Jun 23, 2006

Butter Boy

Butter Boy is a great invention. You place a 1/2 stick of butter into him and it makes it easier to slather the butter onto your ear of corn. Plus it's kinda cute! Available to purchase at PlumParty.com.

Happy 2nd Day of Summer, y'all!

Wave N'Dry Dispenser

Friday found me sailing through Route 9 traffic and gliding up The Mountain to begin my workday. Little did I know what excitement awaited me as I entered our fourth floor ladies room to dispense my 6am cup of coffee.

I rounded the corner to see a dolly of large corrugated boxes stacked about six high. I noticed the box showed a drawing of paper towels and the worker was discussing to his helper how many he had left to go." Odd. However, I was pleased to see the bright neon yellow "Closed for Cleaning" caution stick wasn't lodged into the door jam of the ladies room as it always seems to be exactly at the moment when I most need to use the restroom.

I maneuveredd around the boxes and entered the ladies room. To my surprise, I immediately noticed the two paper towel dispensers had been replaced!! I instinctly knew these must be automated paper towel dispensers. Everything in our bathroom is automated.

I could not wait to wash my hands. I almost washed my hands first - I was just that eager to play with the brand-spanking new dispenser. I liken it to that feeling I get sometimes when I go to The Outback and desperately want to have the Chocolate Thunder From Downunder desert before my Alice Springs Chicken because I know deep down inside that I'll never make it to the desert.

Talk about easy peasy. I waved my bacteria-laden paws under the AutoSoap dispenser, lathered them up and placed them under the automated faucet to wash them. I took three small steps to the left and put my hands reverently under our newly installed Amsan Renown Wave N' Dry automated paper towel dispenser. [Model RENO05157] A military-strict pre-measured 11" paper towel dispensed itself for my use and I ripped it off the machine gleefully. (And I must admit that I was always self-conscious about how many tugs I did with the paper towels. Did people think I was pulling down too much paper? Why wasn't I using the automated blowing machine? Am I responsible for cluttering Mother Earth with my waste?)

Eventually the excitement of the automated paper towel dispenser will wear off and I know I'll find myself griping about the stiffness of the paper and that annoying grinding sound the machine makes, but right now it's pretty freakin' cool.

Today I'm basking in the glory of no longer having to tightly grasp the paper towel from the old James River model and tug down to get the paper towel while the water from my hands drips onto the floor collecting in a clear puddle thus creating a safety hazard. Now there is no longer any chance pinching or twisting my wrist trying to free that annoying paper-towel backup that lately has been occurring more often than I care to count. This ADA Title III compliant dispenser requires less than five pounds of force to get the paper towel AND it's Green Seal certified. Could that be why the paper towels feel so stiff? Is the machine using recycled-paper?

Regardless, I'm all about toiletry improvements and today I'm drinking more water than usual just to break in our new Wave N'Dry dispenser.

Jun 15, 2006

I wanna icarta

iPods are such useful little music players. The beauty of having an iPod is you can listen to your music privately so no one can make fun of your tastes in Olivia Newton-John or The Dead Kennedys. You can hook up attachments to take photos, use the iPod as a voice recorder and even hook up an iPod to your sneakers. But now you can even use your iPod in the bathroom.

Ladies and Gentlemen: May I introduce you to the icarta?

It's a docking station, it's a toilet roll holder and it has speakers.

Life just doesn't get any better than this.

Jun 5, 2006

Weather Anchor Winner: Todd Gross!!

My boy Todd Gross just won the category of On-Camera Talent Weather Anchor for the 29th Boston/New England Emmy® Awards.

Ever since his sudden departure from WHDH Channel 7 news, there's been a void in my heart for this amazing weatherman.

I miss him. But I'm completely thrilled that he's won yet another award.

Jun 4, 2006

Twinkie Cookbook

Here's a tip: If you're ever having a bad day and you can't seem to pull yourself out of it, say the word 'Twinkie' five times in a row and I guarantee you a smile.

Let's try it together: Twinkie-Twinkie-Twinkie-Twinkie-Twinkie
Feel better?

Now if you really want to sustain the smile, you should go out an purchase The Twinkies Cookbook. The name alone should inspire the kid in you. Forget peanut butter and jelly, forget the fluff and don't worry about the mess. This cookbook will change your life.

Check out page 10 which gets the party started by providing a recipe for Twinkie Sushi. It's very imaginative. I was going to make these for one of the guys that I work with for his birthday because he loves all things sushi, but one of the ingredients kind of scared me: 4 pieces green fruit leather, sliced into 1-inch wide strips. Hmmm. Would a fruit roll-up count as fruit leather? What the heck is fruit leather? But I digress...

I've never eaten a fried Twinkie or for that matter a chocolate Twinkie. But this book gives you all kinds of recipes including smoothies you can make with Twinkies and even Twinkie Lasagna. Garfield would pass out if he got a load of this gooey goodness.

I'm no cook, but I can tell you that sitting on my kitchen counter right now is a box of Twinkies. After thumbing through the cookbook, Spencer hit the local Target and bought us a box. I can't remember the last time a box of any Hostess product was actually in my house. (Somehow just having a box of Twinkies announces to the world that you've given up any hope of healthy eating. )

Contrary to popular belief, Twinkies don't last forever. The book says the shelf life is 25 days. I suspect I've had some food groups last longer than that in my fridge since I rarely cook. But I'm the sort of girl who gets real inspired by beautiful cookbook pictures and lists of common ingredients that tease me into believing that even I could cook. We'll see.

20 days and counting....

Jun 2, 2006

Leisure Suite Larry

There's this great website called Go Fug Yourself that I regularly visit on my newsfeeds. It's a website depicting sharp commentary on celebrity fashion. It's an addictive website because as an ordinary person, you simply cannot look away.

Mostly looking at the snapshots of these helpless, fashion clueless filthy rich celebrities just fosters my day dreaming. I think about needing a life makeover in a weekend. It's too easy to pass the time thinking about what I could transform myself into if I had half their loot. And the interest to do it.

Most days I'm lucky to remember put a dollop of mousse in my hair before heading out the door. And who am I kidding? I don't care about the hair product, I just like making pert little chemical foam puddles in my palm and then washing it off because it makes me feel clean again.

So today's posting started off by saying the following about my boy Robert Downey, Jr:

It would seem that Robert Downey Jr. has discovered a new passion in life: being a walking representation of the haplessly skeevy, hopelessly cheesy video-game character Leisure Suit Larry.

Seriously. Check out the suit and don't tell me you didn't laugh when you got the connection.

I highly recommend you make this website part of your guilty online pleasure surfing.