Last week I took back a large bag of private selection blueberries. When I opened to use them it was clear by their color they were not usable (they were not purple but blue — thus the antioxidants were spent which meant to me that the bag had been left somewhere in the store for a protracted period of time and then sent back to the freezer for me to purchase (haha)).

So I saved the whole bag, called Kroger the next morning, wrote down the persons name and time and date I called and the reason I called down on my recepit. So this week I went to exchange the bag which Kroger did graciously, but i forgot to inspect the bag before I put it in my cart….silly me, especially since I have called Kroger customer service many times about faulty packaging. So here goes again, I went to open the bag, and sure enough, at the top, there was a dime size hole in the packaging.

I should have taken the bag back and raised holy moley but i did not. Here, for anyone watching their produce from Kroger, are the photos of the hole, the UPC, and the expiration date and lot.

Just because it says gluten free – organic doesn’t make it food!  This nice looking ginger cookie, but a rather expensive cookie at that, because at regular price it is about 1.25  a hefty price for a single cookie.  I bought it when it was down to a quarter, in the WHOOPS we backed too much bin… even then… I could have bought a lot of white sugar for that sale 24c and that is about all that was in this cookie. I could not believe how much it tasted like eating a teaspoon of white granulated sugar. The texture was totally like granulated sugar.

This is not food people…. this is marketing and hype.

1 cookie, half fat, and at that a whopping 14% of my total daily saturated fat. list of ingretients…. first organic brown cane sugar….  ha ha…  no surprise there, and organic sugar will give you type II diabetes just as fast as non-organic sugar. 17 (give or take one) ingredients, and 7 are sugar salt and butter.  I might be mistaken (not) but putting the label “simple truth” on a package, and adding gluten-free, and non GMO and organic doesn’t mean anyone is selling you a good thing to eat.  I just means they don’t mind using buzz words to get you to purchase stuff and confuse your conscience.

i just really enjoy thinking that i am so much the greater part “not me”…. mostly “other” which means my consciousness is probably the most dominant “me” occupying more a spiritual and extracorporeal space than a physical space – how fun is it to be “thought” occupying a mostly “microbiotic” house

find a short and sweet discourse on the importance of the microbiome here
salmonella (blue)
lactobacillus (green)
rotavirus (purple)
e coli (tan)

Stress lets us know we are alive. When we need stimulation because we haven’t had enough exercise, or when we are in physical danger (or even just hungry or hurrying up to get somewhere) we pump out adrenaline.  This signals to our brains…. wow, we ARE really alive.  When we are bored or are feeling under-stimulated, we purposefully do things (un- or subconsciously or even overtly) to shoot adrenaline.  Being addicted to adrenaline (you’ve heard of it, the adrenaline junkie, or maybe the adrenaline addict) is something which we have become in our society, and are continually becoming to greater and greater degrees. You have certainly heard the mantras “I’ve been worried sick” or “I was worried to death”.  Those old guys knew from astute observations, what we have forgotten. Worrying does kill.

Fuel for becoming an AA – is fed by our taste for social media, rapidly moving TV and movie thrillers, global news, our own rage or just worrying (anticipating) things we think might happen.  We are a world of Adrenaline Addicts. “The most concrete function attributed to worry is an attempt at constructive mental problem solving, although it may represent an unproductive and, perhaps, even a counterproductive attempt”

The sequelae?  shorter life, more metabolic diseases, waist-line fat, diabetes, vascular diseases, depression — and more — certainly that is not the abundant life.
(CORTISOL from wikipedia commons)

I like the convenience of frozen food. I am willing to admit that I don’t buy organic (too many questions about the rules, allowances and processes for what makes something organic dont add up) and I am not sure that the issue i am about to explain would be covered there anyway. I do get tired of poor quality control.  I am not able to judge the amount of pesticide residue left in frozen foods by lazy and inadequate preparation techniques…. that bothers me, but it is not something i can taste or “see” or “not chew”. What I dont like is having inedible pieces of brocolli stem in my food.

I get tired of having to call Kroger and tell them that they need to change something only to hear the “we are sorry for any inconvenience” shpieel, and have them fake-plakate me by sending a coupon.  I would really like them to be attentive and to make changes where appropriate.

