06.27.07
Collect Points = Cool Stuff
An internet ad caught my eye today for a free 20-oz. Coke if I signed up for the Coca-Cola rewards program. I’ve seen this program advertised before on the 2-liters and 12-packs that I frequently buy. It’s one of those where you collect points and redeem them for cool stuff. I try (keyword: try) to resist the urge to get sucked into such gimmicks because I inevitable do exactly what the want: I buy more of their product to get more point to redeem for cool stuff.
The summer of ‘97, for example, my friends and I drove all around the rural Alabama town where we lived to find Mountain Dew bottles that had been thrown on the side of the road to get the “points” off the label. By the end of the summer we had enough points to all get a t-shirt and a doo-rag.
As a kid I saved Kool-Aid packages with “points” that I redeemed for silly little toys. Heck, I still save Kool-Aid packages to redeem for silly little toys for my own kids. I’m such a sucker for these collect-and-redeem things I even have two cardboard coins from the Pop-Tart and Eggo packages that can be redeemed for a Shrek or Donkey bicycle helmet cover! (We only need one more!) My husband wants me to buy a certain brand of applesauce because with just 3 proofs-of-purchase he can get a free t-shirt. A few years ago we saved points off of the Dr. Pepper 12-packs for a free football t-shirt. And in the name of education I collect Box Tops for Education and Campbell’s soup labels and save for my sons’ pre-school to redeem for new playground equipment, books, etc.
The internet has changed these point-collecting schemes a little by requiring you to go online, get a username and password and enter “codes” that equal out to points. That’s slowed me down a little, but not to a total halt. I started saving points off the Pampers packages a little more than a year ago for their Gifts to Grow program. Once my stack of wipe-refill packages and little slivers of paper torn of the diaper packages is large enough to be worth my time, I’ll sit down at the computer, login to Pampers’ web site and type in the codes. The points are redeemable for kids toys and books.
And now Coke has lured me in. They have this cool Coca-Cola memory stick — for just 650 points! At 10 points per a 12-pack that’s only 65 12-packs!!! But it’s not just for Coca-Cola Classic. Other products I buy that have codes are Sprite, Dasani water and Minute Maid Lemonade. And the free 20 oz. Coke offer that roped me in the first place will get me started: it’s worth 3 points! You may see me picking up litter in a rural town near you, not in the name of the environment but because I’ll need only a few more Coke points.
06.26.07
Born in the U.S.A.
At work today, we celebrated with a co-worker who recently became an American citizen. The man talked about coming to America in 1969 from another country and it made me think, what an experience that must be and one that those of us who were born in America will never feel.
I wrote an article a few years ago when I was still a newspaper reporter about a couple who came to the United States and became U.S. citizens. The wife described the process and talked about the citizenship test that those seeking to be U.S. citizens must pass. On the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services web site are 96 practice questions. Questions like “How many branches are there in the U.S. government?” (3), “What is the name of the President’s official home?” (the White House) and “What are the colors of our flag?” (red, white and blue).
I chose a few easy ones to post here but there were some that I know I learned in school but had to take a peek at the answers. Check out the complete sample Q and A here and see how you do. If you had to take a test to be an American, would you pass with flying colors – red, white and blue?
06.25.07
Dinner Impossible? I’ve got dinner impossible right here.
In a what-to-watch-on-TV-that-we-both-like battle this weekend my husband and I watched an hour and a half of Food Network. The shows were not practical how-to cook shows but rather professional bakers and chefs competing against other professional bakers and chefs. The first half-hour was “The Food Network Challenge” where the challenge was a Castle Cake. Contestants had six hours to make a cake that resembled a castle using only sugar and chocolate. The second half-hour was “Dinner Impossible.” The Food Network web site describes it best: “If you could combine James Bond with MacGyver, you would get Robert Irvine, a real life chef extraordinaire and the host of Dinner: Impossible. Each week, Robert (with the help of his two sous-chefs, George and George) is thrown a new culinary curveball and the team must figure out a way to solve their challenge before time runs out. … Will he succeed or will it truly be, Dinner: Impossible?”
The final 30 minutes was “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” where chef Bobby Flay (who has at least two other Food Network shows) challenges award-winning BBQers, bakers, pizza makers, etc. to a cook-off. This particular episode was about doughnuts.
Since Food Network is sooo into food challenges, I have a great idea for their next show: take one of these great chefs, give them at least two starving kids, a dirty kitchen and limited to no ingredients (because they didn’t have time to stop at the store) and have them prepare a tasty yet nutritional meal for said kids and a husband. Time limit: 5 minutes. Welcome to my world.
