French Has Landed

I repeat, French has landed. Here I sit, at my new desk in a new city, new surrounding...new coffee to drink (Coffee Bean...better than DD and Starbucks. Yes Dad, better than DD. You'll see.).

I have decided that my recollection of the trip that just concluded for Lauren and I shall be done in stages. I'm not exactly sure of the chronology or the number of stages that I'll employ but I can assure you that by the end of the log, you'll be fully up to speed on where in the world/US French has been over the last 10 days or so. I want to start with thank yous.

1. My folks.

Guys, thanks for putting me up at 9 Ray over the last 8 weeks. I think we all agree that it was the most pleasant 8 weeks that we've ever spent under the same roof, eh? Mom, you learned a few things about flavor in your food and Dad, you learned that jalapenos are our friends. We enjoyed the treasure that is the Pickled Onion, bearing fruits of beer and chicken wings at a ghastly low price on Tuesday nights. We sipped homemade mojitos, cheap wine and cheaper beer and kind of just hung out. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to showing you around the beauty and grandeur that is Los Angeles come late September.

2. The Mexican Jew, aka Tito.

For those of you who aren't aware already, Tito is Lauren's brother. We're now roommates I guess, but Tito provided us with a travel kit of sorts to both take up some time during our long and arduous journey as well as expand our minds a bit and make us laugh. It was wildly successful, a lot of fun and I learned a thing or two about the Flight of the Conchords as well as the Roots new album. Thanks bro. Good shit.

3. The Goldstein's.

My new Innkeepers, I suppose. I guess time will tell if I turn out to be a good houseguest, but I can assure you that I will be doing my dishes from now on. Your hospitality, as always, is as meaningful as it is welcoming and warm. Thanks for putting me up and putting up with me.

4. Lauren

Finally...the one person who shared a trek of 4000 miles across this fruited plain with me. I wouldn't have shared it with anyone else, baby. Thanks for the company, your DJ skills and your passion for buffalo wings. We made it to Buffalo Wild Wings, dammit. And isn't that what really matters? On a side note here, all of their sauces are totally bearable with the exception of the Blazin'. I handled their second hottest with no issue but the Blazin', their hottest offering, blew my doors off. I went a good 10 minutes before I could even think about putting anything in my mouth as the capsaicin proceeded to give my tastebuds the asskicking of their lives. Remember what Drago did to Apollo? Yeah, that kind of beat down.

Trip details, Part I to follow.