Holiday blogging

Who knew?
We're in the habit of steaming ours; but microwaving seems to be best.
Enjoy your Memorial Day. Support our troops: Eat more broccoli.

A total "guy product"

Can't you just hear them now? "Ladies, stay in the house and do what whatever is you do while us men will fire up the BIG GREEN EGG." For the second time in about two years, we know someone who has gotten one of these and is so excited he can hardly stand it. Our friend got his for his birthday last week, and we get to sample copious amounts of meat cooked on it next Tuesday. Yay. Another friend had us over for steaks one night, grilled on the BIG GREEN EGG, and let me testify that these were the best steaks I had ever had, outside of Hunter's Pub just up the road in Hamilton, Ga. Can I get a witness?
The friend who just recently had this greatness thrust upon him came into work Monday with the story about his first "tryst" with the BIG GREEN EGG. He had his parents over from out of town. It didn't turn out so well, though, because even though he bought some pricey meat, he was trying to deal with the BIG GREEN EGG in the dark with a flashlight, with his dad hovering around. And there were about 15 starving women and children inside his house waiting to be fed. Talk about pressure. So the way I see it, that was just a practice run for Tuesday's rendezvous with the BIG GREEN EGG.
They are made of ceramic and probably will not move if a hurricane comes through--which assuaged the fears of our friend's wife who was worried that someone might steal the BIG GREEN EGG from the backyard.
(To read more about this fabulous product, click here.)

Powerlessness

Feeling powerless in your job? The American Psychological Association (APA) offers this article on the subject, which will resonate with anyone who feels powerless in his or her job/career.
Powerlessness,of course, isn't limited to the workplace. You can feel it in your marriage, in your religious community, anywhere. The question is, What do you have the power to change and what can't you change? Alcoholics Anonymous, to name one group, teaches participants how to focus on what they have control over and to accept the things they can't change.
Weird things can happen, of course, when we choose to act out negatively from our sense of powerlessness. Extreme examples are poisoning the boss's coffee or slashing his tires. Or cheating on one's spouse.
Positive actions may include talking about the issue with one's boss or spouse, if for no other reason than to be heard and to vent. As this article says, you aren't bound to stay in a bad job. Or, I'd add, a toxic marriage.
Thoughts?

Something less esoteric: Burgers

At backyard barbecues, do you wince at the sub-par taste of the burgers at the Jones' place, but not at the Smith's? The difference may be the cut of meat. Or if it's come packaged. If the Smiths grind their own beef (using a food processor), likely its taste will have you begging for seconds. This article offers some hints, whether you're interested in the food processor route or not. Enjoy!

Picking on my kind

Allow me to digress from health and fitness: Do you ever notice how many news reports of, say, a murder, start out with something like this?: "Benlake, N.Y., is a sleepy little down of 350, that is until Swampy Smith of nearby Festavia slaughtered a group of eight puppies down at the dog shelter."
Or this: "Majesty, Neb., a hamlet by the Lazy J River, won't be the same after Johnny Jones wrested a pocket knife from his breakfast partner Sunday and stabbed waitress Lerline Lovelace 20 times in the arm." Or: "Residents of Armpit, Wis., which is nestled by Washed Up Creek, awakened to the news Friday that Miss Dumptruck 2004 ran off with Mayor Bill Jones, leaving his wife behind in Sunday school."
It's not always written this way, of course, but I wish I had a dollar for every description of a town that's "sleepy" or some similar idyllic description; I'm not picking on the word sleepy, per se, but I'm saying NO TOWN is a peaceful little hamlet--even when crime catches people off-guard. It doesn't matter if your city sits by the most gorgeous mountain stream with trout in it that smile, or has a snow-capped alp visible from every view. Crime or weird things don't just pop up in a place as if those things aren't going on already.
But I understand what writers do when they say things like this; they're trying to show some sort of contrast between negative behavior and what's happening at the moment of the crime--like a huge interruption. To show contrast between the "pure" townsfolk and the criminal. "Four retired truck drivers sat Monday at McDonald's on 14th Street, swapping stories from the road, when William "Big Jack" Crouch entered the restaurant with a gun in each hand and fire in both eyes." We may not all be murderers, of course, but our towns aren't as pure as we'd like them to be. And I will submit that something like a shooting, small-scale or large-, is an unwelcome, evil interruption to a simple activity like drinking a cup of coffee.
We have our moments of peace, thank God, but ... What exactly is a sleepy town? ... And I wonder why this is in my craw?
Thoughts? Similar pet peeves?

Heavy sleeper

Did y'all see this? (Or "all y'all," as we say Down South.) I'd say the next to the last graph is pretty telling. The part about "a night on the town." Here's another Southern-ism: "Bless his heart."

Cancer myths

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.
Here's an interesting article about various cancer myths (from the Mayo Clinic). Let me know what you think, about any or all of them. (You can generally spot a myth--regarding cancer or anything else--when it starts off "Everyone ...") In sum, there's such a mystery to illness. Of course, doctors and other health care pros have studies and smarts to rely on, and I appreciate them no end; but some of the smartest ones, to me, are the ones who say things like, "We don't know. Let's try this. If that doesn't work, we'll go to something else. ... Hang in there." If there's no art or mystery to treating big-time diseases like cancer, how do you explain why some die (who are "supposed" to live), and others live, who pretty much have been told, "Don't buy ripe bananas"?
Meantime, does anyone know any treatments we can try for Evil Cat? Last night, he latched onto my calf with his MOUTH (as in teeth) and it seemed an eternity before he let go. This was unprovoked, but did not go unpunished. Two words: Water bottle.