Powder Creamer

Powdered non-dairy creamer is to coffee what Busch is to beer. It's the ugly buck-toothed cousin who drools and you can see the food when she eats so no one will sit and eat by her at the family reunion. It is the crustified top piece of bologna. It is the end piece of bread. Looked over, passed by and heartily disdained by foodies of all creed. Oh, no powdered creamer for me, they say! What, you don't have CoffeeMate creamer? No half-n-half? I'll take it black. Black, I say, for no powdered creamer shall pass my hallowed lips! Foodies....hmph!

I love powdered creamer. It is my favorite. I use about two tablespoons in every cup of coffee I drink. It is lovely.....and delicious. Rich tasting, smooth, full of fat I am sure. Yum.

Milk in coffee? How gross. Fancy-pants CoffeeMate creamer? No thanks! Half-n-half? Nope-a-dope. Just pass me the ol' powdered creamer.

Bereft

I guess I can just thank myself. After all, I am the one who made the statement about my blog not being important or fun anymore. So, I really only have myself to blame for my lack of readership. That and neglect. However, I did find out that I'm getting readers (or clickers only, perhaps) from some place that rates my blog highly. Interesting, considering I haven't been writing lately for the most part and what little writing I have done is, well.....not riveting.

So, am I now bereft of readers, or will the trickle coming from that referring URL save my blog? Ah, it is a question that causes even the angels to weep. Sniff sniff.

Not exactly a patriot

So, I started sneezing last night. I haven't had allergies in years, so I fluffed it off as some random anomaly. Then, this morning it started again. I feel like someone has held my head underwater and when people speak, only bubbly words come out. As I'm getting my coffee this morning, however, I find out it is all China's fault. Talk around the "water cooler" was how everyone is suffering more from allergies because of all the excess rain lately. Apparently all that rain was caused by the Chinese firing anti-aircraft missiles into the sky trying to get rid of the clouds and rain for the Olympic games, and it is causing a global ruckus in the weather patterns. Thus, all our rain. Thus, all the mosquitoes. Thus, all the mold, pollen and other allergens reeking havoc with my formerly clear sinuses. And let's not even mention Chris's pain in his knees....

Well, all this talk about the Olympic games got me thinking. I remember when I was a kid it was a big deal at our house to watch the Olympics. Part of that was because we got one channel - WZZM TV 13, an ABC channel. What came on ABC, we watched. What was on other channels went unwatched by us (oh, the pain of not having seen the latest "Cosby Show" or "Charles in Charge" episode at the lunch table each week...) Plus, my mom loved watching the ice skating and gymnastics, so she kinda got all of us excited about it.

Having said all that, I have not watched the Olympics in like 12 years. I just do not care. So what happened? I guess the answer to that question lies in why we watch the Olympics in the first place. Sure, when we're kids we watch what channels we have (and if we only have 1 channel, we watch what our parents want to watch.) But now we are adults, so there must be new reasons since we have ultimate control over the other two variables mentioned here. There come to mind two main reasons why adults would watch the Olympics:
1. they love the sport, or at least have some interest in it
2. watching the Olympics and seeing Americans win is an exercise in patriotism; it just makes you proud to be an American.

Ok, well nix reason 1 for me right off the bat. No interest, at least not enough to push one of the multitudes of other urgent items off my plate.

Reason 2? Sorry, folks, but that holds no water with me either. I guess I'm not really a patriot. Have I had moments of feeling proud to be an American? Yes, there have been fleeting moments of pride before the feeling was wiped out by the memory of what a bunch of jack asses we are to the rest of the world. On every major issue, we are either hypocrites (rules apply to THEM, not us) or we just disregard completely what the rest of the world says and do what we want anyway. We consume more energy than the rest of the world while spouting off about green house gasses and what do we do? Throw the kids in the conversion van or the RV or the SUV and head on down the road on nice, hot, ozone-danger days. Or crank up the AC.

Oh, that reminds me of something funny ol' W said yesterday. He was speechifying about the economy when the subject of energy consumption came up and someone asked why he isn't telling Americans to drive less and turn the AC down. His response? "They're smart enough to figure out whether they're going to drive less or not. I mean, you know, it's interesting what the price of gasoline has done, is it caused people to drive less." Later, when pressed on the issue, he began to get a little hot about it, "One way to correct the imbalance is to save, is to conserve. And as you notice my statement yesterday, I talked about good conservation. And people can figure out whether they need to drive more or less; they can balance their own checkbooks." and then he went on, "But my point to you, Mark, is that, you know, it's a little presumptuous on my part to dictate to consumers how they live their lives."

Uh, is that the real issue, Mr Bush, or is it that our consumerism is what makes you and all your cronies rich? Wouldn't want to lose any market share by telling Americans to cut back, why noooooooo..... And that's exactly my point. Why NOT tell people to cut back, why not put our money where our mouth is? Sure, we want to talk about conserving energy as the way out of this mess but is anyone actually doing it?

