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Archive for the ‘My Soap Box’ Category

It’s Christmastime, So Soon?

It Seems Christmas Comes Earlier Each Year

Good Grief! It's Christmas already?

I was driving home from work tonight and was playing around with the channels on my radio when what to my wandering ears should I hear, but a radio station playing Christmastime cheer?  Well, that’s not exactly how the poem goes but you get the idea.  Here it is only November 19th -one week from Thanksgiving- and B1o1, a local Philly station, is playing Christmas music 24 hours a day.  I haven’t even sat down to eat that sumptuous Thanksgiving feast I wrote about in my last post and I’m already getting bombarded with the holiday season.  I thought the Christmas season didn’t start until Santa showed up at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. What the hell happened?

Actually, I shouldn’t be surprised.  It was two days after Halloween when I saw my first Christmas commercial.  At first I thought it was a parody of some kind and then I slowly realized that it was nothing but a lousy Christmas commercial. I almost dropped the Halloween candy I was eating as I looked around my living room that was still decorated with Jack-o-lanterns, witches, and skeletons. It sure didn’t look like Christmas, at my house at least.  But the commercials kept coming.

And it sure doesn’t feel like Christmas.  Christmas is winter and snow and hot cocoa. We’ve had a fairly warm fall and half of the trees still have their brown leaves clinging to them. In fact, we have a tree around the corner from my house that still has yellow leaves on it. It’s kind of weird driving around in a light jacket, with leaves on the trees, the grass is still mostly green, and I’m listening to Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart sing, “Baby it’s cold outside.”  It’s definitely not cold outside. It’s the fall and Thanksgiving is the Autumn holiday we should be preparing for, not Christmas! Not yet… (more…)

Category:

Holidays, My Soap Box

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Reynolds Wrap Corporation – How Could Ye?

Reynolds Discontinues the Amazing Handi-Vac Food Storage System!


Reynolds discontinued

I have one question beyond the obvious “Why?” and that is:  Where are the protesters wrapped in aluminum foil? Where are the supermarket sit ins? Where are the throngs of angry crowds in the streets tossing their freezer burned steaks at the police?  Where are the homemakers down on their knees in anguish with their arms stretched up towards the Gods crying out for icicle-free food?  And even more important, why wasn’t I alerted before my stash of handi-vac bags had been depleted? Okay, so that’s more than one question. Sue me.

handivacI had found what I believed to be the most handy and useful kitchen appliance/tool since the toaster oven:  The Reynolds Handi-Vac Vacuum Food Storage System.  The system consists of the Handi-Vac and the Handi-Vac freezer bags.  Simply place your food product into the Handi-Vac bag, seal it, and start pumping out the air.  Just like those systems that costs hundreds of dollars, this handy $9.99 tool sucked all the air out of the freezer bag, keeping our meats and veggies and just about anything else absolutely freezer burn free for months and months and months and all at a fraction of the cost.  We even used it to keep cheese and lunch meats fresher longer.  In fact, it kept my scrapple fresh for weeks longer than it would have had I put it in a conventional bag… (more…)

Category:

My Soap Box, Product Reviews

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Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

You Never Know What’s Inside Until You’ve Squished Them
chocolates

Okay, Life is like a box of "cheap" chocolates. The good stuff always comes with a chart.

I know that yesterday’s post was kind of a downer, but I was feeling down and that’s the way it goes sometimes.  With everything else going on, I had an appointment with my counselor yesterday at 5:00.  Yes, I am seeing a counselor.  It’s no biggie. I’ve gone to them in the past when I felt it was needed:  when I first broke up with Janine and when Heather moved in with Chip and Me. (All three of us went.)

