Playing with the Georgia Fans

Once in a while - when there is big news about a University of Georgia recruit, I'll make stupid comments on the story under the "Big Dawg" pseudonym. The goal of these is to try and get others to comment on my, and thus, the Georgia fans stupidity in general...Here's one that was successful!

Happy Meal Turns 30

Erin and I recently celebrated the 30th birthday of the McDonald's Happy Meal by eating one.



To celebrate this milestone, Micky D's has brought back the teenie weenie beanie babie as the included toy. I'm going to assume that Dad will hold to tradition and acquire 10 complete sets of the beanie babies. There are only 30 different babies, one for each year the meal has been around, so it shouldn't take Dad too long.

To make sure that Yuki wouldn't feel left out of the fun, Erin got him a Yappy Meal.

Gold Medal Run!

I won the mens recreational tennis tournament at the 25th annual Cornhusker State Games this weekend. I ended up losing in the doubles finals and getting the silver.



You can click on the image below to take a look at my singles draw.

The Rabbit-Proof Fence

Lately wildlife has been spoiling out backyard party, but we're fighting back. The first counter attack was against the birds. They've been making a mess of our deck, so we decided to spook 'em with a fake hoot owl. My impression is that our real feathered friends are largely indifferent to the fake. Looks neat though.

The next problem is a booming population of bunny rabbits. They ate a prized, low hanging tomato the day before I picked it. In response, I installed a rabbit-proof fence made from chicken wire and garden stakes. I'm hoping they aren't smart enough to burrow under it.

Football Season is Just Around The Corner...

Time to start up the "Wreck"

Happy Birthday Mimi

Love,

Jack

Three Facts and a Flavor New to Me

This is a flavor I had not seen before. It's O.K.

Three Facts

1. Ben and Jerry sold the company to food conglomerate Unilever in 2000.

They are not involved in day-to-day management of the company any more.

2. The price of a pint at Wal-Mart has dropped from $3 or more to $2.50.

3. The flavor and mouth feel of B&J are noticably worse than in the past (my opinion).

I conclude from these items that B&J has cheapened the recipe of their product..

Summer of the Margarita!!!

A few weeks ago we were at a 4th of July party where frozen margaritas were served. That got me thinking and I realized that while I have had several "real" margaritas over the years I had never personally made one. The best margarita I've ever had was at Rio Grande in Fort Collins...It looks like the place has now expanded to multiple locations throughout Colorado.

Anyway - I researched the ingredients I'd need - which are simple but not quite as simple as Cuervo tequila dumped into Cuervo Margarita Mix (aka - lime flavored high fructose corn syrup (ingredient list below)). Three things are needed: tequila, Cointreau (or triple sec - I haven't been able to find the actual Contreau brand yet) and limes.


These are the ingredients/brands I used for my first batches of margarita. I followed the guidance of 3:2:1 - meaning three portions of tequila, two portions of triple sec and one portion of fresh squeezed lime juice.

Enjoy the summer of the margarita!

Cuervo Margarita Mix IngredientsJose Cuervo mix: Water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (to preserve flavor), cellulose gum, polysorbate 60, gum arabic, glycerol abietate and FD&C Yellow No. 5

Heads up! True tails from checkoutsville.

1. I eat breakfast with a companion at a fast food joint in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. The tab comes to $9.68. I hand the girl two five-dollar bills and two dimes. (The goal here is to get back quarters with which to feed my newspaper habit.) She looks at the money, and then at the cash register. She then opens the cash drawer and hands me four one-dollar bills and two pennies. I walk away and receive criticism from my companion for stealing three dollars and fifty cents. I point out that it actually comes to more than that since I do not plan to pay income tax on the ill-gotten proceeds.

2. I eat breakfast alone at a fast food joint in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The tab comes to $3.82. I hand the girl a five-dollar bill, three dimes, and two pennies. (The goal here is to get back quarters with which to feed my newspaper habit.) The girl looks at my money for a few seconds, looks at the cash register, then rings up the fiver. She slides the three dimes and two pennies back to me, along with a dollar and eighteen cents from the register.

3. I eat breakfast at a fast food joint in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The girl at the register appears to be new. I order a sausage biscuit, withholding the drink request in order to allow her time to ring up the sandwich. She looks at the register for about five seconds, then calls the manager.

