Restaurant Lemons Tested Positive for Fecal Matter and E-Coli
‘GMA’ Uncovered Germy Garnishes at Some Large Restaurant Chains
By ELISABETH LEAMY and VANESSA WEBER
June 12, 2008

It may be tempting to take a twist of lemon along with a refreshing summer drink. But beware because that splash of citrus could have bacteria that may make you sick.

Lab tests reveal citrus slices contaminated with bacteria at some restaurants.

“Good Morning America” tested lemon wedges from six popular family restaurants and what they found was more frightening than refreshing. At four restaurants, “GMA” found the lemons were contaminated with fecal matter, including one sample that contaminated with E. coli.

To put the lemons to the “GMA” test, we visited three sets of chain restaurants: Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, and Chili’s. All six of the causal dining restaurants were in New Jersey.

After swabbing each lemon we were served, the samples were sent to a microbiology lab at New York University’s Medical Center.

We found yeast and harmless bacteria that are commonly found on fruits and in our environment. But four of the samples were contaminated with dangerous bacteria.

“A small risk, but a risk nevertheless by ingesting byproducts of these lemons,” Philip Tierno, director of the clinical microbiology at NYU.

The fecal matter was found at both of the Applebee’s and TGI Friday’s restaurants. The E. coli was found at the Applebee’s in Clifton, N.J. At Chili’s, we found no evidence of fecal matter or E. coli at either restaurant.

But that’s not all. At half of the restaurants we caught workers grabbing lemons with their bare hands. New Jersey’s health code insists that workers wear gloves or use tongs.

“I see that people have no concern of where they put their fingers,” said Tierno. “They’ll take things with their bare hands rather than gloving up and distributing the food stuff as they should.”

Restaurants Respond

Representatives from TGI Fridays and Applebee’s tell “GMA” they take health and safety very seriously.

TGI Fridays told “GMA” in a statement: “As we do with all matters of safety and health in our restaurants, we took this very seriously. We immediately stopped utilizing lemons at all of our restaurants until we could investigate this matter further and review our procedures to ensure this was an isolated issue.

“We’ve taken quick, thorough and appropriate measures to rectify this situation. We have very high health and safety standards, including extensive food safety training for all team members. The health and safety of our guests and team members is our top priority.”

And Applebee’s said in a statement: “Applebee’s takes these findings very seriously as the health and safety of our guests are top priorities. We believe these are isolated incidents and not reflective across the system in our company or franchise restaurants. Nonetheless we have reinforced our processes for produce washing, washing of all our cooking utensils and silverware and employee hygiene in all our restaurants.”

Not the First Time

In a study released last year, Anne LaGrange Loving, a New Jersey microbiologist, tested lemons at 21 restaurants. She found disease-causing bacteria on two-thirds of all lemons, including fecal bacteria.

People need to be aware of the kind of bacteria on lemons, Loving said in a HealthInspections.com report.

“It was like they had dipped it in raw meat or something,” Loving, a science professor at Passaic County Community College said. “It was gross.”

What You Can Do

The best advice is to squeeze the lemon juice into your drink and put the whole lemon aside, instead of putting the lemon in your drink.

Experts told “GMA” that a lemon’s acidity will not kill bacteria. Hard alcoholic drinks, like a martini, can kill bacteria, but beer’s lower alcohol content will not.

In New York, employees at Peter’s restaurant cut lemons with gloves and distribute the wedges with little spears, mindful of all that workers can come in contact with during a shift, including handling filthy money.

Looking for safety protocols like those may be the best practice the next time you order a lemon with your favorite drink.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=5048483&page=1

In the meat case they had packages with 2 patties each, and they weighed a pound. They had packages with 3 patties each, and they weight 1.5 pounds. It’s not rocket science to know that each patty was approximately 8 ounces, or half a pound.

Right?

So, I asked someone in the meat department — a middle-aged man — if I could have some made up at 5/6 ounces each. I was told no. I pointed to the sign that said they would be glad to help the customers with special requests, but he went in back and the meat manager yelled at him that they didn’t have time.

I asked what other size they came in, and this guy told me the 4 ounce package that was on the shelf. I told him they weren’t 4 ounces and he insisted they were. I told him there were 2 in a package and it weighed a pound, and he said, “see? 4 ounces each.”

I told him there were 2 patties at a pound, making them 8 ounces each, and after a bit of chat he said, “well, I flunked math in school.”

No, really?

I’m told to shop around for a bit as it will take them a while to make up 5 pounds of 4 ounce patties. (I watched another kid come out of the back, grab the 8 ounce patty packages, and take them in back, obviously they were just reissuing them).

When I came back, they looked so good I asked for more. This confused the kid totally. I said, “93 lean , 4 ounce patties.” He asked how many pounds, and I told him 3 pounds. He then says, “ok, 4 packages.”

At this point I was scratching my head and wondering why people in this particular town and this particular store (out of town, not local) hired people to work in the meat department, where ounces and pounds and addition/subtraction is needed.

I remember the days when television had good programming. Well, good in my mind. I loved the old detective shows as they were funny, corny but made you think during the show as you tried to figure out who the bad guy was. I wish they’d rerun all of the old detective shows! The classic cars *drool*, the hair styles, the clothing … it brings back memories and is funny to watch.

Do you remember the summer replacement shows? Everyone had a variety show. They, too, were corny, with some horrible skits that just kept you laughing, and they always had one or two good musical guests on as well, though mostly lip-synching was going on.

Then came the era of the expensive shows with Dynasty, Dallas, Falcon Crest and the rest. Women watched them to see the clothing and men watched the to see the women in skimpy clothing.

Now it seems every show is put out there to embarrass someone and keep legitimate actors out of work. I mean, other than being the MC, what are actors doing on television these days? And these so-called reality shows that are just scripted?? I’d like the camera to run in the home of Gene Simmons, Snoop Dogg and others without anyone editing the film. Show some REALITY.

I was reading one forum where people kept talking about how ALL fat people overeat and after all, they all do this or that, just watch The Biggest Loser! I tried to explain that it’s reality TV and is there for ratings, so they are going to find the fattest slob who is a typical couch potato, shoving fast food into his mouth, or the woman sitting around all day eating chocolate. Those are extremes and not the norm. But people are gullible and believe everything they see on television.

The day he died the media was in a frenzy, camped out at his apartment, even reporting inaccuracies in their rush to be the first to report something. The cameras trained on people as they walked by, gauging their grief, was nuts.

I thought it was horrible for everyone to be speculating on what happened, the hows and whys and whos about it.

They then followed his ex-fiance and mother of his child, Michelle Williams, to train the camera on her face and gauge her facial expressions as she walked. Sheesh, let her grieve in peace.

His parents found out he died when they heard it on the radio. I don’t blame the media for that, I blame the police department for not notifying the family immediately.

I felt bad for people who had a microphone shoved into their face while a reporter asked how they felt that he died.

“I was trying to shed a little light on the number one problem in Mississippi,” said Republican Rep. John Read of Gautier, who acknowledges that at 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds, he’d probably have a tough time under his own bill.

More than 30 percent of adults in Mississippi are considered it obese, according to a 2007 study by the Trust for America’s Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention.

The state House Public Health Committee chairman, Democrat Steve Holland of Plantersville, said he is going to “shred” the bill.

“It is too oppressive for government to require a restaurant owner to police another human being from their own indiscretions,” Holland said Monday.

The bill had no specifics about how obesity would be defined, or how restaurants were supposed to determine if a customer was obese.

Al Stamps, who owns a restaurant in Jackson, said it is “absurd” for the state to consider telling him which customers he can’t serve. He and his wife, Kim, do a bustling lunch business at Cool Al’s, which serves big burgers — beef or veggie — and specialty foods like “Sassy Momma Sweet Potato Fries.”

“There is a better way to deal with health issues than to impose those kind of regulations,” Al Stamps said. “I’m sorry — you can’t do it by treating adults like children and telling them what they can and cannot eat.”

The next morning he turned himself in. He claimed he was doing a text message and didn’t see the boy he hit before he hit him.

So, now they want to ban text messaging while driving. Some states make it illegal to use a cell phone unless it’s hands free when driving. One state made it illegal for you to smoke in your car if you were driving with your children.

Let’s legislate human behavior, shall we?

First of all, you can smoke around your kids 24/7 but if you go in the car and smoke, it’s not allowed? Second-hand smoke is dangerous. But, you can take your kids to a place where others are smoking and it’s ok?

Why is it ok for an adult to drink in the house with kids? Why not make that illegal, too? After all, an adult could do something stupid with kids in the house, right?

