2:22 A.M.

Monday, Home.

I’m sorry I neglected you.

I’ve been in such a weird mood lately, but now I understand. I started my period today, so I guess I should have known better. I don’t like to think that I get emotional because of such a thing, but I guess I do. After all, I tend to get really down right before it begins, and once it does I’m either really happy or really depressed.

No wait, I’m pretty alright at the moment. I don’t feel happy but I don’t feel sad. I’m just ok.

Moving forward, I received some great encouragement today. The guy didn’t know that he had helped me, I know, but it meant a lot to me. He told me he was impressed with how I put Jesus first in my life. He also told me that he respected me because of all I don’t do. For instance, drugs, sex, and drinking alcohol. I know this was God trying to show me one of the reasons why refraining from these things are good. I’m glad He reminded me in time. Or rather, that I listened.

He works in mysterious ways, and sometimes I get so mad at Him that I say things I shouldn’t, but He is certainly the best.

So I just wanted to let you know how I’m doing Diary. Today was pretty good so I don’t have any complaints. Well, except for a rather bad dinner experience at Apple Bee’s, haha. The cooks there must have sucked because it took them a long time to give us anything. To say the least, my family isn’t going there anymore. I probably will though. My dinner didn’t get messed up so… Oh, and we went to Dairy Queen after that. I know it’s the winter but hey, ice cream is always good. :]

That’s really all I have to say today.

P.S.
The encouragement got mentioned when I was speaking of Three Days Grace. I had said if I didn’t have Jesus, I would be after Adam Gontier. Haha!

P.P.S.
It’s now 4:27 A.M. I have sewing lessons today at 10. I should probably get some sleep, but seeing as how I got up so late today (3 p.m.) that probably won’t happen. I’ve really messed up my sleeping pattern. Also, I feel fat. I’m going to run tomorrow, hopefully. I’m going to try and lose five pounds, or at least get whatever abs I had back. Maybe I’ll throw in some lunges or go to the gym too.

we are currently waging a war in our house over which dairy queen to go to.  it must carry chocolate ice cream, stock peanut butter sauce and be open (this is probably the most crucial element).

j:  i don’t think they had chocolate.  they didn’t last time.  what would you get if they didn’t have chocolate?

s:  nothing.  i think we should call them.  how could they make the dessert of the month if they didn’t have chocolate?

j:  i already looked them up.  they didn’t answer.

s:  maybe they’re really busy. i think it’s really unlikely that they wouldn’t, never ever have chocolate ice cream.

meanwhile, i’m looking up places to take mom should we actually make it to nyc on new year’s eve.  i’m usually pretty optimistic (i set out in a snowstorm fully believing that i would make it 300 miles up the road) but i just don’t know how likely it is that we’re going to traverse the expanse of the seven-mile island on new years eve.  and there’s nothing festive (nor chic) about having to schlep on new years eve.  if we do make it, i really want to go to sweetiepie.  though it’s not open on the weekends.  doesn’t it just look too good to eat?  well, maybe not…

sweetiepie...yummy!

delish!

some day, sweetiepie

j:  want me to call the cumming dairy queen?

s:  mommy, do you realize that’s 10 miles away?

j:  that’s not so bad.

it’s no wonder dad has retreated to the basement to watch the football games.  we girls are nutso.  nutso for chocolate blizzards from dairy queen- sarah calls them “designer” blizzards.

j:  this is georgia!  maybe they don’t have chocolate ice cream!

ok, i’m back to my very official work researching eateries for new years day.

j:  2202.  you sure i didn’t dial this wrong?  you just had me call this one!

off to publix to buy chocolate ice cream.  the battle is over, the war rages on…

We want you to stimulate your creativity side by playing these business online games that we discovered!

http://www.freeonlinegames.com/rpg-games/apprentice-dairy-queen.html

Why not get an idea from this game and apply it in your business?

D.J. Schwenk comes from a family of football playing farmers in rural Red Bank, Wisconsin.  Her two older brothers have gone on to play college ball, and her father played football in the army.  But now her brothers Win and Bill are off at college, and her dad’s hip’s gotten pretty bad because of football, so D.J. is pretty much stuck taking care of the cows and the farm.  She doesn’t have time to finish her English homework, much less play basketball or volleyball.  But then her dad’s friend Jimmy, who coaches the football team at Red Bank’s rival high school, decides that his Quarterback needs some more training and D.J. could use some help at the farm.  Brian shows up not knowing what to expect.  Eventually, Brian and D.J. become friends, with D.J. training Brian with what she knows from watching her brothers for so many years.  And then, shortly before preseason is about to begin, D.J. decides to try out for football herself.

Catherine Gilbert Murdock really gets the feel for small town life in the Midwest, where life is what happens when you’re not focused on football, and the most fun thing to do in the world when you’re in high school is to drive your shiny pickup truck around the middle of town for hours on end (yes, this actually does happen – I’ve seen it!).  D.J.’s not perfect, but her quirks and foibles make her story all the more interesting.

You can visit Catherine Gilbert Murdock at her website, http://www.catherinemurdock.com/catherinemurdock/home.html.

