The worst smells ever

In all my life, I can only think of two smells that I literally could not get out of my nose. Even after leaving the source of the smell (or after the source of the smell left me), it had already invaded my my body and clothing and would not go away for several minutes.

One of those smells was this dude's breath. I know it sounds like I might be exaggerating, but believe me I'm not. The first time I smelled it I gagged in shock. Luckily I only had to deal with that a couple of times. If I ever have breath that bad I hope someone tells me.

The second smell I experienced tonight, but I've come across it many times before: that unmistakable mosh-pit of dozens of different kinds of mens deodorant combined with B.O. that over time has been absorbed into every grain of wood, and every pore in the paint of mens locker rooms everywhere. After I left the gym tonight, got into my truck, and was halfway through the parking lot I could still smell it. Ugh!

Wii have a problem

Well, *we* don't have a problem, but I do - it looks like I might get re-addicted to video games again since my friend James snagged me a Nintendo Wii. Cool! I never have been a huge gamer, although back in college I could kick your ass at some mario kart on nintendo 64 (I know a bunch of you just said "yeah right" in your heads, but seriously, you'd have had no shot against me back then. I mean it. Really.), and I was a Team Fortress/Counterstrike addict for a few months.

Now if I can just avoid destroying my wonderful beautiful tv like these people at wiihaveaproblem!

Chili with beef and veggies

Brown 2 lbs of ground beef (I use lean) or turkey, stir in 1 chili spice packet (I used mcCormicks but there are tons of different kinds, also I use less than the packet recipe calls for, it calls for 1 packet per 1 lb of beef) and 2 regular 15oz or whatever cans of hunts tomato sauce and two regular cans of light red kidney beans. Bring that to a boil and then simmer for 10 mins. Then throw in 1 large chopped onion, about 2 cups of frozen corn kernels, 1 package of fresh sliced mushrooms, pieces from 1 large broc crown, and however much pepper you like. I prefer cayenne and a lot of it, but I'm a heat freak. :)

I let that cook on med-low for a half hour or so while I cleaned out my fridge, but that part is optional. Hah!

Other options that I haven't tried yet:
red bell pepper
canned chipotles
12 oz beer or beef stock, cooked down
worcestershire sauce, cooked out
garlic
cellery
black beans (no need to drain)

Krispy Kreme Challenge

If ever a "Great American Race" there were - would this be it? The Krispy Kreme Challenge. The challenge is a run from the NC State belltower to the Krispy Kreme on peace streat, where each participant must eat 1 dozen doughnuts, and then run back to the belltower - in less than an hour. A total of four miles.

I wonder what is the record for the most puke in a 2 mile stretch of road?

So far 800 doughnut loving people who can still run 4 miles have signed up. Proceeds benefit NC Childrens Promise. Neat.

I've been pre-qualified!

I am so awesome. I am so awesome that big companies all over the country are desperate for me. You know those bags that they give to celebrities at awards shows that are worth like $10000? Thats nothing. Jessica Simpson's gift bag has nothing on what I get in my mailbox every week. For example, just in the last couple days I received the following invaluable free gifts:

- A check for $6000 from Bank Of America. Yes, I do have to pay it back, but its at the low low rate of 24.7 percent interest.

- A free plastic phone complete with service outages from Alltel Mobile.

- $129 from BellSouth just for signing up for their phone, internet, and mobile service!

- 6 pounds of yellow paper bound together in one large yellow book complete with millions of phone number listings that I will never need.

- An offer to save hundreds of dollars a year with a new mortgage at a fabulous new rate only a few points above my current rate.

- A check for $8000 from Capital One. Again, I do have to pay this one back, but they gave me a great deal on the interest rate.

I'm expecting to start receiving letters in my mailbox from a wealthy nigerian who needs help retrieving millions of dollars.

$10,000 worth of Pizza

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a great television show, IMO. Papa John's pizza is tasty pizza, IMO. But the two should not mix.

I find it kind of odd that they decided to give away $10,000 worth of free greasy pizza to a bunch of poor children. They already struggle to make ends meet, now you fill them full of trans-saturated fats and cholesterol for a full year. Good thinkin'.

Sony: NOT a software company

Sony, let's face it, you're not a software company. We all loved your VCR's back in the day...but the software on them sucked. We all love your DVD players, but the software on them sucked for years. Then at some point presumably you hired a software usability guy and things slowly improved. Sort of, at least. I don't want to get out of control with compliments about it though, because it still sucks.

I'm pretty sure that Sony knows they're not a software company. We all know where their expertise lies. So, with that in mind, I have a simple question. Why is it so freaking hard to find an mp3 player (not just Sony, but any brand) that doesn't suck?

The intelligent side of my brain said to me, "Woah woah woah, don't buy that Sony mp3 player...don't you remember the whole rootkit fiasko?". But...the stronger, more childlike and excitable fun side of my brain said, "Ah, they suffered enough embarassment, this one is probably a good product. After all, Sony used to be a respected name." So...I took the plunge...into a big cesspool of stinky Sony sewage.

All I ask for is an mp3 player that:

1. Is light, so I can run with it
2. Is reliable, so it doesn't break down after 2 months
3. Respects my privacy, and doesn't install viruses on my computer
4. Is smart, so I don't to have to install 8000 software applications on my PC just to be able to put songs on it.
5. Plays mp3-s.

Sony now has strugged over the hill to get past criterion number 3. Unfortunately they haven't figured out number 4 yet, apparently. Even more incredibly, this product didn't even give me number 5. Can you believe that? Yes, you read correctly. This is an mp3 player that doesn't play mp3 files. Yes, you can give an mp3 file to their required music player and transfer it to the mp3 player device itself, but in that process they transform the mp3 into another format. So I can't just manually copy mp3's onto my device. Ugh! Get real!

To Sony: I already have a media player application, thank you very much. I don't need yours. I don't want yours. But you, in your infinite wisdom, have decided to force me to. Well, at least I don't have your widespread rootkit crap hiding on my machine. As for forcing me to use your crappy music player on my desktop just so I can use your mp3 players when I run - screw you. Thats one more Sony product back on the shelf.

Peak City Grill - again

I hit the Peak City Grill again tonight for a quick dinner. This time I was looking forward to watching the football game so I just got a burger and a couple beers. The burger, no kidding, was the best burger I've had in a long, long time. WOW.

As for the football, unfortunately both the teams I was rooting for tonight lost - the Redskins lost AND Virginia Tech lost. Ugh. Maybe the Panthers will have better luck tomorrow.

Now I'm sitting here watching Giada De Laurentiis on the Food network. Good grief that is one hot woman. :D

Women...

Speaking in general, of course...

can't drive.
drive too fast.
do their makeup while they drive.
can't control their emotions.
can't say what they want.
if they do, by some miracle, manage to say what they want - they don't mean it.
hold grudges.
take too long getting ready.
are always late.

UPDATE: Except Marian. :)

But I do think they're smarter than men. Plus they're hot.

Is your refridgerator running?

Mine's not. When I got home Sunday afternoon everything in my freezer was room temperature. Woohoo! The bright side is that my fridge/freezer are both quite clean now. Maybe I'll lose a few pounds, too.

I get more excited about food than anybody I know, so I will have to get that thing back up and running soon or jack will be a dull boy.

I just went to Harris Teeter to pick up a quick lunch. I went to the bakery and grabbed a loaf of fresh bread and also got some chicken salad. I'm telling you right now, this La Brea Bakery bread that Harris Teeter carries is awesome. This is the second time I've had it - once I got the organic whole wheat, this time I got rosemary olive oil. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I could just eat the bread by itself (ok, actually I did eat several slices just plain).