I missed last week’s edition of Fun-Filled Friday because I was still sailing on our low-carb cruise down to Mexico, so we’re gonna offer up an extra dose of follies for you to enjoy today heading into this “Super Bowl” weekend.
I’m gonna start with a story from my trip last week because this was just bizarre. Christine and I left our home in Spartanburg, South Carolina at around 7:45am to drive one hour north to the Charlotte airport for our 11:00am flight. We knew we’d have PLENTY of time to get through the airport and to our flight, so we didn’t get concerned when it took a while to find a parking space. Flying out of Charlotte directly to Houston was about $200 cheaper per person than if we used our local airport in the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC area.
We were all set and going through airport security when the TSA officer motioned at me to come to him. This burly African-American gentleman with arms as big as my legs (no lie!) said he needed to examine my suitcase. I quickly obliged and said that wouldn’t be a problem. Once he got it open, the officer pulled out my Edge shaving gel and facial cleaner stating I could not bring those on board the plane. I explained that this particular bag would be checked in plane-side, but he said it’s not allowed through.
He then took a wand with a piece of gauze fabric on the end and swabbed the inside of my suitcase. The next thing I know, this machine he puts the gauze into goes haywire with bells and whistles and the demeanor on the face of the TSA guy drastically changes. He looks over at me and says, “Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to take off your coat and empty your pockets so I can do a full body frisk.” I asked him what he found wrong with my suitcase and he said it responded positively for explosives! YIKES!
After he had me stand in front of everybody staring at me coming through the security checkpoint with my palms up and legs spread apart, I guess I wasn’t deemed as dangerous as he thought. I explained I bought the suitcase at a church garage sale and the previous owner may have stashed some ammunition in it or something. Who knows? All I know is that was a strange experience to say the least. I had worked hard to pack that suitcase with my belongings, so I was gonna enjoy watching him try to put it all back in there.
Before he finished repacking my stuff, the TSA officer found my liquid Tylenol cough syrup that is the only thing that helps me sleep when I have a nagging cough and I pleaded with him to let me keep that. He said to keep it in my carry-on bag and I’d be fine. Go figure that one! I’m very thankful that measures are in place to try to prevent future terrorists from getting on airplanes and causing harm to come to innocent Americans. If that means I need to go through something like this when I travel by air, then I consider it an honor to do so.
Somebody had some fun with a McDonald’s sign that reads “1 Min Walk” to get to the restaurant because they changed it to “1 Min Waddle.” Think they’re trying to say something about the clientele that visits Mickey D’s?
Have you heard about Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy, who is a 13 year-old boy who lives on a ranch in a very small town in Nebraska? Logan listens to his local Christian Radio station 89.3FM KSBJ which broadcasts out of Houston, TX. Logan called the station distraught because he had to put a sick calf down. As you will see in this video of the call, Logan’s words have wisdom WELL beyond his years.
With all the recent studies and warnings against sugar consumption, I was both amused and horrified to see the following ad for sugar from the 1970s this week. They were promoting SUGAR consumption to people as a means for controlling HUNGER! Now you and I both know that sugar drives insulin which makes you hungry, so it didn’t make any sense at all. Their reasoning was to get your energy up (spike your blood sugar) in order to keep yourself from eating too much at a meal. The ad says “enjoy an ice cream shortly before lunch.” EEEEEK! Boy, we’ve come a long way!
Finally, I posted my second letter this week on my new “52 Letters” blog project where I’m committing to write a letter a week this year to people who have made the biggest influence on shaping me into the man I am today. Fittingly, I dedicated Letter #2 to my lovely bride Christine. She is my everything and I wanted to express that to her in my letter. It made her cry, so I guess she liked it. I look forward to sharing many more letters as we go through 2009.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot my prediction: STEELERS 38, CARDINALS 17 in Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday. Defense ALWAYS wins championships, so this will be a fun one to watch. ENJOY!
If you see something fun, funny, or interesting you think I might want to share with my readers for future “Fun-Filled Friday” segments, e-mail me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. THANKS for reading!
