How Sweet It Is

Last night I saw the new Splenda with Fiber commercial on TV for the first time. Apparently since we are all lacking in fiber, Splenda will now offer its sweetener with a gram of fiber in each packet. Now I watch my Zonda Health Bites so I know how important fiber is. However, this new offering really disturbs me. I think that they may have forgotten to pay attention to the user experience here.

I, as I assume is the case with most people, really only use Splenda in my morning coffee at work. This is even depicted on the box. I like my coffee sweet and creamy, so I use three packets of Spenda for each coffee thermos full. Now if you combine coffee and three grams of fiber, that is just begging for an explosive situation. How will work get done? God forbid someone have two or even three cups! And what about the smokers?!? Maybe if you are Bea Arthur things will even out, but I think we all know she is an original.

I am worried about the security of America. And what if this egregious assault starts to hit home? What happens if the current huge Costco box of Splenda that we have at the office is depleted before the recall, and is replaced by the snarling beast with fiber? I may need to talk to someone. I may need to defend the homeland.

Best Dinner EVER!

It was a little after 5pm at work, and as usual my mind starts to drift toward wrapping up the day and heading home. I get an email from Tyson asking me if I have left work yet. I know then that he wants me to get into some shenanigans. Apparently he wanted me to go with him for dinner at Takashi. We are always well taken care of when we go there, and the food gives me goosebumps so of course I agree to go.

We get there and immediately get sake and an appetizer. A feeling of joy overwhelmed me as the slight spice of the gyoza hit my taste buds. As we typically do at Takashi, the food comes in waves. Next, the maguro nigiri came and we had our first taste of sushi, in its rawest form.

We finally decide on the rolls that we will get for the evening and they arrive. Every time I go to Takashi I have to get the Tiger roll. It incorporates two of my favorite things: tempura shrimp and unagi. Seriously if you have never tried the eel, I would get some unagi nigiri as soon as possible. I digress. We also got a Spider roll which gets its name from the soft shell crab legs that protrude out of the side of it, and a Mexican roll that I assume gets its name from the peppers in it (one of which almost took Tyson’s tongue off).

As the rolls arrived, Tyson and I ordered the final “wave”. We have a tradition at Takashi and always order the filet mignon to share with the table. It is not a traditional filet, but rather arrives already sliced into strips, sautéed with portobello mushrooms, and covered in saffron. Many feel it is sacrilege to get something like filet at a sushi restaurant, but it is the best way to cap off the meal. As Tyson said as he was picking up little strings of saffron by themselves, “I can taste the money.” Just after the filet arrives and we were pouring our last shot of sake, another bottle of sake arrived courtesy of one of our friends that went to high school with us. Apparently he didn’t want us to get thirsty. Aahhhhhh…. Somehow the sake that we had during the course of the night never materialized on the bill, and the bill was taken care of as well. It is nice to have a best friend who is a concierge… and leaves the tip.

At one point during the course of the night, Tyson jokes that we should go to the Oyster Bar for crab legs after Takashi. We laughed… that was until our friend Wade came in to Takashi, having just left the Oyster Bar. He was just in for some sake and oyster shooters before heading to the strip club, but it made us think.

As we entered the Oyster Bar, our memberships of course taken care of, Tyson and I giggle like school girls. We stretch, our bellies already full with sushi, but there is always room for crab legs. We order our king crab legs as our server asks us if that is all we want. We explain that we have already had dinner, and we just have the craving for crab legs. She complements us on our choice saying, “That’s a great idea! Crab legs are all protein so they are perfect at the end of the night.” Amen sister. As I eat the crab meat dripping with butter (and an unfortunate lemon juice display by Tyson), I go into a trance like state, whirling as I am overcome with satisfaction. The homo waiters dance to the Janet Jackson song playing in the background.

After we are done, the waitress offers us dessert. I of course decline, as Tyson requests cheesecake to go, replacing the strawberry sauce with raspberry. Apparently this was for eating in bed when he gets home. I told him that if he fell asleep in bed with a half eaten slice of cheesecake I would tease him endlessly. We both know he would never tell me anyway because of this very fact. Although it did make me think of myself slowly crawling into my own bed; the crisp cold sheets sliding across my skin; my body warming a place for itself.

As we head home, and through the course of the night in fact, I think about how lucky I am. I make more that this point than I did when I first graduated from college, but I am far from being a rich person. However, all my life what I have lacked in funds, I have made up for in ingenuity. Somehow me and my friends have always found a way to enjoy some of the finer things in life. The fact that all of this occurs in Salt Lake City, Utah adds another layer. We have a thriving little urban scene here if only you attempt to partake. Bottom line, when it comes down to it, my life is hard, but someone’s got to live it.

