Last week I traveled to St. Louis for a training class. David (a coworker) and I went to learn some new software, and as he's from the area he showed me some of the sites.
The main site to see in St. Louis is the Gateway to the West, or simply the arch. I had seen it as a child and was absolutely terrified by the trip to the top. I've been afraid of heights for as long as I can remember, and for a while as a child I had a fear of elevators (the sudden acceleration and deceleration made me feel like I was falling). Anyway, the elevator to the top is this bubble tram system where the individual cars keep "righting" themselves as you travel the curve of the arch. In a word, terrifying! Anyway, to make a long story short I thought about facing my fear, and decided that I did a swell job of it... with both feet on the ground. But when facing the arch once again, I was amazed that when viewed from the capital building, the beautiful arch nicely frames an industrial complex. On one side of the river is the capital building, then a beautiful garden area which leads to the arch. On the other side of the river an old ugly industrial building and that's it. When I pointed this out, David replied something along the lines of, "It's Illinois, what can you do?"
While I was in town, I managed to dine at three different restaurants owned by Cardinal's players. It helped that two of the restaurants were within walking distance of my hotel which was also in walking distance to the training location. One thing that intrigued me was the menu at Ozzie's (as in the Wizard of Oz, Ozzie Smith) had a special "Lenten Entree" section, which I can't recall seeing before. I commented on this to the people hosting the training class, and they seemed surprised that I was surprised, since surely in a place like Boston I saw it all the time. Boston might be more cosmopolitan that St Louis, but having a lot of variety doesn't mean having all the varieties. Considering the number of churches in Boston that have been turned into condominiums, it really doesn't surprise me that I haven't seen a Lenten menu.
All in all, it was a good trip (except for the hotel which was sub-par). I learned a good deal, saw the sights, and got home safe and sound.
29 March 2009
13 February 2009
Home Again
I spent the last two weeks and a day in Virginia working on a proposal for work. It wasn't a lot of fun. I ended up having to extend the trip twice, the first time for four days, the second for just one. The woman at the hotel asked, "Why do you even bother checking out?" I also averaged working 12 hours a day for the entire trip, including a meeting on Superbowl Sunday. The one bright point was that I got to have dinner with my dad one night.
I must have been running on adrenaline towards the end. I almost fell asleep in the rental car van going to the airport, and again while waiting for my flight. But even though I zoned out and felt like I could sleep, I didn't. Even when I got home, I couldn't fall asleep until the stress worked itself out of my system. Once I did sleep it was for ten hours, and I barely got out of bed then.
Today was full of paying bills that have been piling up in my absence, doing laundry that I've been lugging around, and eating cookies that my sister made for me. I also spent some time working on my niece's present, but didn't get too far before my motivation dried up. I'm in a waking coma, althought I'll try to move off my couch in a bit... really.
I must have been running on adrenaline towards the end. I almost fell asleep in the rental car van going to the airport, and again while waiting for my flight. But even though I zoned out and felt like I could sleep, I didn't. Even when I got home, I couldn't fall asleep until the stress worked itself out of my system. Once I did sleep it was for ten hours, and I barely got out of bed then.
Today was full of paying bills that have been piling up in my absence, doing laundry that I've been lugging around, and eating cookies that my sister made for me. I also spent some time working on my niece's present, but didn't get too far before my motivation dried up. I'm in a waking coma, althought I'll try to move off my couch in a bit... really.
30 December 2008
Football is like Politics
They both make for strange bedfellows. On Sunday the NFL played the last games of the regular season. With the NFL having relatively few games in a season, it means there are a lot of ties in the standings. It also means that a lot of games have bizarre influences on other games because of the tiebreakers.
Since the Redskins were playing the late game, and I arrived at the bar in time for the early game I asked to have the Buccaneers game on. The Bucs were playing the Raiders, and I really have no opinion about either team. I don't even do fantasy football, so that didn't enter into my rationale. I wanted the Bucs to win, because that would mean that if the Eagles won, then Dallas and the Eagles were out of the playoffs. I know it's petty wishing bad things on other teams just because they are rivals, but the Redskins season was over last week, so I had to have someone to root for.
But even odder than my selection was the Jets game. Living in Boston, most everyone around is a Pats fan. For the Pats to win a trip to the postseason, the Jets had to win. The Jets may have fans out there somewhere, but they don't have a lot in Boston. Except for last Sunday when a number of raucous chants of "J... E... T... S... Jets Jets Jets!" broke out in the bar.
