One book, I currently see from time to time, is entitled Blink.  Blink examines the value of a quick decision.   One of the studies Blink discusses involves showing a group of people short clips of teachers giving a lecture (with no audio).  Another group is shown still photos of the same teachers from the clips.  Both groups are asked to rank the teaching ability of the teachers based on either the photo or the silent 30 second clip.

The results showed the ratings each teacher received based on photos and clips were remarkably similar to the ratings the same professors received from their full time students after a semester of teaching.   From what I have read so far, Blink supports the notion that a quick decision is often an educated decision.  Although I feel this study simply illustrates our species loyalty to superficial conclusions.

Some people have a natural fear of snakes and others have a natural fear of spiders.  These fears make sense considering the problems our
species has experienced over the centuries do to both species.  Perhaps these fears are based on the same instinctual knowledge that
allows us to make smart quick decisions.

The human brain is the product of years of learning things the only way us humans truly learn anything…the hard way.

I discovered my fear of electricity by touching an electric fence.  Twenty minutes later I discovered that it is impossible to touch a electric fence
twice.  My curiosity made me want to “make sure it was an electric fence” but my brain would not allow my hand to make contact.

Just as I learned not to touch the fence again perhaps the human race has learned from collective experience and perhaps there is something to that gut feeling that helps us make life’s quick decisions.  Although I have only read the fist 50 pages of Blink, I feel I am able to review the book with confidence using the “blink of an eye” decision making the book examines.

Why? You may ask.

I am living the Better World Books “reuse first” lifestyle.

Our office is not equipped with a sink.   I am not complaining, I am merely explaining how I ended up in this predicament.   To test my allegiance to the “reuse first” principles of BWB, my coworker (Kathy) encouraged me to wash out some Tupperware someone had thrown in the trash so we could reuse it.  Today, I enjoyed a can of soup out of that rescued Tupperware and you know what?  It tasted like progress.

Kathy had previously proven to me that she lives the “reuse first” lifestyle when she made a delicious loaf of banana bread out of bananas she personally diverted from a trash can.

Bananas have a special place in my heart (right next to the heart burn they give me).  What a forgiving fruit.  Bananas never “go bad.”  They only become “banana bread worthy.”

Unfortunately, my invention pear bread is not as delicious as banana bread.  Inspired by the principle of banana bread, I decided to use some  brown, wrinkled pears I found in the back of my fridge to make some pear bread.  Unfortunately, rotten pears fail at making something delicious out of something rotten.  Still, I think we have a lot to learn from banana bread.

Last week, I also brought up the notion that we (human beings) should invent a sarcastic symbol or perhaps a sarcastic font. This would be especially helpful for text messaging and instant messaging purposes. I don’t know who invented text messaging but I am pretty sure it was not a man. I simply can not picture a man sitting around inventing a way to make communicating with women more confusing. <

I have dated *girls that read every text message I send in a sarcastic tone. A text message intended to be sweet and touching can become an argument based on the tone of the reader’s inner voice. “Why did you say I’m looking forward to seeing you like that?!” she would ask.  I didn’t say it anyway, it was a text message.  If we lived in a world with sarcastic font she would know the text message was sincere.

Perhaps a passive aggressive symbol would come in handy for the passive aggressives out there. When my roommates write things on our dry erase board (I call it the passive aggressive board) like “Thanks for not putting the dishes away” a passive aggressive symbol could really drive the point home. Without the passive aggressive symbol, I assume they are unhappy with the way I put the dishes away and I am happy to accept the gratitude.

My coworker Kathryn gave me a confusing gift it was called Spanish for Dummies. I think she thinks I am a dummy but at least she has faith in my ability to learn a language. Books for dummies should only be purchased solely by the dummy who intends to read it. Kathryn is a fan of wine so this year for her birthday I’m gonna surf over to betterworld.com and buy her The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wine Basics, 2nd Edition*

* I think that last sentence could use a passive aggressive symbol.
* Why is it that most women under 35 prefer to be called girls? I remember when I became a man. I was in high school and ordering a #4 at Subway and the sandwich artist looked at her coworker and said “Make that man’s food.” It was a big day in my life. I was no longer a boy. I was a man.

