"Dear estrip," written by Businesscheese on estrip.org

03/13/09 11:05 - 21ºF - ID#48042

Dear estrip,

Why must you distort our profile pictures so?
I fear you will judge me a pinhead should I post my real mug.
Warmest Regards,
-The Cheese

metalpeter writes at 01:07:07 03/14/09 - Comment #46431: So I decided to look at the Stats and in terms of views I'm 3rd (e:lilho) is 2nd and (e:Paul) is 1st. If that is the stat I assume everyone is going by. One stat that would be interesting to know is How many average viewes per journal. You take the views and divide my the number of posts. Just an Idea for the new version when ever it comes out.

hodown writes at 12:09:08 03/14/09 - Comment #46426

What about my blog? I'm your sister and I'm trying to climb to #1.

I'd pout if (e:businesscheese) wasn't so rad.
Also she has the best fashion ever. Srsly.
Carolyn you make the best dresses. Don't worry I heart you too!

lilho writes at 11:52:51 03/13/09 - Comment #46425: yours is my fav new blog!

metalpeter writes at 07:33:47 03/13/09 - Comment #46416: Like (e:paul) said if it isn't about that size the picture will get distored. I don't know about how your camera works but some cameras have a setting that will make your picture smaller. Here is another trick if your camera doesn't do that. Take a picture of your self from a distance in what ever the smallest picture size is that way you get a lot of background. Then with picture software crop all of that stuff out AND THAT WILL MAKE the picture smaller. Yes you can reduce the size using software but that often makes the picture kinda blurry.

businesscheese writes at 02:51:03 03/13/09 - Comment #46404: Thanks Paul!
I guess I should bother to change it now that the complaint department has resolved my issue.

paul writes at 01:13:03 03/13/09 - Comment #46403: Just upload a picture that is 125px wide by 150px high and it will not distort.

james writes at 12:17:20 03/13/09 - Comment #46401: I love Pinhead. Too bad the other Hellraiser movies were awful.

joshua writes at 12:09:21 03/13/09 - Comment #46400: IMO it has to do with Paul's draconian image management rules!! (Only kidding....)

I post my face in my profile picture - I think if you want to avoid the distortions you have to be fairly precise about the size of the picture.

businesscheese writes at 11:27:46 03/13/09 - Comment #46395: Meep meep. You're right. Beaker is cute even with a distorted head.

jason writes at 11:09:10 03/13/09 - Comment #46393: Oh, who doesn't like Beeker? Meep

Permalink: Dear_estrip_.html
Words: 26
Location: NEW YORK, NY

03/05/09 01:46 - 44ºF - ID#47957

e:hodown is the best

Jessica arrived at Ladies night last night equipped with hand-stuffed Gorgonzola olives for our martinis. See photographic proof.

We first sipped martinis over delicious Kobe beef sliders, mussels, and French bread at a bistro near her office. Then headed to the Grace Hotel in Times Square for subsequent rounds of cocktails. I basically hate Times Square, but this particular bar has a $7 martini happy hour and a swim up bar so I made an exception.

We finished off the evening with wine at the super creepy Night Hotel.

Then on the way home, I got locked on a subway car before waiting 45' for a replacement train. When I finally got to my apartment I ate an entire box of cereal before going to bed. Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins are so delicious. Self control is for suckers!

Permalink: e_hodown_is_the_best.html
Words: 143
Location: NEW YORK, NY

03/03/09 04:10 - 20ºF - ID#47933

I would like to go on vacation.

This prolonged winter thing NYC has going on is bullshit and I would like to go on vacation. Here's a recap of past trips both near and far.

Do any of you have any interesting trips on the horizon so I can travel vicariously through you?

Jersey City, NJ visiting the famous (e:hodown)

Cloud Gate, Millenium Park Chicago, IL

The greatest bar in the entire world. The Joynt in Eau Claire, WI

A public beach on Long Island, NY

What is this thing? Albany, NY

Monument Valley, UT

Antelope Island, UT

Telluride, CO

Cairo, Egypt

Duh

An Obelisk in Luxor Temple, Luxor, Egypt

Permalink: I_would_like_to_go_on_vacation_.html
Words: 126
Location: NEW YORK, NY

03/02/09 02:15 - 13ºF - ID#47924

Ladies Night.

I went out for a lovely meal at one of my favorite West Village restaurants, Tartine, on Friday with (e:hodown) and crew . It's a cute little French place that is BYOB and therefore pretty reasonably priced. Ho and I started the evening with a quality martini at Quality Meats. The woman next to us at the bar (a classy Upper East Side alcoholic) was imbibing a rather curious cocktail - the beef broth martini made from muddled lemon and lime, Campbell's beef broth, and vodka. Some photo highlights:

businesscheese writes at 12:45:01 03/03/09 - Comment #46067: Mmmm sidecar. I love a good sidecar.

james writes at 12:24:05 03/03/09 - Comment #46066: I swear, my friends took me to a martini bar when I lived in Albany. They had a huge martini menu (on which the closest thing to a classic martini was a dirty martini, which is yum) that was a dozen illustrated pages long, as if an alcoholic commandeered a Friendly's menu.

It was full of familiar drinks with new names served in a martini glass. It was called a coffetini, but it was just a mudslide. It was called an agent orangetini, but it was just a side car with a splash of orange juice. It was like a thousand drunk monkeys mixed cocktails for a thousand years and recreated familiar drinks.

hodown writes at 09:41:05 03/03/09 - Comment #46062: Martini that makes me want to punch someone: Apple-tini. Even worse: man drinking Apple-tini. Have some dignity and choke down a Scotch or even a beer.

jason writes at 08:54:43 03/03/09 - Comment #46060: I thought of that too, (e:James), and I remembered I'm not much of a bloody mary person either. I've also read about BBQ martini recipes. Hmmm

vincent writes at 11:38:50 03/02/09 - Comment #46052: I've heard of a Bacon Martini that is served @ the Double Down Saloon.

james writes at 11:06:10 03/02/09 - Comment #46051: vodka martini is perfectly acceptable. The name is qualified as such. And if you love it, cheers and bottoms up.