Text messaging while driving is just stupid. I rarely even use my cell phone when driving. If I get the urge to make a phone call, I pull into the nearest parking lot. If my phone rings and the conversation will be more than a few minutes, I do the same. Of course, one day 3 years ago I was driving through the town and pulled into a parking lot, not paying much attention to what type of establishment it was. A few weeks later a couple of people mentioned they saw me at a bar in the middle of an afternoon. I guess a redhead in a 1966 Mustang is easy to spot. So, I had to explain that no, I wasn’t in the bar, no, I don’t drink, but I had to make a phone call.

I see more people eating in their cars than talking on cell phones. Let’s make it illegal to eat in the car, shall we? After all, you take your eyes off the road to dip your French fry into the ketchup, take your eyes off the road to inhale the sodium and fat-laden burger or to triple-dip your oversalted chicken.

You can’t legislate human behavior. People are always going to do something stupid.

What would you do if a criminal stole something very personal, and very valuable from you?

What if they were able to target your business and criple your income?

You wouldn’t be too happy now, would you?

What if you also discovered that this was happening because of a Google security infection that can affect every GMail user on the planet?

That’s what has just happened to me, and here I’m going to tell you my story. I will detail everything I know about the web pirates who are threatening my livelihood, and tell you what you need to know in order to avoid the same thing happening to you.

On November 20th 2007 I left the UK to spend a month’s holiday in India. I’d been planning this break for over a year, and was looking forward to taking my girlfriend away on our first foreign trip together. Prior to leaving, I published a blog post to let my readers know I’d be away for a while, and that my blog would be a quiet place in my absence.

All my clients were informed, bills paid, loose ends tied up, and off I went on a new adventure.

I arrived in Mumbai on November 21st, and on the journey from the airport to the Colaba district, was punched in the face by an Indian youth, but that’s another story.

During the month ahead, I knew I’d be irregularly checking my emails, but only to let my loved ones know everything was fine. This holiday was to be a break from work, and a break from computers.

Indeed everything was fine for a few weeks, until December 15th (five days before I was due to return from holiday). I called into an internet café in Goa, and read some worrying emails from good friends of mine. I was informed that my website had disappeared, and that my domain name (www.davidairey.com) was now redirecting to some random website - bebu.net.

I was confused, and anxious. How could this happen? I hadn’t received any notification of my domain name expiry, and I never divulge any passwords to anyone. The only possible explanation for me was that somehow, the domain name had expired without me receiving any notice, and that some domain poacher had snapped it up before I got a chance to renew.

My website had been pulling in over 2,000 unique daily visits. Not a massive amount by any stretch of the imagination, but for a one-man operation, 700,000+ annual visitors can generate a nice amount of new logo design business.

So I ran a WHOIS check on davidairey.com, hoping to find an email address for the new owner. The search yielded this email address: DAVIDAIREY.COM@domainsbyproxy.com and here’s the email I sent:

Hello,

Please can I purchase my old domain name from you. It seems it expired without my knowledge.

www.davidairey.com

Kind regards,

David

I found it hard to believe that I’d let my domain name expire, but thought it a good idea to send an email nonetheless.

On the very same day, I received a reply. It came from one supposed Peyam Irvani, telling me the following:

Hello,
Please send me your high offer !
Regards

By this stage, I’d already had some back and forth email discussions with close friends, wondering what exactly could have happened. I also contacted my web host company, ICDSoft, asking them to help. They were the ones who sold me the domain name after all. Shouldn’t they have informed me?

This is when I found a disturbing support ticket, posted in my web host support panel. It was supposedly from me, addressed to ICDSoft’s support team, and was created on November 20th, the exact date of my departure from the UK. It read the following:

Subject: Davidairey.com Transfer

Hello,

I want to transfer davidairey.com to another registrar please unlock it and send me the EPP transfer code.

Kind regards,

David

Within just one minute (ICDSoft’s support team are very fast) the following response had been supplied:

Hello,

We unlocked your domain name as requested. Here is its EPP code:

Domain name: davidairey.com
Auth/EPP key: 6835892AE0087D66

Best Regards,
Support

I immediately typed a reply to this ticket, asking for help, and wanting to know what I could do to resolve the situation. Here’s what I was told by the support team:

Unfortunately, the domain name has been transferred successfully, and it cannot be reverted. The current registrar may be able to give you more information.

The original ticket message was sent from this IP address: 207.36.162.100

The person who posted it must have had access to your email, too, because transfers have to be approved by the administrative contact in order to be successful.

What? Not only did the hacker gain access to my web host control panel, but they also squirmed their way into my email account? This is when I began to get very worried. I kept a lot of personal emails behind my username and password, and this was a real invasion of privacy. For a few minutes I sat in the net café, my girlfriend beside me, and I didn’t know what to think.

I sent an email to GoDaddy, where my domain had been illegally transferred to, and asked them to prevent any further transfers. I wanted the domain in one place whilst I investigated. Here’s what GoDaddy said:

Unfortunately if a transfer request is made and completed we will not be able to prevent this unless we receive the notice from a court or arbitration forum… I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Okay, so GoDaddy can’t help until the matter is taken to court.

This whole process ran over a few days of my holiday, as GoDaddy took over 48 hours to respond. At this point, and on December 19th (four days after my first email to the web pirate, ‘Peyam’), I thought I’d send a reply, and here’s what I said:

Hello Peyam,

Well, congrats on your hack. I’d love to know how you did it.

Before this moves through the courts, in order to settle the dispute, I don’t suppose you’d be so kind to give me my domain back? It’d really save me a lot of hassle, but if that’s what it takes, so be it.

I saw no point in being aggressive, wishing to keep them ‘on-side’ as much as possible.

Again, that same day, I received a response:

:))
Im sorry to say but its not possible to have it or it take about 1 month if you try hard to have it again :)) and you lose your visitor ….hahaha
You can purchase it for 650 $ And we will use escrow sevices that will done in less than 2 days !

Now my domain name was being held to ransom, and the hacker was taunting me. What I had spent more than a year building into a sound marketing plan had been severed at the knees.

I’m not the type of person who will hand any money over to a criminal, so I didn’t reply, instead focusing on stopping this hacker from stealing any more of my property.

How was I being hacked?

After a little research, I found this exposé into Google’s GMail defficiences: Google GMail E-mail Hijack Technique

It details the exact GMail hijack that I have just found applied to my account (right whilst writing this blog post).

Here’s an excerpt:

The victim visits a page while being logged into GMail. Upon execution, the page performs a multi-part/form-data POST to one of the GMail interfaces and injects a filter into the victim’s filter list. In the example above, the attacker writes a filter, which simply looks for emails with attachments and forwards them to an email of their choice. This filter will automatically transfer all emails matching the rule. Keep in mind that future emails will be forwarded as well. The attack will remain present for as long as the victim has the filter within their filter list, even if the initial vulnerability, which was the cause of the injection, is fixed by Google.

And here’s a three step illustration of just how this threat works (click each image for a larger version):

Images courtesy of GNUCITIZEN

I took a look at the ‘Filter’ option in my own GMail settings, and it turns out that you can easily set incoming emails containing specific words to be forwarded automatically. For example, if you want any emails containing the word password to be sent to another address, no problem. It also appears that the Filter can delete the email from your GMail inbox as soon as it has been forwarded, so you’d be none the wiser if a hacker was playing havoc with your incoming mail.

IMPORTANT: If you use GMail, it’s absolutely vital that you check your account settings now.

Here’s what to do:

When logged into GMail, click on the ’settings’ tab in the upper right of the screen. Then check both the ‘Filters’ and the ‘Forwarding and POP’ sections. This is what I only just found in my ‘Filters’ tab:

The following filters are applied to all incoming mail:

Matches: transfer-approval.com
Do this: Forward to ba_marame_pooli@yahoo.com, Skip Inbox, Delete it

Matches: from:(transfer-approval.com)
Do this: Forward to ba_marame_pooli@yahoo.com, Skip Inbox, Delete it

I have absolutely no idea who’s email address that is, but it seems to me that some of my personal emails were bypassing my inbox entirely, instead being forwarded to the yahoo.com address.

It appears that the GMail security issue is fixed, but that won’t remove any previously installed Filters from your GMail account.

What do I know about the hacker stealing my property?

I have a GMail address, pay.irv@gmail.com, and what’s possibly some fictitious name, Peyam Irvani.

There’s also the Yahoo email address, ba_marame_pooli@yahoo.com, where my emails were being forwarded to through the malicious Filter.

ICDSoft provided me with the IP address from where the fraudulent support ticket originated (207.36.162.100), and it’s possible to search for it’s physical location using a free online IP address locator. I’d never used one before, but gave it a shot…

According to IP Global Positioning, the IP is in the United States. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to be more precise, and the Internet Service Provider is known as Cybergate INC (based in Mississippi, USA).

