football is everywhere

Saw this on an endcap at Publix last weekend. Printed fun Pop-Tarts sound cool, but I'm not sure college mascots are really playing to your target market. Unless the Pop-Tart target market is college kids. Hmm... Well I guess maybe that does work.

In other news, Tim scored us tickets to the Rays' first-ever ALCS game. They'll play the BoSox Friday night at the Trop. Our tickets are perfect: in right field next to the Rays' largest heckling crowd. Should make for an entertaining evening. Go Rays!!

Oh yeah, and we still don't have air conditioning. It's been 7 school days. The A/C crews have promised to get things running countless times. We've had fits and starts of A/C here and there, but they never last. There are 12 classroom affected. Parents and labor union have been called in to help. Let's hope one or the other works soon.

birthday blur

Tim's 30th birthday was last week. We planned on catching a couple of Rays/Red Sox series games to celebrate. Instead, while at a game during the Yankees series the week before, Tim won tickets to the last game of the season. And not just any tickets, mind you. Tickets for the exclusive Whitney Bank Club, which include a brunch and lunch buffet throughout the game along with beer and wine. The above picture was taken by the waiter for our section (about 40 people), who was wonderful about keeping up with anything we wanted/needed (despite not being steady with a camera.) We even had the Bucs game on at the bar, which was nice since the Rays were still a bit sluggish and hung over from Saturday's post-season-clinching win. Sadly, the Rays lost both their opening and closing home games for the season. Let's hope their post-season record is better.

Also, five minutes after arriving at the Whitney Bank Club, I ran into a teacher from my school and her twin sister. How crazy is that?

There are lots of changes on the horizon for us in the next few weeks, so it was wonderful to spend the weekend visiting some of our favorite St. Pete haunts. I left feeling sad that I haven't sold my house yet. I love it down there.

P.S. You can't tell from the blurry pic and the hat, but Tim finally got the hair cut he's been talking about for months. It's super short (maybe 1/2 inch?) and completely adorable. He, of course, hates it.

priorities

The Countryside Publix in Clearwater's definition of a storm basic. You can tell they've been through a few hurricanes.

a berry busy day

I decided to go out to Santa Fe Berry Farm last Saturday to pick blackberries and blueberries. It's located in tiny Earlton off SR26 right on Lake Santa Fe -- check out the view from their house (they welcome visitors to check out the lake):


I chose to go there instead of my usual organic haunt because I've always wanted to pick blackberries but end up going too late in the season to have any luck. It took a long time to pick the blackberries because of their thorny bushes, and by the time I was ready to switch to blueberries I was already hot and sweaty. Six pounds of blueberries was what I needed to make jam, but I gave up long before that due to the heat -- my fault for going berry picking at 11am. I ended up with almost a pound and a quarter of blackberries and 3 and a half pounds of blueberries (and at least a pound of berries in my tummy!) all for about $10. Not bad for two hour's worth of work.

Another fun thing about Santa Fe Berry Farm is their flowers. They grow huge sunflowers, black-eyed susans and zennias that you can cut to make your own bouquets.


If you decide to go (and I'd highly recommend you do) don't forget to wear close-toed shoes, bring a hat and your water bottle. You may even consider gardening gloves to get to some of those hard-to-reach blackberries without endangering your fingers.

Since I didn't get enough blueberries to make the amount of jam I wanted, I drove over to Roger's Farm to pick several extra pounds of strawberries so I could make mixed berry jam instead. Picking strawberries can hurt your back, but it's certainly quicker than blueberries or blackberries -- and you can't beat the price of $1 a pound! They had dropped the price of pickling cucumbers to 60 cents a pound, so I bought more of those too. If you're going to spend the day canning, you might as well go all the way, right?

performance vs. cost

I found this amazing graph today which analyzes MLB teams' performance relative to the money they spend on salaries. I love visual representations, and this graph charts day-to-day performance so you can see the rise and fall of teams throughout the season. The website also has data for the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons.

Both Florida teams are doing quite well this season according to this analysis, especially considering they are the bottom two teams in amount of money spent (to even put that into perspective, the Marlins have spent less than half the amount of money as the Rays and have the same record!) Secretly though, my favorite part is visual proof that the Yankees waste ridiculous amounts of money -- 10 times more than the Marlins -- and have one less win (and three more losses) to show for it! Tee hee.

happy easter, peeps

The Washington Post hosts a diorama contest involving the loved/reviled Easter Peeps. Check out last year's winners here. This year's selection just came out today. There are some cute ones this year, but last year's "Say Anything" diorama remains my favorite. Who doesn't love Lloyd Dobler in Peep form? Thanks to poppytalk for the cute link. The photos actually made me crave Peeps, which I normally dislike, so I bought a small pack at CVS yesterday. They were yummier than I remember, but so sugary that I probably won't grab more any time soon.

