So, much to my dismay, at the ripe old age of 28, I’ve come to the realization (through being made fun of and a wager) that there is no chocolate associated with Reese’s Pieces.

Does that seem wrong to you?

I feel duped. It’s scandalous, really.

When you think Reese’s, you think peanut butter and chocolate. Mmmmm.

But then you buy what you think should represent a “piece” of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup…and all you get is the peanut butter.

Hershey’s should toss the product out for misrepresentation.

If M&Ms can make a peanut butter center with a chocolate covering and hard candy shell…why didn’t Reese’s think of that first?

Beat at their own peanut buttery chocolate game. It’s sad.

But apparently, it’s some sort of blog tag game and I’ve been tagged by Confessions of an Insomniac over at EmeraldCoast.com. The rules are fairly simple, so let’s play!

The rules …

1) Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself.
3) Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4) Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
7 things about me…

I don’t like hunks of cooked tomatoes. Strange huh? Love raw tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato soup…just not hunks of cooked ones.

I’m afraid of the dark. I have to have just a little bit of light to sleep. I’m also really afraid of sharks and Michael Myers from the Halloween movies.

I almost died during a surfing accident and the only thing going through my mind was….hmmm, maybe this is why God made me cautious of getting in water above my waist.

I sang at Carnegie Hall when I was 13.

Two of my first crushes were David Hasselhoff on Knight Rider and Tom Wopat on the Dukes of Hazzard.

Even after years of practice, I have to really concentrate to throw in a straight line.

My first act of vegetarianism was when I was little on my grandpa’s farm in Texas. He made the mistake of telling me he made rabbit stew. He was so mad when I wouldn’t eat it.

I HATE to wash dishes. It might be the ickiest thing ever.

When MacGyver was going off the air. I taped every episode when they replayed on USA in the afternoons.

I won an X-files baseball cap during a radio contest in college because I knew David Duchovny’s shoe size.

Tag…you’re it!

Undercurrents Online

Ganto

General Musings

The Blueprint

Backstage Pass

The Online Editor

Commander’s Log

Disney made a movie about me.

Of course, the fictional land that the movie lead hailed from was Andalasia…. but I figure, that’s pretty close to Andalusia.

Last night I went with a couple of girl friends to see the new movie “Enchanted” and left the theater feeling…well…enchanted, giddy even.

It was a wonderful mix of the fairytales we all grew up with, slapstick humor, romance, lessons to be learned and a little bit of holiday magic.

There wasn’t any harsh language, that I remember. There was no on-screen sexuality. It was just great family-fun that can bring out a little innocence in every viewer.

It’s hopeful. It provokes carefree thoughts. And it proves true love can “pop up” from anywhere.

(As a side note, we did dance and sing as we left the theater. It was that good.)

I’m hoping to see it again, soon. Maybe I can convince someone to accompany me so I can share the enchantment of the experience.

Then you can expect another blog about how it was even more magical the second time around.

Reporter Brian Hughes was just in my office looking at a photo of Hilter (which is a completely different story) and remarked he had a brick from Hitler’s home that he had picked up on one of his many travels abroad.

My friend and fellow journalist Rachel gathered up a rock from Harper Lee’s home in Monroeville, Ala. a couple of weeks back when she was there.

I have a piece of glass that was melted in the fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas that I found the same year as the incident.

A former teacher I know has volcanic rock and ash she collected.

Whether it’s from a tragedy, or to remember a pleasant vacation, what is it about “souvenirs” of this sort that draw us to them?

What’s the strangest thing you’ve picked up along the way?

Remember the stories you learned in elementary school about how the Pilgrims braved a voyage to a new world for religious freedoms? Only some of that was true.

Thanks to the Orange County Register (a Freedom property in California), here’s a look at the Mayflower’s voyage and life of the Pilgrims.

Click here to watch an interactive presentation: The Mayflower

I’m getting my brass knuckles ready.

I’m tucking my hair up in a hat so no one can pull it, wearing steel-toed boots and no jewelry.

Okay, so maybe that takes the situation to the extreme. But you have to be prepared. Black Friday turns ordinary people into lunatics.

A few years back, I got a black eye from a rabid shopper.

Wal-mart was having a SUPER special with $99 televisions. My grandmother’s TV was on the fritz, so my mom, aunt and I went out with the rest of the early birds to take advantage of the deal.

When we got to the store, a manager pointed us in the direction of a pallet of televisions, still encased in a plastic wrap so no one could take a TV before the sale started.