And I am going to have to pick up some beef broth. It sounds like a bloody mary for people who don't like vegetables.

businesscheese writes at 05:07:13 03/02/09 - Comment #46042: For the record, I am a cocktail purist and believe a true martini is only made with gin. Delicious, delicious gin.

But I do find it amusing to add the suffix -'tini' to the end of alcohol concoctions that are so obviously not martinis. Like "Beef-tini". It's hilarious and ridiculous and I love it.

hodown writes at 04:46:46 03/02/09 - Comment #46041: I know Vodka Martini is a sin, but it's delicious and it doens't give me a hangover so I'm sticking with it.

And that beef broth drink: actually delicious.

james writes at 04:21:18 03/02/09 - Comment #46040: I get an urge to burn down an establishment that puts martini and vodka even remotely close together in its horrid brain. But that beefy drink sounds yum yum.

mrmike writes at 04:19:00 03/02/09 - Comment #46039: Can't get past the beef broth. It's the Martini you'll want to use a fork, but use a spoon, you'll want to get every drop!

businesscheese writes at 02:24:59 03/02/09 - Comment #46035: Ah yes. By "classy", I meant "klassy". Should have qualified.

And surprisingly the cocktail wasn't all that bad. She gave Jessica and I a sip (before her boozy lips contaminated the glass).

jason writes at 02:22:50 03/02/09 - Comment #46033: What? Beef broth, citrus and vodka? Assuming it wasn't a joke, that "classy" lady needs remedial boozer therapy.

hodown writes at 02:20:07 03/02/09 - Comment #46032: We are some boozy bitches!

Permalink: Ladies_Night_.html
Words: 99
Location: NEW YORK, NY

02/26/09 12:10 - 39ºF - ID#47893

Drunk History

My new favorite web series.

Permalink: Drunk_History.html
Words: 16
Location: NEW YORK, NY

02/24/09 11:34 - 20ºF - ID#47874

Wooohooo

I'm all finished with the PhD thesis committee meeting from hell, and it looks like I'll graduate some time this year.
Time for hi fives and booze with (e:hodown) and the rest of my favorite bitches.

tinypliny writes at 05:19:16 03/15/09 - Comment #46479: Cancer molecular epidemiology (focus on breast cancer and tumour immunology) :D

AND WOW. MSK! Woohoo!

businesscheese writes at 10:04:07 02/25/09 - Comment #45908: I sure did hear about that. People love to give us money for some reason. I didn't read up on the details...since I don't actually work at Weill Cornell I am a bit out of the loop.

My lab is at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, even though my degree will be granted through Cornell.

What are you piling higher and deeper in?

tinypliny writes at 06:07:56 02/24/09 - Comment #45889: Wow - small trivia. Did you know that your school has just received the LARGEST endowment (of its kind) anywhere in the world for initiating a K9 cancer biology/molecular epidemiology cohort?

Also, your school holds the future of the corn genome in its hands (or claws - hoever you choose to look at it. I prefer hands.) :)

Congratulations on the good news. My committee is meeting next month - but I am not even close to graduating.

businesscheese writes at 05:58:15 02/24/09 - Comment #45886: Aw, thanks lilho. I hope you come visit us soooooooooon.

lilho writes at 05:36:12 02/24/09 - Comment #45885: i love drunk phd scientists!

james writes at 12:12:38 02/24/09 - Comment #45876: Congrats on the martini supplies!

The thesis thingie is nice too.

theli writes at 12:08:03 02/24/09 - Comment #45875: Grats.

businesscheese writes at 12:07:58 02/24/09 - Comment #45874: Biochemistry and Structural Biology. Basically I use really expensive and dangerous instruments to try to get a picture of proteins at atomic resolution. Nerd-tastic.

I'm at Cornell. The biomedical PhD stuff is in Manhattan, not Ithaca.

Jessica, ever since we got martini making supplies at home I've had at least one per night. Dangerous.

tinypliny writes at 11:49:31 02/24/09 - Comment #45872: What is your field of focus? and NYU?

hodown writes at 11:39:12 02/24/09 - Comment #45871: I can't wait to booze it up (mostly cause I miss you ladiez, but also because I'll start to have the DTs if I don't drink soon)!

Permalink: Wooohooo.html
Words: 39
Location: NEW YORK, NY

02/23/09 05:47 - 21ºF - ID#47872

Three cheers for drinking!

Permalink: Three_cheers_for_drinking_.html
Words: 2
Location: NEW YORK, NY

02/21/09 02:11 - 31ºF - ID#47849

Uncommon economic indicators

Women like this did not ride the subway (especially not the A train) prior to the economic meltdown.
Perfectly coiffed Anna Wintour bob, full length fur, teensy fluffy dog.

It's getting interesting.

Permalink: Uncommon_economic_indicators.html
Words: 34
Location: NEW YORK, NY

02/21/09 11:54 - 25ºF - ID#47845

Just your average Friday Night

Um yeah. So there I am on the A train, heading home from a work at about 8:30pm, minding my own business reading Vogue (Michelle Obama!). At about 168th Street I caught a whiff of smoke. I looked up and what did I see? Well, thanks to my stealthy photog skillz you can see for yourself.

Yup, that's right. Homeboy toooootally smoking a spliff on a reasonably crowded train. Not a care in the world. The most special moment was when the sufficiently happy houred girl next to him convinced him to share...