The HTC Droid Incredible

I ordered my new smartphone at my local Verizon Wireless kiosk on May 9th. It arrived on May 25th, a little over two weeks later. Considering that the phone had only recently been released (and was therefore a hot item), was backordered, and was shipping out of Memphis, TN (currently underwater), I’d say that two weeks was not a bad wait at all. A hard wait, oh, yes, but nothing to complain about (I still did).

It this phone incredible? Well, comparing it to the LG Voyager Titanium (my previous phone), yes. Yes, it is. According to other users, it lives up to its name when compared to competing top-of-the-line smartphones, as well.

I cannot post a lengthy or comprehensive review as of yet, because the only thing I’ve really gotten good at on this phone is playing WordUp (like Boggle). However, I am pretty impressed with the speed and dexterity. The touch screen capabilities are nothing to shake a stick at. The battery life is about what you’d expect from any of the newer smartphones. Per the advice of several Motorola Droid users, one of the first apps. I downloaded was the Advanced Task Killer for Android, by ReChild. It’s kind of like a Task Manager for the phone, allowing you to see what apps. are running in the background and “kill” them to help preserve battery life.

The quick and easy web access is also a plus. While I could do this with my Voyager, it was extremely sluggish and unreliable. I’m still getting used to the fact that I can pull out my phone and bring up a web site or search results almost as fast as I can on my PC.

I’m still getting used to the touch screen keyboard. Unlike its Android-based predecessor from Verizon, the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Incredible is not a slider, and does not have a QWERTY keyboard. While this initially caused some hesitation, I told myself I could get used to using a touch screen. To speed this process along, I did a little exercise that I’ve taken to doing whenever I get a new phone: I manually transferred all of my contacts.

The (wonderful) Verizon rep. who helped me with my phone setup was a little surprised when I requested she refrain from doing the transfer for me. If you’re the sort of person who has dozens, or even hundreds of numbers stored on your mobile device, I can see how a manual transfer might be out of the question. However, I feel that the exercise is beneficial because it helps me begin to learn the layout of the new phone, and (especially in this case) get used to any new input methods. I had 42 contacts to enter. It took me roughly an hour and a half, and I was able to weed out a bunch of numbers that I no longer needed.

I’ve also been enjoying the 8MP camera. Like some have noted, the quality is approaching that of a compact point-and-shoot camera. There are a lot of options to tweak lighting, contrast, resolution, white balance, etc. A noteworthy flash capability also makes it possible to take decent nighttime pictures. I feel I should note that the camera function is the only time I’ve ever used the main “joystick” button at the front/bottom of the phone. Other than acting as the camera’s shutter button, I’m not really sure what it’s good for. (I did download the 206 page manual, and plan to find out more about this mysterious feature.)

So, I’m less than a week in, and I’ve barely scratched the surface. I sincerely doubt that I’ll have learned everything there is to know about the HTC Droid Incredible by the time my next 2-year upgrade rolls around. All in all, and as I told a Verizon Wireless rep. who inquired how I liked my new device: “It’s a little overwhelming.” But it’s also incredibly fun.

 
[ Booyeah. ]

iPhone Users are a Stubborn Lot

I saw this snippet of news in a headline sometime last week, but it resurfaced in my feeds today via a Yahoo! tech article:

AT&T early-termination fee nearly doubling for iPhone, other smartphones (Ben Patterson, Today in Tech: The Gadget Hound).

In the article, Patterson notes that the wireless carrier is yanking its early termination fee for smartphones up to an outrageous $325 (it was previously $175). AT&T users who start to have second thoughts about their new phones are given only a slight break in that the fee is reduced by $10 for every month they hold their two-year contract (the fee will be prorated).

Now, you might ask yourself, “Why would anyone use AT&T except to own and use an iPhone, and why would anyone want to give up their iPhone?” A valid question, and one I asked myself upon learning of AT&T’s decision.

If you keep up with this kind of news, you will likely have also heard rumors of a Verizon/Apple contract in the works. Yes, such rumors have been around since Apple’s exclusive AT&T carrier contract was put in place, but they’re really starting to heat up. Combine those rumors with AT&T’s recent decision (and their crappy service), and you reach a very obvious conclusion: the Texas-based company sees Apple eyeing greener pastures and is scrambling to set measures in place that will help them recoup some of their losses when iPhone addicts users jump the fence and fling themselves into the open arms of a superior wireless service.

