I Love Those Plastic Bins

So a new Container Store just opened today near my house. In fact, it's the only one in Arizona! Michael happened to say that he needed a hanger for his ties, knowing full well that today was opening day. I LOVE the Container Store. It's the best kind of store. It's a store built for the consumer society of which I'm a big part. There is nothing there that anyone really needs. It just exists to organize all the stuff that I think I need.
Anyway, much to my surprise, the parking lot was absolutely full when we got there at 3:00 this afternoon. Everyone inside was happy and we heard lots of "oohs" and "ahhhs". Even Michael got excited over the garage organization section. People in other cities hurry to museum, movie, restaurant and other cultural openings. We in Scottsdale flock to an organizational store. Gotta love those bins!

Beach Volleyball T'n'A, Well Mostly "A"

So I tried to watch some of the Olympics this summer. To my dismay, everytime that I flipped through the 3 channels broadcasting the Olympics, the same 6 sports were on: swimming (I don't even want to get started on Phelps), gymnastics, basketball, soccer, track (didn't see any field) and beach volleyball (OK, I saw a little softball in there too). With over 30 different sporting categories, I expected the broadcasts be much more diverse. I at least thought I would get to see the table tennis competitions. Hello, China loves great table tennis!

The terrible result of all this is that I could not escape seeing the women's beach volleyball matches. I vowed after the ridiculous rolling-in-the-sand celebration from the Athens games that I would never watch it again. But I found myself unable to turn away. The bikinis worn by Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh just keep getting smaller and smaller. As I watched 5 minutes of the match, Kerri Walsh must have pulled her bikini bottom out of her ass at least 10 times! Why do they need to wear these tiny suits? They have to in order to get more viewers. And what other way for female athletes to get primetime other than bearing as much as possible of their bodies? I totally appreciate the strong and healthy bodies that these women have and think they should be proud of them. But it's just such an obvious marketing move. I understand that this happens with all sports; hence why I usually stay away from them. There is just something about the olympics that draws me into them.

So I was ranting to my sister about Misty's and Kerri's asses ridiculously falling out of their bikinis. She defended them saying she had seen an interview with a beach volleyball player. The player said that the sand burrows into her suit with all the aggressive diving and such that goes on during a match. Also, it is very hot and sweaty playing outside. I countered with the fact that the guys are able to play in tank tops and shorts. Then my sister countered with THE FACT that we don't want to see these guys jumping around the sand speedos! I totally agreed and had decided to go easier on Misty and Kerri....UNTIL THIS:




There they are on the Ellen DeGeneres show and there is no sand in the air conditioned studio to get into their bikinis as they show off some of their moves after the interview. There they are wearing even TINIER bikinis!

FTC Finally Does Something Good

So this news is a week old, but I'm very excited that the FTC has finally done something that will really make my day better. The FTC has banned pre-recorded sales calls! Instead of wasting time fining people on TV, the FTC has decided to put inflict its power on those horrible companies who send out recorded messages. YAY!

Are You a Terrorist, Come in Through Mexico!

OK, so after some badgering from Little Kenny, I realized that I should really start posting again. So Michael and I flew down to Mexico a couple weeks ago and coming back from there to the US was the easiest thing ever. We didn't have to take off our shoes or jackets (not that we had any); or remove our laptaps (not that we had any); or take out our silly little plastic bag of liquids (we had those). We simply had to toss our stuff on the conveyer belt, which went through quickly with no stopping and walk through the metal detectors. It was great! I felt so free! Then I started thinking about the terrorists. Mr. Bush has programmed me well to give up my individual freedoms. I don't see why I have to disrobe to fly to Orange County on a one hour flight from Phoenix. Are terrorists really flying from Phoenix to Orange County? But yet, if I come in from Mexico to anywhere in the US, I can cruise through without a problem. If we're so concerned about terrorists, why can't we negotiate with Mexico to make their security a bit tighter? I would think they would care since that would help us protect half of its population who happen to live in the US, right?

Damn France!

So Michael and I have been talking about taking a trip to Europe for about a year now, but now we're really closing in on deciding where to go. Last year, we had started with Spain and Germany and the Netherlands and and Iceland and all those little Eastern European countries. We were all over the place. Michael had even gotten me to come around to Paris. Before, I figured I'd go there when I'm old, but I was in no rush. But then we started talking about the food and it went up to the top of my list.

