This week's CL ad!

I've got 5 Boxes of Girl Scout Cookies - - What Do You Have To Trade? (Round Rock)

Reply to: mailto:sale-736049763@craigslist.org?subject=IDate: 2008-06-28, 3:11PM CDT

I've got 5 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies: 3 boxes of Caramel Delites, 1 box of Cinna-Spins and 1 box of Thanks-A-Lots. What have you got to Trade???

I googled images of GS cookies and came across some interesting tidbits.

• The name of the cookie depends on the bakery. Girl Scout councils can choose which bakery they want to go with.




• Samoas and Caramel De-Lites are the same cookie -- different bakery. They seem to have overtaken the Thin Mints in popularity and deliciousness. Many people like them straight from the freezer.




• Scot-Teas are now known as Trefoils, and they no longer have that sugar sprinkling on top. Darn. Now they have no redeeming quality, as far as I'm concerned.




• Some Google cookie images are fairly large, and some are small. What's up with that? This Thanks-A-Lot pic was only available in small. Maybe it should be called "Thanks-A-Little."

Why do I keep wanting to call this cookie a "Sit N Spin?"

Most people may not know that I was the marketing/p.r. director for a Girl Scout council in western Pennsylvania, back in the early 90's. To this day, one of the best marketing ideas I ever came up with was when I worked there, and we wanted to promote our cookie sales.

We hosted the Great Girl Scout Cookie Concoction Contest where we invited local restaurants to create original recipes using GS cookies. The restaurants purchased the cookies, experimented with ideas and then came together where we had local celebrities taste test the goodies. Restaurants were judged on creativity, taste and presentation. The winning recipe used the Trefoils in a breakfast dish with sausage. It sounds weird, but it was surprisingly yummy!

The top three restaurants received plaques to hang in their foyers, which promoted GS and GS cookies year-round. We also had great coverage in the local paper, complete with color pictures and winning recipes.

My favorite GS cookie IS the Caramel De-Lite. Maybe I should come up with something to give this guy for his three boxes of them.

The Latest Craigslist Ad

One of these days, I'll ask everyone to single out their favorite Craigslist post. Until then, here's this week's funny ad (no corrections to the spelling errors, but I did take the liberty to clean up some of the language).

Eight wheels of stinky cheese (brie) (EAST AUSTIN)
I have eight entire wheels of cheese that are totally stinking up my refrigerator. I'm not sure if this brie is more potent-smelling than usual brie, as I have never before possessed multiple frickin' wheels of any type of cheese at one time. Alls I know is, this is more cheese than I can possibly eat without permanently plugging up my colon, and I'm not about to toss it out while the proverbial (not to mention literal) Kids In China are starving their arses off.

If the idea of receiving funky food from a total stranger seems a little shady to you, I can understand...so as a token of my goodwill, you will not only have my assurance that this stuff is safe to eat, I will also consume some of it before your very eyes if necessary, with my gentleman's word that I am not an illusionist (à la Davids Copperfield & Blaine). You may observe closely as I lovingly chew and swallow a sizable portion of the cheese in question before your very eyes.

And now that this ad has taken on the creepy tone of sexual cheese fetishism, I'm going to wrap it up. But seriously, I have to give this stuff away. Somebody help me out here. As you can see in the photo, the cheese is wrapped in some balsa wood or something, although you cannot see that it's also sealed in plastic, but it is. Also regarding the photo, the bloody mary mix is not part of the deal. (Crackers not included)

Another Craigslist Ad

As it appears in the Austin Craigslist barter section (I've found the barter ads to be the funniest).

Cheeseburger meal for Indiana Jones box set (north)

I am so hungry. I will trade my mint condition box set of Indiana Jones for a Double cheeseburger meal deal(ketchup and cheese only). Call Will @ 512-***-****.

Current Events Hit Home

My husband works for the Texas Department of Health Services as a liaison for disaster preparedness, specifically bioterrorism preparedness. This has not always been his career, but since 9/11, this is a field that has required more people and more expertise.

When the recent raid on the polygamist sect occurred near San Angelo, a mere three hours from Austin, we had a feeling Chris might be deployed to help with the emergency ops and emergency shelter, especially after his work with the same when Amarillo housed Hurricane Katrina evacuees. He got the call about a week ago and left for the small West Texas city this past Monday.

He can't share many details because of confidentiality issues; however, he can share information about his hotel. San Angelo is a city of about 100,000 people. There is a small state university, but needless to say, there aren't many hotels in the entire city. Now that attorneys for the children and media from all over the world have converged upon the city, hotel rooms are hard to come by, so the State put Chris up in a fleabag hotel. In fact, it's so bad, any female employees that were scheduled to stay there demanded better accommodations somewhere else. Hubby, on the other hand, used to be in oilfield sales and is sadly used to staying in similar places in small towns in Western Oklahoma and West Texas.