Now, I know that there are a lot of folks out there who have had little or no problems with their AT&T service, and I both congratulate you and recommend you continue to carry your rabbit’s foot, four-leaf clover and wireless signal booster around with you (the world is your dead zone). However, there are also a lot of people who have a lot of problems with the service and (I should think) are praying for a chance to port their iPhone over to a more reliable provider. I’ve never been an AT&T wireless subscriber (except for a few weeks when, unbeknownst to me, someone hacked my account, ordered phones, and set up a wireless plan from a local hotel), but I do use their internet (DSL) services, and can honestly say that they suck.

As a note of interest, I queried one of my local Verizon reps. about the Verizon/Apple contract rumored to be in the works for this fall, and he said, “It doesn’t matter.” With the release of the Motorola DROID being hailed as the coming of a Verizon-based iPhone rival, and now with the faster/sleeker/better HTC Droid Incredible flooding the market, Verizon has seemingly begun to find their niche in the iPhone-dominated world of smartphones without Apple’s help. Hello, Android 2.1.

(Oh, and as a side note, I hope to be receiving my HTC Droid Incredible either today or tomorrow. Review coming soon.)

Also, this made my (last) Sunday: Foxtrot - iPhone Prototypes

Reel Time Updates: Shrek Forever After

On Friday the weather started out gloomy and eventually disgorged a looping torrent of warm rain that took the already uncomfortable humidity to intolerable levels. However I was completely unaware of this onslaught, as I was seated in an upscale, air-conditioned theater taking in the latest (fourth) installment of Dreamworks’ Shrek series: Shrek Forever After.

Now, I’ll admit up front that I never saw Shrek the Third, and while the Shrek series has never been one of my favorites, I can see the appeal of the original movie, and perhaps even Shrek 2. However, bad reviews and my general apathy prevented me from ever viewing the third one. It didn’t really matter, though, as each film is able to stand alone for the most part.

The Trailers: I and my regular movie-going associate arrived at the theater quite early, and so were not only able to catch all of the trailers, but also all of the pre-trailer advertisements (which are glossed over and pawned off as “sneak peeks”). I recall seeing previews for: Marmaduke, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Prince of Persia (kind of a featurette), The Last Airbender, Despicable Me, The Karate Kid, and Megamind.

I hadn’t seen trailers for either of the first two films, but… as my friend repeatedly remarked, “Who asked for these?” I mean… adapting a movie from a single-panel comic strip originating in the 50s? Marmaduke is basically a remix of Scooby-Doo, Beethoven, Marley & Me and Homeward Bound. The plot, and probably the majority of the gags, have been done: suburban family copes with destructive, inconvenient animal.

As for Cats & Dogs 2… what? The first one was atrocious. I can usually find a few redeeming qualities in just about any film, no matter how poor the plot, acting, directing or dialog (I thought The Happening was a good watch), but Cats & Dogs had none. Zero. Zip. It was crap, and I cannot fathom why Warner Bros. felt compelled to create a sequel.

I’d seen all the rest of the trailers online at some point in time, but it was great to catch some of the newer stuff on the big screen, especially the Megamind preview. And… correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the title (and the title character) originally Oobermind? It seems like the first snippets of news regarding this film used that name, which I guess ended up being a working title. I personally prefer Oobermind because it’s quirky and different. Megamind sounds like the name of a bad 40s comic book villain. But I guess that’s the whole point.

My Take on Shrek Forever After: I enjoyed it, though many have correctly compared it to “It’s a Wonderful Life”, ogre style. Like some critics have remarked, the spark has mostly gone from a franchise that has seen better days, but the irreverent humor remains. The story seemed to progress as an amusing drunk, careening to and fro, but mostly in the same general direction, occasionally stumbling into a trash can or a bush and drawing a laugh.

The most enjoyable performance (and also the highlight of the film) was courtesy of Walt Dohrn (Rumpelstiltskin). While the rest of the voice-actors seemed to slog half-heartedly through their lines, newcomer Dohrn lent his character a sly, greasy quality that made you feel you would have despised him even sans villain status. I can’t help but feel that it was Dohrn’s inexperience as a professional voice-actor that enabled him to really go the extra mile in bringing his character to life.

Dohrn had previously only graced the crew list of features such as Madagascar, Shrek the Third, and several kids’ cartoons, contributing to writing and animation. However, while filling in as a script “reader” during recording sessions, Dohrn received compliments on his portrayal of the villainous “Rumpel” (who had not yet been cast), and a star was born.

