The Bean Blog

Getting brave by graduation

Christine — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:49:58 +0000

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been kind of crabby the last few days. I think it’s a combination of the suffering I’m feeling at the hands of my asthma symptoms and my lack of sleep due to the prednisone I’m taking to cure those asthma symptoms. It’s just a big, vicious cycle. So rather than listening to (or reading about, as the case may be) me bitch about anything else (although, why the heck do I have to keep reseting my password to log in to Wordpress ever since I upgraded to 2.6?), I’ll just share a story about when I was young and confident and not-bitchy. So here goes.

When I was a freshman in high school I was far from brave. I was a shy girl, too scared to look at a boy let alone ask one out on a date. But there was this really cute senior I was completely infatuated with. Not just any senior, but a popular senior. A popular senior with a cute, popular girlfriend. In fact at one of the end-of-the-year pep rallies they were voted cutest couple (or something equally as syrupy sweet).

But I was not deterred. I was a girl on a mission. An unbelievably ridiculous mission where dorky little freshman girls with tortoise shell glasses and frizzy hair some how snatch up popular, football player seniors. But a mission nonetheless.

I started to stalk him. But I was sneaky about it. I figured out where his classes were and strategically place myself in his path every day. At first it was just so I could get a daily glimpse of him. But then I actually worked up the nerve to speak to him. I started with, “hi.” And he said, “hi” back. I was in heaven. Who knew a simple “hi” could be so exciting.

Eventually I moved up to more meaningful conversations. Things like, “I like your shirt.” Yep, I was quite the conversationalist back then. (Well really I still have conversations like that because I’m totally social awkward.)

One day I grew a pair of balls and decided to go in for the plunge. I met him at his locker and asked him if I could have one of his senior pictures. And he said yes. He didn’t write anything on the back of it like many people did. Stuff like, “It was great to get to know you. Have a great summer.” But I didn’t care. I had a picture of him. A picture I could keep under my pillow. And kiss goodnight. Um, did I just say that out loud?

By the end of the school year we were on a first name basis. Not a relationship, but at least he knew my name. When he saw me he would smile and say, “Hi Christine.” That was all I needed. I was weak in the knees. My life was good.

A group of the popular kids (including my new popular ~~boyfriend~~ acquaintance Mark) were having a graduation party in the cafeteria at a local college. And MARK INVITED ME! I was thrilled. I was beyond thrilled. I’m pretty sure I almost peed my pants (although I’m sure he would have revoked my invitation if I had peed on him).

My friend, Rachel (who had a huge crush on Mark’s friend, Jeremy), and I got all dolled up for the graduation party and…had our parents drop us off. (What? We were freshman remember.) I was so nervous I’m surprised my shirt didn’t form ten inch radius pit stains. Rachel and I mingled for a while. And by mingle I mean we stood by the window gripping our cups for dear life like scared little nerds at the school dance.

Eventually I decided to get over myself and take the plunge. So I went to the bathroom. Because, just like wearing clean underwear in case you are in an accident, you should always pee before you attempt to ~~make a total ass of yourself~~ do something very brave.

When I got back from the bathroom I walked right up to Mark and asked him if he’d dance with me. Only it came out more of a squeak because my heart was beating right up my throat and bouncing on my tongue. So I had to repeat myself. But you know what? He said yes. And we danced.

It was a quick dance and I spent the whole time trying not to step on his toes or touch him in an inappropriate place. But it was a dance nonetheless.

And when the music ended I got really brave. All that hot, sweaty dancing (ok, so maybe I was the only one sweating) made me a brand new woman. I leaned in and said, “Maybe we can go out sometime?” He looked at me, wrapped his arm around me and replied, “Absolutely. What’s your number?”

And then I dropped dead on the floor and floated to heaven with a big smile on my face. Ok, so maybe not, but close.

He never actually did call. And we never actually ever went on a date (obviously). But that didn’t matter. What matters is I had the nerve to ask a boy on a date. A popular senior boy. I may not be able to go to the grocery store by myself, but I can get up the nerve to ask a boy out (after a year of preparation).

