January 2007 Archives

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On Saturday night, I went to hear the York Symphony Pops Orchestra and The 5th Dimension at the Strand Theatre. It was a great evening. The orchestra did an awesome job in A Tribute to Henry Mancini and The 5th Dimension had everyone rockin' in their seats. It's always a treat to be in the Strand. It's such a beautiful theater. Anyway, I just wanted to say kudos to all involved. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of what a talented community we have.

I went to Weis for lunch yesterday, as I often do, and noticed a refrigerated case just inside the grocery store's front doors labeled "Milk Express" with a small selection of milk and eggs.

I was surprised by this because I've always heard that supermarkets purposely put milk, bread, butter and eggs -- the staples of most kitchens -- at the fartherst reaches of the store to force shoppers to walk through the rest of the place, hopefully picking up items for impulse purchases along the way.

Because about half of my grocery-store visits are to refresh my supply of milk and bananas, I was thrilled. This meant I could pop inside the place on my lunch break, grab a half-gallon of skim milk, a cluster of bananas and a deli sandwich relatively quickly.

Of course, this means I don't venture into the rest of the store, possibly making impulse purchases.

But Weis won yesterday. Because the milk was so convenient to the deli and produce sections, I picked up a half-gallon during my lunch stop rather than saving it for a bigger shopping trip later at my hometown Giant.

Are you listening Giant?

I get all kinds of quirky e-mails -- the winter newsletter for North Shore Fishing Adventures, a letter from a man who says he can channel Elvis' spirit through a Styrofoam cup and a press release from the American Bird Conservancy announcing the availability of Cerulean Warbler Conservation Coffee.

I took a double take when I got the e-mail from Crest Glide that 77 percent of Americans don't tell other people that they have something in their teeth. It was an advertisement for Glide Deep Clean To-Go floss.

That's disturbing. I eat a lot of spinach, apparently a food prone to take the long way to my stomach through the cracks in my teeth. I want someone to tell me if I have a big wad of it hanging around for later.

I have a few friends, who thank goodness, don't feel awkward telling me. There's always a brief moment of embarrassment, especially if we are in a big group, but I am relieved after the green gunk has been removed. I don't know about you, but I choose a brief moment of awkwardness over a night of blabbing with my mouth looking the Grinch -- termites in my smile.

So next time you are out to dinner, be kind and whisper to your bud that there is something in their teeth. Everyone involved will thank you.

Dancing. You either love it or hate it. And that can even change a number of times in any given night.

I told my significant other that no gift was necessary for my birthday -- just an evening at the York Swing Dance Club, 250 S. George St., York. OK, so maybe not an entire evening, but I at least wanted to check out their $5 hour-long lesson from 8 to 9 p.m. and a little of the dance that followed.

Was I in for a treat.

I drive the cutest car in the world.

A lime green Volkswagen New Beetle. Actually, it's probably tied with the original Beetle for the honor. Or any Beetle for that matter, not just lime green ones. Although the color contributes a lot to my car's adorable-ness.

Now, I know a lot of people anthropomorphize their cars. Maybe by giving them names, or yelling at them for making that eerie rattling noise, or apologizing to them for banging on the steering wheel during moments of rush-hour frustration.

But I suspect Beetle owners (and potentially Mini Cooper owners) go to a whole new extreme.

Christmas came and went uneventfully this year. There was no Nintendo Wii under my tree, just an I.O.U. from the 'rents who had tried their best to track one down, but to no avail. For weeks, I have hunted high and low, near and far, in search of my elusive Wii, especially knowing that when the time came, I wouldn't have to pay for it. That always helps.

Check out my recent Popeye column to bring you up to speed on the hunt.

Anyway, yesterday the gaming gods smiled down upon me, and my hunt came to a close - Toys R Us received nine systems in minutes before I called in the early afternoon.

I'm not a morning person.

I was more than delighted when I took this job to find out the shift didn't start until 10 a.m. rather than the typical 8 or 9. But sometimes, there are some things just worth getting up at the crack of dawn (or before) for.

