If You Believe, They Put a Man on the Butt

I had to pick up some more Coke Zero at the Tops this evening. I am totally addicted to Coke Zero in a way that makes it just under infinitely more enjoyable than drinking Diet Coke. The difference, I learned in the not too distant past, has to do with the fact that Coke Zero is based on the formula for Coca-Cola Classic, while Diet Coke was based on the formula for New Coke. Hence the taste difference has less to do with the difference in sweeteners (which is almost non-existent) than with the fact that they are two entirely different beverages. Anyway, I went to buy that and some other random crap from the store.

The last area I visited was the ice cream section, cuz we were in dire need of Mint Choco-Chip. Right across the aisle from the ice cream are located the alcoholic beverages, by which I mean beer, malt liquor, and Boone’s. There was a family standing there, with two kids of about 12-14 years of age. I’m not a great estimator in these calculations, but there is no way either of them was more than a second year in high school. Anyway, family at Tops, not surprising. However, the family was each selecting their own type of wine cooler. I mean, the two girls in that pre-teen/early teen area were arguing over which flavor of wine cooler they should buy while the parents tried to convince them to compromise. I cannot, of course, rule out the possibility that these girls just really wanted to pick out their parents drinks for some reason, but I got the very distinct impression that they would be the ones imbibing. Their parents even tried to move them along when I shot them a momentarily confused glance. Anyway, to all the drunk 13 year olds in Lockport tonight, while I don’t necessarily condone your behavior: holla!!

We have made some incredible inroads into our backed up Tivo situation today, aided of course by the fact that reruns have already begun for the holiday season. We will be home long enough to see the Survivor finale, but will depend on the kindness of friends, family, and maybe a couple strangers who will tivo the other events for us. There is still an Apprentice finale to worry about, though I feel confident that Randal will take it home. I think we will miss the Amazing Race 2 hour conclusion, but since it has been a terrible season anyway, I’m not sweating it. I’ll have to worry about finding episodes of Lost and such when the season’s resume in January of ought-six, but I’m depending on the good karma I plan to rack up in the TC.

We are leaving Tuesday after Katie’s yoga class to begin our journey home. We wanted to have at least a day at my dad’s place with Hippo to get her settled before we hauled off to the Hyatt for 4 days. We have a Motel 6 reservation in Toledo somewhere, so we’ll drive 5-6 hours on Tuesday night, stop at about midnight-one, get up and leave nice and early, hopefully getting into the twin cities in the early evening. We can chill with the Persian, set up her scratchy post and such. That’s as specific as I can be about plans at this point.

On a sad note, I saw that Richard Pryor passed away today. I was obviously pretty young when Richard Pryor was at his prime, but I think I caught up enough on my stand up back in the day to appreciate what he did. I guess it was far from unexpected, in a sense. He hadn’t been in good health for a while and he lived hard by anyone’s standards. I suppose he can’t be lumped in with the Belushis or Farleys, dying at the height of their fame, but still, rest in peace.

While Hippo has enjoyed having us around all day, I think she wants to sleep on the computer, so I will relent. Saturday or not, she needs the old catnap.

Peace,

MB-K