Another One Bites the Dust

TagalongsTonight’s dessert was a fesh out of the freezer, very chilly box of Tagalongs.

Donna was having a bad morning so at noon she called me and asked if I had heated up my TV dinner yet. I said no and immediately asked, “Where are we going for lunch?” Evergreen Chinese Buffet of course. Two lunch buffets and two waters.

Meal Cost: $11.98
Tip: 2.02
Spent Today: $14.00
Year to Date: $467.74

As much as I was prepared to hate “Failure to Launch“, it wasn’t all bad. Worth the hour and a half of my time.

Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates were great as the parents, Mathew McConaughey’s two friends were good, Zooey Deschanel as SJP’s roommate was fantastic and even though the story line was predictable, you actually wanted it to turn out the way it did.

Because we did care enough for these two characters, they could have chopped off the last ten minutes, as soon as they made up while locked in the friends apartment, she unties him, they kiss, roll credits. We really didn’t need to know that both MM’s buddies found relationships too. And we most certainly didn’t need the dolphin making nice with McConaughey at the very end, to show that he was in harmony with nature and everything was just wonderful now that he and Sarah Jessica Parker were together.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 62

Café Cookies

Café CookiesWe ate almost all of a box of Café Cookies tonight. We didn’t finish them for two reasons, 1) while good cookies, they are definitely second-tier tasting compared to Somoas, Tagalongs and Do-Si-Dos and b) we had a MMC meeting tonight, so we are kind of stuffed from BBQ.

At Papa Russ’s BBQ we split the Big Platter, 1/4 chicken and pulled pork with green beans and baked beans for sides, Jalapeno corn muffins to sop up the plate. We bought a bottled water to split, but it turned out to be fru-fru fortified water with vitamins and berry flavoring. I ended up drinking that, while Donna got a cup-o-regular water to drink.

Meal Cost: $14.08
Tip: None
Spent Today: $14.08
Year to Date: $453.74

While Netflix is very, very good to us, but this week we have been stepping out on them.

We are on Netflix’s 1-at-a-time, unlimited rental plan which costs $10 a month. Now that they have added a bunch of distribution centers, there is one a mere 60 miles away, we can turn around a movie in 4 days at best, to 6 days at worst. This means we are watching at least 4 movies a month, but probably average 5, making our cost per movie in the low two dollar range.

Last Saturday we got a promotion in the mail from Movie Gallery with three coupons, one for a free rental, another for rent one, get one free and the third for rent 2 and get 1 free. Monday we went into the local Movie Gallery for the first time since our last Lost Weekend back in September. I meant to bring the 1 Free Rental coupon, but I brought the “Rent 1-Get 1” by mistake, so we picked out 2 movies and it cost us all of $4.23. When we were checking out we hit some mystery bonus thing because the clerk gave us a receipt that included a coupon for another free rental. We used that tonight and picked out “Trust the Man” (this and “Failure to Launch,” will possibly make up for the gore, violence and F-word usage in “The Departed.”) When we take this back we will use the original Get One Free coupon and will have watched four movies at an average cost of a hair over a buck.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 61

Can’t You Just Pick for Yourselves?

SamoasTonight, for our appetizer we polished off a box of Samoas. Mmm, tasty. Now I know why all those south Pacific islanders are so big in stature. with these cookies as their diet staple…

Do not watch The Departed if you are having spaghetti and red sauce for dinner. Very good movie otherwise.

We are getting a professional baseball team right here in Aiken. Don’t look for the name Aiken in the standings of your sports page though, we ain’t that big time, we are going to have a team in the South Coast League. Its short season ball, starting towards the end of May and finishing up in August. The team will not be affiliated with Major or Minor League Baseball, sort of the equivalent of off-off-broadway.

Last year when the South Coast League decided to put a franchise here in Aiken, they asked for team name suggestions from the general public. There were over a thousand of them. The league picked 5 and voting was opened up to pick the team name, your choices were: Blueticks, Boots, Chukkers, Foxhounds and Horseflies. Foxhounds came up the winner.

Now we are naming the mascot, can’t they just pick one? If this is all in an effort to curry goodwill with a locals, it might work for people who suggested the winning names, but it is just as likely to turn off the folks that vote for the “losing” names.

