I went to Sonic for lunch to try the new double meat patty melt, which I highly recommend by the way, and I’m starting to notice that just about every Sonic now has the credit/debit card machine at every ordering stand. I bet the car hops don’t like those machines since it hurts the chances of them getting a tip. You know, a lot of times when you get change back you just give it to the car hop, but if there isn’t any change due to a credit/debit card payment – there’s no change and no tip for the car hop. Which brings up another question . . . should the car hops get a tip?  All they do is bring me my food and are doing their job, they aren’t really waiting on me like a restaurant. I end up tipping them out of guilt for some reason. It’s not like I tip anyone at McDonalds or Chick-fil-A.
NFL Week 14 Recap
This week I was an astonishing 15/16, which puts me 134/208 or 64%, two points higher than last week.
Bears at Redskins – Correct
Panthers at Jaguars – Correct
Raiders at Packers – Correct
Chargers at Titans – Correct
Rams at Bengals – Correct
Buccaneers at Texans – Incorrect
Dolphins at Bills – Correct
Cowboys at Lions – Correct
Giants at Eagles – Correct
Vikings at 49ers – Correct
Cardinals at Seahawks – Correct
Browns at Jets – Correct
Chiefs at Broncos – Correct
Steelers at Patriots – Correct
Colts at Ravens – Correct
Saints at Falcons – Correct
However, I did have a poor fantasy week. I thought the Steelers would give the Pats a hard time so I sold Brady and picked up Palmer and bought T.O. since he was facing the Lions. None of that worked out.
The dog has better moves than the girl
Toy kitchens for boys?
The idea of boys playing in kitchens seems more palatable to parents today than in earlier generations, probably because of how they were raised and how they run their households, says Dr. Michael Kaplan, an assistant clinical professor at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut.
“Men are reshaping and rethinking their roles,” he says. “They are doing much more (cooking and housework) than they ever have.”
Young fathers also are more likely than their fathers to have been reared by a working mother, Kaplan says.
And television has contributed to making men more comfortable in the kitchen.
“Some of these roles have been helped by the Food Network,” says Robert J. Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University in New York. The network “has defeminized the kitchen” with programs such as “Iron Chef,” “Emeril Live” and “The Restaurant,” he says. Many young children – boys and girls alike – also enjoy watching the enthusiastic Rachael Ray.
Toy manufacturers say they try to offer plenty of gender-neutral options. Pottery Barn Kids, which introduced pink and blue sets several years ago, is adding a white line this holiday season.
Tom Prichard, vice president of Little Tikes, the Hudson, Ohio-based toy manufacturer, says the company doesn’t track how many of its kitchens are bought for boys or girls, but employees regularly receive letters from parents who write that their sons love them.