We, and a few other people, stood patiently by the televisions until 6 a.m.

One of the workers began to unwrap the televisions and a frenzy started. People came from out of nowhere.

Grown men were sitting on each other’s shoulders and grabbing televisions left and right. They were working in packs, piling them into shopping carts.

One woman planned to buy six of the TVs— one for each of the three kids’ rooms, one for the garage, one for the kitchen and one for the basement.

We just needed one.

As the crowd began to thin a bit, I moved in and picked up a television. I turned around and started back toward my mom and aunt.

Then, like a bolt of lightning, came a woman with crazed eyes.

She placed her hands on the box I was carrying and turned it sideways so a corner was pointed at me. She shoved the box corner into my eye and knocked me flat on the floor.

My mom gasped and ran toward me.

Ms. Crazy placed the television in the buggy with two others she had already collected and glanced back at us.

Whatever “crazy lady” had was contagious. I was infected. I left my family and took off running. “Crazy” must not have been expecting an attack from behind.

I simply maneuvered between her and her cart, placed my hands on the handle and took off running.

About a minute later, I found myself in the shoe department, giggling like a mad woman with a black eye and a television in hand. (I did leave the other two behind for another shopper to find.)

See, lunatics. All of us.

Two years ago, the sale excursion didn’t land me in the emergency room. But it was just as eventful.

I was in the market for a laptop for work and Circuit City had advertised them for $199. It was a deal almost too good to be true.

My mom and I had planned to go a couple of hours early and sit in the car until the store opened to make sure we were close to the front of the line.

At 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving, we were watching the news. A reporter was outside the Circuit City in Pensacola where people had already lined up to claim their laptop.

We thought, surely, no one would be at the Fort Walton location.

So we loaded up the car on a discovery expedition. Sure enough, there were already five people in line.

We went back home and bundled up. We gathered a couple of chairs and sleeping bags and went back to the store, thinking we’d stay in the car because no one else was going to show.

Apparently, everyone in Fort Walton had watched the same newscast we did.

Cars began to pull up, one after another. We got out and stood in line.

Before the store opened at 6 a.m., the line of people waiting for a laptop stretched from Circuit City to Quizno’s Subs.

It was cold and we should have just gone home. But the holiday shopping experience is infectious.

First, first, first. Me, me, me. I want, I want, I want.

Parents want their kids to have the latest Elmo, even though the child is probably too young to even know who Elmo is. People feel the need to give the latest gaming system, no matter what the cost.

A lady in North Alabama sold her place in line last year at Wal-mart for a Playstation 3 for a hefty 900 smackaroos.

That’ll buy her a Playstation AND whatever else her kid’s heart desires for Christmas.

I call it the “Christmas crazies.” No one is immune. Everyone gets swept up in wanting to find the perfect gift for their loved ones.

Let’s just remember we all have the same desire to see a smile on the faces of people who unwrap their presents from us.

And let’s try not to give anyone a black eye this season.

We get letters and calls all the time here at the paper asking for ideas about how students and community members can send their wishes to U.S. troops overseas.

Many times it’s frustrating because, unless you know a service member, you must coordinate through a larger effort to submit even cards and letters. The military can’t give out individual names and addresses for safety reasons.

But now, through XEROX, there’s a way you can send as many well wishes as you want.

Here’s the link: Let’s Say Thanks

XEROX and the “Let’s Say Thanks” project allow visitors to the site to pick artwork created by children to be used on a personalized postcard.

You can use one of the pre-written greetings on the site, or there’s and option to write whatever you wish.

Xerox then prints the cards out and sends them overseas.

You can send as many as you like and even see a few “thank yous” posted from our troops.

It’s easy. Go send some holiday cheer!

It was going to be a train wreck. I knew it, the whole world knew it.

But still, I watched, hopeful that our little Britney would surprise us.

Instead of surprise, it was mostly shock and awe as she wriggled apathetically across the MTV Video Music Awards stage under what appeared to be the influence of some sort of mind-altering substance during her performance of “Gimmie, Gimmie.”

First she pranced back and forth in her bra and panties, then decided since she wasn’t doing a great job lip syncing, she just wouldn’t mouth the words either.

Combo’ed with a bad weave, her performance was sad. There was barely even booty-shakin going on.

MTV could have saved a truckload of money by hiring a stripper who’d at least be more enthusiastic about gyrating on the stage with the men Brit was dancing in and out of.