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Vonage stole $30.57 right from my checking account

Christine — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:12:04 +0000

Remember my problems with Vonage? Well it just keeps getting better and better.

Let’s recap.

Vonage has really sucky service. I work from home. On many conference calls people would say, “Christine I can’t hear you. You’re breaking up.” And I was on my home phone. That’s something I would expect occasionally from a cell phone as I was driving down the road and maybe going through a long, dark tunnel. But it’s not something I would expect to have happen from the comfort of my desk chair in my office. The only place my desk chair moves is in circles.

There were some other issues as well, such as the times when we could call out, but nobody could call us. When they called us they would go directly to voicemail even though we were sitting right here and nobody was on the phone. Customer Service couldn’t help us out. They had no clue why it would go directly go to voicemail. Everything looked fine on their end.

After the flooding last month we lost our internet for several days. With no internet we also had no phone. Now that wasn’t Vonage’s fault, but it was the what finally made us realize that VoIP service is not for us. It’s just not reliable enough when you work from home or, you know, want to actually use your phone.

So we decided to switch our telephone service back to a stable landline. We had our service installed on July 7th. Our phone was already switched that day. Early that morning a friend called me and couldn’t get through. It went to voicemail, but it said my voicemail wasn’t set up. So she called me on my cell phone to ask what was up. That’s when I realized they had already ported our number and I needed to set up our new voicemail.

On July 8th I received an email from Vonage stating they were taking my monthly payment out of my checking account. (They can do that because Vonage does not allow you to pay by check each month. No they force you to either give them a credit card or your checking account information which they keep on file.) My bill that day was $30.57. It was a little bit higher than usual because they charged me an additional $0.25 for Visual Voicemail. Now I never asked for Visual Voicemail. It was just something they gave me as a “free trial” even though I never asked for a free trial. And apparently it wasn’t actually free. Apparently it was $0.25. Nice.

So I called customer service on July 8th to say, “Dude, I switched to a different company so why are you billing me?” That customer service rep kept me on the phone for at least 20 minutes as she tried to hard sell the Vonage service big time. I was getting pissed. All I wanted to do was make sure my service was cancelled so I wasn’t paying double for my phone. Finally she gave up on the hard sell and told me she would have to charge me a disconnect fee and equipment fee because I was cancelling before my one year contract was up.

Now I’m not going to lie. I was pissed that I would be forced to pay for the stupid fucking router that gave me crackly phone calls and a disconnect fee, but I signed a contract. I deal with contracts every single day of my life. It’s what I do for a living. So I knew I had to honor it. But what really pissed me off is the fact that this rep had just wasted pressure moments of my life when she could have told me 20 minutes earlier that I was responsible for a disconnect and equipment fee. She was trying to be sneaky and underhanded and that’s just wrong.

I decided to just keep my service and I would cancel when my year was up on 9/7/2008. Apparently they can’t just set up a disco date like any other normal company. No they require you to call back to disconnect presumably so you may forget and they can continue to get more money out of you. And all was good (well not good, but as good as it was going to get).

Today I got another email from Vonage. This time it was telling me they were taking $127.18 out of my checking account for the $79.99 equipment fee, the $39.99 disconnect fee plus taxes. Woah! What?!? I thought we had already discussed this and come to an agreement. I was livid.

I called customer service. Again. This chick put me on hold so she could read the notes from the 7/8 call. She recapped the call for me to either make sure she had it or else to refresh my mind because she clearly thought I was an idiot. She said, “You ported your number to a new company so that automatically disconnected your service.” I said, “Yes, I did that before I talked to the last rep on the 8th and she told me I could just continue my service, pay my monthly fee and go on with my life.” New rep said, “but you ported your number…” and then she went on to explain to me what it means to port your number.

