Honey on Chipotle

O Chipotle, how I love thee!

Today while driving to Hollywood I noticed that a new Chipotle location will be opening soon in Culver City, at the intersection of Washington and Sepulveda Blvds. Needless to say, I applied for a job there immediately upon returning home.

Here is an excerpt from my application:

I was born and raised in Denver, CO and grew up in the shadow of the original Chipotle (on Evans Blvd, near DU). I have always loved Chipotle. My friends and I used to drive across town and spend our entire lunch hour waiting in line, until a location opened closer to our high school.

I went to college here in LA, and (besides skiing) the thing from back home I missed most was Chipotle. A location finally appeared in Westlake Village when I was a junior.

I am overjoyed to see that this new location will be opening soon within walking distance of my digs here on the Westside. It is fortuitous that I also happen to be looking for part-time work to help support my business as an iPhone app developer.

Fingers crossed. Whether they want to hire me or not, this may be the closest I have ever lived to a Chipotle!

The Truth About Pompeii

I thought I knew everything I needed to know about the destruction of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, but thanks to the A Day In Pompeii exhibit at the Denver Natural History Museum, here are three new things I learned:

1. Pompeii was NOT destroyed suddenly.

The impression I'd always gotten is that everyone in ancient Pompeii was just having an ordinary day, minding his/her own business, when all of a sudden -- BOOM! Vesuvio exploded and every man, woman, and child died instantly, or at least within a matter of minutes, just enough time to drop everything and start fleeing in terror. Such a cruel tragedy!

The truth is that Mt. Vesuvius started to erupt around 1:00pm in the afternoon, and continued earthquaking and spewing ash and fireballs and volcanic what-not* into the sky for another eighteen and a half hours before it finally blew around 6:30am the following day.

This gradual eruption left plenty of time for any sensible person to flee, which they did -- of the city's 20,000 or so residents, it is estimated that 95% of them succeeded in escaping.

The remaining 1,000 or so who perished are what historians refer to as "stupid stubborn a$$holes who obviously don't know to run when a nearby volcano starts erupting."


2. Pompeii was NOT swallowed by lava.

I always wondered why all those people got swallowed up by lava -- I figured a healthy, full-grown human should be able to outrun the stuff, unless he/she tripped or something.

Turns out that what actually killed those famous plaster-cast people was a pyroclastic flow, an insta-death mixture of super-hot gas and volcanic what-not.

The pyroclastic wave is 1,000 degrees and travels around 450 miles per hour, so you cannot possibly hope to outrun it.


3. They washed their clothes in pee.

What can I possibly add to this revelation? That I feel sorry for the slaves who spent their lives stomping on dirty togae in the pee vat? That at least nobody would notice the smell if you wet yourself?

I can't believe nobody ever mentioned this whole pee-wash thing to me before.

Anyway, it's a good exhibit and I recommend seeing it in the museum. There's also this cool A Day In Pompeii website.

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* In fact, over nine feet of what-not had accumulated on the ground by the time Mt. V finally blew.