Frozen food stuffs from Schwan's

A relative of mine sent a care package to my family that she ordered online through Schwan's. I don't recall ever hearing of this company but who am I to turn away from trying free food?

The food came frozen in a pretty sturdy styrofoam chest about 2 1/2 feet long by 2 feet deep and wide. All the food was sealed in plastic and placed in cardboard boxes. There was a variety of food stuffs she ordered. There was chicken pot pies, pizza, angus mini cheeseburgers (pictured below), and lasagna.

At the time of this picture-taking and posting, I had only tried the mini cheeseburgers. However, the posting started about 4-5 weeks ago and I'm just now getting to typing something.

So, first of all, the mini cheeseburgers reminded me a lot of these frozen White Castle cheeseburgers a friend shared with me some time ago. Similar packing, presentation and taste—yes, I just equalled the taste of them to White Castle frozen burgers...if you've had frozen, precooked burgers you show know that they all pretty much taste the same when heated. They also reminded me of sliders. Anyway, the burgers were tasty. They may not win cooking awards but for free and frozen, I wasn't grossed out.

  

It was probably a few weeks later before I was able to try more dishes but the next item was the lasagna. The lasagna tasted just about the same as a Stouffer's, Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine or any other kind of frozen lasagna. Again, it wasn't horrible but it wasn't like "Wow!"

Next was the frozen pizza. We were afforded two of them. They were just pepperoni and cheese but my kids are kind of picky on their toppings for pizza anyways. I hate to sound like a broken record but once again the pizzas were good but they weren't mouth-watering or awe-inspiring just like the previous two items.

Some days later, the wife and kids finally tried out the chicken pot pies. If having one barely eaten and the other untouched after baking tells you anything, it would be that these were not very good at all...to my family. I didn't try them because by the time I realized there were leftovers, they were already way too cooled down and I didn't think reheating them again would help with the taste.

What's left in the freezer is a box of frozen enchiladas. I've had frozen enchiladas before from the likes of Healthy Choice, Smart Ones, Hungry Man or those type of meals and I wasn't very impressed. Therefore, I'm a little skeptical at trying them from Schwan. We'll see how it goes.

Overall, I can recommend the mini cheeseburgers, the lasagna and the pizza...probably in that order too. I don't know how much these costs as they were gifts but if they aren't a huge savings versus the grocery store, I don't see why one would ever order it online from Schwan's.

So, there you have it.

Sky writing in Dallas

I don't think I've ever seen planes sky write in real life. I've seen it in the movies and cartoons but never in person...until last Sunday afternoon.

This was the scene my kids came yelling for me to come see mid-afternoon. I forget what it fully said but the end of it said, "Visit MyrtleBeach.com." It was pretty cool to see in person. Very impressive. It looked like the entire message covered at least a 1/2 mile or so. The wind made it cross the sky while they were "writing" and it was gone almost as quickly as they produced it. The planes flew in parallel and did a great job with the timing of the smoke to spell the words. Pretty cool thing to see with or without but especially with the kids!

Diet Coke Mobile

Foil flail made at Freebirds

A few coworkers and I had a day-before-Thanksgiving lunch together at Freebirds. I haven't been back to this restaurant in quite a long time. I'd say at least a couple of years. I decided to go for the Carnitas Monster Bird on a spinach tortilla. This was a big bastard but I think I can eventually finish the Super Monster Bird the next time I go back...maybe in another couple of years!

This time around the Monster Bird took like four sheets of aluminum to wrap. It's somewhat customary to make shit out of the foil. I was short on time and short on imagination. I quickly decided to create this...thing. I think it's called a mace but it could also be referred to as a flail.

Anyway, random I know but I obviously put out time and effort to make the damn thing I should be able to share it. Mainly because when I tried to put it on the wall in the restaurant, it fell to the ground and separated into many pieces. End of awesomeness!

Brokeback Mountain Halloween-style

Saw this in a neighbor's yard last night.

