Last week I had almost finished an update when my computer suddenly died. Of course, I had not been saving my epic entry. Jaeger helpfully pointed out that if I had been using a smart text editor, something would have saved anyway. However, while I like Vim for some things, copying and pasting into a browser is not one of them. Jaeger suggested I should try gVim for this purpose so we’ll see how well it works . . . Below is a quick recap of what I had typed last week as well as my new up/downs.

Our King Soopers store has been adding NuVal to many items. Their rating system doesn’t really match my own personal rating system. For instance, a product can get a pretty high rating for being low in sugar even if this is entirely due to artificial sweetners being used. I’m more of a whole foods type person. I’d much rather buy full-fat, full-sugar ice cream and eat a small portion than eat a larger amount of no-sugar, no-fat ice cream.

However, I was fascinated to discover that even though I don’t really believe in the system, it still influences my buying decisions. I buy a package of individually wrapped Dove Dark Chocolate pieces every week. I’ve discovered that if I don’t have something sweet within the house when I’m craving sugar, I will instead make brownies and eat half the pan the same night. Not a good idea. Instead, I compromise by allowing myself several pieces of Dove chocolate every day. I usually get the dark chocolate variety but two weeks ago I was contemplating getting milk chocolate. Then I saw that it had a slightly lower NuVal number than the dark chocolate. I couldn’t make myself by the milk chocolate variety. Same thing happened last week. I was reaching for the milk chocolate and got stopped by seeing the NuVal number. It’s really odd since I haven’t been impressed with the rating system so you wouldn’t think a number it assigns would stop me from buying something.

In other grocery story news, I was taught that, in general, buying larger amounts of items tended to mean you paid less per ounce for it. For instance, a gallon of milk tends to cost less per cup than a half-gallon of milk. However, I’ve noticed that this is less likely too be true these days. Quite a few times within the last month I’ve picked up the larger size without thinking and then just do a quick sanity check on the price per oz and discover that I’m better off buying two of the small sizes. This has been true for frozen orange juice, oil, and shampoo. I’m wondering if this has been going on for a long amount of time or if it’s a new trend in grocery stores. I’m use to a smaller size being a better deal when it’s on sale but in all of the cases mentioned above, I was comparing non-sale prices.

Down

• Calvin stayed up later than normal for a couple of nights last week. He refused to stay in his bed and instead would bring out a book and quietly flip through it at the top of the stairs. On one hand, I can remember reading after I was suppose to be in bed when I was a child. However, he obviously isn’t getting enough sleep when he does this which is disastrous for the following morning. Also, the only way to get him to sleep like this is for me to go and fall asleep next to him in his room. Then, when I wake up, I sneak back to my own bed. It’s not very restful.
• I lost my cell phone about a week ago. Somehow in the five minutes between checking the time on it to actually leaving the park, I managed to lose it. It hasn’t turned up. Several days ago I gave up and ordered a new unlocked phone. I took it into T-Mobile and was impressed by how painless they made it to transfer my existing prepaid account to the new phone. I think I actually prefer the new phone but I would rather have not spent the money for a new phone.

Ups

• Calvin and Jaeger went to an airshow today which left me alone. I used the time to make a trip to Costco, where I spent too much money, and then cleaned out the fridge in anticipation of our next Fest.
• I’ve had quite a few good books to read recently. I loved Ghost Ship, the newest Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Liaden book. I also enjoyed A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal, by Meredith Duran, Hounded, by Kevin Hearne, and Heart Search, by Robin Owens. Currently, I’m re-listening to Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie. A couple of weeks ago I had been listening to Faking It which reference characters in Welcome to Temptation and made me want to re-visit the first story Not sure what physical book I’m going to read next but I’m queuing up Visions in Death, by J.D. Robb, as my next audio book. I love Robb’s Eve Dallas series but I have to take breaks between each book before I can listen to the next one.
• It turns out that I had maligned Calvin when I claimed he lost my iPod. It had fallen into a box while I was cleaning the basement last December. I just found it. Since I already bought a new iPod that I like, I’ve decided to give this one to Calvin. That is, I’m loading it with “Calvin Music” and playing it in the car when he’s with me.

Calvin Moment
Calvin seems to be getting more into books recently. I checked out a copy of Richard Scary’s Best Storybook Ever from the library about a month ago. It’s not really my preferred type of book for Calvin. To be frank, I find the book to be a bit mediocre. The illustrations don’t speak to me and the stories are extremely simplistic. However, Calvin loves it. He’s spent up to a half-hour at a time flipping through those pages which, for a toddler, is incredible. So, when I stumbled across a used copy at The Boulder Bookworm, I immediately snapped it up. At this point, having Calvin enjoy the concept of books is much more important than nitpicking about quality.

Calvin is also becoming more involved in book selection at the library. When we visit, I’ll sit down at a couch in the children’s area and Calvin will scamper off to a book bin and pick out a book for me to read to him. Once we’re finished, he’ll scamper off to find another book. He still plays with the toys in the library some but obviously is becoming more interested in the books themselves.

Well, it turns out that Calvin is refusing to go to sleep again tonight. So, I must head upstairs to fall asleep on his floor as an example . . .