I stopped her right there. I said, “I know what it means to port a number. I work for a telecommunications company. But nothing has changed between today’s call and my call on 7/8. On 7/8 my number had already been ported too. It was ported on 7/7, but the last rep said I could still continue my service.”

This new rep clearly could not get past the ported number and could not grasp the fact that the number was ported before my initial call two weeks ago. The issue was not the ported number. The issue was that the number has always been ported, but I was told I could just keep paying my monthly fee until 9/7. I’m really crappy since I’ve hardly slept due to my medication and I just couldn’t be my usual calm self. I lost it. Told her to “fuck it” and hung up on her.

Then I sent an email to customer service. Actually many, many emails now. We keep going back and forth.

The first email response from them was that they had to disco because the number was ported to a new company. Yes, people get over yourself. Nobody is disputing the fact that the number was ported. Let’s try again.

The second email response said “I know you are upset about the disconnect fee.” What?!? Who said anything about the disconnect fee? It’s a $39.99 that I’m required to pay per the contract I agreed to. Nobody’s disputing that. Perhaps you should actually read my emails next time. You know the part where I say you charged me $30.57 even though my number was already ported. You know since you are so hung up on the number being ported and all.

The third email response came in and they are saying my number was disconnected on July 22nd and according to their terms of service they do not pro-rate. Really? I haven’t actually read their terms of service yet, but I’m guessing it really does say they don’t pro-rate. I’ll have to comb through it tomorrow when I have some free time to be sure. However, that’s pretty shady that they don’t pro-rate. Who doesn’t pro-rate? That’s just ridiculous. But in any rate, I disconnected my service at the start of my billing period…the 7th of the month. So there is no pro-rate. There is just Vonage stealing my money.

I wrote them back and told them my number was ported on the 7th. Just because it took their “automated” billing system TWO FULL WEEKS to bill a disconnect does not mean I had not switched service until the 22nd. I can, in fact, prove that my service was ported on the 7th because I have a different telephone company that can show the day my service started with them. It’s funny how that works.

I have not heard back from Vonage on that last email yet. I’m sure they will tell me their records show I disconnected on the 22nd and we will be right where we are right now. And that right now has me vomiting their name all over my blog as a nice word of mouth advertisement that says:

Vonage sucks.

Save yourself. Use your cell phone instead.

And Vonage got that advertising for the low, low price of $30.57.

I believe this is my karma. This is the price I pay for using a telephone service that in fact stole the technology they use from the company I work for. Alright karma. I get it. Lesson learned.

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Is clean silverware seriously too much to ask for?

Christine — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:19:09 +0000

Yesterday afternoon we went to IHOP to eat. When I was a little I loved IHOP. It was a special little treat because we didn’t have an IHOP in Iowa. So I could only go to IHOP when I visited my mom. I can’t remember if we went when she lived in California or if it was when she lived in Jersey, but either way it was a yummy place to eat on my summer vacations with my mom.

But now I’m starting to think that the IHOP appeal wears off with age.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a sucker for breakfast for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I could gobble me up some french toast for dinner any day of the week. And those New York Cheesecake pancakes make my mouth water just thinking about them. Come on. Cheesecake. In a pancake. It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.

But IHOP (at least the one right by my house) is just about the most disgusting place I’ve ever eaten, aside from greasy diners in the middle of nowhere but right off the interstate or “restaurants” nestled next to flea bag motels in the bad side of town.

Yesterday we sat down at our table and the hostess handed us our menus. Our very sticky, could hardly open them, menus. Um…yuck. They are plastic. They are meant to be wiped down. Get a damn washcloth, preferably a clean one, and wipe down your menus at night. It will take a teenager all of fifteen minutes to do.

I ordered those New York Cheesecake pancakes and then reached for my napkin to unwrap my silverware. What did I find? One knife. No fork. Not even a spoon. And the knife? It was filthy. If you know anything about me you know that I am very picky about goes in to my mouth. I have been known to push my plate away and not eat another morsel if somebody touches my food. I will not drink from a cup in a restaurant if they do not bring me a straw. And I definitely will not eat with a disgusting, dirty knife.

