Bad is Good?

So Madonna (the going-on-54-year-old musician) showed her breast to a recent concert audience? My first reaction was, “been there, seen that, bought the book.”

But then I got thinking.

Madonna Louise Ciccone has got to be one of the best self-promoters of all time.  The Material Girl has a way of getting attention when no one even wants to pay attention. Flashing a little (figuratively speaking) booby is probably worth a million dollars in paid advertising.

After all, there is no such thing as bad publicity… only a bad spin on a bad event or comment.

President Obama recently made a comment on the improved economy.  Mitt Romney isn’t about to let that comment die.  It’s publicity – attention being paid to the President, whether he wants it or not.

 So if there is no such thing as bad publicity, then that means Bad is Good, right?  Of course, Good is Good too.

So there’s only good (and bad-good)?  Now I’m confused.

My point, and I think I have one, is that Madonna can do a bad thing (as least in the eyes of some) and spin it into a good thing for her money-making machine.

Getting someone talking about you, when you’re trying to make a buck, is never a bad thing.

Check out the entire blog at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

Circus Peanuts

I've developed a strange affection for Circus Peanuts.  You know, those semi-peanutlike shaped, orange ++colored marshmallow candy that cannot be good for you.

Nothing you eat is good for you when the first two items on the ingredient list are sugar and corn syrup. But damn I like the taste of them.

Today's most popular variety is orange-colored with a banana flavor. However, they were originally distributed with an orange-flavoring.

They were also once only a seasonal item because of the difficulty in a seal package.  Circus Peanut get very hard when exposed to air.

Modern-day Circus Peanuts my be colored yellow, pink, and white, including a variety of flavors, though orange is still the most predominant color and banana the most common flavor, by far.

Circus Peanuts manufacturers include Melster Candies, Spangler Candy Company, and Brach's, all producing a nearly identical product.  Many of these candy companies produce the produce to be packaged under other labels, like the one I purchase at Dollar General.

Amazingly (to me) in 1963, General Mills vice president John Holahan inventively discovered that Circus Peanuts shavings yielded a tasty enhancement to his breakfast cereal. General Mills formalized the innovation and created Lucky Charms, the first breakfast cereal to contain marshmallow bits.

I won't be eating Circus Peanut for breakfast -- the sugary content tents me make me tired.  Instead, I'll just enjoy a couple now and then as a sweet treat that's not good for me.

Circus Peanuts and other nonsense are all at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

Tuesday Tally: Ways to Start Your Day

I've been told breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While that may be true, we also need to feed our mind soul.  It's important to start the day out right, to nourish yourself.

Here's some suggestion on how to start your day:

1. Pray. It's simple to do.  Just stop in your tracks, close your eyes for a moment and pray.  Give thanks for the day you're about to live (regardless of the demands before you) and ask for God's help should the load become too heavy.
2. Tell yourself that it WILL be a good day. Forget about the looming deadline or coworkers on vacation. Item 1 in this list assures item 2.
3. Smile.  No matter your mood or what's going on around you, smile.  That smile will make the boss wonder what's going on.
4. Compliment someone. On second thought, compliment everyone.  Sometimes being nice(r) gets you through the most difficult day.
5. Drink lots of water.  When you're dehydrated, even slightly, you will feel achy and tired -- especially as you get older.
6. Skip the depressing news and turn on the Travel or Food channel.  You deserve more than violence and mayhem.
7. Pray again.  Sometimes God is the only one who is really listening.

So what are you doing to start your day off the right way?  Let me know.

Catch all the bloggery at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

It's not the heat....

Planter just south of 44 S. Main Street, Pigeon.

So what do you do when it's over 90 degrees and super humid? Plant flowers!

A few weeks ago this planter, located on Main Street in downtown Pigeon contained some overgrown shrubs and other crap.  I asked the DPW crew to rip them out and add some top soil, which they did.

I had hoped to get flowers in there before Memorial Day, but time and energy were limited.  Sunday, in all this heat, I had the time and, surprisingly, I had the energy.

So, a couple hours and a mild sunburn later, all the flowers were in the ground.

I chose yellow Day Lily with some Japanese Red Grass in between.  These are perennials and will fill in over the next few years. I discovered that perennials "Sleep, Creep, then Leap," during the first three years after planting. (Mental note to self: blog about the planter's progress in June, 2015.)

