Rant: Frosted Mini Wheats

I love Mini Wheats. Or rather, Mini-SPOONERS. Mini Spooners are the Malt-O-Meal companies version of Kellog's Mini-Wheats. I normally buy the Mini-Spooners, but the other day I grabbed a box of Mini-Wheats. Here is my analysis:

Point 1:

Mini-spooners come in a resealable bag. No box.

vs.

Mini-Wheats come in a box, then with inner packaging in plastic.
After wanting to tear my eyes out trying to open the damn inner plastic on the Mini-wheats, which results in a large tear and Mini-Wheats flying across the kitchen with me grunting bench press type efforts, I swore off all Kellog's cereal. Besides REALLY pissing me off, I realized what a waste it is for Kellog to do the redundant packaging.

Point 2:

Mini-spooners actually taste a little better, IMHO.

So, I believe you can do the environment, your wallet and taste buds a little better by buying Malt-0-Meal cereals in resealable bags if you are going to buy cereal. Who needs Lucky Charms when you have MARSHMALLOW MATEYS?

I was actually mad enough the other day, and apparently had too much time on my hands, so I wrote Kellog's an email. I should have saved it, it was pretty funny, with tact. I haven't heard back a response. I have never contacted a company before, so I will be interested to see if they write back, or if a Kellog's sniper shows up in my lawn. I know a fellow from Kingsley, Kevin Sheibley, contacted Life Savers to discuss his idea of mass production of Life Savers flavored body spray. He did get a response, though it was something to the effect of, "Uh, We have a marketing department already."

ADDENDUM:

I received the following response from Kellog this am:

kellogg@casupport.com
to me
show details
9:31 pm (6 hours ago)

Dr. Brownell,

Thank you for contacting us to let us know you would prefer that a different material be used to package Kellogg's® Mini-Wheats® Maple & Brown Sugar cereal.We base our choices for both inner and outer packaging materials on our need to deliver fresh product to stores in the best possible condition. We look at our packaging to control the absorption of moisture, control breakage and prevent any other type of damage that might occur during the shipping and handling of our foods.

Kellogg Company cares very much about maintaining the good reputation we have with our consumers and we do not want to have our name and products associated with any negative meanings. Kellogg Company is committed to minimizing the environmental impact of our business while also being socially and economically responsible. We conduct our business in a manner that is sensitive to the environment and demonstrates good stewardship of the world’s natural resources.

We are sorry to hear that you did not enjoy this product. Our research indicates that many consumers approve of its aroma, taste, texture and appearance. Although you do not share this opinion, we appreciate your letting us know that Kellogg's® Mini-Wheats® Maple & Brown Sugar cereal did not measure up to your expectations.We appreciate the time you took to share your views.

Your comments will be shared with the appropriate departments to help us continue to achieve our goal of providing you with great-tasting and high quality products.

Sincerely,Pablo A. Martinez Consumer Affairs Department4PAM/cl013358570A

Kellogg North AmericaPO Box CAMB

Battle Creek, MI 49016-1986

Happy Earth Day

EARTH DAY 2008

Well, I enjoyed Earth Day yesterday. I spent the afternoon mountain biking in Stone State Park. Absolutely beautiful park, 70 degrees and sunny. A spiritual nature experience and a workout as well. I am a long way from being 'green' though, so Nicole and I talked about a few things we want to change at our house to do our small part. So, in honor of you, Mother Earth, I pledge:

1. To increase recycling at our house: Since we live outside city limits, recycling hasn't been as easy here, but I am going to the recycling center to get some big boxes to separate our recyclable plastics/metals/paper and have our own little organized recycling area in our garage.

2. Use less water: Turn off while brushing teeth, shorter showers.

3. Use products that use less waste and pollution: Uggghhh, I am going to try to give up canned pop, and only have pop from a 2 Liter at home, or at a restaurant. No more 100 calorie packs at our house.

4. Use less gas. Big one for me. My gas guzzling Explorer has got to go. Sooo:

FOR SALE:

2003 Ford Explorer

Limited Edition, All leather, 3rd row seating.

I am going to put an ad in the paper and going to sell the old beast. When I do, here is my next car:

Estimated 45 mpg on the highway
AT-PZEV CARB Emissions Rating
Idle-stop feature

I'm stoked. Unless someone can convince me there is a better car out there that gets 40 mpg or better, Travis is getting a Civy Cat. (I am open to other options, anyone?)

The Doughnut Run

If you read my last post, I mentioned the Doughnut Run coming up. Well, here we are, Mike and I pre-race. This was a 5K where you eat as many doughnuts as you can and get time deducted for each doughnut you eat. Mike has some good pics as well.

Here are the top 3 results:
Fastest adjusted time - Male
Steve Stenzel (15 doughnuts eaten)
10:24
Brad Shipman (20 doughnuts eaten)
11:10
Travis Brownell (15 doughnuts eaten)
14:05
Here's all the RESULTS

Here's my post race hardware. 3rd place for doughnut adjusted time, not bad.

Feeling a little nauseated crossing the finish line.

This is the stick Paul Brady pinned to my shoulder before the race. He said the stick wanted to see the course. So it did.

Spring Thaw 10 Miler

I ran the Spring Thaw 10 Miler on Saturday. It was a beautiful day out for running. The run was down along the Missouri River, a little windy, but warm. It went pretty good. I kept just at 8min pace for 10 mi. Tom Benzoni is with me above in this photo, one of the other ER docs in our group. He might be almost 52, but he finished far ahead of me in the race. I've got a little work to do if I ever plan to run with him.

OGB came to the race. She was supposed to walk in the 5K with her mom, but she had a long night the night before. See that smile there during the day? She has the same smile from about Midnight to 4am except with two horns. Let's just say she hasn't been sleeping at night.

Just after I finished the run, with a nice senior photo style pose in front of the Seargent Floyd Welcome Center.

Next Race? The Doughnut Run. Ames, IA. Me, 3.1 mi and Krispy Kremes. I think a few people will be joining me, including Tate Featherstone.

In other sad news, Village Inn declared bankruptcy and closed many of its stores. They closed both stores in Sioux City, one which was by my house. I love Village Inn. Dammit. They closed citing the poor economy for the main reason. I'll give you my wife's quote on this, "Great, now we don't have a Village Inn, all thanks to George Bush." That made me laugh.