The waitress brought me a whole new set of silverware. A full set. With an actual fork, spoon and knife. I examined each of them very closely checking for dirty food parcels or anything else out of the ordinary. All looked good except for the fork. One of the prongs was completely bent out of shape. It looked like it had been caught in the garbage disposal or something. It made it quite an experience to eat with. And I don’t mean that in a good way.

I showed my fork to Keaton and said, “I’m going to start bringing my own silverware to restaurants.”

He didn’t miss a beat and responded with, “Of course you are. I can totally see you doing that. You’ll probably even bring your own plate and ask them to put your food on that.”

He knows me so well.

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Sunday Linky Love (with a side of Thank You)

Christine — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:49:04 +0000

Before we get to Sunday Linky Love I want to give two big THANK YOUs to some really great people who went out of their way to help Iowa flood victims.

Lance of Dad2Twins who raised $160 on his blog. That money went directly to a young family with two boys who are in desperate need of some help. FEMA basically screwed them and they are now in the middle of a very long appeals process. They’ve lost almost everything they own and FEMA wants to give them $3,100. Seriously?!? In the meantime they have no place to call homes. Their boys can’t sleep in their own beds or play in their own rooms. It’s all really sad. Please head over to http://www.davisdollars.com so you can help too.

Dawn of The Joy of Twins sent a huge box of baby clothes and accessories for families with baby boys. There is so much great stuff in there I can’t wait to to divvy it out to those families in need.

Thank you so much Lance and Dawn! This blogging community is so wonderful and it’s people like the two of you that make me so happy and proud to be a part of it.

Speaking of people in need, Lisa at Clusterfook needs your help. She is battling her THIRD bout of cancer and the treatment isn’t working. And she’s worried about taking care of her family. Go over to her site now and help her out so she can worry about her treatment. We’ll take care of the rest.

The Ninja Poodle family had a devastating loss this week when they lost Bella’s young pony to a completely unexpected death. *Hugs* for the whole family.

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the big BlogHer conference was this weekend in San Francisco. A lot of really great bloggers live blogged many of the sessions. Some sessions I loved reading about were It’s my life’s post on a Photography and the Commercial Momosphere, Public Parenting and Privacy (yes I’m pretty much stalking her blog now. Plus I love Wannabe Hippies post on Beautiful Blogging and Positive Posting and Simply Shenuts (aka The Simple Family, Shenuts and the Sarcastic Journalist) post on Taking Back Naked Blogging.

Got twins? Or two little ones who still ride around in a stroller? Head over to Child’s Play X2 for a chance to win a great double stroller.

I knew we could buy Wii points, but I hadn’t really thought about why you would do that. But now that I know I can buy the old Mario Bros game I’ll all over it.

Did you know that being gay is just like being straight only different? With all the hate and bigotry you’d think they were some strange specie or something, but it turns out they are just like us. Go figure.

There will be a helluva lot more babies entering the world if birth control pills are considered a form of abortion.

What?!? No alcohol at your reunion? Alcohol is the best part of a reunion.

I cracked up when I read these excuses for breaking up with a boyfriend. I have to admit, I’m right there with you on some of these.

Would you have dated your husband if you knew him back in high school?

Dear Toys R Us, what Vintage Thirty said.

With Playboy showing off the hottest bloggers, Jane’s blog is asking who are the hottest male bloggers. All the guys are wonderful, but I’m Pete Cashmore all the way. That man can eat crackers in my bed any day. (I mean if I wasn’t already happily married. :))

A big congrats to A Madison Mom on the birth of her beautiful little girl; Ana Sophie. She is quite an angel (with a mind of her own).

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I think this whole argument made me delusional

Christine — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:24:49 +0000

The other day we were driving along in our automobile and the kids were in the back doing what they always do; arguing. I wasn’t listening at first, but apparently the fight was about Power Rangers. Caleb swears the Power Rangers have a sword. But Skyler is pretty sure they don’t.

