American vending machines

I'm lost for words...

the BEST gift ever

I gave myself the BEST gift ever- an astrology chart reading! Say what you will, but I was ethralled. This lady is unbelievable, check her out if you're interested:
http://www.lindaroseastrology.com

She even has a blog!
http://www.lindaroseknows.blogspot.com

The joys of efficiency

I'm working in NYC for a few months on a gig and the general efficiency in the workplace here has blown me away. For example: every Friday morning my paycheck is on my desk by the time I arrive at work. No ifs, ands, or buts involved...
But wait, there's more! The office was going to be closed from December 24th- January 1st for the holidays so instead of making us wait until January 4th for our paycheck from the week before, we got double checks on December 21st.
WOW. I'm liking this!

My man Roberto

(Image courtesy of Field to Feast)

There is one shop in Rome that I truly love, with a shopkeeper who is so incredibly nice, polite, friendly, helpful, cheerful, and efficient (I could go on and on, but I'll spare you). His name is Roberto Polica, the smiling face behind the counter at the one and only Antica Caciara Trasteverina. This place kicks ass, as does Roberto. I've been going there for years to stock up on Parmigiano for the family in USA (Yes, you can buy Parmigiano in USA but the kind sold here tastes MUCH better). Since D-day is nearing, I went to get my cheesy booty and he rocked my world with his niceness, as always.

Roberto's the kind of guy who always says hello, who thanks you just for stepping foot inside of the shop and then will continue to thank you every few minutes until you leave- even if you end up buying nothing.

I would suggest going there even if you hate cheese, just for the experience of meeting the nicest shopkeeper in Italy! I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of mom & pop shops here in Rome because they can be rather rude, the service can be iffy, they don't always have clearly-marked prices hence can jack you if you're not a regular, and their products sit on the shelves a lot longer (bugs in pasta boxes- ick!). Obviously there are a few exceptions and this place is one of them, it's a hardcore mom & pop shop without the sketchiness.

Roberto is the man!

Litterbugs

A woman is eating a panino, holding it with a napkin, she takes the last bite and just chucks the napkin on the ground even though there is a garbage pail 10 feet away (the incriminating object could be a gum wrapper, empty pack of cigarettes, dog crap, etc... you get the picture). Scenes like this still horrify me even after years of living here! It's soooooo hard for me not to say anything BUT I've had to learn to shut my trap because after a few unpleasant clashes with litterbugs, I've decided it's not worth risking my hide.

Living in the land of litterbugs, I can't help but wonder- who taught me not to litter? For the life of me I can't remember when I learned that littering was bad. Did my mom teach me? Did we learn it in school? (after all, they even taught us how to properly brush our teeth with a giant set of denture-like teeth) Did I see some sort of public service announcement on TV? (I loooooved those, especially the pill one! Back in the day, my sister and I even tried to re-create it with our own sock puppets)

So my question is, do any of you remember when or how you learned that littering was a no-no?

I spy

YESSSS!
The GS supermarket in Trastevere (on Via Tavolacci #1) now sells Oreo cookies, or as they say in Italian: biscotti snack al cacao! They're even reasonably priced compared to Castroni. Now I know where to go when I get my Oreo cravings... yum!

What in the world...?

What is going on with Roman youth and their pegged jeans these days??? I mean, I admit I rocked the pegged chinos during my 80s preppie phase but it was not nearly as bad as these:



Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me this morning when I saw a kid with baggy jeans (hence adding to the diaper-ass effect, as I call it) that were seriously pegged- safety pins and all! This image is courtesy of Bootsintheoven's flickr page.