I’m not entirely sure just how much this information can help me, if at all, but I thought it might be useful.

A little unexpectedly, I received a third email from ‘Peyam’ on December 21st, saying:

Helli David,
We can use escrow and you can have your domain name again
Only for 250 $ !
Do you want it ?!
Its special christmas offer ! haha

I like to see you have that domain name again

I don’t care if it costs $0.02. I won’t give my money to a criminal.

You might be wondering what I did to ressurect my website from oblivion. You’re reading this post after all. Before the theft, I had both davidairey.com and davidairey.co.uk, with the .co.uk permanently redirecting to the .com (I felt it would make more business sense to use the .com as my main address due to its ease of memorability.

I’m now using www.davidairey.co.uk domain as my main address. What does this mean? It means that all my organic search results are reset to zero. Whereas once I was on the first page of search results for logo designer, I’m now nowhere to be found.

It also means that my business cards are now incorrect, and my email addresses too. Quite an expense, but I’d rather fight in the courts than give one penny to the person who did this.

During the site move, I found to my detriment that I was linking to my blog images entirely the wrong way. I had been uploading my picture files to a subdomain (blog.davidairey.com/images) then placing them inside my blog posts from there. This meant that whenever the domain name changed to davidairey.co.uk, so did that subdomain. It now became blog.davidairey.co.uk/images. Therefore, my site was missing every single image I’d ever added.

In order to fix this, I moved all the picture files to a new folder, in the root directory at davidairey.co.uk/images. Now, when I insert an image into a blog post, I don’t use the full URI, but cut the address to it’s bare minimum, like so: img src=”/images/example_filename.jpg”

This means that should I ever re-change my domain name, back to the .com for instance, the images will automatically pull whatever domain name I’m using, without the need for a change.

I’m now also using this technique for internal hyperlinks. Rather than linking to my contact page like so: “http://www.davidairey.co.uk/contact”, I’ll simply use “/contact”.

Much better, and uses less code too.

Where can I get help with domain name disputes?

This is the stage I’m at now, weighing up my options before it comes to paying legal fees. This is also where I’m calling on your valued help. I know that many of you are much more clued up on this than I am, and if you can spare some advice in the comments here I’d be very appreciative.

In my email communications with GoDaddy (the company where my .com domain name is now registered), a representative had this to say:

Should we receive notice of a pending dispute from a court or arbitration forum, we will lock the domain name so it cannot be transferred or have the registrant information modified. Likewise, when we receive a decision from the legal body, we will update the domain name accordingly.

They then directed me to the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization, domain.disputes@wipo.int).

So I looked into this organisation’s website, and in particular, the section on domain name dispute resolution resources.

There’s a FAQ section which provides information on a number of items, including the following:

• How do I file a dispute?
• How much will it cost and who pays?
• Can damages be awarded?

To cut a long story short, it seems I have to pay a minimum of $1500 for the pleasure of initiating a court case. All fees are listed here.

As for how long the process lasts, this information isn’t very obvious on the WIPO website, so at present I’m unsure.

What should I do?

From what I understand, the only option is to proceed with legal action (again, I’m not paying the thief one penny).

• Do you know any different?
• Do I have a good case to proceed with?
• Is there any other information available online about the pirate who is blackmailing me?

If you can provide any of these answers, it would mean a lot.

Thank you

In our area, the papers would be dropped off around 4 pm and most kids had 35-50 papers to deliver. We’d get our bundle, count them, and then put them in our bags or a shopping cart we ‘borrowed’ from a supermarket, and off we went. We’d be sure to put the paper in the door and shut the door if it was raining or snowing. We’d fold the paper into thirds to fit it into mailboxes.

I had a helper for the heavier paper days, until she began stealing money from me by collecting and then claiming the customer didn’t have money for a tip and I’d get it next week — pocketing the quarter each time.

If we ran out of papers, since my house was the last on the route, I’d either call the office and ask for another paper, or run to the store and drop a quarter and buy one. Each week I’d collect from each customer and then on Saturday would go to the bank and buy a money order to pay for my papers. We weren’t allowed to pay by a check from our parents, just a money order, but back then the convenience stores didn’t sell money orders, and the bank gave them for free. Really really, to quote Shrek.

Seque to 2007. I pay for my newspaper ever year by check to the newspaper office, adding in a tip. I never see my paper delivery person, but know I have had many. They get their papers around 5 AM and that means at 6 am I hear their car pull up, door slam, heavy footsteps on my stairs …… or they throw the paper with a loud thud. I’ve had carrier who are old enough to be my grandfather.

Yesterday my newspaper had a poorly typewritten sheet of paper by my new carrier, apparently. He said that if the paper is not there, to call him and not the newspaper office, as they charge him $1 or $2 for each missing paper. WOW. What happened to the office calling the carrier to report the missing paper?

Also, in bad weather, the paper is delivered in a plastic bag. I toss mine. However, my carrier asks me to now save it as he has to pay for it. Not only that, when the paper comes in a rubber band, I’m now asked to save those, too, as he has to pay for them.

So, now I’m supposed to remember to save my plastic bags and rubber bands and leave them for some anonymous person who slams my door shut on Sunday mornings when I want to sleep late?

Things have certainly changed. Now carriers drive cars to deliver the paper, and at $3 a gallon, they must not be making much at the end of the week. I give credit to older men who are trying to pay the bills and are taking on an extra job, but think it’s wrong of the newspaper office to charge them a buck or two if my newspaper is missing.

1. You’ve pulled out of a side street and used your car to block oncoming traffic so you can make a left

2. Stop signs mean slow down a little, but only of you want to

3. You know how to cross four lanes of traffic in five seconds

4. You believe using your turn signals gives away your plan to the enemy

5. You think it’s not actually tailgating unless you’re touching the bumper of the car in front of
you

6. You know that a yellow light means that at least five more people can get through and a red one means two more can

7. The transportation system is known as the “T”

8. You could own a small town in Iowa for the cost of your house

9. You almost feel disappointed when someone doesnt flip you off when you cut them off or steal their
parking space

10. There are 24 Dunkin Donuts shops within 15 minutes of your house

11. When people talk about “The Curse Of The Bambino” you know what they’re talking about and
believe it too

12. You’re amazed when traveling out of town that people at McDonalds actually speak english

13. If you stay on the same road long enough it eventually has three different names

14. Someone has honked at you because you didnt peel out the second the light turned green

15. You have honked at someone because they didn’t peel out the second the light turned green

16. All the potholes just add to the excitement of driving

17. You think if someones nice to you they either want something or they are from out of town and lost

18. Six inches of snow is considered a dusting

19. Three days of 90 degree heat is definately a “heat wave” 63 degrees is “on the warm side”

20. You cringe everytime you hear some actor/actress imitate the “Boston Accent” on TV or in a movie, if you don’t have it then you’re never going to get it even if you were born here

21. At the ice cream shop you call chocolate sprinkles “jimmies”

22. You can go from one side of town to the other in less than fifteen minutes and see at least fifteen
losers you went to high school with doing the same thing they were doing when you saw them last

23. It is raining and/or snowing, the person in front of you is going 70, and you’re still cursing them for going too slow

24. You know how to pronounce towns like Worcester, Haverhill, and Cotuit

25. You know what they sell at a “packie”

26.You’ve called something “wicked pissa”

27. You’ve slammed on your brakes to deter a tailgator

28. You still try to order curly fries from Burger King

29. You keep an ice scraper in your car all year round

30. You know at least three Tony’s one Vinnie, and a Frank

31. Paranoia sets in when you can’t see an ATM or CVS

32. You think crosswalks are for wimps

33. You’ve bragged about saving money at The Christmas Tree Shop

34. You know what “regular coffee” is, and you order iced coffee in January

35. You can navigate a rotary without a problem

36. You have been to Fenway Park

37. You refer to the New York Yankees as the Evil Empire

38. You feel the rest of the world needs to drive more like you

39. When someone calls you a “masshole” you take it as a compliment

40. You use the words “wicked” and “good” in the same sentence

41. You know what a frappe is

42. Saint Patrticks Day is your second favorite holiday

43. You are proud to drink Sam Adams and think that the rest of the country owes Bostonians a thank you

44. You never say “Cape Cod” you say “the cape”

45. You went to Old Sturbridge Village and Plymouth Plantation in elementary school

46. You can drive to the mountains and the ocean all in one day

47. You have a special place in your heart for the Worcester Firefighters

48. You know the Mass Pike and 128 are some strange weather dividing lines

49. You do not recognize the letter “R” as a part of the English language.

50. You’ve gone from I-95 South to I-93 North by driving in a straight line and never changing direction.

51. You understand everything just said and passed it on to other massholes

52. You know you’re from Mass when you give directions that cite land marks that USED to be there…

You bang a left at the lights, and then you drive just past where the old farm was… the one that used to have the giant catepillar in front… and then you take a wicked sharp right to where the movie theater used to be…

And, what’s with the “DO NOT DOUBLE” on coupons issued by the manufacturer? The store pays the extra cost, not the manufacturer, so why do they care and disallow the store from paying double on a coupon???