Review by Kathleen

Anytime anyone says blizzard I think of Dairy Queen. Hell, I would have rather eaten three DQ large blizzards this weekend then end up being part of the top 10 worse snow storms. Where I live in Northern Virginia we got more than 18 inches of snow!!! I am  now freakin’ out about my running mileage for the week. I am not sure how I will manage getting in too many miles since some roads still need plowed, the sidewalks are still a mess, and even the government is going in late tomorrow if at all!! I am however seriously thankful for my membership to LaBoxing and also my little small gym downstairs in my condo complex. But enough of complaining about my running mileage. I am thankful for a few things before the snowstorm hit late Friday night.

So before the snowstorm hit, my husband and I made it down over the border into Maryland to check out the Gaylord Resort for the ICE show.

 We also checked out Bobby’s McKey’s dueling piano bar. If you have never been to a dueling piano bar you are really missing out on a show!

 Anyway when we woke up Saturday morning in our hotel it had snowed!!

 It was so much fun riding around in the snow. We actually went to Starbucks for a latte! Yup, the employees looked super annoyed by their three customers (another guy was already there) that happened to show up in snow emergency! The rest of the day included vegging out watching movies and eating junk food.

Dairy Queen Chili & Cheese Dog

What I Got:  Chili & Cheese Dog $2.09

I love chili dogs and I was at Dairy Queen recently for dinner (there were a quite a few people there for food only and not any sort of treat; that surprised me) and when I saw the chili dog on the menu, I had to give it a shot.  Now, I’ve had Dairy Queen’s Chili Dog before and kind of remembered it being tasty, but it has been a few years.

As you can see from the picture, this was a basic chili dog with chili and melted cheddar cheese.  There were not any other toppings in there and that disappointed me.  Usually I prefer mustard and onions to go along with everything else.

Taste-wise, all I can say is “blah.”  There was way too much cheese (there was almost more cheese than hot dog) and the chili was mediocre at best.  If I had to think of a way to describe the chili, I would describe it as glue-like.  Now, I didn’t eat a lot of paste in kindergarten like some kids did, but I’d imagine this chili is similar in texture and maybe also in taste to that paste.  Thick, nasty and boring.  A fair comparison, in my mind, to describe the taste and texture would be the chili at Steak ‘N Shake, although Dairy Queen’s doesn’t have as much pepper.  The one positive about this chili dog was that it had a good-sized hot dog that actually tasted pretty good too (Dairy Queen’s website said it is all beef and all beef hot dogs are ALWAYS better).

Would I Buy It Again?  No.  Usually fast food places that serve chili dogs get the chili right (for the most part) but screw up the hot dog.  Dairy Queen did the exact opposite.  Plus, combine the mediocre at best chili with a price of $2.09 and this is definitely not an item that I’ll be rushing out to get anytime soon.

When you add in the fact that this is 380 calories as well, it becomes even less worth it.

-IndianapolisEater

Yum… just the thought of cold, creamy ice cream makes me smile. So many different flavours, there’s something perfect for everybody.

My personal favourite? Chocolate… fudge… cookie dough… smarties… oreo… mint chocolate… you get the idea, haha.

And free ice cream? That just makes this yummy treat so much sweeter.

I subscribe to Dairy Queen’s fan club and because of this I get occasional promos sent to my email.

This month’s? A ‘buy one get one free’ candy cane blizzard. What a perfect holiday treat!

So I guess my reason to smile isn’t 100% free, but I am one of those suckers that give in to those sales. I look past the ‘buy one’ and see ‘get one FREE’. And then I am all over it. I have to get it because it’s a deal!

Of course it’s a deal.. an extra blizzard free of charge ~ and a candy cane one at that!

So I have been putting off using the coupon for awhile since my boyfriend never wants to go with me. But I can’t take it anymore, that coupon just sitting on the desk is driving me crazy. I need that ‘free’ candy cane blizzard.

And that is where I am going to go after writing this.. I will throw the extra in the freezer. And I bet you that when my boyfriend finds out it’s there he’ll change his mind and go eat it.

Free ice cream.. see it makes everyone smile. : )

//

Take a few seconds and vote for me and give PG Elizabeth Fry Society a chance to win $1000!

Visit: Amelia’s Sweater Profile | 12 Christmas Sweaters by Artistech Newmedia

6:00am woke up; 7:30am on the bullet train; 8:00am in Beijing; 9:00am on the bus to the Great Wall.

So far, so good. But I caught the wrong bus or something, because I overshot the Wall entrance by 20 minutes, spent 20 minutes assessing the situation, and rode 20 minutes back in a taxi–one hour lost. Blast!

The Wall was great. Bitter cold, and a fairly tough hike, but scenic and impressive.

Since this is the Wall’s offseason, however, the usual flood of sightseers boarding the return bus was a mere trickle, and another 40 minutes was lost filling every seat. Double blast!

So… I missed the cut-off for entry to the Forbidden City by 30 minutes (the irony was not lost). Triple blast! Still, I got to see a pretty cool military demonstration in the Forbidden City’s courtyard, and I’ll have something to see the next time I’m here.