Of course, how can I comment on Sunday's football results without reflecting on the Lions loss. I was pulling for them, I really was. A part of me thought it would be great to see history made as a team finished with no wins. But a larger part of me hates the Packers and wanted them to lose to the worst team in football.
Other anomlies of the season... How about San Diego going to the playoffs despite having an 8-8 season? 5 teams have better records and aren't going to the playoffs at all. Another way to look at it is half the teams have a better record! And how sad is it that the Pats aren't going to the playoffs despite having a 12-4 record? That's a good enough record most years to win home field advantage.
Maybe the NFL should add more games to the season, so there are fewer ties in the standing. There isn't much they can do about the 12-4 and 8-8 thing unless they regroup the leagues, or change the way the games are scheduled.
Anyway, I got a bit off topic in this, but my point is, just because a guy's wearing a burgundy shirt and rooting for the Bucanners doesn't mean he's a Bucanners fan. He might just really hate Dallas.
Since the Redskins were playing the late game, and I arrived at the bar in time for the early game I asked to have the Buccaneers game on. The Bucs were playing the Raiders, and I really have no opinion about either team. I don't even do fantasy football, so that didn't enter into my rationale. I wanted the Bucs to win, because that would mean that if the Eagles won, then Dallas and the Eagles were out of the playoffs. I know it's petty wishing bad things on other teams just because they are rivals, but the Redskins season was over last week, so I had to have someone to root for.
But even odder than my selection was the Jets game. Living in Boston, most everyone around is a Pats fan. For the Pats to win a trip to the postseason, the Jets had to win. The Jets may have fans out there somewhere, but they don't have a lot in Boston. Except for last Sunday when a number of raucous chants of "J... E... T... S... Jets Jets Jets!" broke out in the bar.
Of course, how can I comment on Sunday's football results without reflecting on the Lions loss. I was pulling for them, I really was. A part of me thought it would be great to see history made as a team finished with no wins. But a larger part of me hates the Packers and wanted them to lose to the worst team in football.
Other anomlies of the season... How about San Diego going to the playoffs despite having an 8-8 season? 5 teams have better records and aren't going to the playoffs at all. Another way to look at it is half the teams have a better record! And how sad is it that the Pats aren't going to the playoffs despite having a 12-4 record? That's a good enough record most years to win home field advantage.
Maybe the NFL should add more games to the season, so there are fewer ties in the standing. There isn't much they can do about the 12-4 and 8-8 thing unless they regroup the leagues, or change the way the games are scheduled.
Anyway, I got a bit off topic in this, but my point is, just because a guy's wearing a burgundy shirt and rooting for the Bucanners doesn't mean he's a Bucanners fan. He might just really hate Dallas.
20 December 2008
Snow
So Winter has finally come to Boston. According to some winter came a couple of days early (if you believe winter officially begins at the winter solstice). For those with a loser definition, it came on Friday, at least to Boston.
We had flurries a week or two ago, but no accumulation to speak of. Basically enough to put you in the Christmas Spirit, but not enough to prevent people from going shopping. But yesterday, the hammer dropped.
I had a particularly interesting day. I had scheduled a meeting with a potential contractor for a project at work. They are located in Rhode Island, just over an hour south of Boston. I had scheduled the meeting on Monday, when the forecast showed Friday as the only day during the week that it wasn't going to be raining.
It wasn't until Thursday that I realized I'd chosen poorly. On Thursday, I mentioned to a co-worker that I was going going to be out early on Friday and explained about the trip. He said I should cancel because there was going to be a storm. I suppose just about everyone else in Boston knew the storm was coming before I did. I've just gotten out of the habit of checking the weather, because if its a bit colder, or a bit warmer, it only affects whether I put on my hat and how high I zip my jacket.
Checking the predictions, the 6-12 inch band of snow covered a swath including all of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I checked over and over, but the result stayed pretty much the same, only varying on exactly when it would hit.
But, I decided I would go anyway, although I moved it forward a bit so that I could at least get all the way there before the snow hit. On the way, I remembered some of my snow preparedness tips and stopped to get gas, even though I had a half tank left. While I was at the gas station, a news crew was interviewing the woman at the pump beside mine: "The Panic before the Storm" as I called it. They didn't seem interested in interviewing me, but then again, I'm not a cute girl in her early twenties.
My plan of getting to the meeting before the snow worked fine. I got to their facility just as the snow started to fall.. It ended up being a very good meeting. But a couple of hours had passed and when I got to my car there were three inches of snow covering it.