Today’s issue has gone on for months and months. I logged in a call about the chopped broccoli (see picture) many many months ago and gave the UPC  code along with the number of packages of frozen broccoli I had purchased with pieces of very tough stem throughout the bag. The problem is with the vendor…. they are chopping up broccoli, yes, but so far down the stem of the broccoli that there are pieces in with the chopped broccoli that are totally inedible.  Inedible, tough, and that chew like wood.

Trimming off a little more of the stem obviously will cut into their supplier’s profit, but that would pale in comparison to individuals avoiding the product altogether. That is not a big change to make…  but here it is six months later and i am still finding yellow-white broccoli woody stems in my broccoli.  Check out your own bags of Kroger frozen chopped broccoli and see if i am right. Then call them and complain.

First the apologetic! Few grew up in an atmosphere more infused with Disney than I did. Southern california born – a father who lived on Mariposa next door to July Garland – steeped in Hollywood culture from afar – a cartoonist in high school – a short-time employee of Disney studios as an “in-between” man (i think my dad wanted more freedom). My aunt Joyce Weil lived next door to Ollie Johnson, long time Disney employee and toy train addict, upon whose backyard miniature steamer?  train I rode as a child – my best friend’s mother painted all the skirts of the fairies (dandelion seeds) in Fantasia – our summer vacations were at Disneyland… my favorite place on earth – and my sister was a cast character at Disneyland for a while – my brother worked marionettes for a disney film – and from time as a toddler to teen years I dreamed of working at disneyland painting the pretty parts of Fantasyland.  My mind is still full of gingerbread-type ideas. I have made stained glass disney panels for the woman who was the original Mickey, and is still Minnie at disneyland and did Pete’s Dragon for one of the lighting engineers. There have been countless family gatherings under the disneyland christmas tree – though now a gathering would be without those who have departed from our presence, but would be filled with new little faces. Basically I wanted to live at Disneyland. I am, because of this upbringing (or at least modified by it) an incurable romantic, waiting still for a prince charming to find me, and to live happily ever after in a fairy-like castle.

The impact of fantasy – on our lives, and perception of life? How good is it, how damaging. I wont weep that my dreams were never fulfilled…. or even suggest that at a wise and sage 74 and having been a scientist for 40 years that that might qualify me to be a consultant on their “imaginarium” team, for biology, histology, and physiology which I would do for free… This wont happen either.

What i will comment on is the impact of that environment had on an already slightly “fantastical” (haha) mind. I wept watching the TV version of Frozen last night. In some way it touched me really deeply, because 1) of the sister thing and the separation (in distance) between me and my two sisters, 2) because of the struggle to understand that ultimately “love” conquers all and 3) because in some ways a profession (mine in science) reinforced the separation that i feel from the fantasy/love/happily ever after part of my brain which I had hoped would be the main path of my life.

My prayers to all of you who have not yet found the “anna” in your hearts, but are like “elsa”- afraid, reserved, frozen.  I don’t know if i would have ever found the “anna” in my own life had i worked in the field that i dreamed of as a child…  maybe, maybe not, I pass no judgement on the impact of fantasy on the reality we all must live with, especially the impact on the young, and young at heart. Reality ≠ Fantasy = Disney.

yeow…. if you are glutamate, monosodium glyutamate or glutamic acid sensitive, don’t eat this. I got a reaction within about 10 minutes… thats just nuts… and it neither looks like the picture nor tastes good, and it sure is more than .89c  wonder where internet got this pix.  ha ha… reposting here with credits to anonymous.

woa that was a hard run today (Nov 4 2017) a cool-ish 40-50 degrees and only a tiny mist now and then, otherwise OK weather.  I finished 26.2 miles in …. 5hr 22min, not speedy, but passable for someone 74. One fellow i saw around mile 5 had a World Vision tee shirt on, next time i run anything i will make if for World Vision charity like he did…i didn’t even know I could do that.  I saw another man in a yellow tee (around mile 20) with Isaiah 40:31 printed on the back, i tapped him on the shoulder and said…. I know this verse…. and i do not feel “lifted up on eagle’s wings” he laughed and said “and I am about to faint”  ha ha.