Tiananmen Square was alright. It’s a big, open space. I’m not sure whether my foreignness, the imposing grandeur, the pervasive military surveillance, the drab weather, memories of past events, something spiritual, or a combination weighed on me there.

I used the last blinks of daylight to visit the Temple of Heaven. Although I again missed a cut-off for entry, I’d anticipated that and was glad I went. From the surrounding park, the views were pretty great. And I encountered several groups convened to sing traditional songs. It was odd. But cool.

Finally, I took a shot in the dark at finding dinner and got a bulls-eye. Happened upon an immense mall area with dozens of great choices. After Ajisen Ramen, a Dairy Queen milkshake, and some McDonald’s coffee, I caught the 8:30pm bullet back. Glad I went. And ready to go again.

Over 300 students and community members attended Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s presentation at Ridley High School on December 10, 2009. Here is Ms. Murdock with a slide of her Dairy Queen series, which includes Dairy Queen, The Off Season, and Front and Center:

Ms. Murdock shared stories about her writing process, how much she relies on her thesaurus, and what it’s like to have another famous writer in the family (her sister, Elizabeth Gilbert, wrote the phenomenal bestseller Eat, Pray, Love). When Ms. Murdock writes, she begins with the ending in mind so that her plot takes a clear path to a memorable last sentence. She also spoke about the steps involved in taking a story from a first draft to a published book, and how important book covers are for getting readers to pick up a book and give it a try. After her presentation, Ms. Murdock signed copies of her books for students and teachers:

Her talk gave our students many insights into the life of a published author, and we are most grateful to her for visiting our school! Thanks also to the Delaware County Literacy Council for their help with coordinating this memorable event.

After some dumplings at Nanjing station, I boarded the 12:20am train for Tianjin and promptly slept off the first eight hours. The next four were spent in a small cabin with two very polite, slightly older, non-English speakers. Arriving, I took the cab to my hotel, checked into the nicest room yet (and the most expensive at $23/night), “electrified” briefly, and went exploring.

Twelve million people occupy this sea port, and although it’s China’s fifth largest city, Tianjin has yet to emerge from the shadow cast by neighboring Beijing. But it’s trying. Everywhere you look, skyscrapers are being erected, and underground, subways are being constructed. Recently completing the longest walking street in China—a mile-and-a-half-long “L”-shaped affair anchored on one end by three malls, a gorgeous Catholic church, and a subway station, and on the other end by, drumroll please, Wal-Mart—Tianjin is coming along.

As in Shanghai and Nanjing, the usual players are here: McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Starbucks, Cold Stone, Haagen Dazs, and even TGI Friday’s. At the Carrefour they have one of my favorite Asian chains, Yonghe King, and I’ve seen another Asian favorite, Ajisen Ramen, around somewhere. As far as I can tell, they still lack decent hostels, Dunkin’ Donuts, Costa Coffee (U.B.C. is here), Dairy Queen, and Baskin Robbins.

I also wish they had the crosswalk countdowns and pedestrian underpasses I’ve seen elsewhere. Dodging turning traffic has been a challenge, but I’m happy for bicycle lanes, ample taxi cabs, an extensive bus system, and grand subway plans. They also seem to have their share of sights, although many, like the lakes south of town and the waterway in the final photo, are frozen. My classes would be in the building to the far right of that photo if I studied here. More about that going forward.

(Oh yeah, and the close-up is the friendly seller of the nuts in the preceding photo.)

Dairy Queen 1/2 lb. Flamethrower GrillBurger

What I Got:  1/2 lb. Flamethrower GrillBurger combo (comes with regular fries and drink) $5.99

I was at Dairy Queen for a bite to eat and wanted to try something different than a normal cheeseburger or chicken sandwich, so I went with this.  Yes, I know it’s still a cheeseburger, but it’s got a different twist to it.

Dairy Queen describes this burger as “Two thick, juicy 1/4 lb. burgers, smothered in a fiery Tabasco® flavored mayo with pepper jack cheese, jalapeno bacon, thick-cut tomato, and green leaf lettuce. Served on a toasted bun.”

I’ve had “spicy” burgers many times before and they usually fall flat on their face and don’t deliver.  This burger, on the other hand, fully delivered.  The double meat patties were perfectly cooked, the bacon was perfectly crispy (and spicy) and the lettuce and tomato were fresh and crunchy.  If you stop there and just put those things together, you’d have a good burger already.  But, Dairy Queen then adds in a Tabasco mayo in which you can really taste the spice and it’s a good taste.  Then, the pepper jack cheese just tops it all off with adding some more kick and flavor in there.

Would I Buy It Again?  Hell yeah. As I was destroying this burger (it’s huge, by the way) after a hard workout, I was continuously shocked on every single bite with how good it was.  Like I said, in my experience most “spicy” fast food burgers don’t deliver, but this one delivered as well as any fast food burger that I’ve ever had.  It was slightly out of the ordinary, but that’s what made it great.  My only complaint, however miniscule it may be, is that the bun that they used just seemed odd.  They need to find a better bun for this burger and then they could compete with anyone.  I would even go so far as to say that this burger could stand up against a Hardee’s Thickburger any day of the week.