I don't know if you can make it out clearly but it is a pumpkin pot with two ghosts in it. The one in front looks like he's holding onto the rim of the pot, leaning forward while the other one "in the rear" [pun intended] is has one "hand" in the air and the other sort of touching (holding) the leaning over one.

RIDE 'EM COW-GHOST!

What's wrong with this picture?

Saw this on the cover of today's New York Times. I thought we were training these Afghan "police" to take over as the American troops pull out. Why is the American soldier the one that's on-guard and paying the hell attention to his surroundings?

This is why that country and others are not worth "defending" because you can't defend people from themselves.

Angry vagina?

Headline from PegasusNews says:

Dallas seminar to teach how to overcome an angry vagina
Click here for article while it lasts.

I wonder if this is like vagina dentata?

The article is interesting. I'm sure the seminar will be just as if not more. If I had the time, I'd attend just for the curiosity of it all.

A quote from the article couldn't ring more true:

An angry vagina is an angry woman while a happy vagina is a happy woman.

I know for a fact that my wife is happy when her vagina is happy! Which in turn means Absent-Minded Jay is happy!

New overdraft protection rules

I saw some articles in the papers today regarding the new overdraft protection and credit card "laws." I don't fully understand or care at this time. I'm sure once I get dinged with some bullshit charge, I'll be up in arms about it and some customer service person is going to get an ear full. You can see different articles here, here and here while they last.

That being said. I did get some notice a few weeks or more ago about my bank and opt-in for overdraft protection. It's funny that I kept the paper in my backpack as I fully intended on commenting sooner. So, without further delay, some gloriously ignorant (IMHO) verbage from the "letter to loyal customer:"

You need to decide if you want to:

1. OPT-IN - This means you want [bank] to authorize and pay your one-time debit card and ATM transactions when there may not be enough money in your account to cover the transaction.
2. OPT-OUT - This means you DO NOT want [bank] to authorize and pay your one-time debit card and ATM transactions when it appears that there is not enough money in your account to cover the transaction.

Here are a few examples:

1. At an ATM: You have $80 available in your account and you use your debit or ATM card to withdraw $100 at the ATM.
• IF YOU OPT IN: We may, at our discretion, authorize and pay the withdrawal. This could result in an overdraft in your account, which means you may be charge an NSF Charge-Paid Item fee of $38.
• IF YOU OPT OUT: The transaction will be declined. You will only be able to withdraw $80 from your account. You will not be charged a fee.
2. At the convenience store: You have $2 available in your account and want to purchase coffee and a snack for $8 with your debit card.
• IF YOU OPT IN: We may, at our discretion, authorize and pay the transaction. This could result in an overdraft in your account, which means you may be charged an NSF Charge-Paid Item fee of $38.
• IF YOU OPT OUT: The transaction will be declined. You will be able to purchase $20 worth of items, or have to use an alternative form of payment. You will not be charged a fee.

So, my thought is if the person doesn't have the money, then the transaction should be declined from the beginning. If they can't pay $80 or $8, what makes the bank think they will be able or want to pay the $38 overdraft fee?

To me, this is basically enabling. The way a parent enables an adult child - adult child has a job but instead of pays his/her bills, gets a tattoo; adult child owes money for electricity or rent, asks parent for money and parent pays the bill; next payment time rolls around and the adult child has put them self in the same situation; parent pays again. Hopefully you get the picture.

Using an ATM/debit card isn't like writing a check that you can float. It won't work if you don't have the a greater balance of funds already in the bank than your purchase amount. After the fact clearing, is one thing but letting people use more funds than they actually have is just stupid. It's kind of why we are in the economic bust we are in: too many people who couldn't really afford a house, bought a house and now they have to foreclose. If we'd stop people from making stupid decisions in the first place, we wouldn't have to clean up after them.

Dallas Summer Musicals at Fair Park presents "Wicked"

The family went to see the musical Wicked this past Sunday, yes it was my asked-for-Father's-Day gift...NOT, but it was the only day we all could go.

Before commenting on the actual performance, I must comment on a few other things to begin with.