My counselor was concerned because we were discussing some very nasty things that happened to me as a child. (Things I will never discuss on this blog.) He was worried that I could get upset or react destructively. I was confident that I would not allow myself to do either.  After we finished, I think we were both kind of right.

hole_in_my_head_poster-p228545496660251823trma_400As I drove home afterwords, all these ugly old images and thoughts were racing through my head.  I hate to admit it, but I was a little shaken.  Maybe shaken is too strong a word—but I can’t seem to find the right word to fit the situation.  When I got home, I could sense those old feelings of self-loathing sneaking up on me. I decided I wasn’t going to let them beat me. After I walked, the dogs, I plopped my butt in front of the computer to check my emails even as the old demons stalked me from inside my head… (more…)

Category:

Life In General, My Soap Box

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Eagles Sign Michael Vick

And Lose the Pre-season Opener


vick

I raced home after rehearsal last night to catch the end of the 3rd quarter of the Eagles’ pre-season opener. I switched on the set to see the Eagles were trailing considerably behind the Patriots. In true Eagles fashion, they fought back, trailing by only 2 points with less than a minute left in the game. Unfortunately, David Ackers missed the 40+ yard field goal attempt and we lost the game. As I was just about to turn off the game, an announcement came that big, shocking news was coming from the Eagles camp: The Eagles had signed dog killer Michael Vick! (Yup, that’s how they announced it, “dog killer.” And yes, he is a dog killer.)

philadelphia_eagles-3778Now it wasn’t so shocking that Vick was signed. I expected some team to sign him; however, it was shocking that the Eagles signed him. Since I live in the Philly area, this is really BIG news.

The news broadcast started with the same “dog killer” title and went into details about Vick’s arrest and the violent treatment that dogs suffered at his hands. They continued on about how he had spent 18 months in jail and how many speculated he would never play football again. But play he will and for the Philadelphia Eagles, none-the-less… (more…)

Category:

My Soap Box, Politics, Uncategorized

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Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Trashing of the Pacific Ocean


pollution

Man is destroying the Earth at an alarming rate. From  greenhouse gases to deforestation to overfilled landfills loaded with plastic products that will last longer than the dinosaurs did, we are slowly poisoning our future on this planet.

"It's not global warming. It's just God blowing us a kiss."

"It's not global warming. It's just God blowing us a kiss."

As huge chunks of Antarctic ice shelves plunge into the ocean at rates unprecedented in human history, right-wing political pundits decry the warnings of ecologists and scientists, claiming that there is nothing wrong and labeling these scholars as mere alarmists.  These self-righteous know-it-alls stand on their soapboxes ranting that there’s no need to spend money to protect our oceans or save a couple of bald eagles and a few trees when so many people are out of work and can’t afford health care.  The Earth can take care of herself.

Yes, I believe the Earth will take care of herself. But at what cost – the extinction of man?  How many examples of our abuse do we need before we make radical changes? I recently read about a problem I knew nothing about, a massive plastic floating debris field, called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located a thousand miles off the coast of California… (more…)

Category:

Green Planet, My Soap Box

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Surrounded by Death

Yet Life Goes On…

GrimReaper000I spoke to my mom on the way home from work yesterday and she was in a panic. She was sure my stepfather, Al, was dying. I call my mother every day during my drive home from work.  I have a 30 – 40 minute drive home each day and this is the perfect opportunity to spend time with my Mother that I normally wouldn’t get to spend.

Before anyone gets worked up about my using the cell phone while driving, I use my bluetooth.  It’s a hands free device that hangs from my ear.  It requires no dialing and no looking at my phone. I think it’s even safer than talking to a passenger in the car because I don’t have to fight the urge to look at the person sitting next to me as I talk to them and drive…

Heather and her Pop-pop from last week.
Heather and her Pop-pop from last week.

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Category:

Life In General, My Soap Box

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Memes and Other Words to Meditate on

meme

I was recently over at Linh’s blog, Girl in Georgia, reading her latest post regarding a “words” meme.  Apparently, she had been visiting her friend Leigh’s blog and stumbled across a particular word meme post she liked. Isn’t this how these meme things work, anyway? It’s like those old shampoo commercials where you tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on.