Caleb: Yes, they do.

Skyler: No, they don’t.

Caleb: Yes, they do.

Skyler: No, they don’t.

Well you get the picture.

Then Spencer piped in with, “Skyler, do you even watch Power Rangers?”

Skyler: Well I’ve seen it.

Caleb: Well I watch it all the time so I should no.

Skyler: Well I think you are delusional from watching too much Power Rangers.

Caleb: I am not delusional.

Skyler: Do you even know what delusional means?

Caleb: Umm…Mom, what does “delusional” mean?

Me: I’m not in this argument. Just leave me out of it.

Caleb: Well we just need to know what delusional means.

Me: It means crazy.

Caleb: (looking at Skyler) What?!? You calling me crazy? You’re crazy.

Skyler: No I’m not. You are.

Caleb: No, you are.

Skyler: No, you are.

And we come right back around.

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Foggy Albuterol brain

Christine — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:24:41 +0000

I’ve been having some not so smart moments lately. I blame my asthma. All that Ventolin has gone straight to my brain and killed off some brain cells.

First, my bluetooth headset died a sad, watery death. The kids and I were at the pool (as we are at least three times a week). I took off my headset in preparation for heading in to the pool to hang out with the kids. I lathered each of the kids up with sunscreen and they all ran off. Then I lathered myself up and I realized I had nobody to get my back. So I grabbed my headset (because it was easier than searching through my bag for my phone) and called Lee. He was supposed to be meeting us at the pool and I wanted to know how close he was; if I should wait for him to come slick up my back with sunscreen or if I should just go ahead and perform some contortionist routine to try to reach every inch. I was hoping for the former because there were a lot of people at the pool and god forbid I look like some weirdo trying to save myself from all things hot and crispy.

But Lee didn’t answer. So instead I began my circus routine. And I think I did a very good job, thank you very much.

Then I made my way to the pool. I like to start at the shallow end. Our city pools were all redone in the last few years and they have these zero-entry, um, entrances (like a beach). So I started there, getting my toes wet. Then I moved further in letting my ankles feel the cold water. Eventually my knees were covered. Followed by my hips. I tend to be a total wimp about getting in to the pool. The water is cold and I’m not to thrilled with cold water. The kids just dive right in and they are good for the rest of the afternoon. Not me. I like to ease my way in.

Eventually I made my way over to the kids. By that point I was about armpit deep in the water. We were splashing around. They kept getting out and then diving back in. I was just floating around watching them.

Then I realized…I still had my headset in. Oops. I ripped it off my ear. I hadn’t put my head underwater yet so I was hoping it would be ok. I gave it to Skyler and asked her to run it back to our bag. We’ll just let it dry out and see how it goes. I’m sure it will be fine.

Well it’s been almost a week and the thing is still dead as a doornail. I think I need to come to grips with the fact that my old bluetooth is no more. I’ve been wearing dark clothes in mourning.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I went and lost (one of) my Ventolin inhalers. I’ve been have an asthma “episode” for a couple of weeks now. I had been so good with my asthma. No inflammations in quite some time. I was only using my inhaler when I worked out. I was doing so well my doctor reduced my medication.

And now I can’t breath.

I don’t think it’s due to the reduction in medication though. I think it’s due to the flooding and the fact that Lee and I went “in the zone” and took some pictures. With the windows down. Which totally gave me a headache. It smells that bad. Imagine everything you own covered in sludgy, poopy, oily water…for five days. Yeah, that’s exactly what it smells like.

I’ve been trying to put off going to the doctor because I’m really cheap. I’d have to pay my $15 co-pay not to mention having to take the time to actually call the doctor. And then drive to the doctor. And then sit in the office. (Granted I live about five minutes from my doctor and they always get me right in, but still.)

But my breathing has been getting worse and worse. I’ve been using my peak flow monitor (which measures how much air I can get out) and it’s been, well, not good to put it mildly. It’s gotten to the point where I’m using my inhaler several times a day and I wake up in the middle of the night with coughing fits. (I can’t tell you how much Lee enjoys that.)

