Last night, memories of Gumby, the bendable green-clay character, sprung into my head. I know what triggered the interest — somebody’s avatar on a forum I visit is a picture of Gumby — but I’m not sure why I paid heed to it.



I did some research, which meant meandering the stream of the World Wide Web with my guide Google at my side. I found a site with plot summaries from apparently all of the episodes. Reading them brought back recollections from childhood. They also reminded me just how crazy the Gumby Adventures show was.



Gumby premiered on the Howdy Doody Show in the 1950s and, despite some lulls in popularity, never completely faded from the public eye. Gumby enjoyed resurgences in the 1960s and 1980s, and he even had his own movie in 1995. Here at the office, we have a bendable Gumby figure that we play around with. He’s currently hanging from the ceiling doing… well, I’m not sure.



I watched Gumby on television in the early 1990s. I remember the show being broadcast at some insanely early hour, so my dad would videotape it for my later viewing. Of course, videotape is passé these days. Even if I knew where the tapes were, I don’t own a TV or a VCR, so I would be unable to play them. Fortunately, the movie companies, in their rabid thrust to release as much material as possible on DVD, have released nearly all television series on that new medium, including Gumby. I thought that I would go out and buy it.



I had to go grocery shopping anyway, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and patronize the local SuperTarget. The grocery part of that experience was fine. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that the Target electronics department is very similar to the Target automotive department: they carry everything except what you’re looking for. I wasn’t too surprised, so I did what any good consumerism-driven young American would do: I bought something else.



That impulse conciliatory purchase ended up being the Super Size Me DVD.



For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, it is an independent film about a guy who eats nothing but McDonalds food for one month. He considers it an experiment. The film follows him through the month, with numerous interview interludes. It’s a documentary yet quite entertaining.



<summary>



He starts the month very healthy, something that three doctors, a dietician, and a personal trainer corroborate. He feels good and upbeat. The rule is that he can eat only things that come from McDonalds — if it wasn’t purchased there, he can’t eat it. That means no vitamins, no fresh fruit, and a whole lot of fat and sugar. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every day. For a month.



He reasons that, since lots of people seem to live on fast food, why can’t he? Furthermore, if he survives the month with no ill effects, that will show that the fast food is reasonably healthy, or at least not as dangerous as the trial lawyers assert.



Needless to say, his health takes a nosedive. He’s consuming nearly 5000 calories a day of greasy, sugary, nutrient-barren MickeyD’s. His doctors are horrified and implore him to stop what he’s doing. His liver becomes clogged with fat a la fois gras. He’s depressed and ill, with inexplicable sensations and aches.



At the end of the month, he finds out that he gained over 25 pounds. His blood tests indicate that his liver and kidneys are under extreme duress. His vegan-chef girlfriend puts him on an immediate detoxification diet — lots of vegetables, fruits, and water.



In the end, he survives, but it takes him almost a year to bring his body back to the way it was before the experiment.



</summary>



With all of that in mind, I took a look at my eating habits. Although I eschewed fast food while in college, the working world has pushed me back to the den of convenience. I avoid McDonalds — I literally feel sick after I eat there — much as I ignore its kin: Wendy’s, Burger King, and Hardees. Unfortunately, I’ve become fond of Qdoba, Chipotle, Quizno’s and Panera. In other words, I like the fast food places that don’t feel like fast food places. The upscale fast food, if you will. This is a problem for more than one reason.



Foremost, it’s expensive. Five dollars for a burrito or a sandwich? Yup, and sometimes more.



The real kicker, though, is how unhealthy those places are. Take Chipotle for example. My favorite burrito there is the vegetarian with black beans, mostly because it includes guacamole. Last night, I looked up the nutrition facts on that single burrito. I was blown away. That one burrito packs nearly 1300 calories, almost 60g of fat, and roughly 3900mg of sodium. To put that in perspective, one could eat three quarter-pounders and still be below those numbers. Incredible.



Needless to say, I’m looking for healthier (and cheaper) alternatives, while still maintaining high quality. The obvious solution, to bring a bag lunch, is a non-option, because I want to get away from my office building for that midday hour. Another solution would be to get something reasonable at Subway, and attractive option not only on price but also on convenience: there’s a Subway within walking distance. The third option, proffered by Jeff Fox in his book, “How to Become CEO,” is to skip lunch entirely; instead, use the time to exercise or do business.



Or maybe I should use my lunch hour to write incoherent entries for my blog about old television shows and fast food…

Here’s the obligatory election-day post.

It looks to be a tight race heading into the finish. Regardless of the outcome, it’s likely that there will be numerous legal fights over issues ranging from voter eligibility to fraud from electronic voting machines.

After voting, I plan to follow the election results and analysis. For that, I will turn to The Drudge Report and The Daily Show.

If you’re trying to predict the outcome, you might be interested in reading the last pre-election polls. A slightly more accurate predictor of the popular vote outcome is probably the Iowa Electronic Markets, which allows investors to buy futures for the outcome of the election. As it forces people to “put their money where their mouth is,” the market is rather accurate. The latest prices on the IEM Presidential Winner-Takes-All popular Vote Contest indicate a probability of a Bush victory at less than 1% better than a Kerry victory. The markets do not speak to the Electoral College outcome.



VOTE!

Twenty minutes ago, I woke up with a start and looked at my clock. “6:23” it said. The alarm should have gone off three minutes earlier — man, was I lucky to wake up on my own!

I got up, took a shower, and came back to my room. I was about to get dressed to go to work when I noticed that I had very few clean clothes handy. “That’s odd, I must have forgotten to do laundry on Sunday,” I thought. “Wait a second… I don’t remember doing anything on Sunday.” Suspicious, I ran to the computer and checked the computer’s clock. “Sunday, October 31, 2004” it said. D’oh! Needless to say, I felt stupid.

Meh. I think I’ll go back to sleep.

Tonight, my Fraternity celebrates it’s new association with a host of fresh members, people whom I look forward to one day calling “Brother.”

We call this day Bid Tuesday and celebrate it with age-old traditions and revelry.

Looking back to 1996, we can see that not much has changed.^*

* Note that the milk chug pictured was (and still is) completely optional

I need to drive less; at least, that’s what my odometer is telling me. Three weeks ago today, I picked up my Bimmer from the dealer. In that time, I’ve put 3,000 miles on it. Pundits might point out (accurately) that 1,200 of those miles are from driving to Indiana and back. Even so, doesn’t 1,800 miles in a score of days seem a tad excessive? At this rate, I’m on track to drive over 30,000 miles per year. Needless to say, I’m glad I don’t have a lease.

I think that I would like to continue my new tradition of taking a vacation somewhere exotic every February. But where? Perhaps a ski trip to Whistler in British Colombia? Maybe Vail? The Swiss Alps look tempting, too. I suppose I *could* go somewhere warm, but I have no particular desire to do so. There has been talk of a group going skiing around New Years, but my availability is questionable because of a prior commitment. Decisions, decisions…