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Where's My Puffed Wheat....??

Alan G — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:16:44 +0000

I live about six blocks or so from my neighborhood Kroger store so it is only logical that I do most of my grocery shopping at that location. For some reason only known to Kroger’s upper management I suppose, they stopped stocking my favorite breakfast cereal, ‘puffed wheat’, a couple of months ago. They continued to stock puffed rice which is sort of a sister to puffed wheat, but no puffed wheat.

It should go without saying what a crisis this presented. Who doesn’t have their favorite cereal? When I asked my local store’s management as to why this had occurred, they were pretty much clueless. That struck me as somewhat odd but nevertheless, that seemed to be the way it was.

I then proceeded to visit a couple of other Kroger stores and it was the same story – they had removed it from their shelves. I then began looking for other stores that might stock my cereal and came to the stark realization that there aren’t near the number of grocery stores there used to be. In fact, within twenty miles of my home there was only Kroger, Wal-Mart and a Knight’s Food Store. None of which carried Puffed Wheat, name brand or otherwise. They all still had the ‘sugar/honey coated’ versions of the cereal but no one had the original or a facsimile. There did not seem to be any of my beloved puffed wheat in the entire town….or surrounding suburbs!

I guess this is the kind of crap you have to deal with if you live too long!

I eventually went on-line and sent Kroger’s customer service a complaint expressing my bewilderment and disappointment over their decision to discontinue the product. I’m sure after receiving that complaint they will respond expeditiously by having puffed wheat back on their shelves immediately!

So, how much would you pay for your favorite cereal? Well, I ultimately resolved my crisis to a degree by going to the Quaker Oats company’s on-line store and purchasing several boxes of puffed wheat and having them shipped to my home. After shipping costs, that averaged out to be right at $6.76 a box. That’s probably just about double but I’ll say one thing, it was fresh!

As sometimes happens in these exercises we are sometimes forced to go through and endure, I did find out an interesting fact or two. Quite coincidentally, 2009 is the 100th anniversary of the introduction of puffed wheat as a breakfast cereal. It was April 25th of 1909 to be exact. Now who would discontinue stocking a cereal with that kind of heritage? Well who else – KROGER!

Check out these ads….

(Click on image to enlarge)

Then there were all those Saturday morning radio programs that were supported by Quaker Puffed Wheat to include Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Sgt. Preston and his dog King who tamed the Yukon, most of which ultimately ended up on television. And of course with the advent of television, we got those classic commercials….

And now after all that history regarding the greatest cereal of all time, stores have opted to not stock it? The only cereal “Shot From Guns”? It’s not just a breakfast cereal – it’s part of our heritage!

Obviously few others, if any, will be concerned with my trials and tribulations regarding my beloved puffed wheat ordeal but nevertheless, it always feels better when you release your frustrations out into Cyberspace. For those of you however who are on the edge of your seats, I will certainly add a postscript to this post if and when Kroger ever responds to my complaint! I’m sure no one would want to miss that.

Quisp Cereal

DAG — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:47:03 +0000

Okay. How do I begin this post? Jesus. Strength.

I have no earthly idea of what smoking crack cocaine is like… but, if it is that damn good to the user, if I could fathom any sort of real or imagined correlation… I would go for the imaginary option this go round.

Quisp cereal manufactured (still to this *eep!* very day) by the Quaker Oats Company must certainly have a fair dose of crack in its ingredients. Heroin? Both!? Say, how’s about a speed ball, little guy? Harry K. Thaw, we love your moon rocks! That Quazy Energy has sent us into orbit, loving us long time! Oooooohhhhhhh, ffffffffuuuuuu… ssssweeeet mmmama… what Wikipedia best describes as a “saucer-shaped, baked paste of corn meal and syrup, identical in overall taste to its sister brand Cap’n Crunch but with softer texture,” has been sorely missed by my palate for many years and Cap’n Crunch doesn’t even come CLOSE! (harshly whispered) They liiiiiiiiiieee! I have had this monkey on my back for too many years! I cannot find Quisp anywhere, and they still make it?

