I felt the need to change things up a little.

I also was pretty ticked when I didn’t renew the domain www.ideatreks.com and it was bought out from under me.

I no longer want to blog under the name www.ideatreks.wordpress.com

So, come visit me at the all new www.simpleblackcoffee.com

At my local Toledo Kroger last night I spotted these 12 packs of Bud Light. Quite an innovative marketing strategy really. The colored cans appeal to Ohio State and Michigan fans, yet Budweiser doesn’t have to pay a licensing fee.

At a run of the mill press conference by current Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop, the now Toledo mayoral candidate was heckled and booed by a resident hanging out on his porch. One of my co-workers, Justin Billau, was one of the photojournalists on scene and posted this video to his blog. This thing has become popular fodder for people in town, cause frankly, it’s funny stuff.

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Then, apparently Ben forgot he was a public official running for a very public office and allowed himself to become filmed and, I suppose, scripted and directed in this spoof of the now infamous booing incident.  Not a great idea in my opinion…but hey, what do I know, I’m not running for mayor.

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UPDATE 8.13.2009 As you can tell if you clicked the link above, the video has been removed from YouTube. BUT it’s available on Thurber’s Thoughts.

Granted I’m not big on the customizing scene so this SUV may not be as big a deal to some as it was to me. I was shocked when this Blazer pulled into the Speedway to fill up when I was there.

Along with the requisite big booming stereo there were gullwing doors, 40″ wheels (I had no idea they were even available that large) and lots of video monitors. There’s one in each door, two under each door and even one in the front license plate.      Crazy.

Seriously? Sometimes there’s waaay too much governmental red tape, but when it comes to approving signage for a Michigan rest area I’m thinking another layer of check and balance may be needed.

Area “maybe” under surveillance. Or, maybe not.

My wife was recently in the Seattle, Washington area and happened upon these fuzzy fellows. Complete with goggles, these chocolate labs are ready to ride!

Well it’s about damn time I updated this blog. Part of my problem is that I think too much, I assume that I have to have a specific thing to talk about in order to create a post. So instead I’ll just try randomness for a bit to see if I can get the creative blogging juices flowing.

I’m working 1 1/2 shifts today, I came in at 3:15pm and am leaving at 3:30am….blech. But, it’s OT and who can complain….hey, I’m getting paid to blog!  I had some tasty Tootsie Pop Drops from the vending machine downstairs. They were surprisingly long lasting. Instead of scarfing a candy bar in under a minute, getting to the bottom of this bag of drops took about a half hour. I recommend them.

Dinner was a free sandwich (with purchase of a drink) from Arby’s. They are running Freebie Wednesdays all month long, which makes for a cheap dinner. While I was at the Arby’s on Secor near Dorr (which is a great store by the way) I wandered 50 steps to the north and into Caffeini’s Coffee. I’d known it was there for quite a while but never made the foray inside, you know, cause it’s just too easy.  I like the place, it’s roomy, has a great coffee house feel and a good cuppa joe. Plus it’s less than 5 minutes from work so maybe I’ll frequent it more often. I wonder how much it fills up nightly once UT starts back up and the students invade.

Maybe I’ll try posting some new photos from my phone and see what happens.

G’night! err, G’morning!

Cool view of a July 4th sunset in the rearview mirror as I motored east to Bowling Green.

Worse than millions of people getting up at an insane hour of the morning to go shopping, worse than camping outside a store missing Thanksgiving with family and worse than Americans clamoring to buy more crap they don’t need with money they don’t have:

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death

Toys R Us Shooting Leaves 2 Dead

Consumerism and Materialism have a firm grasp on this country and that’s why things like this happen. When does it end?

I first watched this video a year or so ago. I was amazed. I watched it again today, I’m still amazed.

I stumbled upon this video by using Flixxy.com. It’s just under 3 minutes and very funny. Watch and enjoy!

A German man is determined to live simply, off the land. Oeff Oeff, whose real name is Jürgen Wagner, is 43 years old and has given up the modern ways of life, including use of money, electricity and running water. Oeff Oeff is the founder -aand by his own account, the only member- of “The Givers Movement” which spreads the principle of non-violent sharing. It’s a hope that humanity can use trust and love to create a society based entirely on voluntary gift giving.

CNN produced a 2 min. 30 sec. story that you can view here. (You’ll have to endure a :30 commercial before you can watch the story.)

Interesting…

Ah, it’s that wonderful time of year where the kids go trick-or-treating on October 31st, you yank all the Halloween stuff down on November 1st and slap up the Santa decor on November 2nd – or Nov. 1st if you are ambitious.

Thankfully Thanksgiving fills the small void of time between Halloween and Christmas. Otherwise Black Friday would occur about a month earlier in the calendar year.  Have you planned your Black Friday shopping day? Last year I made the journey and wrote all about it. This year I’m not going out there. (Unless Molly tells me I am, I suppose) But really, I can’t think of anything that’d be out there that I’d want to buy. Plus we are trying to save some money in this much touted “slumping economy.”

BUT, if you ARE venturing out into the cold Friday air you might want to check out BlackFriday.info to get a peak at all the ads.

Vote in my very first poll!

 

One indicator of how the economy is affecting American families is apparently measured by tracking the food they buy.

Banquet dinners are selling quite well, supposedly in part because they are comfort foods, although I’m pretty sure the $.87 price tag is a big draw as well…that’s cheaper than a McD’s Double Cheeseburger! (I bought one tonight for dinner…a Banquet meal, not McD’s…I’m no Dollar Menuaire)

Another brand undergoing a decent revival is SPAM. Not the junk e-mail, the canned pork-based meat product.

Last week I spent a few days in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on a working vacation. I didn’t have daily use of a vehicle so any tourist activity was done by walking…and in Milwaukee that’s actually quite a bit. I didn’t make it to Lake Michigan, but I’ve seen that lake from the south and eastern sides several times by now so I imagine the western side looks much the same.

I stayed on the 11th floor of the Hyatt Regency which provided a very nice view of downtown and the Milwaukee River.