Friday, August 14, 2009

Change, Tall City, Movie Review

Change is a good thing but then again change just for the sake of change is not always a good thing. Case in point, the new Oreo bag that is now on the super market shelves. For years Oreo had a see through clear plastic bag that you entered from the top and it had not reseal features. So, in the end the cookies got a little stale and musty tasting. Now I know some who eat the whole bag at one time so the staleness is no problem, but I happen to eat my Oreo’s 3-5 at a time depending on my mood and Oreo hunger pains(on a future blog I will explain my 5 way plan for eating an Oreo, but not enough time today for it). Now my concern: A while back the Oreo guru’s changed the packaging with a non-see through package that also had a tab that you grabbed on the side and then it opened up where you could take the cookie off of a neat little tray, then you could reseal it to assure your taste buds that they would remain fresh throughout their shelf life. So what happens? I go to the Oreo shelf last night to have 4(in my next post on the subject I will also articulate how I determine how many I will eat at any given setting) Oreo’s while doing some work in my office and lo and behold they have changed the package again. Now it is back to the rip it open at the top if you can find a place to rip it and no reseal feature. Again I am not a person who is against change at all; fact is there have been many products that needed changing, for example the Ford Edsel automobile. That auto was ugly, bulky, stupid looking, didn’t run good, had poor color options and was named after one of the Henry Ford idiot sons. So, it was a pleasure to see that product off of the show rooms and into the junk yards. But, the case of eliminating the resalable Oreo bag is completely unforgiverable. Now, do I protest or just keep eating those lovely little black and white bites of absolute ecstasy? Okay I’ll answer that; I’ll just keep buying those dudes even if they come in a toe sack and enjoy every minute of them. So, throw them at me Nabisco, I am game for change!!

Well we just returned from another weekend of chasing the Southwest Challenge series points in our attempt to win our age group championship for 2009. The competition among all of the age groups are fast and furious, but the 70-74 age group is really getting tight. The best of this group is John Leroy since he is obviously from some planet far off in the solar system. He swims, bikes and runs like some kind of 30 year old with an IV of Red Bull going through his veins at all times. While I go as hard as I can against this dude I can’t even stay in his time zone. He has been named to the All-American list of USAT more than once and just makes it impossible to gather 10 points when we are at the same race. So, over the course of the season I have entered my slower triathlon body in the events I have a better chance to gather some points and then tack against him in the events he is present. So, the real name of the game is picking the right races, getting as many 10’s as possible, doing as many races as possible (quantity against quality) and hoping that it all adds up at the end of the year. Right now there is a fraction of a point between us, so for now my tactics are working. It will not work if he wakes up some morning and says, “Greer I own this age group and you are not even eligible to rent it from me this year or forever, so move over, I want the gold!!” Since the other folks in the age group have not shown as much interest it is basically a two man show now, unless some beast from the East shows up from Eastern New Mexico. So, the Midland Tall City tri was one of my tactical races and John Leroy was taking the day off. This gave me another 10 and a fractional small lead. This coming weekend we will be in Los Alamos at another tactical race, hoping for another 10. Of course this could be changed if some baboon comes romping out of the New Mexico forest and does us in. Marti picked up a third but has had way more competition than I have so she is really scrambling to move to the top. She has a chance to advance this weekend, so wish us all some good ole luck. Regardless we will go into the race with the attitude of going as fast as we possibly can with the DNA that we have to work with.

Movie Review: “Funny People”, ***, sometimes funny, sometimes boring, sometimes gross, sometimes way too long, sometimes very good, sometimes worth seeing, sometimes telling a great lesson on life or death, sometimes just stupid, but a legitimate three star movie. This movie combines black humor (not to be confused with black-American humor) and deep drama that introduces Adam Sandler as a famous stand-up comedian who has only a short time left to live. He hires Seth Rogen to help with his jokes, but Rogen finds himself caring more than his employer wants. This movie is the length of epic proportion so really needed some editing somewhere but regardless is a good movie. Since it is about stand-up comedy it has an excuse for the totally bad language that is just their gig. Rated R for language and crude sexual humor throughout (they are obsessed with the F word and penis word), and some sexuality (you mean when Sandler has rear entry sex with one of his bimbos). Go see at your own risk and it is not a children’s movie.

greerman