Candy

When I was a kid, I swore to God and myself and everything in between, that I would always LOVE candy. I remember being so puzzled by adults who'd say that Nerds were too sweet. I used to pour them into a cup and then 'drink' mouthfuls of them at a time. This past Halloween I had some Nerds for the first time in many years and I could barely finish one mini-box.

I have fond childhood memories of sharing M & M's with my mom. We used to dump a bunch out on the bed while watching TV together and then sort them into groups by color. I miss the light brown ones. Nowadays you can get M & M's in a million different colors and I'm not sure how I feel about this. At first I think it is a neato idea, but after I get past the initial appeal, it becomes for me, a metaphor for societal self-absorption.

I have always disliked Smarties.

My favorite discontinued candy of all time is Bonkers. They had the best commercials too. It would be a bunch of people sitting around somewhere and someone would eat a Bonker and then jumbo fruit would fall from the sky. Sometimes I wonder - did the candy make the commercials or did the commercials make the candy?

I remember when the mall I used to go to as a kid opened up it's first candy store. It was like heaven. You could just grab a clear celophane bag and fill it up with whatever hodge podge of candy you could dream up. Around that time I had also just discoverd sour watermelon wedges. A 12 year old in the 80s, I filled up a bag with a ton of them and took it up to the register. I about fainted when the clerk told me it was over $15. It was my first lesson on 'price per pound' purchasing. When I got that bag home I guarded it with my life.

I find the fact that many older people like black licorice endearing.

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Filler Blog

The purpose of this entry is to fill in the space between my last one and my next one. Presently, I do not feel compelled to write.

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Couch Potato

This past week NPR had a story about ESPNzone's multi city search for the Ultimate Couch Potato. Basically a bunch of people had to sit around in recliners and watch TV (espn of course) for as long as possible. They were not allowed to sleep, but they were allowed to have food brought to them and they could get up to use the bathroom once every 8 hours. A girl from Baltimore won after spending 70 hrs on her ass in a chair. I looked the contest up online when I got home and I only have one question: When I looked at her photo, why was I surprised that she is overweight?

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Entertainment Armageddon

I also heard this week that Obama's transition team and The Consumers Union (whatever that is) both called for an extension of the analog to digital TV conversion deadline. Apparently 19 million Americans live in households that are not prepared for the conversion, and the coupon program that allows households up to TWO $40 coupons towards the purchase of converter boxes has reached its max budget. I realize I'm just a average person with an average mind, however, I find it foolish to allow one house more than one coupon. Twice as many people could avoid this terrible entertainment armageddon if each house was given only ONE coupon.

In the interest of full disclosure, we do have 3 TVs in our home, however, I think we would probably manage to survive if we only had one. In fact, the 2nd and 3rd TVs barely get used as it is. Don't get me wrong here - I'm not saying that TV is evil - in fact it's a helpful babysitting, distracting, and learning tool sometimes. I do think, however, in general (though I'm not in love with generalizations) people watch too much TV. I take pride in knowing that our family has, on more than one occasion, all been home, with the TV off for several hours at a time.

Would it be so bad if people didn't have TV for a little while?

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Patrick Swayze: Ultimate Rebel or Ultimate Asshole?

You decide...

Last week I Tivo'd The Barbara Walters Special with Patrick Swayze. I usually do not like Barbara Walters, no matter how accomplished she is. I wanted to watch this interview though, because it seemed like such a tragedy that poor Patrick Swayze suddenly got pancreatic cancer. The interview was pretty typical. The summary: Swayze is a "tell it like it is" tough guy, who is angry about his cancer, but strong enough to keep fighting through it with the love and support of his soul mate. The most interesting part of the interview for me was when B-Dub questioned Swayze on the link between smoking and pancreatic cancer. Here's how it went:

BW: Patrick are you smoking?

(he looks down)
PS: Well, I will tell you that I'm not a non-smoker I've seriously cut down. You know I was one of those dumb ones that started back in the Marboro man days. You know, it was cool. I'm a cowboy. But I'll tell you one thing I' will talk so hardcore agains smoking for kids. That's one reason I've never smoked in front of children.

BW: Smoking can lead to pancreatic cancer.

(he nods)
PS: Absolutely.

BW: You know that.

(continues nodding)
PS: Absolutely.

BW: Patrick, do you think that your smoking caused the cancer?

PS: Ooo. I don't know, so I will go so far as to say probably smoking had something to do with my pancreatic cancer.

BW: But you still smoke.

PS: Absolutely.

BW: Why?

PS: Uhh. I've got...(stutters a second)...priorites. It's just I been dealing with one thing as it comes at a time (stutters again) in the order that it's trying to kill me. Will stopping smoking now stop anything? Change anything? No. But uh when it looks like I may live any longer than 5 minutes I'll drop cigarettes like a hot potato.


p.s. here is a you tube link JIC I poorly transcribed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVmn-c4nK_0

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1.5.9

It seems these days that I know exactly what kind of day I'm going to have from the moment me and the girls wake up. The mornings with an air of "outlook not so good" are challenging to get through, but it makes the days that start off with "woohoo!" even better. I'm thankful that all of my days don't begin with "outlook not so good."

Keira's first day back to school today was good. She likes school and I like that. Mondays are yoganastics (yoga + gymnastics = yoganastics) days, and she seems to have a good time with it. The yoga teacher lady has a killer body, and perfect posture and balance. I wonder how long you have to do yoga to get that way. I might have to start soon.

Kickball starts in 2 weeks. I'm looking foward to having Thursdays to look foward to.

Texas vs Ohio State game on in the background - go Texas...I guess. Really though I don't give a shit.

I worked out tonight and it felt awesome, hopefully I will make time for it 2 more nights this week. 3 times a week is the ultimate goal. Got me some new shoes I'm only going to use for running. I never understood why people have separte shoes for running, but now I do - they wear out too fast if they are your everday shoes and your excercise shoes.

I need to wash our stinky kids.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Covered Raisins are delightful.

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Obligatory New Year's Day Post

I'm going to eat better, excercise more, swear less, think positive, and appreciate every precious moment of life...until I get too busy, cranky, lazy, tired, or just plain generally apathetic.

Bring on 2009! - "The Year of Lower Expectaions"

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