The Vision Thing

The end of the year is coming and if you have some Healthcare Spending Account (HSA) money sitting out there, you surely don’t want to lose it.

I’m not going to suggest that you get sick between now and midnight on December 31,2009, but I will suggest that perhaps some new glasses are in order. Even if all you’ve got left in your HSA account is less than $20, I know where you can get at least one pair of glasses (and maybe even two – if you’re willing to toss in a couple bucks after-tax.)

Go to Zenni Optical (www.zennioptical.com) and you can get prescription glasses starting at $8.00 – yes, starting at less than $10 and they are indeed prescription lenses. You will need to get your eye glasses prescription from you optometrist (be sure that the PD distance is completed because you’ll need that to get your prescription filled properly.)

If you need bi-focals, you will pay a bit more for your lenses. You can get the lenses tinted for about $5.00 extra dollars, as well.

I recently ordered six pairs of glasses for about $70 – total. I got five pairs of regular glasses and paid to have the lenses tinted on one pair to use as sunglasses. I got some pretty funky glasses.

I really like them and get compliments on them all the time.

In fact, I like them so much, that I hardly ever wear my contact lenses any more.

Miracle in St Paul

I celebrated my birthday on Saturday, December 12. Nothing big -- just went to dinner with a friend and then out to listen to Tim Sigler with another friend.

My friend, Kia, came over to my house around 5:00. When I answered the door, I also got my mail and saw a card from my mom. Knowing my mom, I figure it’s my birthday card and there’s probably a $20 bill in there. I open the card and I was right. (Thanks Mom!)

Since she had to pick her daughter up at 7:00, we drove separately and we decided to go to Don Pablo’s. The other thing about this birthday dinner is that it’s Kia’s birthday dinner, too. Her birthday is the 16th, mine’s the 13th and we’ve been taking each other out for our birthdays for the last few years.

We had a nice dinner (love the Queso Blanco) and shared a fried ice cream for dessert. We opted out of the free dessert – mostly because it requires wearing a sombrero and getting your picture taken and posted by the entrance to the restaurant. I mean, what if the person who wore that hat last had lice? Just doesn’t seem sanitary to me.

My friend Cassie called me when she got off work around 10:00 and I headed over to Half Time Rec to meet her there and listen to Tim Sigler. I decided to just bring my ID, some cash ($50) and my cell phone in my jeans pockets so I wouldn’t have to carry a purse around. Cassie was driving over from Eden Prairie (Half Time Rec is in St Paul) so I was there well before her.

I paid my $5 cover and found a place at the bar and ordered a Guinness while I waited for her. The place was pretty crowded, but not as crowded as the last time I was there. I could see the door from the bar – but I couldn’t see the band – but I figured we’d move to the other side of the place once she got there.

Once she got there, I told her I wanted to take my coat out to my car, so I didn’t have to carry it around with me. I offered to take hers out with me and headed out the door.

I was parked on the street about a half block away and as I was walking to my car there was a school bus painted green filling up with people that were at Half Time Rec getting ready to go to another bar. I had my keys hooked to my belt loop with a carabineer and my keys tucked in my pocket. I pulled my keys out as I headed to my car. I put the coats in my trunk and headed back to the bar.

As I was approaching the bar and got near the front of the bus, I noticed two quarters on the sidewalk, so I stopped to pick them up. I gave the people on the bus a lovely view of my butt and picked the two quarters up. I thought I’d give them to the bar tender (an extra two bits to go with the tip I’d given her for the Guinness – aren’t I generous?) As I was standing up, I looked to my right and noticed a five with some ones folded and sitting on the sidewalk.

I’m thinking, wow, this is my lucky day. I only find money like this in my dreams. There’s a small moment of feeling sad for the person who lost the money – but it’s only $8 or 9 dollars. I’m putting the money in my pocket and this is when I first realize that the money that was previously in my pocket is not there. Now I realized that the money I’d just found was mine. And, I take a quick look around, and realize that there’s another $30 missing.

Damn.

I double-check and the only other thing in my pocket is my driver’s license and the $9 I’ve recovered.

I’m pretty bummed, but decide not to say anything to Cassie and to try not dwell on it.

The dwelling thing is hard. I keep thinking about how stupid it was for me to tuck the keys in my pocket. I kicked myself for not putting at least some of the money in the other pocket. I told myself to stop beating myself up. I even channeled my mother and said a little prayer that the person who found my money needed it more than my unemployed and broke butt did. I also said a little prayer to St. Anthony that I find my money. (Like that would ever happen.)

I did have a fun evening. We danced for an entire set and then found a place near the stage and dance floor to talk, people watch and listen to the next set.

