Was möchten Sie essen heute?

Finding something to eat for lunch in New York can sometimes be an overwhelming experience. I'm not very adventurous so I usually wait until someone recommends a place. Any of you who have spent time in New York will know that sometimes the best food can come from a little cart on the street.

Street vendors are everywhere in the city and while some you wouldn't go near if they were giving out the food for free, others are so good that people will line up around the corner. One of these carts where people line up is the Hallo Berlin cart on 54th St. and 5th Ave. It's run by some German guys and they serve up the best sausage, kraut and potatoes I've ever had.

I went yesterday with a co-worker and for $11 you can get the "Barack Obama" or "Democracy Special" which includes a choice of two different sausages, a Bavarian meatball, potato salad, red and white kraut. and a roll. It's probably way too much food, but I ate it all anyway.

So if you are ever in the mood for some excellent German food and you're in midtown, check out the Hallo Berlin cart on 54th street at 5th avenue between 11:30am and 3:30pm Monday through Friday. Look for the Lufthansa umbrella.

Was möchten Sie essen heute? ( What do you want to eat today?)

Birthday Burgers

I think it's really smart for companies like restaurants and theme parks to lure you in on your birthday by offering you free food or admission. Disney is starting this in January, just think they get the whole family there because one person has a birthday and can get in for free. What if you have 4 kids and they all want to go to Disney World on their birthday? That would be 4 free tickets, but 4 trips to Florida and admission for 5 others. So you spend about $250 just to save $50 each time you go. Oh and don't forget about staying in their hotel and eating their $10 hot dogs.

I'm not immune to getting excited about free stuff though. I signed us up for the Red Robin birthday club. A week before your birthday you get a coupon by email for a free burger. So I took my wife to Red Robin on her birthday and we chowed down on some high quality burgers. When my daughter is born next month I'm going to sign her up right away so I get a free burger on her birthday... it doesn't say that YOU have to eat it for it to be free, you just have to be there.

I wonder what other companies offer free stuff on your birthday... I should sign us up for all of them.

Costco is awesome

I don't know about all you out there but I think that Costco is a great and wonderous place. When we lived in Washington state we had a Costco just a few miles from our apartment. The best part about that one is that there was a gas station on site with lower gas prices than anywhere else around there. We buy all sorts of stuff from Costco, did you know that you can buy a casket through Costco.com? I have an uncle that says, "If you can't get it at Ikea or Costco, you don't need it." I think he's on to something there.

So we went to Costco to stock up and they have their flat screen TV's on sale. I was considering buying one back in August but couldn't bring myself to spend the money. But the price had come down by $400 since then and I knew that once they were gone the new models would come in and the price would be back up. So... yep you guessed it, I am now the proud owner of a 47" Vizio LCD TV. The thing looks massive on our TV stand, it's about 4 inches narrower than the stand itself. I found out right away that Cablevision doesn't automatically give you an HD cable box, you have take the regular one in and trade it in order to get the HD channels. So now I'm into checking out what is on the HD channels, and seeing how different it looks.

I don't go in for buying the latest technology when it comes out, so I'm glad to say that I paid about a quarter of what this TV cost a few years ago. Don't get me wrong, the latest technology is some cool stuff but not worth spending the money just to say you had it first.