What's That Rule That You Live By?

Forgive me readers for I have sinned, I has been over two weeks since my last posting.
Side Note:How many hail Mary's do I owe you for this one?
Anyway, so what is new in the life of Paradise? The answer: nothing really!
I know odd because it has been so long but honestly with school and work it is hard to find drama of ones own. Sadly I am left working off the lives of others, who are often more fun than your own.


Oh! But I have been a but counterproductive!
I have lost a best friend (not death, someone decided friendship no longer has any meaning... and really who can blame her?), broken my toilet, broken the breaks on my car, lost a little self-esteem but gained it back and realized why I am single... wow maybe there has been a lot going on!


(at work right now posting this now, adding more when I get home)

Okay,But It Still Smells Like Eggs!

WARNING: Do not let the title of this post fool you, it really has very little to do with eggs... although they do play a part.

For the 1000th time in my lifetime I broke my cell phone this week! I actually broke it twice in one day, yes I am that good. Unlike the times I have broken my phone before this time I will admit that it breaking was my fault. The first time it broke I dropped my phone into a cup of putting I had in my car, yes I had an open cup of pudding in the car... don't hate, and if you are Bill Cosby just be happy I was eating pudding.
Pop Culture: Bill used to do Jell-O pudding commercials where he would say silly things like, "you got to eat the pudding."
So I brought the phone over to the good people at Sprint and within an hour they fixed it. YAY! But on my way home I had the phone in my car where I spilled water on it making it die for the second time. I told you I am amazing at breaking things!

As a result of all of this I spent my entire day yesterday at the Spring store in Pembroke Pines waiting for my phone. They could not fix it but they did give me a new phone and a free memory card, score! I now have a new cell and although I wish I would have asked the guy to save my texts and pictures I have promised myself that I am never going to break my phone again... well at least for another week...

Oh but Paradise you promised us eggs.

While I was waiting for my phone I went over to Starbucks and had one of their fairly new egg sandwiches. I had the eggs Florentine, which is actually really good! It's eggs, cheese and spinach all on a massive toasted English muffin, for only $2.95 and tax, and I am told like 300 something calories, GOOD DEAL! (okay a little high for breakfast but for lunch it is perfect and filling). Just think of it this way, if you go to McDolands in the morning you can get a McMuffin for buck, but lets face it the thing is little, is not very filling and packs just as many calories for one of those hockey puck sized things. From now on I am only getting my breakfast at Starbucks when I want something hot. The best part is, I can get my favorite breakfast food anytime I want at Starbucks, unlike McDonalds who will stop selling me breakfast at 10:30, or is it 11, either way I cannot get it anytime I want. Honestly who are they to tell me when I can have eggs?
As of now the score in the capitalism wars are as follows:
coffee chain one, fast food chain zero!

Just Like Mom Used to Buy!

So today I went over to BK for lunch, normally I get a veggie burger when I go there but this time I came across an odd item on the menu that I felt that I had to share. They are now serving Kraft Mac Cheese and, here is the kicker, they also have apple slices that look like French fries. HOW WEIRD!

Now while this may sound like a good idea in theory, what could go wrong? According to the box the mac cheese is only 180 calories and an apple pack that is 25 calories. Add that with a bottle of water to drink and you or your kid has a low cal lunch... no more overweight kids... YAY!

The downside to this all... the taste! The mac cheese, which comes from a container that Kraft specialized for BK, is simply frozen and microwavable, does not leave much to the palette. For my taste it is crying out for some pepper, but then again I have a thing for peppery foods and twists on traditional. I am sure any 5-year- old will love the mac cheese so I am going to say that for the market they are targeting they totally score big.

But the apples, do not fair as well. The idea of apples that are cut to look like fires are a great idea, they are more kid friendly and due to their shape and color look like unhooked potatoes. The downside is that these pre-packaged lunches, they lack the crunch that we normally associate with fresh fruit. It is really upsetting eating these and I never thought I would EVER say that I felt fruit needed something to be dipped in to taste good, but here we are. The people at BK give caramel packages with these apples and please... USE THEM! Also they market these apples, that are shaped like fries like I have mentioned a million times before, in the containers that they typically put French fries on, yet when you order it you get a plastic baggie... NOT COOL!