This burger won’t do you any favors on your diet either as it checks in at a robust 1080 calories, but it is worth it once or twice a year as a true guilty pleasure.  If you want to tone it down a bit, they do have this burger in the 1/4 lb. variety as well and that’ll knock about 300 calories off.

-IndianapolisEater

What I might conclude about the review of what these 21 brands are doing on Facebook is to know our audience and engage them personally, not corporately.  Only post “ads” on Facebook when the message has real value, not when your brand just wants to promote something thinking it’s  “free” media.

After reading and listening to a lot of “experts” about what retailers and other business should do with social media, it is clear that there are no “best practices.”  No “do this and you’ll get great results every time.”  Or a consistent “five steps to a winning social media effort.”  Or “here’s how to get a million engaged Facebook fans.”

So I decided to look at what the top retailers on Facebook were doing.  I figured they must be a top Facebook fan page because they are doing something right on that site.  And I could report in on that.

I went to AllFacebook.com and searched through the top 1,500 Facebook pages by order of fan base.  In this, there we 21 retailers (does that number seem small to anyone else?)

First, here’s the list in order of largest to smallest fan base:  Starbucks (#6 with 5,116,396 fans), Victoria’s Secret, McDonald’s, Victoria’s Secret Pink, H&M, Subway, Chick-Fil-A, KFC, Krispy Kreme, Pizza Hut, Disneyland, Dunkin Donuts, Buffalo Wild Wings, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Dairy Queen, Papa John’s, Taco Bell, Target, JC Penney, Gap (#1363 with 486,501 fans).

First, the disappointment: I cannot truthfully tell you what they are doing consistently that might have created their fan bases.  And for some, I can’t even tell you how they have hundreds of thousands of fans at all, given how little they interact with their audience.  Instead of this being social media, many of these brands treat it like just another advertising medium.

Starbucks is international (therefore a larger potential base) and the model of alignment marketing; yes, they sell coffee, but they really sell the connection between their brand and their customer’s self-image.  Say what you want about Starbucks, that alignment is the holy grail in marketing.  Starbucks also does a good job of providing varied posts that speak to the mindset of their audience; their corporate posts are interesting and on-brand, they have polls where fans actually guide their offerings, and individual barristas are often engaged in conversations.  Nice empowerment.

H&M also has an audience with high affinity towards it.  But more importantly, their international presence likely gets them a large fan base.  But they aren’t doing anything really special on their Facebook fan pages.

Victoria’s Secret and Pink.  Even I figured out why they’re on the list: it’s the models, stupid

Many of the top retail Facebook fan pages are restaurants.  Maybe at some point in the past these sites had a promotion to build their fan base. Because for most, I can’t figure out why I’d want to get a post from them.  Store openings?  Old promotions?  New burgers?  Each has well more than half a million or more fans yet do little with them.  A few exceptions worth noting: Papa John’s awards one Facebook fan per week $50, and has a free pizza with purchase offer through Facebook. And Pizza Hut’s Facebook fan page links to online ordering.

The last group is merchandise retailers.

Best Buy is perhaps the most engaged of this group.  It’s the holiday season and they have a number of apps that provide value in finding gifts, and recently posted a Facebook-only $20 off coupon.  They post very regularly, often with content that I would find valuable.

Kohl’s does a terrific job of actually engaging with fans; they must have someone dedicated internally who sends personal messages. And that same person, or the same voice, writes their posts with a very human tone.

The biggest disappoint was Target.  652,000 fans.  I think of Target as a brand that does so much right.  But their Facebook page is pretty lackluster.  No fan engagement.  No Facebook-only stuff.  Their posts seem kind of trite.  Plus, there is a discussion posted on their Facebook pages from a disgruntled employee that includes pretty stark profanity. Is Target actually looking at their Facebook page?

I think if I ran a company that had as many Facebook fans as most of these retail brands, I might work a little harder at trying to have these people become real fans who want to read my posts.  Not just people that signed up some time ago, and (I’m guessing) are never given a reason to go back to that Facebook page.  To do that, I think I’d empower some people in my company to interact with my fan base rather than continually push out what are clearly ads.   After all, isn’t that what social media is all about?

I know your hump day is pretty much over, but that’s even better!!

Last night I planned on making salmon for dinner, but it had gone bad so instead I heated up some leftover pasta that my mom had brought home last week.  This pasta came from Fazolis.  Fazolis is basically Italian fast food, and I wasn’t too excited about going last week because my last experience there wasn’t great.  They’ve revamped their menu, though, and have some fancier dishes.  I was very pleased with what I got the Tortellini and Sun Dried Tomato Rustico.  It had tortellini, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and pesto in a cream sauce.

What you see below (which my mom ordered) was the Tortellini Robusto, which is one of their oven baked pastas.  This was about half the portion left and I bulked it up with steamed broccoli.  Very tasty!!

This morning for breakfast I filled a whole wheat pita with two eggs, some cheddar cheese, and some hot sauce.

This kept me full for a good 3 hours or so.  For a snack I had a Fiberful fruit strip.

