Many of us have traditions we repeat each year around Christmastime. And lots of these involve movies. I know many people enjoy "It's A Wonderful Life" or "Christmas Vacation."
But my biggest tradition I can't stray from is my "Christmas tape." I've had my Christmas tape since I was 2. Granted, I don't remember it then. But every year, I have to watch this thing from start to... almost-finish. I'll explain...
My Christmas tape is an old, Polaroid VHS tape that my mom and dad recorded for me sometime between 1987-1990. It contains 5 main shows that I have to watch every year, and a few towards the end that I might watch.
First up on the tape is Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. It was made in 1978, and my parents recorded it in either 1987 or 1988 from PBS. What a trip down memory lane as far as PBS goes... remember how all episodes of Sesame Street began with the Ralston-Purina sponsorship? And the blue screen with the text "Financial support, from viewers like you." Anyways, Oscar the Grouch gets Big Bird believing that Santa is not real and since so many people don't have chimneys, they won't get gifts. So Big Bird and gang set out to prove Santa is real. Also, there is a great sub-plot with Bert and Ernie and Mr. Hooper that is essentially "Gift of the Magi." It's a great, great movie. I just looked, and it can be bought on Amazon, but I'm curious to know if it is truly the original or has been edited. My guess: edited.
Moving on to Christmas special #2: Rudolph. In all it's claymation glory. Who doesn't love Burl Ives?
The third one on the tape is old Frosty the Snowman cartoon. My favorite part of this whole cartoon is: when the kids are trying to name the snowman, one kid says "Oatmeal?" in the cutest, high-pitched voice ever. If you know me, you've probably heard me say "Oatmeal?" at some point. I use it when I can, but no one ever knows I'm referencing something.
Fouth in line is A Charlie Brown Christmas. The Vince Guaraldi Trio made some of the best music for that show. I listen to that soundtrack the most out of all the Christmas music I have. It's timeless, half of it's just a piano and a bass, and it's great. And, if you ask, I might do my little dance from this movie. I have a weird imitation of the kid that just bobs his head unnaturally from side to side during the Linus and Lucy song. This is a yearly request from my friend/cousin Jeff.
Fifth is my favorite, partly because of who it is and also because it is lesser-known: Muppet Family Christmas. This one originated in 1988, I believe. I'm not quite sure when we recorded it, but I'm pretty sure it is the original. I say that because (didn't realize this until recently) this one got seriously edited through the years because of copyright laws and some of the songs. But this one is a lot of fun. It is quite possibly the only time where nearly all, and I REALLY mean that, of the Muppet creations of Jim Henson were united together for one movie. I'm talking The Muppets, I'm talking Sesame Street, Baby Muppets, AND Fraggles. Not to mention a little cameo from the master himself at the end. It. Is. Spectacular.
Since I am a big fan of Sesame Street and the Muppets, it is also interesting to me (in a fun way) how much they have changed over the years. Not just voices and puppeteers, but in main characters and minor characters. For instance, in both Sesame Street and Muppet Christmas shows, Elmo is not a main character. At all. He doesn't even talk in the Muppets one. Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird used to be the real stars of the show, yet nowadays they have been pushed aside for Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Murry, and Rosita. Interesting little things to notice, that's all.
Sixth on the tape, which I don't have to watch every year, are Winnie the Pooh Christmas, and the infamous cartoon where Donald Duck plays hockey with his rambunctious nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
And that's my "Christmas tape." Year after year, I would start to worry that the tape might break, snap in two when I'm rewinding, or just become so fuzzy it became unwatchable. Well, this year we got in preservation mode and my dad lovingly put them all on DVDs for me. I can't explain how excited this makes me. No more worries [for now, haha]! Oh and the other best part about this tape/now-DVD: it still has all the old commercials in it. And those are a riot in themselves.
Anyone else have a movie or two they have to watch every year? Thanks for readin'!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
First Android experience: D+
I'd been up for an upgrade to my phone since August, and my husband had been for quite some time. Still rockin' a Palm phone, he really needed the upgrade more than myself. We decided we were ready to delve into the smartphone universe, and finally made that jump in the middle of October.
Then the obvious question: which phone to buy? I wanted to wait to see what kind of new iPhone Apple released, and if I maybe wanted to get that or the iPhone 4 for cheaper. Not all too impressed by the 4S, I didn't feel it was worth $200, and the more I looked into the specs, I didn't feel the now-outdated 4 was even worth the reduced price of $100. So, I went with the HTC Inspire.
The Inspire turned out to be nothing by trouble for me. My Facebook app crashed every frickin' time I tried to post a status update. I had to uninstall the updated app and run the old one in order to ever post anything. I'm not a Facebook addict, but come on. That's pretty ridiculous. Then, other things started to never work on the phone. I finally had it when, in trying to open a game, the phone did nothing buy black out. The screen went black and I couldn't do anything. I tried tapping the home button, which lit up, meaning the phone was still on, but nothing would respond. I couldn't hold in the power button to turn it off either. I finally had to take OUT the battery to shut the damn thing off. I was done. I had only had the thing for a week and had this many problems. I wanted Jarrod's phone, the Infuse. He had not experienced any problems, and I was still in the one-month span of time you can trade your phone no questions asked. I will never buy an HTC again. It was an awful experience and not to mention, the thing was a brick. I know 5-6 ounces doesn't sound like much (the Infuse is, like 3 oz.), but my arm would actually be tired from holding the phone up to my ear. Their phones are all really heavy for some reason.