When Tim announced he was getting ready to be done for the evening (around 12:30) – I asked Cassie if she wanted me to go get her coat. She said yeah and I headed out to get her coat.

I decided that just for the hell of it, I’d look for my $30. It wasn’t sitting anywhere near where I’d found the $9. I was walking along the cars parked along the street and looking down. By the driver’s side door three cars in front of my car, sitting on the ground is my $10 bill. Cool. I look further up the street, and by the driver’s side door of the next car is my $20 bill. Amazing.

So I said a little prayer of thanks. (Seriously.) I mean God heard my prayers and made sure that the person who found my money needed it at least as much as me.

The Dish

This past week, I’ve been focused on eating the food I have in my freezer. Not necessarily to save money or anything like that but because today I went back to Let’s Dish for the first time in over 10 months. I needed to open up space in that freezer for my meals.

In the past, I’d go to Let’s Dish roughly every other month, but I haven’t been there since January of this year. If you aren’t familiar with Let’s Dish, it’s a meal preparation store. You can sign up to make 4, 8 or 12 meals that serve 4-6 people each. The average cost of each entre (assuming you get 6 meals) is about $3.95 – which is a pretty good price for a good meal in my book. And, you can split each meal that you make so that the prepared meals serve 2-3 and this is what I do.

I think I’ve made one item that I didn’t really like and it’s not that the item was bad, it just wasn’t to my taste. Today I made Baked Pork Chops with Cranberry Almond Wild Rice, Chicken Piccata with Linguine, Sirloin Tips in Merlot and Sweet and Spicy Cashew Chicken. Plus, I picked up a Vegetables Au Gratin.

Of course, while I was there, I took advantage of the special that you get if you sign up for your next session while you’re there. The special this time was two free sides if you sign up for a 4-meal package. (It’s three sides if you signed up for an 8- or 12-meal package.) I picked up Three-Cheese Potatoes and Panko Roasted Asparagus with Almonds. Don’t they both sound good? (I know the asparagus is good – I’ve had it before.)

My menu plan at the end of December will be:
• Lemon Herb Chicken and Parmesan Green Beans (never had this before – doesn’t it sound good?)
• Risotto-Style Chicken and Asparagus (this is so good!)
• Ranch Steak Wraps (another new item – but I love me some steak)
• Bake Ravioli Lasagna with Garlic Toast (this is simple and so good)

I’m going in for the afternoon session on Wednesday, December 23 and if you’d like to join me at the St Paul Highland Park location, feel free to go to the Let’s Dish website (www.letsdish.com) and sign up for a session. Be sure to let them know I sent you.

The LoJ Apologia: Kinda Smart and Kinda Dumb

In my last post, I wrote about my disappointment that Kevyn Burger is no longer at FM107. Since that happened there’s been quite a bit of outcry from the listeners on the FM107 Facebook fan page and on the Gabster site on FM107s website. Besides the comments about Kevyn, the other theme from people seems to be why Lori and Julia still have a show.

I have listened to FM107 from shortly after it went on the air. I won’t say day one, because it wasn’t probably a few weeks or maybe even a couple months after they went on the air before I started listening. I’ve listened to Lori and Julia consistently during this time.

There’s one thing I can say with confidence, their show has shown the most improvement of all the shows on the station. All of the other on-air personnel at the station have backgrounds in broadcast journalism or some other sort of public performance experience. Neither Lori nor Julia had that background before they started their program. And, the last I knew, they have the highest rated program on the station.

I think that says a lot about two women who started doing a radio program with very little experience.

Have they made mistakes doing their show? Yes. I challenge you to find me one person who has never made a mistake on their job. And, if you do find that someone, you will find someone who has never stepped out on the proverbial limb in their job. At the same time Lori and Julia have done many things right – or they wouldn’t be the top rated show on the station.

One of the big complaints about them is their voices, but I think that’s one of the good things about them. Neither of them has spent time working on creating a “media” voice. One of my college roommates has a brother who works in broadcast media. When he started out, he worked in radio. One day my roommate asked him to use his “old” voice. He gave her this funny look and she said, “You know that voice you used before you worked in radio.” He’d spent time working on developing a different voice for his work on radio. It’s obvious Lori and Julia have not done this. I kind of like this about them.

Is the majority of what Lori and Julia discuss on their show relevant or important? Probably not – but it’s entertaining. Everything in life doesn’t need to be serious and important. Levity is fun and good for the soul. In fact, it’s obvious they listen to their audience and have learned when it’s important to respond the criticism and when to let it roll of their backs. And, much of the recent commentary has made me see that they have very strong backs.

