"An annual Thanksgiving tradition"

The results are already coming in... It's been a tradition for nearly five years! I come up with a stupid question, comment, or suggestion...send it out, and see what kind of answers I get from Food Network, Jones Soda and other television chefs. Letters and responses will be posted soon!

"The Quick Wrap of a BIG night in Chicago!"

Well folks, after nearly two years of being whacked over the head with promises and hope for a better future, it all came to a conclusion last night in Chicago with the election of Sen. Obama as our next President. With only a few days left to go before Monday's ad campaign for 2012 begins. Here's some observations from last night's coverage of the historical event on ABC News. Congrats to both gentlemen on a good race. To say things weren't interesting would be an understatement!

• The "Pros and Cons" of appearing on Saturday Night Live - Since the very beginning, NBC's classic SNL has been the perfect conduit for making fun of the knuckleheads in Washington, DC. That's where Al Franken comes in. He was writing sketches for SNL when Gilda Radner, John Belushi and Bill Murray were the main attraction. Al made a mistake when he distanced himself from co-writer Tom Davis and left the show to focus on political humor. He did OK for a while until he took it one step further and actually got serious about it. Serious enough to form a talk radio network with a staff of comedians that have issues... and then when that went belly up. Franken decided to run for Senate in Minnesota. Although voting went on as planned without trouble, Franklen is bitter that he lost and is demanding a recount because doggone it, "He's good enough, smart enough, and people like him" Note that Mr. Al was the first to point out voting mishaps. There's a;ways one in the bunch! On the other hand, Mc Cain graciously accepted his loss, took it like a man, and is proud to have made his several appearances on the show this year. So, impressed was Lorne Michaels with Mc Cain's dry humor, they will be adding him as co-anchor to Seth Meyers on "Weekend Update". Sarah Palin has a week off before heading to New York for the taping of "Victoria's Secret Christmas". No word on how she'll participate...all you can do is hope!
• Was Oprah way too happy to be in Grant Park or was she drunk? There's only been a small number of people that happened to hear Oprah say some silly things in between all of the crying she was doing. Even though Kleenex had nothing to do with it, she alone helped raise the stock in Proctor and Gamble! Matter of fact, they're still mopping up the mess! An emotionally wrecked Oprah spoke to ABC and talked about how important the day was to her. "Everyone in the world put their differences aside and we all joined together to see this dream through. The last time I saw such unity was on 9/11!" She's half right except the ticker tape on that day was being blown out the windows of the buildings by fire, not being tossed up into the air like it were a parade for the Chicago Cubs finally winning a World Series. A poor choice of words Oprah! Ms. Winfrey told the media that she had to kick it into high gear to get to the polls before closing time due to her charity work at a drug and alcohol rehab center just the other side of the street. "The drunks, drug addicts, and myself...we all realized our vote was important. I took all of them with me to the polls!" Thankfully, when it was all over and the final numbers came in making it clear Obama won, there was a large enough gap between the two candidates that I was able to sleep knowing that Obama didn't win just because of a few drunks and drug addicts!
• Now they tell us! Some of the big names in show business were present in Chicago for the rally. The big shocker was Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and family were wandering around Grant Park the whole evening. This wasn't mentioned by anyone until Wednesday morning. It seems as though they were "incognito" for starters however, those that were in the know failed to mention this to anyone due to fear that all the cameras and satellite trucks would make a 90 degree turn AWAY from Obama and steal his thunder. Oh, give me a break already! One guy who was eager to greet reporters was Director Spike Lee who later confessed he was out for a walk in the park when he stumbled across the big event. His real reason for being here was not to cheer for Obama but rather, someone gave him seats for center court at The Bulls game. Whew!
  

Election Day Opinions: Everybody has one. I should have known that as soon as I turned on the news during breakfast that I shouldn't have expected anything more than I got. Gone were the usual homicides, fatal car accidents and stories about grizzly bears walking into Best Buys in Colorado. Nope. You see, today will hopefully end with a new President and perhaps we can all get a rest from the barrage of political ads and related things that keep The Daily Show on Comedy Central in business. I saw the 200 or so satellite news trucks parked in Grant Park here in Chicago today. Half the City is under high security and many people get the day off too. All the big news channels started the day following Sen. Obama's trip through the polling place. Not only did he make his vote a family affair with bringing along the kids for help (Is that legal?), he showed all of Cjicago the ease of electronic voting. They say that it should take about 20 minutes to do however, by the time Obama was done consulting his kids after every vote and hammed it up for cameras with the obligatory hugs and kisses for the family, he clocked in at a little over an hour from start to finish. There was also a record turnout at his polling place from friends and neighbors who turned out not to vote but, remind him that they are supporting him anyway. Yes, that's right! If you were a Fox reporter, would you set aside time to chat with a lady crying her eyes out and calling this the "Most important day in HISTORY" and then admits to the world that she didn't even bother to register to vote?! You can rest assure that there's a alot more people like her in the area that didn't bother to register but are showing their support anyway... like he really needs it. Shame on Fox for not only putting this lady on TV, but didn't even bother to ask how she's going to show support without voting!