I asked Kyle what the The Secret was about and he explained to me that it is about “the law of attraction.” It turns out the book is about the power of positive thinking and positive energy. The idea is that we are all made up of energy and if we focus our positive energy on the things we desire the universe will help manifest our desires.

Testing The Secret: To test this theory, I am going to focus my positive energy on the book itself and if “The Secret” manifests into my hands… I will definitely read it.

* One of Better World Books core values is to “Lead the movement.” I plan to lead the movement to create the sarcasm symbol. Do you know Chip Boyes? Yeah, he is the guy that invented the sarcasm symbol. Look out keyboard manufacturers.  I am going to rock your world. [To be continued]

I had a beautiful first kiss take place in my car on one romantic, rainy night in college.  We were warm in each others arms while it poured rain outside.  It was a perfect moment.  A moment that suddenly crumbled when I recognized the song playing on the radio at that moment was _______(insert a song that you despise).  If only  _______(insert a song you love) was playing on the radio that would have been perfect.   I decided to leave out actual song titles because I don’t want a potential difference in our kissing music taste to take away from the point I am trying to make.

I like to be in charge of the soundtrack of my life.

My favorite song growing up was  “American Pie.”  Don Mclean’s “American Pie” is a great song to have tied to a great memory. I associated the song with fond memories of my father and me singing along to the classic.  Hearing that song brought me joy for about 6 years.

Unfortunately, “American Pie” was playing the day the my dog had to be put to sleep.  Now when I hear that song I am forced to deal with 10 minutes of my own personal “Marley and Me” replaying in my head.  Hey if you think “Marley and Me” is a good movie check out the book.  I like the book better than the movie.  In the book, the wife is played by Katie Holmes.  Well at least that was how I imagined her when I read it. That is the beauty of books you pick the stars, you pick the actors, and you pick the soundtrack.

Recently, I have discovered I spend a lot of time whistling. So I feel like I am in whistle rehab. Every time I whistle I am punished with annoying beeping sounds coming from my pocket.

[Perhaps this concept could be used to help people quit smoking. Think: a smoke detecting keychain. Every time someone smokes they will be forced to listen to the annoying beeps coming from their smoke detecting keychain.]

I have not lost my keys since I have owned the key finding key chain but I have become more aware of my keys presence then ever before. The keychain works. I am down to two whistles a day and I find my self turning to humming. Humming is a safer method for me to express joy as joy manifested in the form of whistling now quickly turns to aggravation. *Beep Beep Beep!*

You would be surprised at how many songs on the radio feature whistling. Now when I listen to John Lennon’s Jealous Guy on the radio I turn into irritated guy with every beep. Perhaps there is a lesson here…

Before my keys became annoying with all the beeping I took them for granted and even forgot where they were at times. Now that my keys are obnoxious, I never forget about them. Remember the movie Home Alone? Did the family forget the obnoxious kid Buzz? Nope they left Kevin, the quiet kid.

I especially love animals that do not live with me.  I have 6 roommates: 3 human roommates, 2 feline roommates, and a 100 pound pit bull roommate.  Each roommate comes with their own unique set of rules.

-Don’t leave towels on the bathroom floor or the cats will pee on them.
-Don’t talk during VH1 reality television programming or the female humans will be upset.
-Don’t talk during the football games or the male roommate will be upset.
-Don’t show fear or the pit bull may attack you.

What a bummer.  I have lost my basic freedom to fear.  Yesterday, I was watching The Shining and I had to turn it off out of fear that I would be attacked by my canine roommate.  He can sense fear and apparently he doesn’t like it.  Currently, Duke (the pit bull) is home for the holidays. In celebration, I watched a bunch of scary movies and felt comfortably terrified.  Living with an animal that has the ability to kill me makes life more exciting. Nothing brings more joy to my heart then seeing Duke’s tail wag.  With each wag I become more certain that I will live to see another day.

I think the rush of survival is addictive.  I am considering buying a motorcycle.  I imagine it would be a rush. A drive to work would turn into a death defying feat.  Every time I climbed off the bike I would celebrate life “I did it, I survived!”

Sure the teacher made us give everyone a valentine but it still felt good when that special someone in the class gave me a valentine with Garfield making a sarcastic remark. Nothing like the cynicism of Garfield to show someone you care. In middle school, we were not required to give everyone a valentine. I was unaware of this and I gave everyone a valentine. Suddenly, my valentines were suffering from inflation. Sarah Brown approached me, valentine in hand, and said she heard I gave every girl in the class a valentine. I did give every girl in the class a valentine I told her but I drew a heart on yours.