I saw posts complaining about Lori pouncing on Julia – especially if she was telling a story about her kids. Even I was getting a bit annoyed by this. A few days later, something like that happens and Julia’s says this is how they communicate – it doesn’t really bother her. I would be willing to suggest that this is part of the show. The focus of their show is not parenting and Lori’s job is to keep Julia from taking the show too far down the parenthood road.

In fact, I think there are many things to admire about Lori and Julia.

It’s obvious that Julia cares deeply about being a mom and raising good sons. We always hear her telling us about how she’s spent the weekend doing things with her kids and supporting their activities. And, although her husband seems to give her gifts that he likes, such as the kayak, she doesn’t piss and moan (at least not in the traditional sense) about it. She knows he isn’t going to give her jewelry, flowers and chocolates, but things that allow them to share activities and time with each other. The message she’s gets from him is “I want to spend time with you.” I don’t know about you, but this single chic would love a husband who wants to be with me over one who gives me diamonds and flowers and is never around. She also respects her family member’s wishes to not be constant fodder for the show.

Does she screw up words on a regular basis? Yes. She knows she does and handles all the feedback very well. I don’t know anyone who could handle the constant, public corrections of their malapropisms in the manner that Julia does. She knows she does this and she’s able to laugh at herself. I think more of us would be happier if we could laugh more easily at ourselves.

Although, Lori projects this party-girl image, it’s obvious to me that she loves her husband deeply. I remember when her husband was laid up from a motorcycle accident and had to sleep in a hospital bed in the living room and her name for the brace that he wore that she called his “Frankenhips.” I think this is something that would have broken up many marriages these days – especially since I’m sure that sexual relations were made very difficult and challenging by the medical issues. And, if you’ve ever listened to the show, it’s obvious that Lori understands the importance of a sex life in a marriage. She admits she hasn’t been the best person she could have been in the past and has made some bad choices. She’s learned from her mistakes and is striving not to make the same mistakes again.

Is she opinionated? Yes. But, she’s also respectful (well most of the time.) Perhaps I like this about her because I feel that I’m opinionated as well – and my opinion does tend to lean that same direction as hers. Too many times, we sit back and don’t share our opinion because of what someone else might think. But I think we need to be willing to express our opinions (appropriately) and be open to realizing that not everyone shares our opinion.

Another complaint I hear is how superficial so much of what they talk about is. Well, it does play into what many of their advertisers do – botox, designer glasses, upscale salons, etc. Plus, it’s obvious to me that people are doing these things – or the businesses wouldn’t exist. And, I think they both have very good points on looks and fashion: just because you’re getting older does not mean you should stop caring about how you look and looking your best. (Ladies – your husbands agree with this one.)

While the Lori and Julia Show is not my favorite show on FM107, I do enjoy it and listen to it pretty much every day. I look forward to Friday’s at 5:58 and being rocked gently and slowly.

No More Burger for Me

This past week, Hubbard Broadcasting fired Kevyn Burger from FM107.1. I am extremely sad that she is gone. What is surprising me is that I'm upset enough to not want to listen to the station anymore. I mean really, this isn't life or death (at least it's not for me.) The problem is that I really like many of the other programs. The Lori and Julia show (LoJ) is my least favorite and I don't care if I miss it -- but that's hard to do since they rerun it constantly.

FM107.1 announced it to the fans of the station via a posting on their Facebook Fanpage – the quotes below are taken from that announcement.

So now the focus of the station I’ve enjoyed listening to for the past five or six years is going to be focused on frivolity:

“In the early evolution of FM107.1 she reflected perfectly - who we were and who we tried to be. It was Real. Life. Conversation. During the past two years FM107.1’s ‘flavor’ has changed – or more precisely – evolved. FM107.1 has and will continue to evolve toward a radio station that is defined by words like ‘pop culture’, ‘celebrity news’ and ‘gossip.’ . . .”

I feel insulted by the dumbing down of the station. I am smart and intelligent woman and I don't care what new face-lift, botox or boy-banging is going on in Hollywood. Especially not so much that I want another two hours of my radio listening time to go to that. And I, personally, enjoyed having Sheletta on Kevyn's show. She lightened things up a bit and she has a great outlook on life. I thought the two of them worked very well together.

I read an article in the StarTribune written by Neal Justin, which states that Kevyn’s contract went through the end of this year and that the station won’t actually replace Kevyn but expand the existing programs. So the station will still be paying Kevyn (I assume that’s part of the contract) but won’t be playing Kevyn. I’ll be interested to see how they do this as Jason Matheson can’t go on-air at 9:00. Perhaps Colleen and the Boys will move to 9:00.

