Two Lunch Posts: Package vs. Reality

Lean Cuisine Mushroom Tortelloni. I think I ate this February 3.

From Drop Box

Reality has more peas.

From Drop Box

A lot more peas.

From Drop Box

Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers: Whiskey Steak. I ate this February 8th.

From Drop Box

I wonder if potatoes get as much subsidy as corn?

From Drop Box

If I wasn't so lazy I could probably prepare something better from scratch.

Today's Lunch: Package vs. Reality

Lean Cuisine Sweet & Spicy Ginger Chicken. It was quite good. I didn't taste any water chestnuts.

The package:

From Drop Box

Reality from roughly the same angle as the package:

From Drop Box

The reality from above:

From Drop Box

I like how these photos turned out. Used natural light.

Today's Lunch: Package vs. Reality

Today's Lunch: Central Market Pad Thai. Central Market is the HEB store brand of organic foods.

The package:

From Drop Box

Need to work on the glare on the package photos.

The reality:

From Drop Box

It's not you, the reality photo is a bit out of focus.

Bonus photo:

From Drop Box

This particular type Amy's Burrito is only available at HEB. Wal-Mart doesn't carry the yellow ones, just the red and green. Makes me wonder about grocery distribution agreements.

Today's Lunch: Package vs. Reality

Lunch for 1/12/2011: Healthy Choice Portabella Marsala Pasta

The package:

The reality photographed from the approximate angle of the package. I don't keep a bottle of olive oil on my desk.

The reality photographed from above.

The general layout is similar but the noodles are different. Not bad for a microwave meal.

Auspicious start of my 41st year

First, gratuitous dog photo:



Loki running in the snow. He was running toward the door to get back inside after taking care of business. I guess he wanted to catch a few snowflakes on the way. Snow is a rare treat in these parts. Texas A&M will be delayed until 10:00 am tomorrow. This is assuming I even feel like going in at all. I celebrated my 41st on Sunday; in addition to some neat gifts, birthday greetings and hearing an excellent dharma talk, I got a cold.

I have plenty of sick leave and my work is not so terribly important that its worth infecting others.

Today, I felt like getting dressed and off the couch. Even stood on the porch to film the snow. Yesterday, it was bed or couch. The oddest thing about yesterday is that I channel surfed for hours and did not catch one bit of Law & Order, not even one little donk-donk. I made up for it today by watching part of an episode of Law & Order: SVU.

I tried to watch some Olympics because I've become rather fascinated by curling but all the NBC-Universal stations that my cable provider carries were acting up.

Would it kill NBC to have a commentator explain curling or at least provide a crawl with a definition of terms & how the scoring works? I suppose I could drag my laptop to the couch and look up this stuff while watching but I don't feel like doing that and what about the viewers without wireless networking?

I become fascinated by curling every four years because of the absurdity of the sport.

This blog got a shout-out from uuworld.org: the interdependent web.

Lunch 9/9/09

Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Teriyaki - the package. Nice design with the exclamation point.

The reality after microwaving:

The apple stuff always splashes into the broccoli. Piece of broccoli invaded apple stuff compartment. No pineapple. Sauce off target.

Birthday Party Photos

My brother and sister threw a great party for me. My sister did a lot of work and it was a great party. Thanks!

I ate my own head later.

Hot flash fund. I wore the t-shirt in Best Buy when I bought my laptop. I took off the button.

The photo that appeared on the cake. I was 18 months old.

Photos can be printed on the frosting and it is edible. Living in the twenty-first century is so exciting.

More pictures are available for friends and family at Walter's Flickr photostream

Silver Vista Coach

I bought a bunch of post cards and greeting cards from a flea market. I post them on Flickr after I scan them. This is one of many ongoing projects. You can see a larger version by clicking on the card.

My favorite part of this card is the two boys climbing over the railing at the end of the train.

I don't have a date for this card.

Engrish - Radio MASH style

Big stuffed pugs along with a little pug. The United Way received the pugs and a different organization received the big hound dog to the right.
Happy Lovely train

Super Convivial World

It will give you infinite pleasure!!

con·viv·i·al - adj. 1. Fond of feasting, drinking, and good company; sociable. 2. Merry; festive: a convivial atmosphere at the reunion.

Not only did an underprivileged child receive a happy lovely train but the parents increase their vocabulary if they bother to look up convivial

We received 4 of these. We tape batteries to each toy that needs them. Rayovac and Everyready can live in harmony, why can't we?

the eden of the movement

The opposite panel said, "the aquatic animals of the movement"

special for you of children design.

The poetry of Engrish:

Happy Lovely train

Super Convivial World

It will give you infinite pleasure!!

the eden of the movement

special for you of children design.

Package v. Reality: the backlog

A backlog of package vs. reality. The backlog exists because the memory card in my cell phone that stores photos is a bit of a pain to remove from my phone. I will receive a new phone this month. Hopefully one with a more accessible card.

