Imablog

Proscuitto Crudo at Bacco

Pork Slap Sandwich and fries

Going to have to go back again and get a better photo.

If you've been around the MUSC campus at all in the past year, you know there's a whole lot of constructing going on. In the past two months, the two new buildings being built (for bioengineering research and drug discovery) have gone from this

to this

While watching some of the construction going on yesterday, the thought occurred to me that the entire sum of human existence can be summarized in a few words: transforming one form of dirt into another form of dirt.

Do you have a dog? Are you on Gowalla?

Then pack up your dog(s) and take the Lowcountry Dog Park Gowalla Trip! Go explore the area dog parks with your best friend and discover a few new places to go.

Time for a major technology refresh.

Just bit the bullet and bought myself a new computer to replace my old frankenputer (2001 vintage). Its been resurrected a few times and probably should have been retired 5 years ago.

Most of what I usually do isn't very demanding so I tend to keep computers for a while. However, with the number crunching and Monte Carlo simulations I'm anticipating on running for my PhD project, I need something that will be able to handle it.

The new computer isn't quite as high end as I would have liked, but it's still pretty decent and more state-of-the-art than any other computer I've ever had. Core i7-930, 12GB RAM, 1.5 TB storage (500 GB and 1 TB drives) and nVidia GTX 260 video card.

After the new computer arrives and gets set up, the old computer will likely live out the rest of its days in quiet retirement as a file server.

In the middle of the Radcliffeborough neighbourhood is a tiny little unassuming corner store called Charlie's Grocery. It doesn't look like much on the outside and it's the kind of place you probably wouldn't notice driving by.

I walked over there for lunch to meet fellow blogger Andra Watkins, who told me there were really good falafels to be found here.

Walking inside brought back childhood memories of being in the corner store dad used to run. Charlie's is a lot smaller than that store, but has almost the same kind of feel (I don't remember Dad selling wine or beer though). In the back of the store is a little lunch counter where you can place an order for a variety of subs or sandwiches, including the sought after falafels.

We placed our order, and about 15 minutes later walked out with falafel in hand. Along with a Diet Mt Dew, lunch was just over $5.

The falafel was pretty good. Warm balls of mashed chickpea, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and sauce stuffed into a half pita.

Yes, oh so tasty. It's only a short walk from work, so it's definitely going on the list of nearby lunch spots.