In this case, it was a casting call for "Survivor" and "Amazing Race" held at Harrisburg Mall. The event didn't start until 10 a.m., but when word got out that people would be allowed to start lining up as early as 5:30, we knew we had to get there early. OK, OK, I'm lying. I was a wee bit hesitant to wake at 4:30 in the freakin' morning, but our ever-energetic photographer Jay convinced me it would be worth the sleep sacrifice. And he was right (ya hear that, Jay?)

As a recent college graduate, I find that I'm having a hard time adjusting to the "real world." From what I hear, that's to be expected. I have a 9:30 to 5:30 job, I have to dress up every day, I get tired at what six months ago I would have thought was a ridiculously early hour. Most of the time, the only thing I have to look forward to during the week is the weekend.

Enter television

Dec. 25 was nice to me this year, but it wasn't anything compared to Jan. 9. Tuesday was the day that Steve Jobs (i.e. Santa Claus) took the stage for his annual keynote speech at Macworld (i.e. the North Pole) and introduced the world to the iPhone (i.e. one of the coolest consumer electronics ever).

The rumors circulating this device had been ongoing for a couple years and, in true Apple fashion, almost all the "leaked" details were wrong - in the best kind of way. Leading up to its introduction, there were rumors of Apple releasing a widescreen iPod, a tablet version of the Mac and a phone of some sort. Turns out, all those were true - except they were really all one device all along.

I got a nasty cold just before the holidays and I'm still sipping tea and sucking down grapefruit like they're the base of the food pyramid. My hands are bone dry from squirting sanitizer on them every five minutes. And, to top it off, the guy who sits next to me at work has threatened to stab me in the throat with a pencil if he catches whatever stubborn sickness has been strangling me the last few weeks. (Luckily, I have a sense of humor).

I could have called in sick until I was totally germ free. But then I wouldn't have worked since oh, about Dec. 18.

I'll admit I hate calling in sick -- mostly because I spend whatever time I'm not zonked out worrying about how far behind I'll be when I get back. But I also hate the fact that everyone around me has to suffer listening to all the coughing and sniffling. And I wouldn't wish this on anyone (well, maybe a few people, but they don't work with me).

My point in all this rambling is that I'm the least of their worries.

It's a new year and I am all about trying new things, so why not soy milk? I like veggie burgers and breakfast sausages made with soy, so why not milk?

At 50 calories for an 8-ounce glass, it's 40 calories lower than the fat-free milk I am used to. Its supporters say soy products fight breast, prostate and colon cancer. Studies say it promotes heart health and lower cholesterol. It's high in fiber and protein. It's supposed to be good for your body.

But guess what....it tastes like liquefied cardboard. Wait, my second sip tasted more like bland baby food. Add chocolate syrup to it and it still tastes nasty. It doesn't have the sweet, creamy taste milk does and the texture is much too thin. I wanted to like it. I wanted to be able to enjoy a health food, but I don't. Besides, who cares about calories when it comes to taste? My fat-free milk is full of calcium goodness.

Soy beans might be good for my heart, but I think I'll let cow's milk keep doing my body good and leave the soy milk to someone else.

So I was driving to work this morning, listening to music on my iPod, which was set to shuffle. The song "The Eraser" from Thom Yorke’s solo album came on and I got to thinking about how I never really gave the album a fair spin, not because I didn’t like it, but more than likely because something else came along.

My musical wantonness just doesn’t give Thom his fair due. After all, “OK Computer,� an unlikely breakup recovery album my senior year of high school, rescued me from a lifetime of rock mediocrity. To this day I get chills at the opening riff for “Let Down� and the creepy “Climbing Up the Walls.� Thankfully the album has managed to transcend its role during my days eating ice cream and crying. Years later I’m still gleaning new information and ideas from it.

While I was visiting my family in Virginia over the weekend, my younger brother and I watched the movie “Keeping the Faith� starring Ben Stiller and Edward Norton. This led to a conversation about how we both liked Edward Norton, especially after seeing him battling his inner demons — quite literally — in “Fight Club.� My brother then asked me if I’d seen another Edward Norton movie, “American History X.� I said I hadn’t, because I heard it was really violent and preferred more quiet, introspective movies.

He refused to listen to my protests and said that I had to watch it.

So I did last night.

And I agree with my brother that it was a movie I needed to see.