All-in-all, Shrek 4 was good entertainment, especially for fans of the franchise. I’ve seen a lot better from Dreamworks, but then everyone says Shrek the Third was worse. I’m just glad they were able to acknowledge that the Shrek premise has grown old and tired, and put it to pasture. Apparently, they do still want to play the spin-off game, though, and give the Bambi-eyed Puss in Boots his own film. (Can’t let go of the franchise completely if there’s still the slightest chance they can make money off of it.)

Recommended if you like mindless entertainment, are a fan of the Shrek series, or just want to shut the kids up for an hour and a half. Be sure to show up early enough to catch the Megamind trailer, a brief glimpse of what will hopefully be somewhat better fare from Dreamworks (or at least something to tide us over until Kung Fu Panda 2).

Don’t You Dare Call It an iPod

All right, so I’m going to expound a little bit on a term I used in my previous post: proprietary eponym. Why? Because it’s awesome.

In the last post, I pompously challenged recommended that those unfamiliar with the term and its application have a look-see on Wikipedia to find out exactly what it meant. I will briefly expound on it now, just so we’ve got all of the bases covered.

The term proprietary eponym is defined by Wikipedia thusly:

“A brand name or trademark of a successful product, that has come into general use to refer to the generic class of objects rather than the specific brand type.”

If the light bulb still hasn’t come on, refer to these examples:

• Kleenex
• Band-Aid
• Zipper
• Q-Tip
• iPod

“Why, yes,” you might say. “You’ve just named several common household objects. Give yourself a pat on the back.” I might then respond, “Why, thank you,” and then proceed to give myself a pat on the back. Or, I could inform you that whenever you use any of the words listed above to refer to the (respective) common household objects typically associated with them, you’re using a proprietary eponym. Ha. Allow me to translate:

• Facial tissue
• Adhesive bandage
• Zip fastener
• Cotton swab
• MP3 player

“But, a kleenex is a kleenex, a zipper a zipper. A rose, by any other name, is still a rose,” you might protest. Well, you’d be right about the rose, but as for the rest, they were all originally brand names for the products they’re associated with. Kleenex is a brand of facial tissue, iPod is a brand of MP3 player, Toyota is a brand of car. You don’t refer to all cars as Toyotas, do you? But when informing a friend that their jeans are hanging wide open, you’ll probably never say, “Your zip fastener is open,” either.

So if a zipper is not really a zipper, then why do we call it that? It could be because the company that developed and named the product had a monopoly on that particular market, and because no other brands were producing said product at the time, consumers just naturally began calling it by the brand name alone for convenience. The Zipper zip fastener became, simply, the zipper. The Dempster garbage receptacle became the dumpster (which was both clever wordplay and a proprietary eponym).

Or, even if there are multiple brand names associated with a given product, one particular brand may stand out, either through popularity, or simply because it’s better than all the rest. Then again, it may be something no more complicated than an influential person deciding one day to begin referring to their state-of-the-art home security system as their “Brink’s” for a proprietary eponym to be born. It’s a phenomenon that can often take decades and a loss of trademark rights to occur (see: genericized trademark), or it may occur within a few years (e.g., the iPod).

It’s really enough to drive one mad, if you think about it long enough. Is a lamp really a lamp, a magazine really a magazine? When you refer to things like granola or a frisbee, everyone knows exactly what you mean, because we’ve reached an understanding (at some point in time) that that’s how we will refer to said object. But was that always the case? Next time you’ve managed to chase down the ice cream truck and are asking for a popsicle between gasps, take the opportunity to inform the pedophile driver that you’ve just used a proprietary eponym. Not only will you astound the driver with your acute intelligence, you’ll be introducing yourself to a healthier, more frozen-dairy-products-free lifestyle because the ice cream truck will probably never come down your street again.

CDs, PCs, MP3s and ATX

So, I’ve lately been contemplating my music collection (such as it is), and whether I should take the plunge and go completely digital. I’ve got most of my favorite albums ripped to my PC, and never even think about the CDs anymore, much less use them. How many people under 30 really do?

I used to listen to my CDs all the time. Even after the iPod overtook and mauled the MP3 player market and became a proprietary eponym (Wiki that), I was perfectly content to take my little CDs in and out of their fragile cases and pop them into my dinosaur of a stereo.

It’s a Sony shelf micro-system with a five-disc changer. I received it back in 2005 as an 18th birthday present from my dad. I used the crap outta that thing, tossing in five random discs and letting them play all day long, even if I wasn’t there to listen. Needless to say, the poor thing eventually keeled over and died, unable to play a single note more of Enya’s “A Day Without Rain”, despite my best efforts to will it back to life by removing and re-inserting my discs like a broken jukebox arm.