For the past twelve years, I have heard reports (more like ugly rumors) that not only is Quisp still in production, you can only buy it online with a credit or debit card, and it’s $10.00 a box. WHAT? I cried “FOUL”! Do a Google search for “Quisp”. You will get its official site url from Quaker Oats: http://www.quisp.com/, click it on and it automatically redirects you to a much longer url which shows a box of Quisp and all this information leading us cereal junkies on to the false hope that Quisp can still be had. To the left, click “Buy at Online Store” and that is only an advertisement for their current marketing ploy on a t-shirt showing a suited yuppie hipster with a jet pack on his back, sending him into the Williamsburg/Silverlake cosmos of his dreams with the shill sloganed on the L.A. sweatshop tee, “Quaker Go Humans Go”.

Stay tuned for other breakfast and snack foods I have long suspected of containing addictive drugs, like the Jewish stoner favorite, Mallomars by Nabisco. Nabisco doesn’t tell you outright lies about those lovely little cookies. They can still be purchased for $4.00 a box in grocery stores predominantly in New England, New York, Michigan, Florida, and California. Although here in Charlotte, North Carolina, our very own Harris Teeter gladly sells them in the aisle for cookies and snack cakes. However, because of the consistency of Mallomars extruded marshmallow puffed atop a disc of graham cracker “enrobed” by a thin veneer of chocolate, they melt too easily in the summertime heat. So, wherever they are sold in the USA, it’s only for a seasonal period, beginning in October through early April. I’ve got a month. I’m waiting.

Brands v Obama

francisanderson — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:01:33 +0000

Brands try to tap into Obama celebration

Well we’ve all seen the Franklin Mint “Commemorative Coins” advertised on TV, but they aren’t the only brand aligning themselves with the Obama phoenomenon:

This Friday Pepsi brand ambassadors will be roaming the streets of Washington handing out samples and branded badges and scarves bearing various “Obamaisms” like “hope” and “change”.
Ikea has installed its own version of the Oval Office inside Washington’s Grand Union Station. The installation matches the look of the room but uses Ikea furniture.
Quaker Oats is supplying oatmeal to 11 bloggers’ parties to promote a campaign to feed 1m low income families.
Dunkin’ Donuts has launched a limited edition “Stars and Stripes” donut for the week of the inauguration.
Shopping TV network QVC is broadcasting during an inauguration ball hosted by actors’ political group the Creative Coalition. This event is also sponsored by Pepsi. QVC will also sell memorabilia including Obama and Martin Luther King commemorative coins ($20) and a “Presidential” pocket watch ($90).

horoscoop* du jour

Holly — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:14:49 +0000

March 21 – April 19 Aries
If you’re anything like me, nothing delights you more than a huge Jesus head appearing in the middle of nowhere along the boring nothingness of Route I-75 close to Cincinnati. This is the location of the Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio. Word has it that the statue of Christ’s head and hands reaching up to the sky has been submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Largest Christ. The statue presides over a gargantuan cross and a very large peaceful baptismal pool. You really have to see it to believe it.

April 20 – May 20 Taurus
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. All I kept thinking during this week of trying to make sense of losing Tim Russert was oh no, and now he will not know who wins the General Election. I can’t think of a worse fate for this incredibly gifted newsman. His untimely death was a complete sucker punch in the soul to me and everyone else that I know. And Bruce Springsteen had a few well chosen words on the subject as well as a song.

May 21 – June 20 Gemini
We’re right on the cusp of the Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year. This signals the pagan holiday of Midsummer’s Eve. Go all Swedish and mark the occasion with boiled new potatoes and fresh dill, grilled meat or fish, and strawberries. It is said that young girls should pick flowers for under their pillow on Midsummer’s Eve and their future husbands will appear to them in a dream.

