Ha, those are great!

Between this and the A-Z of Awesomeness ( [link] ), I kinda' feel sorry for M.O.D.O.K.

How Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" Flunked Out. [link]

The reality behind "Food Revolution" is that after the first two months of the new meals, children were overwhelmingly unhappy with the food, milk consumption plummeted and many students dropped out of the school lunch program, which one school official called "staggering." On top of that food costs were way over budget, the school district was saddled with other unmanageable expenses, and Jamie's failure to meet nutritional guidelines had school officials worried they would lose federal funding and the state department of education would intervene.

...

To his credit, Jamie bases his menu on these foods, but it drove students away. It shows the fatal flaw in his plan. By replacing French fries with broccoli you can't expect to change the whole school lunch system. Students are not being given a choice between a mediocre lunch and fresh, organic cuisine. It's between a mediocre lunch and junk food. No one behind the show wants to confront this reality because ABC, Jamie Oliver and Ryan Seacrest (one of the producers) all profit handsomely from the processed and junk-food industry either through advertising -- more than $15 billion in 2008 from just 15 food companies -- or in the case of Oliver, endorsements.

...

To source, cook and get children to eat fresh, healthy local food we would need to double school food funding, get schoolchildren involved in growing and cooking their own food, ban junk-food advertising, slap a health tax on fast food, shift agribusiness subsidies to small, community-controlled farms, provide proper health care and nutrition education, and promote social and cultural changes in how American families exercise and approach, prepare and eat food. Then most children (and adults) would probably make healthy choices. But this would require a real revolution, not one manufactured for television.

They link to a school lunch menu showing a regular menu and a Jamie Oliver menu, and I don't really see a difference. A lot of the Jamie meals are the same as the regular meal served on a different day, except maybe with carrots instead of corn and whole wheat rolls instead of white.

Hit Stop -> Stop -> Play and Other Tricks to Skip DVD Trailers and Warnings

If you've watched one DVD in your life, you know how annoying the endless title screens, trailers, and warnings are—primarily because you're often prevented from skipping them. Unless you know the right remote control shortcut, that is.

The always-helpful Amit Agarwal from Digital Inspiration rounds up several methods for skipping the trailers, warnings, and other crap on a DVD so you can get straight to the movie you're trying to watch. The first tip, from CNET author Tom Merritt, is the easiest. Just press Stop, Stop, then Play on many DVDs to skip right to the movie. This method won't always work, so if it doesn't, don't give up hope! If twice doesn't work, Salon.com's Richard Rider says pressing Stop three times, followed by Play, will do the trick.

There is also a tip if you're using a Windows computer....

Also, guys who are really obvious about "I'm trying to be your friend because I really want to date you" are just creepy.

I think they're mistaking it for the similar-yet-VERY-different phenomenon that occurs when 2 people who are friends happen to fall in love (or bed, or something). To the Nice Guys(TM), it seems the same -- guy and girl are friends, a love connection happens, yay sexytimes!

But the cruicial difference is that in the Nice Guy(TM) scenario, the guy is friends with the woman IN ORDER TO make the sexytimes occur, while in the other scenario, the guy is friends with the woman because he likes her as a person (otherwise known as ACTUAL FRIENDSHIP).

I don't think that Nice Guys(TM) even grasp the idea that a man and a woman could be actual friends without there being an ulterior motive, or at least an unstated fervent hope.

[Note: In these Nice Guys(TM) scenarios, I'm well aware that the genders can be reversed; god knows that I've been friends with guys for way too long, hoping that it would lead to something.]

But the cruicial difference is that in the Nice Guy(TM) scenario, the guy is friends with the woman IN ORDER TO make the sexytimes occur

That seems like a lot of work.

while in the other scenario, the guy is friends with the woman because he likes her as a person (otherwise known as ACTUAL FRIENDSHIP).

At least with this method you get, you know, actual friendship out of the deal.

OK, I am severely taxing the Buffista hivemind, I know.

But the dudes called Tom back (sort of unannounced, Tom was caught off guard a bit, but he muddled through the asking about benefits and stuff.) So the vacation + sick leave is two weeks, which... ugh.

So, since Tom still doesn't have the guys' contact info, he's going to send another email to the HR/Operations manager lady. They indicated that they reallllly want him and need him and are very excited about the possibility of him coming on board. So, I figure this is a good time to try to negotiate for more PTO, since the salary they offered was lower than his requirements. (They did say they'd kick in $2K for relocation expenses though!)

So, something like...

Hi, K. Thanks so much for passing along my questions to W and B, it was a productive conversation. In weighing the options, in light of the fact that my salary requirements were out of range, I hoped that we could negotiate regarding paid time off.

If you could pass this along to R and B and ask them to get in touch with me about this, I would appreciate it. Thanks so much!

You guys are doing the right thing; negotiate everything hard up front. Boyfriend did not negotiate hard enough (being out of work for awhile had his confidence way down) and while his salary is good, his time off is mediocre at best.

In fact, he was supposed to visit me this weekend for the first time since he moved. But he is not, because his mother is ill and he has only 2 earned vacation days. He needs to save them to see her. Which completely and wholly sucks.

I still want to know what Tom will be doing at this shiny new job!!

YAY Tom on the new job in NoLa. Very exciting.

I just ran in to catch up now I have to go again.

Congrats, Tom on the job!

in light of the fact that my salary requirements were out of range,

I would frame it that they are too low, not that he was too high.