Sunday, February 22, 2009
A New Blog: RGB's X-Factor
I've just started another blog...one that will eventually be more hardcore and raw. I'll put a disclaimer on it so that nobody under 18 can enter. Anyway, here's the address: http://rgb-xfactor.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Mmmmmm good! ...or not!
Yum! A peppermint flavoured lollipop covered with ants! I haven't had one of those since...um...never. Actually, I HAVE eaten a granola bar covered with ants, but I didn't eat them on purpose! I remember watching cartoons after school when I was around 11 or 12. I always waited until the commercial breaks before I fixed my "after-school" snacks. One day, I was in a hurry...so I reached into a box of granola bars and quickly grabbed one of the bars. I began unwrapping it on my way back to my usual spot...you know, about 4 inches away from the front of the television screen. Anyway, I never looked at the bar because the cartoon had already started...and the power of that mesmerizing rectangular screen was simply too strong for a young boy like me to look away. After chowing down on at least half of the bar, I briefly glanced down and noticed a BUNCH of black spots all over it. To be honest, I probably would have kept eating it had I not seen one of the spots move! Ants were all over the bar...and I had already eaten many of them. Believe me, trying to force yourself to vomit a half-eaten, dry granola bar is not a fun task. Needless to say, I ALWAYS look at EVERYTHING before I put it anywhere near my mouth.
Anyway, if you're curious about that ant-covered lollipop pictured above and wondering if it is an actual "edible" item, well it is! Here's a link to the company's site: http://www.edible.com/shop/browse.php?cmd=showproduct&productId=1
And if you think that's crazy, visit the guys at Notcot for more delectable delights! Mmm, I can't wait to eat some Toffee Scorpion Candy! Here's the link: http://www.notcot.com/archives/2008/03/edible.php
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Birds and the Bees...and the Squirrels?
The Birds:
With Super Bowll XLIII less than a month away, and both the NFC and AFC championship games yet to be played, my mind wanders (as it often does) off into the vast wilderness of meaningless statistics. I noticed that the mascots for three of the four teams playing in the championship games this weekend are BIRDS: the Eagles, the Cardinals, and the Ravens. It has occurred to me that there have not been too many Super Bowl teams with "bird" mascots. Come to think of it, there are only five NFL teams with mascots that reign in the sky: Eagles, Ravens, Cardinals, Seahawks, and my favorite team the Atlanta Falcons. Of the previous 42 Super Bowls, the "birds" have made a total of 5 appearances. The Eagles went twice. The Seahawks went once. My Falcons went in 1999. The Baltimore Ravens went in 2001 and became the only bird-team to actually win the Super Bowl.
This year, the birds will definately be represented in the Super Bowl since the Eagles will play the Cardinals in the NFC Championship game. The Cardinals beat my Falcons last week...so um, GO EAGLES!!! If the Ravens beat the Steelers, this will be the first year in the history of the NFL where both Super Bowl teams are birds! I'm not sure that anybody has even thought about that statistic...but for a few minutes today, I did.
The Bees:
Since I mentioned "bees" in the title of this blog, I should probably write about them. First of all, I HATE bees!!! Don't get me wrong, I understand their role in the cycle of life. I understand their importance to our planet in regards to agriculture and food supply (nice article on this at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bees/). In fact, they're very fascinating little creatures! However, their stingers hurt...and bees don't seem to like me very much. Perhaps it is because of all those times when I was a young boy...when I knocked their nests down with rocks and then ran away just fast enough to escape their wrath. It seems that word has gotten around in the bee community that I am a threat to their livelyhood...and I've become a marked man!
The bees' got their chance at retaliation during my 8th grade year. The football players (yes, I played for two seasons in middle school) were not allowed to participate in gym class on a "game" day. So, the P.E. teachers would have us sit off to the side while class continued. One hot day, we were told to stand on the edge of the football field where there were plenty of trees to provide shade. Of course, being young antsy boys, we eventually got bored and decided to trek into the woods and explore. After a few minutes of walking, I felt a sharp, piercing pain in my right arm. Yep...a bee succeeded on its mission. I simply yelled a few explicatives and explained to my teammates/friends that I had been stung. My friends just laughed as we proceeded further into the woods. A few seconds later, another bee joined in on the assault and stung me on the leg. After a few more explicatives and a few more giggles...and a quick slap of my leg, the unthinkable happened: I landed on the nest! This was their chance to launch a full-blown attack on me...and they wasted no time! I never actually saw the bees. I could only hear the loud, constant "humming" while feeling their sharp knives poking me all over my body. One of my friends, Scott, was getting stung just as much as I was. So, here we were, running out of the woods, ripping our shirts off (which were full of bees) and screaming like banshees! We left the woods and ran full speed across the football field toward the gym teacher (who also happened to be our coach). I don't think he had ever seen two white boys run the 100 yard dash that fast! Meanwhile, the other guys that were in the woods with us received NO stings! They remembered something they had learned back in their Cub Scout or Boy Scout days...to stand still while angry bees swarmed nearby. The tactic actually worked for those guys! Needless to say, to the bees, Scott and I must have looked like easy targets running and screaming with our arms flailing, breaking every tree branch we encountered while on our flee to safety. Did I mention I hate bees?