Around noon I broke into my lunch, which was a packet of Madras Lentils, a bag of Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips, and an apple.  I REALLY like these lentils.  Check out your local Costco if you’re interested in trying them.

My afternoon snack was a pumpkin nut muffin (I REALLY need to stock up on Libby’s pumpkin bread mix!) and a Diet Coke for the caffeine.

I know the diet soda isn’t the healthiest thing so I need to get some tea with caffeine.  I prefer fruit teas, and they often don’t have caffeine.  ANY SUGGESTIONS?

When I got home a friend, Brian, had brought his Chiweenie, (chihuahua-dachsund mix), Romo, to play with our dog.  Here’s a video of them playing.

Brian invited us to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays so the salmon and polenta thathad planned for dinner will be on tap for tomorrow.

Ruby Tuesdays was SUPER dim inside so I couldn’t get pictures of the salad I got at the salad bar (romaine, spring mix, spinach, edamame, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, ham, 1000 Island dressing ) or the wine (Estancia Pinot Grigio).

For my entree I ordered the sirloin with lobster mac & cheese.  I substituted the mashed potatoes for mashed cauliflower.  I ate about half of everything.  I took a picture of the half I brought home where the lighting was better.

This was VERY good!  I can’t wait to have it again tomorrow at lunch.

For dessert we went to Dairy Queen and I got the small dipped ice cream cone.  I took a picture, but my phone ate it.  It was HUGE, I don’t think it was a small.  I ate all the chocolate coating, about half the ice cream and the cone.  I scooped about half the ice cream into Josh’s blizzard cup.   I didn’t really like it very much.  Too sweet.  I prefer McDonald’s ice cream cones.

A little late to the social media scene, the veteran fast-food chain Dairy Queen jumped fully on board in 2008. Its blog is written by employees and does a great job of providing a ‘human voice’ to its news. The Chief Brand Officer does a podcast and its Facebook page is adding more than 100 people a day. It’s about to launch an iPhone app. Case Study

I’m blogging from my early Christmas present as we speak!  Chris and I had talk about getting each other Christmas gifts…but when we saw this on the Home Shopping Network (yes, we’re that couple that falls asleep watching HSN if there’s nothing else on)  the other night, we realized how much we wanted one and started researching.  And, Best Buy just happened to be having a big ol’ sale this weekend and we snatched up a joint Christmas gift

Here is a front view of my new Gateway netbook!

And here is a side view, isn’t it little and cute??

You can also see my new fleece PJ bottoms in the pictures, they were $9.99 at Costco and I see another pair or two in my future, they’re so comfortable!  The netbook’s a little bit of an adjustment as the keyboard and screen are smaller than I’m used to, but I am loving blogging from the couch!    What is on your Christmas list this year?

This morning I ran 3 miles and was pain free!  I even kicked it up to an 8:30/9min pace for the last mile as there were a couple sweat free ladies ahead of me on the trail and I just had to pass them After my run I made breakfast of a piece of leftover Butter Braid from yesterday, a glass of OJ and a bowl of Quaker fiber oatmeal that I jazzed up with almond butter, raisins and a little honey.

After breakfast Chris and I picked up our last few items for the week at the grocery store and bought the Netbook.  Lunch was 2 rolls leftover from Thanksgiving sliced in half with pizza sauce, mushrooms and mozzarella on top.

After lunch I napped and studied, then we heated up a few unpictured ravioli for dinner. After dinner we ran to the library and then stopped at DQ for a Tagalong Blizzard, holy yum!!

Now we’re just settling in for the evening and looking forward to one more day off tomorrow.  I hope you all have a great Sunday!

Dairy Queen’s Sweet Deals value menu mobile ad campaign received a click-through-rate of more than 22 percent.  These ads were used in a nationwide ad campaign in concert with traditional media and were broadly targeted to ages 18-54 demographic.  The campaign was crafted to promote Dairy Queen’s new menu to possible customers at strategic times when consumers are possibly thinking of meal plans at lunch and dinner – 11am and 5pm.

This personal approach allowed Dairy Queen to target the customer as well as change its message by time-of-day in an interactive campaign. This allowed DQ to reach the customer at times while she is out and may be thinking about lunch or dinner. DQ proved that successful mobile advertising is only one component of an integrated marketing strategy and not just a series of unconnected ads on a small screen.   This success also proved that the fast food market  is ready for mobile advertising.

Today marks the second day of my vacation to Wisconsin. Today we did one main thing which was going to a party for my aunt leaving to serve in Iraq. It was a lot of fun.

Getting at the Party: We were some of the first to get to the party. While the guests were coming in I didn’t recognize anyone. I saw a few of my main aunts and uncles as well as cousins. A few I didn’t even know were part of my family so it was interesting to see the new faces and personalities of some of my family members.

