Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, Marshmallow Peeps are a part of our lives this time of year. Some people LOVE to eat them..fresh, frozen or super-stale… they’re a taste treat meant to be savored.

Other people gag at the mere thought of them.

I, on the other hand, get all Martha Stewart when Peeps season comes around.

Enjoy this video. Share it with your friends. And if you’ve created any Peeps masterpieces of your own, I’d love to see them.

I think I figured out another reason I’m not so good at strength training.  I think they call it A.D…

Oh, sorry I got distracted by a cute little bunny rabbit just outside the studio window.

Anyway- I’m easily distracted. 

I know when you lift weights that you are supposed to stand in front of the mirror and watch your form.  And I do that.  For approximately 2 reps.  Then I start to notice other things…

WOW- look how much weight that guy is lifting.

Wonder what he’s doing?  I should try that.

What’s that machine do?  Do you think you lay down on it?  Straddle it?

Ooooh, she’s pretty.

Look at the old people doing water arobics in the next room.

Oh, yeah, that’s right I should be looking in the mirror and watching my form.

Is he really doing curls with that much weight?

Look at her form.  Perfect.  I wish I could do that.  Maybe if I watched myself in the mirror and paid attention to my form?  Nah.

And so goes my mind while trying to actually accomplish something in the weight room.  But I did have one major accomplishment today…

For the first time EVER- when I went to the machine to do Lat Pull-downs, I had to INCREASE the weight on the machine. That means that there was someone who is probably even more of a beginner than me working out on that machine before me.

Let me repeat that…I had to increase the weight on the Lat Pull-down machine.

Made me feel pretty good.

The other day I was doing some browsing at a Goodwill store, when I spotted a couple of used typewriters for sale. One of them was the kind I’ve used at many a radio job..I think an IBM Selectric. The price tag? $2.99. Yes, two dollars and 99 cents.

Are there still companies making typewriters? Surprisingly, yes. Royal still makes them, and the website www.typewriters.com sells lots of different models. That’s what I found with a quick internet search. I was pretty surprised!

When was the last time you used a typewriter? No..a computer keyboard doesn’t count. We still used them up until around a decade ago here at Triple M..for labels that we stuck on commercial carts, which kind of looked like old 8-track tapes (speaking of obsolete technology).

When I was in 9th grade, I took typing class, and half the class had electric typewriters and the other half had manual typewriters. We’d switch off every other week. We had to memorize the names of the parts of the typewriter. I think there was something called a platten, and another thing called a carriage. Not really useful information in this information age, is it?

A year or so ago I realized how out-of-date typewriters were when I asked a young colleague where I could find some typing paper. She said “what’s that?” So I had to explain–”you know..the kind you put in the copier?”

She showed me where to find some paper..and I resisted the temptation to tell her about the way it used to be..and where to find the platten and the carriage.

Remember the movie Scarface starring Al Pacino? It was so bad, it was good. It was basically 2 plus hours of killing, swearing and drugs. Pacino’s character Tony Montana comes here from Cuba and builds a massive drug-dealing empire, but alas things don’t turn out so well in the end.

This movie is so over the top bad that it’s actually funny. I’ve probably seen it at least 7 times. Apparently, I’m not alone in my fondness for this bad flick. Take a look at the stage adaptation of the final scene in the movie. It’s played by kids!!!!

Okay, it wasn’t a real play but it’s still funny.

For one day only, Tuesday March 30th (TODAY) download “Roadhouse Blues” from The Doors Live In Philadelphia ‘70 for FREE exclusively at Amazon MP3.com

Click here to download

Check out this interactive widget from Ben Harper.

You can remix songs right here, and more!

Over the weekend we went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D.  This was the first feature film I saw in modern 3D and was totally blown away by it. I wanted to go see another 3D film the next day!

When I got to work today, I started talking about it with Zach in our sales department. He was saying how cool it would be if, for example, it was windy on screen and you felt wind in the theater.