A few years later, I met the "Terminator" bee. This was a bee sent from the depths of Hell to find me. I was driving along on a small street with my windows slightly cracked so that I could feel the nice breeze blowing outside on this particular sunny day in South Carolina. However, that beautiful sunny day turned ugly really fast when a large yellow-jacket flew into my car window and proceeded to fly around inside and wreak havoc. I'm not sure how YOU react when a bee enters your car when you're driving...but I FREAK OUT. I can't drive with a bee in the car...period! I immediately pulled over and got out of the car. In a brief moment of clarity, I reached inside and grabbed one of my heavy textbooks. Once the bee landed on the floorboard of my car, I threw the textbook down onto the bee, hopefully smushing it with the weight of the book. I slowly lifted the book to check on the status of my enemy. He wasn't moving. Good! I killed it! Now I can drive. I figured I'd scoop it out of my car later when I had the time...since I was in a hurry to reach my destination. So, I proceeded down the road. Every once in a while, I'd look over to view his limp, dead body...just to make sure. Nearing my destination, I took one last peek...you know, for reassurance. This time, however, I noticed his little legs were moving! Then he flew up in the air vigorously...as if he had been lying on that floorboard thinking about what I had done...and was suddenly pissed! He flew toward me as I basically slammed on the brakes and pulled the car over once again. After ducking a couple of fly-overs and then jumping out of my car, I looked back in through the window and saw the bee fly into one of my air-conditioning vents. I grabbed the thinnest object I could find, a pencil, and began shoving it into the vent, hoping to smush and kill the bee......for a second time. I could actually see the bee fly deeper into the vent as I kept stabbing the pencil into it. He actually climbed up into the hood of my car, then climbed out through the open slots on top of the hood and completely escaped from the car. Finally, I was safe! That is until I saw this same psycho-killer bee fly back, land on the hood, and climb back into the slot......and eventually RE-ENTER the vent of my car! This bee was relentless! I'm sure he was sent by the bees from my nest-smashing past to seek, find, and destroy me! The ultimate battle to the death was ON! After watching him peering out at me through the window...intimidating me with his pulsating stinger, I began to plan his demise! I was now running late for my destination and needed to think of something quickly. I noticed the heavy textbook (which I had used in my failed attempt to kill him earlier) sitting on the front passenger seat. When I reached in to grab the book, the bee immediately flew toward me and then landed on the front passenger floorboard again. Big mistake for the bee! I reached inside and slammed the textbook down onto the bee...not just once, but over and over and over. You could almost hear that screeching soundbyte from the movie "Psycho" in the background as I kept slamming the textbook down. I must have looked like a psycho-killer myself to any cars passing by on the road. After smushing the bee four million, nine hundred thousand, two-hundred and tweny three times, I finally killed it. Although I won that battle, I'm sure I'll have to face them again someday. Did I mention that I hate bees?
Squirrels:
I don't really have a squirrel-story. I just simply wanted to post some interesting pictures I took last summer of some local squirrels here in Los Angeles:
With Super Bowll XLIII less than a month away, and both the NFC and AFC championship games yet to be played, my mind wanders (as it often does) off into the vast wilderness of meaningless statistics. I noticed that the mascots for three of the four teams playing in the championship games this weekend are BIRDS: the Eagles, the Cardinals, and the Ravens. It has occurred to me that there have not been too many Super Bowl teams with "bird" mascots. Come to think of it, there are only five NFL teams with mascots that reign in the sky: Eagles, Ravens, Cardinals, Seahawks, and my favorite team the Atlanta Falcons. Of the previous 42 Super Bowls, the "birds" have made a total of 5 appearances. The Eagles went twice. The Seahawks went once. My Falcons went in 1999. The Baltimore Ravens went in 2001 and became the only bird-team to actually win the Super Bowl.
This year, the birds will definately be represented in the Super Bowl since the Eagles will play the Cardinals in the NFC Championship game. The Cardinals beat my Falcons last week...so um, GO EAGLES!!! If the Ravens beat the Steelers, this will be the first year in the history of the NFL where both Super Bowl teams are birds! I'm not sure that anybody has even thought about that statistic...but for a few minutes today, I did.
The Bees:
Since I mentioned "bees" in the title of this blog, I should probably write about them. First of all, I HATE bees!!! Don't get me wrong, I understand their role in the cycle of life. I understand their importance to our planet in regards to agriculture and food supply (nice article on this at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/bees/). In fact, they're very fascinating little creatures! However, their stingers hurt...and bees don't seem to like me very much. Perhaps it is because of all those times when I was a young boy...when I knocked their nests down with rocks and then ran away just fast enough to escape their wrath. It seems that word has gotten around in the bee community that I am a threat to their livelyhood...and I've become a marked man!