I cleared my car off and headed out, at a breakneck speed of ten miles an hour. I firmly ignored my GPS instructions to follow the side roads and shave a mile off the drive. Instead I took the most direct route to the interstate. Once on the interstate I got up to a whopping 30 miles an hour. At least for a little while. Eventually I hit a bridge where I barely had enough traction to keep going up. It was an intersting experience, and made me glad I drove a car with traction control!
I had to stop twice on the way to clear off my windshield. Even though the wipers were doing a pretty good job of moving the snow, it accumulated at the stops. The first rest stop I visited had a news truck waiting. I didn't see anyone near the truck, so I'm not positive what their mission was. If they were staged there to respond, or if they were waiting for someone to come in that they could interview. The second time I stopped, I actually got stuck. Luckily there was a guy clearing the sidewalks and he came over and gave me a hand getting out.
I stopped one more time on the way home to have dinner. That's when it got really interesting because there was thunder snow! It was only the second time I've ever seen it. Generally thunderstorms and winter don't mix. But occasionally they get together. It is more of a whomph than a crash, something you feel more than actually hear. There isn't the clear bolt of lightning either, but a coloring of the sky. On this occasion the sky turned a deep electric blue (the previous time I saw it the sky turned purple and green). The power dimmed a few times, but didn't end up going out.
I eventually got back on the road, and had a relatively uneventful trip in. It was rather odd though, because I saw a number of snow plows heading outbound, but didn't see any going my way, or even signs that they had only recently passed. It also seemed that the majority of people were definitely heading away from Boston and not towards Boston.
When I finally got to my neighborhood, I was surprised at how clear the streets were. I suppose the heavier traffic, and more frequent plowings had something to do with it. At least the main streets were pretty clear, the side streets considerably less so. I turned off the main street onto my street and immediately knew I had a problem. The snow plow had been through and was nice enough to dump a pile of snow in front of the driveway to the lot behind my building. Of course, there was also six inches of snow in the lot, meaning I probably couldn't have made it to my spot anyway.
So I drove around a bit until I could find a parking spot on the street. I found one a block over, but it was on the opposite side of the street. I tried pulling a U-turn, but nearly got stuck with my car perpendicular to the road. So, I drove around a bit until I could approach from the opposite direction. I plowed my car through the 8 or so inches of snow until I was reasonably close to the curb. Alright, it was until I couldn't coax my car to make any more headroom, then called it quits. Walking the block or so home.
This morning I got up, and was happy to see that the lot had been plowed! I checked some other windows to see how the roads around my building looked. That's when I found out that it had been so cold that the frames of my windows had formed ice inside! The worst was the door to my little porch, where the hinges were actually coated in ice. I'm really glad that I installed honeycomb shades, because they really did a good job adding insulation to the windows!
Anyway, I went outside and found that while the lot was basically clear, my spot was not! There was an average of a foot of snow covering my spot. Of couse, the spot next to my had been plowed (my spot and the spot on the other side were both empty allowing the plot to clear them without risking scraping a car). So I spent over half an hour shoveling my spot to get my car in. Then I had to go over and shovel my car out.
When I finally got the spot cleared and my car back on the road, I had to drive around a bit. The street I had parked on would have necessitated a left turn into the parking lot. Because of the various plowings I could only get to the lot making a right hand turn. A bit annoying, but no worse than the shoveling had been.
I ended up having to do some more shoveling to get my car into the space. Between the geometry of the lot and the amount of snow and ice left, I couldn't pull in in a single motion. When I tried to back out and realign, my car got stuck. But eventually I got it in. I'm guessing its going to stay right there for a few weeks. Maybe the whole winter, if it ends up being as bad a winter as everyone seems to be thinking.
So when all of that was done, I walked to My Diner (that's really the name, and it's just over a block away) for breakfast. I walked back to my condo on the street I had parked the night before. Another car had already parked in the spot I had vacated! Winter parking in a city like Boston is crazy.
Ahhh... Winter!
P.S. I would hate for anyone reading this to misconstrue my feelings about winter. I actually thoroughly enjoy the season. Sure shoveling is annoying and tiring, but there is a definite sense of accomplishment. Even the stinging numbness in my legs was enjoyable, in a crazy kind of way. Plus, if I were actually to complain, then I would have to stop making fun of Californians for being soft.
We had flurries a week or two ago, but no accumulation to speak of. Basically enough to put you in the Christmas Spirit, but not enough to prevent people from going shopping. But yesterday, the hammer dropped.
