A few weeks ago, my friend David called to tell me about his latest food discovery. He prefaced his tale with..." I know how you feel about "pink" products.......". He then went on to tell me about Panera Bread's "Breast Cancer Bagel". It is a ribbon shaped bagel with bits of dried cherries, cranberries, brown sugar chucks, honey & vanilla. This was his new favorite treat.
I felt like the gauntlet had been thrown down. I now had to try this new treat to see for myself if it really was " all that"!
Damn him!!!! I now am hooked. After my second trip back to Panera and subsequent confession to my friend, he informed me that this bagel is only available for a short time.
Why do businesses do this??? Bring in a new item, have it become wildly popular and then take it off the market. How is this "good business"? Why not give the people what they want, when they want, all year long?
I'll show them! I've been back a few more times and am starting to get sick of this dessert-like bagel. Hey, wait a minute..... I bought into their scheme, didn't I? I never would have eaten so many of these bagels in such a short period of time if I could always get them.
Color me pink with embarrasement!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Gas Pains
I am sick of yo-yoing gas prices!
This past Monday night my husband told me that the best gas prices near our house were at a station about three miles away for $2.59 a gallon. I filed that in the back of my mind.
Tuesday morning I needed to go to Sam's Club, where the nearby gas stations are usually among the lowest $ per gallon. Before I left, my friend David called to warn me that there was yet another oil crisis on the news and gas prices were set to sky-rocket once again. Whatever.... After awhile you get de-sensitized to all the oil "crisises" !
As I passed my two favorite gas stations, I noticed their prices were only a penny apart at $2.649 & $ 2.659. I opted to spend 15 - 20 cents extra to fill up at the station that was on the more convenient side of the road. I first went to Sam's and 30 minutes later stopped to fill up.
As I was pumping my gas I looked up at the large sign that advertised the prices to passing motorists.
What the...????!!! The price per gallon had just gone up 24 cents! Fortunately the pumps were still at the lower price. Whew... For a moment I felt lucky.
Last night, one day later, the price went down 10 cents. Why???
How the hell do gas stations set their prices? I am sceptical that it is entirely based on their costs. I am beginning to feel that this is a sick, twisted game that is being played with consumers. This is one game that is not fun and that I rather not play!!!
This past Monday night my husband told me that the best gas prices near our house were at a station about three miles away for $2.59 a gallon. I filed that in the back of my mind.
Tuesday morning I needed to go to Sam's Club, where the nearby gas stations are usually among the lowest $ per gallon. Before I left, my friend David called to warn me that there was yet another oil crisis on the news and gas prices were set to sky-rocket once again. Whatever.... After awhile you get de-sensitized to all the oil "crisises" !
As I passed my two favorite gas stations, I noticed their prices were only a penny apart at $2.649 & $ 2.659. I opted to spend 15 - 20 cents extra to fill up at the station that was on the more convenient side of the road. I first went to Sam's and 30 minutes later stopped to fill up.
As I was pumping my gas I looked up at the large sign that advertised the prices to passing motorists.
What the...????!!! The price per gallon had just gone up 24 cents! Fortunately the pumps were still at the lower price. Whew... For a moment I felt lucky.
Last night, one day later, the price went down 10 cents. Why???
How the hell do gas stations set their prices? I am sceptical that it is entirely based on their costs. I am beginning to feel that this is a sick, twisted game that is being played with consumers. This is one game that is not fun and that I rather not play!!!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
What's Your Hang-Up?
My Hang-Up is Hang-Ups! The kind that happen when you are in the middle of a task, run to pick up a ringing phone and the caller hangs up when you answer! This usually happens when I am in the middle of a task; like up on a ladder, finishing up another phone call and trying to hurry before voicemail kicks in, or at the furthest point from a working telephone.
I pick up, sweating from my sudden burst of actvity and breathlessly answer..... to which I am rewarded with silence followed by the click of a HANG-UP!
I then look at caller ID and see that the call was either from a toll-free number or unknown.
After several calls a day for about a week from the same number, I Googled it to see if I could learn who it was from. The only thing I found were several other people with the same complaint about this number and one person who called the number and got a fax machine.
What purpose does this serve? Other than pissing a bunch of people off, I don't get it!
Usually these kinds of calls come from phone banks that dial several numbers at the same time, talks to the first number that answers and hangs up on the rest. The tell tale signs of this type of caller are that it is from a toll-free or unknown source and there is a long pause between your answer and the caller's "Hello".
When I get a call like this, I like to wait through the pause and hang-up at the point the intruder says " Hello?. Not very mature or business-like but very satisfying!
