Via Deadspin, this is worth the 60 seconds to read through.
Category: Misc
Stop the World…
…I want to get off.
The story actually gets interesting because the individual bringing the lawsuit is a “vegetable activist.” Meaning when she’s not suing McDonald’s over her inability to say “No” to her child, she’s busy telling everyone else what they should be eating. Obviously, telling people what to do is not the issue with this person.
Having taken the kids to each of the fast food restaurants, I can say that it isn’t exactly easy, believe it or not. Both kids are actually willing to sacrifice food quantity and remain hungry for the chance to get a toy in a happy meal. Both kids, given the opportunity, will actively campaign to go to a “restaurant that gives out toys.” Oh, and the Wife and I almost always force them to get apple or orange slices with the meal.
Which is why children don’t run things, and why any sane parent quickly builds a thick hide where their kid’s politicking is concerned. They will politic for whatever whim presents itself at the slightest provocation; and do so with a gusto that would make any rabid sports fan envious. Telling them “No” becomes easy with practice. If done enough, the kids eventually start to filter their desires themselves because they assume the answer- a plus for parental sanity. But a parent has to be willing to deny their little cherub its heart’s desire in the first place.
If this woman wants to teach anyone anything, she should start with her child and by telling her “No- you cannot have a Happy Meal.” It’s gotta be cheaper than the lawsuit, at least.
Let Them Play
With all of the over-the-top bloviating about the Phillies getting Cliff Lee and now having 4 aces that would be number 1 pitchers on any other team, I think it prudent to point out that NO GAMES HAVE BEEN PLAYED YET. Remember how the Phillies were supposed to win the World Series this year because they had 3 guys pitching their best? Oops.
To trot out that old chestnut- that’s why they play the games. And that’s why they’ll still play the games next season, instead of just capitulating to the Phillies paper-awesomeness. As I recall, the Phillies could’ve used some bats this past offseason.
Best Hockey Goal Ever
Given the boy’s involvement in youth hockey, I’ve found myself more frequently taking note of hockey related highlights. Via Deadspin, here’s a great one:
I wonder if that’s ever been attempted in the pros?
December in New England
Today: Cold
Tomorrow: Colder
Friday: FYAO Cold
The Weekend: Seasonable (aka: cool)
Den Leader Attire
I picked up my Cub Scout den leader shirt last night.
The Wife hasn’t stopped snickering at me since.
I finally called her on it. She quickly protested “But who was helping you out to setup the den meeting last night?” All while smiling and batting her baby-blues at me.
“Obviously, it’s only because you don’t have to wear the attire” I replied.
Without a word, she walked away with a smile on her face.
Grrrr. I hate it when she get the last word like that.
Just When I Thought I was Out…
… “they pull me back in.”
I was informed yesterday midday that the current den leader was unable to continue with our Tiger Den. So, our pack leader decided to call me up from the minors and I accepted.
Because I didn’t know any better.
So I led my first Cub Scout meeting last night.
Oy.
There’s a good reason I hadn’t posted until now. Six 6-year-olds all together with project stuff and glue is apparently a volatile mixture.
Who knew?
At least flashlight tag was fun.
Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a weird sort of holiday.
Sandwiched between arguably the two most commercialized days of the year, Halloween and Christmas, there is basically zero buildup. In fact, my impression is that more people are concerned with the day after Thanksgiving than the day itself. Heck, even the day before is of concern since it’s the “biggest travel day of the year.” Listening on the radio, all of the radio stations have begun their Christmas holiday programming.
Perhaps Thanksgiving is a gateway holiday: it marks the official beginning of the Christmas season.
Thanksgiving is a laid back sort of holiday. Everyone knows it’s coming, and everyone has plans, but nobody really talks it up. There are no big Thanksgiving day sales. There are no formalized gift-giving ceremonies. Aside from the day itself, the only ritual I can actually think of is the Presidential Turkey pardon. Oh, and the parade.
Break out the bubbly! The President pardoned a turkey! YEEEHAW! (Resisting urge for political turkey jokes…)
But then if I think a little more about it, I realize that there’s no one formal Thanksgiving ritual, aside from the turkey eating anyway. But millions of people all have their own Thanksgiving ritual. Travelling to see family. Watching football games. Maybe you eat ham instead of turkey. Or lamb. Or you sit and watch the Thanksgiving day parades. Or not. The parade isn’t exactly my cup of tea- but that’s just me. Go ahead, you can watch it. Fine be me.
Perhaps Thanksgiving is mostly about taking a day off. One day where everyone sits back and relaxes. Eat some good food. Hang with friends and family. Just a day where work and bills and social concerns are put on the shelf. Everyone gets a chance to decompress.
Because tomorrow is Black Friday and you’re gonna have to get up early and fight like Kung Fu Panda to get that one toy that little Johnny has been pining for. Then after that it’s the weekend with hockey or football games or exams. Plus there’s less than a month ’til Christmas and you haven’t finished your shopping yet for Aunt Gretta; you never know what to get her either (she’s such a pain-in-the-ass like that). Plus there’s that holiday concert the kids are in that everyone dreads because it’s just not cool to bring the iPod along and listen to music you’ll actually enjoy listening to.
But for today, none of that matters. So sit back. Relax.
And be thankful there’s a day like this.
Holiday Pet Peeve
They’re already playing Christmas songs on the radio. It’s not unusual to see Christmas decorations out and about.
The only problem- Thursday is Thanksgiving. And then there are 31 days ’til Christmas.
I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but what the heck. It ain’t Christmas yet.
