O Frabjous Day

When I was around 10 or 11 (I think), I got braces like many other kids in the 1980s. For those of you born well after me, you may not have had to deal with the early iteration of braces that I had to deal with. You had access to invisible braces that probably didn’t require a night guard but instead sang you to sleep at night.

I hate you.

Braces meant difficulty eating certain foods, which, in turn, meant giving up certain foods. I had to say goodbye to my beloved Marathon bar.

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The M&M Disappointment Rolls On

I was more or less joking when I wrote about how M&Ms let me down by not having NHL logos for their custom candies. But now they’ve really done it.

My sister and brother-in-law host a legendary party every summer. This year, as a surprise, I wanted to get them something fun for the party. I’ve seen tons of commercials for the customized M&Ms with your text, logo or picture on them. They seemed to be the perfect thing. Or close to perfect – I doubt they would have been perfect outside in the August sun.

Designing my own M&Ms was easy. I picked out colors – bright blue and yellow because they seemed like summery, pool-type colors. I didn’t want to upload an image; I wanted text. I had up to 9 characters on each of the two lines. I barely had to think about it. “Mas Tequila!”

After selecting packaging – um, just a bag, please – and finding a special offer for a free bag, I placed my order. Or I tried to place the order. Regardless of my browser, I couldn’t get to a confirmation page. Eventually I got it and the candies should have been here in time for the party.

Except … Continue reading

From the Wire

Another in an occasional series of tidbits and amusements culled from press releases I receive.

“10 Ways to Make Your Kid Fat” was the headline of one recent release. That’s a headline that will at least get me to read the release. Way to go, ZisBoomBah.com, although your name could use a little work. ZisBoomBah.com is an innovative website that challenges conventional wisdom through tools that empower children and inspire parents to live a fun, active, and healthy life. – or so says the release.

Among the tongue-in-cheek tips: Continue reading

Odds and Ends Part 2 (the picture edition)

My attention has been on the insanity of writing a novel in 30 days so I haven’t blogged lately. Word count updates for the novel can be seen in the widgets on the left of the main page, Facebook and Twitter (follow small_pond). The story of the novel won’t be wrapped up in 50,000 words so here’s hoping I churn out over 5K a day or keep writing through December and into the future.

In the meantime, here are some pics of what else has been going on. Notice no pictures of books appear. Despite my growing pile of review copies, the time isn’t there this month to read and review. Besides, one of them may require me to buy a fiddle

On to the photos …
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