March Madness is not just about basketball apparently.

Dunkin’ Donuts just announced that for all the remaining Mondays in March…

• March 8
• March 15
• March 22
• March 29

You can stop into a local Dunkin’ Donuts store and walk out with a free cup of coffee or iced coffee drink.

And it ain’t no “trial size” cup either like the size of those tiny rinse cups at the dentist’s office (I have no idea why THAT image came to mind, sorry folks!).  But you get the idea. . .

Dunkin’ is giving out free Medium cups of coffee for this March Monday promotion.

Now there’s something took look forward to on Monday mornings!

Are you thinking about stopping by to grab a free cup o’ joe?   Would you leave a comment with which Dunkin Donuts is the closest to you? Is it the one off Northfield Av by South Mountain Arena in West Orange?? On S. Livingston Av in Livingston? On Morris Turnpike in Short Hills?  Let us know in the comments below.

Do some spring cleaning and bring it to the parking lot of the Senior & Community Center (204 Hillside Av, Livingston) from 9am-2pm, Saturday, March 27 and be rid of it for good!

The township will shred your paperwork on site.

And if you have any of the following digital leftovers hanging around, they’ll take that too and have it properly recycled on your behalf for free.    You just have to drop it off from 9a-2p on that Saturday.

• computers and computer components
• monitors
• printers
• fax machines
• scanners
• speakers
• keyboards
• main frames
• telecom equipment
• TVs
• VCRs
• stereos
• radios
• DVD players
• toasters
• irons
• cell phones
• pagers
• PDAs
• diskettes
• DVD
• zip disks
• audio and video tapes
• inkjet
• laser printer and fax cartridges
• rechargeable batteries

BTW, you can also recycle your used up batteries at time of the year at the Livingston Library – they have a drop off bin by the front doors.

Toasty homemade chips and salsa to start! Steak and enchiladas!  Kids meals $5 each from a selection of about 5 or 6 different options!  Most entrees were $11-12.  ”Combos” were $12-14. And other meat dishes were were mostly $15 (steak, chicken, fajitas, etc).  Serving portions were average size.  The meal took a tad longer than we expected to come out and the rice was pretty dry.  The meals at Don Jose was mostly above average, satisfying, but not knock your socks off fantastico if you were to judge the food solely by itself.

BYOB.  FYI Godfather’s which is 2 doors down has a seafood bar & grill where you can buy a 6-pack of coronas for $13.

The reason why you’d go to Don Jose’s restaurant is for the dining experience.  Don Jose’s staff was friendly. . . decor definitely let you forget you were in a strip mall. . . the live roving 2-man guitar/strings musicians made the night festive.  For your birthday they bring out a big ol’ sombrero and everyone in the house joins in to clap and sing.  It was a Kodak Moment.

But some small things to note: We were asked to move our party to another table 10 minutes into sitting down for our meal – we were told it would help them out to accommodate a larger group by combing our table with others for the larger group.  The waiter promised us “we’ll give you an extra special dessert complimentary on us” if we could help them out.  We moved, wasn’t a big deal to us at the time, but they never followed through on the promised “comp”ing of desserts.  We were even chanrged for the birthday flan + ice cream that was eagerly sent with the song and clapping during our meal.  Is it a deal breaker? No?  But it’s one of those small annoying things that just leaves a bad taste in your mouth as you leave the restaurant.

But other than that little annoying instance, we’d go back at some point soon.

Here’s a tip worth taking advantage of: Printable coupons for 10% off, $5 off or $10 off meals at Don Jose

If you haven’t had a chance to catch some of the best movies of the year, here’s your chance.

AMC theaters is hosting their annual Oscar movie-thon again this coming weekend.

Here’s the deal:

Pay one price and see movie after movie after movie after movie after movie.

Oh yeah, eat a lot of popcorn (because unlimited refills are included in the P.O.P. ticket option!

There was 2 Saturdays that AMC scheduled to show all 10 Oscar nominated films for an all inclusive 2-weekend, one price ticket.  The first weekend has come and gone.

Now on March 6th, you can see the final 5 movies for 1/2 the price of the full 2-weekend deal. . . for only $25!