Of course, the warranty had recently expired (manufacturers design their products to only break after the warranty expires, you know), so I hauled the beast into a repair shop and ended up paying over again what I paid for the stupid thing brand new. I remember the serviceman grumbling about how much he hated working on micro-systems. At the time, I was obviously thinking, “Like I give a fritter… just fix the piece of junk.” However, now that I’ve worked with both ATX and Micro-ATX PC cases, I have a little more sympathy for the poor guy. It can get pretty tight in there.

 
[The big black one on the left sporting the cop lights is an ATX case. That’s my baby. The HP case on the right is micro-ATX. That’s the overcooked child that was donated to science.]

[This angle gives you a better idea of the size difference.]

However, when I had to rip up my carpet and put down hardwood last fall, the Sony system was boxed up and packed away, never to be heard from again. I have two CD drives in my PC, which is not quite the same as a five-disc changer, but it means I can listen to two CDs at the same time. Try to wrap your brain around that one.

But other than the compulsory rip when they’re initially obtained, most of my CDs never see the light of day again, much less get popped into a disc drive to do what they were made to do. Which brings me to my question: are CDs obsolete? Should I dump all of my CDs at a used media store and forget the format ever existed?

According to one enthusiast, despite the popularity and portability of digital media, CD sales still made up 80% of all album purchases in 2009. Do that many people really still use Walkmans and shelf-top CD players that they absolutely must have the original hard copy of the albums they’re purchasing? Do we still have that crippling distrust of technology that mandates a “backup copy” of every single album in our digital collections in case our media storage unit of choice decides to crash and burn? Why are people still buying CDs? They’re bulky, they collect dust and they’re fast becoming obsolete (did I answer my own question, there?). How much longer until music downloads overtake CD sales and collectors are left with piles upon piles of grimy, chipped cases embodying mankind’s desolation and despair…

Sure, the album inserts are cool and the CD art can occasionally impress, but even if you keep your discs in a media wallet, that’s still stuff that takes up physical space rather than a few megabytes on your hard drive, thumb drive or MP3 player. Buy a nice, cheap external hard drive and back up your tunes every once in a while if you’re afraid of losing your collection to some rogue virus, unexpected hardware glitch or super-hacker (you paranoid freak). You should be backing up your music collection regularly anyway. For shame.

I suppose I’m just trying to convince myself that I really don’t need all of those CDs I’ve got stashed away in my closet somewhere. I’ve been trying to get them organized for years, and if they were suddenly teleported away tomorrow by an alien exploration vessel attempting to analyze human pop culture, I doubt I’d miss them (although said aliens would likely return the CDs and then destroy me for my lack of taste). Half of them are cheap instrumental samplers from the dollar store.

Yes, I know the argument is old and tired. It has been bantered back and forth by audiophiles, collectors and enthusiasts far greater and more knowledgeable than myself. Some don’t trust technology to keep their music safe and intact; some insist that CDs produce a better audio quality than MP3 files; some argue that CDs can be had for less money; others have a crippling mental illness and will hoard anything that’s not nailed down. In all honesty, though, I did not really intend to present a detailed argument here about the pros and cons of physical versus digital media. I just wanted to use that “drowning in CDs” shot in a post. ;)

Reel Time Updates: Iron Man 2

So, yes… I did go see Iron Man 2 this past Saturday night with a couple of my movie buddies. The theater was buzzing, but not packed like I thought it would be. The showing was at 10pm, so I guess the heavier crowds had come and gone a little earlier. We did have a little trouble finding three seats that were: a) adjacent to one another, b) not near any kids, and c) not directly in front of anyone using our seats for Ottomans.

The Trailers: There was a decent spread of trailers prior to the film: Inception, Despicable Me, The Last Airbender, Grown Ups, Shrek Forever After, Super8, and Eclipse, to name a few. I’m really looking forward to the first three. Shrek I can take or leave. Grown Ups is a comedy (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, etc.), and I can take or leave that entire genre. The Super8 trailer was yawn-worthy and had a real “been there, done that” feeling to it. It was basically just a big name-dropper (Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams), and while that combo may stir up geeky squeals from some people, I was not impressed.

The trailer that seemed to elicit the biggest reaction from any part of the audience was the Eclipse preview, which sent several front rows of adolescent girls into shrieking fits, particularly when Taylor Lautner appeared on-screen (I think Team Edward is starting to fizzle out after two films). As we watched hordes of unhealthy-looking vampires stepping out of murky lakes and knocking over trees, one of my friends wryly remarked that the film would actually be a little scary if it weren’t “Twilight”.