Today I saw a coupon for bags of walnuts, the brand I use. Generally they are $6.99 at my local supermarket but if I go to Target, they are $4.75. Obviously I buy them when I am at Target. The coupon? Buy 3 bags and save $1.00. Uhm, I don’t think so … 3 lbs. of walnuts is waaaaaaaaaaay too many to buy. Plus, it’s just a buck. 33 cents a bag.

One of our supermarket chains, Stop and Shop, has a clerk who hangs around at the 4-5 self-checkout stations, helping when people need it, bagging if they have nothing else to do, etc. Shaw’s Supermarket, another chain, doesn’t have one specific person for this job. They have a front end person whose job is to supervise all the registers/checkouts and that includes helping people who need it.

Of course, people who haven’t a clue use these things. They don’t know how to find the 4-digit produce code on their produce, they don’t know where to find the scanner code, they don’t bag when you’re supposed to. And, these machines aren’t reliable as they often yell at you, “item removed from bagging area” and if you put the item back, “please remove item from bagging area.” MAKE UP YOUR MIND.

The worst has to be when you’re in a rush and don’t pay attention and push the Spanish button instead of English. All of a sudden this machine spits out Spanish at you and you can’t make it stop. Sorry, I’m in America, I speak our language. But, I digress.

Today, Stop and Shop showed me a new way to check out, but it’s so much more than that. When you walk into the store, you scan your shopper card. A button now flashes and a little gizmo is yours. The idea is you pick up the gizmo, plastic and paper bags, and as you shop, you scan the item then and there and bag it as well. When done, you simply take your gizmo to the self checkout, scan in your gizmo, and pay and leave. Simple, huh?

Aren’t I taking a job away from someone this way? What if it scans in the wrong price? Now I have to try to find someone who works for the store to delete it from my gizmo and put in the right price.

They also explain that they have the right to ‘audit‘ your groceries at any time they wish … in case you ‘forget’ to scan an item and bag it and try to leave the store.

I know at the large Wal-Mart Superstore, they did away with self checkouts. I asked why and they told me due to theft. People would scan in all their items at the register, bag them, and walk out the door, without paying! And, I’m told, at local supermarkets they do the same thing.

Look, I love to bag my own items, but if you expect me to start scanning them as I shop, bagging as I shop …. Uhm, why don’t you offer me lower prices if I’m doing my own bagging and scanning? You’re obviously saving money on the cost of an employee, so why not pass the savings on to me?

How did I spot it? He sent me the link and I ran the email address through Google and it gave me 2 links … one for an identical car in Washington, DC and another for a car being sold on Craigslist that had been removed.

ALWAYS check before making such a purchase online

RIP, Zoey Zane.

Autopsy slated for secret porn star

EL DORADO, Kan. - The search for a missing college student who led a secret life as an Internet porn performer turned into a homicide case after her body was apparently found.

Authorities said the preliminary physical description of the body found Thursday about 50 miles east of El Dorado matches that of Emily Sander, who was last seen leaving a bar here a week ago with a man who stayed in a motel room where police found large quantities of blood. An autopsy was planned for Friday.

Investigators refused to give details about the state of the body or how it was found. Police Chief Tom Boren said the cause of death was not yet known.

Sander’s case drew wide attention after it was revealed that she appeared on a popular adult Web site under the name Zoey Zane. In some photographs, she appears merely scantily clad in lingerie or cowgirl outfits. Other pictures, some of which require viewers to pay for, are more explicit, showing her nude, fondling herself and posing with other women.

The 18-year-old Butler Community College student was last seen Nov. 23 with Israel Mireles, 24. Authorities are looking for him and his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend.

The rental car the pair were driving was found abandoned Tuesday in Vernon, Texas, where Mireles has relatives.

“We got no information from them at all and very little cooperation,” Boren said of Mireles’ family.

The search for Sander gripped this small community, and the apparent discovery of her body left only memories to comfort her friends and family.

“She was probably the most independent girl I know,” said Nikki Watson, a close friend. “She was so anxious to get out on her own and make something of herself. She was ready to take on life.”

Former boyfriend Michael McAllister, 20, said Sander moved in with him when she was 17.

“It was the best time of my life, and I hope it was the same for her,” McAllister said.

He helped her finish high school, and she encouraged him in college. They bought pink and white Denver Broncos jerseys for themselves and their dog, Zan, that they wore on game days. She loved to dance to hip-hop music.

“She wanted to choreograph music videos. That is the only reason she did the Internet thing — to get a little exposure,” McAllister said.

They broke up in September after she started posing for nude photos, he said.

Watson said the attention over Sander’s Web site has upset her friends.

“She never referred to it as her porn site,” she said. “It was just her Web site. She didn’t make it into this big thing.”

Police insisted that Sander’s Internet activity had no connection to her disappearance. “The issue of the Internet and the spinoff of that has been literally crippling our investigation,” Boren said.

The body was found as searchers on foot and all-terrain vehicles were checking the tall grass along each side of Highway 54 as they traced the route Mireles may have taken Saturday on the way to Baxter Springs to pick up his girlfriend.

Sander’s grandmother, Shirley Sander, said the discovery of a body would “very definitely” bring closure to the family.

“We had to know one way or another,” she said in a telephone interview.

Now for me, that’s garbage. To me, if you are dating, you are getting to know someone, and you should have that person as you central focus. If you’re still perusing personal ads, then you’re looking for someone else or someone better, and that isn’t fair to the person you are dating. Friends can go out as friends but not hug or kiss at the end of the night, as people who date do.

Me, I went to be wooed. I want someone who wants me and me only and devotes their attention to me solely. I won’t be looking at other men or wanting to meet other guys so why should you be able to do so?

I think I’m just too old-fashioned to be dating in this century as I have such outdates ideas and ideals of what dating entails.

I went to a local steakhouse to buy some salad dressing. Sound odd? Well, I don’t like the bottled dressings you get at the grocery store and the homemade never comes out quite right. I ate at this particular steakhouse once and their Italian salad dressing was really good, and they told me it was homemade. I took some home and now I buy it all the time. It’s much more expensive than store bought but well worth the extra cost.

So, I have to wait a while as they package it up for me, so I view the open kitchen. First a chef took a steak out of a refrigerator, then sprinkled it HEAVILY with whatever type of seasoning they use on their steaks, but one would assume it contained a healthy dose of sodium. Then he salted the other side … and then took a brush full of oil, brushed it on the grill, and slapped on the steak. Over the next few minutes he poked and prodded the piece of meat rather than just letting it cook.

He turned it several times, then put it on the open flame grill. He moved it around a bit, poked it with a fork (NEVER DO THAT TO MEAT!) and then finally put it on a plate.

So, you have a greasy salty heavily seasoned piece of steak that should have been unmolested, but instead was ruined.

Then I watched them making rolls, putting the dough into a massive mixer, then kneading the dough. A pan came out of a proofer and were brushed with oil/butter and put into the oven. A pan was removed from the oven and again, painted with oil/butter.

I would say that meal, sans veggie, has more fat in one meal than I eat in several days!

I C K!!!

When it came down to the 20, there really weren’t any men who stood out. Personally I liked Sundance Head and felt he’d go far. For the women, I felt Melinda Doolittle and LaKisha Jones would be the top 2 women.

HA.

Sundance was voted off and yet that kid Sanjaya Malakar was allowed to stay for much too long. He really didn’t have a great voice, so I’m not even sure why he went past the judges to the top 20. Yes, he was cute with a great smile and great hair (until he cut it) but he was talentless.

Melinda was consistently the best performer and outshone everyone. Her voice is exquisite and she’s the consumate professional. However, Melinda was not an attractive woman, not sexy by her own admission, and she was 29, and I think all those factors worked against her since the “my bff Jill” crowd seems to be the ones voting on American Idol.

I’m sure she’ll have a record deal and will still do well.

LaKisha Jones started off very strong but seemed to lose a lot of steam midway through the competition. She never smiled during a performance and was wooden and didn’t connect with the audience at all. Simon liked her, despite her large size or maybe in spite of it!