This reminded me of William Castle, a 50’s film director who did something very similar in theaters showing his film ” The Tingler”. Here’s the director himself to explain:

Then I remembered John Water’s 80’s film ” Polyester” that utilized a scratch ‘n sniff card called Odorama! You received this card   when you entered the theater and during the movie, a number would flash on screen telling you which scent to sniff.  I actually have an old Odorama  and it really worked!

It was on today’s date back in 1973 that the band Dr. Hook got their wish, and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, the accomplishment they hoped for in the song “Cover of the Rolling Stone.”  

My most profound memory dealing with this song is that it was one of the songs I learned in guitar lessons during the summer between 5th and 6th grade. It was a group lesson, with a bunch of little girls strumming and singing along to a variety of songs (which also included “Billy Don’t Be a Hero” and “Never Been to Spain.”)

Some of the lyrics may have been considered kind of questionable for 10-year-olds, like “I got a freaky old lady name of Cocaine Katie who embroiders on my jeans.” And then there was the line that said “Got a genuine Indian guru, teachin’ me a better way.” Except our guitar teacher didn’t transcribe the lyrics just right, and wrote “genuine Indian burro.”  Changes the meaning of the song entirely!

I’m not a huge fan of that Dr. Hook song, which was actually written by Shel Silverstein, but I do like it more than a few of their other hits including “Sylvia’s Mother” and that heartfelt ditty “When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman (it’s hard).”

I couldn’t find a video of Dr. Hook doing the Rolling Stone song live…but did find one that includes the song’s audio along with a whole bunch of different covers of the magazine. It’s actually an interesting little trip down Memory Lane. And if the song gets stuck in your head…hey..at least it’s not “Sylvia’s Mother!”

I believe customer service has reached a new high.  There’s a guy who called Amazon to find out where his order was in the shipping process and the customer service rep told him the package was eaten by an alligator.   The guy who called Amazon explains the story on the website The Consumerist.  Here’s what he said happened:

So I ordered a computer part from Amazon. We have Amazon Prime, and the part was supposed to show up yesterday, but never did. I called Amazon’s 800 number this morning (actually 866-216-1072, if you want to note it for future reference), and got a female rep with not-so-good English. After quite a thrash getting my information, she allegedly called the shipper (long time on hold for me) and came back to say they had told her my package would not be delivered…

… because it had been eaten by an alligator.

Again, I swear, I am not making this up.

I made her repeat it about five times. “It may have been a different animal” was as far as she’d budge off of this story.

I called the shipper after I got off the line, they said, “WHAT?!?”, and went on to tell me the package is on the truck and should arrive today. So I called Amazon back, and kept at it until I reached a native English speaker. He said, “WHAT?!?!?”

Acording to both the shipper and the non-alligator Amazon rep, the package is still on its way, and allegedly does not have any large tooth marks. I may not ever get the part, but at least I’m giving people some good stories to tell today…

What a great story!  I hope it’s true.  I wonder if there’s been a movement by customer service reps to mess with callers?    I can hear it now:

“Hello.  This is the cable company.  How can I help you?”

“Yes, my cable isn’t working.”

“That’s because we cut off your service.  Your wife was upset with all the late night skin-flicks you were watching.  By the way, we told your boss about your viewing habits as well.”

Or how about this one:

“Hello.  This is the computer help line.”

“Yes, my computer seems to have some problems.  I can’t get on the internet this morning.”

“Hmmm.  That does seem to be a problem sir.  Have you been feeding the little mouse running on the wheel in the back of your monitor?  You know you have to give him peanut butter at least three times a day.”

It sounds like fun.  Perhaps I should get a second job.

This morning was the best I have felt in the water in several weeks.  Last week at the end of the workout, I tried slightly changing my hand postition to catch more water through the stroke and it seemed to help.  I tried to concentrate on that throughout the class this morning and while I didn’t always keep the proper position, I felt much better.

The distance was approximately 2400 yards- we finished off the class with 3 x 9 minutes.  I didn’t count laps, but my friend/lane-mate Julie counted 9 laps on each of them and she was consistantly 1 length ahead of me.

100 Swim

200 Kick

300 Pull

100 I.M. (that’s always a humorous set)

2 x (50 skull/50 free)

4 x 75 (50 fast/25 easy)

3 x 9 minutes