Friday, December 12, 2008

Bland Snacks Bad!

The other day I was at work and grabbed four large pretzel sticks from a friends bulk pretzel pack from Costco that she'd brought in to share. Munching on one, I sat down to churn through some emails. About half an hour later, I decided I wanted to eat the second pretzel stick. I went to grab it.
But it wasn't there!
Bland snacks are the bane of my and many other people's existence. They have the promise of something tasty and satisfy the tongue for as long as they are there, but that's not very long. As such, you have to keep eating them to receive the stimulation. The problem with bland snacks like pretzels is that you grow accustomed to the flavor much to quickly, so that you quickly forget that they are there. The catch is that this does not stop you from eating them. What's more, you don't even realize you are doing it! How many useless calories, how many pounds are gained by people eating things that don't taste especially good, that they don't even realize they are eating? They by pretzels, or tortilla chips, or (Insert your snack of choice here) because they assume they like them. They keep eating them, I know I do, so they must like them right? It's gotta be a fantastic moneymaker so long as you strike the right balance between boring and fleeting satisfaction.
Solution? Avoid bland snacks. Eat things that make your tongue burn, or only eat snacks that are especially healthy, or get a variety pack where you have to be conscious of the combination as some of them taste awful. Remain conscious of your eating so as to better regulate it.
And give me your pretzels, because I'm pretty sure I like them.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Molly

?/?/2000 - 07/29/2008
A great dog, very much loved, very much missed.


Molly

Monday, July 14, 2008

Dearth of part time jobs

Part time jobs are hard to find. All I want is an hourly job for nights and weekends with a flexible schedule that doesn't demand I work holidays.
And I don't want to work in restaurants. Been there. Done that. Is that too much to ask?
Big thing right now seems to be part time careers, which seems pretty oxymoronic to me. Some of the hours, none of the benefits.
C'mon! I have vices to finance!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Scooters?

I've just recently learned about labels in Blogger. Why 'scooters' as an example label? What blog that isn't exclusively about scooters posts enough about them to warrant a label?
Why not a more practical example, like 'Announcements', 'Activities', or 'marshmallows'?

Who wants to be a hero?

Julie's increased nighttime work hours and my failing video card has left me watching a bit of anime that I have had for a while now. Anime is a funny thing. It's easy to assume just cartoon when there is really as many types and forms as there are types of comedies or dramas. It's really just another medium, but with subtitles or really bad dubbing.
I prefer the kind that at least tries to explain a little philosophy or psychology, though I think they get most of it wrong. This of course, is my western philosophy/theology coming out, but it's my opinion and no one really reads this anyhow, so who's going to care? :)
One thing that I've long struggled with both in western and eastern though is the concept of the hero. People aspire to be heroes. The one that saves the day. The one that everyone praises. The one that everyone respects.
Just one problem: that's not a hero.
Worn out is the concept of a single glorifying moment that establishes you in the pantheon of greatness among others who have achieved great deeds. But heroes are not born in greatness, they are the ones that have greatness thrust upon them, and they have the scars to prove it. Heroes do live out their lives in comfort and luxury. They are heroes because they have made the sacrifices that no one else could. They sacrifice time, money, happiness, sometimes blood, sometimes their own lives, for the betterment of others. They did not ask to be in the situation that they are in, but instead just resolve it and try to get on with their lives, assuming they survive the ordeal.
A hero must suffer.
A hero must feel pain.
A hero must lose what is important to him.
Who wants that?
I'm selfish. I want to be happy. I don't want others to have to be heroes so that I may live my life in peace. And yet, I hope that if a situation were ever to arise, that I would be able to make the sacrifices necessary to do the heroic thing.
It feels like that should be ironic, but it mostly just makes me lose my appetite to be thinking about that kind of thing.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

The midwest, among other things

I recently returned from a working tour of the Midwest. Flew into Illinois, hit Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois again, Wisconsin, and back to Illinois to head home.
A few observations:

  • Kalamazoo is a funny name, no matter how you look at it.
  • The White Castle near the fairgrounds in Indianapolis is awful! Never eat there. Soggy, cold sandwiches of steamed meat and stale bread with bad service do not a good lunch make.
  • Ohio, Illinois and Indiana are actually just one giant cornfield they split into different states to keep better track of it.
  • Ms. Jones is an awesome traveling companion, though she sometimes insists otherwise.
  • Pull tie-downs work just as well as ratcheting ones, and they take a lot less time.
  • A snow storm is not a good time to figure out how to tie a ladder to the top of an SUV.
  • Jet Blue is a nice airline.
  • Avoid Chicago highways with extreme prejudice. There is not a good time to be on those highways.
  • A deep dish pizza is best eaten with a knife and fork. Otherwise you might choke on the 3/4" thick slab of mozzarella that resides within.
  • Always check the armrest of the rental car before you return it.
That is all.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Furnaces bad!!

The souls of a thousand dead dinosaurs are not burning properly, and it keeps costing more and more to fix. Stupid dinosaurs. I'd kick them if they weren't already reconstituted into a liquid fossil fuel that would make my shoes stink and be really hard to clean.

Although, who's to say that the dinosaurs did not also stink. Perhaps oil would not smell as bad if dinosaurs were more hygienic.

Stupid furnace...