Barack The Vote: Decision 08 Up to Date Results

If I Live on The Compound Do I Have to/Get to Drink the Koolaid?

It is official. I am moving from 1518 to my own place at about 12th East and 28th South (No I am not going to let any of you know my exact address). This decision has been made after much drama (which I will not get into here). I hate to leave my roommates, but sometimes you have to leave the nest. Plus as anyone who has roommates knows, I both love and hate my roommates, and I am sure the feeling is mutual.

This should be quite the interesting journey. This will be my first time living alone. I have almost no furniture so I am going to have to buy an entire house worth. On the more exciting side, I will be living in what we lovingly call The Compound, as the entire area is surrounded by my friends and their families. It is like the Kennedy compound, but with much less money and slightly less drinking (the koolaid tastes like Voddy). It should be great fun being surrounded by people I love, yet at the same time being on my own. That reminds me, I need to remind them all to never come over without calling and giving me a 5 minute head start… I’m not kidding.

It's Like America's on a Treadmill - We've Gone So Far, Yet Stayed in the Same Place

Okay, this has begun to bug me more and more as we get closer to Election Day (and as more and more people take a stance on Facebook), but I think I finally have to say something to clear it out of my system so I can focus on other things.

The issue we have for this rant is Prop 8 in California and Prop 102 in Arizona. Both seek to define marriage as strictly being between a man and a woman, aka no homo marriage. These props are pissing me off, but it’s not even because I think we should let anyone who actually wants to get married to do so, or even that I am so appalled by such conservative thinking. While all of those things do anger me, at this point it is just the stupidity of the semantics of the whole thing, and the fact that as a society we are still at this point that is causing my rage.

Conservative and “traditional” thought is what it is, but the stance of Democrats like Barack really kills me. “I believe in civil unions, but not in marriage.” What the fuck is that? Seriously on the governmental level, what’s the difference? Let’s set aside religious ceremonies as the government should not be involved in that and could not legislate what different religious groups need to allow anyway. My friend Jenni wants to be married to her future husband by a justice of the peace, with no religious aspects, a strictly civil ceremony. Would people say she is any less married? More importantly, it is interesting that in the eyes of the law even if you have a religious ceremony, you are actually not legally married until you and your witnesses sign the civil document.

It is sad that the world has come so far, but is still so afraid. When people like Barack and Joe say, “I believe in civil unions for gay couples, and not marriage,” they are really saying, “I believe in gay marriage, but I can’t say that for fear of backlash from the ridiculous undercurrent of religion and ignorance that flows through this puritanical country, so if I say I just believe in civil unions, I can also still say I don’t believe in gay marriage, even though they are pretty much the same thing. Thank God the Americans that would be involved in the backlash are also mostly too stupid to know I am saying the same thing.” Seriously, give me a break. It also shows that for all of those people that support different lifestyles, the majority of America does not, hence the political suicide.

As someone that is apart of a minority group, it kills me when I still see modern day prejudice that is deemed okay by a large portion of society. Haven’t we learned that all of that generally goes away over time, and we look back in horror at how simple-minded we were? We do the same thing to people who are overweight. Seriously if someone is not harming someone, we should probably leave them alone. Instead we chant about the destroying of the sanctity of marriage (yet you still go to Vegas), express shock about how early in primetime they are showing a dude on dude lip lock (yet cheer on the skanks making out at the bar), and use the word gay as a pejorative to describe something in meetings at work (I witnessed this one twice). Now if someone thought that an interracial couple marrying was destroying the sanctity of marriage, or worse, the Aryan race, that a kiss between that couple before 9pm on network television was unseemly, and said that a bad decision from a client was totally niggerish, that person would be looked at by most of society very differently.

The worst part is that people are wasting time and money on both sides campaigning for and against these propositions. How about we let anyone who dares to make a lifetime commitment to one another do so, and we can use the campaign money to fund a social program, perform cancer research, or feed starving children in a conflict torn area of Africa. Anything else that instead of consisting of judging and limiting people, builds them up and expands possibilities. Honestly, I can’t believe I have to even writing something like this. When we are “okay with the gays” what will be the next thing that we will move on to despise. I am constantly surprised by humanity’s lack of ability to love, and infinite ability to hate.

Social Media is Taking Over My Life

Social Media has taken over the advertising world. Everyone is looking to capitalize on the success of blogs, MySpace, Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, and their ilk.