I actually ate these things for lunch. Not too much deviation between package and reality with this lot.

Amy's Bowls Santa Fe Enchilada - package:

Reality after microwaving:
Amy's is named for the daughter of the founders. They wanted good, easy to make organic food. I hope they do not feed their daughter the amount of sodium in their meals. Not as much as non-organic foods but still the numbers seem a bit high.

I'm slowly coming to realization that the only way to cut back my sodium intake is to prepare all my food myself. I found the time for exercise and tracking my calories so I should be able to find some time to prepare meals. The only sign I show so far of excess sodium consumption is slightly swollen ankles.

Lean Cuisine Traditional Roasted Vegetable Pizza - the package:

The reality:

Amy's Bowls Pesto Tortellini - the package:

The reality:

I take in 2,500 - 5,000 mg of sodium a day. The recommended max is 2,300 mg. My doctor noted the ankles and asked about my sodium intake.

An American Gothic in the Snow

American Gothic sculpted in snow.

Yesterday, snow fell in Bryan - College Station. This brought out lots of cameras, snowball fights, short snowmen and a sense of wonder and play. It was magical. It looked like a snow globe outside my office window.

Most of the snow has melted today. Just remnants of larger snowmen remain. Some students managed to get enough snow together to build a few human-sized snow persons.

This weekend the temperatures will reach 70 degrees F. Several seasons in the space of a week. I love Texas.


Rarely anyone says a single thing worth $2,000 but maybe 2,000 people will say something worth $1.00.

Radio MASH

Radio MASH has updated parts of its website: http://www.brazosradio.com/mash/
Toy or Cash/Check donations can be made in person at the MASH compound at Post Oak Mall December 4th through December 8th, 2008. You can also donate money online at the Radio MASH website.

Check out some photos that Walter took from past Radio MASH: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22287142@N02/sets/72157603749330149/

You can see me get bigger as the pictures go back in time.

I'm not sure how the economy will affect things this year. A kid has not gone without during the years I've been involved.

Terrorist Fist Bump

I saw this photo on Francesco Explains It All and it made me smile.

Crop Walk

Members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Brazos Valley participated in CROP Walk today. See if you can find the minister in this photo.

Compare this photo with the list from Stuff White People Like and see how many you can check off.

Numbers 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 27, 34, 35, 39, 42, 47, 49, 50, 53, 55, 76, 77, 83, 84, 88, 99, 108, and 109 apply to me. Not all of it is based on the photo, of course.

A very exhausted Loki after the walk. That is water on the pavement. The tongue is 3 inches wide at this point. He can fit the whole thing in his mouth occasionally.
A Saint Bernard named Suki. She and Loki played a little but mostly sprawled out on the concrete together.The church raised over $1,700. I managed to raise $70 of that. I did not pursue sponsors as vigorously as I did last year. Walter participated for the first time in many years. I need to get a t-shirt and a hat made that has Walter's picture on it for events like this. That way he can be in the group photo even though he is taking the picture.

More pictures from the Bryan/College Station CROP Walk can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22287142@N02/sets/72157608394510096/

Race Photos

Photos are out of order.

Hooray! Beer! I was surprised to learn that parts of Texas still have blue laws. In Corpus Christi, when serving beer before noon it must be served with food. In the information packet runners were informed that they must have a pizza in their possession before approaching the beer table and to bring an ID if age is an issue. Alas, that is no longer an issue for me.

Finished!

Racing down the home stretch.

I don't know why my left wrist behaves that way while running.

Racing toward the finish line.

Over halfway there. Beer, here I come!

Catch me if you can!

Maybe they can.

Approaching the halfway point and pleasantly surprised to find Walter taking photos. He snuck around some traffic cones to get here. There goes that left wrist again.

I'm getting the hang of this running thing.

Walter has posted all the photos that he took at the race on his Flickr account. Now he can post the other pictures he took.

Harbor Half Official Results

Place in Female 35 - 39: 19 (out of 31)
Bib Number: 34
1st Half: 1:14:27.2
2nd Half: 1:10:29.8
Gun Time: 2:25:29.5
Chip Time: 2:24:57.0
Pace: 11:04
Overall Place: 196 (out of 253)
Overall by Sex: 92

I move into a new age group in late February.

Walter took 400 photos. They can be found on Flickr.com at http://www.flickr.com/photos/22287142@N02/sets/72157608186452366/

He will make additions in the coming weeks.

Dog pictures

When Loki relaxes the tip of his tongue sticks out of his mouth. When we replace the floor covering we will take a picture of Loki with us to insure that we pick something that contrasts with his coloring.
Economic crisis? Wake me when you have something to eat or want to pet me.
Beware of dog, you might trip over him.

Poke Mary in the eyes!
Mix those metaphors ladies!

At least I was able to stay awake for the duration of the Vice-Presidential debate. My first thought afterwards: "Boy, Sarah Palin is loud."