Two nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night, reached for my inhaler, took a puff and then placed it on my stomach while I waited the minute you are supposed to take before you take your next puff. Only I’m a really heavy sleeper and I was only half awake to even get that one puff in. So within that minute I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning and reached for my inhaler for a little albuterol breakfast, it wasn’t there. I strained my brain trying to figure out when I used it last. I remembered using it the night before but I was already in bed. I’m sure I put it back on the nightstand. Where else would I have put it.

Then I remember the middle of the night hacking. I searched the sheet and blanket for my inhaler. Nothing.

I searched the floor by my bed. Nothing.

What the heck?

I was tired of looking so I headed downstairs to use my “desk inhaler.” (I have inhalers stashed all over the house. I have a purse inhaler, a desk inhaler, a couch inhaler and a nightstand inhaler. I’ve been thinking about adding a kitchen inhaler just to be safe.) Last night I tried to look again because I knew I’d need it in the middle of the night and if I didn’t have one close I’d end up breaking a leg trying to make my way down the stairs in the midst of labored breathing and sleep-depravity. But I still couldn’t find it. Then I got on the floor on all fours, nose running (because it does that when I bend over…still) and looked under the bed. And there it was. Nestled in the carpet halfway under the bed. I’m thinking I must have turned on my side, flung the inhaler against the wall and it flew under the bed.

Hopefully I won’t have to worry about the effects of albuterol brain soon because I finally went to the doctor yesterday. I’m now on the highest doses of Prednisone I’ve ever been on (but don’t worry, I’m taking in my calcium to counteract the bone issues) and I’ve been instructed to stay as far as I can from the flood clean-up (which I have been ever since the picture taking event anyway). So hopefully I’ll be back to my normal intelligent (?!?) self soon.

And I bought a new bluetooth headset to go with my new Blackberry Curve and I’m pretty darn thrilled about them both.

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Some news and some whine

Christine — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:17:44 +0000

So today is Wednesday and normally we would be enjoying Working Wednesday, but not today. Because today…SURPRISE…it’s moved to a new site. I’m now writing over at Iowa Moms along with a bunch of other wonderful Iowans. Come on over and check it out. I’ll be spilling all about balancing work and family and whatever else pops in to my head. Be sure to go back daily.

Since we aren’t talking about working today let’s talk about what everybody else is talking about; BlogHer. While thousands of women (and a few men) were at BlogHer last year, Mrs. Flinger and I vowed nothing would keep us from the big conference next year. Well here we are at next year and I’m not going. (But Mrs. Flinger is so at least one of us kept up our end of the bargain.) I thought I was ok with my decision not to go this year. But now that everybody is talking about it I’m kicking myself. Decisions are so hard. Be a good mom and spend time with the kids or go to San Francisco and get drunk with a bunch of great bloggers. I think the choice is obvious. And I obviously made the wrong choice.

Oh I kid. (Sort of.) I’m not going to BlogHer because Keaton and Justis are in Texas. At church camp. You know what a basketcase I am when the kids are at church camp. They come home on Saturday. And we have tickets to see High School Musical the play on Saturday night. Justis has been with his mom for the last month. Then he’s in Texas this week. He’ll be home for one night (Saturday night) and then back with him mom for another three weeks. So I figured I’d better stay home so we could all spend time together as a family. I’m such a sucker for family.

But the good news is I’m going to BlogHer next year. (I know I said that last year and here we are. And honestly I’m not making any promises, but I think I’m going next year.) I might be going with my mom. She’s thinking about starting her own geeky blog. About being a Business Analyst. She hasn’t started her blog yet, but she’s already thinking of going to BlogHer with me next year. So I’m holding her to it.

In the meantime I’m following Erika’s “I’m not going to BlogHer” survival guide. I’ll be stalking her on Twitter and I might even call her to see what’s up. Because I must know what’s going on. I wish she would just carry around her laptop and do some streaming video for the full weekend. But I’ll take what I can get. Also, I’ve informed Java Jenn that she needs to drunk dial me to keep me updated. So I should be well informed.

