Craving a Cutie

It appears that I am now lactose-intolerant or "lactarded" as ChickenMama likes to say. I've been trying to substitute milk alternatives whenever possible and take Lactaid to supplement my diet for those times when you just feel like having a milkshake (in my case, once a week). So far, this plan has been met with mixed success. Someone told me that he really enjoys Soy Chai Lattes at Starbucks, so one morning I tried to substitute my morning coffee with a soy latte. As I stood on the sidewalk with my co-worker and he lit up his morning cigarette, I took one sip and then a second. "This is disgusting," I said. "My coffee tastes like soy milk!" Was this my future? I can't stand even skim milk in my coffee - I thought about crying, but that seemed ridiculous given the current state of the world.

One alterna-product that I consider a major score is the Tofuti Cutie, a dairy-free soy-based, teeny-tiny faux Ice Cream sandwich. The original Tofuti Cuties never really did it for me, but now they have a new key lime flavor! Highly recommended if you can find this in your grocery store. Pop, I'm bringing you a box the next time I come home.

I also noticed recently that Daveb started a Flickr pool devoted to Dry Erase Board Artwork. If you're into Flickr pools and sniffing markers, this is surely for you.

I read a great book this weekend, actually I killed it in two days. "The Blind Side" by Michael Lewis (the author of Money Ball and Liar's Poker) traces the evolution of modern football strategy and explains how the position of left tackle became one of the most important positions on the field. That's right, I said football. Most of you who know me should be rubbing your eyes and doing a double take because 1) I don't know anything about football and 2) I heretofore have not seen anything of the game that makes me want to learn anything about it. I picked up the book because I was interested in second story that Lewis weaves in, the biography of Michael Oher, a giant, silent sixteen year old kid who walks out of one of the worst housing projects in West Memphis and through a series of coincidences lands in wealthy, white, Christian East Memphis. He was literally born to play left tackle, this position that has become the new NFL cash cow, and against all odds, he is on his way to becoming a first round NFL draft pick when he becomes eligible in a couple of years. The story is incredibly moving, a reminder of how truly isolating urban poverty can be and the quality of Lewis's writing is so good that I didn't even skip the expository football chapters. You should go pick up a copy, or chances are that I'll probably give it to you as a gift at some point.