So I traded in and got the Infuse to much excitement. Things seemed to work better, the screen was much sharper, all was well. I was delusional... The only noticeable 'flaw' was that wifi signals were weaker, which Jarrod did warn me about. Other than that, seemed fine. Until... I went to the Facebook app. Same problem. I am currently running the old version, because once again it crashes every time I want to post something! Furthermore, turns out the Infuse is still running Froyo, with no upgrade in sight (for you non-tech'ers out there: this is kind of ridiculous.) Despite it's flaws, the HTC was at least on Gingerbread. I've toyed with the idea of rooting my phone, but never actually have gone through with it.
Anyways, so Facebook still crashes, and in less than a month's time I have also had another wealth of problems:
- I can't send picture messages--this only works about 50% of the time.
- I can't download picture messages--the message says it's "downloading" but never ever finishes downloading and I never see the photo.
- I can't watch any YouTube videos. My video player NEVER works, in either the YouTube app or the web browser.
- My internal video player never works, so videos I myself record on the phone never play. The only time it will work is if I restart my phone. But the fact that I have to do that is stupid, and then it never fails that it just goes back to not working soon after.
- Just in last week: my phone's video recorder does not work either. I tried to take a video at a store, and it would not work. I had to resort to a boring photo instead.
- Half of my games never load properly, so I never get to play those.
Since I've had both the Apple experience and now the Android experience, I now understand why Apple costs more. iOS is more refined, and if you want that, then that's why you pay extra; makes sense, that's how all of Apple's products are. Granted, a lot of the little buggy things that tick me off about Android (like how your text box where you're typing does not expand, so if you have more than two lines of type, you can't see the rest of it and have no way of seeing it unless you want to tap and tap away trying to get the cursor up there) have probably been fixed with the newer OS versions.
But still. For my first Android experience, I can't say I'm impressed. I guess I just have terrible luck with phones, too. Yes, I do plan to go by the store sometime soon and tell them all of these issues I'm having with my phone. I've done nothing wrong, so hopefully they can help me out.
Next time, I think I'm just buying an iPhone.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Muppets
We saw The Muppets last night, and we saw the late show. I only mention this because that dictates the type of audience you get, meaning no kids, a handful of adults, and some teens.
I'll start by saying I really liked the movie. If I could do half-stars, I think I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5. I'm a huge Muppet fan; love the sense of humor, but mostly love it for its pure creativity, and I truly enjoy those little characters as if they were real, which is how it's supposed to be. I've been known to cry a few times listening to Kermit sing "It's Not Easy Being Green." And I gotta say when they were panning through Kermit's old office last night, looking at all the banjos on the wall, the pictures with multiple guests on The Muppet Show, and numerous other iconic props, I teared up.
We saw the movie with my cousin and his fiancé, who are also fans. The rest of the people in the theatre, hard to tell. We were definitely the 'most-laughing' group in there. And as I mentioned there were teens there too, who, as teens usually are these days, were completely disrespectful of everyone else there and annoying. They made fun of the movie the entire time. Why in the world would you go see something you have no intention of liking? And when they weren't doing that, they were talking, for the whole theater to hear. I seriously contemplated being that chick who walks out, asks management to ask them to leave, and hope they can't subconsciously pick out my car in the parking lot. It was beyond annoying. So this leads me to my [now obvious] realization: if you are under the age of, let's say, 20, you should not see this movie. Exceptions to this rule are if you are indeed a Muppet fan, like British and dry humor, or are involved in the arts somehow.
So moving on from that. The movie was great. They took an angle to the story similar to Toy Story 3. In Toy Story 3, the 'old toys' are dealing with the fact that Andy got older and doesn't play with them any more, and they've been kind of forgotten about. It had been ten years, I believe, since the previous Toy Story 2, so that is exactly what they acknowledged with the story: Hey, it's been ten years, so let's do that and ask what has changed in the last ten years? The Muppets is a similar thing. The story is set up around the fact that it's been years since their last gig, and they've been forgotten about and replaced by other things. So they try to round up the gang, and you get to see what each Muppet found a separate career in once "the old gang" fell apart. The story itself felt natural and geniune, as did Toy Story, because it is fans like myself revisiting things we loved in our childhood that have since gone by the wayside.
I don't think it was quite the epic, comic genius of Jim Henson 30 years ago, but it was as good as it will ever get for modern times. Yeah, some of the voices were a little off, but the differences were forgivable. The jokes were very well done though, and they referenced themselves often just like they used to; referring to the camera being there, Statler and Waldorf asked a question and were like "Did we just reveal a key to the plot?" "Well I hope so, otherwise I just wasted the audience's time!" "Doh-oh-oh-oh!", etc.
There were a few more songs than normal, though. Even though I'm a fan of musicals, some of them just felt unnatural. When Amy Adams sang a song solo at a diner, it just felt kind of off. That song was not needed. But! Many of the other songs were hilarious and the lyrics would take you where you didn't think they would go, one of my favorites being the "Am I a Muppet? Or am I a Man?" or whatever it's true title is.
I had heard from a movie critic that Jason Segel, who helped write, and the director, James Bobin, approached this movie very carefully. They didn't want to blow it out of the water or make it so over the top, as many movies are these days (kids ones especially.) They really wanted to make it like the Muppets they remembered as a kid. I appreciate that, and it definitely came through. They did NOT try to outdo the movies of old, just be on par with them. All in all, it was a lot of fun and if you laughed at the Muppets back then, you should give it a shot.
