One Spontaneous Sunday...

Thing #153: Spontaneity is fun.

Yesterday, Ian and I were both off from work (which doesn't happen often) so we decided to do something fun. Then we remembered we live in Opelika, AL. Not much to do here, so we went to explore the city and found ourselves in a rundown shopping plaza with a handful of odd stores including the Armchair Safari Pet Center. Well, we both love animals, so we headed in.

We got out of the car and were blasted by the sound of what we think was a bird that screamed across the parking lot, sounding a bit like someone experiencing a slow painful death. We hesitated, turned to face one another. Was this such a good idea after all? Too late to turn back; we slowly walked in, greeted by two massive parrots, a couple smaller birds, and rows of fish tanks, but not a person in sight. We stared down a large wooden tunnel like structure in the center of the room and up two steps. It was lined with fish tanks on either side and simply labeled "The Gazebo" by a pasteboard sign written in sharpie and taped to the entrance.

"You can go in." We turned to see who had spoken. It was an Arab man with a thick beard who had mysteriously appeared behind us, smiling curiously. We nodded politely and made our way through "The Gazebo" to the back of the store where we saw another such sign that read "Furry Animals". We walked back to find some gerbils, a couple of rats, and some white fluffy things that never moved and didn't look very alive. After this we decided it was time to leave. On the way out, we passed a nice looking couple with their young daughter standing frozen in the door with wide eyes. Obviously their experience was similar to ours.

But the spontaneity did not end there! Around midnight Ian decided to let me cut his hair. No, I have never cut hair before. Yes, I sent him to a real barber today to fix it.

The Chimp

0 Grams Trans Fat*

Thing #146: Nutritional facts can be decieving, so remember to read the fine print.

So, tonight was my father's birthday. (Happy Birthday, by the way). Anyways, as is tradition he got to choose his birthday dinner, and as is tradition, he chose cheesburgers and tatertots. Same thing he chooses every year. So, I was waiting for the oil to heat up to deep fry the tatertots (It's important to point out here that I dumped half the bottle in the pot) and I started examining the bottle. Ian pointed out that it said "No trans fat".

Ian: Ah! See, no fat in it.
Me: No trans fat, there's a differnce, and as you well know, trans fat is a myth. It doesn't seem to be in anything.
Ian: Right, so how much reglular fat is in it?

Naturally, I turned the bottle around to check the nutritional facts which read: 14g fat. 14 grams, not bad, right? That's what I thought. Than I read the servings. Serving size: 1 tablespoon, servings per container: 252. Ok, so I used half the bottle, that's 176 servings or 2,464 grams of fat.

(Sorry dad, not intending to bash the health qualities of your meal... wait, you probably never thought cheeseburgers and tatertots were in any way healthy)

The moral of the story: Always read the serving size, and NEVER assume "no trans fat" means "healthy".

The Chimp

*Serving Size: 1 Paragraph
Servings per post: about 6
Total Fat: 1,487 g
Trans Fat: 0 g

Little Bo.... Jenkins?

Thing #135: I am a geek.

Ok, so some of you knew this already, but I didn't realize it. Perhaps I knew I had some, shall we say nerd like tendencies, but I had no idea how deep it went.

The new expansion for world of warcraft came out on Nov. 12. Ian and I had been eagerly awaiting the game's release for months, but as the date grew near we began to fear not being able to find a copy so we did what anyone with nerd like tendencies would, we preordered it. Ian stopped at our local gamestop and payed the man in full for two copies of the wrath of the lich king.

Ok, so we preordered a game, no big deal. It gets worse. On Nov. 12 we stood in line with all off the other geeks at said gamestop so that we could recieve our copies the very moment they went on sale, 12:01 a.m. Nov. 13.

The more I sit here the more I realize I have always been a nerd. I remember dragging my brother to walmart at midnight the day the Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring went on sale on DVD. I didn't preorder it though. And in neither instance did I dress up in a silly costume! Instead Ian and I stood in line with everyone else talking excitedly about the new game and our characters, and of course, what we would have dressed up as if we had worn costumes!*

The Chimp

*A mage with a polymorphed sheep.