4. I eat breakfast at a fast food joint in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The girl at the register is new. Her identification tag declares her name to be "Jarlisa". She has a hard time filling my order of two sausage biscuits and a senior coffee. Her first day on the job also turns out to be her last.

Black Eyed Peas at #1 and #2 on the Hot 100...

Interesting in I hadn't seen this in a while - not something I look at regularly either though. I did snap this album up at Target (so I could get the bonus disc) and was surprised at how much I like it. Boom Boom Pow - kind of a non-song has grown on me. I Gotta Feeling is quite good.

Jack Learns Names - Phone Video from School

One of Jack's teachers at school began teaching him our real names. He won't be using those with us generally though!

Cause it's Not Really Chicken

I guess Third Eye Blind had it right in their new song "Non Dairy Creamer" when they sing..."they call it KFC, cause it's not really chicken"

KFC No Longer Permitted To Use Word 'Eat' In Advertisements
WASHINGTON—Issuing a condemnation of Kentucky Fried Chicken's recent Boneless Variety Bucket commercials, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday fined the fast food giant $600,000 and ordered it to discontinue all broadcasts containing "false and misleading suggestions" that its heated chicken products are intended for consumption.




KFC's new FCC-approved commercial campaign for the classic 16-piece bucket.
"KFC's claim that its fried offerings have 'that taste you'll just love to eat' is in direct violation of federal regulations," acting FCC chairman Michael Copps said. "The word 'eat' is legally permissible only in reference to substances appropriate for human consumption. Any implication that a consumer could or should 'enjoy' a KFC Crispy Strip fails to meet these standards, and presents an unlawful deception to consumers."

"Any future appeals by KFC for the public to ingest its products will be met with swift legal action," he added.

This story directly from the Onion with the exception of the Third Eye Blind reference.

It's Vacation Bible School Time!

Kiddies everywhere are getting educated like so:

Viral! United Breaks Guitars on Trip to Nebraska

If you've been under a rock and haven't seen! The song is actually pretty dang good!

Arby's Adverstisment vs. Reality

The advertised picture:


The real deal:



Anyone else not thinking Arby's?

Whale of The Week

Jack is currently in the "Whale" room at school. Each week they feature a new child on the "Whale of The Week" bulletin board and it is finally his turn. We'll get a picture of the board and post it in a few days... Here's the Powerpoint we made for it...probably a little overboard but I was a bit bored so spent 5 minutes whipping this up...

Larry the Cable Guy

We ended up with good seats to Larry the Cable Guy's "Tailgate Party", which took place in the Huskers' Memorial Stadium tonight. The show was taped by Comedy Central and will air on that network sometime in the fairly near future (possibly January.) With a crowd of more than 50,000 people, the show was apparently the biggest taped comedy concert ever.


After two warm up comedians, a plane flew overhead and a sky diver jumped out. The parachute decent was made to appear out of control and audio from the diver's microphone was broadcast over stadium loudspeakers. It was the voice of Larry the Cable Guy. Of course, it wasn't too hard to figure out it was just a sky diver made to look like Larry. After the chute made a rough landing in the stands, the Larry look-alike ran behind the stage, and the real Larry emerged.



I wasn't sure what to expect since I'd never heard any of Larry's comedy before, but it was an impressive comedy set. It's easy to see why he has become so popular. He has great comedy timing and delivery. Not all of his jokes were great, but many of them were very funny. His rapid fire style insured that if you didn't laugh at one joke, another was only seconds away. I was well entertained the entire time he was on stage, which was more than an hour.



After Larry's performance, we were treated to a first-rate fireworks display. Then Larry came back out as a part of "Air Disaster", the greatest air-guitar band of all time. Air Disaster is the likely title for a mocumentary film chronicling the band. They shot footage for the film of Air Disaster "performing" a Journey song and a Whitesnake song. So, it looks like I'll be appearing on Comedy Central and in a movie in the role of "individual in crowd". I should update my IMDB page.

(Larry's the guy on the far left)

Happy Fourth of July - 2009!

Happy Fourth of July! We went to a big parade this morning in a neighboring neighborhood. The parade was led by a fire engine followed by a mass of kids in strollers, wagons and bikes.

Jack joined his friend Caroline in a wagon for the parade...

All in all - Jack is proud to be an American Baby!

Just like his Momma was not quite 30 years ago... see any similarities? :)