I pick up, sweating from my sudden burst of actvity and breathlessly answer..... to which I am rewarded with silence followed by the click of a HANG-UP!
I then look at caller ID and see that the call was either from a toll-free number or unknown.
After several calls a day for about a week from the same number, I Googled it to see if I could learn who it was from. The only thing I found were several other people with the same complaint about this number and one person who called the number and got a fax machine.
What purpose does this serve? Other than pissing a bunch of people off, I don't get it!
Usually these kinds of calls come from phone banks that dial several numbers at the same time, talks to the first number that answers and hangs up on the rest. The tell tale signs of this type of caller are that it is from a toll-free or unknown source and there is a long pause between your answer and the caller's "Hello".
When I get a call like this, I like to wait through the pause and hang-up at the point the intruder says " Hello?. Not very mature or business-like but very satisfying!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Color Me Bitter - Part 2
The night before I started this blog,I saw a great segment on the evening news about thinking before you buy pink products. The report mentioned that many companies that sell"Pink" products to help raise money for Breast Cancer charities, have a cut-off $ amount listed in their fine print.
One example was the Yoplait lid campaign. Yoplait donates 10 cents for each lid mailed in up to 1.5 million dollars. I wonder how much it costs to mail those lids? Wouldn't it be more cost effective to just send your money directly to the organization? What type of tax write-off does Yoplait get? Why cap it at $1.5 million dollars? Is the product marked up to mark down? Eureka which gives $1 for every $200 purchase, has a cap of $250,000. American Express donates 1 penny per transaction which I would imagine comes from the retailers that accept their card.
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/ This website was mentioned as a source to check out before you "Buy Pink".
I feel better about being sceptical about companies motives for "going pink" after seeing this report. I am also happy that the Think Before You Pink website is a product of Breast Cancer Action http://bcaction.org/.
My favorite quote on the on their website is "If shopping could cure breast cancer it would be cured by now."
I think Breast Cancer Research is a worthy cause to donate to. It just irks me to see so many companies jumping on the bandwagon and using this disease as a public relations tactic.
One example was the Yoplait lid campaign. Yoplait donates 10 cents for each lid mailed in up to 1.5 million dollars. I wonder how much it costs to mail those lids? Wouldn't it be more cost effective to just send your money directly to the organization? What type of tax write-off does Yoplait get? Why cap it at $1.5 million dollars? Is the product marked up to mark down? Eureka which gives $1 for every $200 purchase, has a cap of $250,000. American Express donates 1 penny per transaction which I would imagine comes from the retailers that accept their card.
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/ This website was mentioned as a source to check out before you "Buy Pink".
I feel better about being sceptical about companies motives for "going pink" after seeing this report. I am also happy that the Think Before You Pink website is a product of Breast Cancer Action http://bcaction.org/.
My favorite quote on the on their website is "If shopping could cure breast cancer it would be cured by now."
I think Breast Cancer Research is a worthy cause to donate to. It just irks me to see so many companies jumping on the bandwagon and using this disease as a public relations tactic.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Color Me Bitter
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and quite frankly, I am getting sick of the color pink! Everywhere I go. The grocery store, school, the office supply store, my junk mail all remind me about Breast Cancer.
I have to admit all the pep-rallies, fund-raisers and awareness campaigns pour salt into my wounded heart. I guess I am jealous of how much attention this form of cancer receives.
Why I am Bitter
Cancer affects virtually all families. Mine is no exception. My grandmother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer 30 years ago, after finding a small lump in one of her breasts. She had a mastectomy and lived well into her 80's outliving her husband and her daughter (my mom). Grandpa died of heart disease and Mom had ovarian cancer. My grandmother died with Alzheimer's , a few years after my mother passed away. Mom was only 58 years old. It was emotionally draining to visit Grandma after Mom died. It was difficult enough to explain who I was, I also had to explain why her daughter wasn't visiting anymore.
My parents were both diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. Dad found out that he had Multiple-Myloma and probably had at best 5-10 years left to live.
Mom threw herself into gardening to relieve the stress of his bad news. She then started to have neck pains. She tried everything to relieve the pain. Physical Therapy, Massage, visits to a chiropractor, wearing a neck brace and sleeping on the floor. Nothing worked. She finally had X-Rays which revealed metastatic cancer in her bones. After much testing the source was believed to be ovarian. Mom was put into treatment right away and barely made it out of the hospital in time for Thanksgiving.
I have bittersweet memories of Thanksgiving of 1992. Wearing a bad wig and too weak to host dinner, Mom requested to go to a restaurant. I remember being glad that our family was together and that Mom was able to get out just in the nick of time. I was disheartened at how weak and frail she was. Later that weekend we took what would be the last group photo of our family, together in my parent's living room. I have this framed picture on my bedroom dresser.
