"RNC GO HOME!" "We're here from Rhode Island, trying to march [without a license] and the police just arrested us for no reason." - Out of Town Protester In my days of youth, we were smart enough to spot irony when it slapped us in the face. :: Liz, my coworker buddy, managed to score some tickets to the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game. If you don't know, the Cyclones are a AAA minor league team, part of the Mets farm system. They play in Coney Island, Brooklyn, and their creation was one of the last crowning achievements of the Giuliani administration (before Sept. 11 overshadowed everything). It was the return of Baseball to Brooklyn since the Dodgers left town, and they even managed to incorporate the ole "B" logo into their "BC" logo. Tickets are a stunningly cheap $10, there are no bad seats in the house, and the atmosphere is one of general congeniality.

Hotdog!

The Cyclones won, not that we were too heavily invested in the score. I got to enjoy a night out at the beach. And to top things off, I had some hotdogs at Nathan's. While you would figure a $2.25 hot dog business would not need to rely on cheap immigrant labor, you would be wrong.

me: I'd like one with mustard and sour kraut, and one with onions. CounterGirl: Mustard over there, you get it yourself. me: Oh ... OK. One with sour kraut and one with onions. CounterGirl: One with sour kraut and Antonio me: Excuse me? CounterGirl: Sourkraut and Antonio! me: ... CounterGirl: ... me: ... pardon me, I can't quite understand you. CounterGirl: 2 hotdogs! One with Sourkraut and ant onion! me: OH! An Onion! Yes yes! One with sour kraut and one with onions! CounterGirl: $4.78 [sighs a sigh of someone having to deal with a difficult customer] CounterGirl co-worker friend: [Places hand on shoulder of CounterGirl, shakes head in sympathy. *Silly Chinese people and their poor English.*]