I had a particularly interesting day. I had scheduled a meeting with a potential contractor for a project at work. They are located in Rhode Island, just over an hour south of Boston. I had scheduled the meeting on Monday, when the forecast showed Friday as the only day during the week that it wasn't going to be raining.
It wasn't until Thursday that I realized I'd chosen poorly. On Thursday, I mentioned to a co-worker that I was going going to be out early on Friday and explained about the trip. He said I should cancel because there was going to be a storm. I suppose just about everyone else in Boston knew the storm was coming before I did. I've just gotten out of the habit of checking the weather, because if its a bit colder, or a bit warmer, it only affects whether I put on my hat and how high I zip my jacket.
Checking the predictions, the 6-12 inch band of snow covered a swath including all of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I checked over and over, but the result stayed pretty much the same, only varying on exactly when it would hit.
But, I decided I would go anyway, although I moved it forward a bit so that I could at least get all the way there before the snow hit. On the way, I remembered some of my snow preparedness tips and stopped to get gas, even though I had a half tank left. While I was at the gas station, a news crew was interviewing the woman at the pump beside mine: "The Panic before the Storm" as I called it. They didn't seem interested in interviewing me, but then again, I'm not a cute girl in her early twenties.
My plan of getting to the meeting before the snow worked fine. I got to their facility just as the snow started to fall.. It ended up being a very good meeting. But a couple of hours had passed and when I got to my car there were three inches of snow covering it.
I cleared my car off and headed out, at a breakneck speed of ten miles an hour. I firmly ignored my GPS instructions to follow the side roads and shave a mile off the drive. Instead I took the most direct route to the interstate. Once on the interstate I got up to a whopping 30 miles an hour. At least for a little while. Eventually I hit a bridge where I barely had enough traction to keep going up. It was an intersting experience, and made me glad I drove a car with traction control!
I had to stop twice on the way to clear off my windshield. Even though the wipers were doing a pretty good job of moving the snow, it accumulated at the stops. The first rest stop I visited had a news truck waiting. I didn't see anyone near the truck, so I'm not positive what their mission was. If they were staged there to respond, or if they were waiting for someone to come in that they could interview. The second time I stopped, I actually got stuck. Luckily there was a guy clearing the sidewalks and he came over and gave me a hand getting out.
I stopped one more time on the way home to have dinner. That's when it got really interesting because there was thunder snow! It was only the second time I've ever seen it. Generally thunderstorms and winter don't mix. But occasionally they get together. It is more of a whomph than a crash, something you feel more than actually hear. There isn't the clear bolt of lightning either, but a coloring of the sky. On this occasion the sky turned a deep electric blue (the previous time I saw it the sky turned purple and green). The power dimmed a few times, but didn't end up going out.
I eventually got back on the road, and had a relatively uneventful trip in. It was rather odd though, because I saw a number of snow plows heading outbound, but didn't see any going my way, or even signs that they had only recently passed. It also seemed that the majority of people were definitely heading away from Boston and not towards Boston.
When I finally got to my neighborhood, I was surprised at how clear the streets were. I suppose the heavier traffic, and more frequent plowings had something to do with it. At least the main streets were pretty clear, the side streets considerably less so. I turned off the main street onto my street and immediately knew I had a problem. The snow plow had been through and was nice enough to dump a pile of snow in front of the driveway to the lot behind my building. Of course, there was also six inches of snow in the lot, meaning I probably couldn't have made it to my spot anyway.
So I drove around a bit until I could find a parking spot on the street. I found one a block over, but it was on the opposite side of the street. I tried pulling a U-turn, but nearly got stuck with my car perpendicular to the road. So, I drove around a bit until I could approach from the opposite direction. I plowed my car through the 8 or so inches of snow until I was reasonably close to the curb. Alright, it was until I couldn't coax my car to make any more headroom, then called it quits. Walking the block or so home.
This morning I got up, and was happy to see that the lot had been plowed! I checked some other windows to see how the roads around my building looked. That's when I found out that it had been so cold that the frames of my windows had formed ice inside! The worst was the door to my little porch, where the hinges were actually coated in ice. I'm really glad that I installed honeycomb shades, because they really did a good job adding insulation to the windows!
Anyway, I went outside and found that while the lot was basically clear, my spot was not! There was an average of a foot of snow covering my spot. Of couse, the spot next to my had been plowed (my spot and the spot on the other side were both empty allowing the plot to clear them without risking scraping a car). So I spent over half an hour shoveling my spot to get my car in. Then I had to go over and shovel my car out.