First, the parking situation was somewhat atrocious. It's actually despicable that the DSM hasn't become a little more organized after so many years. We usually leave a little earlier than we did this day but we were still 30-45 minutes before the posted start time of 8 p.m. I don't know the exact street but we entered the gate that is down a ways to the right of Music Hall if you are looking at Music Hall from...

interruption...Shit!...hang on...let me look this shit up!

...Okay, our path to Music Hall followed this route Parry Avenue merge to Robert B Cullum Blvd turn left on Grand Avenue then left on S. 2nd Ave. This map will help to visualize.

In the past, we would park in the DSM Guild Parking because the wife was a member but she no longer is. We could have still parked there if she would have remembered her mirror tag but she didn't so we had to park in General Parking. Once we were directed into general parking it was pretty much a free-for-all. Luckily we found a space just before they were all taken up but the rest of the poor suckers were driving around looking for spaces that were not there. The problem is that the parking "guide" just kept funneling the people in without even knowing the place was full. It didn't affect me directly (almost did) but I still felt like they needed a better system of knowing when their parking lot is full so as to not cause a giant cluster fuck of cars driving around for no solution other than to just exit and try the exterior parking areas around Fair Park.

Second, the lack of information and guidance once inside Music Hall and waiting to be able to get seated was unacceptable. I'm not sure if there was some technical issues or what but relaying information to your PAID customers would be a very good thing. It was about 15 minutes until the stated showtime of 8 p.m. when the doors to seating area were still locked. At 10 minutes, then five minutes 'til, the doors were still closed and locked. Right about 8 p.m. there was a somewhat inaudible announcement in regards to the starting of the show. I couldn't hear it on the stairs to the highest seating area, which are for exit only I found, but someone answered my inquiry. They said something about the doors will be opening shortly and to make haste to your seats so the show can [FINALLY] get started. After the mad rush to the seats, the show began without warning (no dimming and brightening of the house lights) at around 8:20 p.m.

Third, intermission. You can't fail at intermission unless you have something like four women's restrooms for something like 500-1000 women needing to use the can at the same time. The downstairs women's restroom had a line down a hall, up the stairs and one more level of stairs up. I'm not sure exactly how many restrooms they have in Musical Hall but I feel like it could do a better job, especially since I bet the Winspear doesn't have this problem (I'm just assuming so if I'm wrong, my apologies). The men's room isn't such an issue. Luckily, I didn't have to use it but it seems that the men that did were in and out in record time compared to their lady counterparts. Anyway, we headed back to our seats earlier than most during intermission because the lines (again not well thought out) for the snack bars were way too long. I was sitting in my seat for at least five minutes when the lights began to dim to dark and the music began to play with Oz characters dancing and singing on stage to start act two. The issue: there were no warnings that the act was about to start. No announcement over the PA and no dimming and brightening of the house lights. I found that kind of rude even though I was already seated. There were people who were still trying to find their seats as the place faded to black. Unacceptable!

Overall the show was pretty awesome. I didn't know the story of the musical. I knew it was loosely based on the Wizard of Oz but that it wasn't the Wizard of Oz the musical...not at all! The stage design, scene changes, costumes...well everything...was eye-catching and cool. I really dug the wizards prop. It was pretty cool to see. Also, the transformation of the monkey to a winged monkey was pretty interesting the way it was done and somewhat freaky.

The story line was very creative, in my virginal opinion. It was an interesting way to spin the stories of the lion, the tin man, the scarecrow, the tornado, the death of the "wicked which," and I guess just all of it. Very creative.

It seems the night we attended that the understudy was performing for the Elphaba lead. She was phenomenal. I don't know if it was just the music fell well within her vocal range or what but she hit the highs, the mids, and the lows without a hitch. Sometimes, her singing resonated in my ears and made me think, "Damn!" After the show, the wife said she heard from a friend that the understudy has apparently been outperforming AND getting better reviews than the lead. I don't know how the lead performs but that's got to not be good news.

Gah-lenda was very good too once I realized that her performance was supposed to be the way she was singing...like the ditzy blonde. I didn't get it at first but then it hit me and I understood. :-) I kept wanting to see that Chenoweth girl.