I'll start by saying I really liked the movie. If I could do half-stars, I think I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5. I'm a huge Muppet fan; love the sense of humor, but mostly love it for its pure creativity, and I truly enjoy those little characters as if they were real, which is how it's supposed to be. I've been known to cry a few times listening to Kermit sing "It's Not Easy Being Green." And I gotta say when they were panning through Kermit's old office last night, looking at all the banjos on the wall, the pictures with multiple guests on The Muppet Show, and numerous other iconic props, I teared up.
We saw the movie with my cousin and his fiancé, who are also fans. The rest of the people in the theatre, hard to tell. We were definitely the 'most-laughing' group in there. And as I mentioned there were teens there too, who, as teens usually are these days, were completely disrespectful of everyone else there and annoying. They made fun of the movie the entire time. Why in the world would you go see something you have no intention of liking? And when they weren't doing that, they were talking, for the whole theater to hear. I seriously contemplated being that chick who walks out, asks management to ask them to leave, and hope they can't subconsciously pick out my car in the parking lot. It was beyond annoying. So this leads me to my [now obvious] realization: if you are under the age of, let's say, 20, you should not see this movie. Exceptions to this rule are if you are indeed a Muppet fan, like British and dry humor, or are involved in the arts somehow.
So moving on from that. The movie was great. They took an angle to the story similar to Toy Story 3. In Toy Story 3, the 'old toys' are dealing with the fact that Andy got older and doesn't play with them any more, and they've been kind of forgotten about. It had been ten years, I believe, since the previous Toy Story 2, so that is exactly what they acknowledged with the story: Hey, it's been ten years, so let's do that and ask what has changed in the last ten years? The Muppets is a similar thing. The story is set up around the fact that it's been years since their last gig, and they've been forgotten about and replaced by other things. So they try to round up the gang, and you get to see what each Muppet found a separate career in once "the old gang" fell apart. The story itself felt natural and geniune, as did Toy Story, because it is fans like myself revisiting things we loved in our childhood that have since gone by the wayside.
I don't think it was quite the epic, comic genius of Jim Henson 30 years ago, but it was as good as it will ever get for modern times. Yeah, some of the voices were a little off, but the differences were forgivable. The jokes were very well done though, and they referenced themselves often just like they used to; referring to the camera being there, Statler and Waldorf asked a question and were like "Did we just reveal a key to the plot?" "Well I hope so, otherwise I just wasted the audience's time!" "Doh-oh-oh-oh!", etc.
There were a few more songs than normal, though. Even though I'm a fan of musicals, some of them just felt unnatural. When Amy Adams sang a song solo at a diner, it just felt kind of off. That song was not needed. But! Many of the other songs were hilarious and the lyrics would take you where you didn't think they would go, one of my favorites being the "Am I a Muppet? Or am I a Man?" or whatever it's true title is.
I had heard from a movie critic that Jason Segel, who helped write, and the director, James Bobin, approached this movie very carefully. They didn't want to blow it out of the water or make it so over the top, as many movies are these days (kids ones especially.) They really wanted to make it like the Muppets they remembered as a kid. I appreciate that, and it definitely came through. They did NOT try to outdo the movies of old, just be on par with them. All in all, it was a lot of fun and if you laughed at the Muppets back then, you should give it a shot.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Black Friday, day of the apocalypse
I'm not a doomsday believer; I don't really think the end of the world is right around the corner. I will, however, acknowledge there seem to be more strange occurrences in the world; more earthquakes, crazy weather patterns, and the like. These slightly tie in with what is written in Revelations, but then again it could just be the fact that we have more access to wordly news than ever before.
However, as I was watching a video last night of some Black Friday shoppers ripping through a Walmart display to get some sort of ten-dollar game/movie "while supplies last" (extra literally) I had this thought...
How "appropriate", per se, would it be that some Black Friday in future would be the day Jesus would come back to earth. I mean, how (almost) funny would that be?
We don't really have a huge understanding of God, and mine is certainly nothing to write home about, but I just imagine God observing the Black Friday catastrophes and saying to himself "This isn't what it should be like."
And on a side note, is it just me or did Black Friday get WAY out of hand this year? Stores pushing up their opening-times even more than before, just to get that extra dollar. This year aside, when did Black Friday become what it is today? Either I wasn't paying attention, or my memory is correct, but I don't remember it being this nuts when I was younger. We've all heard the stories of people being trampled to death just to buy a TV for 75% off, and this year alone some of my favorites were: person gets shot outside Walmart in attempted robbery to take his Black Friday purchases (sadly, the shopper was shot, not the robber), people ripping apart the Walmart display, the woman who sprayed pepper spray at fellow shoppers so she could get the deal first, or when gunfire erupted outside of a store in North Carolina. I don't think anyone was hurt there, but someone fired shots in the sky to distract people.
But back to my God assumption. With all kinds of things like that happening across the country, I just don't see God saying "Good job, people. Buy those TVs!" I mean, it's not technically the Christmas season, but for most people this day is the big day of Christmas shopping. Yet, despite all the Christmas-y feelings in the air, Black Friday brings out the worst in people, not the best. Once in a while you will find a diamond in the rough—a person who is not just thinking about themselves, but about their fellow shoppers too. But, like I said: rare. Extremely rare.