There was the controversy with Antonella, who posed semi-nude for friends and the photos were circulated all over the Internet.

This year was boring. Last year we had Chris Daughtry, Elliot Yamin, Taylor Hicks, Kelly “salmon” Pickler, Bucky Covington, etc .. they had talent, they were fun, they were exciting. We all tuned in to see what stupid thing Kelly would say, to see what dance Taylor would do, to see how Ace would wear his hair.

Near the end of season six, when it was Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks, I lost interest. Jordin was a decent singer but never made me say “ooh” like others had done. Blake was fun when he did his beat boxing (I’d never heard of it before that!) but I don’t think he’s a great singer.

They say the ratings for this season are down and I have to believe it was the lack of exceptional talent this year.

What will next year bring?

Is this a freedom of speech issue?

I admit, I’m torn. I believe in freedom of speech but I think there should be limits. People are worried our “young people” will hear what he said and it will affect them. Uhh, they hear a lot worse in today’s rap lyrics. All the women are bitches and hos and you’re told to “smack them up” and treat them like garbage.

One of the people who campaigned to get Don Imus fired is Jesse Jackson, who is infamous for calling Jews “hymies” and New York City as “hymietown” in a 1984 interview. Now, granted, this was a while back, but still … isn’t he just as bad?

Shock radio hires shock jocks for one reason — TO SHOCK YOU. Calling black women “nappy headed hos” is part of his job, I guess. He’s supposed to say things to cause controversy.

But, how far is too far?

I guess they thought they had to “jazz up” the taste of Pepsi. So, I bought a bottle of Diet Pepsi Jazz Black Cherry French Vanilla, Diet Pepsi Jazz Strawberries & Cream and Diet Pepsi Jazz Caramel Creme.

The caramel cream was my least favorite, as it didn’t have a strong taste of caramel or cream. The black cherry French vanilla was too busy for me, but the strawberries and cream was really good. There was a slight taste of strawberry without overpowering the taste of Pepsi.

I found out there are many, many, MANY other flavors of regular and diet Pepsi. There is: Pepsi Lime, Diet Pepsi Lime, Pepsi Twist
Diet Pepsi Twist, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Pepsi Vanilla, Diet Pepsi Vanilla and Pepsi One.

When I was a kid, we had Coke, Pepsi and RC Cola. If you wanted diet soda, you had Tab or Fresca. That was it. Then along came Diet Rite Cola. Life was simple. You wanted a drink, you drank a little soda and they all seemingly tasted the same. Then the cola wars started.

If you were sick, you were given ginger ale. Plain old ginger ale. Have you shopped for it lately? Raspberry flavored, grape flavored, orange flavored and cranberry flavored ginger ale.

Why do we have to continually flavor things? Wasn’t life simpler when things were just, well, plain?

I don’t vote but if I did, I’d vote for Melinda as she is the most professional with the most potential.

You go to a restaurant and order a chicken sandwich, and it comes with bacon and cheese. So, you say no cheese — do they give you any money off for not having cheese? If it came without cheese and I asked for it, you know they’d charge me.

Ever order a burger with extra tomato and they charge you half a buck? So why don’t they take off money if you ask for your sandwich with no tomato?

To paraphrase: “There has been a shooting in the parking lot at the Barnstable Courthouse. That’s all the details we have and we’ll bring you more news as we find it out.”

Uh, excuse me?? WHY? You gave NO information. If I had a relative working in the courthouse, or someone who was driving by that area, etc., I’m be a nervous wreck at that point.

They interrupt to give you a half-assed news story lacking any depth, so they can say, “we brought it to you first.” Hoo ha. Yippee.

They did it weeks ago when they interrupted to say there had been a shooting at a school, but had no more details. If I were a parent in that school district, a relative of a teachers, etc, I’d have been going bonkers.

Must the media ignore human emotions for ratings? What happened to what I learned about journalism in school — WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN AND WHY.

Her life wasn’t charmed. A marriage at 16 led to the birth of a son who died 5 months ago, barely 21 years old, from a drug overdose. She married a man in his late 80’s, a billionaire, and got 400+ million dollars when he died, lost it due to a court case by her stepson, then got it back. She seemingly found love with her attorney, gave birth to a daughter and 3 days later her son died. Then 3 people claimed to be the father of her child, and now she’s dead, the young daughter without a mother or known father at this time.

Ok, so she was a young girl who died tragically, though at this point her cause of death is unknown, but prescription drugs were found in her hotel room where she died.

But WHY is so much attention given to her? Other people have passed on without much fanfare or just a passing mention.

Are we so gossip-hungry that an entire nation is poised on the edge of their seats to find out if a former model, part-time actress and known publicity seeker died from a drug overdose?

What I don’t watch is reality TV. I’ve never seen Survivor, The Flavor Of Love, The Great Race, etc.

But, I do know what’s on television, and it seems every week there is a new show featuring celebrities making a fool of themselves. The latest debacle? Armed And Famous. Celebrities such as Erik Estrada and LaToya Jackson are trained to be police officers and then are put in actual police situations and filmed while doing so.

Uh, how dumb is this? Can it be real? I mean, seeing LaToya and another female officer trying to subdue a 300 lb. suspect was scary, but more scary when she looked into the room and saw another supposed crack suspect in the room, alone. He could have easily pulled out a weapon and shot her. I have to assume that part of this was a set-up and they had 50 armed real cops behind her, out of range.

What worries me is the danger these celebrities put themselves into. One of these days one of them will be severely hurt — or worse — and then where will reality TV be?

Mr. Rudolph, 18, a New Bedford basketball star who at the time of the stabbing had a full basketball scholarship waiting for him at Providence College, received three years of probation and 300 hours of community service yesterday for his part in a stabbing last April in Acushnet.”

This was his first time involved with the police and otherwise he’s an outstanding student and athlete.

Does he deserve another chance?

“Mr. Raposo, who suffered a 5-inch gash in his back, said he understood why the court rendered its decision.

“I’m upset in a way, but you have to forgive,” he said. “If he’d been found guilty, it would have followed him around. It would have been tough to get a job.”

In court yesterday, Mr. Rudolph read a letter of apology. Mr. Raposo said he was in court to hear it and felt the apology was genuine.

“He seemed sincere with the letter he read out in court,” he said. “He said he was sorry. He said that immediately after he did it, he had no clue why he did it, and that he felt scared that he did it.”

I’m glad the courts did what they did. He made a mistake, he’s a young man with his whole life ahead of him. He may have lost his scholarship but he learned a valuable lesson about partying, life, and consequences

He, of course, said he’d check when he was done with his customer. So the other clerk asked her to step aside and wait and let the next person go. She wasn’t happy but did as told.

Then it’s her turn, and the other clerk didn’t have the stamps she wanted. She demanded they “check in back” for the stamps, so I guess to humor her they checked with the boss who said whatever the clerk had in their drawer was all that was available.

Ok, so she said she wanted to see everything available but did not want to have to squint at a board and wanted to see them up close. Let’s just say this went on through 3-4 more customers. She finally did buy something but at this point everyone in line was shaking their head at her.

Does it matter? I have to admit when I get the mail, I check to see who it’s written to, I check who it’s from, then I open it. I don’t think I have ever paid attention to the stamp on the envelope.

Years ago we didn’t have a choice. They had square flag stamps you had to lick and that was it. Now all the stamps are self-sticking which is good in many ways. Years ago, all those you had to lick would cause issues in the humid summer! They would stick to other things or each other. The problems now, they tell me, is older people don’t know they are self-stick and lick them, then complain they don’t have glue on them!

Been down the candy aisle in your local grocery store or pharmacy lately? They have this chocolate moose with little tiny chocolate pellets and yeah, you guessed it, it poops out little chocolate pellets. They also had a penguin that has the same features — push a button and it craps out chocolate.

Cute? Maybe if I were 3 years old I would have thought it was cute, but at this age I just find it crude. Yeah, I’m getting old I guess.

But, I still think as a nation we’re lowering our standards and being more crude. Check television programs, for example. Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds. So did Laura and Rob (if you don’t know who they aren’t, you’re young). Now they show bed hopping as being normal.

It’s not elevating us as a society, is it?

Some restaurants say no, it will change the price of the oil they buy from $10 to $35 and they can’t afford it. Sports bars will be hit hardest as all their appetizers appear to be fried.

I’m waffling on this. When I buy food products for my house, I’m careful what I buy. When I eat out, I try to be careful, but you don’t know how much salt they use or what types of oil.