Fiyero was a pretty good performer. He had a voice, to me, more fitting to the liking of John Travolta's Danny Zuko in Grease. He just had that kind of sound to his singing. The thing that was missing was his chemistry with Elphaba. I didn't feel like he really was all into her as the story stated but that could just be me and not knowing if there is a difference between "movie connection" chemistry and "musical connection" chemistry. I just know that you could see/feel an attraction from the Phantom with Christine in the movie of Phantom of the Opera.

I would definitely recommend seeing this musical (in Dallas until June 27^th if tickets are still available). I'm not a big musical person but the last really good one I saw was Miss Saigon at the Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas some 5-10 years ago. I still talk about it on occasion and I will do the same with Wicked.

I didn't know he was in "Licence to Kill"

I was channel surfing today because nothing new was on TV really worth watching. I came across G4 and they were playing the old Bond movie Licence to Kill (which by the way is misspelled unless that's the Brit spelling). Funny thing is I saw two actors that I didn't know were in this movie...but it has been a long while since I've seen it and I can't say this was a "must see" movie for me!

First, can you tell who this is? He's much younger and more thin than he looks these days but he still has the same face, gestures and mannerisms.

That's right. That's Benicio Del Toro. I didn't realize he'd been "around" so long which means he's pretty old now.

The other one is Carey Lowell. Yep, my babe, A.D.A. Jamie Ross from Law & Order. I didn't realize she was old now too.

Don't get me wrong. She's still smoking hot now as she was then. I just lust after my harem girls. I don't really investigate their life history.

Funny thing in the movie though is that she wasn't as attractive when she had her hair down and not slicked back like in the picture (inset). When she slicked her hair, she went from "nice" to "DAMN!"

End transmission of randomness...

Atlas Shrugged...a movie??

I saw a post at GeekTyrant in regards to the book Atlas Shrugged becoming a movie.

I recall this book being assigned to read in my 9^th grade economics class. The paperback was roughly measured like a 5x7 and at least two inches thick. I think it was something like 1100+ pages of smaller-than-normal print. I remember the teacher assigning pages/chapters for reading at the first of the year and said we'd have pop quizzes on what was read. I think the first quiz had a class average of 20%. The second and third quizzes were about the same. Out of frustration the teacher told us "C'mon guys! You really need to be reading this!" The problem is that she already had the reading and quizzes as a low percentage of the overall grade. So, getting a 20% average on the quizzes would only affect like 5% of the overall class grade.

Her little pep talk still didn't affect the majority of the class. The nerdy ones (3 out of 30 students) remained diligent in their reading and quiz taking. The slackers, me included, continued with not reading and getting bad quiz grades. Eventually, she said that she'd just make the reading of Atlas Shrugged extra credit. So, those that already did the reading benefited more and those that didn't read, didn't have to worry about failing the quizzes.

Other than my own personal story of how boring the beginning of the book was, my only other memory is the characters of John Galt and Taggart (I don't remember which Taggart, just the last name).

So, anyway, long story short. I have no effing idea how this is going to become a movie when at least 27 people (I'm sure more since she taught more than one economic class) in the 80s couldn't keep interest in this boring novel! It's not like it's The Great Gatsby!

I think I just threw up a little bit

I can't even post the picture of this book's cover without getting a little nauseous.

But, I can share with the rest of the blogosphere! ;-P

"The Nastiest 'Cookbook'"

Telephone books

Do these even get used anymore? I think these have been sitting on my porch for about a week now. I'm just too lazy to pick them up and take them to the trash in the back of the house. I'll probably do it by this weekend but should I really have to?

I don't know when the last time was when I cracked open the Yellow Pages. That's what Google, Yahoo and now Bing are for, right?

AT&T save some fucking trees and company cash. Stop printing these and start lowering your mobile rates and shit! You could also save in labor costs as you wouldn't need those scary child-kidnapping-looking vans driving around the neighborhoods and the guys running them to the doors/porches!

If someone actually still uses/needs these, you should work with them to get on the Internet and learn how to use it for business/phone searches.

