I was driving down the interstate this weekend when “Sweet Home Alabama” started playing on the radio. I always stop my channel tuning and listen to this Lynard Skynard song when it’s on, just like I always stop to watch “The Shawshank Redemption” when it’s on TNT. However, there is one stanza that I didn’t understand the first few years after I’d first heard it:

Well I heard mister Young sing about her

Well, I heard ole Neil put her down

Well, I hope Neil Young will remember

A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow

I don’t always pay attention to song lyrics. It can take me 4 or 5 listens before I start to decode what a song is really about. It was only when I took a History of Rock n’ Roll class that I heard the Neil Young song, “Southern Man,” which is critical of the south and is what Lynard Skynard is referring to.

As I continued driving along, I tried to think of more songs that make reference to other songs. It sounds like [...]

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When I hear the word “porridge” I think of Goldilocks and the three bears. I don’t think bears actually eat porridge, and I don’t think I’ve eaten porridge either. Grits, check. Oatmeal, yep. I’ve even had quinoa, though I can’t pronounce it. In Iceland, porridge is popular these days because “it’s cheap and it stands with you through the day.”

It’s also been reported that candy sales are up, particularly for nostalgic candies like Necco Wafers and Mallo Cups. Candy is a cheap way for people to feel better about the crap economy. Even if you don’t have a paycheck, you can get a Payday.

The word “economy” feels vague and formless. I can’t seen an economy, I can’t feel it, and I definitely can’t eat it. Yet, when the economy shifts, it affects everything, down to what we have for breakfast. I’m lucky for now that I don’t have to live much differently than I did before the economy crashed. I’ve always been thrifty and I’m fortunate to still have a consistent paycheck. I’m still eating [...]

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PastaQueen gives Fage Yogurt a second chance.

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Hello, dear readers. I wanted to apologize for the fact that I’m posting two reviews less than a week apart from each other. The Fage review has been in the works for weeks, and I forgot it was finally going live this week, otherwise I would have posted the Home Trends review sooner or later. I have a bazillion things going through my head these days (including the ever-present headache) and I futzed up the timing on this. I don’t want the blog to turn into a big advertorial, so rest assured I will hold off on any more reviews for several weeks. Please bear with me!

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I’ve laughed and laughed and laughed at this video ever since a friend instant messaged me with the link. What a silly little hamster, running as fast as he can to escape the wok, but never making any progress.

“Why doesn’t he ever figure out it’s pointless?” I asked my friend. Then I started the video at the beginning and watched it again. But upon this viewing I started to wonder, are there things in my life that I am attacking like a hamster in a wok? Is there anything I am working and fussing and plowing at head on, making no progress, when it would be better to take another approach? If so, some highly evolved organism might be laughing at a YouTube video of me too.

Then I found this video of cats on a slide and started laughing all over again.

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