Cheeky notes from around the world

Do you like watching wood warp? Are you disappointed that the Tupperware Museum in Kissemee, Florida has closed? Are you gearing up to celebrate National Fig Month? If the answer to any of these questions is “Uh, yeah, I guess so,� then you will probably appreciate (“enjoy� is too strong of a word) The Dull Men’s Club (DMC) web site.

Ideal Bite, a new daily newsletter, is a cross between the popular Daily Candy newsletter and the Sierra Club. Like the Daily Candy, you get a daily newsletter with interesting and useful tidbits surrounded by sassy illustrations. But, instead of superficial tips on things like fashion, beauty and travel, you get advice on things like fashion, beauty and travel that you can enjoy while saving the planet.

Three months ago, about a year and a half after I bought my HP laptop and 3-year service warranty, two out of three SCSI ports just stopped working. I brought my computer -my lifeline, my means of making a living — to Computer World to have them fix these ports. Simple enough, right? Some (really) young kid at the service desk, with the personality of a tissue, tells me that my entire motherboard needs to be replaced. It will take two weeks to be repaired and I need to back up all my files because while they’re replacing this “motherboardâ€? files could get erased or lost. Two weeks!?

Tony the Tiger. The Pillsbury Doughboy. Sonny for Coco Puffs. Trix the Rabbit. I might not remember what I did for Halloween last year, but I will always remember these product characters because they are imbedded into my subconscious. Is this just a coincidence? Am I a product of too much TV watching? Perhaps. But, it could also be that these characters were created in such a genius was as to stick in our minds – in a positive way. Who doesn’t like the Pillsbury Doughboy?