I love walking down the cereal aisle at the local grocers. It brings back so many memories of a childhood long ago when I actually ate rainbow-colored, sugar-frosted, freezer-dried marshmallows for breakfast. So any stroll down the cereal aisle is a casual stroll down memory lane.
My trip to the grocers yesterday had an impact on me, however. I saw a new kind of cereal out - Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp. Think about that for a second. Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp. This is the new and improved version of the otherwise famous "Cookie Crisp." The original version was simply a bowlful of minature chocolate chip cookies. That is already pretty shocking. You're feeding your kids a bowlful of cookies for breakfast. That can't be good. And the brilliant minds over at General Mills decided to step-it-up, as it were, and make a new and improved version. But no, they didn't come out with "Cookie Crisp: Whole Wheat Cookie Dough!!" or simply "Crisp: Where are the Cookies??" or "Wheat Crisp." No, they said, "Let's stuff more chocolate and sugar into our cereal that is already a bowlful of chocolate chip cookies. Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp? Seriously people. Why don't you feed your kid a couple of Snicker bars for breakfast. Or just let them have a few spoonfuls from the sugar jar. The kid who eats a bowl of doubly dipped chocolate chocolate chip cookies for breakfast is going to need medication to stabilize him for the first few hours of his day and will then need more medication to get him through his pending debilitating sugar crash. Do we really need "Cookie Crisp" to be "Double Chocolate??" Seriously, people.
http://www.generalmills.com/stream_image.aspx?rid=15614
Friday, March 30, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Television, TeleTubbies, and Telemarketing
Kathryn and I have spent the past few days in Charleston, SC celebrating our one year anniversary/Spring Break. One of my favorite parts about vacation is the all-you-can-watch-cable television in the hotel room. We have rabbit ears on our television at home. With aluminum foil crunched up on the ends. We get 2 channels. And one of them is a bit fuzzy. So endless channels of television is a treat for us.
After the initial first sitting of media-ized gluttony, I began to think about how absolutely terrible a number of shows are that were a regular part of my upbringing. For example - I remember regularly watching The Munsters and the Adam's Family reruns growing up. Looking back, I can't help but be puzzled by the decisions of television executive programmers. Who thought that a sitcom based on the domestic issues of a haunted, monster nuclear family was a good idea? And who was it that came along and said - that is such a good idea, let's create another show like that, only this time it will involve some members from the extended family - Uncle Fester, Cousin It, etc. The more puzzling question may be - why did we watch these shows? How were they at all relatable?
And who came along and thought that Golden Girls was a good idea? Who said - Let's make a show about the sex lives of four single senior citizen women? Yep, I watched that show too. And why in the world could Zach Morris stop time? We haven't made nearly as big of a deal with that as we should. That is absolutely crazy. Stopping time? So Zach Morris has supernatural powers??? Seriously.
Who's The Boss? Pushing the gender roles with this one. How does a tough New York Italian go from playing professional baseball to working as a live-in housekeeper? Not buying the premise. Who's the Boss also capitalized on the sexual escapades of a senior citizen woman, Mona, who was Angela's (Judith Light) mother. I just don't get it.
Full House. Ever gone back and seen those reruns. Sheesh. 3 single grown men living together in an enormous house in San Francisco raising 3 girls together. The plot was simple: Put a relatively normal though neurotic clean freak (Danny Tanner) together with a wild, out of work very bad comedian (Uncle Joey) mixed with a babe-chasin, long-haired, rock and roll wanna-be (Uncle Jesse) and let the hilarity ensue. Terrible, unbearable acting. Predictable, serious moral lesson moment at the end accompanied by orchestra. The producers cast two people for one part.
So many bad shows.
After the initial first sitting of media-ized gluttony, I began to think about how absolutely terrible a number of shows are that were a regular part of my upbringing. For example - I remember regularly watching The Munsters and the Adam's Family reruns growing up. Looking back, I can't help but be puzzled by the decisions of television executive programmers. Who thought that a sitcom based on the domestic issues of a haunted, monster nuclear family was a good idea? And who was it that came along and said - that is such a good idea, let's create another show like that, only this time it will involve some members from the extended family - Uncle Fester, Cousin It, etc. The more puzzling question may be - why did we watch these shows? How were they at all relatable?
And who came along and thought that Golden Girls was a good idea? Who said - Let's make a show about the sex lives of four single senior citizen women? Yep, I watched that show too. And why in the world could Zach Morris stop time? We haven't made nearly as big of a deal with that as we should. That is absolutely crazy. Stopping time? So Zach Morris has supernatural powers??? Seriously.
Who's The Boss? Pushing the gender roles with this one. How does a tough New York Italian go from playing professional baseball to working as a live-in housekeeper? Not buying the premise. Who's the Boss also capitalized on the sexual escapades of a senior citizen woman, Mona, who was Angela's (Judith Light) mother. I just don't get it.
Full House. Ever gone back and seen those reruns. Sheesh. 3 single grown men living together in an enormous house in San Francisco raising 3 girls together. The plot was simple: Put a relatively normal though neurotic clean freak (Danny Tanner) together with a wild, out of work very bad comedian (Uncle Joey) mixed with a babe-chasin, long-haired, rock and roll wanna-be (Uncle Jesse) and let the hilarity ensue. Terrible, unbearable acting. Predictable, serious moral lesson moment at the end accompanied by orchestra. The producers cast two people for one part.
