There is an article about Ron Paul in this month’s Esquire magazine. While I did manage to learn quite a bit about Ron Paul in the article, and perahps I dont’ think he is as goofy as I once did, I found this infographic to be the most entertaining.
President Obama, Sarah Palin, George W Bush, and some of my other favroites are displayed!
Since around the start of the year, I’ve been doing my best to really reduce the amount of $$ I’ve been spending at lunch, as well as the intake of crap I’ve been eating during it. My solution so far, soup. Now I’m not going to tell you that I’ve mastered the art of the Amazing Soup Diet, even though it does sound good. I don’t have much time for it. I bring leftovers as often as I can, and since I’m trying to clear out my pantry again, I’ve been cooking more. As far as days when I don’t have leftovers, it’s off ot the selection of soups in a box under my desk. Variety is key, including low fat as well as tasty fatty versions for days when I am hitting the gym or just need a bit more of a comfort food style.
Some tips that seem to make this easier:
I have found that that it actually hinders my efforts if I buy from big box clubs such as BJ’s or Sams. Reason being, variety. If you have only two or three flavors of soup, you are going to get really tired of them really quickly. Every week a different brand of soup is on sale, go grab a nice varied selection.
Soup isn’t always healthy, read the labels. I keep really healthy options on hand for weeks when I’ve been bad at night, and more flavorful ones for when I’ve been good or going to gym.
If trying to lose weight, watch out for not only the fat content on the soup, but the crackers. I try to limit myself to 4 Club crackers per lunch, but that is more of a guideline and sometimes I need to increase it.
Keep a little TVP (textured vegetable protein) in your magic lunch box too, just a few tablespoons will not only add protein to anything, it will add some texture, which helps cut down on the need for fatty crackers.
Give yourself a reward day during the week. Let’s face it, some days you just don’t want soup or leftovers.
I had off yesterday for President’s Day, which I used to take care of two important things, my house and my booze. First up was the house, following my win against the termites, I applied two coats of Drylock to my previously untreated walls, refreshing the general area. That being completed for the day, and I a beer or two in, I switched gears to the booze. After all, I did have to let the paint cure! One of the biggest pains for me is where to put fluids as I’m transferring them. There are beer buckets, and carboys of wine and potassium metabisulfite, it’s always a process to rack or move something. So I finally broke down and purchased a spigot for some of the empty juice buckets, drilled the hole, and verified that it doesn’t leak. This should make things much easier/faster. In addition, I treated myself to an auto-siphon, picked up two gallon jugs for some test batches of fruit wines, and who knows what. After the tortuous process of peeling the labels off of what seemed like a billion bottles (or just over a case), I started to sterilize everything. Next I racked the Syrah into a bucket, cleaned the carboy, put the wine back in, then added some chitosan for clarity. Just to note, I previously added a bit of potassium sorbate as well as MBS to kill off some fermentation and avoid fizzyness. After that, I decided to bottle the batch of Bavarian Wheat I’ve had going. I’m a bit nervous about it, I left it in the primary bucket for 21 days, it was COLD down there, and I think it needed a bit more time. It smelled great, can’t wait to taste it. I also, started up a 1 gallon batch of “White grape raspberry wine” and some “Ginger Beer”.
So I’m upset with Starbucks, to the point where I’m done with them until at least, 2012. Considering my office is in the same parking lot as a Starbucks, where I love the people, that says a lot. The short version of the long story goes something like this. For the past 4 years that our office was in this location, since the owner’s of the company I work for also goto SBUX daily, I’ve been purchasing them gift cards for Christmas. This year, I decide to spice it up a bit more than the standard plain off the shelf card, what a mistake that was.
On December 10th, 2010 I placed my order, which included an extra $8.00 charge, which I was able to accept as I thought my gift would stand out more to them.
On December 12th it shipped, under the auspice of taking “6-8 business days” from the Starbucks website and my order email, which has since been changed on the website, not sure about the order emails.