This morning our first reading was again the reminder that you do not know the time, nor the place when the Lord will appear, and you should be on watch at all times for that day. Yes, our God is a loving and forgiving God, but to me it would seem so appropriate for him to return the day after Thanksgiving while many are caught up being selfish, being the first to buy their big TV.
However, as I was watching a video last night of some Black Friday shoppers ripping through a Walmart display to get some sort of ten-dollar game/movie "while supplies last" (extra literally) I had this thought...
How "appropriate", per se, would it be that some Black Friday in future would be the day Jesus would come back to earth. I mean, how (almost) funny would that be?
We don't really have a huge understanding of God, and mine is certainly nothing to write home about, but I just imagine God observing the Black Friday catastrophes and saying to himself "This isn't what it should be like."
And on a side note, is it just me or did Black Friday get WAY out of hand this year? Stores pushing up their opening-times even more than before, just to get that extra dollar. This year aside, when did Black Friday become what it is today? Either I wasn't paying attention, or my memory is correct, but I don't remember it being this nuts when I was younger. We've all heard the stories of people being trampled to death just to buy a TV for 75% off, and this year alone some of my favorites were: person gets shot outside Walmart in attempted robbery to take his Black Friday purchases (sadly, the shopper was shot, not the robber), people ripping apart the Walmart display, the woman who sprayed pepper spray at fellow shoppers so she could get the deal first, or when gunfire erupted outside of a store in North Carolina. I don't think anyone was hurt there, but someone fired shots in the sky to distract people.
But back to my God assumption. With all kinds of things like that happening across the country, I just don't see God saying "Good job, people. Buy those TVs!" I mean, it's not technically the Christmas season, but for most people this day is the big day of Christmas shopping. Yet, despite all the Christmas-y feelings in the air, Black Friday brings out the worst in people, not the best. Once in a while you will find a diamond in the rough—a person who is not just thinking about themselves, but about their fellow shoppers too. But, like I said: rare. Extremely rare.
This morning our first reading was again the reminder that you do not know the time, nor the place when the Lord will appear, and you should be on watch at all times for that day. Yes, our God is a loving and forgiving God, but to me it would seem so appropriate for him to return the day after Thanksgiving while many are caught up being selfish, being the first to buy their big TV.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Post of thanks
As cliche as they are, I think I'll do a Thanksgiving-inspired post. Reflection is nice, anyways. And just to get them out of the way, yes I am thankful for family and friends, but I'm not going to expound on those much.
I'm thankful for my house. Jarrod and I were able to purchase our first house this year. Yeah, it's kinda small at 1200 square feet, and yeah, it's not the closest thing to where I work, but it's home. But that's why it's called a "starter home."
I'm also thankful for Jarrod. In a moment of enormous frustration the other morning, he calmed me down, and was so understanding even though I had just had a meltdown. Stuff like that is why I married him, not to mention his complete acceptance and understanding of what I have.
I'm thankful for my parents, and that I can depend on them and talk with them like I always have. Even if I don't live there anymore.
I'd also like to interject that I'm thankful for this snowman mug of coffee on my desk right now. And that I have the chance to brew a strong cuppa, just the way I like it. And snowmen are cute.
I'm also quite thankful for my job. At this time last year, I was in the wake of being laid off at the end of October, desperately looking for some sort of work. With a stroke of luck, my parents decided to eat at Joe's last Black Friday, and ran into a local business owner, who informed them they were swamped and needed someone to help out around the office. And that she'd love to have me there. I 'interviewed' (let's be honest, she was already planning on hiring me) and got a job.
Then come February, they had a couple changes and my hours were getting cut. Crazy of all crazies, at that same time the Missourian called me up about a job they really didn't advertise for. In the previous November, I had applied there, and they still had my resume from that and wanted to talk to me about working part-time. I worked both jobs for a period of time, then my other one ended, and I became full-time at the paper.
So in less than a year (from today, at least) I've gone from unemployed, to full-time, to part-time, to two jobs, to one full-time job, to becoming officially permanent, to also getting a promotion and a new position. Wow, what a roller coaster I guess. It's obvious why I am so thankful for this one. I'm in a great spot career-wise in that I get to do a mesh of things I like. And as we all know, doing what you love is the biggest battle in the working world.
Moving on, I'm thankful for Twitter. Seriously. Never in my life have I been able to consume the kind of design-driven, awesome, creative content that fuels my brain with this much ease. I love checking Twitter daily and what my next awesome find will be.
And I feel like I should be thankful for my health, but honestly that's been kinda hard lately. My health and me have issues. And I just got done with a big ole tune-up, my lungs were so happy, and less than a week after finishing that up, I guess I caught something. My lungs were no longer happy, actually they were quite pissed off, and so was I. I mean, come on God! One week? I got to enjoy ONE WEEK of good health? Anyways, I'm back on some antibiotics to fight this off and it's been difficult. But, like I said, I feel like I should be thankful for what I do have. I'm not on oxygen, so there's that. And I didn't have to go right back to the hospital. And, I can still get around semi-okay and take care of myself, so that's worth being thankful for too, right?
Anyways, it's been a great year, possibly one of the best I'll have in my life I'm going to guess. Certainly eventful. Much to be thankful for. (How did this turn into a New Years-esque reflection? lol)
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The movies
Last night, I realize now, was an almost-duplicate of how we spent our Valentine's Day earlier this year. On that Valentine's day, we went to the Olive Garden here in Wentzville, dealt with a huge wait, and also saw Gnomeo and Juliet. Well, last night we ate at Olive Garden, and then decided to stream Gnomeo and Juliet on Netflix. Wow... that's kind of odd. (By the way, that movie is super fun; filled with tons of Elton John music, some good humor, and cute gnomes. For a kids movie, it's pretty good for adults too.)