I'm tired of seeing these on my porch when I don't use them!

Sent on the Super Jay Network from Super Jay's BlackBerry®

Can we say, "Overcompensation?!"

I was linked to this video from somewhere else (can't remember from where) but a thought was provoked after watching some of it.

Al B. Sure was so overcompensating for being gay. I don't have anything against gay people just those that aren't "out" yet and feel like they need to be more "manly" to show that they really aren't gay no matter what people might think. We had a guy like that in our program. He was always wanting to arm wrestle with heterosexual men to prove his manly strength. He would do the whole jr-high-wrestling thing with some other guys where you put them in head locks or punch arms to show he was "jockish."

Anyway, you can see a lot of Al B. Sure's actions in the video are clearly overdone and seemingly unnatural for him. I'm not sure what his actual orientation is nor do I care so this is just my observation and thought...

Why aren't there any SSD in-dash vehicle radios?

They made AM radios. They made AM/FM radios, you know the 3 FM, 2 AM kind. They made radios with 5-6 FM and AM channels. They made radios connect to CD changers residing usually in the trunk. They made radios with built-in CD players/changers. They made radios with DVD players. They made radios to read from USB flash drives. They made radios with 3.5mm connectors.

So, where the heck is the SSD radio? I am surprised that this hasn't come up in some company's drawing board, yet. I'm sure it's a production cost issue but I bet that was the same with the CD, DVD and other radios. Making it costs but people will stupidly pay a premium for it like they do everything else.

Anyway...

Is Expedia.com profiling?

So, the wife and I are looking into trips to Hawaii. I put in a search from Dallas, Texas to Oahu Island for flight + hotel + car on Expedia. I get a long list of hotels all over the island.

One of the things that caught my eye was this picture. It's almost like they are telling me that they have Asian/Pacific Islanders at the 800-number to help me because that's the location to where I'm interested.

I wondered what image it would show if I selected Buenos Aires, Spain, France, or Russia. I don't know their reasoning behind it but it didn't make me feel like calling her because she appealed to the demographic of the area to which I was wanting to travel.

In the new 04/15/2010

Saw this picture in an article on the Fox 4 web site. I think it's an interesting talent and a good way to "recycle" beer cans.
Click here for the article while it lasts

I bet a neighbor will complain that it's gaudy, ugly, etc. and this man will be forced by the city to take everything down.

Personally, these kind of creations are short-lived. They tend to fade and rust quickly which then makes the whole display really ugly! I liken it to the Western yard decor of the wagon wheel or plow. They are interesting and eye-catching for a bit but then comes the time when they should be removed but people will keep them for years...and years...to come.

It reminds me a lot of the beer can wind spinners of old. They were crafty but they turned into tetanus-wielding death mechanisms in a few short days/weeks.

Oh well! This "beer" man should enjoy his 15 minutes as long as he can. I would!

Procrastination pays off!

My theory of "if you procrastinate and avoid studying/working until the last moment, then you can still be successful" has turned out another positive experiment.

I previously posted here about a paper that I should have written over my spring break but didn't. I thought about doing it the weekend before returning to class but didn't. I thought about doing it the Monday or Tuesday before class (which is on Thursday) but didn't. However, I did start it, albeit briefly, at 8:15am Wednesday - the day before it was due. I thought about going to the library after work to further work on it without being distracted because home is full of distractions but didn't. I figured that I would discipline myself to do it at my desk upstairs and avoid all distractions.

I got home about 4:30pm. I decided to postpone continuing on it until 7pm at the latest. I figured I had all the materials I needed for the research. I just needed to put it all down in a meaningful flow on no more than six pages. About 5:45pm, I decided to go ahead and start. Why procrastinate further and keep myself up later than I really want to.

I was disciplined and I finished about 9:45pm. I ended up with almost seven pages exactly but it could have been dwindled to six if I took out a table I had to insert but was needed. I did a quick reread to make sure I covered everything and it sounded logical in form. I made some edits but then I decided that I wasn't going to be too picky on it as it wasn't like a literature paper. I emailed it to myself so I could print two copies of it at work the next morning.

