This has been a very challenging week for me on all fronts, and I am glad it's over. Hopefully I can manage to get caught up on all the emails, orders, blogs, and work I missed while dealing with the drama so things can get back to normal. It would be nice to have a little "normalcy" in my life right now.
• Thanks! A heartfelt thanks to everybody for the kind comments and emails this past week. I read absolutely everything I get, but haven't had much time to reply or comment myself. I'd like to send out a special thanks to the many, many wonderful people who were supportive of my posting of Henry's story a while back. Entries like this are not easy for me, and the nice feedback I got was much appreciated.
• High? I love these ads encouraging people to find out the facts about High Fructose Corn Syrup by pointing to a web site created by the people who make High Fructose Corn Syrup. I'd encourage people to do their own research on the evils of this horrendous shit and see where they net out. I only wish that there was away to easily avoid eating the crap, but it is in absolutely everything. I eat as little High Fructose Corn Syrup as possible, and hope that food manufacturers will start phasing it out like they have trans fats. In the meanwhile, these misleading ads will continue to tell people that High Fructose Corn Syrup is "okay in moderation" when there's no way to moderate it because most foods you buy have it in the ingredients...
Yo, bitch... you trying to kill me with that shit?
Bonus points if you watch the above-mentioned ad and notice that neither one of the actors in the commercial dare stick that High Fructose Corn Syrup laden popsicle in their mouths.
• Wrong! One of my most favorite features of my iPhone is having Google Maps in my pocket. When I need to find something, it's an invaluable resource. But not always. I am having a really tough time getting accurate information lately. I'll zero-in to where I'm at, search for something, and up will pop the location... except not really. I'll drive there only to find out that the information provided is outdated, inaccurate, or just plain wrong. Example... As I was driving home I wanted to see if a halloween store was around, so I Google Mapped it and came up with "Planet Halloween Superstore" in Monroe. Perfect. But having been burned by Google Maps before, I clicked through to the website and saw the information was indeed correct. So off I went... only to find it doesn't exist. So I call the number on the website and find out that it's been disconnected. Great. You'd think people would be nice enough to erase the website for a business that doesn't exist anymore so they don't waste people's time, but I guess not. Lame. What's even more frustrating is that Google Maps doesn't do anything about it, even when you put in a request... like I did for the now-dead Johnny Rockets in Chicago. It shows as "removal requested" in my web browser, but hasn't actually been removed...
And now let's look at the location on my iPhone...
Yes, that's right... this mobile version of Google Maps doesn't bother to show the removal request, which is pretty messed up. I guess I just have to remember to distrust Google Maps every single time I use it until I've verified the information directly. Kind of defeats the purpose, but that's progress for you.
• Watching! Finally got my copy of Dave Gibbons' Watching The Watchmen while I was working in Seattle... and was really disappointed. I was drooling at the prospect of insider information about my favorite graphic novel of all time but, despite weighing in with a whopping 256 over-sized pages, there just wasn't a lot there. Mostly just page after page after page after page of thumbnail layout sketches showing sketchy compositions with an occasional comparison to the actual printed page. As if that wasn't bad enough, the book's design sucked ass. Who the fuck puts small blue text over a black background on glossy paper and expects that anybody will be able to read it? I was constantly shifting the book as I was attempting to read it in order to see the text without having it blown out in reflective glare. Monumentally fucking stupid and an EPIC FAIL. My recommendation is to skip the book. If you're a die-hard Watchmen fan, it's worth a check-out at your local library, but hardly worth owning...
• Voted? Still encouraging people to vote in the upcoming election. Many states allow early voting so you don't have to wait in lines come November 4th.
And now I think I shall retire so that I can get up at some obscene hour and go to work early.
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Much as I hate wasting food I threw away a half bottle of ketchup when I realized it had high fructose corn syrup in it. And when I used to eat bread, it shocked me to discover that what I considered to be the “healthy” loaves of whole-grain bread listed HFCS as one of their top ingredients! Food in this country is fucked.
Also: Schedule permitting I will totally meet you in Seattle to watch the Watchmen movie in March.