On December 22nd, I email them and explain that it’s now been over 8 business days and the order has not arrived, and inquired if it had been returned or lost. There is no response for a few days
On December 23rd, I call support, and I’m rudely told that it’s 7-12 business days, and there is nothing they can do since it’s USPS. Also, it’s “unreasonable to question” why it takes an envelope over week to travel anywhere in this country. Worse case scenario, Seattle to NJ, will only take a few days at best. I explain my displeasure with the entire situation to the service rep, who acts like he doesn’t care, but claims he will let his supervisor know of my displeasure with the entire process, per my request. The CSR did not offer me any type of ticket number.
On December 24th, get a response to my email sent on the 22nd, they say wait until the 12th business day then contact them again. This time, I get a ticket number.
On December 28th, I respond to the email explaining how I have now been embarrassed in front of my employers, and quite upset with the Starbucks brand. I request in the same email that the cards be reprinted.
On January 4th, I respond to the same email asking if there is any status change or if anything has happened. All the while keeping the subject line intact with the order info, as well as all ticket numbers.
On January 5th, I get a response saying to call, with yet another ticket number, so I do. On the phone, all of my existing ticket numbers don’t help her find any real information, so I give her the order string. She tries to find me in their system, to see if I have a Starbucks card, then gets snippy with me for trying to explain that they are shipping to my office. After about 30 minutes she’s able to tell me that the cards were “signed for, then redeemed”. I ask her how they could be signed for if they are just plain USPS, and she’s unsure, then ask her when they were used or redeemed. Again, she’s unsure. I’m now told that this will have to be escalated, however I can’t speak to anyone about the issue, but she’s got a ticket full of the info, and of course a new ticket number, and someone will contact me with the resolution.
On January 19th, since I have not heard a word back from any supervisors I call back, and a very nice woman tells me there is an update to my last ticket I’m to be refunded because they are unable to reprint custom cards. I explain to her that so far this has been going on for well over a month, and I’ve now spent about two hours of my life on the phone trying to resolve this, she is very apologetic and agrees that the entire thing is a mess.
On January 27th, a week and a day later, I contact my credit card company do charge back the initial charge.
On February 1st, someone calls me back and says “we see you disputed the charges, but we are going to send you coupons for a free coffee”..
I’m not going to sit here and rant and rave any further, but those of you in my office, and anyone in my personal life knows all about how badly this one was botched. My recommendation is don’t’ bother wasting your time with Starbucks support staff, and especially don’t bother with custom gift cards. In short, thanks for screwing up my office Christmas and making me look like an ass Starbucks.
At least I’ll save a ton of $$ by either buying coffee elsewhere or making my own. Now enjoy this funny, and freshly updated video:
Sadly, it looks like we lost a few posts from 2010. Here is the rest of the year in short:
July:
Did some traveling
Went to some Phillies and Riversharks baseball games
Of course, a lot of drinking and picnics
Helped run a benefit which raised about 3k for a family.
August:
Plenty of drinking and enjoying the summer with my friends and family.
Our annual fishing trip was a failure because I wasn’t involved enough.
Shot some big guns at the Widows Sons first annual ATF.
Did a pub crawl in Rehoboth
September:
Nearly got into a fight with some jag-off at the Red Bull Flugtag cause he felt he was entitled to take the spot I had been standing in for 5 hours.
Did a pub crawl in Philly, missed the ferry on the way back, well sorta…..
Again did some traveling, put lots of seat time on the bike.
Helped at the Hogs for Hounds Benefit by the WS.
Started a new batch of Syrah.
October:
Did a few rides/poker runs, all enjoyable.
During Restaurant week, I reviewed a few new places for the other blog.
Went to see Social D in Philly.
Hit a few Halloween parties, as well as a late Oktoberfest (it’s actually in September)
Joined the Knight’s Templar, confirmed my belief that one should only join the Royal Arch path after they are a PM
November:
Started off the month in Key West, how can you go wrong with that???
My guys did a great job at GLI even if some people are already predisposed to dislike us, but that’s fine, it makes us stronger.
Plenty of family/friend times between the holidays and wine tastings and such
December:
Installations, Installations, Installations.