So many bad shows.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Medication Transportation
Though I (Kathryn) rarely make an appearance on this family blog-site, I felt the urge to comment on a CNN.com article that made the "frontpage" news. Did anyone see that the FDA made a statement on how sleeping pills cause sleep-driving? Surely the writers didn't intend to make us cleanly substitue "walking" with "driving", I thought to myself. Surely, they're meaning to convey something about how these pills cause takers to fall asleep at the wheel, or something like that. I read on.
The FDA has received a dozen or so reports of how users of sleeping pills have a tendency to wake-up in the middle of their slumber, walk, find their keys, find the door, and go driving. The word that gets me is "tendency". What is it about these pills that make the automobile so attractive? Why isn't the phone more attractive? We've all heard of drunk-dialing. Apparantly, people taking sleeping pills may also call someone during their nightly wake-session. But only a couple of people have done that. The overwhelming majority of sleeping pill users are heading for their cars.
I admit that I occasionally pop the pill. And now Matt is actually considering hiding my car keys.
The FDA has received a dozen or so reports of how users of sleeping pills have a tendency to wake-up in the middle of their slumber, walk, find their keys, find the door, and go driving. The word that gets me is "tendency". What is it about these pills that make the automobile so attractive? Why isn't the phone more attractive? We've all heard of drunk-dialing. Apparantly, people taking sleeping pills may also call someone during their nightly wake-session. But only a couple of people have done that. The overwhelming majority of sleeping pill users are heading for their cars.
I admit that I occasionally pop the pill. And now Matt is actually considering hiding my car keys.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Sbarro and Sleep
The other day I was in a conversation that forced me to raise this question: Why do you only find Sbarro Pizza joints in malls and airports? I've never seen a free standing Sbarro Pizza. They are always in the food court area, usually next to some Asian food option. Why is this? Do Sbarros have some sort of deal with the malls and airports? Are they not allowed to conduct their business outside of these facilities? Or perhaps they are too timid to compete with the corporate monsters like Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Pizza Shuttle, etc. The same question might could be posed to Cinnabon or Auntie Anne's (those cinnnamon, pretzel places) as well.
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I have recently become more self-aware of my sleep philosophy. I’m sure everyone has one; I’ve just never been fully in touch with my own. It has always been there, as I’m sure yours is there too, hidden and subconscious. I challenge you to begin to discover what it might be if you haven’t already. My sleep philosophy is this: I don’t do anything excessive in the middle of the night that might potentially impair the rhythm of my sleep. To articulate: If I can help it, I don’t get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom because I fear that by getting out of bed, walking around, doing “my thing,” and returning to bed, will throw off my whole sleep flow and I won’t be able to slide back into sleep easily. So if I wake up in the middle of the night and feel the need to relieve myself, I fight the urge and return to sleep. Pee can wait till morning. Unless of course it can’t…and sleep is thus sacrificed. Same thing with getting a drink of water in the night. Though Kathryn will adamantly disagree with me on this one, I also resist the urge to pull covers on top of me. My argument: I may do this subconsciously throughout the night, that is, yanking and pulling the heavy covers from one side of the bed on top of me, but if I wake up chilly and the covers are not on me, I fear that the energy required to grip, pull, and move heavy covers will throw off my sleep. It will get my heart beating faster which will require more time to slow back down. So I sacrifice the yanking and opt for a chilly night’s sleep. That is my sleep philosophy. I don’t involve myself in any superfluous energy spending (unless of course it is absolutely necessary) for fear that it will throw off my sleep flow. What is your sleep philosophy? Any takers?
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I have recently become more self-aware of my sleep philosophy. I’m sure everyone has one; I’ve just never been fully in touch with my own. It has always been there, as I’m sure yours is there too, hidden and subconscious. I challenge you to begin to discover what it might be if you haven’t already. My sleep philosophy is this: I don’t do anything excessive in the middle of the night that might potentially impair the rhythm of my sleep. To articulate: If I can help it, I don’t get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom because I fear that by getting out of bed, walking around, doing “my thing,” and returning to bed, will throw off my whole sleep flow and I won’t be able to slide back into sleep easily. So if I wake up in the middle of the night and feel the need to relieve myself, I fight the urge and return to sleep. Pee can wait till morning. Unless of course it can’t…and sleep is thus sacrificed. Same thing with getting a drink of water in the night. Though Kathryn will adamantly disagree with me on this one, I also resist the urge to pull covers on top of me. My argument: I may do this subconsciously throughout the night, that is, yanking and pulling the heavy covers from one side of the bed on top of me, but if I wake up chilly and the covers are not on me, I fear that the energy required to grip, pull, and move heavy covers will throw off my sleep. It will get my heart beating faster which will require more time to slow back down. So I sacrifice the yanking and opt for a chilly night’s sleep. That is my sleep philosophy. I don’t involve myself in any superfluous energy spending (unless of course it is absolutely necessary) for fear that it will throw off my sleep flow. What is your sleep philosophy? Any takers?
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