Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The family circle gather round from very far and near

We had a meeting after work about how to install and use iChat on our laptops. Wait a minute... When we got the laptops, we had to sign an agreement swearing (among other things) that we wouldn't use them to IM or iChat, and that such use constituted an abuse of policy. And now we're encouraged to use a video chat program, because we can use it for... uh... crucial talking to each other. Because we can't phone, email or, heaven forfend, walk to each other's rooms, I guess? Well, there is a good feature that lets you share desktops so you can show someone remotely how to use something on their computer. Because we can't... walk over to their machine and show them in person, I guess.

In all seriousness, the Vice-Head said it was a good tool for students to see and chat with other schools and experts in various fields across the country and internationally, but you know hardly anyone is going to use it for that. They're gonna gossip and use the amusing background features. It is rumored that we had this training solely so that one of the administrators can iChat her friends at work.

***

Priced a bit more, but well worth it:

* Organic farm-raised milk

Despite huge dairy companies denying that there is pus in factory milk, it's a fact that factory cows have enormously high instances of bladder infections. That means infections, and that means pus in milk. Boil it all you want, I'm not drinking that stuff. Also, it makes me personally feel better knowing my milk came from a cow that is treated halfway decently and has a chance to graze once in a while. It may be my imagination, but it tastes better, and creamier, to me.

* Crest Glide Comfort Plus floss

For a while, I was scrupulous in rationing out my floss so it would last a long time, then I realized I was being stupid. It's floss. There's like a mile of it in there, and I use a few inches a day. (Little by little, I shed the obsessive compulsions of my youth. I should be a carefree, mellow spirit by age 57.) Anyhoo, this stuff is great. It's so smooth, unlike regular floss which cuts like wire. Also, it tastes minty.

* Dried cranberries

If you want to eat fruit and nut mix like me, do yourself a big favor and drop the raisins. Trail mix with raisins? More like fail mix, amirite?? Who's got me up top? Seriously, drop the Studententfutter peanuts and raisins. That's nasty. Spring for the almonds (or any other tasty nut), sprinkle in some dried pumpkin seeds, pepitas, sunflower seeds, dried peas, pretzel bits, even a few carob chunks if you want. But the cranberries are the key. That tangy-sour sweetness, complementing the salty seeds and nuts, is just the flavor that keeps you shovelling that fiber- and protein-rich crap into your non-trail-hiking maw.

5 comments:

Churlita said...

I always buy organic milk. Sometimes when we're really broke, I have to buy the other stuff and my daughters give me so much shit for it. have you seen the movie King Corn yet? besides the fact that some of it is filmed in my town, it's still an interesting look at food production in this country.

Rachel said...

horizon organic milk is ultra pasteurized, which means it's essentially dead. i like the amish milk - but it does go bad more quickly (it's only VAT pasteurized). Although I can't find any real, local milk up here.

Anonymous said...

I get the organic milk from grass-fed cows, which has all this healthy stuff in it, since cows are supposed to eat grass, not grain feed.

Yankee in England said...

I milked cows for a summer before I went to college because it was the best paying job. It was a small dairy farm only 30 cows, I got use to having raw milk and nothing has been the same since. I rarley drink milk now just because I find it tastes like nothing.

Janet said...

You are so right about the raisins. Cranberries are the way to go! Do you have Trader Joe's where you are? They make a great trail mix with dried cranberries.

And we've been organic milk drinkers for years.