Something to Investigate
Every time I look at our cable bill, I start considering how difficult it might be to go without cable entirely. The savings would not be earth-shattering, but they aren’t piddling either.
Just on a lark I did a search to see how someone else goes without cable TV and found this site which points out some other things I hadn’t considered- such as taking advantage of the digital tuner in our TV to get local stations. This point seems obvious, but I just hadn’t thought about it since I’ve used cable for so long.
I think we might have to give it a good hard look.
A Break from the Weekend
You know the weekend has been busy when you’re looking forward to Monday.
Has anyone seen the new commercials for the Windows 7 phones? The ones where people are standing around using their phones when they should be doing other things? (One guy drops his phone in a urinal and bends down to pick it up, prompting another guy to say “Really?”)
Does anyone really believe the premise of the commercial? The new phone from Microsoft is so super-fantastic that it will reduce the amount of time people spend on their phones.
Perhaps someone should remind Microsoft about their Kin phone- which people spent so much time on that Microsoft was forced to humiliatingly can it only weeks after launch. That’s what happens to phones that people don’t spend any time on.
The whole point of a smartphone is that people use it. If their new phone is as well thought out as that ad, then it will probably being joining the Kin in a few months.
Make sure you go vote today, even if it’s to write-in the starting rotation or your kid’s T-ball team which, incidentally, would probably be a better slate of choices than the current crop of pretenders.
A Scary Halloween Post
I was going to post a picture of Pres. Obama along with something like “4 more years” but figured that was too easy.
So I’ll just go with…
BOO!
Happy Halloween.
I just recently had Trace Adkin’s video Marry For Money pointed out to me. Check out his wife… WOW:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8pcEl5ItXM[/youtube]
The brunette in the white dress is cute too…
LG BlueRay Player Nit
I’ll just preface this complaint by stating that I love our LG Blue Ray player. It is used constantly to stream stuff from Netflix and to play Pandora music. From a functional standpoint, I really have no substantial complaints.
But from a maintenance perspective, I have a big complaint about the update process. It violates one of the UI best-practices- excessive verification.
A Note to Gillette
I replenished my razor supply with an 8-pack of the Gillette Mach 3 razor cartridges. These have 3 blades, and strips at the top and bottom. Note that I purchased these because they were ~$20 for the 8 and you guys were charging about $30 for the 4-packs of your more recent cartridges, Fusion and so forth.
I’ve actually used the Fusion cartridges and they tended to pull at my beard. Very annoying and uncomfortable. So imagine my surprise today when I shaved using your older technology and I got a better shave! And, for less money!
I guess progress isn’t always forward. Now I’m hoping you don’t decided to discontinue the Mach 3.
Quick Catch-up
Going to be a long week. The Wife is on a trip so I’m flying solo until Friday. In between, there’s Scouts, karate, and a play date. Along with the usual chores related to getting the kids off to school. Should be interesting, to say the least. And busy.
Racquetball started tonight. New partner, I played well but just ran out of steam. Ended up losing 2 out of 3. Not bad all in all. We were in the 2 losses and arguably should have won one of them. That’s how it goes though. Had to rush home to pick up the kids and get them to bed at a reasonable time.
Interesting football weekend. South Carolina pulled one of those legitimate “we shocked the world” games. I suppose, in hindsight, it was a classic “trap” game since ‘Bama had just come off a dominating performance over Florida. But there aren’t too many who’d have predicted that one. Florida and LSU played a great one as well- down to the final seconds.
The worst part of ‘Bama losing is that Ohio State is the new number 1. I’m not sure how that works. I bet there’s a few SEC teams who are better right now, including ‘Bama. But the season is yet to play out.
As far as the Pro’s go, I guess Dallas is good enough to lose games against good teams that they’re capable of winning. I think the Tennessee game really showed just how mediocre their o-line is. There’s a lot of work to be done there- I don’t know if it’s the players or the coaching. New Orleans is suffering from the classic “year after” effect. Guess we’ll have to see what Moss means to Minnesota.
That’s all. Time to eat.
First Fire
The fall has officially arrived. I started a fire around bedtime for the kids. We’re supposed to get a frost, and, as I type this, its 39 degrees outside. We’ve been running a few degrees cooler than forecasts for awhile, so I wouldn’t totally rule out a freeze.
The kids were very excited. They both wanted to help and were very sure of their solutions when I didn’t have a raging inferno shortly after I struck the match. The boy, in particular, seemed desperate to do something with the fire. Unfortunately for them, there’s only so much room in front of a fire place and I take up most of it. So, their best efforts were thwarted.
But there will be more.
Blue Ray Update
We, certainly I in particular, have been very pleased with our Blue Ray player. Probably the most noteworthy aspect of it is how little we actually use it as a Blue Ray player. Thus far, we’ve watched 2 BR discs with it. The vast majority of the usage is as a media center.
I’ve been using it to play music from my Pandora account almost constantly. I’ve always enjoyed having background music and when I first started using Pandora I was very pleased with the product. The BR player then solved a problem for me- how to get Pandora connected to our main stereo system. I frequently used my EEE for this purpose, but it was a little kludgy. The BR player has a Pandora application that works great. The only kludge involved is that the sound plays from our flatscreen TV’s audio out- a consequence of using the HDMI connection from the player to the TV.
We also signed up for NetFlix and have been able to go and select from a decent variety of cartoons to stream through the BR player. A plus for the kids since we can give them a little more variety for their Saturday morning fare. An added bonus is access to some oldy-but-goody cartoons and shows. Fraggle Rock, anyone? No? How ’bout Voltron? or Scooby Doo?
Definitely a worthwhile purchase.