At first I was very skeptical. I had to be dragged in to every social network that I have been apart of. I do love my blogs, but I think it is more that I just need an outlet for myself, rather than me being interested in blogs in general. I guess my greatest issue from an advertising perspective, is the return that you get from such efforts is dwarfed by the amount of of time spent.

However, I went to a luncheon on social marketing a couple of months back and my opinion, while not completely changed, has been altered a bit. I think that the answer lies more in that more people within an organization should be allocating a little bit of time to these efforts so that the time commitment does not seem so great, but you are still utilizing this new channel.

On a personal level, I love my blog, it is here to stay, and I am going to make more use of it as a social media tool (hence this blog and the newly installed google analytics code, aka I am watching you). As for the social networks, I have been dragged into them (to see the shmack my friends were saying about me), but I have found a place in my heart for them.

Linked In is kind of worthless. It's fine for what it is, an online resume, but it ain't that much. I have not fully immersed myself in Twitter, but I'm not that excited. I do think that it has some implications for businesses that are interesting.

Now for the biggies. MySpace was my first love. My page is freaking awesome, and it is beautiful. I do have to say though, it is much more of an outlet for me creatively, and I get little about my friends at this point.

Facebook was something that I joined reluctantly after the luncheon because the info for an event that I was going to was only on there. At first I hated it. Everyone's page looks pretty much the same, and really I am not that interested in the comings and goings of everyone in the universe. However I have began to fall in love. At the very least I know what is going on with people. I have learned so much about old friends in such a short amount of time. Recently my number of friends on Facebook has eclipsed that of MySpace, and after only about a month. I guess I had to add my Facebook link to the top of my blog. Plus I suggested that Richter develop a group page and a blog of their own, which they are doing.

I guess my point is that social networks and media have their place, but it doesn't need to take over our lives. Do as much as you want, either way. I do think that we need to be open to more forms of communication instead of writing them off as impersonal, or too technical. Try it out, and you just might like it.

If you want to visit my MySpace or Facebook page, follow the tabs at the top of the blog. You know the way to my blog obviously, but here are some of the blogs that I follow:

Richter7 Interactive Blog - See some the fantastic work that we put out here at R7.

Richter7 Social Media Blog - Slowly But Surely

Update... and Making My Mascara Run

Just to start this off, if any of you saw my sucky test game that I posted for awhile for a work thing I was doing, I apologize.

Moving on. I haven't written in awhile. Partially because I have been busy and partially because I don't have anything to say. I went to a wedding in Boston, which was fantastic. I will post some pics when they come. I really loved the ceremony as it was my first in the Jewish tradition. It was great, so was the Harvard Club, and so was Boston. I won't post the party details on my blog, but you can ask me if you like ;) . I did spend much more at H&M than I planned, but as Lindsey said, "How often are you in a city with an H&M?" The real question is when are they going to get an online store, or better yet, one in Utah.

When I got back, I got sick and locked myself away. Me and my bed are great friends now, and I still need to deep clean it. This past weekend I knew of two more weddings, and am going to another this weekend. I am sensing a theme.

It has got me thinking a lot about planning for the future (surprise). I am in advertising (let me mention that again), and lately I have been painfully aware that I check the 25-34 box. Friday my coworkers pointed this out as I was in the prime suicide demographic :). Luckily I'm Black and that moves me out of the demo as we are apparently full of ourselves... and would rather kill someone else (I'm so just kidding, but I couldn't resist).

I am in no rush to get married or anything like that, but it does have me thinking about goals and the direction of my life (oh God let's get the razor blades and Kleenex ready). Eventually I hope that does include marriage (during the 35-44 box timeline), but there are more immediate things. Let's get the old ones out of the way: House, gym, couches, car, job success, relationship... I'm always chasing the physical and emotional big ticket items which we all know.

I went to a Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Utah 30 year anniversary luncheon today, and it made me think about some other things. As I looked around seeing the bishop and my childhood priest, the mayor, local "celebs", and me and my coworkers at a sponsors table, I realized that one way or another I have found myself on the path if an existence that is (or should be) so much more than myself. I have always thought I had so much potential, and I do. At some point that will be wasted if my goals concern only myself. I should be doing some sort of volunteering. I would love to do some community service and be on the board of some organization(s). I also want to have some actual hobbies. I really don't have any true consistent interests other than trashy television. I know they are there, but I need to actually commit some time.

In short, today I realized that I have been a bit two dimensional lately and I want to be more well rounded. The shocker was that I didn't even know I had been neglecting my third dimension. It always seems like I have more time when I have too much to do, because I am much more scheduled. I think it's time I get off my ass... and for someone other than myself... and it will benefit me... and I need to create another label for this emo self-reflective crap. God that blog developed out of nowhere.