Anyway, if you would like to vote for the name of the person and their dog suit, go to the team’s home page by clicking the Foxhounds link in the paragraph above and choose between Ace, Fritter, “Hitch”cock, Hunter and Southpaw.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 60

Do-Si-Dos?-Gone

Do-Si-Dos®Tonight’s dessert was a box of Do-Si-Dos?. Round, bumpy perforated oatmeal cookie top and bottom surrounding a peanut butter-flavored layer inside and come in an orange box. Do-Si-Dos? used to be called Gauchos.

Donna and I did not watch the Oscar telecast because we don’t feel we need to have our movie choices validated anymore, but in honor of that fine Hollywood tradition, this week is Oscar week at the Bogardus homestead. Sunday we watched a movie that should have won a statuette, “World’s Fastest Indian.” Tonight we watched “Little Miss Sunshine” and tomorrow night it will be “The Departed.” Thursday we will watch a movie, that didn’t win an Oscar, but it did get nominated for a couple of those prestigious Teen Choice Awards, “Failure to Launch.”

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 58

It’ Girl Scout Cookie Time!

TagalongsI noticed that there were several people with those tell tale boxes at work today and sure enough, the girl down the street visited us this evening. Donna bought 10 boxes. Hey, its for a good cause.

We had a box of Tagalongs for dessert. There were 15 cookies in a box, which means that one of us had eight while the other had seven. I’m not sure which was which because I lost track after 4…

Serving Size 7.5 cookies (101g)
Servings Per Container about 2
Amount Per Serving
Calories 563 Calories from Fat 338
%Daily Value
Total Fat 38g 56%
Saturated Fat 15g 75%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 375mg 15%
Total Carbohydrate 53g 19%
Dietary Fiber 4g 15%
Sugars 30g
Protein 8g
Vitamin A 0% ? Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0% ? Iron 8%

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 56

With the Mountains and the Lakes and the Plentiful Fish

Perth Postcard FrontCourtesy of Uncle Sam’s Cruise Lines I had the chance to visit the land down under back in 1977. The U.S.S. Midway made port in the town of Perth in southwestern Australia for 7 days. Perth is about the same size as Columbia, SC, that is to say a big city, but small town compared to the big cities in the US. From what I remember of it, it was very clean and there were blond-haired blue-eyed people who spoke English, which was a rarity compared to most ports of call in the western Pacific.

Perth Postcard BackTo let everyone know I visiting such a far away land I sent out postcards. This one was to Donna’s younger brother Scott. It was mailed from the ship, hence the 13¢ US postage. Even then I cracked me up. Of course then, like now, I’m the only one who gets my sense of humor. “I have to walk around with my hands in my pockets so I don’t lose my change.” You see? I was down under, on the bottom of the world, I was upside down. If my hands weren’t in them, stuff would have fallen out the top…sigh, oh well.

This postcard surfaced today as Donna was going through another box of photos and such trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff in the big ol’ pile of Morrison Memories her mom left behind. The back room still has a couple of tables scattered full with images from 1890 to 1990 and she wants to try and get it sorted by sibling and down to a manageable level. I’ve told her that I don’t envy the task, I can’t even throw out a blurry, underexposed digital image of the Aiken High School Marching Band from the local 2003 Christmas parade, I don’t know how she can make the decision to toss a family photo in the waste basket no matter what it’s condition.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 55

There’s No Place I’d Rather Be Roaming

29054 - GilbertHere is an outtake from today’s Postal shoot for my sister-in-law-in-law. Hi Beth We left the house at 8:00 AM and followed two-lane blacktop, except for a brief stint in Lexington, on a couple hundred mile loop through rural South Carolina gathering 10 new additions to the Postal Gallery, the nine listed yesterday and a last minute addition, home of the Annual South Carolina Peanut Party, Pelion.

Would have been more, but we only snapped one of the three reported post offices in Lexington, because when we got there around noon the traffic was thick as molasses. About the only thing Lexington was good for today was lunch. We stopped and ate at a Maurice’s BBQ there. One Little Joe basket, one Sauci-Chick, sweet tea for me and water for her.

Meal Cost: $14.62
Tip: None
Spent Today: $14.62
Year to Date: $439.66

 
It was around 40 when we started the trip this morning, so the top stayed up until White Rock. I’ve got all ten photos uploaded, but I have yet to write blurbs for them, so for tonight, you can easily figure out which ones are fresh (I wish there was a way to highlight the new entries into this photo album thing…). For an extra hint, they are all on the front page, except for the above mentioned White Rock.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 54