Cereal: It's what's for breakfast

This is such a great idea. One of the talking-head sports radio shows put together a March Madness-inspired cereal tournament! They're already down to the Edible Eight today, and voting continues to see who will move on to the Flavorful Four and ultimately be crowned -- read closely, Wheaties legal team -- The Champion of Breakfasts! Vote here. I will likely break down this championship after the fact, with stunning insight and breathtaking analysis, just like the 8 jillion "experts" do for the hoops tourney. For good measure, I may throw in some comments about the respective cereals' slogans. Sound grrrrrrreat?

Speaking of crunchy particles in a morning milk bath, Relish recently had a good idea to post a blog encouraging suggestions for holiday-themed marshmallows in Lucky Charms. It started with idle chatter about how great it is to have kids who eat cereal, so the dads can also eat cereal, and grew to suggesting a limited run version of Lucky Charms with nothing but green clovers as the marshmallows. This chat took place right before St. Patty's Day, of course. The next obvious drop is pink hearts for Valentine's Day, and don't forget purple horseshoes for National Campground Pitching Stuff Challenge Day. But why limit it to existing marbits (short for marshmallow bits, since there's no way on General Mills' green earth that those are actually marshmallows)? What about:

Green Trees for Arbor Day (yawn)
Yellow Eggs for Easter
Orange Pumpkins for Halloween
...

Okay, those are the easy ones, and you are surely nearing slumber. Here's a site with a list of holidays. See if you can come up with unique marbit-holiday combinations, even make up your own holidays. Be your usual creative selves, and keep a reasonable level of etiquette (Charlie). Post in the Comments below! This could be just as fun (and tastier) than the Sea Kitten session! BEGIN!

Waiting, Wondering, Watching

I'm waiting to get out of here, basically. The Thanksgiving traditions are calling me, competing: "OVEREAT!", "TAKE A NAP!". Annie and I are flying to Grand Rapids on turkey day, but the kids are staying back in SLC with their Grandma. I'm starting to regret not getting them to MI with us. But they'll have fun. We will too.

I'm wondering, however, what air travel will be like on Thursday. Hopefully the weather cooperates, for one. But holidays generally mean Family Travel, and I'm much more fond of Business Travel. Business Travel days usually include a few obnoxious bluetooth wearing loud-talkers, but mostly quiet laptop tapping and USA Today "reading" (looking at the colorful graphs), along with fairly efficient movement through the airport. Now, I have a family and I enjoy travelling with them, but I don't necessarily like travelling with other families on Family Travel days. No offense to you, other families - I've heard you have a fantastic game night - but the chaos of many, many children and inexperienced airport security victims frazzles my nerves and tests my patience. Hopefully, I'll be too tired to notice since we'll be leaving the house at about 4:30 am.

What I won't be watching this Thursday is the Lions game. I know, I read the Free Press and it is not blacked out. Mercifully, I will still be on the plane until about the 3rd quarter, and by the time I make it to the parents' house it'll be all over but the Turducken eating. Maybe it's because I've been in central Illinois on most Thanksgivings in my life, but I'm not that excited about the whole Lions game tradition this year. Sure, in the past I'd find the TV to catch a bit of Barry Sanders or Herman Moore or... uh... that other Lions player who scored so many touchgoals. Or maybe it's because my Michigan Wolverines are done before Thanksgiving for the first time in my life and the football buzz is gone. Wait, Grand Valley is still undefeated and playing on Saturday - that may be just the ticket for me. Or maybe it's an event of an entirely different sort that will make the weekend memorable. But now I'm just rambling. Either way, I'm happy to be heading home to Michigan.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and don't skimp on the mashed potatoes.