(She even grabbed at one of thier crotches, which I’m not sure was planned from the look on his face.)

Diddy looked as if he was ready to bolt. 50 cent just stared blankly in disbelief. Rhianna and the girl next to her exchanged knowing looks and uncomfortable giggles.

Apparently, being rich and young in Hollywood can buy you enough crack to help make a fool of yourself once again, this time in front of a live audience to be youtubed for the rest of her existance.

Check out this link to see Brit in action. http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1568788…

On to why I couldn’t sleep last night, and a much better time spent in front of a flickering screen.

I had no problem falling asleep on the couch last night. It was when I moved into the bedroom and tried to fall asleep again that I went over every scenario possible concerning how I’d escape a psychopath if he broke into my apartment.

For those of you who know me. You know my love for horror movies.

And…you know my top three fears in the world: sharks, the dark and Michael Myers.

Laugh if you want. Go ahead. But my friends have the understanding that if anyone dresses up like Michael Myers for Halloween they will probably be punched simply from a gut reaction. (A side note. Shark costumes don’t bother me. You can dress like a shark.)

So, it was with a therapeutic intent that I went to see the new Halloween movie with a couple of friends last night. I’ve seen all the Halloween movies, multiple times.

This flick was disturbing and went back further into the reasoning and transformation of Michael before catching up to the main storyline everyone is familiar with.

It was bloody and startling.

I jumped like a high school girl several times. And, I know Michael Myers is a fictional character. However, I couldn’t help but try and play out what would happen if “Michael,” or any other mask-wearing, knife-wielding person were to bust down the door or through the window of my apartment.

Would I break for the door at the opposite end of the place? Would I remember to grab the keys? Would I run to the road, or into the woods (Not the latter, obviously, we all know what happens when you take off for the woods. That’s like asking to be murdered.)

The conclusion I came to was it would probably be beneficial to take off for the stairs and start knocking on everyone’s doors as I passed by. That would possibly wake the neighbors enough to call the police. And, it would provide many more victims for the assailant to choose from as they emerged sleepily from their homes, affording me the opportunity to escape.

I don’t know my neighbors. So, therefore, they are expendable.

As always, I’m not sure the remake was as good as the original…but it was worth seeing…especially for horror fans.

I figure it’s good training for the real world, too. Everyone needs their own escape plan in case of serial killer invasion.

I dunno about lunch. But there’s some other free stuff that’s making me a happy camper these days.

Looking for a free (and legal) way to find your favorite tunes and listen to them online?

Gotcha covered. Visit http://www.finetune.com and create your own profile and playlists. The service was created and is maintained by the survivors of Napster, Gigabeat and Listen.com. It’s perfect for listening to tunes at the office or at home. No, it isn’t a program to download the tracks to your mp3 player, although there is an option to purchase the tracks for use on iTunes. It’s specifically for listening enjoyment through the site. I haven’t found a song that isn’t on finetune.com yet. From Frank Sinatra to Gym Class Heroes, with even a little Bananas in Pajamas mixed in for the kiddies.

Tired of paying for 411 calls? Now you don’t have to.

Sure, it might take a little more effort or be a little less convenient. But hey…if it keeps the green in your wallet, isn’t it worth it?

Now there’s no more paying a buck 99 for 411 calls. There’s a free 411 service you can use.

Just dial 1-800-FREE-411 and be amazed.

Be warned, you will have to listen to a 20 or so second commercial. But then, there is your number. You can even have the number sent via text message to your phone if you don’t have a pen handy.

Standard text messaging fees apply. However, most people pay for their messaging service as part of a bundle plan. So, it’s really no big deal.

Even better than that program, in my opinion, is Goog-411, brought to you by Google labs.

There are no ads to listen to AND this service connects you for free. The only downside is that it is completely automated. If the computer doesn’t understand what you are saying, there is no human backup that eventually comes on the line. 1-800-Goog-411 has been successful for me every time I’ve used it.

Another free way to get your number is to use Google sms. Yup. It’s on your phone, too.

All you need is text messaging capability on your cell phone.

Text the name of the business you are looking for along with the city and state to GOOGL (46645) and wait a few seconds for a reply. Google will text back about four choices in and around your location. It’s really simply and I’ve begun to use the service a few times a week.

Last on the free stuff alert list is free. Sometimes it’s pets, sometimes furniture and appliances. Chances are, if you are looking for something, someone there has it.