EY's Rants and Raves

One wonders how one can blunder through the day, be wide awake at midnight and be so tired again in the am. Actually, I get the two tired bits....I still find it odd that I'm far more awake from 9-12 than at any other time in the day.

While I do watch a lot of Food TV and see many contests they broadcast and sponsor, I've never felt tempted to enter....until now. Tomorrow is the deadline for their "Ultimate Recipe Showdown" and one category is Cookies. I make fabulous chocolate chip cookies. Even if I didn't particularly think so, friends of mine swoon over them. After so many years of that, you start to believe your own hype. So I wrote up a short history of my simple chocolate chip cookie, detailed the recipe and sent it in. I'll know in mid-July if the folks at FoodTV share the fervor of my friends.

In the meantime, I'll be making cookies for a party on Sunday.

Went to a community event today and ran into a former boss of mine. He's a very nice guy, one of the smartest people I know, has more business sense than one person should have, but what I *always* think of first when he's mentioned.....how he looks. In addition to the aforementioned good qualities (and some bad ones I won't detail) he is simply a stunningly good-looking guy. I recall the first meeting I ever had with him. I don't know if I said two words, but I do know I spent the entire meeting pondering his looks. I'm sure he's well aware, but he always comes across as "a regular joe". He has plenty of imperfections, but being conceited about how he looks isn't one of them.

A guy I knew in college had the same braniac, good guy, regular fella who happened to look like a Greek god thing going on. Interesting people, that's for sure.....

Even Mario Batali is getting into the Croc game. I know Mario wears shoes the color of his hair. Technically, so did I today (and a very cute pair of Kenneth Coles they are.... http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/11776720/c/3.html ). But Crocs, Mario?? I get that you're a celebrity and people want to pay you big bucks to put your name on every little thing....but seriously, Crocs, Mario??

Your bright orange clogs were unique. They were "you", just like the ponytail and the scooter. Crocs, well, they're neither. Crocs are big hunks of unrecyclable plastic that are uglier than a run over pair of Birkenstocks (yes, I know Birks are highly prized....but not for their beauty). Crocs are common...they are the "Jellies" of this century. Orange clogs say "I'm not afraid to be a little different". Orange Crocs say "I want to be just like everyone else wearing really ugly shoes." Orange clogs say "I care enough to find something that suits my personality". Orange Crocs say "I don't care enough to wonder if I have a personality".

I know, I know, people allege that Crocs are comfortable. So are shoes from Born, Clarks, Donald Pliner, Mephisto, Merrell, Keen, Dansko and lots of others. And for the most part, they're FAR cuter, less clunky and (considering the cost of manufacture), cheaper.

I generally don't have any issues with the desire of my co-workers to smell good. In fact, I'm all for it...to a point. Fresh "I took a shower" smell--good. Overpowering cologne--bad. I am regularly surprised by the *amount* of the stuff people think is a good idea.

An otherwise nice guy I work with wears way too much of some really bad, cheap-smelling stuff (and yes, too much expensive cologne is just as bad...I know a few people who pour that on too). I don't think I have an especially sensitive sense of smell, but every day, this guy practically knocks me out. If he's in his office (he has a hard office, not a cube...thankfully) for any length of time, there is a "cloud of scent" that escapes when he opens the door.

Advice I would love to give him.....If you leave a nearly visible scent trail, you're probably wearing too much. If YOU can smell your cologne, you're wearing too much. If the paint in your office is peeling off the walls, you're wearing too much. If co-workers start coughing when they come near you, you're wearing too much.

I am tired. Yes, I know, going to bed before midnight would have helped. So would have sleeping far past 6. I considered trying to nap during my visit to the dentist, but the hygenist is always nice and likes to chat (not that I can very well). If I can sleep through TMJ work where someone is pulling my jaws away from my gums, I can sleep through a little tartar scraping. But I stayed awake.

I forgot my book for book study and (of course) I've not read the story. So no book study for me for 2 weeks now. I'll have to ask someone Sunday if we're done yet.

I'm also feeling a little puny, which is odd for me...oh well. Dark chocolate and tea...might not make me all better, but sure won't make me worse.

According to former governor Mike Huckabee, "Many did not know about his [Jerry Falwell's that is] sense of humor and compassion for people from all walks of life." Really? All walks? He had compassion for anyone not white, straight and rich? News to me. I hope he did have a sense of humour and compassion for others. Seriously, I hope he did; but I find a man who blamed gays for 9/11, who encouraged Americans to focus political energy on splinter issues, who spit in the face of "love your neighbor" a little hard to see as compassionate towards all.

Happened to me. Or so Ron White says and I agree. It happens and I hate it. Not so much someone's name I should know or where I parked or even someone's birthday (well, most birthdays I don't mind if I don't remember). I hate forgetting things like....balancing my checkbook. What the bank says online is all well and good, but it doesn't know the checks I wrote last week. I should. I hate forgetting to pay bills. I REALLY hate that. I'm usually much more on top of things than that, so it is irritating, I'm embarrassed of myself and (usually) in a bit of a bind when I realize how stupid I was.

Geez.

There is a local festival this weekend that I have several traditions around. So far, I've managed to blow them. The Friday of the fest, a group of friends and I typically eat lunch there. It's typical carnival food and our only excuse for eating such in the year. This year, instead of "fried whatever on a stick", I had red beans and rice. How pedestrian of me. In my defense, I couldn't find much in the way of fried that I actually eat (sorry, I don't eat corndogs, chicken on a stick, frozen bananas on a stick, sausage on a stick, no matter the time of year or event) and no desserts that were evil enough to enjoy (last year's treat was fried Reese's peanut butter cups). I'd probably have had a funnel cake, but we spent a lot of time searching out other treats and I was down to one festival dollar. Fest organizers decided that it would be "easier" to make people trade real currency for tickets to purchase items this year. To me, that guarantees no impulse purchases and is the ultimate in inconveinence. It's also discouraging me from going back today (I have no fest bucks left from yesterday--gave $11 worth to the Boy because I had to get to work and there was nothing interesting to buy with them.)

A wine and cheese party last night also didn't go as planned. The person with our first wine/cheese didn't show and after 3 phone calls to her, she said that she was in another part of the state. She swears that she sent a note telling us that she'd be gone, but none of us recall it. Oh well. I have lots of cheese now, which isn't a horrible thing.

# posted by EY @ 12:48 PM 0 comments