Mondo Update

First things first, let me apologize for my unannounced hiatus last week. It wasn't planned, but it is amazing how a week off can make one's week very full. Okay, I have a ton of observations and comments to make, so let's get right to it.

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An Informal Taste Test

I'm not sure if you've discovered it for yourself, but McDonald's has recently begun selling their new "Southern Style Chicken Sandwich", which is essentially their take on the classic Chik-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich. I was amused by Micky D's nerve in out and out copying the more famous sandwich, but I was also pleasantly surprised in how good the imitator was. To determine just how good it was, as well as to fill up some of my "free time" during the break, I subjected Jennifer to a blind taste test.

I used five categories in our evaluation, although two of these (price and size of sandwich) were objective. For the record, price goes to the McDonald's, but only by five cents, but Chick-Fil-A gets the nod on size, again only by a little. The other three categories were taste of chicken, taste of bun, and overall taste. Also for the record, I took the taste test as well, and McDonald's version won all three categories for me. Jennifer's results were as follows:

Chicken: Chik-Fil-A ("it tasts more like a chicken breast than a chicken patty.")
Bun: McDonald's ("Chik-Fil-A's is butterier, but McDonald's has a 'consistency of flavor'.")

Overall: Chik-Fil-A ("McDonald's tastes more like a sandwich, but Chik-Fil-A tastes like a CHICKEN sandwich.")

Okay, so that is probably as clear as mud, but the short version is that McDonald's new "Southern Style" Chicken Sandwich is at least almost as good as the original Chik-Fil-A sandwich, and you can get it on Sundays, so give it a shot if you get a chance.

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A Vacation Observation

It doesn't matter how relaxing or restful a break is, when the alarm clock goes off at 5:30am the first day back, it is impossible to not wish for one more day off.

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The Mist

Jennifer and I watched the movie adaptation of Stephen King's The Mist, and I have to say that it was really exceptional. It's still a little early to talk about my favorite movie of 2007, but this is definitely at the front of the pack currently. In the interest of full disclosure, the gore factor is fairly high (although not unusually high for a Horror movie) and there are some language issues, but the movie is haunting in the best use of that word. It is intelligent and provacative, and will leave you thinking about it long after it is over.

Side note. As we were watching the closing credits, we were witness to the manager chewing out the wait staff of our local Sudio Movie Grill. The reason I found this so amusing was that the theme of the "chewing" was how unprofessional the wait staff was. Now, several times during the incident the manager looked over and noticed that two paying customers were still sitting in the theater, yet continued to berate his employees for their lack of professionalism. There is nothing quite like being unprofessional as you critique others on their unprofessionalism.

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MEME (whatever that means)

EDMC tagged me and told me I had to make an acronym out of my middle name with words that describe me. So here goes:

Brooding- Probably not using that word correctly, but I am highly introspective (which could have been my "i" I guess). I'm probably known best as a speaker, either in the pulpit or the classroom, but I tend to be much more reflective and thoughtful than I am sometimes given credit for.

Republican- It's been a while since I've gone into full-tilt annoying conservative mode, but it's virtually an election year, and with KLTY playing Christmas music, I've been listening to alot of Talk Radio.

Inventive- One of the things I'm coming to understand about myself (especially in comparison to some of my students) is that I'm a problem solver. When faced with a complication, whether it is a flat tire or an unresponsive computer, I am capable of coming up with the most ludicrous of out-of-the-box solutions.

Articulate- Me knows lots of big words.

Nerd- I'll steal Joanna's "N". It kind of goes without saying that I'm a comic book geek, but my particular form of nerdiness is special. Reading comics is great, but it doesn't quite match up to the thrill of learning some obscure factoid about a comic universe. Things like the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Who's Who in the DC Universe are like my drug.

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Okay, I've written more than anybody ever should, so I'm done.