Anyways, what I'm getting to is today, when I logged onto my Netflix, I noticed the website had changed. I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I was. Anyways, this happened because I switched my plan to an instant-only plan, because last month we had the same DVD here for an entire month. I have done the plan switch many times throughout my Netflix life, and pretty much suspended my entire account for four months while I was planning a wedding. But I've never gone to JUST streaming. Well, lo and behold, my DVD queue is GONE. Completely. I had way too many movies in that thing; over 100, for sure. But hey! Thank god, for some reason a while back, I decided to post it on here! So yay, when my DVD's resume, I have something to reference. I can't tell you how happy that makes me, because trying to rediscover that many movies or kind of remember what was in it would have been overwhelming, to say the least.
With movies, I have also decided that for a 'winter project' Jarrod and I will start watching a bunch of 80s and 90s movies that I have not seen. I won't go into the whole list, though; it's kind of embarrassing, haha. When Marie comes home for Christmas, too, she might be able to help me out in this department. Her and her sisters owned many of these cult classics, so there is another resource besides Netflix. Looks like I'll have to reactivate my DVD plan, and add even more movies to the queue.
Anyways, what I'm getting to is today, when I logged onto my Netflix, I noticed the website had changed. I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I was. Anyways, this happened because I switched my plan to an instant-only plan, because last month we had the same DVD here for an entire month. I have done the plan switch many times throughout my Netflix life, and pretty much suspended my entire account for four months while I was planning a wedding. But I've never gone to JUST streaming. Well, lo and behold, my DVD queue is GONE. Completely. I had way too many movies in that thing; over 100, for sure. But hey! Thank god, for some reason a while back, I decided to post it on here! So yay, when my DVD's resume, I have something to reference. I can't tell you how happy that makes me, because trying to rediscover that many movies or kind of remember what was in it would have been overwhelming, to say the least.
With movies, I have also decided that for a 'winter project' Jarrod and I will start watching a bunch of 80s and 90s movies that I have not seen. I won't go into the whole list, though; it's kind of embarrassing, haha. When Marie comes home for Christmas, too, she might be able to help me out in this department. Her and her sisters owned many of these cult classics, so there is another resource besides Netflix. Looks like I'll have to reactivate my DVD plan, and add even more movies to the queue.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Reminiscing about fun, happy meals
I had a random thought driving in to work this morning. That thought led into another one, and they were both about McDonald's.
Does anyone know if you can still trick or treat at McDonald's? As I recall, unless I'm completely making this up, I used to stop by McDonald's on Halloween night. If you did that, you would get a bag of cookies. My favorite have always been the McDonaldland cookies, and let me tell ya, this was always one of the best treats I got on Halloween. (By the way, if you order a Happy Meal for your self [which I sometimes do, it's the perfect amount of food where you don't feel blah] you can usually ask to exchange the toy for a bag of cookies.)
So then that thought led to the next: I wonder if you can still take your report card to McDonald's and get free burgers? Does anyone know if you can? It was kind of an un-advertised thing, but you could take it there and get free hamburgers for every A you had. Limit of 6. The person who waited on you would initial your report card so you couldn't cheat and bring it back, and it was great! We usually got our burgers and then went over to my grandparents' house where we would share them with them. And I would usually find a piece of cheese in their fridge to add on. For a short period of time, Taco Bell jumped in on this too and gave you free tacos, but I think that was limited to only 3 or 4.
Ah those were the days. As much as everyone wants to dis McDonald's for their unhealthy food, I think most everyone has fond memories of being a kid and going to a place like that and getting fast food. A friend of mine (she's in her 70s) has told a story where Friday was McDonald's night, and they would pile their 10 kids in the station wagon and treat the kids. My mom still occasionally will talk about going to the A&W that used to be in town, and getting the little 10-cent root beers. I remember, in my hometown location, how the play area used to be in the back of the store. And friends had birthday parties there, and there was only one slide. That slide is still there to this day, though it got moved to a larger play area. Back in the day when fast food and easy-frozen cooking wasn't rampant, it was a real treat to go there. Heck, I still think it's a treat for myself to this day. On my last day of college, the day I moved out, I had everything packed up and ready to go and I decided to REALLY treat myself and get breakfast at McD's.
I think these reasons are why it really bums me out when I hear about legislation to ban Happy Meal toys because it's supposedly promoting 'unhealthy eating.' Yeah right. Let kids be kids. A toy is a toy, and McDonald's food is perfectly fine in moderation, as it's supposed to be. No one is 'supposed' to eat there as often as some do, so don't punish a bunch of kids because of your lack of a desire to make a home-cooked meal.
Does anyone know if you can still trick or treat at McDonald's? As I recall, unless I'm completely making this up, I used to stop by McDonald's on Halloween night. If you did that, you would get a bag of cookies. My favorite have always been the McDonaldland cookies, and let me tell ya, this was always one of the best treats I got on Halloween. (By the way, if you order a Happy Meal for your self [which I sometimes do, it's the perfect amount of food where you don't feel blah] you can usually ask to exchange the toy for a bag of cookies.)
