The "Hijacked Thread" Thread

[SherlockedCAMPer]

My extremely random realization today: the number in the tens place of the decade of your age tells you how many of those years when the 2 digits are added together equals 10 or higher. IE I'm 36 and my age adds to 9. In a little less than 2 months my age will add to 10. And I'll have 2 more years after that where my age will add to 10 or higher before dropping down to a single digit. So those of us in our 30's have a total of 3 years that add up to 10 or more.

[T.o.b.y]

[buying all of one's groceries online] is apparently possible in London (and other big cities, I suppose).  We got an ad with one of our Amazon UK orders that looked really intriguing.  Around here, if you want fresh produce, you generally gotta go get it yourself.

 

I guess it would be great for people who live alone and don't drive anymore and have nobody to do their shopping, but personally, I love going to the store myself and picking things out. I'd hate shopping for food online, because I usually don't want just any old orange, I want a very particular orange (or apple of potato or whatever), and I want to be able to pick and choose. Besides, I like grocery stores and markets and places like that. I get a lot more excited about a farm stand than a shoe store.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Carol the Dabbler
Clarified reference in quote.

[sfmpco]

I really like grocery shopping.  Some people don't.  Of course, it's much more enjoyable when you have the money to buy all the lovely thing you'd really like to have instead of being so budget conscious.    

[T.o.b.y]

I really like grocery shopping.  Some people don't.  Of course, it's much more enjoyable when you have the money to buy all the lovely thing you'd really like to have instead of being so budget conscious.    

 

Well, it depends on how poor you are. When I was still a student and thus comparatively penniless, I still liked shopping for food. Of course food isn't terribly expensive in Germany, anyway. And it was a bit of a fun game, to see how you could manage to get a maximum of goods for a minimum of money. One trick was to team up with other students and buy bulk, which is cheaper, then divide it up.

 

But of course, I have never been really, truly poor. I've gone grocery shopping with people who are, and that's not fun at all. I had a friend once who literally starved at the end of the month when her parents' budget ran out (I still have that friend, but luckily she has a good job these days and a full fridge at all times).

 

The downside of shopping is the depressing abundance of articles and choices when you know that a lot of what is on the shelves will end up as trash while other people are struggling to survive.

 

[sfmpco]

I try not to waste food but sometimes I just don't get to all the fruits and veggies that I buy.  I've learned to buy very small quantities.  It means shopping more often but it also means less waste...and more times to go shopping!  There's a method to my madness.

[Ruthyone]

I buy every few days, but you always find that cleaning items seems to all run out at the same time, so you have to fork out more money at certain times!!!

[Carol the Dabbler]

[buying all of one's groceries online] is apparently possible in London (and other big cities, I suppose).  We got an ad with one of our Amazon UK orders that looked really intriguing.  Around here, if you want fresh produce, you generally gotta go get it yourself.

 

I guess it would be great for people who live alone and don't drive anymore and have nobody to do their shopping, but personally, I love going to the store myself and picking things out. I'd hate shopping for food online, because I usually don't want just any old orange, I want a very particular orange (or apple of potato or whatever), and I want to be able to pick and choose. Besides, I like grocery stores and markets and places like that. I get a lot more excited about a farm stand than a shoe store.

 

Thanks for bringing that discussion to this thread, T.o.b.y!  Hey, if you're ever in California, be sure to check out the farmers' markets!  I still miss those.  You could get just about any produce you could dream of (all sorts of veggies, mushrooms, avocados, citrus fruit, apples, walnuts, apricots, even bananas and dates), all grown in California and picked fresh within the past 24 hours.  There were so many booths at the Saturday market in downtown Ventura that Alex and I could restrict ourselves to just organic produce and still come home with everything I listed above and more -- two big canvas tote bags full every week!

 

I try not to waste food but sometimes I just don't get to all the fruits and veggies that I buy.  I've learned to buy very small quantities.  It means shopping more often but it also means less waste...and more times to go shopping!  There's a method to my madness.

 

I agree!  We didn't used to have that option, not realistically, because the nearest large natural foods market was over an hour's drive away (and not in a direction that we otherwise had any reason to go).  But now there's a big new store (different chain) only half as far away, and right on our way home from Mom's.  Whee!

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I drive by my organic grocer 4 days a week from normal errands otherwise I'd be driving about 30 minutes 1 way to get the groceries.  My local non-organic grocers have some organic products but I find that their choice for organic produce is lacking quality and they have less gluten/dairy-free or smaller sized quantity of some of that stuff (the exception is the hash browns.  My local grocer has the larger package).

