Cinnamon Fire Twizzlers

It's about time cinnamon flavor showed up in a Pull-n-Peel Twizzler. It's as delicious as it sounds. They have a good spicy cinnamon flavor. This new flavor shall move into the top position on the Twizzler flavor pyramid.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!

KFC Experience = FAIL

I should know better than to ever try to eat at KFC. I really should. Once in a while though, fate seems to lead me through the Colonel's doors. I always regret the trip. Tonight, I was enticed by a coupon in the newspaper good for four dollars off a KFC family meal. I walked into the store and immediately noticed the place was dirty and smelled badly. Nevertheless, I stepped up to the counter and ordered the 10 piece family meal priced at $14.99. I presented the coupon and the employee was baffled. He got his manager, a middle aged, obese woman with bad teeth wearing a sloppy, stained KFC uniform. She inspected the coupon and informed me that the family meal was specially priced at $14.99 so they couldn't take the coupon. The regular price was $16.99 she said. I suggested she charge me the $16.99 price and allow me to use the coupon. She thought about this for awhile and then told me that they don't usually do that. I thanked her and left.


The last time I tried to eat at KFC was in 2002. That time, I had gone there for lunch, and ordered a 2 piece chicken meal. The employee told me they were out of fried chicken. I expressed mild disbelief, thanked her, and left.

These bad experiences haven't caused me to permanently write off KFC though. I'll stick to my schedule of giving them a try every 5 to 7 years. I look forward to having my next KFC experience around the year 2014.

Lincoln Now 156th Largest Metro Area

The Lincoln metro now has more people than the Boulder, CO metro and Deluth, MN metros. By way of comparison, the Sacramento metro ranks 26th, the Kansas City metro ranks 29th, the Omaha metro ranks 61, and the Jonesboro metro ranks 337th.

Amazon Beats iTunes by a Buck

I was Mr. Jonesing to pick up the new Counting Crows disc, so I decided to check out Amazon.com's new mp3 download service. Turns out they had the new disc for $8.99. iTunes was charging $9.99 so I went for it at Amazon. This is the first time I've used Amazon to download a cd. It worked very smoothly. You have to download a tiny application. Then, once I downloaded the music and clicked on the file, it automatically opened in iTunes along with the cover art. Nifty! I now consider Amazon a valid option when trying to get the best price on music.

NCAA Tournament Trip

The opening rounds of the Midwest region of the NCAA tournament took place at the Qwest Center in Omaha. I went with some friends on Saturday to see if we could get in for a reasonable price. Sadly, we couldn't. Tickets were going for as much as $400.00. However, we did have fun mixing with fans of various teams in bars near the venue. And, we went to a Kansas Alumni pep rally bash in the Qwest Center for some free rock chalk snacks and goodies.

I found this used ticket on the ground.

We also saw some Wisconsin faithful gearing up on their bus.

Onion Feature - NIT Still Looking for Teams

NIT Still Has 10 Open Slots If Anyone Wants To Play

Baby's First Easter

Jack celebrated his first Easter today. The highlight - his first meat! He had a Turkey and Veggie dinner.

He found his Easter basket pretty quickly too which featured a stuffed rabbit and some Cadbury chocolate.

Watch Dog

One good thing about Yuki, he always nose the time.

Arkansas State Mascot Logo Revealed

Here are some previous ASU mascots. I'm kind of partial to Runnin' Joe.




And yes, they used to be the Goriillas although no official mascot image exists for this period.

Mystery NCAA Pick'em Players Revealed

The two unidentified Tourney Pick'em players Krix and Daisy have been identified as Mullins' pals from Denver. Meanwhile after the first day of action, it looks like Dad has steamrolled his way to an early lead.

Last Chance To Join NCAA Tourney Pool

If you're reading this, you should join our NCAA tournament pick 'em pool! See a few blog posts down for instructions and password on how to join. It's free and it'll be fun to beat you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Jack

Jack had a good week though unfortunately it appears he is getting sick again :( That didn't stop him from having the loudest day of his life today. That boy was squawking all day. Good thing that loony bird killing golfer (ashamed to say from GT) was not around.

Jack in St. Patty's Green - photos of his St. Patty's outfit for school will follow.

Only two albums for Jack this week but one of them takes a lot to digest. The Beatles - The Beatles... more better known as The White Album. This happens to be the only Beatles album we own.



The other disc was from Live. Their newer album Songs from Black Mountain.

NCAA Tournament Pick-em!!!!!!!

For the first time ever, the annual Tangeman NCAA Tournament pick-em contest is available to all readers of the blog! Winner will get a blog published congratulations and year long bragging rights. Here are the particulars for entering:

1. Go to yahoo.com. You'll want to sign in at this point with your yahoo account, or create one if you don't have one.
2. Next go to the "sports" section of yahoo.
3. Look on the top of the yahoo sports page (near top right at the moment) for the "Fantasy" tab.
4. Roll over the "fantasy" tab with your mouse and click on "Tourney pick'em".
5. Click on "Join a Group".
5. Pick "Join Group" (yes you do it twice).
6. At this point, you will need the group ID# and the password which is located below.
7. Make your picks.

Here's the info you'll need to join the group:
You created a group called Tangeman. Your group ID# is 90407 and your password is: jakethesnake

If you have any more questions about how to join, comment to this post and I'll help you. Good luck, (you'll need it).
FYI: Erin won last year's competition.

