Pet Peeve

People that annoy me to no end, other than naggers, are people who drive super slow in the fast lane. When the cars in the lane(s) to your right are driving faster than you, THAT MEANS YOU ARE DRIVING TOO SLOW AND DON'T DESERVE TO BE IN THE FAST LANE. And just because your car fulfills the carpool lane criteria DOES NOT mean you should be in the carpool lane. In conclusion, don't be a jerk.

Pillow Freeze

Before we finally got central air conditioning at home, on hot summer nights I would put my pillow in the freezer before I went to bed. After brushing my teeth and doing whatever it is one does to get ready for bed, I would have a nice cold pillow to sleep on. It's not really THAT hot right now, but I'm tempted to put my pillow in the freezer.

Minimates

Those of you who know me know I collect action figures. I'm sure most of you think it's incredibly bizarre and childish. I don't think I could ever persuade you to collect toys, in fact I would discourage you from it. I can, however, explain why I collect toys.

Two words:
Plastic. Crack.

Collecting is just another form of addiction. It's this must have mentality. There's varying degrees of it, but collecting really amounts to purchasing things that have no useful purpose and take up space. If I look at my hobby objectively, I agree it looks like a waste of time and money. But I enjoy it. I think what I like most about buying toys is opening them. Opening a new package and freeing the toy from its plastic prison. Maybe the smell of plastic out of package makes me high, I dunno.

I have standards certainly. I admire the detailed sculpts, the paint work, the ability to make toys super articulated. I also appreciate consistency. I won't just by anything. I don't mix toys of different lines. That is, company A might make action figures of a certain license and company B will too. But they're oil and water -- I do not mix them. usually this doesn't happen at the same time because usually only one company has the licensing rights at any given time.

Collecting can be difficult. Unless you have money. If you can freely spend money, then collecting toys is incredibly easy. Sometimes certain retailers will have exclusives, meaning that only that store can sell a particular wave of a line of toys. And depending on how well the local stores are stocked, there never seems to be enough available. And I hate resorting to eBay. For those of you who have listened to me whine and complain about a hobby as ridiculous as toy collecting, I thank you. I collect 2-3 toylines at any given point in time and I'm a nigh-completist. That is I will try to get almost every figure, except those that are dumb variations on already released characters. For short periods of time I can (mildly) consumed about getting that one missing figure.


Hmm, I didn't actually mean to write about toy collecting as a whole. I originally just wanted to talk about my latest obsession: Minimates. Plastic crack. They're small and they come in packs of two. They're reasonably cheap (although it's getting to be more expensive than I'd like). They have many licenses, such as Marvel and Ghosbusters, and a ton more. They look like glorified Legos. Comparing them to Legos is a disservice, actually. They're block figures, so there's an overall consistency across licenses, but many of them have their own unique parts that make them stand out individually. Back in the day I started buying one or two here and there of characters I like. Now I've been getting more and more. At least they're small so they don't take up too much space.

I need me more Minimates.

Next: Iron Man 2 Minimates

BOO!

BOO!

Twizzlers

Every day after lunch I grab an individually wrapped Twizzler out of the candy jar on the receptionist's desk. Suffice to say, I'm hooked.

I wasn't always a Twizzler man. I used to prefer Red Vines. Or those seemed to be more accessible. 'Cause you see, I rarely buy candy myself, but will certainly help myself to the candy goodness of others, and giant buckets of Red Vines tended to be more popular than Twizzlers. In any case, when I rediscovered Twizzlers, I thought to myself, Twizzlers are kinda bland. Not nearly as packed with flavor as Red Vines. And Twizzlers are more of a brittle chewey and not as a gummy chewey that Red Vines are.

For a brand name candy, they certainly didn't seem that great. But for some reason I kept coming back, day after day. Part of it was the novelty of it. They're shaped like straws! Candy straws! Not just the same old wrapped hard candy. Now, over time, I've really grown to really like them. I appreciate the more subtle flavors and how I don't have to work so hard (chewing wise) to eat them. Mmmmm... Twizzlers. That doesn't mean I still won't eat your Red Vines. Just that Twizzlers have won me over.

You could say, they've "roped" me in. Ha ha ha.

Foodtography

I've found myself more and more taking pictures of the food I eat.  I used to think it was weird when people would post photos of their food.  It seemed uninteresting to me.  But I've since changed my opinion of foodtography, at least when traveling.  I take a lot of photos like the good tourist that I am.  Eating local cuisine is good portion of the joy of traveling, so it seems like a logical extension to photograph the food you try.  Especially since it doesn't cost anything to take a photo with a digital camera.

Home Depot

I moved apartments about two weeks ago. Yesterday, I browsed through Home Depot looking for anything I might need for my new pad. I ended up buying just a power strip and some duct tape. But walking through every aisle of Home Depot made me wish I was more of a handyman, so at the very least I could make my own lightsaber hilt and proton pack plus neutrona wand. Obviously I'm not gonna be able to make a real lightsaber or a real ghostbustin' device, but being able to put together battery-powered LED lights would be nice. Oh, and I guess to you know repair things or whatever.