Social Commentary

Just a Point and a Click

It was just a quick purchase. I had done it a hundred times before and not had any problems. "$12 wasn't that much to spend on such a useful little application, " I told myself. The registration page on the app opened my browser and dropped me to a familiar site -- a universally recognized online payment service. I had an account with said service, but thought I'd simply debit my card directly without having to go through the hassle of logging in, only to be bombarded with marketing and up-selling of all kinds. "You already have an account! Please login to continue!" said the next screen. "Ok," I thought, "I guess I'll login..." I only had two accounts with said online payment service and THOUGHT I knew what to enter, but my passwords didn't work. None of my passwords worked. Fortunately for me there were handy "'Forget Your Password?" options. Yeah, well... it just hadn't been a good day, and it was about to get worse.

From the $1 Menu

I didn't have any particular direction or topic, but an egg mcmuffin popped into my head. I went to google and did a quick search on "the joys of breakfast sandwiches". The oh-so-helpful suggestion popped back with, "DID you mean: the joints of breakfast sandwiches?" Well, no, I didn't mean that, but it was enough to kick me in a direction for writing.

Did you know (according to answers.com) that... "A breakfast sandwich is a sandwich served at breakfast. Breakfast sandwiches typically are made using breakfast meats, breads, eggs and cheese. These sandwiches were typically regional specialties until fast food restaurants began serving breakfast. Because the types of bread common, such as biscuits, bagels, and English muffins were similar in size to a fast food hamburger buns, they made an obvious choice for fast food restaurants. Unlike other breakfast items, they were perfect for the innovation of the drive-through. These sandwiches have also become a staple of many convenience stores, who serve them as take-away items."

Damn. What would I do without such an invaluable resource? I knew Wikipedia would have more to say on the topic, so I sauntered over there.

Cataloging Our Culture

Holly Jolly, Bahoo Dorey, and all that. It's 'Black Friday' and we find ourselves once more at the beginning of the Christmas rush. The madness. The mania. The wrapping paper, sugar-coated, tinsel twinkling hell of it all. And as I was sorting through the junk mail on our couch I came across a PERFECT example of all that is NOT holy about this time of year: the Christmas TOY catalog. This however was not the JCPenney 'wishbook' of our childhoods, this was the creme de la creme of all toy catalogs... the FAO Schwarz Holiday 2007 catalog. What child wouldn't immediately go into seizures upon leafing through this holy grail of all 'wish books?' I know I did. But as I was leafing through it, between the grand and petit mals, I noticed something and thought, "what the $%&@ Who comes up with this stuff?" Now don't get me wrong, I love toys (not necessarily children) and have always marveled at the sheer stupidity of toy manufacturers, not to mention the sheer stupidity of parents all across America who BUY this crap!