Thursday, January 31, 2008

Shoehorn

More randominities * that make me happy or sad or whatever, as my emotions can be as random as my thoughts sometimes. . . .

Why do food companies change the recipe for products that are popular and successful because of the old recipe? Noble Roman's Pizza used to have the best pizza sauce EVER; we went there whenever we were near one, and bragged on their fantastic sauce to everybody. Then one day we went and, in our usual jittery anticipation, took a bite of Noble Roman pizza and GROSSSSS! I actually motioned for our waiter to come back and asked him if perhaps there might be something wrong with our pizza. He shook his head and told us that headquarters had changed the recipe for their sauce and that so far, he'd heard nothing but complaints from the customers. I told him to add one more, and we left. We went back one more time to see if maybe Noble Roman headquarters cared at all what their customers thought, but apparently Noble Roman's cares NOTHING about their customers because the sauce still stank. We never went back. Never will. I think maybe they went under; I really don't care. They betrayed me.

I used to order a huge bag of frozen chicken nuggets from Schwann's every two weeks. They were absolutely delicious - oversized and tender and so good - there were no other nuggets anything like them. Then one week, I opened the new bag and saw. . . . something that looked exactly like any other chicken nugget on the market. I fixed them and tasted. . . something that tasted exactly like any other chicken nugget on the market. The only difference now was that I could buy this exact same chicken nugget for less than half what Schwann's chicken nuggets cost. When they were exceptional, it was worth it. Now that they're mediocre, I don't buy them any more. Never will.

It all boils down to the business trying to save money, I'm sure. But ultimately, it boils down to the business of cutting corners and hoping the consumer is stupid, and giving me a lesser product for the same - or even more - money.

Momy don't do that.

I'd be glad to pay more for more. But I won't pay more for less.

Fortunately, our local Grecco's Pizza has deep-dish pizza with the old Noble Roman's sauce recipe. Close enough, anyway. They get most of my pizza business now.

On a happier and less whiny note. . . How could I have let Lego's 50th anniversary pass by? My son was one of the biggest Lego fanatics in the world; we still have enough Legos in this house to build a life-size Eiffel Tower. Fortunately, my esteemed colleague** Dr. Steven Combs - the Lego Master of the Universe, by the way - remembered, so please click over to his blog and celebrate Legos with him! Watch his video, too. He's got a lot of videos. And, if you're an adult and still love your Legos, you don't have to be embarrassed any more. Just be a Lego Ambassador. Dr. Combs knows EVERYTHING about Legos.

As for the title, well, I'd say that's pretty random. It also reminds me of Evil Roy Slade. Holy cow, that was a funny movie.

"You know what nice is? Suppose there was a whole herd of dead cattle, dropped dead on the field, just for you. That's what nice is."

Well, maybe you needed to be twelve.


*I used to think I invented this word but apparently it's a real word. Bummer.

** Different regional campus, but my regard and esteem for this gentleman is sky high.

Mamacita, Scheiss Weekly