I was honestly really excited when I heard about these items but they were kind of a let down when I went for it. I think it came about with good intent but there is something odd about going out to get food that you can easily make at home... no joke the food is just Kraft Easy Mac, and if I had kids I would much rather feed them fresh fruit than pre-packed ones. Moreover, I am at a place called Burger King, it just does not feel right to go there for pasta. But then again this would not be the first time the chain went away form burgers, remember a few years ago when they had tacos on their dollar menu?

Eating this lunch lead me to think why these fast food places do not put salads or veggie burgers on their kids menus. If their true intent is to provide kids with healthy choices, then they would do so by giving them choices that do not involve cheese, carbs and caramel.

The mac cheese and apples are currently only in a few test markets, so if they are in yours go for it and give it a try... what do you have to lose?

Let Freedom Ring!!

Today is Independence Day!
Well actually it has been for about an hour and a half now.
I have never been as thrilled to celebrate this holiday as I am this year. First of all, last year I did not get to celebrate the day at all... I had an exam the next day so I had to stay in all day and study, I even missed the Nathans Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest! Oddly enough though I was studying for an exam in U.S. Military History.
This Fourth is also special to me because my cousin is FINALLY home from Iraq this year. After serving active duty over there he can now celebrate our independence safe at home. Of course I still have a few friends over in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries that make celebrating even more special.

I think people often get the wrong idea of the Fourth of July, this is not a day just light fire works, and have a huge bbq with friends. Of course those things are wonderful days to celebrate the day, and have tradition behind them, today is a day to reflect on what it means to be an American and to be proud of the country we live in, with all of its beauty and ugliness. Maybe it's because of the military history class I took last summer that prevented me from taking part in the activities that made me see the importance of this day. The kids, yes kids as young as 14, who fought in the Revolutionary War so we can have this country. For the people who went against the British because they believed that America could be someday be among the greatest nations on earth. The men who died during the civil war to bring this great nation together and the families that were torn apart from it.

This country has a rich history of hard working, regular people who fight for what they believe in. So today as you are watching those fireworks and eating your hotdogs, think of all those men and women who died for this country. This of the men who rebelled against the British in order to give us the right to have a country and heck to give me the freedom to write this blog.

Good Bless America... from sea to shining sea.

ps. If this is coming off overly patriotic there is a reason for it. I am sick of people who say they don't care of this day. This is your countries independence were taking about, be proud of it! People risk their lives to come to this country and for the chance to be an American, don't take it for granted. People have died for your independence and are always fighting for your freedom, don't disrespect them by saying that today means nothing to you.

It's the End of the World as We Know It..

Who said that life never feels like a sitcom? Or in the case of current event, life feels more like a sci-fi show.

Somewhere near Geniva they have been working on this particle acceleator called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Sounds all fancy right? It also sounds like the biggest sci-fi comes to life intrument ever! Not only is the center about 100m underground on it, turning it on could end the world... feel like the aliens should come in soon? yeah me two.

The machine is supposed to allow us to discover new dimentions, and gain a better understanding of the world around us. We currently know of only three dimentions, and if Stargate SG1 is correct, there should be about 11 more out there for us to see. (of course on the show they have already discovered all of them. It sounds like no big deal that they would even consider turning this thing on right? So we learn more about the world and how it works, la de da. But this is the part when the situation becomes more sci-fi like: although those working on the LHC say that it is safe and will be benefical, they also have said if they do turn it on, as they plan on next month, it could distory the world. OH JOY!

Although the odds of the world ending when someone turns on the massive machine are low, it can still happen.

Since I am no physicist, nor do I play one on TV, I am going to allow the European Center for Nuclear Research to fo it for me.

"It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from the miniscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.
Two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either protons or lead ions – will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC."

So good luck all in case they turn this thing on... I know everything will honestly be okay, but come on thinking that they can make something like this only makes one wonder about what else could happen. (ooo the times in which we live...)

By the way, does the photo I have on this post is of the LHC itself. The thing is about six stories, so don't let picture size fool you.