I really like Jason and Alexis’ show (although it is called the “Jason Matheson” show – it’s really the two of them.) Yes, it's a Hollywood focus -- but they spend a lot of time poking fun at Hollywood and don't seem to be too much into the drooling over Hollywood. Colleen and the Boys just ignore the Hollywood and gossip nonsense and come up with their own stuff. The Balanced Breakfast has a good focus on news events and weird news. Ian does a good job of putting a new spin on the news. Lori and Julia are OK -- but they are a bit too obsessed with outer beauty and not enough on inner beauty and character. (At least that's the schtick they present.)

I get that this is about ratings.

I’ve read a lot of comments on-line about how people can’t believe they’re getting rid of Kevyn and keeping Lori and Julia. (Many commenting that the two of them can barely talk in complete sentences. Which isn’t 100% accurate – but I would make it at least 25% accurate.) FM107 is not going to get rid of Lori and Julia. The last I knew, it's their best rated program. Meaning, it's probably the one show that actually makes money. Part of that could extend from the fact that the show is on during drive time and people are more likely to be able to actually listen. The reason they replay it all the time is because it's the best rated show.

This could be changing now that they've introduced Jason Matheson. I wouldn't be surprised if Jason's show isn't garnering ratings the same or better than LoJ. This would also make station management see doing a Hollywood gossip and pop culture format as being more profitable. They added a Hollywood gossip and pop culture program and it's garnering good ratings.

The thing that is kind of strange in all this is that FM107 ratings really just suck. I don’t know the ratings for the individual shows – I couldn’t find them on-line. I did find the overall Arbitron station ratings for the station. The September 2009 (the most recent one available) ratings put Fm107 (WFMP) tied at 19 with The Current (KCMP.) They have a 2% market share and that’s an increase from each of the past two months (1.7 in July and 1.9 in August.) It’s hasn’t changed their over ranking in the market – they were 20th in July and August.

“This decision is not about professionalism. It’s not about hard work, or attitude. Kevyn performed in all those areas, and more. This decision is simply about fit. We do think you deserve an explanation. We don’t expect you to be happy about the change – we sure aren’t.”

This paragraph kind of blows my mind, but not really. They don’t expect us to be happy – they sure aren’t. Really? It’s my experience that people don’t do things that don’t make them happy.

And, based on the snarky little intro to the Perez Hilton clips -- “Love him or hate him -- it’s Perez Hilton exclusively on FM107.1. You’re welcome and we’re sorry.“ -- station management really doesn’t care about what their listeners think. They are listening to what we say – which I take must be pretty much a lot of negative feedback – but the message to the listeners is we really don’t care that you don’t want to hear this spot. We want to play it so we will. Apologies from station management are not sincere.

I'm anxious to learn where Kevyn lands. Perhaps WCCO830 could start punching up their female listening audience by giving Kevyn Burger and Jeanette Trompeter a show from, oh say, 9-11 Monday-Friday.

This past weekend was my first time using Fare for All to help stock my home food shelf.

Fare for All is a program for people to get food at a big discount (about 40%) run by the Emergency Food Network. The only requirement is that participants do 2 hours of volunteer work each month. You can do the volunteer work anywhere. (I've been volunteering with the MS Society and working on Bake for Hope.)

The regular program is on the third Saturdays of the month at multiple locations throughout the state of Minnesota. There are about 7 locations within 10 miles of my house. Most of the locations are churches or you can go the EFN's main offices (which I think are in New Hope.) Going to the main office will save you $1 on the delivery fee. You pre-order and pre-pay for this method.

There is also an "express" program, which offers the items at various locations, but you don't have to pre-order or pre-pay. You just go to the locations during the open hours and make your purchase.

They offer several packages each month and you can buy as many of each package as you want:

• Meat only ($12) -- meat only (duh)
• Light package ($12) -- produce and one meat
• Vegetarian package ($10) -- produce only
• Regular package ($17) -- meat and produce (the meat only and vegetarian package for $5 less)
• Mega meat ($22) -- a lot of meat

I chose to the Regular Package for $17 and my pick up location was Emmaus Lutheran Church. (I picked my location based on it's hours because I had to work at Slumberland on Saturday.) For my $17, I received the following items:

• 2# onions
• 5# potatoes
• 1# carrots
• Celery (a whole package)
• Head of lettuce
• Cauliflower
• 4 apples
• 2 grapefruits
• 1 mango
• 1# ground beef
• 1# bacon
• ~1# chicken breast
• ~1# sandwich meat

I also got their "Happenings" newsletter which includes recipes made using items in this month's package (a mango salsa and carrot raisin salad.)

The next distribution weekend is May 15-16. If you want to participate, their website is www.fareforall.org, or you can e-mail info@fareforall.org or call 763.450.3880.