And this is where I laugh at the people who vote for...

the Times Union Best Of Poll.




I have not one problem with RPI being on this list but f*****g SUNYA and Siena. I mean both are good enough schools (though I would be unhappy if my son attended either of them) but Skidmore, Union, RPI come to mind quickly and let us not forget that WILLIAMS is in the area too...

The Tumblr That You Should Be Following

It is called Texts from Dog...



And it follows the adventures of a bulldog that thinks he is a superhero named "Batdog" and his somewhat exasperated human companion (I was going to say owner but that would have just ticked people off.).

H/T to JB for introducing this to me.

And I have Mexican food

As I wrote last night, I went looking for pizza and had Mexican at Pancho's instead.

It was great.

Warm tortilla chips and a slightly spicy salsa with a cold beer to start.



Because I was feeling like I needed some greens, I had the guacamole salad.



It was a salad but the guacamole was great!

Last week, when I was in Boston, we stopped at a little Mexican place in a Beacon Hill (Anna's Taqueria) and I had the Chile Verde and it was great. It had a huge amount of flavorful spice. With that meal in the back of my mind, I decided to have Pancho's Chile Verde.




It was tasty. Not nearly as spicy as the food from last week, but it was still very good. The rice had actual pieces of red chilies in it and the beans were as awesome as these beans can be.




Yes, I was happily a member of the "Clean Plate Club".

No, it was not pizza but it was very good and it was a very happy accident.

And I go in search of pizza

I went in search of pizza, but I did not want to leave the area that I live in. So, I decided to try Two Brothers in Troy.



Here is the problem...

They are not open on Sunday or Monday. I would have known this if I decided to check their website. Wait, I did try to check their website. Yeah, they do not have a website. There is a Facebook page but it is not maintained by anyone, therefore, just the address was there. So, I went down to check out if their pizza was any good. (Sidebar: I was looking for that special type of greasy tavern pizza, because it just sounded good and...I did not want to leave my neighborhood, which left Two Brothers as my only option.)

Oh, yeah, they were closed.

I was irked. Yes, I could have called, but what is the point of having to call someplace to check their availability anymore...

Facebook is free and there is a very low barrier in terms of technological know-how in order to set up a page (maintaining it is a different story, and communicating your message is even more difficult...i have two places in Albany that I love. One of them does social media really well. The other one has good wings.) so why hasn't Two Brothers done this? A better question is why haven't all small business done this, especially when they are a bar or restaurant? Venues like that lend themselves to social media for a variety of reasons, but mostly because they are social places that you want to share with your friends...for good or bad. You know what I mean by this. "Oh, this place has the best cheesecake*" or "Don't order the calamari**". You want the people you care about to know these things. This is one of the very definitions of social.

So, I went for Mexican instead, at Pancho's (which has a very good social media presence), which had good food, great service, and wifi. It made me very happy.




So, people, especially if you want my business, take the time to create a social media presence so I can do things like easily look at Facebook, Foursquare or a variety of other platforms and at least know that you are open when I need something to eat.