I heard a report on NPR about a guy in CA that had a little "Green Earth Summit" in his community where there were presenters on how to go green and face painting with kids (soy paint, of course, not that evil petroleum-based paint) and that kind of stuff. His comment (I paraphrase here), "Well, I just wish that people who came were actually doing something about conserving energy instead of all driving their SUVs. I did see one Prius hybrid, though."

Pride? Did anyone say anything about American pride? I'm sorry....I must have been mistaken.

No one likes a know-it-alll anyway.....

So I tend to think of myself as well informed. I seem to know a lot more about stuff than most people I talk to. That in itself is quite gratifying but doesn't necessarily prove anything. So I happened to pick up NewsWeek or some other newsy-type magazine yesterday and was flipping through gleaning what knowledge I deemed worthy when I ran across a quick on-the-street-survey.

Now, let me premise what I am about to say with this: former surveys I've encountered of the what-does-the-man-on-the-street-know-about-whatever have all made Americans look pretty dumb. You know, stuff like when was the war of 1812? Uh, I dunno, in the 1700s? That kind of stuff. And we all know that people who watch The Daily Show with John Stewart or the Colbert Report are not well informed, they just think they are. Ditto with Rush Limbaugh, Al Franken and others. They talk about the news, but do not necessarily inform (not true, though, of us who listen to "Fresh Air" with Terry Grosse on NPR at lunchtime - very informative stuff).

Anyway, so we all agree on the stipulated premises. Ok, good. Now, just for your information, I watch John Stewart and Steven Colbert, but I get my news from CNN, NPR, Fox News and others. I try to get a variety of sources and compare in my brain the way the story is told on each channel. In other words, I try to stay informed in the real sense of the word.

So, I'm perusing this survey and I'm already in trouble with question 1:
Who is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve? Like 76% of respondents, I remember Alan Greenspan. But he's not there anymore, folks. It's Ben Bernanke. How could I have forgotten that name?
Question 2: Ok, I honestly don't remember the rest of the survey. But it had hard questions in it and what little I do remember involves my brain going, "huh?" and "What was his name again" and silly ol things like that.

So, I guess I'm not so informed. Not really a know-it-all. But what is sooooooo disturbing about that is I am kind of a news-hound. I actually try to learn stuff by listening to the news (so I can recite it later at the slightest opening and bore someone to tears with it....). I try to stay informed, up-to-date and increase my knowledge banks with all kinds of important information. Unfortunately, it looks like when it comes to a lot of the detail-ey things, I'm just not "tuning in." Or is it that news-spewers are so busy giving their opinion of the story, things like who the dang Federal Reserve Chairman is gets glossed over?

Yeah, I think that might be it.

It's all so interesting....

I've been getting up later and later each morning, but I do take time to listen to the news while I apply the daily face-lift (foundation, eye liner...you get my drift). Anyway, I've been watching this cable news show - channel 59 if you live in GH! - where they mostly talk politics. Well, are we all getting more stupid and petty or is it that there just isn't enough excitement in the political campaigns!?! They just report on the most inane things.

Now, I know you have all heard the flag pin controversy. It is stupid to me that people are saying Barack isn't patriotic because he never wears a flag pin. Well, I'm sorry to say I've never wore a flag pin in my life and I never intend to. How many of those outraged people have worn a flag pin, much less a flag pin every day? Give me a break.

Here's one really good story, though. The Jesse Jackson thing. Oooo, that was naughty! He got caught on mike waiting to get interviewed on some cable news show saying things like "I wanna cut his nuts off" about Barack Obama. Damn! What the hell....Jesse is really getting himself in hot water there. I can just imagine some little intern in the control booth going, 'ooo, I gotta hit the record button and make a name for myself by releasing it to the mainstream media!' Chris says the whole problem with this country is the media and sometimes I agree with him, but when your dream is to be a reporter, you don't really want to agree with that.

Anyway, that Jesse. What a crack ho. But lo and behold, the political pundits on this particular show used it as an opportunity to begin talking about how the emergence of Barack on the national political scene marginalized Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson, too. That, my people, is why Bill acted like such a donkey's butt during his wife's campaign (not because he's uncouth or too cool to care). And Jesse Jackson's comments? Also provoked by being marginalized by Barack Obama. Come on, people! Get real. I admire Bill Clinton for a lot of reasons, but his lack of personal PR savvy is not one of them. And Jesse Jackson has never made my short list of people I'd want talking about me. He's such a tongue-wagging say-anything. Rather reactionary, like myself.

One interesting thing came out of all the pundit-ing going on in regard to the "marginalization" of the former big wigs in the Democratic Party - the realization that while Barack Obama has become the voice of the new generation Democrats, the Republicans have.....McCain. As it was pointed out by some guy they call Biscuit, Jesse Helms - if he were still alive - could be the "youth" voice for McCain. That McCain.....he's pretty dang old. Myself, if I were to run for President, I'd want to run young like Clinton and Kennedy. That way, I can retire and enjoy decades of philandering and globe-trotting on a nice, cushy government pension. Now, that sounds like fun. Except the philandering. Why, I'd never! I'd just take my honey with me and we'd roll like that.