I participated in AmeriCorps NCCC, a national service program in which teams of 12 team members complete 1700 hours of national service. We worked and lived together. Some of us even courted each other and then we ended the courtship and continued to live and work together.
In order to keep the team morale up after we worked 10 hour days building trails; our team leader decided we should sit in a circle and tell each team member something we like about them.

Unfortunately, the previous day a young lady on my team and I decided we should end our courtship. We suddenly found ourselves forced to sit in a circle and give each other a compliment. She told me that she liked the way I laughed at my jokes even if no one else thought they were funny. That was a sweet observation for her to make. I told her I was impressed at how many guys drove over 10 hours to come visit her even though they were “just friends.”

Still, every Thanksgiving I load up on mashed potatoes so I can play with them.  I always find myself sculpting faces into my mashed potatoes as I decide which side dishes I wish to devote my precious stomach room to:

Stomach Room = 80% Turkey/gravy +20% sides

Fear comes in the form of becoming full on Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving, I made some new discoveries. Cranberry sauce acts as a great pallet refresher and drinking wine with Thanksgiving dinner instead of milk allows you to both eat more and sleep sounder.

After three plates full of food and sculpting beautiful portraits of Katie Holmes and Barack Obama into my mashed potatoes, I was ready for a nap.

Better World Books’ Atlanta office enjoyed a pre-Thanksgiving feast. I contributed the cranberry sauce to the office feast.  The trick to cranberry sauce is so disguise the can-like appearance or embrace the cylinder shape by cutting it into delicious circles.

Did you know that you can make apple pie without apples?  My father grew up eating “mock apple pie.”  During World War 2 there was a shortage of apples and to keep the All-American dessert alive, cracker companies came up with mock apple pie.  Below is the recipe.  It’s the imitation crab meat of the dessert world.

Mock Apple Pie

The classic pie, featuring crackers baked in a golden crust,
is perfect for the holidays.

Pastry for two-crust 9-inch pie
36 crackers, coarsely broken (about 1 3/4 cups crumbs)
1 3/4 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Grated peel of one lemon
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Roll out half the pastry and line a 9-inch pie plate. Place
cracker crumbs in prepared crust; set aside.

2. Heat water, sugar and cream of tartar to a boil in saucepan
over high heat; simmer for 15 minutes. Add lemon juice and peel;
cool.

3. Pour syrup over cracker crumbs. Dot with margarine or butter;
sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll out remaining pastry; place over pie.
Trim, seal and flute edges. Slit top crust to allow steam to escape.

4. Bake at 425 F for 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is crisp
and golden. Cool completely.

Makes 10 servings

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION per serving
413 calories, 3 g protein, 63 g carbohydrate, 17 g total fat,
3 g saturated fat, 339 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber.

Preparation Time: 45 mins.
Cook Time: 30 mins.
Cooling Time: 3 hrs.
Total Time: 4 hrs. 15 mins.

In the commercial the people could not believe they were eating pasta they could have delivered to their front door for a mere 12 bucks. They had no idea that their meal had been a ruse. I think that they should have had a clue when the fancy restaurant had macaroni and cheese with bacon on the menu. “What varietal of wine do you suggest I have with the macaroni and cheese with bacon?”

I once took a girl to a fancy restaurant and she broke the rule of expensive dining: You don’t complain until you get to the car.

Here is why:

1) It is expensive so you have to at least pretend to enjoy it, it’s called a sunk cost effect.

2) You never know, it may be a ruse and you could end up on TV if you say you like the food.

1) They had free wi-fi

2) I wanted to make some new friends.

My plan went sour when I was informed by the coffee house wi-fi server
that I was not allowed to go to my intended website.   Apparently, the
company is against online dating.  I like online dating.

Online dating saves money.  (That is if you use a free dating site)

I am a bit of a value fan.  Some people say I am cheap but I
am not cheap. I am efficient.  I’m not going to say what coffee shop I
was in but I’ll give you a hint.  It is everywhere.
Plan A to meet people didn’t work.