HFCS is the Devil’s Sweetener. Any politician that swears to eliminate sugar subsidies has my vote. No takers yet.
The whole inaccuracy of Google Maps is a problem I’ve been dealing with for a while. As much as I love the gMap, it is rarely updated. And when you’re on a limited lunch break like I have, you need it to be accurate so you can find places you need to visit in a timely manner. Pisses me off when they either send me on a wild goose chase for a non-existent locale or send me to the wrong area for it (gMaps cannot deal with N. and S. directions on addresses nor can they deal with unincorporated addresses). Ticks me off. Fix it already!
Google Maps had us driving around in circles looking for a Dollar Store that was supposedly in the same shopping center that we were in yesterday.
I’m not sure if you’ll ever find chocolate pudding without high fructose corn syrup in it….alas, you’re doomed. Fruits and veggies! Get with it. Very sorry for the rough week you had. Keeping my fingers crossed for a better one ahead.
I would suspect being disappointed by any Watchmen related product. I did once have a cool Watchmen wristwatch (smiley face with a drop of blood on it) that used to freak out my co-workers, but it was a bit too plastic-y to be cool.
I hope the movie doesn’t disappoint. WHENEVER it comes out.
I’m pretty shocked that NY doesn’t allow early voting. Vermont does. Teh sux.
Corn syrup !!
My wife is diabetic and it has been our routine for quite some time now to diligently read labels for carbs and fats; plus use a carb book for those items that have no label, such as potatoes.
Funny you commented on how inaccurate google maps is. Sunday, yesterday, me and my boyfriend headed out to where we thought was Metropolitan Market on Delridge way in Seattle. We thought that was awesome cuz it would save us from going to the one all the up on Admiral in West Seattle. Get on Delridge and *NO MARKET*. Google maps said there would be a market there. Glad someone shares in our pain. We wasted time and gas and we still had to drive all the way up to West Seattle.
(I just regoogled it, and went to their website, and I guess there IS a Metropolitan Market there…just their HQ. Their “Retail Support Center.” Wish that was specified D: )
The HFCS commercials are such a joke–no one is falling for it (at least no one I know). I agree with you 100%…the problem is not HFCS itself, but the fact it is in EVERYTHING which really makes it hard to consume in moderate amounts!!
Next time you go out of country, buy some Coca-Cola and bring it back, then do a side by side comparison one day. The American version (with HFC) is disgusting when consumed in a side by side taste test. Same with all American soda. I try to go to Canada every couple of months and bring back a dozen or so 12 packs.
On a side note, I just told my boss that I’m going to be late into work on the 4th!! I hope this isn’t another 2000. People can like anybody, but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t go out and actually do something about it.
Good post dude!
I love your passion about everything your write about!! I love passionate people!!
I’m glad this nasty week is over. I whole-heartedly agree with the HFCS bullshit. And? I still need to read “The Watchmen.” I’m so behind that I might be ahead.
Or not.
Dan and I have eaten at that Johnny Rockets several times. Sad to hear it’s closed.
🙁
My daughter’s blog today was filled with their MapQuest nightmare this weekend. Apparently they’re not any more reliable.
I went and voted early yesterday – the LA county registrar-recorder is open for early voting seven days a week until the election.
I chose to vote early because I’m really afraid my polling place will be mobbed on election day. There was a huge line for the primary, so now I don’t have to worry about it.
Spoof response to that HFCS ad.
Quote: “You know what that say about Nazis!”
I have no faith in Google Maps. If memory serves, following directions from Google Maps is how James Kim’s family ended up on the totally wrong road when they were trying to get from Roseburg to Grants Pass here in Oregon. If that’s not a note to their inaccuracy, I’m not sure what is.
Erin:
It is my recollection that a ‘gate’ was not closed or a sign not posted that the route was not passable.
It is agreed that GPS is not always ‘current’ but that has to be combined with over all awareness of the surroundings.
The road conditions were horrible at the time.
Think snow.
And, LOL, it is not the first time that I have said to the ‘voice; “wrong !!! “