When I finally got the spot cleared and my car back on the road, I had to drive around a bit. The street I had parked on would have necessitated a left turn into the parking lot. Because of the various plowings I could only get to the lot making a right hand turn. A bit annoying, but no worse than the shoveling had been.
I ended up having to do some more shoveling to get my car into the space. Between the geometry of the lot and the amount of snow and ice left, I couldn't pull in in a single motion. When I tried to back out and realign, my car got stuck. But eventually I got it in. I'm guessing its going to stay right there for a few weeks. Maybe the whole winter, if it ends up being as bad a winter as everyone seems to be thinking.
So when all of that was done, I walked to My Diner (that's really the name, and it's just over a block away) for breakfast. I walked back to my condo on the street I had parked the night before. Another car had already parked in the spot I had vacated! Winter parking in a city like Boston is crazy.
Ahhh... Winter!
P.S. I would hate for anyone reading this to misconstrue my feelings about winter. I actually thoroughly enjoy the season. Sure shoveling is annoying and tiring, but there is a definite sense of accomplishment. Even the stinging numbness in my legs was enjoyable, in a crazy kind of way. Plus, if I were actually to complain, then I would have to stop making fun of Californians for being soft.
19 November 2008
Pot
During the last election, the voters of Massachusetts decided to decriminalize marijuana, at least in small amounts. The arguments in favor of the proposition were mostly along the lines of, it sucks to have a criminal record for doing something illegal. Apparently it is hard to get a job, or find housing when you have a criminal record (which you get by doing something illegal). Needless to say I was not a big fan of this proposition.
Another reason I am not a fan of this proposition is because marijuana is classified as a schedule I drug by the federal government. To have a state undermine the enforcement and viability of a federal law is a travesty. Unenforced and poorly enforced laws are bad laws.
Anyway, that aside out of the way... Since the proposition was passed (it still has not become law) I have smelled marijuana on numerous occasions. In fact just a couple of days after it was passed I smelled smoke coming in through my window. This morning on my way to work, I was standing on the subway platform and the foul odor came my way. I saw three high school age kids standing at the very end of the platform, and hiding behind a pillar. I suspect they were the ones doing the smoking.
So, I'm wondering if the passage of this proposal is going to cause an escalation in the amount of pot being smoked. Also will it encourage people to smoke in public.
Another reason I am not a fan of this proposition is because marijuana is classified as a schedule I drug by the federal government. To have a state undermine the enforcement and viability of a federal law is a travesty. Unenforced and poorly enforced laws are bad laws.
Anyway, that aside out of the way... Since the proposition was passed (it still has not become law) I have smelled marijuana on numerous occasions. In fact just a couple of days after it was passed I smelled smoke coming in through my window. This morning on my way to work, I was standing on the subway platform and the foul odor came my way. I saw three high school age kids standing at the very end of the platform, and hiding behind a pillar. I suspect they were the ones doing the smoking.
So, I'm wondering if the passage of this proposal is going to cause an escalation in the amount of pot being smoked. Also will it encourage people to smoke in public.
08 November 2008
My Niece
The first few days of this month saw me in Knoxville, Tennessee to visit my niece Veronica Marie Bartholomay. Usually I travel to Knoxville to visit my sister, but, then again my niece is only 2 months old so there hasn't been a lot of chances for me to visit her.
Anyway, in addition to being the first time I got to see my niece, it was also my niece's baptism. I was honored to be her godfather, or rather her baptismal sponsor. I even got to hold her during most of the service.
The other sponsor was Veronica Marie's cousin Marsha (Roger's brother's daughter). I'm bringing up the other baptismal sponsor because we both apparently share a good idea of what a two month old needs. A ninja doll!
Seriously, we both independently decided that Nica (short for Veronica, although with her being so small right now, it is easier to think of her as Veronica Marie) needed to have a ninja doll. Melanie said that when Marsha brought the ninja doll she said, "That looks like something that Peter would get" and sure enough...
As for little Nica, she is a beautiful wiggly bundle of joy. She was also pretty well behaved for me. She didn't fuss once during the entire church service, and was even awake for the first half. She got a bit fussy when we insisted on getting photos with her after the service rather than letting her eat. But once that issue was settled she calmed down and slept while the rest of us went to lunch.
This is my favorite picture from the trip down. My niece really isn't that small, she just looks tiny next to my enormous mug. She's about the length of my forearm, and the fist that she's cocking back in the photo is about the size of the last joint of my thumb. Actually, the size issue was rather funny when I tried to hand her back to my sister after the first time I got to hold Nica. I was being so careful to distribute the holding, i.e. spreading my hands, that my sister couldn't actually find anywhere to put her own hands.
