Superbowl Weekend

Saturday - Sunday Feb. 3-4

Not a whole lot to report. My usual m.o. on the weekends is to pretty much lay low because the beaches are pretty crowed, as are the restaurants and shopping venues. I listed a couple of watch lots on eBay ... first the Pulsar lady's watch that did not fit Carol's wrist; and second a pair of Swatch models called the "Chandelier" which was issued in "limited edition" (like, they only made a million of them or something!) during Xmas of '92. The interesting thing about them is that Swatch packed them in a wooden crate about the size of a shoe box with a sliding top, and a insulated them with a straw-like material. It was a really cool packaging concept. I don't have the boxes to go with my two; just the watches. But we'll see how they do. I got them for virtually nothing as part of a "buy all or nothing" deal.

I got in a nice workout, and also took a walk to the local Starbucks and hit an ATM for $400 cash to take to Daytona on Monday. I sat by the pool at the condo and read, finishing a novel titled "Pandora's Clock" about a lethal virus that breaks out aboard a 747 airliner, and no one will let them land anywhere. It's by John Nance, who is an aviation consultant for ABC News as well as a licensed commercial pilot. The book was very good, and was made into a TV movie back in 1996 starring the legendary Richard Dean Anderson of "MacGyver" fame.

I've had chicken salad for two dinners in a row, so I'm craving something different tonight, and Dawn has told me about these Chinese heat-and-eat dinners by Wanchai Ferry. I bought one the other day (Beef and Broccoli) at the Walmart for around $6 which I thought was kind of pricey, but it's supposed to feed two people. The story of Wanchai Ferry begins in 1972, with a lady named Madam Chong who sold dumplings from a food cart in the Wanchai district of Hong Kong. By the mid '80s, she established a dumpling factory that attracted the attention of a certain company that you may have heard of, by the name of General Mills. They wrote Madam Chong a very large check, and she has now retired to dumpling heaven in Malibu and shops for pretty shiny things along Rodeo Drive. Meanwhile, General Mills has expanded beyond dumplings into the "expensive-entrees-with-very-little-meat" recipe kit market, and touts these meals as an alternative to going out to a Chinese restaurant.

The only problem is that "feeds two" is a bit of a misnomer. I ate the whole thing myself, consuming 720 calories, 122 grams of carbohydrate (white rice), and --- wait for it --- 2,600 milligrams of sodium, which I think is about 600 mg more than the average person is supposed to consume in an entire day. But I have to admit, it was tasty, if a little light on the actual amount of beef. The rice turns out especially good, in its special little steamer pack that you microwave. I may try these again, especially if I can find a coopen somewhere, and I would recommend these, if you're not too terribly concerned about carbs or sodium.

After dinner, I watched the last of my four DVD movies I bought last Sunday at the flea market, because it is my intention to take them back to the flea market tomorrow and resell them to the lady I bought them from. This final movie is "Road to Perdition," which I never saw in the movie theaters when released in 2002. It is about a ruthless Irish mob, headed by its "Don" played by Paul Newman (which I believe was his last major movie before he died in 2008, although he did do a voice over for the animated movie "Cars" in 2006). The lead character is of course Tom Hanks, who plays a hit man in this movie. And Jude Law plays a photographer with a penchant for photographing dead people, the more "freshly dead," the better. It was a very good movie, and I contemplated keeping it, but ultimately decided to sell it back.

Expenses: Starbucks $5.

Sunday

It's Superbowl today, and I really could care less, but of course it's THE topic of conversation, and all over the newspaper and Internet. I plan to watch it just for the commercials, so I make my plans today so I can be in front of the TV by about 6 p.m. or thereabouts because I don't think the actual game starts until 6:30 or so. After breakfast, I head over to the Fleamasters Flea market. I sell back my four DVDs for a buck apiece, and give my copy of "Pandora's Clock," to my bookselling buddy, Chris, as a gesture of goodwill. (He puts it in his "buck-a-book" section.) I buy some additional watch batteries, three T-shirts for ten bucks, and two leather belts for $5 (that's right: $2.50 apiece). The belts and T-shirts are to replace existing stock that has gotten too big for me, so this feels good.

I get back to the condo, and ride my bike over to Anytime Fitness and do a nice workout, and plan it so that I can be back to the condo in time for the Superbowl. It's about 6:10 by the time I turn on the TV, but I haven't missed much, and I'm in plenty of time to hear the national anthem sung by Kelly Clarkson, who I must say knocked it out of the park, especially compared to the butcher job that Christina Aguilara did on it last year. My top three favorite commercials were:

1. the Doritos one, where the dog buries the cat and bribes the owner with a bag of Doritos;
2. the Pepsi "King's Court" commercial with Elton John; and
3. the Acura "bribe" commercial with Jerry Seinfeld.

I was looking forward to the Matthew Broderick "Ferris Bueller" commercial, but I think all the pre-commercial hype outweighed the actual event. I think Honda really missed the boat by not convincing Ben Stein to reprise his role as the economics teacher (I don't even think his character had a name) in the movie.

Anyway, I even enjoyed the game a little bit, as it was a kind of cliffhanger at the end.

Expenses: belt, T-Shirt, watch batteries, $16

Bruce