My Take on Iron Man 2: I’ve read several reviews that have accused Iron Man 2 of being too choppy plot-wise, with a story that jumped around too quickly. I did not really sense this during my viewing, but then I was too busy enjoying the film, and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m not a very objective movie reviewer.

There were quite a few little sub-plots, yes, but not enough to distract from the overall story. It definitely seemed to give a lot more focus to Tony Stark than to Iron Man, but that made sense because of the situations Stark’s character was going through/being placed in. The off-the-cuff humor seemed to have doubled in the second film, and the snappy dialog elicited plenty of laughs from the audience.

Samuel L. Jackson’s character (Nick Fury) was upgraded from appearing as part of Marvel’s end-credits teasers to an actual film participant. One disappointment was that Scarlett Johansson’s character (Black Widow / Natalie Rushman) spent a lot more time as Natalie, and not nearly enough time as the bone-crunching, leather-clad Black Widow. When she did finally start breaking out the arse-kicking moves, though (towards the end of the film), they were pretty awesome. As was the finale showdown fight between a bunch of evil military drones (they can salute!) and Team Iron Man/War Machine. (Oh, and I’m sorry Terrence Howard fans, but Don Cheadle kicked his butt as Col. Rhodes.)

I could probably give a more comprehensive take after a second viewing, but for now Iron Man 2 freakin’ rocked. Good story, good dialog, good acting, good special effects, and lots of action. Perfect film to start off what looks to be a great summer at the movies.

There Was a Time…

So, it’s 01:22 and I’m fighting a strong urge to get up, take a few steps across my room and fall into bed. That urge is currently being hindered by several things: firstly, I’ve already started this post, so I can’t go to bed until I’ve reached some manner of completion here; secondly, there are several pillows and pillow-filled baskets and old chenille sweaters and protective vinyl coverlets coating my bed making it impossible for me to just “fall into” it in way that will result in my becoming comfortable enough to achieve sleep.

Why are these things all over my bed? I have cats. If you had cats, you’d know exactly what I was talking about. During the day, you see, the (you’ll notice I said “the” instead of “my”) bed belongs to the cats. At night, the bed belongs to the cats. That’s all there is to it.

[See?]

Cat baskets aside (oh, how I wish they were… then I could go to bed), I find myself thinking back to a time not too long ago when my night would have just been getting started. Used to be I would be rocking the keyboard until the later wee hours of the night (you know, the not-so-wee ones), wasting precious time on pointless internet-related activities.

Now that I’m getting old, I try not to be up any later than 2:00am, rising no later than eleven, usually somewhere closer to ten. It’s awful  because I love to sleep and I hate getting up early (anytime before ten… anytime before I feel like it, really), but it’s like I’ve lost my touch. It’s 01:45 and I’m already starting to get brain fuzz over adjectives.

I do have one small comfort in all of this, however… I know who’s behind my sudden adherence to some sort of normal sleeping schedule. Unlike so many assault victims, I know my attacker’s face, and I shall reveal it here for you tonight:

 
[I am become Keurig, destroyer of unhealthy night owlishness and taste buds…]

Every. Morning. This herald of caffeine and intermittent bathroom trips awakens me with its distinctive sucking, hissing gurgles, signaling the impending arrival of a scalding, aromatic beverage of my choosing. Like Pavlov’s dog(s), I respond to the noise of the water reservoir being drained, crawling meekly out of my warm bed to select a cup size (which is always the largest, 9oz. Always. They thought this would be enough coffee why, now…?), and feed my tormentor with my drug flavor of the day. (My “flavor of the day” has actually been Coffee People’s “Donut Shop” medium roast for the past month because I went momentarily insane and bought a 50pk. off of Amazon. Don’t get me wrong, I love the flavor, but the whole point of having a Keurig brewer is for the variety you can indulge in.)

And so, the time of the 5:00am movie marathons and 2:00pm alarms has come to an end. I even have a little morning “coffee hour”, now, during which I check my emails, feeds, Twitter activity, Facebook page, news sites, deal-a-day offerings and play all the bonus points games on SonyRewards.com. (Oh, and drink my coffee.) It’s actually kind of pathetic, but that’s all there is to it.

It is now 02:14 and I’m going to go to bed so I can get up and have my coffee.