06.19.07
Cola Wars
I don’t plan to write much about NASA or space exploration on this blog because A) I work for a NASA contractor and I’m not sure what kind of comments can get me in trouble and B) I don’t want to.
But a note on my “Year in Space” desk calendar for tomorrow caught my attention and prompted a google and wikipedia search. It says that on June 20, 1985, “NASA announces cola wars will take place on shuttle mission STS-51F.”
Cola wars? Sure enough, Coke vs. Pepsi in space. According to wikipedia, “The Carbonated Beverage Dispenser Evaluation was an experiment where both Coca-Cola and Pepsi tried to make their drinks available to astronauts. Both fizzed excessively in microgravity.”
More info on carbonated beverages in space from this space.com article: “Though NASA labeled it the Carbonated Beverage Dispenser Evaluation (CBDE), consider it the taste test to end all taste tests. The ‘experiment’ included specially designed soda ‘cans,’ produced by both Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Though the crew classified the experiment as a failure citing the zero-G environment and the lack of refrigeration, Coca-Cola would fly twice again using an improved dispenser and pressurized glasses — ultimately spending more than $750,000 in the process. Pepsi, on the other hand, would later film a commercial aboard the Mir space station in 1996 for a reported $5 million.”
If this has piqued your interest at all as to why coke and microgravity don’t mix, try this Suds in Space feature. It’s food ( ice cold Coca-Cola) for thought.
06.18.07
Little boy, Big bed
My oldest son moved into a big bed this weekend. It was long overdue (he’s less than a month way from his fourth birthday and he was still in his crib-turned-toddler-bed). The headboard of his crib can be used as the headboard for a full-size bed so he’s actually in a pretty big bed for his age. We bought Lightning McQueen sheets and rearranged his room so he has his bed and nightstand kinda towards the back of the room and his books and toys moved to the front in a little play area.
He’s definitely not in a baby room anymore. In fact, I need to go through some of the “sit around” stuff on his dresser and take out the little baby trinkets and pictures. There’s a stork holding a frame, and in the frame is a blue print of my son’s hand from when he was two or three months old. There’s a black-and-white print of him just two or three days old, all curled up in my arms. And a blue beanie baby that says “It’s a Boy.” Those days are long gone for that one. I could easily move some of the items to the room where my 18-month-old son will sleep in a crib for a while longer. But he, too, is quickly outgrowing the babyish stage. It’s true. They grow up fast.
06.15.07
170,000 Miles
The odometer in my “Green Machine” clicked over to 170,000 miles a few weeks ago. Where have I been in that 170,000 miles? Back and forth from Indiana and Alabama a lot, that’s for sure. I’ve also driven the entire length of I-65. Not all at one time, but over the course of several trips.
I-65 runs from Chicago to Mobile, Ala. I first drove the stretch from Huntsville to Mobile while in college and have since driven it many times on the way to the beach. My hubby and I drove the Huntsville-to-Indianapolis stretch many, many times when we lived in the Hoosier state. And just once he and I drove from Indy to Chicago. I remember thinking when we entered Chicago and saw the sign stating that I-65 had ended that I had seen a similar sign years before in Mobile and how strange it was to have driven a major interstate from start to finish. It’s not Route 66 or anything but it’s close.
06.14.07
Thomas & Friends Recall
Attention Parents: There has been a recall of certain Thomas & Friends trains and toy sets apparently because some of the items were painted with lead paint. Most of the recalled trains are red which includes any James engines and coal cars and many of the red cabooses. So far I only recognize one train on the recall list that we have. It’s the 2006 Day Out with Thomas coal car that we got as a souvenir when we went to see Thomas in Chattanooga that year.
If you have Thomas & Friends items in your home and daycare be sure to look at the press release about the recall and the list of the recalled items with images. And don’t forget to tell your daycare and churches. I called my sons’ daycare this morning to tell them about it because they have a Thomas table and Thomas trains in their play area. They hadn’t even heard about it!
Coke Update
Well, I sold the last of my Coke collection last weekend. I ran an ad in the newspaper and had a taker on the first day. A woman called Saturday morning and said her husband had seen the ad in the paper and told her about it. I gave her a quick rundown of the items and a little history into why I collected, why I was selling it, and so on. She and her husband came by later that day. As she looked through my boxes, the woman said several times “I don’t have that” or “I’ve never seen that.” They didn’t haggle on the price but handed me the cash and loaded the boxes into their pickup. And drove away.