I’d rather have labeling for each item (yeah, right, like that would happen) instead of a broad ban on trans fat. Who is going to police it? I have gone to restaurants that were so dirty I walked out. I went into on last week to get some salad dressing to go (I like it that much) and stood and watched them in the kitchen, including watching the kid wipe his nose and then stick his hands in a tub of sirloin chunks while he threaded them on a skewer. Where is the food police now??

The health departments can’t do inspections as they should, can’t keep up with all the new restaurants, and now they will have to go from restaurant to restaurant and ask to check the oil?

Give me a break.

City mulls ban on trans fat

By Stephen Smith, GLOBE STAFF

Boston health regulators could decide as early as February whether to ban trans fats in restaurants, the city’s top health official said Tuesday night.

After hearing from New York health authorities about that city’s recently adopted trans fat prohibition, John Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said his agency would continue reviewing the feasibility of a comparable ban.

“It’s a challenging issue,” Auerbach said. “I wouldn’t want a regulation that couldn’t be enforced in Boston.”

David Mulligan, a former state public health commissioner who is now chairman of the board overseeing the city health commission, described Boston as “just sort of at the beginning of the process. I can just hear cries that we’re becoming the food police and that we’re infringing on rights,” Mulligan said.

New York earlier this month became the first major city to ban virtually all trans fat from meals cooked by restaurants.

Usually artificial, trans fats have been linked to increases in the bad form of cholesterol and, by extension, to heart disease. The fat is commonly used in commercially produced cakes, cookies, pies, margarine, and fried foods. Typically, it is used to extend shelf life.

Studies show that during the past four decades, Americans have spent an increasing share of their food dollars dining outside the home. At the same time, their girth has expanded dramatically.

The combination of those two trends has led public-health specialists to consider whether they can battle the obesity epidemic by regulating restaurants. That has made trans fat an obvious target.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets - and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because……

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms………

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out anyone’s eye.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And, while you are at it, print it up for your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!

Now, fried macaroni cheese is a scoopful of elbow macaroni, smothered in fake Velveeta cheese, then covered with batter and deep fried.

Uhhhh …. do they have a paramedic standing by after you eat it to revive you on the way to the hospital for triple bypass surgery?

Our country is obese, let’s face it. Some companies have taken the right steps and no longer off the “supersized” portions of meals. Others still offer double and triple burgers with triple cheese, triple sauce, etc. And, still others are making fried cheesecake a staple on their menus.

Some parts of the USA have fried Twinkies, fried Mars bars and more on their menus. You can get fried ice cream as well.

Why are we on a binge to deep fry ourselves to death? Doctors say fried foods are not good for you as they clog your arteries. Foods with lots of fat, particularly trans fat, are deadly. Manufacturers are rushing to reduce the amount of trans fats in foods since they now have to list it on their packaging, thanks to the FDA. The marketplace is filled with no fat, lower fat, reduced fat and fake fat foods. The diet industry is a multi billion dollar industry.

Then along comes a chain restaurant promoting fried carbohydrate-laden fat.

Yum.

The wait is almost over. The premiere of American Idol will be a 2-Night 4-Hour event. Don’t miss it Tuesday & Wednesday, January 16th & 17th, starting at 8/7c, only on FOX!

Since this show has become such a phenomenom, one can only imagine the horrible singers who will try out so they can have their 15 minutes of fame during the tryout shows.

I don’t hear much about this year’s winner, Taylor Hicks. I know he had an album coming out at the end of the year, but it’s the end of the year, so where is it? I’ve been waiting patiently for it. I know Kellie Pickler has released an album but thanks, I’ll pass on it!

I lost a lot of the old posts but that’s ok since I saved most of the ones I liked!

Do you like this?

2. The Dentist - Because he says, “Open wide.”

3. The Milkman - Because he says, “Do you want it in the front or back?”

4. The Hairdresser - Because he says, “Do you want it teased or blown?”

5. The Interior Decorator - Because he says, “Once it’s in, you’ll love it.”

6. The Banker - Because he says, “If you take it out too soon, you’ll lose interest.”

7. The Hunter - Because he always goes deep in the bush, he always shoots twice, and he always eats what he shoots.

8. The Stock Broker - Because he says, “It will rise right up, fluctuate for a while, and then slowly fall back again.”

9. The Telephone Guy - Because he says, “Would you like it on the table or up against the wall?

Wednesday at 5:15 PM my home line rang while I was eating dinner. Anyone who knows me knows I ignore my phone when I’m busy, but with elderly parents, I sometimes check who it is just in case. I saw a toll-free number, assumed it was a telemarketer, and went back to eating. Last night the same thing happened. I then called the number and it was my bank. Now, if there were an issue with my account, I would think they would call me during regular business hours. But, to be safe, I called them and was on hold no less than 15 minutes, and gave up, figuring if it was important, they would call me.

Tonight, at 5 PM, I sat down for dinner and sure enough, the phone rings. I check it and it’s the same toll-free number, so I picked it up.

“Hello”

“Hello, I’m calling from such-and-such bank about your checking account

“Yes?”

(At this point, I knew it wasn’t an issue, because a real bank employee would ask to speak to me by name since they only talk to the account holder when there is a problem).

“I’m calling to let you know about some specials ….” and I interrupted.

“Look, you’re interrupting my dinner. Calling me and disturbing my dinner is the way to make me leave the bank, not want to open yet another account. Next time I’m at the bank making a deposit or withdrawal, while you have me captive, then and only then can you try to sell me something new. Until then, do not call me again to try to sell me something.”

And, I hung up.

Think they’ll call again? I bet they do

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
“You better pray that will come out of the carpet.”

3 My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
“If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!”

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
” Because I said so, that’s why.”

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
“If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you’re not going to the store with me.”

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
“Make sure you wear clean underwear,! in case you’re in an accident.”

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
“Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about.”

8. My mother taught me about OSMOSIS.
“Shut your mouth and eat your supper.”

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONIST.
“Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!”

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
“You’ll sit there until all those peas are gone.”

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
“This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.”

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
“If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Don’t exaggerate!”

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
“I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.”

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
“Stop acting like your father!”

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
“There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do.”

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
“Just wait until we get home.”

17.. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
“You are going to get it when you get home!”

18 My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
“If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way.”

19. My mother taught me ESP.
“Put your sweater on; don’t you think I know when you are cold?”

20. My mother taught me HUMOR.”When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
“If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
“You’re just like your father.”

23. My ! mother taught me about my ROOTS.
“Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?”

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
“When you get to be my age, you’ll understand”

25. And my favorite: - My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
“One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!”

For a few years the attorneys went back and forth, but he then skipped town, not even telling his wife or family where he was going. On a tip, they investigated and found him 3,000 miles away in California. He’d been living a clean life with a new wife and spent time golfing when not working. He’d never been in any trouble.

Now, they want to extradite him back to this area and put him on trial, I guess. But, why? He’s a man in his mid-60’s and he’s living a trouble-feel life for the past 20 years. Sure, he did something wrong, but should the state again spent millions of dollars to put him on trial, then probably jail him at an expense of $40k per year, when he won’t be around that many years?

Part of me knows that if he did something wrong, he should be punished for it. But, another part feels he went on the straight and narrow and deserves a break. He didn’t kill anyone, right?

Our prisons are overcrowded as it is. They’re building new jails around the country to house all the criminals, and don’t they say that 80% of the crimes are drug-related in one way, shape or form?

His crimes deserved a long sentence, District Judge Kristine Cecava said, but she worried that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.

“You are a sex offender, and you did it to a child,” she said.

But, she said, “That doesn’t make you a hunter. You do not fit in that category.”

Thompson will be electronically monitored the first four months of his probation, and he was told to never be alone with someone under age 18 or date or live with a woman whose children were under 18. Cecava also ordered Thompson to get rid of his pornography.

He faces 30 days of jail each year of his probation unless he follows its conditions closely.

“I want control of you until I know you have integrated change into your life,” the judge told Thompson. “I truly hope that my bet on you being OK out in society is not misplaced.”

Huh? They have soda machines in schools? This blows me away! When I was in junior high school and high school, there were cafeterias. In junior high school they separated those who bought lunch from those who brought their own lunch. I never bought lunch but did see other who did, and all they had available was milk. It was in those little half-pint containers and cost a nickle each. They didn’t have coffee flavored or chocolate flavored milk. There were no vending machines. The school lunches were pretty disgusting if you ask me! I remember lots of fat and carbs and salty foods and my mother would not allow me to buy lunch at school.

When I got to high school, we could sit with those who bought lunch, but there were no vending machines. Again, you could buy milk and that was it. They didn’t sell bottled water, either.