June 21 – July 22 Cancer
On July 18 Nelson Mandela will be 90 years of age. That’s totally KIF! Wish him a happy birthday by signing this card. I remember watching Mandela’s first steps out of jail on global live television in 1990 in complete and utter shock and disbelief that this man was finally free. He was later elected President of the country that had kept him prisoner, South Africa. Mandela once said: “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

July 23 – August 22 Leo
Alice Austen was a photographer from the age of 10 almost until she died at the age of 85 in 1952. She took amazing, stunningly beautiful photos of her family and surroundings as well as contemporary life in New York City. In the later years of her life, the family fortune after the stock market crash of 1929 had dwindled so grievously that she had to declare herself a pauper. Her photographs were discovered and published in Life Magazine and the money enabled her to live her last years in a nursing home. Now her childhood home is a national historic landmark on Staten Island.

August 23 – September 22 Virgo
If you’re like me and sometimes require the companionship of an iPod during mundane tasks like waiting in line at the bank, it’s all about the headphones apparently. And thanks to Stock Footage Goddess & Starbucks Employee of the Week Melinda, I now am in possession of Koss ‘plug’ stereophones. And simply put: you need them. They’re not even as much as $25 and they really bring the music on home, up close and personal.

September 23 – October 22 Libra
This must be the Ohio edition. I need to tell you about the Quaker Square Inn in Akron, which has a secret connection to a very special Libra that I know (not telling). The structure was formerly mills and silos used by the Quaker Oats Company back at the turn of the century. Every room in the hotel is totally round and the silos are 120 feet tall and 24 feet in diameter. You can view photos on their website but to really see how cool it is you have got to go there in person.

October 23 – November 21 Scorpio
Due to the writers strike, we won’t be getting with Jack Bauer until much later this year. God, don’t you miss him? His one dimensional acting, his manic intensity, the time he took a bite out of a guy’s ear, the certainty that whatever happened next it would be so much worse than you could even imagine, and dare I even mention Chloe?? The bitchiest, bitchenest IT genius with a soft marshmallow heart that you could ever conjure up. Remember when she was hiding the baby at her desk? If you’re a 24-head from the beginning you’ll remember well the old intros: Right now I’m <insert horrible situation here> and <insert horrible outcome here>. I’m Federal Agent Jack Bauer and this is the longest day of my life. So now go to 24 dreaming and you can generate zany versions of that classic open by refreshing the page. For instance: I’m Federal Agent Jack Bauer and this is the most defibrillating banshee of my life.

November 22 – December 21 Sagittarius
Chick-O-Stick. Bottle Caps. Necco Wafers. Sugar Daddy. Need I say more. Yes, you can still find all these and more at the outrageously addictive website Groovy Candies. This is the best gift in the history of the world: to rediscover the candy of your childhood. Go ahead and tell me I’m wrong.

December 22 – January 19 Capricorn
Celebrate Elvis Presley by visiting Elvisly Yours. It’s a shop in London where you can buy all things Elvis. You know you need a talking Elvis Clock. Honestly, we really all do. You can also send Elvis greeting cards to your friends for free through the site. Coming soon: Elvis Duvets. Check out Gary “Pig” Gold’s list of the top ten reasons why Elvis rules. All Hail The King!

January 20 – February 18 Aquarius
Two words: Genya Ravan. There really is not enough room here to explain how incredible this woman is. Read her bio Lollipop Lounge where you’ll find out her amazing story from holocaust survivor to leading the first all-female band Goldie and the Gingerbreads and touring Europe with the creme de la creme of the British Invasion to being the first female record producer hired by a major label. And then go straight to the download site of your choice and download the heart stopping ballad Junkman where she duets with the formidable Ian Hunter. And there’s a lot more where that came from. Oh yeah and did I mention she now has her own radio show from 10pm to midnight the first Friday of every month on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 25 (Little Steven’s Underground Garage). And she takes requests!