Eating, Shopping, Losing: After we got to choose from a big variety of food to eat, my uncle came with my two five-year old cousins. I haven’t seen them in four years but right when they saw me they just knew it was me and screamed, “Dieter!!!” then ran and gave me hugs. They are twins so the whole day I confused them and it was fun to spend time with them. They told me to count to eighty and when I did they were so amazed and thought it was the coolest thing. It was hilarious. After playing for a while my uncle wanted to take me to get me a little present. He asked what I wanted so I wanted to keep it simple and told him I wanted a Ecko shirt. Ecko is one of my favorite brands and he knew what it was so he said “ok”. We went to a shopping strip and they didn’t have anything except for Gap and Old Navy. You could imagine what me and my uncle’s reactions were. Since we were with my aunt and my girl cousin they acted all like they loved it to make  us feel bad. My uncle commented and said “I didn’t see one guy walk in here” Even in the men and boy section there weren’t any guys, just girls! Haha. When we were in Old Navy we saw a shirt that said “Cereal first. Questions later.” ME and my uncle had NO idea what the heck that ment. We even asked about five people and they just looked at the shirt in a weird face. Kinda like the time when my brother found out that watermelon isn’t a type of candy. We finally found a store called Nike Factory or something like that. That was a pretty decent store and I found a nice hoodie (I’ll try to get a pic) and I got some nice shirts for my brothers. After shopping we went to Dairy Queen. It was amazing. Since there aren’t Dairy Queens in New York I was amazed at what I was missing out on. I got a blizzard with Oreo. When we got back to the party I played with my cousins and started to try to win a stuffed animal for them at the grabbing machine thing. I got them a stuffed penguin and they loved it.

Swimming: After the party I went to my aunts hotel room she was using for the night. We went swimming and it was so relaxing to swim after closing my pool for a while. I had to help my cousins swim since they don’t know how to swim yet. I did a thing that my dad always did when I was a kid to me. I picked up my cousin in the pool and started to spin him around and around. He loved it and thought it was fun. Before I knew it I had to leave.

Dairy Queen, Cops, and Home sickness: I decided to go spend the night with my grandparents instead of my aunts tonight. My mom stayed with her twin sister (my aunt) so I was feeling kinda lonely and homesick because I am so used to having three brothers around and my parents. I soon felt a little better when we stopped at Dairy Queen (again) but this time I got a slushy and popcorn. The popcorn was awesome. When eating in the car we heard and saw five cop cars go by. My grandparents wanted to check it out which I thought was dangerous and I was getting kinda worried. It turned out just to be some cops going to the hospital.

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Well that concludes my fine day. tomorrow I am going to the Packer vs 49ers game! (North American Football)

I’ll post tomorrow. Bye!

Until My Next Post,

~Dieter~

A day full.  A day full of living.  Love it!

Let’s see, woke up early to ride my bike, do some TKD and clean the kitchen.  All necessary things to make me feel like I’m getting things done and moving.   Then we hustle up to teach some TKD to those remarkable little people who give up Saturday morning cartoons to come and learn some self defense and self growth stuff.

Oh, and before I get too cheeky about my busy and happy life…it is made so by those who help me out!  I had two parties to tend to today and did I get the shopping done for it?  Criminy no.  If you know me you know I do not like shopping much.  Okay, not at all.  So if you don’t know me, you now know this about me.  Thanks MAGGIE the MAGNIFICENT for saving me!

So back home from class  we go.  Grace O’Malley is there which is always a pleasing sight.  She comes over to me as I sit down and starts singing Twinkle Star to me.  Be still my heart.  So I had to play this so she could sing some more.  Nothing better than a small child singing her little words with her little musical rythem.   I get a few minutes of the Queen’s attention and Mamo’s heart is full.

We pack up the gifts MtM had delivered to my home.  Yes, DELIVERED  to my house.

While I’m waiting for David to get ready I get a SKYPE call from Ireland!  Cousins from the Motherland are calling.  How awesome is that?  I got to talk a bit before running.  Though Ireland is being deluged with floods, the family, our family, is doing okay.  One benefit of technology these days, it takes the worry out via instant communication.   Stay safe Ireland!

But we had a bit of a dilemma today.   I had made commitments to attend two different parties, in two different towns, at the exact same time.  And we had told MASHLEY we would take them with us to one of the parties.  So we hurried over to JC to take baby shower presents to a family shower.  It was nice to have a few minutes to talk to family, but I felt like a heel walking out five minutes after it was to start. We went early so we could spend some time with them.   Still had to leave.  We didn’t want to miss it, but couldn’t stay for it either.   But the second party we got to with a half hour left.  In time for cake and presents.  And to meet our friend Stephy’s beautiful family.    Stephy and Taka treated all the party goers to Japanese candy and soda.  Old friends, new experiences.  Good life!

But when MASHLEY, David and I left World of Bounce I had a BRILLIANT idea.  We should have Nessie and Hoochie’s wedding there.  Wouldn’t that be FUN.   As in AWESOMELY FUN!  Come on!  Anyone can have a regular old wedding where everyone is all formal and proper and all.   No offense formal and proper wedding preferer’s.  I just think a World of Bounce wedding, or was it Bounce World?  Whichever,  would be FUN.  And who doesn’t need fun in their marriage and in their life?  Get married and bounce for joy!  Get married and bounce for love.

I still think it would be a great idea.  When I called Nessie to tell her I put a deposit down on the place, she didn’t think it was too funny.