So we renewed our discussion a couple weeks ago. With the exchange rate for the dollar being low, we are debating going to Great Britain and blowing a wad of cash or going to some Eastern European countries and saving a little. Coincidentally, this article about Europe trying to entice Americans to travel came my way. It's in USA Today, so it's short and sweet. All those Europeans were so happy to come here and get good bargains. Ah, but then they realized that with our weak dollar, we were not spending as much of our sad money in their countries. So countries like England and Ireland are coming up with advertising campaigns and discounts to entice American travelers. I'm sure these aren't super great deals, but at least they're doing something. France on the other hand, could care less. Their spokesperson from the Paris Convention and Visitors Office says about the drop in American tourists, "This is somthing we cannot really fight." What the hell? I had finally come around to wanting to go to Paris! See, now I'm going to wait til I'm 70 and the dollar is king again!

I Can't Stop Eating Bad Food

OK, so I had the WORST SANDWICH I've ever eaten on Saturday. This sandwich beats out my previous worst sandwich ever from Shari's in Oregon. It was a badly made BLT. How does a restaurant screw up a BLT? Old lettuce, limp fatty bacon and really bad tomatoes. Anyway, this sandwich that I had on Saturday was MUCH worse and I only have myself to blame.

So we went to a place called Lee's Sandwiches (I didn't know this is a big chain at the time). It's across the street from the best international market that I've been to in my whole life, Lee Lee Oriental Supermarket in Chandler. Lee's Sandwiches is a self-descriped Euro Asian sandwich shop with fresh baquettes coming out of it's "baguette factory" and Asian fillings (as well as all the classic sandwich combinations such as ham and cheese). Both Michael and I decided to order the Asian variations. Michael, being the wiser, ordered the BBQ Pork. I decided to go for it with the "shredded pork", my first mistake. My second mistake was my response to the girl behind the counter taking our orders. First she asked me if I had eaten the shredded pork before and I said no and asked her why. She gave me a look and said, "It's different meats and some people don't like it." I had positive visions of "different meats" and I replied, "I like all sorts of meat, let's go for it."

So I picked up my sandwich from the counter (a very pleasant computerized voice and TV screen announce your order number - I love this place other than my sandwich), take it back to the table and look inside (it looks nothing like the picture). I don't really see any meat; I just see some little crumbles that might be meat and some carrots, daikon and what I believe to be noodles. So I eagerly eat about half of my sandwich. It tasted strange and I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong with it. The texture was weird and those little crumbles tasted like old meat and sawdust mixed together. Michael noticed my distress and took a look at the receipt. He pointed out to me that my sandwich was listed as "pork and pork skin" and that our sandwiches cost $2.85 each. Hmmm. Here was third mistake. I took another bite of my sandwich, which had a big helping of those "noodles". They had a distinct stretch and rubberband-like snap to them that I've never tasted in noodles. Oh, those weren't noodles. They were strands of pork skin and fat. So that was what was strange and bad. I scraped out as much as I could (which turned out to be about a cup of these skin noodles) and continued to finish my sandwich. That was my fourth mistake. Michael offered to give me the rest of his pork sandwich (which was very tasty) and to order a new sandwich. But I decided to finish my gross pork skin sandwich and wash it down with a very aggressively sweetened neon-orange Thai iced tea. I couldn't get the taste of that sandwich out of my mouth for TWO HOURS. It just kept coming back. Anyway, I hope I've learned my lesson this time. I have a really bad habit of finishing bad food. I'm not sure why I do it. But I have a long list of finishing bad food that's been served to me in restaurants. Oh wow, there's a really bad crab cake in my past...IDIOT!

Oh So You Challenge Me?

OK, so Little Kenny commented that my marshmallows don't look so big. I took a picture with one in the palm of my hand. My palms are 3 3/4 inches long! These are really huge marshmallows. And, of course, I'm still not willing to break open the bag. My hands smell really sweet right now; I'm so happy.

Wow, Look at the Size of Those Marshmallows

So we went to the Mexican supermarket, Phoenix Ranch Market, the other day. Besides having freshly made tortillas (they are still warm when I get them back to my house which is 30 miles away) and fresh cheese in bulk, they now have the biggest marshmallows I've ever seen. I had to buy them. They're straight from Mexico and they make my pantry smell lovely with all their processed goodness. I think that I will just keep them permantly packaged because they make me smile everytime I look at them. They are just so HUGE!

