Category: life

Usually during lunch, I watch something that I’ve downloaded on my xbox.  However, today my xbox was in pieces, so I was forced to watch what was on during the noon hour.  Now, mind you, I don’t have anything but basic cable (stations 1-22, I should just an antenna and be done with it, for as little as I watch), so this greatly limits what I can view.  For those of you that watch TV during this time frame, you know that there are soaps, “news”, children’s shows (which I’ve also watched), and infomercials. 

Ah yes, the bane of the TV watching experience, infomercials.  What really makes the infomercials horrible during the noon hour, are who they’re marketed to.  These are definitely not the same programs that are run at 3am, assuring you that you need this product in order to make your kitchen complete.  Instead, these uber-long commercials are directed to the stay at home, sedentary mom and the retiree who’s looking for more to life. 

From 12-12:30 CST, it is always for some weight loss type product.  It seems as though Beach Body has permanently purchased this block of time on the WB.  Today’s commercial was for Yoga Booty Ballet (I can’t even make stuff up that good).  Now, aside from the name and the fact that you get a kick out of watching these TV shows, why on God’s Green Earth would you actually sit down and watch this, let alone take it seriously?  Let’s look at the typical components of a fitness related infomercial.

• Celebrity Spokesperson (probably not anyone that’s really in their prime currently)
• Real-life Customer Results (remember, these results aren’t typical, or so says the fine print)
• Catchy Name (it’s got “booty” in it, it must be cool)
• Unbelievable Deal Only Good for Next XX Minutes (only, online you get the outrageous deal ALL the time)
• Upsell, but no additional price (oh, we get a squishy ball AND 7 day diet book)
• Compare to Competing Products (I’d have to buy how much for a home gym?)

From 12:30-1 we have a different demographic to attempt to seduce.  This time we always start off with some business-type person talking about the wonders of this herbal supplement.  Or, maybe it’s an older couple that have tried said herbal supplement, and it’s changed everything about them.  To contrast the fitness infomercial, let’s admire the components of the herbal supplement commercial.

• Medical Doctor (I can take an M.D. after my name too, but that doesn’t mean it’s real)
• Real-life Customer Results (remember, these results aren’t typical, or so says the fine print)
• Catchy Name (in our case ViTal, for, I guess, vitality?)
• Unbelievable Deal Only Good for Next XX Minutes (only, online you get the outrageous deal ALL the time)
• Upsell, but no additional price (oh, we get an extra two months supply absolutely free?)
• Compare to Competing Products (Botox is how much?)

Alright, lets be honest, who sees the similarities between the two?  Maybe I’ve cracked the infomercial code and could be come a millionaire?

1) Come up with crap product
2) ??? Use above formula
3) PROFIT!!!1

I mean, are consumer’s really that dumb that they are easily swayed by someone sounding excited?  Apparently they are, since these commercials wouldn’t be around if they didn’t work.  But they are fun to watch, to see all the other techniques they use to sway people in.  Things like black & photography for the before results, vibrant colors for after; sad faces on the people before they’ve lost their weight, jovial faces for after, etc.  It’s quite scary how people must be easily swayed.

Oh yeah, and why do they always state that this has been a paid program?  Are not all commercials paid, or is this something the government has put in place?

Last night, to me, was the first night of spring.  Erin came down for the night, and we threw around the frisbee on the quad.  Then we came home and had brats on the grill.  Nothing like mustard, ‘kraut, and brats to remind you of summer.

Last night was the first night this year that the windows were opened last night.  Unfortunately, I think that I won’t be able to leave them open for a long time, since it’s supposed to get a lil’ chillier later this week, but it sure was a nice change.  It’s always nice to air out the apt too, especially since it hasn’t been cold enough for the heat to come on, so the air has been sort of stagnant.

Spring time is so nice.

It was brought to my attention on Friday, that I hadn’t really posted much about about her.  In fact, after looking through the website, the only time I’ve even really mentioned her was in passing.

Well, since that entry about a month ago, she is now my girlfriend.  Actually this weekend she actually came down to visit me (every weekend previous to this, I had gone up to see her).  As I mentioned before, Bree was the setup person behind this.  She is going to school at Midwestern to become a physical therapist, and became friends with Erin.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking now.  “Her name is the same!”  Blah, blah, blah.  It happens, whatever, it’s just a name.  At first it was weird, but it didn’t take much to get over it.  She and I have a lot of the same interests, being outdoors, biking, camping, etc.  I just need to get her into climbing and I think we’re all set :).

This weekend we didn’t really do much, but we did celebrate Valentine’s Day on Saturday since we wouldn’t be seeing each other on Monday.  I brought her out to Silvercreek for dinner, and then we went out with some of her friends to a bar downtown Champaign.  It was a good time, and the food was awesome.  I had the lamb chops, which were fabulous, and she had Beef Tenderloin, which was also great. 

All in all, a good weekend.

Which Website are You?

I park on campus for work and while leaving for lunch today, I had one of those weird moments.  So, I’m in my car pulling out of my spot, and this girl on the sidewalk looks at me, gets excited and starts waving at me.  Now, I have absolutely no clue who this girl is.  What is the right way to handle such a situation?  Is it to:

A: Wave back

B: Look at her like she’s a moron

C: Ignore her

D: Roll down the window and ask, “Who the hell are you?”

E: Ask her out for “pizza”

F: Attempt to run her over

I think I ended up doing something between B and C with a possible dash of F.

So, today I went in to see the dermatologist about the mole on my back.  He looked me over and said that it didn’t look serious, but that he would recommend getting it removed just because, and to have tests done on it.  That way, if tests do come back positive they can start looking at other spots too.  I give him the nod of approval and he asks if I wanted to have it done right then.

Well, I was only missing work, and since I was just fired, I don’t see why I really need to rush back.  I mean, I had someone covering for me anyways.  So, they prep me, and ask me all the good questions like if I have any allergies or anything like that.  Then, the lady stabs me a few times with a needle around the spot for local anesthesia, and then they start digging in.  All in all, the “surgery” took under 30 mins (at least that’s what their clock said), and that included stitching me back up.  Unfortunately, I was just anticipating the meeting, and so I had a parking ticket on my car when I got back to it. 

At the time, since I was anesthetized, I couldn’t feel anything.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case now.  It’s kinda swollen now, and is throbbing a bit.  However, they gave me a prescription of Vicadin in case the pain was too intense, plus I can take regular Advil or Tylenol.  Since it’s so swollen, it really makes it hard to move my arms around, because it keeps tugging on the stitches.  Slightly a pain.

However, the biggest pain is what they expect me to do to keep the dressings fresh.  Apparently, 3-4 times a day I’m supposed to clean it out with Hydrogen Peroxide, apply this anti-bacterial goo (only for the first 3 days), and then bandage it back up.  Now, this normally wouldn’t be a pain, but first of all, I can’t even see the area, and secondly, even if I could see it, I can’t really reach it. 

Thankfully Colleen has been nice enough to aid me in this task, at least once a day.  I figure that’s good enough anyways.  I mean, I’m not that dirty of a guy.  Am I?