THEN we went to Half Price Books.  And come on.  Who WOULDN’T be totally thrilled to go to a store where all the books are HALF price.  Or less?????  I’m assuming if you’re taking the time to read blogs, you love to read.  So all of you reading this should understand that kind of happy.

THEN we went to Chipotle.  Yeah, we DID.  I was disappointed with the bitter onion.  But otherwise quite pleased with the spicey steak and tomatoes on my salad.  I can’t speak for MASHLEY and David, but I will anyway.  David was fine with the cheese/chicken/burrito.  MA was not tickled with her taco, but she was a sport with the chips.  SHLEY loved her tacos!

THEN we went to Dairy Queen.  For those in this world who don’t think I ever stray from my attempts at healthy eating.  THERE!  I did, have a Blizzard.  The second one in TWO weeks.  Now how is that for living?  Yeah, great life.  I know.

We talked to different friends about our cabin today.  And the nice part about that?  They are all excited for us, and for our vision of our little home to be.  They see the charm of it, the fun of it, the chance to create something special for us.

Any time we spend with MASHLEY makes us happy.  Makes us laugh.  And we usually make plans for many more things to do.  And of course, we did.  Musical Christmas will be on the agenda.

It makes me so happy to know that people want me in their lives.  How can a busy day going from friend to friend to friend, with the best husband in the world by my side,  be made better?  It can’t.  But it’s good to go home and relax and feel like a day was spent well.

And it was.

Well done!

As far back as I can remember I have always had a job. As a kid I had a paper round. I used to deliver the local free sheet to approx 100 houses in the locality. It was great – I was independent at the tender age of 12. It definitely taught me to value money. I was always a saver too. Back then I used to make regular lodgements to my local building society – now that’s pretty optimistic for a twelve year old! I had big plans back then – and still do. These days I fund at least one foreign holiday from loose change I save in an actual piggy bank. I throw in the odd note occasionally. You would be surprised how all that shrapnel adds up.

Here is a snapshot of some of the jobs I’ve had to date:

Paperboy

Packing bags in local supermarket

Stacking shelves in local supermarket

Customer service agent in the Airport

Sales assistant in record store

Sandwich maker in a Subway style sandwich bar in the States

Waiter in a Pizza parlour in the States

Behind a deli-counter in a supermarket in the States

Serving Ice Cream in Dairy Queen in the States

Waiter in a buffet style sea food restaurant in the states

Customer service agent on the X-box helpline in a call centre in Dublin

Fund Accountant, Multinational Dublin

Management Accountant, Multinational Dublin

Financial Accountant, Multinational in Dublin

Wow – looks like I’ve been a job-tart. And more recently, I’ve been a corporate whore! I’ve worked for three multinational corporations since 2003.

I’ve tried to find as many Thanksgiving freebies as possible this week. Gobble, gobble!

City-Specific Freebies

• Starting January 1, 2010 Washington, DC will charge residents 5 cents per plastic bag they take when shopping. (IKEA already does this.) To help Washingtonians stock up on reusable bags, the city will be giving away more than 120,000 free market bags in the next few months.
• Enjoy free ice skating at New York City’s Bryant Park!
• Detroit-area families that need coats for their kids, take note: Happy’s Pizza and Greater Grace Temple have joined forces in “Happy’s Coats For Kids” Winter Coat Giveaway. They’ll provide 4,000 “FREE” warm winter coats for Detroit-area youngsters on Wednesday, November 25, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the New Rogell Golf Course, 18601 Berg Road in Detroit. The coats are for youngsters 3 – 13 years of age. Financially strapped parents must present a voucher to receive a coat. These vouchers are absolutely FREE and can be picked up from any Happy’s Pizza location found throughout the Greater Detroit-area or at the Greater Grace Temple Bookstore, (City of David) 23500 W. 7 Mile Road in Detroit. Sizes (2T – 2X Large) based on availability. For information, just stop in at your local Happy’s Pizza and ask about “Happy’s Coats For Kids,” or call Greater Grace at 313-543-6000.

Free Flu Shots

• I wrote earlier this week about how/where to get free H1N1 flu shots in Pennsylvania November 20-22.
• Macomb (Michigan) County Health Department is offering two free H1N1 vaccine clinics, both at Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights, MI. They are Saturday, November 21st  from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Tuesday, November 24th from 12 noon to 7 p.m. Both clinics are for folks that fall into a high-risk catergory, such as school-aged children or those with chronic conditions (asthma, diabetes, etc.).

Free Food

• Enjoy a free hot chocolate or free coffee on November 26th until noon, courtesy of the Detroit People Mover. Look for the DPM “Family / Patron Station” inside Angelina Italian Bistro, 1565 Broadway in Detroit, on the first floor of the old Madison Theater Building and across from the Detroit Opera House.
• Double your pleasure, double your fun? How about double your freebies? Now Boston Market lets two kids eat for free on Saturday and Sunday. Good for kids 14 and younger (yeah, mine qualify) and until January 31, 2010. You know I’ll be repeating this freebie in Freebie Friday postings for the next few months–you know, just in case you forget and all.
• Don’t forget that kids eat for free at Denny’s on Tuesday nights–and in some locations on Saturday, too.
• If you join the Dairy Queen DQ Blizzard fan club, you’ll get a coupon for a free DQ Blizzard. Yum. (My fave is the coffee Heath bar blizzard.)