Fool for Moving

Okay, so we just moved for the THIRD time in 2 years! This is it. No matter what happens, we need to stay put for at least a few years. I do love moving to new places, but the last couple of years was a little much. However, renting two different houses in this area helped put our needs into perspective as we looked at a house to buy. Tomorrow will officially be the 1 month anniversary of our closing date and the day we brought over our first boxes. It feels pretty good and I think I'm ready to let the all the FOOLS back into my life.

Government Gives Money to Fools!

So with the passing of the economic stimulus tax rebate plan (with which I don't agree), there are all these news stories about the newest tax scam going around. Con artists are posing as IRS agents and calling people or sending out emails soliciting bank account numbers and other sensitive information. So there is the number one problem with giving people free money. There is a ton of people who don't even know how to hold onto the money they already have. They just give it away to crooks! The IRS doesn't call you to give you money. Everything is in writing with the IRS. Well, I think that anyone who reports that they are a victim of this tax scam shouldn't get their rebate check. They're too stupid to deserve it!

Who Wears Short Shorts?

So I was flipping around the TV this weekend and found Friday the 13th Part 2. I love watching horror movies in the morning; it's just a great way to start the day. I've never actually seen any of the Friday the 13th movies. Being a child of the 80's, I had to watch it. I love late 70's and early 80's teenage movies: the hair, the music, the cool dudes looking like regular goofy guys. The whole stoney atomosphere was perfected in this movie. Then I got hit with the fashion. Within the first 20 minutes came this shot (you can see the rest of it here):



This movie came out in 1981! Look at those shorts! This is a much more "sexy" outfit than the ones I've seen in the current run of teenage movies. (Yes, I watch them; I love teenage movies.) And then the shirt is classic. A Mickey Mouse half shirt with no bra. Come on, what were the 80's doing?

Watching this movie made me think of the how much the media promotes the predominent parental concern that kids are exposed to too much sex and violence. "How can the kids be expected to handle it all?" I always think of the 80's as not that long ago. But 1981 was 27 years ago. I bet many of these concerned parents aren't too much older than the cast of movie. This movie and others like it were super full of sex and violence. Is it really that much different today? No, parents just need an excuse as to why their kids do terrible things and they don't want to take the blame themselves.

World's First Canned Cheeseburger

So this Swiss company, Katadyn, revealed last year a brand new product: canned cheeseburgers! At first, I was truly disgusted, thinking that this was something for the supermarket. (I came across it in a Zagat newsletter). However, was developed under their Trekking-Mahlzeiten label and is meant for the outdoors. So after backpacking for 5 days eating dehydrated food, you can heat up this burger and enjoy a tasty treat in the woods! OK, so maybe not. I found this thread on Something Awful that documents the "cooking" and consumption of the canned cheeseburger.
This picture pretty much sums up the authors thoughts:

Unfortunately for us in the U.S., Katadyn can't export the burgers overseas, because they actually DO contain beef.

Damn Jelly Shoes!

So I had been hearing for a while that jelly shoes had come back with all the other terrible 80's fashion. I never truly believed it until yesterday. I was walking around Urban Outfitters happily noting that they were starting to come away from such an 80's throw-back look, when the jellies caught my eye. It was like getting smacked in the face! They just came out of nowhere and looked identical to the jellies of the 80's (yes, I had a pair).


It dawned on me that I hated jellies more than any other fashion product of the 80's. I hated them more than stirrup pants (I never had those), day-glo (I had one thing), legwarmers (I had one pair as a little kid) and acid wash jeans (I never had those). I think they are the epitome of 80's tackiness. At least stirrup pants started with a purpose: to keep your pants inside your boots. Jellies served no purpose but to make your feet sweaty, smelly and sticky. Michael joked that they've probably just been sitting in a warehouse for over 20 years waiting for their opportunity to get out. I wouldn't doubt that with the Urban Outfitter ones, but as I poked around for pictures, I realized that all sorts of designers have put out their own version: Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs, Betsey Johnson, etc. But the best pair is by Stuart Weitzman bejeweled with Swarovski crystals and selling for $115 at Bloomingdales!