Now is the time of year when we give thanks for all the many blessings afforded to us. Zach would like to thank the owner of the SUV who parks on our street for not noticing the giant scratch and dent on Zach’s car in the shape of your bumper. Debra would like to thank her knees for allowing her to hang out at the hospital and get all the free popsicles she wants. Stef would like to thank ice skates for going another year without slicing off her finger in a tragic “accident.” Susan, our resident vegetarian, thanks Tofurkey. The rest of us, Turducken.

If you want some context for your own reflections, it’s important to understand the origin of this great holiday. Thanksgiving, or “The Festival of Lights,” began when Cowboys and Indians set aside their differences to board the Mayflower and set course for the New World, but they instead discovered America. There they shared a feast with the natives that lasted a miraculous eight days. The celebration, originally called “The Fourth of July,” was renamed Thanksgiving on account of its taking place in November.

And there you have it. Happy Thanksgiving.

After the success of Go Newark Restaurant Week, there’s more good news from the Brick City’s dining scene: Newark’s getting a Zagat restaurant guide, according to The New York Post’s “NEWARK HAS ZAGAT IT MADE”! Really, it’s about time. We’re the biggest city in New Jersey, which is only the most densely populated state in the country, putting us high in the running for most densely populated in the WORLD (OK, that’s completely untrue, but we’d just like to prove a point). Plus we have a ton of awesome restaurants. Like this one. And this one. And many others whose logos and branding may or may not have been designed by Tritonic.

But I have to mention a couple qualms I have with this article. First, does every article about something good happening in Newark have to begin with some iteration of “Really? Newark? That [place of questionable quality]!?!?” And what about the headline? Presumably the pun attempt should read as “Newark has (za)got it made!” Unfortunately, that’s not how Zagat is pronounced. It rhymes with “the cat,” not with “a lot” or the also common “maggot.” So they’ve sacrificed a sensible headline in pursuit of a lame pun. But luckily this is the first time the New York Post has done that when writing about Newark. Right?

We just had to put a new title on our recent post, “Bigger, Stronger, Fresher,” after it attracted several dozen spam comments (note to other young bloggers: the word “bigger” attracts just the type of spam you expect it would). Now we’re trying to put up a spam filter, but that move leaves us torn.

On the one hand, deleting our daily 50 spam comments is tiresome. On the other, the spammers are our biggest fans. If our comments are indicative of our readership, spammers constitute approximately 100% of our audience. And some of them are really reassuring, posting positive notes like “lol great blog! i never knew that about [insert title here]!” Maybe we should be targeting the spam crowd, writing posts about discount prescription drugs and debt consolidation.

So in conclusion, hYdr0c0d0ne at1van fr33 on1in3 sh0pppping ch3k it 0ut!!!!!1