Ice Ice Baby

Ice Cold Water. It sounds so refreshing. "Get your ice cold water here" is the call of countless beverage peddlers. How can anyone pass up ice cold water? Who doesn't want water that is as cold as ice to cool them off on a hot day.

The problem is that ice cold water IS ice. When water gets as cold as ice it becomes ice. Thats how ice is made, you take water and make it temperature go down until it is as cold as ice and then it becomes ice. If you are looking for water that has been sitting in ice then perhaps you want ice cooled water. That is water that has been cooled by ice. Ice cold water is ice. Next time someone offers you an ice cold water you should be enraged that what they are giving you is not frozen.

Go Home Go Green

There has been a disturbing trend recently known as "Go Green". Apparently many people have all of a sudden decided that the environment is very important and should be protected. Now anyone reading this right now is probably questioning why I feel this is a disturbing trend. Don't get me wrong it is not all bad. Encouraging people to ride a bike or recycle is fine with me. What I have a problem with is the lines of "Green" products that have surfaced. Now if you are a small company that makes a few products that are"Green" this particular rant is not directed at you. The people I am targeting are the large corporations that have decided to make "Green" versions of the products they already make. You know the ones I mean.

One example is Toys R Us. They have decided to make a new line of Toys that they consider to be "Green". These new "Green" products are environmentally friendly versions of the products they have always sold. Instead of a regular old teddy bear you can now get a "green" teddy bear that is 100% cotton. Instead of regular blocks, you can now buy your favorite toddler "green" blocks that are forest friendly. And if that isn't good enough you can get a pail and bucket set that is made from recycled milk cartons. On the surface these sound like improvements. Cotton is good, the forest is good, milk cartons are good, I guess everything is good.

Here is the problem. Toys R Us did not stop making non-cotton bears, they have not stopped selling forest killing blocks and they have not stopped selling regular old non recycled plastic toys. They have not stopped abusing the environment they have simply decided to cash in on a trend. They have not demanded any environmental improvements from their suppliers. They are not going "Green". The only green that matters is the almighty dollar. They don't care about the trees or the plastic or the kids, they care about the money. If they were in anyway trying to be conscientious they would be making changes to there existing lines and products instead of just creating a new line.

Now, Toys R Us is not that only company doing this. Tons of companies are cashing in. That is what companies do, they try to make money. Fine, but don't expect me to get up and do a happy dance. I will not applaud because less then 1% of your products aren't bad for the environment. That is not good enough.

Black Grapes

So as long as I can remember there have been two colors of grapes. There are green grapes and there are red grapes. Throughout the years I have swayed back and forth over which grapes were my favorite and I finally settled on green grapes. They tend to be a little longer (not sure why that matters) and I just life the taste a little bit better. Red grapes are good too, I have nothing against them they just aren't quite the best. I was feeling good about the grape situation in my life. It was stable, everything was settled and everyone seemed pretty happy about it. Then one day as I was perusing the grocery story produce section I stumbled across something odd. Black Grapes. At first you think that maybe they are just really dark red grapes, you know someone left them in the sun a little too long and before you know it they are black. But this is not the case my friends there on the sign you can see the grape varieties red, green and black. I imagined that this must be just some weird fruit waldbaums has decided to carry, after all there are plenty of items in the produce section that I can not identify. This must be one of those weird imports. But as I began to look around I soon noticed that black grapes were a standard. Wherever you could find red and green grapes you could find black grapes. This blew my mind. How did this happen? Who just decides to make such a standard fruit in a different color? Will we soon be seeing purple bananas or white apples? Are there orange watermelons in our future? As I began to ponder this further I wondered, was there a time when there was only one color grape. I mean I have only been around a mere quarter of a century and clearly grapes have a few years on me, so how would I know. Do the powers that be in the grape world just decide to add colors on a whim or was there careful planning involved in this decision? Could we consumers expect more of this in the future? Are there yellow, orange, blue, brown, gray and white grapes in our future? Will grapes someday command a whole supermarket isle? Perhaps that is their plan maybe this new color is simply an attempt to corner more of the fruit market. Regardless of the reasons behind it I am not sure how I feel about hating to rethink my grape preferences.

Fathers Day

You can't really blame the man who created Fathers Day. After all it sounds like such a harmless idea. A day that is dedicated to Fathers and all their wonderful attributes. What harm could come from such a well meant idea. Unless perhaps you are a couple who has been unsuccessfully trying to have kids and fathers day is just a reminder that you still aren't a parent. Or say your father was not a very nice man so instead of a happy BBQ fathers day reminds you of the abuse you had to endure until you were finally old enough to get away from the sadistic bastard. Maybe he wasn't that bad maybe all he did was cheat on your mom and start a new family that didn't include you. Or maybe you are a father who is stuck in a custody battle and the crazy woman who is the mother of your child won't let you see your kid because you don't have visitation rights on Sundays. Or my personal favorite what if your father isn't around. What if he ran out on you or died. Suddenly Fathers Day doesn't sound like a harmless idea it sounds like a painful, cruel idea, whose only purpose is to remind people of the hurt in their lives.

Sure it might be nice for the people who aren't involved in the above situations. If every father in your life is alive and well and you have no negative connotations associated with fathers day maybe you enjoy fathers day and you think I am being bitter. But here is the thing if you are lucky enough to be one of there perfectly situated people isn't that enough? Do you really need a day to remind you of how wonderful your life is? Is it worth all the pain that you are inflicting on those less fortunate than you? Can't you just be happy all the time that you have a father. And if you want to throw a BBQ for your dad have a great time just leave me out of it. Don't make me endure a month of TV commercials and radio ads reminding me that I no longer have a father. Not to mention the countless signs in every window of any store urging me not to forget that perfect gift for the father I don't have.

When it all comes down to it Fathers day (this applies to mothers day as well) is more pain than it is worth. I will gladly forgo any future mothers day celebrations that I might have if it means sparing those without mothers the pain of enduring the day.

I like to remember my dad when I hear a song that reminds me of him or when I remember a story he told me but I do not enjoy the entire world cramming fathersday down my throat for their own amusement.

Genesis

C.S. Lewis wrote...

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

With this in mind I am aware that this blog may never be original. It is simply a forum for me to put down some of the feelings and thoughts that I have. If you enjoy, wonderful. If not I was never writing for you.