So then that thought led to the next: I wonder if you can still take your report card to McDonald's and get free burgers? Does anyone know if you can? It was kind of an un-advertised thing, but you could take it there and get free hamburgers for every A you had. Limit of 6. The person who waited on you would initial your report card so you couldn't cheat and bring it back, and it was great! We usually got our burgers and then went over to my grandparents' house where we would share them with them. And I would usually find a piece of cheese in their fridge to add on. For a short period of time, Taco Bell jumped in on this too and gave you free tacos, but I think that was limited to only 3 or 4.
Ah those were the days. As much as everyone wants to dis McDonald's for their unhealthy food, I think most everyone has fond memories of being a kid and going to a place like that and getting fast food. A friend of mine (she's in her 70s) has told a story where Friday was McDonald's night, and they would pile their 10 kids in the station wagon and treat the kids. My mom still occasionally will talk about going to the A&W that used to be in town, and getting the little 10-cent root beers. I remember, in my hometown location, how the play area used to be in the back of the store. And friends had birthday parties there, and there was only one slide. That slide is still there to this day, though it got moved to a larger play area. Back in the day when fast food and easy-frozen cooking wasn't rampant, it was a real treat to go there. Heck, I still think it's a treat for myself to this day. On my last day of college, the day I moved out, I had everything packed up and ready to go and I decided to REALLY treat myself and get breakfast at McD's.
I think these reasons are why it really bums me out when I hear about legislation to ban Happy Meal toys because it's supposedly promoting 'unhealthy eating.' Yeah right. Let kids be kids. A toy is a toy, and McDonald's food is perfectly fine in moderation, as it's supposed to be. No one is 'supposed' to eat there as often as some do, so don't punish a bunch of kids because of your lack of a desire to make a home-cooked meal.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Home sick
I am at home sick today. I'm not exactly sure what is going on. It started yesterday. When I went to bed around 1am, I didn't fall asleep but started coughing. Well, that continued all night long. I don't know how many times I woke up, but it was more than I was sleeping. And it went on after I got up too. So, I was pretty much coughing almost nonstop for over 12 hours. I finally calmed down enough to take a nap at 3:30 p.m. yesterday. As the night went on, though, I felt worse and worse in other ways. My head started to stuff up, my throat hurt, my nose was draining, and my eyes were watery. Not to mention my lungs felt like someone had rubbed them raw with sandpaper, they were so sore and inflamed from all the coughing.
Jarrod was awesome and ran to Walmart last night at 9:30 to get me some cold medicine, soup, Puffs Soft & Strong tissues, and some crackers. :) I didn't sleep much better last night, and didn't feel much better this morning so I am home for today. I hope to take a nap after the Price Is Right.
We have construction going on outside on the road to our house, so I get to listen to that all day. Oh goody. But I've got a crock pot of vegetable soup going, so I'm hoping that tastes good tonight. Hopefully my nose will be a little less clogged by then.
Jarrod was awesome and ran to Walmart last night at 9:30 to get me some cold medicine, soup, Puffs Soft & Strong tissues, and some crackers. :) I didn't sleep much better last night, and didn't feel much better this morning so I am home for today. I hope to take a nap after the Price Is Right.
We have construction going on outside on the road to our house, so I get to listen to that all day. Oh goody. But I've got a crock pot of vegetable soup going, so I'm hoping that tastes good tonight. Hopefully my nose will be a little less clogged by then.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
What a day
Like everyone else today, I'm blogging about 9/11. Ten years ago when I heard the news I was a freshman at Borgia in Theology class. A kid named Tony showed up late for school (he was notorious for that) and mentioned that the WTC had been hit. I honestly had never heard of the World Trade Centers, so I didn't quit know exactly which building he meant. Since I didn't know, I thought it has something to do with Wall Street and was wondering what would happen to the stock markets if all
of those people died. My next class was my world history class with Tyree. I believe we had a quiz or some homework to hand in, but after we took care of that he told us "Well, I've decided that we are just
going to go to the cafeteria and watch the television. This is history and nothing I could teach you today is as important as what is going on right now." At some point, Rev Kev got on the PA system and
announced what was going on and said a prayer. I remember thinking to myself 'Wow, he is really good at coming up with prayers on the spot.' For some reason, hardly any (if any) TVs worked at that time in the classrooms, so we went to the cafeteria where another class was already. We watched the paranoia unfold and watched the towers fall. I remember that well because I remember the TV reporter cursing on air, and since everything was so frantic that day it didn't get bleeped; I doubt anyone cared that day.
I admit that at the time I didn't, and couldn't, fully comprehend the scale of this or how large its significance. And also, to be completely honest, I don't know that it phased me too much, but most
things don't anyways it's just how I am. I didn't fully understand or have some sort of emotional connection until about 3 years ago when I watched a video on YouTube. This particular one, though I couldn't find it back the other day, was shot from someone's apartment. There were two women in the background and, I presume, a child because they had a kids program on the TV. The kids songs playing in the background from the TV added a really strange feeling to everything, as you would guess. I just remember this lady's reaction when the second plane hit, and then I actually started to cry. She wasn't overly dramatic or anything, it was just pure, utter disbelief. But what really hit me was when she started to notice people jumping from the buildings and she said "Oh my God. There... there are people... and they're jumping?" Anyways, after watching that I thought to myself "Ok, I get it now." Watching a completely stripped down, bare bones version of the events unfold without any commentary or crazy newscasters really had an impact on me. I also remember when the towers fell and from her apartment, she had an interesting view. Since she was higher up, you could just see everything billowing between the buildings and I will never forget the way it looked. It looked like the hounds of hell coming to get you, with hands of clouds of smoke and dust just grabbing away; it was so, so strange looking.