Gratis Gift Cards

• You can earn free gifts cards to Sears when you participate in its new electronics recycling program with Gazelle.com. The new program is providing practical, responsible, rewarding ways for consumers to get value for used, working electronics, and gives customers the flexibility to trade-in unwanted gadgets from more than 20 product categories, including cell phones, laptops, MP3 players and digital cameras. Electronics items that no longer work will still be accepted at no cost for recycling, but consumers will not receive value for these items. That’s still cool since many stores charge you a service fee to recycle your electronics.

Wifi That Won’t Cost You Anything

• Delta Airlines has joined the free wifi fray. It announced an agreement with eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, to provide complimentary Gogo Inflight Internet service to customers traveling on all Wi-Fi equipped flights from Nov. 24-30.
• Visiting Times Square over the holidays? Well, don’t worry about paying or Wifi service so you can check your email. Starting a few days ago (November 10th), Yahoo began offering free Wifi in Times Square and will do so for the next year.
• Google is sponsoring free Wifi in 46 airports nationwide. Unfortunately, Philadelphia, the main airport I use, is not included in the list of participating airports. You can check it out in this Gizmodo.com article. Maybe your nearby airport is?

Free Shipping
Lots of retailers are attempting to inspire shoppers to buy online by offering free shipping this holiday season.

• Pet-products website Drs. Fosters and Smith (from which I’ve purchased my dog’s pet meds) has eliminated standard shipping costs for all of its pet healthcare-related products.
• ShopatHome.com has put together a free shipping guide so that you’ll have an easier time figuring out which e-tailers are offering free shipping this year.

By all accounts, Subway’s “5 Dollar Footlong”campaign has been an amazing success. Business Week’s Matthew Boyle recently recounted the origins of the PR move, tracing it back to franchise owner Stuart Frankel, who sought to create more business for two of his struggling stores in Florida. According to Frankel, customers liked the round number of the sandwich prices and his sales rose by double digits. After the corporate office decided to adopt Frankel’s campaign for all of its stores, Subway saw $3.8 billion in sales from $5 Footlongs alone, making it one of the top 10 fast-food brands in America in 2008.

The five dollar deal has been replicated by other major restaurant chains. Arby’s now offers five roast beef sandwiches for five dollars, and Dairy Queen has a similar value meal of its own. KFC, too, has recently been offering a grilled biscuit meal for $5. Needless to say, though, few of these restaurants will be able to copy the popular sensation that is the “$5 Footlong.”

To see one of the first video ads for the $5 Footlong campaign, watch the video below:

Discussion Questions:

1.  Why does the “$5 Footlong” campaign work so well in the current social and economic context?

2.  The video above proved to be so catchy that it was often referenced frequently in pop culture for a brief period of time.  What is it about the ad that made it so successful?

3.  What factors will determine whether this kind of campaign continues long into the future?  In other words, does a campaign like this cease to be effective over time?

Have you ever been driving around and couldn’t decide where to stop to fill the belly of the beast? Worry no longer my friend. With this simple to follow flowchart you will never have to decide which to listen to, your brain or your stomach. Now you can save those precious braincells for better decisions…like plaid or argyle…or So You Think You Can Dance or NCIS.

You may also enjoy our other flowcharts:
Beer Edition
Cereal Edition
Chain Restaurant Edition
Freezer Aisle Edition

Update: Just in time for Christmas, now you can purchase the Where Should I Eat? Fast Food Edition (Flowchart) Poster, it’s the perfect gift for your junk food loving friends.

Where Should I Eat? Fast Food Edition

Girl Scouts Tagalong Blizzard

What I Got:  Small Girl Scouts Tagalong Blizzard $3.29

This past summer, Dairy Queen introduced this as a monthly special Blizzard.  While I thought it looked delicious at the time, I lacked the nerve to try one at that point.  A few nights ago, I finally worked up the “courage” to try this one out.

Before I go any further, I should point out that Tagalong cookies are my FAVORITE of all the Girl Scouts cookies, so this may be a little biased.  If you’ve never seen or had a Tagalong before, it’s a peanut butter cookie coated in chocolate.  It’s basically an amped up version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.  To my taste buds, the difference is that the Girl Scouts peanut butter is a little sweeter and lighter than Reese’s.

As for what goes into the Blizzard…it’s just standard vanilla ice cream blended with crumbled Tagalong cookies and a little extra peanut butter topping.

Would I Buy It Again?  Absolutely yes. Since I already mentioned this was my favorite cookie, I knew going in that I would love this Blizzard and I was not disappointed.  This thing was incredible and was just like heaven.  Since it has proven to only be a monthly special (so far), I would recommend that you head out to get one before they take this off the menu again.

By the way, this Blizzard is not exactly a friend to your health, as if any of them are, as it checks in at 570 calories for a small.

-IndianapolisEater