Just in case you forgot that time I was in a fake commercial

Here it is again - Thanks JC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ismkISZ_AbI&feature=related

Real blog tomorrow - topic - the life of the converse shoe.

Lego my earrings

Feeling a little lazy today so today I am going to promote something I saw over the weekend instead of coming up with an original thought.   If you are anything like me Lego played a crucial part in your childhood.  I still remember spending hours upon hours putting together my massaive Lego ICE compound - those were the times.  But then Lego added the Technix line (you know, the ones with rubberbands and gears).  I hated this line because my 12 year old fingers werent yet nimble enough to manuever the complex peices - usually I ended up throwing them against a wall.

Anyhow - over the weekend I stumbled on a jewelry designer who uses Lego in some of her peices.

I dont wear jewelry but this is really pretty awesome. 

http://www.jacquelinesanchez.com/groupings/Forever-Young.asp

Cereal boxes shouldn't hang out with ice cream

Much like the value of a dollar, the sanctity of marriage and Donald Trump's hairline - grocery store bagging standards are not what they used to be.

Back in the olden days (1996) when I was a well trained bagger at the Albertson's on Glade Road - bagging standards were my LIFE! Well, bagging standards and smooshing the fruit of rude customers.

The managers at this store made it their goal to ensure that there were at least 8 items per bag and that we perfectly "cubed out" each one. I distinctly remember other grocery stores doing the same.

Here were the 3 golden rules:

1) Never put soap or cleaning products with food

2) Never put frozen food with cardboard boxes that may get soggy

3) ALWAYS PUT THE BREAD WHERE IT WONT GET SMASHED!

You’d think this would be common sense, but it seems like now these ill trained buffoons simply stuff whatever comes down the conveyor into the bag and throw it in the cart. Last week at Kroger I probably bought around 50 items and (no kidding) probably had 30 bags. Absolutely unacceptable item to bag ratio!

I have even started strategically emptying out my cart so that all of the frozens will be together, all of the fruits/vegetables will be together and so forth. Sometimes they still manage to put the frozen dinners on top of the granola bars.

No real point to this other than someone bet me that I couldn't somehow link Donald Trump to frozen dinners.

Memorial Day 2009

I forgot to do this yesterday so I'll try to do 2 today.

For those of you who always expect a sarcastic rant or ironic humor in my writing you may not like this one.

I just want to remind everyone to take a few minutes this long weekend while you are cooking out, relaxing and otherwise having a good time to think about why we have memorial day. Let's remember all of the soldiers who have passed over the 200+ years of our country.

No matter your political affiliation, you cant deny that we are free today because of those folks who have laid their lives on the line for us. I personally don't have anyone close to me that is currently overseas but I know many of you probably do.

Take some time this weekend to say an extra prayer that they get back home safely so that in the years to come they can celebrate with us.

Leadership starts with Steve and ends with Comcast

The font on this thing bugs me.  Is there anyway to set it so that I dont have to change it everytime?

You may or may not know this but I go to a Bible study type small group every Wednesday night.  Tonight we had a special guest, Ray Sluk, a successful business man who above all else is a Christian and lives his life based on the principle of right vs wrong.  It was a very relevant discussion as he discussed the daily struggles that go on in a corporate environment (doing the right thing vs doing what could help your career at that moment).  

At any rate, he discussed how he has had to make many difficult decisions over his career and how no matter the consequences, he felt satisfied that his decision was based in Christ.  

He currently does leadership training and has an an acronym called STEVE.  The underlying theme is that being selfless, building trust, having endurance and using vision to see people's underlying motivations will help you to become a better leader.  Pairing this methodology with the principal of simply doing what is right is his formula for success. 

How has this effected me already?  I think I should probably start paying for cable now.  

Darn it STEVE thanks for the guilt trip!

Hot Dogs and Hard Labor - Welcome to IKEA

If any of you are like me, you have a love/hate relationship with IKEA

I have broken an average trip to IKEA into 3 phases and listed some quotes you might hear in each phase. 

Phase 1 - Excitement phase

"I cant wait to get my new "insert new furniture name here" home."

"Wow, this furniture is so trendy, its like something you would see in an upscale shop"

"These prices are tremendous, I cant believe a whole bedroom set can be under $1000 bucks!"

"They are really smart to have hotdogs, pizza and cinnamon buns for customers to purchase, and they taste pretty good too."

Phase 2 - Holy crap I have to load this in my compact car phase

"What was I thinking? There is no way this is going to fit."

"Why dont they have shopping bags?"

"Maybe if I scoot my seat all the way up and hold the steering wheel with my teeth...."

"Did I get the right hinge for the door?"

"Why is this so heavy? and why doesnt anyone work here?"

Phase 3 - Directions and free time are overrated anyway

"Can these directions be any more vague? Is the cartoon man with the big nose holding a screwdriver or a machine gun? Did this package come with the machine gun or did I have to buy it separately?"

"I shouldnt have eaten 3 hotdogs before all this heavy lifting"

"Is it bedtime already? I just now mastered lining up the holes, holding the door and twisting the allen wrench at the same time."

Jonny Mac Blog Attack

So I have decided to try to do a daily blog ("try" being the keyword there). 

The real reason behind me doing this is the fact that I dont think there are enough blogs out there already.  

I hope that I get millions of readers so I can get paid for advertising space.

"Where we're going - we dont need roads" 

PS - I take requests.