Stupid me started browsing Facebook and then I started surfing porn...what, it helps me relax and decompress...LOL. Before I knew it, the time was like 11:30pm. I finally went to bed, relaxed knowing that I was done with my paper and had no other worries in regards to my school for the next few days. Good times.

Oh yeah, the point of the post, proving my theory.

I got my paper back yesterday. Out of a possible 80 points, I got...wait for it...wait...wait...wait...77 points. Woohoo! Eat that you people that do their work early! Ha! I think the only thing my professor didn't like about my paper was I didn't use headings for the different sections we were required to write about. Personally, I thought it took away from the look and flow of the paper which is why I didn't do it. I did make sure my flow went in order of his requirements in the description of the paper but I guess he wanted to be able to quickly visually see it instead of just feeling the flow.

Next up, another "crit" (photography speak for a critique) on April 7^th for my B&W photography class. A final research paper and group presentation coming up for my management course. The ones for the management course will be done early(ier) versus later. I can't procrastinate too much on those especially when the presentation involves a partner.

Have I mentioned how I hate school!?

P90X - The Proof, The "Restart"

I don't know how long it's been since I stopped (due to injury) but I believe that I am going to start the P90X-perience again this weekend. The problem is that I am still sort of injured and got a new injury to boot.

My ankle is still tender and occasionally stiff. I still play tennis and roller hockey but after the tennis my ankle is usually sore and the bottom of my foot feels like it's cramping. I have to stretch the muscle many times a day even after just sitting while watching television or being on my computer.

My newest injury is my right wrist. I play tennis and I put a lot of spin on my ground strokes with rotating or flicking my wrist. A few many times over the past few years I have mishit a ball and it vibrates the racquet or jams my wrist to a point of a twinge of pain and jarring. I tough through the pain and keep playing as much as I can. Sometimes, more than often, it passes, Other times, it doesn't but I keep playing. I'm male. It's what we do. I'm not saying it is smart. I'm just saying it's just what we do. Anyway, I might have to go get the wrist x-rayed. It's got a little bump between the socket of my thumb and index finger kind of near the middle backside of my hand. The wife thinks it might be a cyst. Some friends think it might be a displace metacarpal. Either way, I'm sure it would be best to get it looked at so I know for sure before they have to just cut it off. :-) My point of mentioning this injury is it makes it difficult to do push-ups because I cannot put too much pressure on it and it doesn't quite have the flexibility to bend like it should without some "enjoyable" pain.

I don't want to wait any longer though. I did enjoy the P90X workouts although I found it kind of difficult to fit in my schedule with having to deal with the wife and kids' schedules as well. I have a goal set in my mind to lose some weight and tone up the muscles before we hit the beach again this summer. It's not that I want to impress anybody else. I just want to feel good about knowing I look fit...for my wife, for my kids as well as for me.

Motivation has been lacking due to the cold but now that the weather is getting somewhat warmer it won't be as demotivating to do the routines in my garage again. It is damn cold in there when the weather is damn cold!

My plan is to start either Saturday night so my 7th day is on a Friday or start Sunday so it is on a Saturday. Either way, it helps to know the 7th day falls on a possible tennis/roller hockey day so I can either Stretch X or Rela-X.

We'll see how it goes. The wife express interest to do it with me. She's good at her weight watchers but wants to tone up and also build stamina and get her heart pumping strong. The problem is she is completely non-athletic. Not that it's a horrible thing but weight watchers doesn't really require any strenuous physical activity (for her anyway, I would be beating myself up sticking to the portion control and such because I lack good discipline).

Anyway, we'll see how motivate we both are this weekend.

A Nutrisystem fail?

Got a paper today on my lawn. It had some ads in there for all kinds of shit. One that caught my eye was the photo at the right.

I'm not being condescending but I don't think the Nutrisystem system fully worked on Billie Jean King. I don't know when this photo of her was taken but I just saw her on the Australian Open broadcast on television and she wasn't anywhere close to looking like this picture. She looked like a very old and decrepit Elton John.

Anyway, I felt like I had to comment.