So, another crazy thing that that has come through the news is the fact that your hotdog may be in danger.  Everyone knows a hotdog, you may not like them , you may not want to know what is in them, but a hotdog is probably one of the most recognizable foods next to the hamburger.  The hotdog is the staple food of America’s favorite pastime, baseball (along with beer), as well as many summer activities.  What would the summer be without barbecues, hotdogs and hamburgers?

Well the hotdog as we know it is under attack, it is in danger.  Why, you ask?  Because after a couple hundred years as a food, people have decided that it is too easy to choke on a hotdog.  Yup, that’s right, the argument is that the shape of a hotdog make it too easy to get it stuck down your throat.  Specifically the throats of children under ten.  Just tell me though, with many young kids we cut up most of their food, so what is different about hotdogs?

The proposal?  Well there are two.  The first is to change the shape of the hotdog.  I am not sure how that would be accomplished, but it seems that if nothing else it would make the hotdog a less friendly food.  I just can’t really picture say a triangle hotdog.  I mean how would you get that on a hotdog bun, or would that have to be redesigned as well?  The second option is to put warning labels on the packaging of hotdogs akin to toys with small parts.  The real question with this option is: is it really effective?  Personally I would be fine with this approach as I like my hotdogs the way they are!

Of curse, this whole debate begs the question: what makes a hotdog different from other long, round foods?  I mean is it actually easier to choke on a hotdog than a banana, cucumber, or pickle.  I mean, I suppose many kids don’t actually eat their fruits and veggies, but I don’t see difference.  Do we need to start genetically engineering bananas so that they don’t grow long and thin?  Maybe every pickle needs to be stamped with a warning that it is a choking hazard?

I don’t know about everyone else, but I think that the hotdog is just fine the way it is.

Well, maybe today was just not meant to be a good one. Lets start with the fact that today was the first ten-out-of-twelve (10/12) for “A Christmas Story.” It is very slow going with all the kids and the fact that every 2 pages of script we are moving all kinds of scenery. It will probably end up being a fun show, but right now it is slooooowwww. We have run into some funky problems and technical issues, it happens. At least I will cash out on the overtime!

So, move forward in the day and Ruth is home preparing a nice dinner when the drain pipe for the washing machine (which we don’t have yet) started to overflow. Turns out that it was clogged and when the new neighbors (who just moved in yesterday) ran their washing machine. I am sure that is was a lot worse for them in the water everywhere department, especially since they probably had stuff in boxes on the floor and such, having just moved in.

Needless to say, the flooding put a big halt on the dinner prep activities and delayed Ruth from getting everything in the oven by about 45 minutes. So, I get home on my break at a little after five and started the mashed potatoes and the extra stuffing. Yeah, we were making more turkey because we felt like the Jones family Thanksgiving was a little bit of a let-down.

So, I worked away on the details while Ruth was out rehearsing her show. Things just continued to go wrong. First, as I was boiling the potatoes, I smelled something burning. Well, I figured that it was just something in the burner pan, and ignored it. At the time, there was no smoke or anything. Then I turned around again and there was a fire on my electric stove. So, I moved my opt to another burner and smothered the flames out.

I got the potatoes finished and cleaned up from the fire and got the dishwasher running. Ruth got home around six and we just started on the last details of dinner. Now, the little thermometer in the turkey had not popped yet, and we don’t own a meat thermometer. The cookbook said to cook for almost an hour more than we had so far. So, we waited. Waited until I had about ten minutes before I had to go back to the theatre. We cut open the turkey and it looked cooked, so we cut it up.

I had to rush through dinner and get back to the theatre, and I was late. I felt, and still fell really bad for Ruth who spent so much time and effort working on dinner that I had to rush through. She was also the one who had to deal with the flooding and everything, so it was really a rough day for her. I wish that there was something that I could have done to make things work out. I don’t know what I would do without Ruth, and I just feel bad about the dinner. I did get her today’s woot! shirt, which I think will make her happy. She is off doing our laundry now, and again, what would I do without her?

So, it was a crappy day, here’s to tomorrow being better.