I read about these kids who buy soft drinks and candy bars during class breaks, or during lunch. They showed a television special with the kids buying french fries and cookies for lunch. Fries? What the hell do they feed these kids these days??!! They had nothing like that, it was full lunch or nothing, period. They didn’t sell bags of chips out of a machine or anywhere else, either.

Lunches were spaghetti with cubes of cheese and lots of bread (a carb lovers delight!), meatloaf and potatoes and salty gravy, bologna sandwiches with butter (ick!), frozen pizza, etc. Today you read school lunch menus and they have special veggies, special fruits, all veggie meals, etc.

What’s funny is I don’t think those sugary sodas AT SCHOOL are causing obesity at all. It’s the stuff they eat outside of school, and the fact most kids are on the computer 5 hours a day or playing video games. In my day we went outside after school and were active. We walked to school, a mile-and-a-half each way, every day. And no, we didn’t walk 5 miles through the snow with no boots after milking the cows at 5 am!!

My name is Bridget Hall,I am an artist. I live in United Kingdom,with my two kids,four cats, one dog and the love of my life. It is definitely a full house. I have been doing artwork since I was a small child. That gives me about 23 years of experience. I majored in art in high school and took a few college art courses.Most of my work is done in either pencil or airbrush mixed with color pencils. I have recently added designing and creating artwork on the computer.I have been selling my art for the last 3years and have had my work featured on trading cards, prints and in magazines.I have sold in galleries and to private collectors from all around the world.I am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art works to Americans,they are always offering to pay with a US POSTAL MONEY ORDER,which is difficult for me to cash here in United Kingdom.I am looking for a representative in the states who will be working for me as a partime worker and i will be willing to pay 10% for every transaction,which wouldnt affect your present state of work,someone who would help me recieve payments from my customers in the states.I mean someone that is responsible and reliable,cause the cost of coming to the state and getting payments is very expensive,i am working on setting up a branch in the states,so for now i need a representative in the united states who will be handling the payment aspect.

These payments are in money order and they would come to you in your name, so all you need do is cash the money order deduct your percentage(10%) and wire the rest back. But the problem i have is trust,But i have my way of getting anyone that gets away with our money,i mean the FBI branch in Washington gets involved. It wouldnt cost u any amount,u are to receive payments which will be sent to u by fedex or usps from my business patners, which would come in form of a money order then u are to cash it and send the cash to me via western union money transfer or moneygram money transfer,all transfer fees should be deducted from the money.

If you are interested,please get back to me as soon as possible
with these information listed below:

1.Full Name(s)
2.Phone number
3.Full Home Address (zipcode inclusive)
4.Age and Sex
5.Indicate if you have a Wells Fargo account,otherwise whats the name of
your bank?
6.We shall need a copy of your drivers Licence or National I.D after we have
accepted you as our Representative
7. Do you have a checking account and what is your best means of communication?

You can also get back to me at my alternate email address which is bridget_paintings@myway.com

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Bridget Hall.

I’ve talked to many people who are outsource workers. My web designer, is in fact outside the USA. I hired him based on his skill and his pricing. For what he charges me for 10 websites I’d pay someone else the same amount for a single website, for the same comparable work. I’ve talked to programmers in India who work for $5 an hour and they know guys in the USA who get 20 times that and more. But, they can make $50 in a day and that can pay their bills for a month. In the USA it pays a days’ worth of bills.

So, I understand it, but don’t like it. When I call for tech support, for instance, I need someone who speaks English and understands it. I don’t want to be put on hold while as they tell me they need to go look up the answer. I don’t like having to have them repeat themselves since I can’t clearly understand them. I don’t like having to repeat myself over and over to try to make them understand what I need.

I spent 45 minutes on the phone last night with 3 outsourced workers in India. I called to ask a simple question. They asked me everything but my middle name, tried to get me to make changes to a computer system with no issues and at the end I simply lost patience, said “this is not working, good night” and hung up the phone. The language barrier was just too frustrating for me.

I’ll go a step further and blame it on fast food. Today I saw a commercial for a chain pizza restaurant touting some sort of double cheese special. Not only does the pizza have more cheese than it should, you get free bread sticks or free mozzarella sticks if you buy a few pizzas. Jeez, why not a free angioplasty for dessert, too?

Let’s see, high carbohydrate pizza with extra cheese, making it extremely high in fat, especially if you get it with meat on it. Then they offer “free” bread sticks which are nothing more than pieces of fried dough, which is nothing more than fatty carbohydrates. Or, you can have mozzarella sticks, which are fried cheese. Yes, fried fat.

The commercials are marketed toward kids, of course.

How about vending machines in schools? I heard about those and was shocked. What the heck are those needed for? Either you eat the lunch the school provides or bring your own. Why are they offering potato chips, candy bars, high sugar sodas, etc.?

I ate school lunch a few times but it was so disgusting I stopped. I’d bring my own lunch, but my mom always made embarassing lunches. Egg salad in a hot dog bun. Fish cakes. We had a choice of milk. Regular milk, that was it. No skim milk but no chocolate milk either, as they offer today.

And, when we came home from school, we went outside to play. Oh sure, sometimes I’d watch TV after school, though I was never a soap opera watcher. I’d watch Mike Douglas or Merv Griffin. I still remember seeing the Village People in 1977! After supper we’d go out and play for a bit, maybe play kickball, walk around, etc. We didn’t sit on our butts and play video games. And, we had no computers either.

There were also very few fast food restaurants around back then. I remember a place called Howdy Beef Burgers, which was a generic equivalent of McDonald’s or Burger King I guess. I remember going there a few times, a cheeseburger was 25 cents and fries were a dime! A family of 3 could literally eat for a couple of dollars.

We didn’t have pizza restaurants like they do now. I remember the first Domino’s Pizza that came into this in the early 90’s. Mom and I ordered a pizza for delivery. It wasn’t there in 30 minutes so it was $3 off the price! It was the first pizza place in the area. Nowadays they’re on every block, right? I only had that pizza one time and we didn’t like it.

Ever walk through the supermarket and look how products are marketed toward kids? All the sugary cereals are at eye level for kids. Reading the ingredients in those cereals makes me ill. SO many carbs, so much sugar, so much garbage. When we were kids they had what, 12 cereals at the most? Now there must be 100 or more and all have some sort of gimmick of sugary this or that and, of course, that free prize, making it a must have for every kid

“A U.S. consumer group has sued the operator of the fast-food Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant over the use of trans fat, which can clog arteries and cause other health problems.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest wants Kentucky Fried Chicken to stop using partially hydrogenated oil, which contains the trans fat, or display signs warning consumers of its use.”

Now, they went after McDonald’s a few years ago who swore they would start using healthier oil, but they still have not done so. This week Wendy’s said they would switch to healthier oil as well.

Now, they aren’t just going after chicken. “The Center for Science in the Public Interest said it is planning to campaign against the Starbucks cafe chain because of the increased risk of obesity, heart disease and cancer associated with high-calorie, high-fat products it sells.”

Of course, you don’t think of coffee as being dangerous for you. I know when I began drinking my iced coffee, I checked the information online and found out that a cup has 3 grams of saturated fat but no trans fat, so I cut back a little.

But, did you know one Starbucks drink has more fat than a Big Mac?? “A 20-ounce Venti banana mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream contains 720 calories and 11 grams of saturated fat, and a banana cream crunch bar weighs in at 630 calories and 25 grams of saturated fat. By comparison, a McDonald’s Big Mac has 560 calories and 11 grams of saturated fat.”

Now, I don’t eat at McDonald’s because of the high fat and sodium content in their foods. There is no Starbucks around here but even if there were, I doubt I’d get anything, as I’m not a huge coffee fan and only really like iced coffee.

But, doesn’t this all go back to personal responsibility? Sure, the nutritional information should be more readily available, but when you go into a bar and order a beer, do they make you read a sheet of paper with the information on how the calories are empty, how it will impair your judgment, etc?

Most people, I’d say, are aware of what is good and what is bad for them. It’s ok to have some “bad” food once in a while, just don’t make a steady diet of it. Then again, we’re raising our kids to love this fast food by offering them really cute toys with every purchase. These chains offer salads but a salad with, say, Blue Cheese dressing, has more fat than some of their sandwiches. A salad can be healthy but not topped with all that fat and sodium!

If restaurants were to print up the nutritional information on all their foods, I think they’d lose 1/3 of their sales. When I eat out, I know I’m not eating that healthy, but I don’t do it that often and try to order foods that are lower in fat (no fried) and lower in sodium.

Isn’t what you eat a personal choice?

