Monthly Archives: August 2013

Day 23

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Happy National Marshamallow Toasting Day everyone! Apparently marshamallows date back to ancient Egypt when Pharaohs used to eat the sweet extract that comes from squeezing mallow plants. I have NOT verified the authenticity of this factoid but I thought it would be fun to at least PRETEND to provide some history on this historic day. I heart marshmallows. Marshmallows make me happy.

Other items that make people happy on National Marshmallow Toasting Day:
Laura’s dog makes her happy.
Four-Day work weeks make Kristin & TJ happy.
Pizza makes Lea happy.
Oreos make Zori happy.
Dorothy’s husband makes her happy.

Oh and btw, I was away from my desk for a bit this afternoon and my teammate informed that I had a few “gawkers” come by and check out the Oreo mountain. I guess they had heard from some other people that I had a mountain of Oreos and they had to see it for themselves!

I am going on a hunt for Candy Corn Oreo’s after work tonight. I figure it’s the perfect way to kick off my four day holiday weekend!! I know the Candy Corn Oreos are not supposed be out until September but Target’s website says they have them in-store. We shall see…

YEAH TARGET…
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Day 22

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Last night, a few of us found ourselves involved in a discussion about #. What does # mean to you? If I called say, the IRS for example, their automated system would most likely instruct me to enter my social security number, followed by the “pound sign.” Or sometimes we use the # sign as an abbreviation for the word “number.” #9. so you could imagine our utter shock and horror when my dear friend Tom explained to us how he was recently corrected by his intern, “…number sign???? Do you mean HASH TAG?!?!?” Soooo, my question is…When did the pound sign officially become “hash tag?” Is it a generational thing? Or are the terms completely different and one applies to social media situations and the other applies to everything else? It’s these types of though-provoking, yet completely irrelevant conversations that make me happy. Ergo, I am enjoying a Mega Stuf Oreo. I don’t care how much filling is in between those two cookies, whether it’s 1.86x the original or 2.68x the original, it’s still a lot and it’s still awesome.

Other happy thoughts that earned Oreos…

“3 day weekends make me happy.”
“Advil makes me happy.”
“Fitting into a smaller dress size makes me happy.” (counterintuitive, I know, but she’s training for the Chicago marathon)

Day 21

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Back to Basics on this Friday…

“Watching how other people eat Oreos makes me happy.”

“Really expensive designer shoes at reasonable prices make me happy.”

“Variety makes me happy.” (I think this comment is directly related to the bazillion types of Oreos I have on my desk)

“Birthdays make me happy.”

“Naps make me happy.”

“Pumpkins make me happy.” (I think this comment is related to Halloween getting close). Sidebar – Candycorn Oreos are scheduled to hit shelves again on September 10th. Yipeeee!!!

“Finding out that someone who I thought did NOT know who I was actually DOES know who I am makes me happy.”

“Good friends make me happy.”

“Seeing my mentees succeed makes me happy.”

Day 20

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Since I packed up the Florida mini-frenzy-Oreo operation it seems as though there has been an explosion of sorts regarding the amount of “stuf,” or creme, in between Oreo cookie wafers. It all started on Saturday, August 17, 2013 when, while seated a table with friends at an engagement party, one of my friends proceeds to tell me that technically the “stuf” in double stuf Oreos only appears more voluminous because the Oreo stuffing geniuses add air to the stuffing. So essentially, there’s more crème by volume but not by weight. That conversation comes to an end and I move on with my weekend. Any lingering thoughts about Oreo’s stuffing deception are overshadowed by my excitement regarding the recent arrival of the banana split and lemon twist Oreos.

Until today, when multiple media outlets are reporting that a study conducted by some upstate New York high school students found that Double Stuf Oreos are only 1.86 times the size of regular Oreos and Mega Stuf Oreos are only 2.68 times the size of regular Oreos. Now, in Oreo’s defense, Mega Stuf does not claim to be three times the size of regular Oreos. But Double Stuf…Shame on you, Oreo. By the very definition of double, I would have expected a weight double that of the original. BUT!! Again, in Oreo’s defense, the sample size of each type of Oreo that the high school students measured was 10 and TYPICALLY the magic number for statistical signficance is 30 (at a minimum). Whatever – I am more angry at myself for not thinking to measure the amount of crème inside the different sized Oreos.

Day 18

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THEY HAVE ARRIVED!!! THE LEMON TWIST OREOS…ESTAN AQUI!! HOORAY! Big shoutout to Tracie and Drew (T-dawg and Drewser) for making this happen.

lemon twist

And here’s the best part…I opened the first package and there were two Oreos missing with a note inside that read
lemon twist note1
Which, of course, made me laugh.
The note behind it read
lemon twist note times2

Well played T-dawg and Drewser, well played.

I cannot WAIT to share these with everyone at work.