Plan B
I was forced to attempt to talk to the strangers in the coffee shop.
Complete strangers, not the good kind of strangers.

Not a dating website stranger.

Not cute strangers with similar taste in movies and books
and cute pictures they took of themselves with a phone.
Strangers are strangers in coffee shops but there are clues. You
shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but we all find ourselves judging
people by the cover of the book they are reading.

I was reading cliffs notes so I suppose I appeared efficient. I used
to read cliffs notes because I was a lazy high school student.  I
read cliffs notes as an adult because I am efficient.

Since we do judge each other by what we are reading, I wish I had a
book titled “How to Stay Awesome” written in big letters on the cover.
Women would think wow that guy looks pretty awesome.

I recently ordered a book from betterworld.com.  I was proud to order from my company because I know that Better World Books erases carbon foot prints.

If you don’t know what a carbon footprint is… don’t
worry about it. I felt smarter before I tried to understand the
concept.  This is how I understand it. A carbon footprint is like
gingivitis and Better World Books is like Listerine but Listerine that
also raises funds for non-profit literacy partners.

Then on the way to get your flu shot you start to feel a tickle in the back of your throat and not a good tickle.  A tickle that makes you think, “Why should I spend 30 bucks for a painful shot when I may be sick already.”  Then you think of all the times you heard “flu shots make you sick.”

Is this true?  Was this ever true?  Or… are flu shots the best placebo ever created?  Perhaps a flu shot is just a shot of chicken noodle soup.  Why does chicken noodle soup make you feel better? Because Mama told you it would. Why would Mama lie?

I think flu shots are the most powerful placebo known to man.  Some people get the shot and suddenly they have flu symptoms and this actually convinces them that the shot works.  “That is how you know it is working.”  Working? That is like buying a winter coat that initially makes you cold which indicates “it is working.”

One year, Santa Clause brought me Choose your own adventure books.  When I used to read Choose your own adventure books, people thought I was a slow reader.  I am not a slow reader. I am a slow decider.  Imagine if The Great Gatsby asked you to participate, “if you choose to kiss Daisy go to page 34.”

I just started a audio book this morning while driving to work.  The book is pretty good so far except for the part where I remembered that I forgot my lunch at home.  It is hard to pay attention to an audio book while you are wondering if your ham and cheese sandwhich is worth turning around in the morning traffic.  This is my first audio book but it is not my first time drifting off while I am listening to someone talk.

Who will fully appreciate the brilliance of this book?  It’s not until someone says that right thing at that right time that it strikes me. You would appreciate this book. You have proven yourself worthy.  You deserve my book.

When I hear a guy go on about a girl, song, and movie in one breath, I know he deserves to read High Fidelity.  When some Dude says “I feel like the only manly thing I do is open jars and replace the water cooler jug in the office,” I say you deserve to read Fight Club.

Some people appreciate geysers. Some people are fascinated by geysers. I spent a summer working in Yellowstone National Park and I saw Old Faithful.  Watching Old Faithful erupt is like watching water shoot out of the ground.  It just didn’t appreciate the science and the reliability of the matter.

I had more fun watching the people watching Old Faithful, some people were amazed, some were texting their friends, and some were making out.  Later that summer a friend offered me his book on geysers. Based on actually seeing a geyser, I wasn’t sure about the book, but he insisted so I took it from him. Reading the book was as rewarding as reading a book about hot water coming out of the ground.  I didn’t deserve that book.

Two weeks later I had a cute friend come and visit me.  She was so cute I bought her a cute 700 dollar ticket for her to come visit me. At that altitude you don’t care about money.  As I took my cute friend to see Old Faithful I remembered those two making out as Old Faithful did his thing.  As I went in to kiss my cute friend she didn’t even notice; she was too amazed at this hot water coming out of the ground. I nearly fell in love with her as I watched her study the geyser.  I had a book she deserved.

Another friend of mine believed she was psychic.  She let me borrow a Silvia Brown book.  If you do not know already, Silvia Brown is one of the most successful psychics out there.  I accidentally left the book at the airport. When I told my psychic friend I lost her book she seemed surprised. Perhaps she isn’t a psychic.

It doesn’t take a psychic to see that Better World Book is going to continue to realize the value of used books and erase illiteracy one book at a time. Better World Books is like that friend that deserves books.