The bees' got their chance at retaliation during my 8th grade year. The football players (yes, I played for two seasons in middle school) were not allowed to participate in gym class on a "game" day. So, the P.E. teachers would have us sit off to the side while class continued. One hot day, we were told to stand on the edge of the football field where there were plenty of trees to provide shade. Of course, being young antsy boys, we eventually got bored and decided to trek into the woods and explore. After a few minutes of walking, I felt a sharp, piercing pain in my right arm. Yep...a bee succeeded on its mission. I simply yelled a few explicatives and explained to my teammates/friends that I had been stung. My friends just laughed as we proceeded further into the woods. A few seconds later, another bee joined in on the assault and stung me on the leg. After a few more explicatives and a few more giggles...and a quick slap of my leg, the unthinkable happened: I landed on the nest! This was their chance to launch a full-blown attack on me...and they wasted no time! I never actually saw the bees. I could only hear the loud, constant "humming" while feeling their sharp knives poking me all over my body. One of my friends, Scott, was getting stung just as much as I was. So, here we were, running out of the woods, ripping our shirts off (which were full of bees) and screaming like banshees! We left the woods and ran full speed across the football field toward the gym teacher (who also happened to be our coach). I don't think he had ever seen two white boys run the 100 yard dash that fast! Meanwhile, the other guys that were in the woods with us received NO stings! They remembered something they had learned back in their Cub Scout or Boy Scout days...to stand still while angry bees swarmed nearby. The tactic actually worked for those guys! Needless to say, to the bees, Scott and I must have looked like easy targets running and screaming with our arms flailing, breaking every tree branch we encountered while on our flee to safety. Did I mention I hate bees?
A few years later, I met the "Terminator" bee. This was a bee sent from the depths of Hell to find me. I was driving along on a small street with my windows slightly cracked so that I could feel the nice breeze blowing outside on this particular sunny day in South Carolina. However, that beautiful sunny day turned ugly really fast when a large yellow-jacket flew into my car window and proceeded to fly around inside and wreak havoc. I'm not sure how YOU react when a bee enters your car when you're driving...but I FREAK OUT. I can't drive with a bee in the car...period! I immediately pulled over and got out of the car. In a brief moment of clarity, I reached inside and grabbed one of my heavy textbooks. Once the bee landed on the floorboard of my car, I threw the textbook down onto the bee, hopefully smushing it with the weight of the book. I slowly lifted the book to check on the status of my enemy. He wasn't moving. Good! I killed it! Now I can drive. I figured I'd scoop it out of my car later when I had the time...since I was in a hurry to reach my destination. So, I proceeded down the road. Every once in a while, I'd look over to view his limp, dead body...just to make sure. Nearing my destination, I took one last peek...you know, for reassurance. This time, however, I noticed his little legs were moving! Then he flew up in the air vigorously...as if he had been lying on that floorboard thinking about what I had done...and was suddenly pissed! He flew toward me as I basically slammed on the brakes and pulled the car over once again. After ducking a couple of fly-overs and then jumping out of my car, I looked back in through the window and saw the bee fly into one of my air-conditioning vents. I grabbed the thinnest object I could find, a pencil, and began shoving it into the vent, hoping to smush and kill the bee......for a second time. I could actually see the bee fly deeper into the vent as I kept stabbing the pencil into it. He actually climbed up into the hood of my car, then climbed out through the open slots on top of the hood and completely escaped from the car. Finally, I was safe! That is until I saw this same psycho-killer bee fly back, land on the hood, and climb back into the slot......and eventually RE-ENTER the vent of my car! This bee was relentless! I'm sure he was sent by the bees from my nest-smashing past to seek, find, and destroy me! The ultimate battle to the death was ON! After watching him peering out at me through the window...intimidating me with his pulsating stinger, I began to plan his demise! I was now running late for my destination and needed to think of something quickly. I noticed the heavy textbook (which I had used in my failed attempt to kill him earlier) sitting on the front passenger seat. When I reached in to grab the book, the bee immediately flew toward me and then landed on the front passenger floorboard again. Big mistake for the bee! I reached inside and slammed the textbook down onto the bee...not just once, but over and over and over. You could almost hear that screeching soundbyte from the movie "Psycho" in the background as I kept slamming the textbook down. I must have looked like a psycho-killer myself to any cars passing by on the road. After smushing the bee four million, nine hundred thousand, two-hundred and tweny three times, I finally killed it. Although I won that battle, I'm sure I'll have to face them again someday. Did I mention that I hate bees?
Squirrels:
I don't really have a squirrel-story. I just simply wanted to post some interesting pictures I took last summer of some local squirrels here in Los Angeles:
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