Mixed Drinks

For years I mixed a lot of things with orange juice. I really like orange and pineapple juice and orange and mango juice. With the Simply Orange brand, I no longer need to mix those. Lately, rather than drinking the watered down hotel breakfast orange juice, I've taken to buying a large bottle when traveling and using the room fridge to keep it cold. With all that orange juice around, I've rediscovered the great taste of Sprite and orange juice mixed together.

Doggles

On the way to Geneva on the Lake...

Kid Games

Caution

The sign at the other end of this road said "Caution Rough Road." It looks like someone in southeastern Ohio has learned how to hack electronic road signs. It was college football Saturday, but there was no sign of the promised party.

New Rice Cooker

I've lost count of how many rice cookers we have worn out over the years. Our rice cooker in Pennsylvania was the most recent to stop working. Ali replaced it with the Tatung model shown below.

The pink color is a little different for a rice cooker, but it works with our countertop color. Is it me or does the controls area look like the cartoon face of a fat baby crying? The tabs to hold the panel look like small ears. The lights look like a pair of eyes while the switch opening looks like a mouth and tongue. It's takes getting used to, but here's hoping we have many, many happy meals including rice from this cooker.

They Are Back!

Big smiley face for the return of Hostess! They are back on the shelves. I was in a grocery store in Kendallville, Indiana and spotted them on the way to get orange juice. The new product seems to be more of a throwback to the Hostess products of my youth. The cupcakes were a little less sweet and quite tasty.

It has been a long time since they left the shelves, but I am happy they are back. I must admit, while Hostess was gone, I cheated with the product's Canadian sister, Vachon.

Hotel Televisions

We live in a world filled with a wealth of technical toys and gadgets. After all these years, why hasn't someone worked out a hotel television that starts at the same volume you switched it off. Our television at home works normally, but hotel units all appear to turn on at very high volumes. When traveling, I do all I can to make the world peaceful for the other guests near my room, but my television never seems to cooperate.

The volume when the unit is switched on (18).

The volume I use when I watch a program. (4)