Along with the perennials, I added in some two-year old geraniums that spent last summer in front of the office where I work.  They wintered in the storefront next door to the planter, under the care of my friend Wanda Eichler.

Along with the geraniums are your typical purple petunias with a few Kiss Orange Flame Gazanias.

Hopefully they'll all fill out by mid-July and our local Farmers' Festival.

More ramblings can be found at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

Opposites

"

There are only two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.

"

--Albert Einstein

Have you ever thought about how many opposites you face in your life? All the this or thats?

Light and dark, up and down, left and right, new and old, optimist and pessimist.  They're all opposites.

Sometimes life offers use choices of these opposites, other times, we're stuck with what is given to us.

But even when we're stuck with the hand you're dealt, you can look at it two ways... as if nothing is a miracle, or is everything is a miracle.

I think I'll choose everything.

Look at all my blog posts at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

I'll Have Another

History will need to wait another day as I'll Have Another, that chestnut-colored colt who had good odds of becoming the first winner of the Triple Crown since 1978, was scratched from today's Belmont Stakes lineup.

Showing signs of tendinitis in his left front leg following a workout on Friday morning, I'll Have Another will be given several months of rest and then will be retired.

I don't follow horse racing, except for the Kentucky Derby.  It's just fun to watch and see what happens. This year was a totally unexpected win by a horse with a rookie jockey.

My interest increased as I'll Have Another won the Preakness two weeks later.

I planned to watch today's race and a historic run for the Triple Crown. Only 11 others horses have managed to accomplish that feat.

But I'm a fair-weather horse racing fan.  Now, it's just not as interesting so I'll probably be watching something on Food Network instead.

Read all my blog babble at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

R.I.P, BK

Have it your way.

We don't hear that slogan much any more.  It was a key component in the Burger King marketing plan.  An attack on the assembly line of McDonald's wrapped-and-waiting-for-you hamburger with ketchup, mustard, pickles and onions.

At Burger King, which is today is often called "B.K." you can get the standard burger, or with your choice of the many toppings they offer.

So what happened? B.K. restaurants are dropping like flies being sprayed with a can of Raid.

Again, what happened?

Could it be the filthy housekeeping of their buildings?  Could it the poor marketing campaigns promoting even poorer menu items that last innovation? Perhaps people just don't like flame-broiled burgers?

In my opinion, it's the crappy service from employees who just don't give a crap.

Three in the past month I have stopped at three different B.K. restaurants.  All visits were disasters.

Visit 1: I pulled into the drive-thru to order, and there I sat. And sat, and sat some more.  What the heck?  It was too early for them to be closed.  So I pulled ahead to the window and rapped on it.  Someone came and asked, "Can I help you?"

"Are you open. I was waiting back there to order."

"Yeah, our speaker isn't working.  What can I get you?"

"Oy vey!  Could you put a sign on the menu board," I thought to myself.

Visit 2: Returning from a transfer to Ann Arbor, myself and fellow EMS staff stopped to grab a bite.  We went inside to order.  It appeared that the manager was the ONLY person in the building with two people in line ahead of us. We ordered and soon someone came from the back to make our ordered.  More people arrive and order, but no food is coming out of the kitchen. Twenty minutes after our arrival, we were again on our way home.

So much for the idea of "Fast-Food."

Visit 3: Last night I order a Whopper Jr. and value-fries.  I told they were making my burger fresh, it would be a couple minutes, would I mind pulling ahead. So I did.

I was busy texting a friend, but then realized I had been sitting there a while. So I went inside.

The young woman at the counter asked, "May I help you?"

"Yeah, I'd like my order.  I've been sitting in the drive thru waiting for it."

"Oh, I bet this burger is yours.  Someone deleted the order off the screen."

Seriously?

"Would you like a free pop?"

"How about a free meal, including dessert."

"Sorry, I can't do that."

I took my food and left.  I doubt I'll go back to any B.K. again.  Unless I'm really really hungry.

A lack of management and training is why B.K. is on it's deathbed.

Rest In Peace, Burger King.

Much more blah blah blogging can be found at BareNakeBill.blogspot.com