Things Annoying Me Lately

Here is a short list of things that are annoying me as of late:

1. The Wife and I were looking to plan a long weekend camping at Jewell Lake, and between the two of us, we are booked solid every weekend through the end of September! I mean what ever happened to lazy summer days and relaxing. Between me working and various weddings, we have no weekends available. So if you are a friend looking to get together, please consult our administrative assistant. You know how to reach him.

2. Barack Obama was recently in Detroit and I could not go see him. This is annoying because I have been a supporter of Barack since before Iowa, and he was not allowed to campaign here for soooo long. Alas, his staff did make a fool of him by not allowing some Arabic women to sit behind him because of the whole name thing. They could have been better informed by the campaign, as Detroit has the largest concentration or Arabic people outside the Mid-East. At least the women slighted are still supporters.

3. My addiction to Taco Bell. I have been on a 6 month quest to eat better and get in better shape. To a large part it has been successful, as I am 15lbs lighter then at Christmas. One thing I cannot shake is my love of Taco Bell. I seem to have an affinity for beans, beef and cheese. It does not matter how Taco Bell assembles these things, I love them all.

Now for one thing that has been impressing me lately:

The Foundation for a Better Life

We put the "Crack" in Crackers

A few times in the history of this blog, I have pointed out what I thought were strange or worthless products. See my rants on Colonblow and on Oder Alert Cat Litter for proof on that.

So this time I decided to highlight a product which is AMAZING. It is a new flavor of Tiscuit named Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil.

These people have truly put crack in this cracker, because they are completely addicting. Now I will warn you, if you do not like the flavor of pepper, then do not buy these. Otherwise, you will quickly find yourself constantly munching on them. I quickly found myself actually upset that the wife had eaten THE REST OF THE BOX. Any food that does that must be good. Be prepared to battle the spouse for this high-fiber tasty treat.

I Miss the Thundercats

I was reminiscing about some of my favorite childhood cartoons today at work (why I am doing this at work is a whole additional post). I had a bunch in common with everyone else, but seemed to be all alone when it came to Thundercats. This was an amazing show that was on when I was a kid. It was kind of an animated precursor to all the Power Ranger crap that has been out recently. There were several characters and it followed the very formulaic plots of the time. Just to give everyone a stroll down memory lane, here is the into from the cartoon. 1.7 million views means that I am not THAT weird. Anyone else out there want to admit a childhood cartoon addiction??

Stanley is Back Home

I just wanted to write a short post saluting the Detroit Red Wings. I give a lot of credit to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the experience of the Wings trumped the youth of the Pen's, so Lord Stanley's Cup is back in Hockeytown. To salute the Wings, here is video of perhaps the greatest fight sequence in hockey history, with two goaltenders going at it at center ice... Detroit V. Colorado:

Tool Time

On one of my recent walks around the area around my house, I walked by a very intriguing sign. It was for the local Airgas dealer, and it proudly proclaimed that they were selling "Radnor Plasma Cutters." Now I don't know about you, but as a guy, whatever that is, it sounds really dang cool.

I always thought of plasma as either something in your blood, or something on a science fiction TV show. One of those words that the science guy on a spaceship would throw in to add some authenticity... "Sir, the plasma inducer has stopped inducing, we are going to have to reverse fire the Gimmelstob engines or the ship will blow up." You know that kind of thing.

I never thought the common man could own something that apparently uses plasma as fuel. So like all American's with a healthy curiosity and an internet connection, I then spent two hours researching something that I would never, ever purchase or probably even use. Here is the concise entry from Wikipedia:

"Plasma cutting is a process that is used to cut steel and other metals (or sometimes other materials) using a plasma torch. In this process, an inert gas (in some units, compressed air) is blown at high speed out of a nozzle; at the same time an electrical arc is formed through that gas from the nozzle to the surface being cut, turning some of that gas to plasma. The plasma is sufficiently hot to melt the metal being cut and moves sufficiently fast to blow molten metal away from the cut. Plasma can also be used for plasma arc welding and other applications."

How cool is that. I think I might throw it on my Christmas list..why you might ask. I have no idea. Happy plasma cutting...