{"id":560,"date":"2011-03-30T10:43:44","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T17:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?p=560"},"modified":"2011-03-30T10:43:44","modified_gmt":"2011-03-30T17:43:44","slug":"spring-forward-day-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/spring-forward-day-8\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

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\"Underrated<\/a><\/dt>\n
Underrated movie!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/h2>\n

Cleveland<\/h2>\n

Had a wonderful afternoon and evening with my friend Sara.\u00a0 We saw the new movie Paul<\/em> <\/strong>and went for dinner afterwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paul<\/em><\/strong> is a movie about a couple of British nerds who stumble across a real alien and try to help him, well, go home.\u00a0 Sounds hackneyed and overly familiar, I know, but I was surprised how much I liked it.\u00a0 It\u2019s full of well-done references to popular science fiction movies.\u00a0 There\u2019s even a moment when Blythe Danner gets to say to Sigourney Weaver, \u201cGet away from her, you BITCH!!\u201d\u00a0 I loved it.<\/p>\n

Sara and I met in Beijing.\u00a0 We were both there working on a roll out for the Client.\u00a0 We ran into each other at, Pizza Hut.\u00a0 Yes, they have Pizza Hut in Beijing.\u00a0 Thank goodness.\u00a0\u00a0 [PHOTO]<\/p>\n

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\"Robert,<\/a><\/dt>\n
Robert, Sara and Ray on the Great Wall. I was the largest human in China.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/h2>\n

I started out eating the meal alone.\u00a0 I sat near the All-You-Can-Eat salad bar.\u00a0 While I waited for my pizza I saw one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed.\u00a0 A young woman was turning her salad plate into an art piece.\u00a0 She must have spent thirty minutes building the tallest, most beautiful, most soundly structured tower of raw vegetables the world has ever seen.\u00a0 I swear it was twelve inches high.\u00a0 It looked like an art project.\u00a0 This chick was going to by God get her money\u2019s worth from the salad bar.<\/p>\n

Sara spotted me and joined me.\u00a0 We both watched in awe as the Tower of Salad grew taller and more complex.\u00a0 It was like watching someone build the greatest sand castle you ever saw.<\/p>\n

We got to talking and it turned out we were both in Pizza Hut for the same reason:\u00a0 We didn\u2019t much care for the food in Beijing.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love Chinese food.\u00a0 And by that I mean classic New York Americanized Chinese Food like God intended it.\u00a0 The food in the capital of the People\u2019s Republic was just a bit . . . dodgy.\u00a0 Sara and I bonded over a mutual need for the familiar comfort of and American franchise restaurant.<\/p>\n

We have been fast friends since that night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My last night in China I took her to a Tex-Mex place I\u2019d found that made a surprisingly respectable chicken fried steak, and then had a harrowing rickshaw ride back to the hotel.\u00a0 Harrowing not for us, but for the poor rickshaw dude, who nearly had a heart attack having to move the two of us (this was when I weighed quite a bit more than I do now).\u00a0 The whole thing became unreasonably hilarious to both of us.\u00a0 It was a good send off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0(You can read more about my adventures in China and see lots more pictures from that trip in the following articles:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At Last!\u00a0 Photos From My Beijing\/Tokyo Trip!<\/a>, Favorite Chingrish Signs in Beijing<\/a>, Tradition?\u00a0 Feh!<\/a>, \u00a0 \u00a0Baffling Asian HBO<\/a>, 15 Million People CAN Be Wrong<\/a>, Grotesque National Product<\/a>, Size Matters<\/a>, Driven Up a Great Wall<\/a>, The Flight<\/a>, and Beijing Diary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So. \u00a0I always look forward to getting together with Sara whenever I\u2019m in Cleveland, which is her home base.\u00a0 It\u2019s a shame she\u2019s not going to any of the other offices I\u2019m heading to.<\/p>\n

Best Cities for Restaurants<\/p>\n

Tokyo<\/p>\n

San Francisco<\/p>\n

New York<\/p>\n

Paris<\/p>\n

Munich<\/p>\n

Average Rating: 4.9<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 188<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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