This particular hotel is the kind where you smell the curry before you walk in. No big deal. Chris knew he'd be working long days, and as long as he has a bed and a shower, he was fine. After working more than 15 hours yesterday and getting back to his room around 11:30 last night, he proceeded to get ready for bed and noticed there were no towels. Not one. He called the front desk and was assured towels would be delivered to his room shortly. After 30-45 mins., Hubby decided he'd get them in the morning and went on to bed.

This morning, he called down to the office, and after several rings, there was no answer. He threw on some shorts and went down himself, only to find the desk unattended. He pounded on the bell for several minutes before an East Indian man finally came out. Chris is normally a pretty patient, mild-mannered guy, but the lack of customer service only compounded the lack of towels in the room. The guy was so slow in responding that if Chris weren't so mad, it would've been comical.

When Hubby returned to his room tonight, he walked in, and there were two Hispanic guys hanging out. In his room. They didn't even act like it was any big deal that Chris was walking in while they were there! Hubby didn't know if the hotel clerk checked him out after this morning's confrontation, or if he'd been checked out by mistake. He grabbed the few things he'd left there and was able to get another room.

He got situated in the new room but then left to do a load of laundry. As he was leaving for the laundromat, a small kitty made itself at home in the room. Chris welcomed the kitty in and then left. I think he's hoping the feline will leave a present or two in the room for the housekeeper. LOL We're laughing about the hotel situation now, but I do feel bad that he's working such long days and coming back to miserable accommodations.

Back to the polygamist sect. Again, Chris can't share many details, but he did say there was a girl about Cameron's age (12) with her baby. I'd heard the State had damning evidence. I doubt it gets any more incriminating than that, does it?

Ya Can't Make This Stuff Up

Ugh. My blogging has been so sporadic, and I do need to finish my series on cystic fibrosis and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Until then, I have to share the latest, funny Craigslist ad. I'm tellin' ya, Austin's Craigslist has the funniest ads! The ad below is as it appears in CL. Enjoy!

I need stuff like clothes, legs, R.A.M., Mp3 player, food, musical instruments, dates with inteligent women that care about the environment, Art, good art, great art, beats for hiphop, and basically any cool shit you can offer.

I have to admit, I'm curious about the "legs" part.

What is Cystic Fibrosis?

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections. It also obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.

In the 1950s, few children with cystic fibrosis lived to attend elementary school. Today, advances in research and medical treatments have further enhanced and extended life for children and adults with CF. Many people with the disease can now expect to live into their 30s, 40s and beyond.
Symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis

People with CF can have a variety of symptoms, including:
-- very salty-tasting skin;
-- persistent coughing, at times with phlegm;
-- frequent lung infections;
-- wheezing or shortness of breath;
-- poor growth/weight gain in spite of a good appetite; and
-- frequent greasy, bulky stools or difficulty in bowel movements.

Statistics
-- About 1,000 new cases of cystic fibrosis are diagnosed each year.
-- More than 70% of patients are diagnosed by age two.
-- More than 40% of the CF patient population is age 18 or older.
-- In 2007, the predicted median age of survival was 38 years.

(Information provided by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation)

Life's Busyness

I really haven't intended to go AWOL with my blog. There could be many excuses, but the truth is work's been extremely busy.

I am the executive director for the Central Texas chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I've spent a good 20+ years in the nonprofit sector and found myself at a career crossroads nearly two years ago.

I loved the nonprofit sector but was feeling unchallenged. A good friend and mentor advised me to move to a bigger market. I'd worked as an executive director before but felt that it was a stressful situation, and at the end of the day, I needed to be a wife and a mother. I started pursuing opportunities in headquarters or regional offices of the few national nonprofits based in Dallas.

As I researched nonprofits, I came upon the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF). I didn't know anything at all about this organization, but I liked what I saw and read. Unfortunately, CFF is based in Bethesda, MD, and I didn't want to leave Texas. Now, CFF did have a Texas job available, but it was for an E.D., and it was in Austin. It was the only Austin job I applied for and the only E.D. job I pursued. Fast forward a year and a half, and here I am.

Since my job is so busy, I'm going to write a series of blogs about cystic fibrosis, CFF and my chapter. I've long believed that God puts each one of us on this earth to help people. I realized as a young college student that I was not cut out to go into the mission field or Peace Corps, but I could use my strengths and talents in ways to benefit others. In my case, I parlayed my p.r. and marketing skills into fundraising and event planning and have definitely found my calling.