The “Standard Ticketing Option”  One-Day Pass (February 27 or March 6) - is available both Online and at the Box Office for $30. But if you join the free MovieWatcher loyalty program, you can get ticketing for the One-Day Pass for only: $25

Check out the local theaters running this Oscar party on March 6th:

Theaters in the NJ/NJ area:

• New Brunswick 18:  March 6
• Raceway 10: March 6
• Rockaway 16:  March 6
  
• Kips Bay 15:  March 6
  
• Palisades 21:  March 6
  
• Stony Brook 17:  March 6
  
• Danbury 16:  March 6

If you think about it, with this $25-for-5-movies-price, once you watch the 2nd movie, you’ve broken even! And don’t forget the free popcorn!

BONUS: If you are willing to go to the NYC 42nd Street AMC theater, you can see all 10 films in 24 hours! Check on the insane schedule:

24-Hour Marathon Show Schedule

• 12:01AM:  AVATAR 3D
• 3:00AM:  A Serious Man
• 5:00AM:  Up 3D
• 7:00AM:  District 9
• 9:10AM:  Inglourious Basterds
• 12:00PM:  The Blind Side
• 2:30PM:  An Education
• 4:30PM:  Precious
• 7:00PM:  Up in the Air
• 9:30PM:  The Hurt Locker

Go! Run! Click over to join the free moviewatcher program to get your $25 price!

ARE YOU EVEN THINKING OF DIGESTING 5 MOVIES IN ONE DAY? Leave a comment and let us know of your movie madness and which one you’re most looking forward to seeing?

Check out the list of Tweeple below.

Some are businesses or service professionals in Livingston, others are students, residents and websites that call Livingston their home.

We’ve assembled the latest list of Twitter accounts along with their profile description and personal websites.

Go ahead, click on the Twitter link URL and start following your fellow peeps of 07039.

The kids eat well every time we go.  But a couple of weeks back, when we ventured out in January for some Penang, we were welcomed by closed doors.

You could see through the papered windows that they were gutting out the place for renovation.

CLOSED.

But this week, it seems that they have finally opened the doors again according to their website:

So glad. So glad. . .It makes me start to think about what I’m going to order when we go back (soon!). . .

Penang East Hanover
200 State Route 10 # 8
East Hanover, NJ 07936-2606
(973) 887-6989

If you’ve been to the new and improved Penang, please post a comment and share your experience!

Due to the current snow storm, there will be no regular residential solid waste or bulky item pickup by Waste Industries on Friday, February 26th.

WHAT NOW?

• The Friday bulk item pickup collection will be done on Saturday February 27th along with the regularly scheduled Saturday bulky pickup.
• The Friday residential solid waste collection will be done on either Monday (March 1st) or Tuesday (March 2nd).

• Recycling Collection – Zone 5 (Fridays)
  Due to the current snow storm, there will be no regularly scheduled pickup of commingled recyclables in Zone 5 on Friday, February 26th by the First Occupational Recycling & Waste Inc. (FORWI). Weather conditions permitting, commingled recyclables in Zone 5 will be picked up on Saturday, February 27th.

If you drive by the old CompUSA building on Route 10 eastbound in East Hanover, you’ll see that a new Furniture Outlet has taken up the space.

It’s now open for business!

It’s not a branded store like the one next to Babies R Us further down on Route 10 west.  It seems generic. . . If you’ve been inside, please post a comment and let us know what kind of furniture they sell inside?

Of course the question is no one is buying new homes these days to fill up with new furniture and if banks have effectively stopped handing out home equity loans, who’s going to be buying new furniture?  We’ll see I guess . . .

Barnes & Noble of Livingston became bigger and better.  It now resides in the Livingston Mall as a new superstore retail location.

But at the same time, the Barnes & Noble on Route 10 off the Livingston circle is dead.

Completely empty, just waiting to be taken over or space split up and made into a strip mall of little stores and boutiques.  My guess is that someone like Whole Foods could come take over the location and do nicely.

It is so sad to see another restuarant option go out of business…this time the victim is Hale & Hearty Soup.

We never got a chance to try out the NYC-originated super-expensive priced soup joint.  I’m sure you’ve noticed too like us that every time we drove by the store was either empty or closed (at odd hours when you’d think a restaurant would be open).

If you recall, this is the cursed spot where Beyond Bagels used to be.

Wonder what other retail concept would work in this somewhat awkward location right off Livingston Circle on Route 10 Westbound.

Hope someone thinks of something gooooooood to replace Hale & Hearty…something a little heartier I guess! (sorry, couldn’t resist that one)