Fast forward to Woodstock 1994. Tens of thousands of dollars in damage due to the attendees. Several women were molested/raped. People pulled down the light tower and anything else they could get their hands on, simply to cause destruction. Fires burned for days. Why? Well, it was VERY hot and they had vendors set up to sell bottles of water, but they were selling for $10 a bottle. The toilets had been knocked over and destroyed. It rained so the dirt became mud which made for a messy concert. One bandmember of one group was mistaken for an unruly fan and lost several teeth in the melee.

Recently my area held their annual Whaling City Festival in New Bedford, Mass. New Bedford is the city mentioned in Moby Dick as the whaling capital and it is the number one fishing port in the USA. Each year they have a festival for 3 days with amusement rides, live entertainment, flea markes, food, classic car shows and more.

While I’ve never gone, one year they broadcast live and it was the year Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch performed, right before they hit it big. They’ve had other “name” acts who appear right as they are making it big and who have to do the summer festival circuit to make a name for themselves.

The food is horribly overpriced, greasy and cheap. $3 for a bottle of water or cup of soda, $4 for a hot dog, etc. I’m not sure of the prices for the amusement rides, but I imagine it’s not cheap. Vendors show up each year to show their flea market items and most are things you’d never, ever want to buy but for some reason, at a festival, you feel inclined to purchase them.

I lived half a mile from there growing up (it’s held at a huge park and zoo) and you could actually hear the music — loudly — from my house. THAT’S how boisterous it would become.

Apparently, ever year there are minor skirmishes, someone has an extra beer or two and ends up in a fight. This year, on the night before it closed, at 9 PM (it closes at 9 PM) a few teenaged girls got into a fight, and before it was over, 23 people were arrested, 21 boys and 2 girls which consisted of 3 juveniles and the rest all late teens.

They had to call in police presence from other towns, they had to block off a major street just to be able to get police vehicles through due to people parking on both sides of the street to attend the festival.

The last night of the festival they closed it at 6 pm to avoid any issues, and next year they say it will close at 7 PM. I don’t agree with this. Why not control the people who are t here and let those who don’t cause a problem enjoy it until 9 PM? Why make the innocent people suffer?

Why don’t kids have any respect for others these days? Why do people feel the need to fight a the drop of a hat? Why can’t kids behave in public?

This week they tried to change it to make it mandatory. Is this right? Isn’t seat belt usage a personal choice? I don’t use a seat belt. Now, I rarely drive on the highway, am usually on back roads and don’t go that fast. Accidents can happen at 20 mph but you don’t often read of someone being ejected from a car at that speed and dying.

Also, being a fat chick, I find seat belts very uncomfortable.

While it appeared to be a sure thing that this would pass, several legislators changed their mind and were against it, and it didn’t go through. Most said they listened to the voters but also many said that police officers simply can’t tell if someone is wearing a seat belt when they fly by.

C’mon, our police departments are struggling due to budget cuts as it is, are we going to take valuable public servants off the streets where they can make a difference and have them play hall monitor, watching for people without a seat belt? Won’t this cause an increase in racial profiling and allegations of police brutality?

It’s my choice to wear a seat belt or not. While statistics say lives are saved by wearing them, the stats also show people who don’t smoke live longer with less illness. Hey, let’s make a law and outlaw smoking. Oh wait, fat people don’t live as long and have more health issues so hey, let’s outlaw Twinkies.

Personal responsibility is a powerful thing.

A spokesman from MIT said (this was taken from another website) “We would like to assure that all of our graduates, when placed in a water-threatening situation (car goes into a lake; child falls out of a boat; etc.), that the person is comfortable and capable enough to save themselves and another person.”

Ya know, more people die from smoking each year, but do they require you to be a non-smoker to graduate? More people die from murder each year, but do they require that you be able to fight off an attacker with a gun to graduate?

With so much of our country obese, a requirement that you be physically fit seems almost unfair. You can have a perfect class attendance, be at the top of your class in academics, yet if you can’t swim, you’re sunk?

What’s next, a requirement that you be able to change a tire, because after all, if you have a flat, you can be in a life-threatening situation?

The data below speaks for itself.

Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $ 0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin: 1 0 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%

Keflex: 250 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%

Lipitor: 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
! Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasc: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
C! ost of g eneral active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid: 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin: 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%

Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809

Zithromax: 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor: 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft: 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%

Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on. It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen’s on every corner. On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that’s not a typo…..three thousand percent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are “saving” $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies tha t did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs.

I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients.

I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.

I would like to mention, that although Costco is a “membership” type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there,as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (this is
true)

I went there this past Thursday and asked them. I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.

Sharon L. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S . Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov

Why don’t they offer a younger family model, a single person model, and a senior citizens model? Seriously. Younger families need all those features such as gallons on the door, extra wide shelves for large platters, etc. Single people like me don’t need that stuff, it just makes the door heavier as we load smaller bottles on the door to make up for the extra space. Seniors keep small amounts of food in their fridge and most don’t use a gallon of milk in a month!

Stoves are made to be childproof. All knobs are now in the back. Uhm, sorry, but I’m short with short arms, and I can’t easily reach to the back of the stove, particularly if a pot is on top of the stove cooking heartily. Every stick an arm over a gas stove burner trying to reach the back? It’s an easy way to remove arm hair, that’s for sure.

My water coolor is childproof. I can’t get hot water out of it unless I push the hot water button a certain way. A service tech once told me that his kids showed him how to use it.

Vehicles have to be the worst. Let’s see, in my SUV the driver and front seat passenger have childproof buttons, and if depressed, they don’t allow you to open the door from the inside, just the outside. I had no idea what that button was until my own parents called me after they bought a new Toyota and were stuck in a parking lot, unable to get out of the car!

This past weekend I had someone in my backseat and they were unable to exit the vehicle unless I opened the door from the outside. I unlocked the door. I locked the door. I set the childproof lock in the front. I unset it. I kept my car in gear. I shut it off. I did everything but dance naked on top of it and the door would not open. I figured it was something with the car alarm, so brought it in today to the alarm place. What was it? CHILDPROOF FEATURE. They opened up the back door and on the frame of the door was a button that was engaged, and over it was a label - CHILDPROOF LOCK. Gee, why didn’t the auto manual tell me about this?? And I had it at the Toyota dealership for hours yesterday!

Why don’t they offer the option to get it non-childproof? I will never, ever have children in my vehicle.

Oh, do you know next year it’s mandatory that all new vehicles have the pull-up type of window knob for electric windows (do vehicles come without electric windows?). Why? Deaths of children who lean on the rocker type switch in a car while the window is partly open. Uhm, why not just make it so that the window will NOT go up if there is a foreign object in the way?

I think the husband has some culpability in all this. He chose to get her pregnant 5 times, and he knew she was ill as she suffered serious bouts of post-partum depression. Yet, he continued to not use birth control (apparently) and she finally cracked.

Now, she had to know what she did was wrong, as she called the authorities after drowning her children. She knew right from wrong. Being found guilty put her in a regular jail with no counseling. Not guilty by reason of insanity means she will be in a mental facility and get counseling.

Should she ever be released?

They say he’s mentally challenged with the mental capability of a 5-year old child. He’d worked at the restaurant for 3 years as a dishwasher. The assistant manager had been telling him to stop putting pans in the dishwasher, and for the previous 3 weeks he had been threatening to stab and strangle her.

So, who is at fault here? The assistant manager for yelling at a child? The person who hired a child to handle knives? The parents who allowed a child to work at a job handling knives?

I don’t think blame needs to be placed — but — I do think he should be held responsible for his actions. This was obviously well thought-out and he knew what he did was wrong when he tried to put the police on another track.

If convicted, what do you do with him? Place him in a regular jail? He’s not insane … so a mental facility isn’t warranted ….

Now, instead, they give you coupons. No longer do they give you “try this free” but they give you a buck off. Sounds good? Hey, I remember when coupons were for 35 cents off a product, and then you could get it doubled so you’d save 70 cents. Good deal.

Recently, though, they make the coupons for a buck, but there is a catch. You have to buy 3 or 4 of the product to save a buck. In my area, grocery stores won’t double a coupon over a buck, only up to 99 cents, so I’d have to buy 3 or 4 to save a buck.

Seems to me it’s no longer worth it to be a couponer if you have to buy in such quantity. I’d rather wait until an item is on sale. Last month I had a coupon for cream cheese, save a buck on 2. Now, they charge $2.39 for each, so I’d have to spend $4.78 to save a buck, so the end result is $3.78 for 2 8 oz. bars of cream cheese. This week they’re on sale for 99 cents. I could get 2 of them for $1.98, which is almost half the price of buying them WITH a coupon.

Why did coupons become a scam all of a sudden? Why must we buy 3 or 4 or more of a product to save a lousy buck?