Until then I’ll just be over here crying in my yogurt Cheerios.

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Does Wall-E hate fat people?

Christine — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:28:21 +0000

Oh for crying out loud. Apparently there is a big controversy over the Disney/Pixar movie Wall-E. I guess some overweight people are upset about the way Wall-E portrays fat people. Give me a break.

If you haven’t seen the movie let me give you a run down. It’s a cute love story between Wall-E, an old robot who was left on Earth to clean up the mess left by people, and Eve, a new robot Wall-E unexpectedly runs in to. The premise of the movie is that people are not taking care of their planet and eventually it gets so bad it can no longer sustain life. Since people can’t live on Earth they are all hanging out in a spaceship. On the spaceship technology takes over and people start to live a very sedentary lifestyle.

Nowhere in the movie did they make fun of fat people. They did not make the people seem like bad people. In fact it was just the opposite. The people were all very nice people. They were just average people who were lured in by the power of technology and getting what they want without truly realizing the consequences. The movie was just showing what could happen if we don’t stop to think about what we are doing to our environment and ourselves.

Hello?!? Are you looking around? Have you seen the obesity epidemic that is going on; especially in the U.S. Part of the epidemic is due to our sedentary lifestyles and our love for all things fast food. When we were kids we didn’t have computers or video games or 500 cable channels. Instead we had bikes to ride, trees to climb and games of tag to win. But kids today are hanging out inside with the butts plastered to a chair in front of some kind of screen. Sound familiar? Yeah, it sounds like the exaggerated lifestyle everybody on the spaceship in the movie in Wall-E is living.

Yes some people gain weight due to medical condition, such as a thyroid issue, or as a side effect of some medication they need to take. But many gain weight because they don’t eat well and they don’t exercise. The movie was just trying to point out that if we don’t take care of ourselves and if we rely to heavily on technology rather than our legs we may end up obese.

People just need to get over themselves and let a kids movie be a kids movie.

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Pardon my fast food rant. It’s late. And I’m hungry.*

Christine — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:07:41 +0000

What ad agency is Burger King relying on for their current ad campaign? The last few campaigns have been downright disgusting.

There was the Western Whopper which makes you grow a mustache. Who in the hell wants a mustache from eating a burger? That so does not make me want to run right out and get me one of those.

And now they have these infuriating commercials for the Steakhouse burger. Apparently you have to do something exception to be deserving of a Steakhouse burger or else you get slapped or called names. Seriously?!? It’s a fucking hamburger from a fast food joint. It costs what $4.59 when you buy it with a large fry and drink. Give me a break.

I stopped eating at Hardee’s because they gear their advertising towards men. Which would be fine if they didn’t also alienate women in the process. But their advertising made it very clear that they just want big, hungry men to come eat at their restaurant. So I was more than happy to let them have them. I wonder if that’s why many of their restaurants have closed. Coincidence? I think not.

Now Burger King is getting on my damn nerves with their stupid commercials. They aren’t funny. They are just ridiculous. I thought the point of advertising was to convince people to come spend money on your crap. I guess that concept was lost on the fast food chains.

*I blame Ninja Poodles for posting photos of quiche.

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Sunday Linky Love

Christine — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:19:48 +0000

Just when i was starting to scream “that dirty bastard…”

A little time management tip.

What?!? There are people who have never heard of Andrew McCarthy?

A conversation with her ass. And her asses response.

Apparently Dockers, JC Penneys and TLC Marketing all suck big time. And TLC Marketing’s customer service is really, really bad.

Rockstar Mommy is back. Well not really, but sort of.

I know some of these Muffia members. And I hate them.

I have so been there. In fact I was just there last week. Aren’t kids fun?

Always remember your blog can be used against in a court of law.

Still looking for a way to help out the Iowa flood victims, buy a t-shirt.

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