• "EZ Muhnee in Advertising 101" - Advertising is a tricky business and it doesn't matter in what format it's presented. Celebrity endorsements have long been used however, the majority of those involved find hawking a product here in America is often embarresing so they offer their services to other parts of the world. The ones that try and make a few bucks by showing their faces tied with a product always make me wonder how anyone is supposed to believe that they use these things in real life. We'll never know if Seinfeld has an AMEX card or shops with Bill Gates however, that's easier to believe than the growing number of hip-hop stars popping up on late night television.

1. Old Spice- They're trying sooo hard to update this classic namesake from it's old image of "Grandpa's cheap after shave" into something the kids think is hip. They've tried over the years like many others, to rename all the old products with names that jump out at you to get your attention. They can call it "High Energy", "Red Hot" or "Thunder". Let's face it though, it's still, "Granpa's cheap after shave" no matter what you want to call it. I'm sure that L.L. Cool J never leaves the house without a splash! After all, if Cool J uses it, why buy that expensive stuff? This is only $3 a gallon and it must work!
2. Vitamin Water- Let's be honest. When you read the label of this popular bottled water, you'll see that it's full of anti-oxidents, vitamins and other things that flush a person's system out and make you feel refreshed and full of energy! When you keep that in mind, who better to have plug the product than hardcore/gangsta,hip-hop/rapper, "50 Cent"? Don't get the wrong idea. He does have a long rap sheet for all kinds of illegal stuff. If you load up your body with weed, crack, or whatever tonight, have a bottle of Vitamin Water before work, and get singled out for a random drug test, all the water you drank will NOT make the drug test a "negative". "50 Cent" got together with the manufacturers and was so impressed that he purchased a big portion of the company. Still, I'm willing to bet that a concert of his would find Vitamin Water to be missing from the scene. Even the studies have shown that there's about a 99% chance that this stuff is tap water with a pinch of artificial flavoring and colors. I'd imagine though, if this would be a good remedy to fix all of a person's ailments, "50 Cent" may be the correct choice for any further research.

"Final thoughts before you cast your vote tomorrow!"

• You bet your ass, and your future! With only hours to go before we go out and vote for the next guy to take over this mess, we're down to the wire as far as this campaign goes. If you're like me, after two years of all this hoopla, I've had more than my fill to last a lifetime of mudslinging and putting words that candidates speak under a microscope. Let's face it, there's been an awful lot of time, effort, and money spent by both of the candidates. It all comes to an end tonight on ESPN during half-time of Monday Night Football. Tonight's game as I learned today, is more important than NFL statistics. People will be watching the game in large volumes (which makes me wonder why MNF got pushed to cable anyway). It seems that the Washington Redskins have the power to predict who will win tomorrow's election. How anyone was able to come up with the facts on this must have lots of free time. With the exception of 2004, a Redskin's victory and in this case, a pro-Obama roster's win may tell us who will be President-Elect after the clock stops. Ooh! A tough game to call, but I suspect Washington would have won regardless. You can bet on that. In a somewhat similar situation of seeing ahead into the future, I would suggest that this weekend's upcoming contest between the Chicago Bears and undefeated Tennessee Titans will be a blowout. The Bears have a tough time winning against a last place team and win by way of luck. In this case, look for the Bears to win over the Titans with a field goal.
• No need to print out a phony coupon for these freebies! Ok, if you voted early like I did, you won't be able to take advantage of several offers being made for tomorrow only. And that's a shame because I'm always looking for an easy way out rather than prepare a meal for myself. If you vote and get a sticker that says so, wear it all day long and hop in the car. Sure, these places are all in trouble financially and are struggling to stay afloat however, they put the effects of a global recession on the back burner to thank you for voting. Start the day by going to the polls and then if you can find one still in business, visit Starbucks, flash your "I voted" sticker and get a free coffee. Drink it slow though, you may be on the road awhile trying to find the next stop which is Krispy Kreme Donuts. They are giving away a donut to everyone who votes. Got plans for dinner? Go to Outback Steakhouse, flash your sticker and they'll give you one of their House Sirloins with your choice of potato for free!!! OK, I must admit, the last offer doesn't exist. If you think you're getting a steak dinner just for voting, you'll simply just be making a fool of yourself. Anyway, the coffee and donuts offers are legit. If that's the only reason you may have to get up early tomorrow, so be it. I'm sticking to my morning cup of tea.