Anyway, in addition to being the first time I got to see my niece, it was also my niece's baptism. I was honored to be her godfather, or rather her baptismal sponsor. I even got to hold her during most of the service.
The other sponsor was Veronica Marie's cousin Marsha (Roger's brother's daughter). I'm bringing up the other baptismal sponsor because we both apparently share a good idea of what a two month old needs. A ninja doll!
Seriously, we both independently decided that Nica (short for Veronica, although with her being so small right now, it is easier to think of her as Veronica Marie) needed to have a ninja doll. Melanie said that when Marsha brought the ninja doll she said, "That looks like something that Peter would get" and sure enough...As for little Nica, she is a beautiful wiggly bundle of joy. She was also pretty well behaved for me. She didn't fuss once during the entire church service, and was even awake for the first half. She got a bit fussy when we insisted on getting photos with her after the service rather than letting her eat. But once that issue was settled she calmed down and slept while the rest of us went to lunch.
This is my favorite picture from the trip down. My niece really isn't that small, she just looks tiny next to my enormous mug. She's about the length of my forearm, and the fist that she's cocking back in the photo is about the size of the last joint of my thumb. Actually, the size issue was rather funny when I tried to hand her back to my sister after the first time I got to hold Nica. I was being so careful to distribute the holding, i.e. spreading my hands, that my sister couldn't actually find anywhere to put her own hands.
04 November 2008
Candy Corn Threshold
Halloween was a few days ago, and halloween reminds me of mellowcreme pumpkins. Mellowcreme pumpkins are a candy confection that is related to the candy corn. The ingredient list of both Mellowcreme pumpkins and candy corns are the same. Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, and flavorings. Alright so really it's sugar, corn syrup, salt, honey, gelatin, confectioner's glaze, dextrose, and various dyes and artificial flavors. But, corn syrup is sugar, honey is sugar and dextrose is sugar, so there is a lot of sugar packed into these goodies.The mellowcreme gets its name from the gelatin portion. Gelatin is the primary reason that marshmallows are so fluffy. It is also used in the pumpkins (and candy corns) to make them soft and delicious. So really, mellowcreme pumpkins are a cross between marshmallows and rock candy.
Anyway, mellowcreme pumpkins fall prey to the same failings as candy corns: the candy corn threshold. I have had this theory for a number of years, ever since winning a "guess how many" candy corns are in a jar contest.
I started eating the candy corns. As I ate the candy corns I reflected on how wonderful they tasted, and how I could eat candy corns for my entire life. Then suddenly, I bit into a bad candy corn. It tasted disgusting. There must have been a bad candy corn in the bunch. So I fished into the jar and came up with another candy corn. I popped this fresh candy corn in my mouth, bit down, and was disgusted! What are the chances of having two bad candy corns in a row? Especially after having so many that were absolutely fantastic?
I put the jar of candy corns aside, and pondered. Had I eaten past a line in the jar below which the candy corns were turned? I examined the jar minutely and could find nothing to suggest that the corns were tainted. I waited quite a while before delving back into the jar. With a good deal of trepidation I ate another candy corn. It was delicious! Perhaps there were only a few bad corns and I happened to get two in a row. But alas, this was not the case. I had a few more and then suddenly they turned sour again. I had gotten through barely a dozen before the taste turned from divine to damned.
So, that was how I discovered the candy corn threshold. You can only eat so many candy corns before some physiological phenomenon occurs which tells your taste buds that enough goodness has passed through. When that occurs you have to stop eating candy corns and allow the system to recover. The body does slowly recover, but it is a recovery and not a resetting. So if you press on while not fully recovered you will hit the threshold much more quickly.
Candy corns are not the only food that has a candy corn threshold. Marshmallow peeps also fall victim to this phenomenon. But peeps are much more insidious because there is a very real chance the the peeps have turned bad, especially if you have moved on to the second package.
For those who don't eat candy corns the same thing can be true of alcohol. You are having a blast, and then suddenly you lift your most recent drink and you feel sick. You put the drink down, get some air, drink some water, anything except taking another sip. You start feeling better, so you have another sip. If it doesn't taste too bad you start drinking some more, but it'll only be a few sips until you are at the threshold again. The point where your body says, any more alcohol and I'll puke all over your shoes. Unfortunately with alcohol, you can go well past this point before your body catches up on the scoring. So kids, stick with candy corns.
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