Sausage Gravy from a Can

Mullins has a tradition cooking an elaborate breakfast on Saturday mornings. One of the things he enjoys during these morning feasts is Cambell's Country Style Sausage Gravy from a can. I've always been a biscuits and gravy fan, but had never realized this kind of gravy came in a can or "tin" as the Brits say. I was intrigued. It took me awhile to track the stuff down at the grocery store, but I finally did.

After cooking up some Grands biscuits, I microwaved the gravy and put some on. What can I say? Tasty! It pretty much looks and tastes the way sausage gravy is supposed to taste. The sausage bits themselves made me a bit nervous, but seemed to be just fine. I recommend this product. It's a solid home version of a fancy diner breakfast. It's not the most healthy breakfast in the world, but that has never really been the biscuit and gravy strong suit anyway.

Spicy Sweet Doritos

Yet another new flavor of Doritos has hit store shelves. It's the new spicy sweet chili flavor. Frankly, it's too sweet. The flavor is almost maple syrup like at first with a rather spicy finish. If you ask me, sugary sweet flavor has no business on a Dorito.

Stock Idea Needed

I need a $14 stock or a $28 stock with a yield of 3% or more. Prefer NYSE listing and prefer a company I have heard of. No drugs, finance, or media. Please post your ideas as comments. Thanks.

Jack's Latest

We took Jack on a neighborhood hike this past week-end. He enjoyed wearing his "sun" hat.



Another first for Jack - he had his first scale measurement that topped 16 pounds and we adjusted his jumperoo setting up a notch.

Music wise he grooved to three discs this week.

Sinead O'Connor - Theology (her new one)



Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited


And finally he got a bit more intense with The Jesus and Mary Chain - Live in Concert

Robert is a UAB Tennis Star

Thanks to Will for bringing the following images to my attention. It seems there is a Robert look alike playing tennis at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham).


That is a pretty amazing likeness. The player's actual name is Dan Cornei from Ontario, Canada. Let's remember that name, because if he goes pro and gets famous, we can rent Robert out as a Cornei impersonator for children's parties.

I finally got my new AARP membership card

I had to work on it a little with my pocket knife but it came out OK.

Looking for a Snack to Enjoy with your Simulated Root Beer Float?

By request, I reviewed an interesting and generally poor snack this week-end that would match well with the beverage reviewed earlier. Introducing the Burger King Ketchup & Fries flavored chips!



The chips have the texture of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal but instead of the sugary cinnamon powder they've got a ketchup flavored powder. In smelling the chips there is a definite similarity to the Burger King fry.



We ate several of the chips but couldn't finish the bag. Steph enjoyed the "fries" more than I and rated them an 8/10. I rate the things a 3/10 and Ranger gives them a thumbs up with a 10/10.

A&W Float is Horrible

Sometimes ideas look good on paper, but suffer in execution. A&W Float in a bottle shall be the new poster child for this notion. Homemade root beer floats are a great, simple to make treat when made with actual root beer and a good quality vanilla ice cream. It seems the combination isn't so easy to simulate in a single bottle.

The packaging claims that you can pour this stuff into a glass for a foamy float experience, or enjoy straight from the bottle. I poured it into a glass and got a milky, tan, gross looking liquid and almost no foam. And then I took a drink.


The flavor is the real killer here. Imagine a world where neither real root beer nor vanilla ice cream exist, so instead of the real thing, a scientist was forced to simulate their flavor with chemicals. Imagine then, that along with his chemical mix, the scientist added skim milk, propylene glycol alginate, and nitrous oxide (for supposed creation of foam). Imagine all of this and you begin to have an idea of how A&W Float tastes.



A&W Float, in no uncertain terms, is horrid. Despite containing more sugar than a normal sugared soft drink, it manages to have a chemical flavor worse than the cheapest generic diet soda. It looks bad, it tastes bad, and it has earned the honor of being the worst beverage this blogger has ever reviewed. AVOID!!!!

Worst New Beverage EVER

I tried a new interesting beverage tonight and it is so bad it is almost undrinkable. Horrific! What is this mystery beverage that everyone should avoid? Find out this weekend on this blog!

Pepsi Raw

Looks like Pepsi is launching a new offensive in the cola war.


Pepsi Raw, available now in the UK, is said to be all natural, slightly less carbonated, and less fattening.

Best of all: no high fructose corn syrup! HFCS has been plaguing sodas for decades. It’s time American soda makers stop using this cheap, highly available, and terribly unhealthy sugar source.

The new drink claims to have 90 calories and have the following ingredients:

Apple extract
Plain caramel colouring
Coffee leaf
Tantaric acid from grapes
Gum arabic from acacia trees
Cane sugar
Sparkling water

I can't wait to try it out.

Green Peeps

There is only so much innovation you can bring to a marshmallow, and yet the Just Born Candy Company somehow continues to make changes to the Peep. Their latest update is a new stop on the color wheel. Introducing the grass green Peep. Tastes like every other Peep, only green.

Jack's Feet and Latest Listenings

Jack continues to revel in the discovery of his feet. He grabs them at any opportunity which presents itself.



His lullaby music over the past week or so consisted of only three albums - all good.

First he grooved to one of the finest from Fleetwood Mac - Rumours


He then got a little jazzy with Miles Davis - Kind of Blue


Finally - he went a bit more modern with The National - Boxer