February 19 – March 20 Pisces
Let’s pretend that it’s story time and I’ll tell a tale to you, I’ll tell you a story of make believe and all your dreams will come true. And when the story’s over and when we reach the end, we’ll live happily ever after where? In the Land of Let’s Pretend. Those lyrics were sung every afternoon on Gene London’s TV show Cartoon Corners, a children’s show broadcast on local TV in Philadelphia from 1959 to 1977. Gene played a store clerk in a general store who had an evil, stingy boss. Of course Gene was in love with the boss’ beautiful daughter. After the TV show was cancelled London became a dress designer and owned a collection of incredible Hollywood movie costumes. Sometime in the early 1980’s my compatriot Dayle and I (who had both been guests on the TV show as children) went to his store in Manhattan so we could meet this man who we had both had a raging crush on when we were eight years old.

Non-Remedies For Life's Ills

Allen Scott — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:14:38 +0000

Insight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest www.eagleviews.org

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16 (ESV)

Allergy medicine that does not relieve the symptoms and religions that does not relieve distress of the people are both ineffectual.

I suffer from allergies. Some days are better than others when it comes to symptoms. When I am having a bad day I want relief from the itchy eyes, the runny nose, and the scratchy throat. I tried many different over the counter medications and most of them did not help on severe allergy days so I went looking for the drug I used to take to remedy the symptoms. And it worked!

I am pretty loyal to brands once I find something that works. I like Tide. It does the job I expect it to do-get my laundry clean and fresh. I like Quaker Oats products, they have always proven themselves to be of high quality at least to my liking. I prefer Coke to Pepsi. I like Hershey chocolate and a Baldwin concert grand piano.

I am not saying that others are not good I just have a preference. Now when it comes to my salvation I found someone who does what He says He will do and can be depended on to fulfill (the promises he made to us). Jesus was the answer to my life’s search for answers.

You may not like Jesus so you are searching for other answers. I hope you do not find like I did that some remedies are not remedies at all. In fact the money I spent on those ineffective allergy medicines could have done far more good being given to a charity somewhere. The drug company that produced these pills only took my money and offered me nothing as far as relief is concerned.

I can think of many things that take money and offer nothing in return. The government comes to mind as a big taker of money and offering very little value in return. Drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, and other vices always take more from you then they offer in return. So do mega-ministries. They offer BIG promises to get your money and then are impotent when it comes time to actually provide the help they promised.

In all my searching for Jesus I am sad to say I tried all the well known manufacturers of the ‘God’s pill’. None of their prescribed methods of salvation worked for me. It was not until I was basically kicked out of every major denomination in the United States did I actually find the ‘God’s pill’ that worked.

Jesus came to me when I sought him with my whole heart. I had given up trying to work out my salvation. I had given up trying to find my own way of making life make sense. I realized I was a failure and had no answers, only questions. When I took those symptoms and questions to the churches representing Christ in the world I was given all kinds of prescriptions to remedy my life symptoms and they all proved ineffectual.

Where was I to go? To whom could I find to represent the truth of God? What did work? What pill could I take to relieve me of the suffering? It was not until I actually tried Jesus, not a denominational view of Jesus, but the actual living breathing resurrected Jesus spoken of in the scriptures, did I find relief from all of life’s ills. No church membership was able to cure my soul sickness. None of the methodologies espoused by the many denominations were able to address my need for soul cleansing. Their prescription masked some of the symptoms but where unable to render a real cure. If I was only seeking to ease the symptoms of my sin sick soul then the denominational church structure was able to provide the needed relief, although temporal at best. Jesus however offered an eternal cure.

Churches need to get back to the basics of the gospel and spread abroad the good news of Christ and his saving power rather than promoting their particular brand of doctrine. What the world needs is more cures from sin sickness and not simply remedies of symptoms.

When people are looking for relief from their spiritual afflictions they too want something that works. When I was spiritually desperate and searching for answers that is when I found Jesus to be the answer to all my spiritual problems.

Drixoral worked for my allergies and Jesus works for my soul sickness. I tried all the rest. I am sticking with the best.