Slick Advertising

Smart move, AT&T -- you figured out how to free yourself of having to pay millions to sponsor Tiger Woods and instead get free advertising by throwing your name in one of the biggest recent scandals which also in turn attempts to highlight how ethical/value-focused the company is. Smart.

Don't Shoot Meat if You're not Going to Eat It

Part of my excitement this past weekend was discovering that Gill St. (my all time favorite bar in Bloomington-Normal) had Big Buck Hunter. This poses two problems (a) I immediately see a fairly large percentage of my paycheck each week getting now pumped into this machine and (b) it solidifies that I’m a hypocrite. Don’t you just hate those moments? I’m 99.9% sure that every single person in this world has experienced these moments even though many will refuse to admit it (even when called out on it as I tend to enjoy doing because as we all know if you’re called out on something that you know is right, you just immediately refute it even more—again, I know this as I’m a walking example of a hypocrite). So yes, I realized I’m a hypocrite. Here I am shooting at poor innocent bucks, elk, etc (avoiding the cows of course) while being a self-proclaimed animal lover that won’t even read a fictional book that looks appealing due to its spiritual confliction since it mentions slaughtering animals.

On top of that, I have recently become what seems like a vegetarian (I have yet to determine if it’s a short-lived trend or a long-term lifestyle change) because I can’t fathom how many animals are terribly treated and then slaughtered just to fill my plate. The crazy part is that this just happened. I went from craving juicy burgers from Meatheads just two weeks ago to waking up one morning and feeling absolutely repulsed by the thought of eating meat. My most visited website went from Facebook to WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals – which is an amazing organization and I highly suggest that people sign up to contribute to a cause that’s making a drastic difference in this world . C’mon.. you can skip a couple of Starbucks runs a month for this). Even though all those Sarah McLaughlin commercials would make me bawl my eyes out when showing abused animals, I never gave this website much consideration (because I tend to lean more towards local donations which is what I do at the Humane Society of Central Illinois and Miller Park Zoo- again, two other organizations I recommend you donate to) until last week when I woke up feeling the way that I did.

I blame half of this on a situation that I've tried to forget about that happened in the early winter of 2008. My quick lunches used to consist of me coming home and boiling a few eggs and heating up asparagus to eat at work. I was doing that like usual one day and I put the eggs in the hot water in the pot on the stove. A couple of minutes later (ugh, even as I am thinking of this story my heart is just breaking), I swear I heard what sounded like a little bird chirping. I tried to ignore it because it wasn’t possible, right? Again, the chirping… then another… then some more. I ran over to the stove and pulled out a couple of the eggs. I put them in the sink and ran some cold water over them. Then I carefully started opening them up (completely freaking out this whole time). Nothing that looked like a baby chicken. So I calm down (after scolding myself for being delusional) and then put the eggs back in the hot water on the stove. A few minutes later, the chirping started again. I took the eggs out, threw them in the trash can outside, and never boiled eggs again. Well, I moved on… kind of. I would think of that story every now and then and get sad. Well, guess what story I was thinking of the night before I became a vegetarian? Coincidence…?

In summary, I’m being haunted by a baby chicken and I encourage all of you to donate to the WSPA.

Inspirational Spurts

I have these random bursts of motivation… like when I watched “Julie & Julia” and thought, “I’m going to become a world famous cook where people have to say ‘yum’ every time they try a bite of my food.” But then I remember the scene where she makes some comment that in a world that is unpredictable she enjoys being able to come home and find comfort in cooking because it is always a guarantee that specific amounts of xyz and will make whatever the goal is. Yeah, that doesn’t quite work for me. I have this tendency where I can do something great one time, but then I can never get back to that “one great time” no matter how many times I practice or try and try and try. Funny thing is that alcohol actually seems to enhance (and not impair like the average joe) my abilities to do any activity that requires coordination or consistency of any sort. I’m told it’s because while sober I think too hard about doing things which is probably fairly accurate. Unfortunately I’m on the extreme side of being analytical where everything I say and do is considered way more than what it should. Like as I type these words I think the specific placement of them is creative and perfect due to all these little bits and pieces that I’m probably the only person in the world that gets it. But I always think that there’s some other mind out there that will understand too and find entertainment. Anyway.. I’d have to be an alcoholic in order to succeed as a cook. And considering I don’t like to drink much, I think it’s probably the wrong career path.

I did however make some brownies that didn’t quite elicit a “yum” being shouted from the breakroom but once I tracked people down and made them tell me their honest opinion about the brownies, they did say they were quite tasty. So I’ll take that. They are called “No Pudge Brownies” (I also discovered today that I’m the only one that thinks that name is hilarious). They are fat free and made with yogurt which is quite interesting. I think they are delicious and I was excited for people at work to try them during our potluck today. I highly recommend them and I’ll do my typical Amazon (did I mention that I love them?) plug by putting in this link: No Pudge Brownies available on Amazon

History repeated

I’m starting a blog and this is my first entry. Obviously. I’ve been wanting to start one for a while as I used to dabble in it before they became the “thing”. (Did anyone consider the name “Blogger” as 2000’s decade name? Just wondering since they haven’t been able to find anything else suitable.) But now with my MBA officially out of the way, I can actually spend some time jotting down my useless thoughts that I find to be entertaining although I’m fairly sure I’ll be the only one that thinks so.

If anyone is reading this now, I want to set a disclaimer that warns how much of your life you will not get back from reading this. First of all, I like to ramble (I’ve given up even attempting to be concise) and secondly, most of my days are spent mentally documenting the bathroom habits of offices surrounding mine since my desk faces the bathrooms. Like the throat clearer that never goes into the bathroom without a huge stack of papers and then comes out 30 minutes later. Or the man that goes to the bathroom every 15 minutes on the dot (I have yet to figure out if it is a medical condition or something else unmentionable). Not to mention those from my own office that will remain unnamed (like the man with that quick tinkling that is in and out of the bathroom in 30 seconds- gross- and the female that definitely does not wash her hands). I would not recommend that anybody spend 40 hours a week monitoring the bathroom habits of other people. It will make you become instantly obsessive compulsive. I have to battle that urge frequently as I go through bottle after bottle of the pump Germ-X. Basically, I’m stuck with way too many thoughts for 40 hours a week (hence the blogging).

Stay tuned.