood 2″ kick of previous Arcade Fire ventures.

What’s more interesting (to me) about this album then the actual music, which is very very good, is this idea that the world is going to hell and life as we know it is headed into the can. If you know me, this is a constant theme in everything I think and talk about, and I’m happy that the AF feel the same way. Songs like, “We Used to Wait,” “The Sprawl” (number 2 being the best song on the album), “City With No Children,” etc etc. Pretty much the whole album is about this feeling that the world going in a horrible direction, and there’s not much we can do to stop it.

I feel like this is a generational thing. Everyone I know my age has echoed these feelings to me at one point or another. We (us being the people in our 30s and up) are the last generation that remembers life before the internet. Imagine that? We certainly used to wait for things; mail, phone calls, even dial-up!

Rob and I ponder sometimes how we ever found anyone before cell phones. Remember that, when you used to have to tell people where you were going to be at a specific time so that they could come meet you? Or you could stay at home and wait for them to call to “make plans.” My friends and I used to play this game (we were already out of high school so “play” is an arbitrary choice of words) called Law and Order. It entailed us driving around to various diners in town trying to find our other friends who may happen to be at said diners. Yes, this game is very lame sounding, but think about how odd the concept would be to today’s kids? Having to literally search for your friends, in diners no less!

Anyway, now I’m on a tangent. If you haven’t gotten the new Arcade Fire, do it. It’s beautiful and sad and even a little angry, just not very rocking.

Today, was Superchunk covering The Cure’s “In Between Days,” and it’s awesome! This was the best news I got all day. Superchunk and The Cure are two of my favorite bands of all time, so the combination of the two is like one-huge-awesome-amazing-best-thing-ever.

Here are other combinations of two favorites that I enjoy:

Peanut-butter and Rice cakes
Pickles and Ketchup
Blue ink and a Sharpie
Free and shoes (this never happens)
Lotion and Wrinkle fighting formulas
90210 and DVRs
90210 and Days Off From Work (this also never happens)
Saturday and Sunday
Striped shirts and Boat Shoes
Vodka and Other Martini Ingredients
Rob and Me

What are some of your favorite combinations???

Oh and here’s the video of Superchunk…

Superchunk covers The Cure

Dear Don Draper,

I love you. Please make sure tonight’s episode is awesome. I can’t imagine it won’t be, but you never know.

I will see you soon!

Love,

Abby

That being said, Robs and I decided that the below is a much better video/artistic endeavor..