Monday, September 08, 2008

Rush Street Visit

Greetings All,

Thank you to all who visited our recent Syndicate Night on Saturday.
Out of the group of folks who did make it in... let me say, the Ketel One flowed strong. The cuban cigars were tasty, and the post cocktail gelato was pretty tasty as well.
Kevin paced himself on the Diet Cokes...

Who knew that we would drive the traffic to Rush Street that we did ! (Those who did attend can attest to the fact that the place was PACKED!)
Our exploration of two newer places was successful.

Rush Street availed itself nicely. The cocktails were reasonable, service was good - and I hear that the burgers were tasty.
Across the street - Ugo was VERY accomodating for our late night visit (service till 1am).
The Arancini were delicious, and the sauce should require a license for purchase.
The "Amalfi Coast" cocktail was a big hit. The Afogato looked too tasty.
Jason can attest to the fact that the double espresso was good and strong.

Thanks to all who attended - We look forward to next time!

Cheers,
Mitch

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Time for a Change?

We have a crisis. Its not the air or water getting polluted. Its not that we won't have that Texas tea to power our cars for that much longer. Its not even that we want to have a big polar bear roast.

Its that we've completely devalued the idea of public service. It used to be a calling. An honour - Stepping up to serve something larger than yourself. Whether that was political office, police, fire, etc. The idea that you might go into service for the community good.

Now, that idea is the punchline of a joke. So, not surprisingly, we don't draw the best and the brightest to pound the pavement and get into service for the community. We tear those people up - So, it takes the truly brave, or the extraordinarily well connected, to run for office.

Similarly - we have abdicated our thinking. Given over that power to talk radio or the blogs or wherever else you happen to get your particular flavor of talking points. People don't sit down to rational discourse - They throw bullet points that they recycle from someone else at one another, and wait to see who yells the loudest. I don't mind someone disagreeing with me - but do it because you've actually thought about the issues, not because you saw a 45 second sound bite and now are parroting it back to me.

For what its worth - We've had campaign signs stolen on our street. We've had random passers-by yell through the door, or scrape bumper stickers off. That's not political discourse - that's hooliganism.