April 19, 2009

What to do with Pop Rocks?

I stumbled across this a while back and was intrigued. Apparently the Pop Rocks team has decided to move into the candy bar arena. I can’t really imagine what this chocolate bar would taste like, or whether I would really enjoy it. I just think it is an odd direction to go with an established fringe candy like Pop Rocks. I think there is a reason why other fringe candies haven’t tried to enter the lucrative chocolate bar market. Either they are scared by the already established big boys of the industry or their r&d and marketing departments all have the same common understanding that some things shouldn’t be combined. Personally, I respect the crew at Nerds for not following in Pop Rocks footsteps. Perhaps I am not giving this product a fair chance, seeing as how I was never really a Pop Rocks fan and I can do without candy bars in general. I am probably just jealous because after watching the cult classic Urban Legend, you know the one with Pacey from Dawson’s Creek, my parents banned Pop Rocks in our house for fear that we may combine them with Pepsi. This, as everyone knows, can be quite deadly. Well for those of you who are a fan of the popping little guys, here is what the Pop Rocks bar looks like. Just don’t expect to see me holding one anytime soon.

Pop Rocks Chocolate Bar.jpg

•
“ These beers are making me drunk”.
Lee McDonald •
April 17, 2009
Weather was good today. I decided to call up smith.dudevice.com, seeing as we work about 2 blocks apart, to ask if he wanted to meet me for lunch. My office had already been abuzz about the delicious peameal bacon on a kaiser from the St. Lawrence market, so we agreed to meet and head in that direction in lieu of the sunny skies. Both smith.dudevice.com and I have been to the Market many times in the past, however, neither of us has sampled this almost mythical sandwich, so we figured it wouldn’t be too hard to spot the place to get them. We walk in the door and are greeted by a generous line for a place that has a sign that reads, “…Home of the Original Peameal Bacon on a Kaiser”. We look at each other as if we have stumbled across weapons grade plutonium just sitting on the floor in front of us. Cloud nine we were on. We place our orders at the end of the line and salivate at the thought of what was to come next. 40 minutes pass and our opinions have drastically been altered. We realize that this is the slowest moving production possible when it comes to putting peameal bacon on a kaiser. After looking around, I realize we had been had. First off, there are multiple stands in the market all claiming to be “Home of the Original Peameal Bacon on a Kaiser”. We fell victim to a clever location. This one stall is located right at the front door, so everyone quickly assumes it is the place to be because of the line. WRONG. Secondly, the shifty servers immediately take your order at the back of the line and make you pay there, essentially trapping you in there twisted web of waiting, preventing you from breaking free of the shackles and running off to one of the other stalls. It took us 40 minutes to get a peameal bacon on a kaiser. We didn’t have time to even sit and eat it. I ate mine while running back to the office in order to make a meeting on time. Bottom line is, there are many options for getting this sandwich, don’t be fooled by lines or signs. Look deeper and you will find hidden treasures and less aggrivation.  Oh, how was the sandwich? AMAZING! Would I go through the whole process again to get another one? HELL YES!

Weather was good today. I decided to call up smith.dudevice.com, seeing as we work about 2 blocks apart, to ask if he wanted to meet me for lunch. My office had already been abuzz about the delicious peameal bacon on a kaiser from the St. Lawrence market, so we agreed to meet and head in that direction in lieu of the sunny skies. Both smith.dudevice.com and I have been to the Market many times in the past, however, neither of us has sampled this almost mythical sandwich, so we figured it wouldn’t be too hard to spot the place to get them. We walk in the door and are greeted by a generous line for a place that has a sign that reads, “…Home of the Original Peameal Bacon on a Kaiser”. We look at each other as if we have stumbled across weapons grade plutonium just sitting on the floor in front of us. Cloud nine we were on. We place our orders at the end of the line and salivate at the thought of what was to come next. 40 minutes pass and our opinions have drastically been altered. We realize that this is the slowest moving production possible when it comes to putting peameal bacon on a kaiser. After looking around, I realize we had been had. First off, there are multiple stands in the market all claiming to be “Home of the Original Peameal Bacon on a Kaiser”. We fell victim to a clever location. This one stall is located right at the front door, so everyone quickly assumes it is the place to be because of the line. WRONG. Secondly, the shifty servers immediately take your order at the back of the line and make you pay there, essentially trapping you in there twisted web of waiting, preventing you from breaking free of the shackles and running off to one of the other stalls. It took us 40 minutes to get a peameal bacon on a kaiser. We didn’t have time to even sit and eat it. I ate mine while running back to the office in order to make a meeting on time. Bottom line is, there are many options for getting this sandwich, don’t be fooled by lines or signs. Look deeper and you will find hidden treasures and less aggrivation. 

Oh,

how was the sandwich? AMAZING! Would I go through the whole process again to get another one? HELL YES!

•
April 14, 2009
Every morning I look at myself in the mirror and think, “To use, or not to use? That is the question.”

Every morning I look at myself in the mirror and think, “To use, or not to use? That is the question.”