[sfmpco]

My local Kroger is 2 miles away.  On my way now.  Need to put some food in the brand new but empty refrigerator.  Especially in the freezer!  Woo hoo!  Banquet Chicken is calling my name!!!

[SherlockedCAMPer]

My sister and I need a larger freezer than what we have (average joe normal sized US fridge).  We like to bulk cook and can't do that very easily.  Once we can afford an upright freezer, I expect that to be packed out within a couple of days.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Under the favorite artist thread, I mentioned what was rocking my world this week and posted audio only & lyric videos for 3 songs on a new CD I own as of Feb. 3.  Well, while watching the Sherlock/Mycroft video on the Mycroft thread, I got a nice little banner ad that showed the following:

 

 

It explains my username in pictures.  Sherlock and the new album by my favorite artist, Jeremy Camp [which I highly recommend as I've been chair dancing to track 4 (the 2nd video on my post in the favorite artist/band thread) on and off since Tuesday].

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

I may be hijacking this thread, but I just want to say that I think about this picture a lot.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

My local non-organic grocers have some organic products but I find that their choice for organic produce is lacking quality ....

 

I find it depends on which produce you're talking about.  Our new natural market's produce department has far more variety, and most of it's very good quality.  But of the limited organic items our regular market has, theirs are better -- bigger more intact heads of romaine lettuce, larger fresher bunches of parsley and cilantro.  Odd, but we try our best to buy different things at different places accordingly.

 

My local Kroger is 2 miles away.

 

In California?!  There are Krogers in California now?  I thought they were just in the midwest and southeast.  (That's where we like to get our romaine and parsley.)

 

[sfmpco]

Carol, Krogers goes by many names.  Out here it's called Ralphs.  I know in Colorado its called King Soopers.  All Krogers nonetheless.

[Zain]

 

My local non-organic grocers have some organic products but I find that their choice for organic produce is lacking quality ....

 

I find it depends on which produce you're talking about.  Our new natural market's produce department has far more variety, and most of it's very good quality.  But of the limited organic items our regular market has, theirs are better -- bigger more intact heads of romaine lettuce, larger fresher bunches of parsley and cilantro.  Odd, but we try our best to buy different things at different places accordingly.

 

 

 

 

I wonder, how big is your organic produce industry? I know that a lot of people around here are worried about the pending TTIP, because they are rather fond of the strict(er) European guidelines when it comes to organic food. I have not yet made my mind up, frankly, because I avoid buying goods which are imported farther than from neighbouring countries. TTIP does not concern me this much...

But maybe you can shed some light? I am not even sure about the common American position when it comes to organic food in relation to genetically manipulated crops? Or is that up to the states? Do you have independent labels which check that the guidelines are kept? 

I am quite curious, to be honest.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Not meaning to scare anyone   ;)   just want to be sure I have your attention:
 

Moderator Warning:  
While I'm delighted with the recent increased activity on the forum, I'm finding that I can no longer keep up with every single thread, every single day.  So if you have a general problem, comment, suggestion, or question, please post it in the "Afghanistan or Iraq?" section of the forum, where I and the other staff members will be sure to see it.  If you have a question or comment for me personally, please either post it in "Speedy's Cafe," which I will make a special point of keeping up with, or else send me a Private Message.  Thank you!

 
(I will also post this notice in other high-traffic threads.  Sorry for the repetition -- just don't want anyone waiting patiently for a reply on a thread that I don't happen to get to.)

[Carol the Dabbler]

Carol, Krogers goes by many names.  Out here it's called Ralphs.  I know in Colorado its called King Soopers.  All Krogers nonetheless.

 

Yup, we used to shop at Ralph's every now and then when we lived out there.  Does the sign still say Ralph's -- so there'd be no way of knowing it's a Kroger without asking?  I've heard that our favorite California supermarket, Mrs. Gooch's, has been absorbed into Whole Foods.

 

I wonder, how big is your organic produce industry? I know that a lot of people around here are worried about the pending TTIP, because they are rather fond of the strict(er) European guidelines when it comes to organic food. I have not yet made my mind up, frankly, because I avoid buying goods which are imported farther than from neighbouring countries. TTIP does not concern me this much...

But maybe you can shed some light? I am not even sure about the common American position when it comes to organic food in relation to genetically manipulated crops? Or is that up to the states? Do you have independent labels which check that the guidelines are kept? 