Day 17

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My colleague had to take a conference call in another room today. This is what he took with him on his way out of our main conference room…

cookie wad
Oreos make him happy BTW. I typically don’t accept that as a happiness designation because to me, that is like answering a question with a question but a)he’s the boss and b)he’s new at this.

The temporary off-site Oreo frenzy location in Tampa will be shutting down tomorrow as we make our way back home to Chicago. We will take the multiple packages of Oreos with us when we depart. Given all of the calories we have ingested in cookie consumption this week, this 5 member team is taking its athletic ability to the trampoline warehouse today. That’s right folks, we are going to take an hour workout class in a giant trampoline warehouse. We are going to get trampoLEAN!

Day 16

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I will leave you with this commercial on this steamy, Friday, August evening…

Bring this bad boy back. (the cookie, not the dude in the commercial, who I can only assume was probably considered a bad boy himself back in the day)

And hurry please.

Oh and big news people. HUGE. Banana Split Oreos are in transit to Chitown!!!

Happy Weekend Y’all.

Day 15

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As I am hard at work on my project here in Tampa, Florida, I came to the stunning realization that my 3 awesome colleagues that I am down here with have NEVER HAD BIRTHDAY CAKE CREME FILLED OREOs. Well, who am I to deprive these individuals of experiencing the greatness that is Oreo? So I ran out during the lunch hour and grabbed some Oreos from Walmart and brought them back.

Minds.
Blown.

Now, I have to admit, I intended to go to Walmart anyway because I wanted to see what sort of flavors Tampa/Brandon Florida could offer me (I check the Walmart website daily in the hopes that creamsicle and fudge sundae Oreos will magically change from “in stores only” to available online). NOTHING. In fact, I think there was less of a selection here than in the Windy City. At least I was able to bring back some Oreos for my teammates.

One of them even told me that his grandfather, who lived until his late 80s, ate one Oreo every day of his life. Clearly he knew the secret…who needs an apple when you can have an Oreo??

My other teammate was intrigued by my Oreo fascination and began to read the blog. She wanted to know what type of Oreos I have on my desk so it is only fair that I list out the flavors…in no particular order (although mint and birthday cake might be faves but shhhhhhh, don’t say it too loud because they might hear you):

Mint Creme
Golden Birthday Cake
Chocolate Birthday Cake
Peanut Butter
Coconut Fudge
Sherbet
Watermelon
Mini Goldens
Raspberry Fudge
Neopolitan
Chocolate Creme
Triple Double
Strawberries & Cream
Mega Stuf
Heads or Tails
Berry Burst Ice Cream
Summer Oreos
**Lemon Twist Coming Soon**

Now all my desk needs is banana split, fudge sundae, creamsicle, strawberry milkshake, and the Oreo blizzard creme filled ones!!!

Oh, and Kristin has not neglected her responsibilty of keeping track of happy thoughts while I am out of the office. She said a friend came down to visit the other day and had no idea what the “Oreo Desk” looked like and she was shocked. She then took an Oreo and stated that finding out about the “Oreo Desk” makes her happy. Then Kristin said seeing how happy our friend became upon seeing the “Oreo Desk” made her equally as happy so she had an Oreo too! Yay!

Here’s a little update. The four of us on this project in Tampa demolished an entire row of Oreos in less than two hours. Go team! One of my teammates likes the birthday cake creme filling so much, he made his own mega stuf…

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Day 14

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I am out of the office, working in the field for two weeks. While I am away, everyone and anyone is welcome to have Oreos but they have to leave a note with Kristin letting me know what makes them happy. Before Kristin took a bite of an Oreo yesterday, she emailed me to let me know that “watching my 7 year old cousin tackle the American Eagle rollercoaster at Great America for the first time” makes her happy. That would make me happy, too. I find it incredibly amazing that the older we get (and you’re not old Kristin, but talking about your little cousin made me think of this) the more joy we find in witnessing others’ happiness. After reading the transcript of George Saunders’s 2013 Syracuse University Commencement Address over the weekend, I was struck by the fact that he atriculated what I have always known…that the process of becoming kinder and more loving is gradual. His advice for the graduates was to speed the process along because the faster and earlier in life we can be nicer to each other, the better off the world will be (ew, I hate ending sentences with prepositions…please forgive me). This thought of being kinder, faster, led to a discussion between my husband and I about why it takes so long for what I will refer to as the “kindness gene” to kick in. Is it because it takes us half of our lifetime to learn that kindness really is the best way? Or is because our genetic predisposition to start lavishing kindness upon others begins to occur when we find youngsters in our lives that we want to make happy? Of this I am not sure. But what I am sure of is this – that when we pause for a moment, Oreos are everywhere – cupcakes, post race food tents, babyshowers, and even part of dinner orders when you least expect it – and Oreos are a metaphor for happiness.