Happy Easter everyone. I'll be heading out of town (again!) tomorrow for Easter and a last gasp of spring training fun. Chocolate bunnies and baseball -- what could be better?

and the winner is ...

Friday's Vanilla Coke taste test had three contestants and one clear winner.

Contestant #1: Coca-Cola Vanilla. It had a strong vanilla flavor, but it tasted more like vanilla extract. Add to that the tinny taste often found with canned Cokes and it was just okay.

Contestant #2: Regular Coke with vanilla flavoring added. We added one tablespoon vanilla flavoring to an entire can of Coke. The directions on the bottle said to add two tablespoons, but we were glad we stopped at one.

Contestant #3: Sonic vanilla Coke. I assume this is what #2 would have tasted like if we had added both tablespoons to the Coke. In other words, it was rather sweet.

The verdict: #2 was the clear winner, but that's not really a surprise. Mixing your own drink usually produces better results. Unfortunately, I'd rank Coca-Cola Vanilla last due to its vanilla extract flavoring. But considering I love Vanilla Cokes in any form or fashion, I'll still enjoy each version.

picture post

Here are some current projects I'm working on, some already started and some that will be soon -- like today.









Also, I've added new songs to my current music obsessions in the sidebar that have either been on heavy rotation on my iPod or have been pleasant old-school surprises dug up by shuffle. I love a good surprise.

coke is it

A few weeks ago, I was talking to one of my friends about the demise of my favorite Coke product, Vanilla Coke. Once Coca-Cola announced they wouldn't make it any more, they introduced Black Cherry Vanilla Coke. I liked that combination so I didn't complain too loudly. Then that version disappeared too, leaving me with only Cherry Coke. I'm not a huge Cherry Coke fan but the taste of canned Coke is not my favorite so I deal with it.

Of course, fountain Cokes are by far the best drink in the entire world. Finding a restaurant with the perfect syrup to soda water ratio is like hitting the jackpot. It goes without saying that it must be actual Coke, no Pepsi products for this Southerner unless truly, truly desperate for caffeine. But I digress.

My friend asked me why I didn't just buy vanilla syrup and mix it with regular Cokes. I hadn't really thought about it, honestly, since I try not to drink Coke all that much as it is. Anyway, he and I are getting together for lunch and a movie tomorrow and I thought it would be fun to make "real" Vanilla Cokes. I set about searching for vanilla syrup. When I couldn't find it at Publix or Target, I went to the web. I found Torani syrups are sold at Fresh Markets in this part of Florida, so I made a quick trip out there this morning. No problem. Then I hopped across the street to a Publix to buy regular Coke. I headed down the Cola aisle and couldn't believe what I saw. Vanilla Coke. In cans. On sale even -- buy 3 get 1 free. So I bought 3 Vanilla Cokes and 1 regular (after all, I still had the syrup.)

I was excited until I started to think about it some. Were they purging the last of their stash? Was it actually available at stores other than the Publix I regularly shop at? I was curious, so I stopped by another Publix that was on my way home. Sure enough, they had boxes of Vanilla Coke. Now I know for a fact that my Publix doesn't carry them (occasionally I check, hopeful that it'll be there.) I hopped online when I got home and found out that Coca-Cola reintroduced Vanilla Coke back in May (they call it Coca-Cola Vanilla now.) May? Why is it taking so long to reach stores again? I know it's not just Gainesville. I travel quite a bit and would have noticed Vanilla Coke bottles in the gas stations around the state. Anyway, I suppose I shouldn't complain. I bought enough to last me well into the summertime and, well, Vanilla Coke is back!

But now having two different ways to make Vanilla Cokes makes me wonder which would be better -- Coke with vanilla syrup added at home or straight Vanilla Coke out of a can. Tomorrow we'll test it and see. I'm even going to see if I can scrounge up other Vanilla Coke contenders between now and then (definitely Sonic, although using fountain Coke will alter the outcome I think.) I'll report back with our results.

In the meantime, check out this graph. What do they call Coke in your neck of the woods?

new blog feature

I've added something new to the right -- a list of songs currently on heavy rotation on my iTunes/iPod. Just click to listen! I hope to rotate them every few weeks. I've been heading into classics (well, my classics anyway) territory lately, lots of Big Star, Replacements, Pavement, etc. What awesome memories some of these songs have brought back! This list will probably be 50/50 old favorites and new finds. I'll warn you I tend to be slow on the new music. I can guarantee there will always be a Mountain Goats song somewhere, since I am obsessed with the vocal stylings of John Darnielle. Know of something you think I'd enjoy? Drop me a note in the comment section. I love exploring new music but often find myself overwhelmed with choices. Recommendations would rock.

readability

What's your blog's reading level? I'm sort of surprised. As a former elementary school teacher, I thought for sure it'd be closer to an eight year old's...