In no particular order, here we go:
Best Commercial Salsa: I turned this into its own page - check my new salsa page!
Best Movie: There is no contest here, the Princess Bride is tops. If you don't think this movie is funny, check your pulse, you might have other problems.
So-bad-it's-good Movie: Attack Of The Killer Tomatos. Everything, from the cheeseball soundtrack, to the terrible acting, to the $1.95 special effects budget - is great! Pass the ketchup. Runner-up: Earth Girls Are Easy
Best Soda: Mountain Dew. I have 2 college degrees, and I owe 'em both to Dew. It's got some sugar, for quick energy, and caffeine, for a longer rush.
Best Hamburger: Jett Burger, on the NW corner of 1st and 192nd, a bit east of Vancouver, Washington. Next time you're in the Portland OR area, check it out. The restaurant looks like a closed gas station from the outside, and the inside has that 70s-truck-stop appeal, but man, can they cook up a burger. Wash it down with one of their chocolate malts, and you won't need to eat again for the rest of the day. You may want to get clearance from your doctor before going.
Update: 08/17/03: Upon hearing that Jett Burger had moved in June '03, we immediately canceled all our plans, and went out to see firsthand if they were still serving the artery-clogging bomb. Jett Burger is now located right on the border between Camas and Washougal in Washington - only a 10 or 15 minute drive from their former location. I am happy to report that they still serve up the best hamburger I've ever had. They have also added Bento to the menu - I bet it's good, because Jett makes some killer Teriyaki, but I didn't try it because I didn't go all the way out to Washington to eat Bento!
Jett Burger moved into a former 50s diner, which gives them more space. Pay 'em a visit next time you're in the Portland OR area.
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Prettiest mountain spot (in the lower 48 states): Yankee Boy Basin, SW of Ouray, CO. Hit it in late June or early July for maximal beauty. The basin is carpeted with wildflowers, and ringed with rugged peaks, most of which make great climbs if you're into that (OBCaution: none of the peaks are for the fainthearted or inexperienced).
Best Astronomical Deep-Sky Object: The Double Cluster. OK, so I've never been to the southern hemisphere. Still, it's always a treat.
Best Pick-up Line: "Fifty million bucks don't mean much when you have a weak heart"
Best Bumper Sticker: Don't tailgate me or I'll flick a booger on your windshield. Runner up: I'm stupid and I vote. 2nd runner up: Cat: The Other White Meat
Best Dr. Seuss book: I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew
Best Pink Floyd Album: Animals, with Wish You Were Here coming in a very close 2nd.
Best Mountaineering book: Touching The Void, by Joe Simpson. Read it, it's absolutely amazing, there's just no way Simpson should have survived what he did. I just got done reading it for the 4th time, and I *still* didn't think he was going to make it!
Best Sci-Fi books: Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, and Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson. Each is the first of a trilogy, the rest of Card's trilogy is good but not great, and the rest of Robinson's trilogy is great.
Best Home Run Calls:All baseball homeruns look the same - what can make them memorable is the way the announcer calls them. My favorites:
Best non-fiction books: It's hard for me to pick a single one that is best. A good metric for me is whether the book changes the way I think. When Hofstadter's book "Godel, Escher, and Bach, an eternal golden braid" came out, I absolutely devoured it. Then I did it again, did some of the exercises, wrote some just-for-fun programs that the book inspired. It truly dominated my thinking for a couple of years. An amazing book. I'd put Zubrin's "The Case For Mars" up there as well, along with Gould's "The Mismeasure Of Man". I own all of Gardner's recreational math books (regretably, the string has come to a close), and it would be impossible to pick a favorite, they're all great. Hawken's book "The Ecology Of Commerce" changed the way I think about environmentalism and business. Zakaria's "The Future Of Freedom" is a work of genius, as is Ed Hirsch's book "The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them".