the mighty mango, 11.8.23

after the gym today, i went to stop n’ shop to pick up a couple protein shakes. along the way, i decided to go for a fruit smoothie. my go-to is the naked green machine or the naked strawberry banana, but i decided to get something different in the mighty mango. as soon as i got home and tried the mighty mango, i knew this would be my go-to moving forward.

mango is a top fruit as it is already, but a pinch of orange and apple juice takes this over the top for me.

-ratha, 11:21pm, 11.8.23

kfc king, 11.7.23

when the chargers play primetime, i always go out to eat. yesterday, i went to kfc in lawrence. as i was in the drive thru, jennifer texts me and says she got bk for dinner. on the way home from kfc, i see bk and say to myself, why not? i get in line, then get two double cheesies. i end up with a kfc sandwhich and a double cheesie leftover, to which i brought for lunch today. i don’t care what anybody says, bk burgers are still so good reheated. the kfc sandwhich was soggy, but the flavor was on point as always. a few of my coworkers were eating cava, which looked pretty good.

chan said i should try it sometime, and although it smelled good, i was more than content with my monday night football leftovers.

-ratha, 3:12pm, 11.7.23

broken streaks, 11.6.23

after 6 weeks of losing in fantasy, i’ve finally broken back into the win column. i swear my team is good, i just had bad match-ups and even worse luck! plus, the chargers won tonight on mnf. i was a bit disappointed though because i was tied for the lead in pick em’ and had the tight end for the jets held on to the perfectly thrown ball on 3rd and goal, i would’ve won $280, smh. still, there is always next week. i’m just glad the chargers got a win and my fantasy team got one, too.

2/3 isn’t too bad, but next week we’ll try for the trifecta.

-ratha, 11:35pm, 11.6.23

a swig of mold, 11.5.23

i was thirsty during the colts/panthers game and i reached on my nightstand to take a drink. it was pedialyte mixed with grape flavor. i opened it earlier in the week so i thought it was good, but boy was i wrong. i took a swig and it tasted strange. i took another one and it tasted even worse. i held the bottle up and examined it. there was mold floating all in the pedialyte. i took it to the bathroom and poured it down the sink. i panicked and called e. once i told him about the situation, he said my mind might make it worse than the actual digestion of mold. then he mentioned his rule of leaving drinks out. if it’s been longer than 15 minutes, he tosses the drink. e said it seems stringent, but that’s something he’s always done.

after this afternoon, i might have to adopt the 15-minute rule myself.

-ratha, 4:56pm, 11.5.23

saving daylight, 11.4.23

with daylight savings looming upon us, for the last day before, i decided to take advantage of whatever daylight we still had left. bagel and i hit the park, then i washed my car. the park was busy as others were probably thinking what i was thinking. at least that’s what i think. hand-washing the sequoia is laborious, but the end product makes it worth my time. though i must say, the sequoia is starting to show its age. i noticed more paint chips and more body imperfections during the drying. i love this suv, so i’ll have to get it paint corrected and ceramic coated sometime in the future. before that though, i’ll need to replace the water pump and timing belt along with a few other things to make sure it runs well for the next 100k miles. i’m about to go to the gym, walk bagel again, then head to maya for dinner.

it’s been a pretty productive day, but all is well as i’ll have an extra hour of sleep tonight.

-ratha, 5:24pm, 11.4.23

mamaleh’s, 11.3.23

i took yesterday off to burn some pto, but they had a lunch and learn at work with lunch provided. the lunch was from mamaleh’s, which is a jewish bakery/sandwhich shop. i’ve never been there, nor would i ever think to go there on my own accord, but i put in an order for lunch. since i wasn’t there to get it, jennifer put it in the work fridge. i get there today, toss the pickle that came with the sandwhich, warmed it up, and ate it at my desk along with the chocolate cake. the sandwhich was a chicken schnitzel. it was actually good as hell. all that’s in it is fried chicken, mayo, lettuce, and tomato. still not as good as kfc, but shit, it was free, and it hit the spot for lunch. added on, the chocolate cake was simply amazing. chocolate cake is hard to mess up, but at the same time because of this, it’s hard to produce one that separates from the pack, but the mamaleh’s chocolate cake was stellar. it’s like $6/$7 bucks per slice, but it just may be worth it on a good day.

-ratha, 3:21pm, 11.3.23

now and later, 11.2.23

we were in lowell today looking at jewelry, so you know i had to google if they had a kfc nearby. sure enough, there was one 1.8 miles away. i got a kfc sandwhich box for now and a kfc sandwhich for later. it’s so damn good. i don’t know what they put in it or what they season it with, but whatever it is, it’s a winner. they got one with this one. this the only chicken sandwhich i can eat without sauce. i sat and ate in the parking lot of a laundromat and now that the titans are playing the steelers, i’ve warmed up my sandwhich i saved for ‘later’ and it’s still so good.

-ratha, 8:44pm, 11.2.23

trying the skrawberry, 11.1.23

priyank had talked about strawberry and sweet lassis whenever i mention my love for mango lassis. i always wanted to try different flavors, but none of the places i go to have anything other than mango. that is, until today. schuni brought jennifer and i to an indian joint in a part of cambridge i had never been before. he said it was reminiscent of assembly row and i agreed. it looks like a vibe in the warmer months. we get into the restaurant and sit at the bar. the menu caught me off guard because they have pictures of tigers cooking the food every other page. i thought it was dope because i had never seen a menu animated like this one before. i, of course, ordered the tikka masala. when i went to the lassi page, they had mango, sweet, and strawberry. i ordered the strawberry and it was great. i still prefer the mango, but the strawberry is a nice change of pace from time. i have to go back and try the sweet because that’s the one priyank says he likes. though not maya, the food was still good. they gave us a parking pass so we could park right outside the restaurant on the street, so that was convenient on top of the meal.

definitely better than punjab palace, but not as good as maya, but who says being somewhere in between is a bad thing?

-ratha, 3:25pm, 11.1.23

halloween sleeps, 10.31.23

the plan was to come home, walk bagel, hit the gym, then enjoy some candy. that was not the case. i came home, fell asleep, walked bagel at 10pm, went to walmart to pick up some chef boy ardee, ate, then showered.

this mediocre life is scarier than any movie, costume, or persona.

-ratha, 11:58pm, 10.31.23

work traffic, 10.30.23

i took a 9am meeting from home. an hour later, i left the house at 10:15am. there was still so much traffic that i didn’t get to the office until shortly after 11:20am.

does it ever stop?

-ratha, 2:15pm, 10.30.23