Never Ceases

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how well offering samples in the grocery store works.

It actually works.

I would love to see the metrics on this, but I'm betting that it works more than a coupon....well, probably depends on the coupon.

And it really matters what food you're selling in the sample.

For example:  prepackaged, processed food (like frozen pizzas and pre-popped, stale popcorn- yum).  These always seem to do very well when there is a sample being offered in the store.

Perhaps it's just what people are used to eating.

Gemuetlich, as the Germans say.  "Home cooking"?

Perhaps it's that these items are priced between $5-$10 each.

Whatever the reason, I always see a huge line next to prefab food samples at the grocery store...followed by a great deal of the products in baskets at the checkout line.

But exotic foods, like salmon and steaks...these don't seem to convert well.  I'm sure that there are more people lined up to have the salmon than the frozen pizza because the salmon is always out of samples.

So, what's going on?

While it could be the price, I think it might be more effort involved in preparation.  I know that I would rather have a tupperware full of leftovers during the week rather than dealing with cooking fish to the right temperature, boning it, skinning it (not in that order), and then the lingering odor for multiple days.

Perhaps geneticists need to breed us quicker cooking fish...or fish that don't leave a linger smell...or something better than Oust (which no long exists) to remove the cooked fish smell from the house.

Or perhaps I just need to be paid more so that I can afford the fish, along with the time and effort to cook it.

Headshake

There seem to be more and more of these....

Let's all celebrate dumb, obese people who break the law.

I swear-Idiocracy was prescient.

Someone Didn't Get the Memo

So, I went to the doctor today.

When I get up to the receptionist, I notice the now-standard stack of 2-3 dusty surgical masks sitting on the counter with the sign about wearing one if you have flu symptoms.

Since I wasn't there for flu, I didn't grab one as I paid my co-pay and went to sit down.  As I turned into the sitting area, I noticed that the sitting area had been divided into two different regions- one with a dark blue sign and black ink on it (yeah, it's what you call "easy to read").  Since there were people in the non-signed area, I naturally migrated to the empty, blue-signed area (law of diffusion works with social situations, too, you know)

So, as I approached the blue sign, I noticed it said "This section reserved for those with Flu"

Now, couple of things bothered me about this:

1. When did we change from calling it "the flu" to "Flu"?  For that matter, why don't we call it "a flu" like we say "a cold".  They're both viruses.  
2. The "Flu" section of the waiting room was just as big as the non-Flu section (how many sick people are you expecting here for Flu symptoms??)
3. And, most important of all, the moron that thought up this segregation of the waiting room must be a smoker because it's the same logic as a smoking section of a restaurant.  Yeah, both the flu and smoke are, uhm, air-born!  DUH!  So, you think having them sit on the far side of a 10 foot room is really going to make a damn bit of difference when it has been shown that we sneeze in the 15-20 foot spray zone?

I guess they were trying to save money on those little surgical masks...and brain cells.

Remote Is All In Your Mind

I had lunch with a friend yesterday and we talked about work.  Her job, like most others, requires her to go in to the office every day (that's an hour commute for her in good weather...each way).

So, we ended up talking about how I telecommute.

She thought that was so odd to be working with people world-wide over WebEx and other "productivity" tools.

My point back to her was this:  well, most of it's email and phone calls.  It's just the same as what you do every day.

And then I think it dawned on her- how the "remoteness" was all in her mind.  

I mean, if you have an IT job, chances are you're either heads-down (like programmers) all day and don't want to be bothered, or you're emailing and calling people.

So, does it matter where you do that work?

Does it matter where the person you're contacting is located?  (well, besides the time zone consideration)

It's quite sad and irritating that modern society is ready to embrace technology like laptops and cellphones, trusting in the technology, but they expect the working life to go on as it has for the past centuries.

Does that really make sense???

Why make all of these advances when we're not going to embrace the life changes that accompany them?

Scary

Well, instead of writing to you about my daughter's play kitchen (which will have to wait until later), I thought I'd share a scary experience of my own:

when a microwave almost explodes.

When you start noticing that your beverage or dinner just isn't as hot as you think it should be- it's NOT you.

OR
when you start noticing that your beverage or dinner is hotter than you think it should be- it's NOT you.

It's the magnetron in the microwave wearing out.

And when it finally wears out, it will make a sound like a unpopped kernel of popcorn skittering across the floor, followed by the typical "appliance on fire smoking smell", followed by a whirring noise that isn't the normal 'uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu' of the microwave fan.

Now, I've had a lot of microwaves in my life (though I still remember life without one) and this is the first time that I've ever had one die.

It's just Murphy's Law:  just when you replace the expensive light bulb in the thing, it decides to blow up.

<headshake>

China, With The Pictures All In Blue

I think that Bargain for Frances is one of the most popular children's books (though I'm still not sure how I feel about the message of cheat others when they cheat you). Despite what being published over 40 years ago, it still appears on "Book of the Week" lists.

And, as parents, we all know that children want to mimic what they read about in books and see on TV- heck isn't that what action figures and character-licensed apparel is all about?

So, what I find sad, is that a book about a girl and her tea set, while being one of the top reads of childdom, does not register with any manufacturer of toys.

Because you just can't find that china tea set with the pictures all in blue.

Now, I know, I know.  To product a china tea set for a toy sounds like a disaster waiting to happen (after all, Frances had one and she broke all the pieces...just as I suspect many children did and continue to do with fragile things).  But no one even makes a plastic tea set that matches the book.

Talk about a missed opportunity!

In fact, if you want a child's tea set, with the pictures all in blue, you'll need to shop on Ebay and buy one from the 40's/50's.

Perhaps I'm being too hard on toy manufacturers.

Perhaps the problem isn't that they wanted to stop making tea sets with the pictures all in blue.  Perhaps it's that Americans (the largest consumer market in the world), have lost their class and don't have tea parties or elegance or refinement anymore.

Either way, if you want a tea set for your daughter, you'll be stuck with a Dora- or Disney-branded set of just the tea pot, cups, and saucers - NO SUGAR BOWLS.  Perhaps this is because no one needs a sugar bowl since most sugars for teas come in little packets.

Changes the story a bit to not have the sugar bowl.


Thelma was right:  guess they really don't make them any more.

Seasonings For Processed Food...

Do you like to cook?

Think you're the next Iron Chef?

Well, if you don't know about Penzey's you should.  It's an old fashioned spice merchant with herbs and spices that actually smell and taste like something (yes, there actually is a distinct difference in flavor between oregano and basil, but if you only buy the little brown leaves in the supermarket, you'll never know).  The best part is:  it's actually cheaper, per ounce, than McCormick's and Spice Island.

And they now have free shipping over $30.

Yeah, subsidized shipping!

Anyway, they put out their little catalog on a quarterly basis.  This issue features their new flavor:

Frozen Pizza Seasoning


o_O

WTF?

I mean they used to have "Pizza Seasoning", but now it's "Frozen Pizza Seasoning"?

My first question is "why?".

And after my initial shock of dumbing down the spice industry to accommodate processed food that has already been flavored, I have to ask:

"Is this because frozen pizza tastes so bad or is this spice designed to make other food taste like frozen pizza?"

Now, don't make it sound like I'm being nitpicky.  When you buy "Butter flavoring" and "Vanilla Extract", it's to make food taste like the flavoring.

So, honestly, is this spice supposed to make other food taste like frozen pizza?

Seriously, folks, I think that you're listening too much to your marketing people because I think that some things (like spices) don't need "improved flavors"- just keep the ones we all know about tasting good at a good price.