The other night I sought out this video again, but never found it. I did, however, find someone's seven-part video montage of the events, and I watched those. The person did a good job with the various
footage they had. Again, it was so interesting and just moving to watch it. The most striking was the fifth one, I believe, in which the first tower fell. Hearing the screams and panic was just... unbelievable. So if you are curious and want to see more of a first-person account of the attacks, then I would recommend with caution. It's not easy to watch, but it's definitely moving.
of those people died. My next class was my world history class with Tyree. I believe we had a quiz or some homework to hand in, but after we took care of that he told us "Well, I've decided that we are just
going to go to the cafeteria and watch the television. This is history and nothing I could teach you today is as important as what is going on right now." At some point, Rev Kev got on the PA system and
announced what was going on and said a prayer. I remember thinking to myself 'Wow, he is really good at coming up with prayers on the spot.' For some reason, hardly any (if any) TVs worked at that time in the classrooms, so we went to the cafeteria where another class was already. We watched the paranoia unfold and watched the towers fall. I remember that well because I remember the TV reporter cursing on air, and since everything was so frantic that day it didn't get bleeped; I doubt anyone cared that day.
I admit that at the time I didn't, and couldn't, fully comprehend the scale of this or how large its significance. And also, to be completely honest, I don't know that it phased me too much, but most
things don't anyways it's just how I am. I didn't fully understand or have some sort of emotional connection until about 3 years ago when I watched a video on YouTube. This particular one, though I couldn't find it back the other day, was shot from someone's apartment. There were two women in the background and, I presume, a child because they had a kids program on the TV. The kids songs playing in the background from the TV added a really strange feeling to everything, as you would guess. I just remember this lady's reaction when the second plane hit, and then I actually started to cry. She wasn't overly dramatic or anything, it was just pure, utter disbelief. But what really hit me was when she started to notice people jumping from the buildings and she said "Oh my God. There... there are people... and they're jumping?" Anyways, after watching that I thought to myself "Ok, I get it now." Watching a completely stripped down, bare bones version of the events unfold without any commentary or crazy newscasters really had an impact on me. I also remember when the towers fell and from her apartment, she had an interesting view. Since she was higher up, you could just see everything billowing between the buildings and I will never forget the way it looked. It looked like the hounds of hell coming to get you, with hands of clouds of smoke and dust just grabbing away; it was so, so strange looking.
The other night I sought out this video again, but never found it. I did, however, find someone's seven-part video montage of the events, and I watched those. The person did a good job with the various
footage they had. Again, it was so interesting and just moving to watch it. The most striking was the fifth one, I believe, in which the first tower fell. Hearing the screams and panic was just... unbelievable. So if you are curious and want to see more of a first-person account of the attacks, then I would recommend with caution. It's not easy to watch, but it's definitely moving.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Going from mega-fan to ticked off user
(I'm up coughing... so what do I do? Blog! Haha.)
Apple is bothering me these days. What was once a wonderful producer of a wonderful alternative to a Windows computer has become a cocky industry leader forcing its users to go places they don't want to.
Personally, I do not necessarily agree with the path that Apple is planning to take me down.
I read a great editorial on Engadget saying how Apple is done with the optical drive. Yes, it was an opinion piece, but his argument was laid out well and it all just made sense. The evidence here is in two recent releases from Apple, they have gotten rid of the CD drives in their machines. With the laptops, you now have options of a MacBook Air, which I personally find pointless, or the MacBook Pro, which is overkill for most people. The Air has no CD drive, and never has, so no surprise there. But the thing is that they dropped their lesser laptop so you now only have those two options. Previously, you had the option of the MacBook. Now that no longer exists. But the one that confuses me most is the new Mac Mini's do not have CD drives. How do you get any programs on your computer you ask? Well, in Apple's world, you would buy them from the shiny App Store and simply download them. Or, you could download them somewhere else, put them on a flash drive, and get them on your machine that way, or you could buy a separate CD drive to hook up to your Mini externally. And what if someone wanted to burn a CD or a DVD? I still like to make CD mixes for my car, or iMovie projects. I guess they assume I'll just use my iPod and that I hate home movies and will watch them... on my Mac. Pretty ridiculous, isn't it? So there's that.
I am also very bothered by this because this can only mean one thing in the long-term: to the cloud. By slowly removing our abilities to use computers like we always have, they are channeling us and preparing us for these new methods. Apple made a huge push with iCloud when it talked about it at WWDC. In theory, it sounds great. [Send your files somewhere in North Carolina and have them automatically push back to ALL of your devices... what could possibly go wrong? Oh, and don't worry, no one's going to pay attention to the files you send us, either. Yeah, right.] But I am just not a cloud person; I don't like the idea, I don't want to partake in it, and dammit I don't want Apple to force me into it.
But mostly I'm upset over Lion, their new operating system. At first, Lion sounded awesome, I admit. It is very 'flashy' in its capabilities. But now, I don't really want anything to do with it.
For one, I feel that Lion is directed at laptops and laptops only. With so many functions that rely on multi-touch, (translation: using a touchpad) they would not work much for me. Plus, I don't know that I really care; I'm not sure that it matters to me if I can swipe a program off and on my screen.
But my biggest gripe, and it's a really big one, is the hoops they make you jump through to upgrade to it. My dad has a laptop, I can't remember how old, but it was some of the best specs at the time as far as what Apple offered in MacBook Pros, and he can't upgrade to Lion because his hardware is not good enough. You need so much RAM to run the darn program, and he physically can't upgrade. So he's just stuck with Snow Leopard until the machine dies.