Finished up my year as WM, what a year and experience it was. I learned a lot about people, an experience I might try to do some things differently, but not that many. I have many many thoughts on this, but sadly I’ll need to keep most of those close to my heart. I’m glad I gave a year of my life to the lodge, but it’s time for someone else to take the reins.
January:
Started off 2011 with a nice kiss from a nice girl, or two.
Started my new role as Lodge Secretary, lots of work to get in order.
Started Geocaching more often, thanks to a new portable GPS as well as one for my car.
Visited Massachusetts for the weekend
More wine tasting’s, I won my first contest with a Zinfandel
The first GLI I wasn’t required to be at, but I did goto the M&W meeting to help get the assessments sorted out.
I didn’t do as well at the Shipwreck Brewery Chili cookoff as I had hoped, 5th place
Started a batch of Bavarian Wheat Ale, can’t wait to taste this one and start another.
These are just some broad strokes, but as always been busy and I like it that way.
In keeping with my riding the bike for at least 15 miles a month routine (it’s been many more on the non winter months), last night I took my ride for January. Which clearly it was the frosty ball run. For the most part, I’ve been keeping fairly warm, but I’ve got a few issues to resolve. First, I wear old school Under Armour, the one with the fuzzy inside, I assume it’s what they call the Cold Base now, as I got mine years ago. The last ride I took in December, there were snow flurries coming down, and just the UA under the jeans wasn’t enough. So last night I wore a pair of long johns over the UA. That seemed to help cut the wind down on my legs. I think what I need to do is put fleece or something inside the pant legs to really kill the wind, that and remember my hand/toe warmers. Beyond that, it was a good run. I’m still working on the fogging of the goggles part, but I think I can solve that fairly easy.
When Santa Claus comes to town this week, he’d better watch out — because the federal government may be making a list of his crimes (and checking it twice), the Libertarian Party warned today.
“Hark the federal agents sing, Santa is guilty of nearly everything,” said former Libertarian Party press secretary George Getz. “The feds know when Santa’s been bad or good — and he’s been bad, for goodness sakes.”
Does Santa belong in the slammer? Instead of stuffing stockings, should he be making license plates?
Yes, said Getz, if he’s held to the same standards as a typical American.
For example:
* Every December 25, the illegal immigrant known as Santa Claus crosses the border into the United States without a passport. He carries concealed contraband, which he sneaks into the country in order to avoid inspection by the U.S. Customs Service. And just what’s in all those brightly colored packages tied up with ribbons, anyway? The Drug Czar and Homeland Security want to know.
* Look at how this international fugitive gets around: Santa flies in a custom-built sleigh that hasn’t been approved by the FAA. He never files a flight plan. He has no pilot’s license. In the dark of night, he rides the skies with just a tiny bioluminescent red light to guide him — a clear violation of traffic safety regulations.
* Pulling Santa’s sleigh: Eight tiny reindeer, a federally protected species being put to hard labor. None of these reindeer have their required shots, and Santa’s never bothered to get these genetically-engineered animals registered and licensed. It’s no wonder: He keeps them penned outside his workplace in a clear violation of zoning laws.
* But Crooked Claus the Conniving Capitalist harms more than just animals — he’s hurting hard-working American laborers, too. Isn’t Santa’s Workshop really Santa’s Sweatshop, where his non-union employees don’t make minimum wage and get no holiday pay? Add the fact that OSHA has never inspected the place, and you have a Third-World elf-exploitation operation that only Kathy Lee Gifford could love.
* No wonder Santa is able to maintain his monopoly over the toy distribution industry: He’s cornered the Christmas gift market. Santa dares to give away his products for free in a sinister attempt to crush all competition — just like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Antitrust Lawsuit Memo to the feds: Is Santa Claus the Bill Gates of Christmas?
The bottom line, said Getz: “It might be tough sledding for Jolly St. Nick this Christmas if the government decides to prosecute him.
“We’re just surprised it hasn’t already happened. After all, Santa Claus is everything that politicians aren’t: He’s popular, reliable, and gives us something for nothing every December 25th — instead of taking our money every April 15th.”
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