After a fighting a brave battle, Mom lasted a mere 6 months and died in May of '93. Dad died in May of '98.
May also is the month Race For the Cure is held in my city. I remember one year trying to put on a happy face while decorating a store in pink to help promote Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer. As I was hanging some pink trim in a window, I stopped to talk with a Race volunteer decked out in pink.
Turns out that this woman was battling Ovarian cancer and temporarily keeping it at bay. I wanted to ask this brave soul if she was helping with Race for the Cure because there are no races for Ovarian Cancer.I couldn't help but think of my parents and wonder. Is all the attention and money given to Breast Cancer taking away from other forms of cancer???
How nice to have a race for a CURE, while Ovarian cancer doesn't even have a TEST!
Shortly after my mother's death, I mentioned to my former OB-Gyn doctor that I wanted to be pro-active and get screened for Ovarian cancer on a yearly basis. From research, I knew that blood tests were unreliable and thought that ultra-sounds might be good.
He told me that by the time something would show up on an ultra-sound, it would be too late. In other words, a diagnosis of Ovarian cancer is pretty much a death sentence! I ended up switching doctors and now get yearly pelvic ultra-sounds as well as mammograms.
This past year, my family practice doctor suggested that I might want to have prophylactic surgery to reduce the risk of Ovarian and Breast Cancer. I told him that I would rather not take out body parts on the off-chance they might become cancerous.
While a cure for Ovarian would be nice, right now I'd settle for a reliable screening or test!
I have to admit all the pep-rallies, fund-raisers and awareness campaigns pour salt into my wounded heart. I guess I am jealous of how much attention this form of cancer receives.
Why I am Bitter
Cancer affects virtually all families. Mine is no exception. My grandmother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer 30 years ago, after finding a small lump in one of her breasts. She had a mastectomy and lived well into her 80's outliving her husband and her daughter (my mom). Grandpa died of heart disease and Mom had ovarian cancer. My grandmother died with Alzheimer's , a few years after my mother passed away. Mom was only 58 years old. It was emotionally draining to visit Grandma after Mom died. It was difficult enough to explain who I was, I also had to explain why her daughter wasn't visiting anymore.
My parents were both diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. Dad found out that he had Multiple-Myloma and probably had at best 5-10 years left to live.
Mom threw herself into gardening to relieve the stress of his bad news. She then started to have neck pains. She tried everything to relieve the pain. Physical Therapy, Massage, visits to a chiropractor, wearing a neck brace and sleeping on the floor. Nothing worked. She finally had X-Rays which revealed metastatic cancer in her bones. After much testing the source was believed to be ovarian. Mom was put into treatment right away and barely made it out of the hospital in time for Thanksgiving.
I have bittersweet memories of Thanksgiving of 1992. Wearing a bad wig and too weak to host dinner, Mom requested to go to a restaurant. I remember being glad that our family was together and that Mom was able to get out just in the nick of time. I was disheartened at how weak and frail she was. Later that weekend we took what would be the last group photo of our family, together in my parent's living room. I have this framed picture on my bedroom dresser.
After a fighting a brave battle, Mom lasted a mere 6 months and died in May of '93. Dad died in May of '98.
May also is the month Race For the Cure is held in my city. I remember one year trying to put on a happy face while decorating a store in pink to help promote Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer. As I was hanging some pink trim in a window, I stopped to talk with a Race volunteer decked out in pink.
Turns out that this woman was battling Ovarian cancer and temporarily keeping it at bay. I wanted to ask this brave soul if she was helping with Race for the Cure because there are no races for Ovarian Cancer.I couldn't help but think of my parents and wonder. Is all the attention and money given to Breast Cancer taking away from other forms of cancer???
How nice to have a race for a CURE, while Ovarian cancer doesn't even have a TEST!
Shortly after my mother's death, I mentioned to my former OB-Gyn doctor that I wanted to be pro-active and get screened for Ovarian cancer on a yearly basis. From research, I knew that blood tests were unreliable and thought that ultra-sounds might be good.
He told me that by the time something would show up on an ultra-sound, it would be too late. In other words, a diagnosis of Ovarian cancer is pretty much a death sentence! I ended up switching doctors and now get yearly pelvic ultra-sounds as well as mammograms.
This past year, my family practice doctor suggested that I might want to have prophylactic surgery to reduce the risk of Ovarian and Breast Cancer. I told him that I would rather not take out body parts on the off-chance they might become cancerous.
While a cure for Ovarian would be nice, right now I'd settle for a reliable screening or test!
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