Me, on the other hand, I have the RAM, but I don't have Snow Leopard. In poking around Apple's store, I just found this lovely little piece of information:
The fact that they made their new OS solely dependent with the most recent OS is f'ing outrageous. And the second fact that they expect me to buy Snow Leopard for $29.99 and then buy Lion for another $29.99 is an f'ing joke. This is pretty much the nail in the coffin for me NOT buying Lion. I don't want it now. I think I'll upgrade to Snow Leopard, because there are a few things I'd like to do with that, but then I'm done on this computer. I also found out by chance in a CF blog I was reading that Lion is not compatible with 2004 Microsoft Office. Awesome. And to fix THAT problem, the latest version of Office is $150.
Total cost to make Jamie's computer run Lion and act like it always has: $210.
No thank you.
Jarrod is getting pretty pissed off at Apple, possibly more than I am, for many of the same reasons. He is really into learning Linux more and maybe we'll become a Linux household, who knows. The thing is, though, that my career depends on Apple computers, so I will always be using one whether I like it or not; the Adobe Suite simply does not work nearly as good on a PC as it does on a Mac.
I have a feeling we're not alone in our unsettled issues with the giant Apple, either. Even in Popular Mechanics' piece comparing tablets, in the "Who Is It For" description, under the iPad they said 'Anyone who doesn't hold a grudge against Apple' and for the Samsung Galaxy it said 'Anyone who wants to break free from Apple's walled garden.' It made me laugh, but it also verified how I'm feeling. So I'll wait and see where Apple tries to push me next, but I'm no longer just a blind sheep following along.
Apple is bothering me these days. What was once a wonderful producer of a wonderful alternative to a Windows computer has become a cocky industry leader forcing its users to go places they don't want to.
Personally, I do not necessarily agree with the path that Apple is planning to take me down.
I read a great editorial on Engadget saying how Apple is done with the optical drive. Yes, it was an opinion piece, but his argument was laid out well and it all just made sense. The evidence here is in two recent releases from Apple, they have gotten rid of the CD drives in their machines. With the laptops, you now have options of a MacBook Air, which I personally find pointless, or the MacBook Pro, which is overkill for most people. The Air has no CD drive, and never has, so no surprise there. But the thing is that they dropped their lesser laptop so you now only have those two options. Previously, you had the option of the MacBook. Now that no longer exists. But the one that confuses me most is the new Mac Mini's do not have CD drives. How do you get any programs on your computer you ask? Well, in Apple's world, you would buy them from the shiny App Store and simply download them. Or, you could download them somewhere else, put them on a flash drive, and get them on your machine that way, or you could buy a separate CD drive to hook up to your Mini externally. And what if someone wanted to burn a CD or a DVD? I still like to make CD mixes for my car, or iMovie projects. I guess they assume I'll just use my iPod and that I hate home movies and will watch them... on my Mac. Pretty ridiculous, isn't it? So there's that.
I am also very bothered by this because this can only mean one thing in the long-term: to the cloud. By slowly removing our abilities to use computers like we always have, they are channeling us and preparing us for these new methods. Apple made a huge push with iCloud when it talked about it at WWDC. In theory, it sounds great. [Send your files somewhere in North Carolina and have them automatically push back to ALL of your devices... what could possibly go wrong? Oh, and don't worry, no one's going to pay attention to the files you send us, either. Yeah, right.] But I am just not a cloud person; I don't like the idea, I don't want to partake in it, and dammit I don't want Apple to force me into it.
But mostly I'm upset over Lion, their new operating system. At first, Lion sounded awesome, I admit. It is very 'flashy' in its capabilities. But now, I don't really want anything to do with it.
For one, I feel that Lion is directed at laptops and laptops only. With so many functions that rely on multi-touch, (translation: using a touchpad) they would not work much for me. Plus, I don't know that I really care; I'm not sure that it matters to me if I can swipe a program off and on my screen.
But my biggest gripe, and it's a really big one, is the hoops they make you jump through to upgrade to it. My dad has a laptop, I can't remember how old, but it was some of the best specs at the time as far as what Apple offered in MacBook Pros, and he can't upgrade to Lion because his hardware is not good enough. You need so much RAM to run the darn program, and he physically can't upgrade. So he's just stuck with Snow Leopard until the machine dies.
Me, on the other hand, I have the RAM, but I don't have Snow Leopard. In poking around Apple's store, I just found this lovely little piece of information:
Total cost to make Jamie's computer run Lion and act like it always has: $210.
No thank you.
Jarrod is getting pretty pissed off at Apple, possibly more than I am, for many of the same reasons. He is really into learning Linux more and maybe we'll become a Linux household, who knows. The thing is, though, that my career depends on Apple computers, so I will always be using one whether I like it or not; the Adobe Suite simply does not work nearly as good on a PC as it does on a Mac.
I have a feeling we're not alone in our unsettled issues with the giant Apple, either. Even in Popular Mechanics' piece comparing tablets, in the "Who Is It For" description, under the iPad they said 'Anyone who doesn't hold a grudge against Apple' and for the Samsung Galaxy it said 'Anyone who wants to break free from Apple's walled garden.' It made me laugh, but it also verified how I'm feeling. So I'll wait and see where Apple tries to push me next, but I'm no longer just a blind sheep following along.
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