I am quite curious, to be honest.

The US government organic standards (which I believe are now the only ones allowed to use the word "organic" here) do NOT allow GMOs. In fact, buying organic is currently the only way to be (reasonably) certain that you're not getting genetically-modified produce in American supermarkets. Non-organic produce can be GMO, and they never label it as such, because then hardly anyone would buy it.

 

Likewise, most American prepared foods probably contain GMOs now, due to the prevalent use of commonly-GMO crops like corn and soy (which are in just about everything in some form or other).

 

Oddly enough, the organic segment of the US market is growing!  ;)  Thirty years ago, organic produce was available only in larger health-food stores, and it tended to be kinda pathetic.  Fifteen years ago, some large supermarket chains started carrying just a little organic produce -- apples and carrots, for example.  Nowadays, some large Kroger stores have more organic produce than some small natural markets.  But the greatest growth has probably been with the natural-foods supermarket chains like Whole Foods and Earth Fare.  When we moved to Indiana in the mid-90's, I don't believe there were any in Indianapolis (though one opened shortly thereafter), and now there are three.  There's enough demand that the chains have not put the local natural markets out of business, either -- in fact many of them have actually expanded in recent years.

 

[sfmpco]

 

Carol, Krogers goes by many names.  Out here it's called Ralphs.  I know in Colorado its called King Soopers.  All Krogers nonetheless.

 

Yup, we used to shop at Ralph's every now and then when we lived out there.  Does the sign still say Ralph's -- so there'd be no way of knowing it's a Kroger without asking?  I've heard that our favorite California supermarket, Mrs. Gooch's, has been absorbed into Whole Foods.

 

 

 

You will definitely see the Kroger label all over the store, and yes, all the signs still say Ralphs.  We did have a Mrs. Gooch's in Beverly Hills (used to see a few famous faces in there), but it was indeed absorbed into Whole Foods some time in the mid-1990s.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Ah, I see, so Ralph's now carries Kroger's Simple Truth line, for example?

 

[sfmpco]

The Simple Truth organics line?  Yes.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

When the audio and video is out of sync is kind of driving me nuts.  Sorry KTCA (my local PBS station), you've been out of sync for close to 2 hours (or longer).  As much as it is really frustrating, HOB is kind of funny with the video a word or so behind.

[Carol the Dabbler]

You could phone them up and bitch (nicely, of course).

 

[T.o.b.y]

I am even worse!

I must warn everybody on the board:  I absolutely loathe weddings and have am extremely jaded view of marriage!

So if you are a romantic...do not read on!

I am the woman who stood and cheered Sherlock's best man speech...basically everything he said, that's what I think!

Ok so all of that being said, here goes.

I think if 2 people love each other, want to spend their life together and maybe raise a family...they should just do that.

I see no need for either a pointless ceremony or a stupid piece of paper.

If people want to be together they will be...no license is going to keep them together.

Now if people are religious, things may be slightly different...they kind of might have to marry, that's up to them.

I know nothing of Sophie's religious views.

I understood if Benedict aligned himself with anything, it was Buddhism...

Now obviously I don't know, but I am a tad surprised at at church wedding at all.

Having said that.

I reckon Sophie could be up to 6 months pregnant...and she's wearing a full white veil? Really?  Give me a break.

On a feminist point of view, I don't agree with women in white and veils anyway...

But if I was a vicar I personally wouldn't marry an obviously pregnant woman in white.

 

(...)

 

  I hope I'm allowed to laugh? I do believe you are serious, but the way you write it is very funny.

 

My opinions on marriage used to be more or less along the same lines. I still hate weddings as a rule - hate going to weddings, I mean. But then, I feel uncomfortable at large social events of any kind.

 

However, I did get married myself, for various reasons, among them wanting to be a family rather than "just" a couple and the man of my choice being a practicing Christian. I dreaded the day, even though we kept the whole thing as low-key as possible. But guess what? It was wonderful. It was quite honestly and truly the best day of my life (yet) and my best friend came and standing between her on the one side and my husband on the other, I could totally sympathize with John Watson... Even without the speech. It was more implied than spoken in our case. :lol:

[Caya]

You don't know how hard I'm fighting to resist typing, "Told ya so" :P.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

So don't want to go to bed yet (tend to go to bed around midnight or so my time) but my brain is going "Bored" (to the tune of Sherlock in TGG).