•
April 12, 2009
Traumatizing night. 4am, awoke to the sound of someone in my house walking around downstairs. Quickly, quietly grabbed my limited edition 1993 Blue Jays mini bat and went to investigate. The culprit must have heard my footsteps (mental note, stop sleeping in dress shoes) because as I rounded the corner he or she darted out the back door into the perpetual darkness. They left some chocolate eggs. I find this odd, very odd indeed. Speaking to the neighbors, it appears that the individual hit all the houses on the street. After long discussions, I have been able to compile a composite of what the intruder looks like. If any of you have seen anyone who may resemble the above photo, please, immediately contact your local authorities. Hopefully we can work together to end this terror once and for all.

Traumatizing night. 4am, awoke to the sound of someone in my house walking around downstairs. Quickly, quietly grabbed my limited edition 1993 Blue Jays mini bat and went to investigate. The culprit must have heard my footsteps (mental note, stop sleeping in dress shoes) because as I rounded the corner he or she darted out the back door into the perpetual darkness. They left some chocolate eggs. I find this odd, very odd indeed. Speaking to the neighbors, it appears that the individual hit all the houses on the street. After long discussions, I have been able to compile a composite of what the intruder looks like. If any of you have seen anyone who may resemble the above photo, please, immediately contact your local authorities. Hopefully we can work together to end this terror once and for all.

•
April 11, 2009
Wrapping up “Ecuador Awareness Week” here at the love.dudevice.com offices, we were discussing some of the native wildlife and decided to focus on that aspect of the country. This is a Marsupial Tree Frog. He can be found in Ecuador. His interests include; Trees Flies Bogs Logs Budweiser His dislikes include; France Well that concludes “Ecuador Awareness Week”. Stay tuned for upcoming theme weeks. 

Wrapping up “Ecuador Awareness Week” here at the love.dudevice.com offices, we were discussing some of the native wildlife and decided to focus on that aspect of the country. This is a Marsupial Tree Frog. He can be found in Ecuador. His interests include;

  • Trees
  • Flies
  • Bogs
  • Logs
  • Budweiser

His dislikes include;

  • France

Well that concludes “Ecuador Awareness Week”. Stay tuned for upcoming theme weeks. 

•
April 10, 2009

I was told to blog this video. I wouldn’t normally oblige but I am making a special case. Apparently this is a funny video, making the rounds amongst the many collegiate facebook walls. All I see is a young kid who spends way too much time at the gym for his age. Seriously, am I the only one that thinks this kid is far too jacked. If I ran into him in a dark alley, surely I would turn and run away. Great, now I am feeling insecure, someone pass me some human growth hormones. 

•
“ Godspeed Tech Vigeant! May your shrimp hauls be plentiful and your beard grow long with Ecuadorian wisdom…
•
April 8, 2009

What you need to know about Ecuador…

Keeping in the spirit of “Ecuador Awareness Week”, I went on the the CIA’s World Book to get some important information about Ecuador. Be prepared to be enlightened…

  • Major infectious diseases: of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria water contact disease: leptospirosis (Luke will catch all of these)
  • Stock of quasi money:$7.974 billion (What is the exchange rate on Quasi Money? I am going to start paying for things with Monopoly money, “No, no, it’s cool, this is kinda like money, it’s quasi money”. )
  • Agriculture - products:bananas, coffee, cocoa, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp (My instincts tell me that they are purposely leaving out some things here)
  • Industries:petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals (Again, missing info, I can read between the lines) 
  • Disputes - international: organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia penetrate across Ecuador’s shared border, which thousands of Colombians also cross to escape the violence in their home country (Sure Ecuador, always blaming poor Columbia)
  • Illicit drugs:significant transit country for cocaine originating in Colombia and Peru, with much of the US-bound cocaine passing through Ecuadorian Pacific waters; importer of precursor chemicals used in production of illicit narcotics; attractive location for cash-placement by drug traffickers laundering money because of dollarization and weak anti-money-laundering regime; increased activity on the northern frontier by trafficking groups and Colombian insurgents (Ok blaming Columbia is one thing but now dragging Peru into this? That is just crossing a line. No one is buying this Ecuador. Why don’t you take some ownership. Your like that kid who gets caught with a dirty magazine at school, who cries when you get caught and blame some other kid saying you got it from him. I am disappointed in you, Ecuador. For shame.)


•
April 7, 2009
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you…Ecuador! Ok, my bearded friend vigeant.dudevice.com is heading here for 18 days; Random vacation destination? Yes! High chance of him getting kidnapped and held captive for a ridiculous ransom? Yes! 90% chance of him contracting a disease not yet known to man? Yes! Possibility for him to fall in love with someone in his preferred height threshold? Yes! Chance of him adopting a young, Ecuadorian land sheep? Yes! Well this trip seems to meet all the required criteria that I look for when approving my friends vacation destinations. In honour of this, I hereby pronounce this week “Ecuador Awareness Week”. 

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you…Ecuador!

Ok, my bearded friend vigeant.dudevice.com is heading here for 18 days;

  • Random vacation destination? Yes!
  • High chance of him getting kidnapped and held captive for a ridiculous ransom? Yes!
  • 90% chance of him contracting a disease not yet known to man? Yes!
  • Possibility for him to fall in love with someone in his preferred height threshold? Yes!
  • Chance of him adopting a young, Ecuadorian land sheep? Yes!

Well this trip seems to meet all the required criteria that I look for when approving my friends vacation destinations. In honour of this, I hereby pronounce this week “Ecuador Awareness Week”. 

•