Saturday, June 25, 2011

Blockbusted!

I got this flyer in the mail the other day...


...so I drove over to 953 East Main Street, excited to pick up a copy of "Maid in Manhattan," only to find THIS!


Actually, I already knew that this store was gone, a fact that seems to have eluded the BLOCKBUSTER CORPORATE OFFICE. When they were selling off their DVDs, I raided the two Stamford stores and the two Norwalk stores and made out like a bandit! You can't beat getting a bunch of Nightmare on Elm Street sequels for a buck each. Who's up for Freddy Krueger marathon??

Friday, June 24, 2011

Swim Across America

If you've always wanted to swim across this great country of ours, now you can! (Just wait at least half an hour after eating across America.) Tomorrow is the Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford swim to benefit the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT), America's only non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to funding cancer cell and gene therapy research. The swim kicks off at Cummings Point in Greenwich, and you can choose from the 1/2 mile, 1.5 mile, 3-mile or 5-mile courses. Last year's event raised over $300,000 for ACGT! At the very least, throw on some water wings and float for a good cause! (Note: Do not do this during the actual event.)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Firefighter food face-off at Fairway!

Everybody knows that firefighters are awesome cooks, but find out for yourself this Saturday as firehouses from Stamford, Darien and Ridgefield battle for the culinary crown in Fairway’s Firefighters Food Face-Off! The event starts at 12:00, and everyone is welcome to enjoy free samples of the food being cooked up, as well as music and giveaways. A panel of judges including our own Bobby Valentine and Fairway cheesemonger Steve Jenkins will pick the winning firehouse, and the winner will receive a $500 Fairway gift card for their firehouse, plus the charity of their choice will enjoy a "shopping night" at Fairway! Firefighters, free food and celebrities - what more could you ask for?

Monday, June 20, 2011

Auf Weidersehn, UBS

As you've probably heard, UBS is all but set to leave our fair city. They claim it's because they can't hire their most desirable employees, who want to work in Manhattan or Brooklyn, but I suspect it's due to a lack of cheese shops and bakeries. Either way, come 2015, there's going to be a giant, empty (though nice-looking) building here in the CTW (yes, another one).

Since I like to plan ahead, I thought I'd start brainstorming on possible uses for the UBS building and its gigantic trading floor:

- Move that Chelsea Piers complex from Cove Road to downtown (or build a second location). It's already got a ton of parking, plus a few people might actually walk there.

- Turn the trading floor into the world's largest German-style beer hall!! It would be epic. It could also serve as the starting point for Stamford's very own Von Steuben Day Parade! Pretzels for everybody!


- Move all the businesses currently in Harbor Plaza into the UBS building and then demolish the entire poorly-conceived Harbor Plaza complex so the nice people who live near there can enjoy the water again. Why did they put office buildings in a residential area??

- A life-sized, playable version of the classic board game Mouse Trap!

- And finally, here's an idea that would be awesome: turn it into an arena for sports and concerts! They could lure the Sound Tigers down the highway from Bridgeport, where they're currently struggling to fill seats, plus we'd get to see great acts like Celine Dion, Michael Bolton and NKOTBSB!

Well, what do you think should be done with the big 'ol UBS building?