And so, the meme works in this way.  The person who writes the post has been provided 5 words that somehow relate to them from a blogger who had previously written a words meme post.  The new blogger must write about (meditate about, whatever that means) how they relate to them. Gosh, this is sounding complicated. This is how Linh put it:

Reply to this post… and I’ll give you 5 words that remind me of you.  Then post to your own blog with your meditations on those words, inviting others to ask you for words.

memes-dangerSo if you’d like me to give you 5 words that you then have to post about on your blog, read through to the end and leave a comment.  Actually, you can read through to the end even if you don’t want me to give you 5 words.  (I usually don’t participate in memes but I decided to throw caution to the wind.)  Linh gave me these 5 words:

Strong  Honest  Genuine  Thespian  Father

Yikes. There are some pretty deep words here. Well, here we go… (more…)

Category:

Blogging, My Soap Box

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Random Stuff – Gay Slurs, Friendships, Engagements, and No-salt Diets

Iwhatever seem to be having an issue with writing a new post for my blog lately.  I’ve been feeling a little bit ambivalent regarding everything and I am not quite sure why. Actually, I think I do know why. It’s a stupid little pattern of apathy that I have been fighting since I was in my teens. So what made me write now? Well, I was walking the dogs a few moments ago and it’s quite dark.  As I crossed the street and walked over the railroad tracks to the strip of turf where the dogs do their business, a car drove up to the nearest intersection.  Stopping, it then turned right and just after it passed me, one of the riders yelled, “faggot.”  Actually, it was more like a squeal–a gritted mouth shriek that sounded like someone who was trying to talk and force a bowel movement at the same time.

It was really a cry–a desperate kind of “I had to yell a gay slur at you or it was gonna kill me, cause gay guys scare me cause the thought of gay sex sort of excites me and that scares me” kind of cry.  And he waited until he was past me and then yelled it out, like an after thought or as if he had to wait so I couldn’t see his face. Or maybe he was afraid I’d yell something back at him like, “Stop and let me do you, you hot straight guy” because we all know that gay men want to do straight men, especially when they yell homophobic slurs at them while they are walking their dogs late in the evening… (more…)

Category:

Gay Issues, Life In General, My Soap Box

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Perez Hilton Is A Jackass

The Million Dollar Boo-Boo on the Biggest Boo-Boo of All

The Million Dollar Boo-Boo on the Biggest Boo-Boo of All

Perez Hilton (aka Mario Lavandeira) steps up to the plate and once again proves that he really is a truly despicable idiot. When the first announcement of Michael Jackson’s cardiac arrest hit the airwaves, Perez jumped the gun and posted a rather vile attack on the king of pop over at Perez’s website. Obviously unaware of the seriousness of a cardiac arrest, Perez suggested Michael was merely “faking it” and recommended that fans demand refunds for his upcoming concert.

As soon as it became apparent that the story was true and Michael was dead, Perez edited the post to sound like he was sad to discover that Michael was seriously ill. Fortunately, the folks over at Gawker.com saved the original post and I would like to share that with you: (more…)

Category:

Gay Issues, My Soap Box

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Am I A Bad Person?

I've been a bad, bad boy! (or have I?)

I've been a bad, bad boy! (or have I?)

So last night I went to Blockbuster to feed my latest addiction-buying previously owned movies. I was specifically looking for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. (Lycans are Werewolves) This is the third movie in the Underworld Series, which involves werewolves and vampires. I knew it was out on DVD but the last time I was at Blockbuster it was not out on the “Previously Viewed but Now For Sale” shelves. I was hoping I would get lucky. To my giddy, movie-addicted pleasure, it was now for sale as previously viewed.

blockbuster-logoBlockbuster has been running an ongoing special where all previously viewed dvds marked $9.99 are 4 for $20 and all the ones marked $14.99 were 3 for $20. Unfortunately, the promotion changed so that all $14.99 movies were now 2 for $20. I was aggravated at the price increase but my excitement over wanting to watch the movie overrode my cheapness. I decided to buy it anyway… (more…)

Category:

Life In General, My Soap Box

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