Last Day of Vacation

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I’ve been on “vacation” for the past week, which (for me) entails doing the same things I do when I’m not at work during a normal week: lazing about at home playing Xbox360 and messing around on my PC. Yes, I have no life. At some point during the week I tried to tidy up the room a bit… met a friend for breakfast Wednesday morning… spent most of today helping my pops clean out his garage (lots of tossing things in the garr-BAHGE ensued). Subsequently, I spent an inordinate amount of time outside, which is not really a good thing at this time of year because of the overwhelming swarms of plague-bearing vampire swamp parasites pesky mosquitoes.

And tonight I am going to “end my vacation with a bang” (as a friend put it) by going to a 10pm viewing of Iron Man 2. wOoT.

 
(currently gracing the front of my LG Voyager, booyeah)

I have to say that, as much as I’ve been looking forward to this film, I’ll be glad when it’s had its run in the theaters because I’m really sick of my feeds being cluttered with Iron Man 2 snippets, interviews, exclusive photos, and clips. Of course, any room that’s made by the absence of Don Cheadle junkets will be filled by Avengers hype. *sigh*
I believe that Robert Fure of Film School Rejects had a similar complaint in his weekly entertainment-related rant (and one of my favorite columns from FSR): Boiling Point.

I may or may not post a review of Iron Man 2 later on. I am generally pretty lousy at writing movie reviews, as much as I enjoy watching movies, because I’m not very objective. I can find a reason to like (and justify the purchase of) just about any flick. Hence, the inordinate (so I used the word inordinate twice… okay, three times now. So what?) number of Blu-Rays cluttering my desk and bookcase shelves. What can I say? I have a problem.

Got Calcium?

The Dairy Disaster: Milk Does Not Do Your Body Good ~ Allison Biggar (NaturalNews, 02.08.10)

So, I received an article via email today from fellow blogger faithgraceandjoy, which pretty much put the smack-down to all “dairy” products, or products that touted high calcium content. For example:

The author states that the product, which sported the “it does a body good” slogan in the early 1980s, may actually be more harmful than beneficial.

“Too much dairy can cause obesity, cancer, heart disease, allergies, diabetes, and even osteoporosis. The dairy industry has led us to believe that we can only get the calcium we need from their dairy products, [but] calcium ... can be found in a plethora of plant sources such as broccoli, cabbage and spinach.”

Biggar bases her conclusions on information gleaned from the osteoporosis research center, among other sources.

I see the point that the author is trying to make. Too much moo-juice can be bad for you. But here’s my beef: twenty years ago, we could not get enough calcium. People drank a glass with every meal, or at least once a day with their afternoon snack of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. A daily intake of milk purportedly led to strong bones, big muscles and a healthy mental state. Now, despite the overabundance of calcium-infused products available in the supermarket, we are told that our daily dose of calcium can be found in our dinner salad. I think we’re going to have to redesign the popular “got milk?” ads:

 

The conclusion I reached after reading the aforementioned article is the same one that I’ve been advocating for several years, now: we should all just eat whatever the heck we want to, because "scientists" and "researchers" are learning new things contradicting themselves every other day about what is and is not healthy or “the best” for us to eat. This week pomegranates and blueberries are the new “super food”.

 

They’ll cleanse your colon and prevent heart disease. Next week, they are a potential cancer risk due to “previously undiscovered” high amounts of blahblahblah. The story changes everyday, and if I religiously followed the advice/warnings of these people who continuously claim to know what’s best for my health, I’d spend 87% of my life on the toilet due to dietary inconsistency. My advice: use common sense to figure out what's right for you. For example: watermelon tastes good and it's a fruit. Fruit is good for us because it comes from plants. I will eat watermelon. Cheese tastes good and it's made from milk. Milk is good for us because we give it to babies. I will eat cheese.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a quart of Ben & Jerry’s Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream calling my name from the freezer.

 

(Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the images or slogans used above, nor am I affiliated with any of their respective owners. I am not making any money off of their usage which is intended entirely for personal amusement. Please don’t sue me.)

Bloggerific

So, rather than be all cliché and state the obvious by telling you that this is my first post here on Blogger, I will simply comment on the absurdity of creating this blog when I hardly ever post on the one I have with LiveJournal (also called ~synonymous blue). I may post on both, I may discontinue LiveJournal and only post here. Who knows. This is a product of my sheer boredom, and I'm still tweaking the layout, so... the fun is still ensuing.

We'll see how this goes...

PS- I really like how Blogger puts a little edit button right at the bottom of the post instead of making me go into a menu, and then choose the post I want to edit from a list of recent posts. Right on.