The Big DumpTruck

So I called the repair place to see what’s up with my mower. I was starting to think maybe they forgot about it, and I’m still not convinced they didn’t.

“That will be ready this afternoon.”

“Okay, so when can I pick it up?”

“There’s no hurry on that, it will be ready this afternoon. Any time. Tomorrow is fine.”

“Right, but you’ve had it for 2 weeks and I need to mow my lawn, so can I pick it up today or tomorrow?”

“Any time after this afternoon.”

“So, what time would be okay?”

“This afternoon or tomorrow is fine.”

Oh hey, ya, I’m not still walking. Didn’t want to confuse anyone. Although if I were, it’s almost 24 hours later so I could be headed for the Berkshires, I suppose. I’m not one for doing Marathon walks unless they occur at, say, Epcot. I’m sure the stats are out there, but it’s got to be a mile from one end of that park to the other. If someone wants to pay for it, I’d be happy to go back with a pedometer and measure it for you.

Got a call yesterday from my doctor’s office. Apparently they were starting to book the 2004 physicals, and Junior was on the wait list for an appointment (i.e. after they got the 2004 book). So she asks if February 2nd is good.

“I think so”.

“Do you want morning or afternoon?”

“Uh, either is fine.”

Ya, cause I think I might already have something planned for that day. (Actually, it’s my step-son’s birthday, but other than that, I can probably squeeze in a physical.) I should have said “Oh, you know, that isn’t going to work for me” but the other problem is that every year his physical gets further and further away from his actual birthday, which they do because of insurance limitations. I need to see if our insurance is per calendar year, because if it is, we have an appointment a month earlier…

I just downloaded Mozilla’s beta release of Firebird and I’m giving it a test fly. Actually, I think it rocks and I’ll probably make it my default browser if after a week I don’t have any major issues with all my regular sites.

Oh, and the sun just came out so I’m going to go for a walk. Hold down the fort, okay?

For folks who don’t read the comments, I wanted to pull up the article Adam mentioned about how the process for creating McNuggets was invented in Natick MA. The Army’s Mad Lab

Dear McDonald’s,

Who am I to criticize you? You seem to have built a fairly successful business over the years, and I think that’s swell. But someone in the marketing department deserves a boot to the head for a recently-created poster added to the drive through menu.

[Editor’s note: For those of you who have somehow avoided the McDonald’s drive-thru, they have a big sign with all the menu items, in case you forgot that they sell, well, hamburgers, fries and Coke. The sign also displays the current promotional tie in for the Happy Meals (Finding Nemo toys as of the 30th), any special “for a limited time” foods they are pushing, etc.]

Yesterday the middle of the sign had a picture of a huge plate of chicken McNuggets, one of them lovingly cut in half to show America that they are filled with actual meat of some kind. Is it chicken? I hope so…I’d like to think that chicken McNuggets include some chicken. After all, I’m choosing to feed this to my child. Wait, there’s text on the image:

“Made from a whole chicken breast including skin”

Gah. I was fine until the last two words. So you are trying to sell me on the fact that these are white meat products (which is actually obvious in the tenders at BK or Wendies) and you decide to tell me that chicken nuggets are made with chicken skin? Are you INSANE?

So now I’m stuck at the drive-thru thinking I should not buy these things for Junior after all, but now that I’ve told him he was going to get a Happy Meal I cannot just say I’ve changed my mind. But you can bet I’m going to think long and hard before I go back there again. So McDonalds, um, thanks for doing me the favor of helping me make healthier choices for my son. Sure, I know we should never eat fast food, but hey, I’m only human.

Anyway, I don’t know who thought that would be a selling point to mention chicken skin, but that person is wrong.