Starbucks Refreshers Rip Off!

So yesterday my wife told me about a Starbucks via Facebook offer for a Grande iced coffee, iced tea, or refresher for $1. Since I've been curious about their new refreshers I figured $1 was a low risk buy.vI redeemed my offer for the Cool Lime version. Starbucks advertises these drinks as being light, refreshing, and caffeinated via green coffee extract. They pic from their website does make them look perfect for a hot summer day. Well let me tell you..Don't Believe The Hype. I got my refresher and as I drove away from the Starbucks drive-through I realized I wasn't given a grande which was promised in the coupon, but rather a tall. So yeah they screwed me on their coupon. Next fail was the drink itself. 1. The volume of the drink is primarily composed of ice cubes. WTF indeed. Next the beverage itself is nothing more than watered down limeade with one lonely slice of lime. Pretty pathetic. It tasted weak. As comparison Simply Limeade is about a gazillion times limier and tastier. And to think Starbucks charges the same price for these refreshers as a coffee drink. What a joke. Glad I only spent a dollar instead of $3.45. Anyway, save your money and buy an Evolution OJ if you need refreshment. Sure they're four bucks but at least they taste like fresh squeezed juice.

Wait 'til next year!

I can honestly say that my first recollection of baseball is sitting crouched in front of our old RCA 19" B&W TV watching the Chicago Cubs on WGN-TV. This was probably 1979. I remember Dave Kingman ("King Kong") and Jack Brickhouse and that infamous Cubs loss to the Phillies 23-22. I instantly fell in love with this team. I knew the grass and ivy were green and the caps were blue, but it was all just gray on the set. It would be a long line of losing seasons until '84, '89, '98, 2003!, and more recently '07 and '08. For 32 years now, I've endured and have been a Cubs fan, truly die-hard, through seasons great and horrible. It is for every Cubbie fan out there that is waiting to see them win a World Series that I post this for you.

Recent events: Time is ticking away

Recent events: Time is ticking away: "I know everyone is doing so much but we have a 96 hour window before the search efforts are called off - from the time of the incident, the ..."

Elbow One Day Like This with the BBC Concert Orchestra and choir Chantage

Just to change the tone of this blog a little, I thought I'd start posting about other topics, instead of just ripping on stuff. Don't worry, I have more of that, it's just well...it's good not to be a one-trick-pony. So, I'll start by introducing a band that I'm totally loving right now, Elbow. They've been around since 1997, had their first of four albums in 2001 and their latest in 2008, but I've only recently discovered them. They've done great covers of U2's "Running To Stand Still" and Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street."

It is almost a full time job to find great music, so when you do, you want to share it. I hope you like them too. I'll be posting more of my faves in the future.

Push it!....real good.

Not that anyone is following this blog, but I feel obliged to apologize for not posting more regularly. I'm still getting used to the whole idea of blogging, and I'm getting my feet wet by going through my random assortment of funny, weird, and absurd products. And no, I don't buy these things, I just snap the pics in the store. So on to today's tidbit.

Here we have the "munchkin Deluxe Potty Seat" A few things amuse me with this one...I know, I know, you're saying to yourselves, that guy is too easily amused...and you'd be right. Now I'm not knocking the importance of training your little one for bathroom independence. You just have to wonder what fresh-out-of-college graphic artist is doing this layout.

The first thing that strikes me is the photo of the kid. I'm assuming he is either very happy to be using such a "deluxe seat" OR he's really blocked up and probably should be getting more fiber in his diet. He does look like he's straining a bit. The second thing to notice, is the TRY ME! sign. Now the sight of TRY ME on a kid's potty chair is hilarious in itself. True the smaller print clarifies the suggestion as referring to the adjustable handles, but still. Somewhere the marketing people for this company were thinking how can we sell more potty chairs. Clever packaging that's how. The last thing I wanted to point out is the age suggestion. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but 12 months seems just a little early for a child to be hitting the pot. Most kids are learning to walk at this age, so I doubt the ability to train seems like a stretch. I just don't think the dexterity is there. If any reader buys this feel free to post a comment on how well it worked out.

Kellogg's really?......really?

Falling under the category "Why in the world do we need this?" is Kellogg's Hannah Montana cereal. The box subtitle describes this future breakfast staple as Multi-Grain Secret Identity Cereal. What do we mean by "secret identity" anyway? Could it be this "multi-grain" (corn & oats) cereal is really a disguise for something unhealthy? Could something so fun and colorful on the outside be so crappy on the inside. Oh, I get it, now the endorsement makes sense! As cereals go this one is not that imaginative. We've got red and purple disks. I mean, come on, Kellogg's cereal engineers couldn't design the cereal to be musically inspired like microphones or guitars? It's like they just gave up and didn't put much effort into this one. Comparatively, High School Musical cereal has vanilla-flavored stars, and wow, Kung Fu Panda Crunchers were fashioned with orange fortune cookies, yin-yang symbols, white panda bear heads and green pagodas. Now that's complex enough to rival Lucky Charms for sure. I'll be looking for these to show up in Big Lots soon. For the record Rice Krispies was introduced in 1928, and it's still around today!

Move over Viagra

Found this amazing product on the shelf of my local Lucky supermarket. Apparently this non-FDA regulated dietary supplement contains the juice from cow balls. Step right up, men! If anyone can attest to its potency please feel free to comment. I am glad that the manufacturer has put a safety warning to keep away from kids.

Introduction

Well, I'm finally completing the hat trick. First it was Facebook, then Twitter, and now finally this weblog. I'll be using this space to post my random pictures, rants, and raves. Hopefully, you'll be amused and not sickened.