The Real World

I used to watch a fair amount of TV growing up.  We didn't get cable until I was in high school so the options were limited.  One thing I could always count on was reality shows.  A bunch of people always talk about how much they hate reality TV but they are more than likely lying.  How can you not love watching people make complete idiots of themselves on national TV?  
   
Thanks to people breaking numerous copyright laws by uploading them onto YouTube, I got to binge watch a ton of reality TV shows this week.

I'm more partial to the competition reality shows so for this week, here are 3 that are highly entertaining and hopefully help you momentarily forget the Kardashian's and Duggar's get paid to be insane.

The Amazing Race
I don't really have much of a desire to be on TV but it has been an aspiration of mine to get on this show since the first time I watched it.  If for some reason you're unfamiliar with The Amazing Race, normally 12ish pairs race all over the world completing tasks along the way to figure out their next destination.  At the end of each episode is a "pit stop" where the last team to arrive is eliminated.  The winning pair gets one million dollars.  Not too shabby. 

I think it was sometime in middle school when I had an Amazing Race birthday party.  I won.  For the real deal, I just need Megan to make an audition video with me... 

Solitary
This is one I randomly came across and had never heard of before.  Apparently Fox had a network called Fox Reality which, as the name suggests, showed only reality shows.  Solitary was one of only a few original shows on the network.  If anyone has played the game Portal, it reminds me a bit of that.  

9 people go into their own individual solitary confinement "pod" and the last person to leave wins $50,000.  There is nothing in the room but two buttons, a screen, and lots of cameras.  The slightly sadistic computer "Val" gives the contestants challenges, often painful, in the pods.  The first person to quit the challenge is eliminated.  The interesting part is that the other contestants do not know when someone quits so they could easily continue on in the challenge for no reason.  

Although a bit over the top, it's an interesting concept and fun to watch the people start to go insane.  I wondered how much of it was real and happened to find a Reddit post by a former contestant.  They claimed everything was very real.    

The Mole
This is by far the best and smartest reality competition show to ever be on TV.  Why it got canceled so early, I'll never know.

The US version ran for 4 seasons, although 2 of them were "celebrity" seasons which don't really count, and got revived for a 5th season in 2008.  A group of 7-14 people work together on challenges to add money to the "pot."  The person who wins the game gets all the earned money.  The fun part is one of the people is "The Mole" who secretly tries to sabotage the group's efforts to make bank.  At the end of each episode, the contestants take a test about who they think the Mole is.  The person who answers the least amount of questions correctly is eliminated.  

Everything about this show is perfect and it needs to come back.  It's possible for very attentive viewers to figure out who the Mole is which makes it even more amazing to watch.  The last episode shows how the Mole got away with all of their sabotages throughout the season and all of the clues included in the episodes (some of which you wonder who would take the time to figure out).

I recently discovered the Australian version and have been getting my fix from that (although the US version is better).   The craziest thing on the Australian version so far has been when the contestants were asked to do a solo skydive after just one tandem.  That seems a bit risky.


But yeah there you go.  If you're looking for semi-mindless entertainment, hopefully these will get you on your way.  Oh and write a letter to ABC demanding they bring back The Mole.

That's all for now.  Bye.

Rockaway Beach

Last weekend, I got to head out to Pacific City to stay at my friend's beach house for a few days.

After helping out at another open house for the climbing gym, we headed out to the coast.  When we got to town, we made a quick stop at the beach.  It was insanely crowded but the weather was nice and we only stayed for a bit before heading to the house.  The rest of the night was filled with Cards Against Humanity and various other activities.

The next morning we headed out to Cape Lookout for a hike.  We were hoping to see whales along the way but didn't have much luck.  The hike was a traditional Northwest hike through the forest but you got to see the ocean every once in a while.

When we finished with lunch, we headed back to the beach and trudged our way up the huge sand dune.  Getting to the top offered some amazing views that made the burning leg muscles worth it.  From there, we went running down and crawling slowly (let me emphasize slowly) back up the steep dunes.  We even spotted a whale from the top of one of the hills.

Hot, sunny day at the beach

The Oregon coast rocks...get it?

Such a sad sign

 A little while later we watched the sunset which was pretty neat.

After packing up the next morning, we went back to the beach.  The weather change from the day before was quite drastic but nice.  I love the beach when it's overcast and foggy.

From there, we made the drive back home.  Good weekend.

That's all for now.  Bye.

6 Months

In celebration of this blog's 1/2 year anniversary, I'm taking the week off and headed to the beach.

That's all for now.  Bye.

The Best [Blog] Ever

Today I decided to try and take on the seemingly impossible task or recreating one of the most popular dishes in American cuisine.

I used to eat this almost everyday but it takes some practice to get right.  If you do try and make it yourself, know that sometimes it won't come out properly for a variety of reasons but keep trying and you may be able to perfect the dish.

I made sure to include a few alternatives if you wanted to think outside the box.  Make sure to experiment with what works best.

So here we go.  How to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

 

 Ingredients (makes roughly 1 serving):

• Creamy Peanut Butter (you could use crunchy if you like being different or maybe even natural peanut butter if you want to be really fancy)
• Strawberry Jelly (or another fruit if you want to be a little crazy)
• Two slices of bread
• Knife

 1)  Open up your peanut butter and put a glob on one of the two pieces of bread.  At this point, neatness doesn't count.  You should use the knife to get the peanut butter out of the jar or if you wanted to have a little more fun you could use your fingers.

2)  If you're going the traditional route and using a knife, spread the peanut butter glob all over the piece of bread. 

I can't believe you're still reading this

3)  This part is fairly similar to step 1 and 2 but instead of using the peanut butter, you're going to use your jelly on the other piece of bread.  Maybe if you decided to use your fingers for the peanut butter you could use the other hand for the jelly.

4)  Okay here's where things get tricky.  Now you have to pick up one of the slices of bread and place it on top of the other with the condiment side facing down.  Make sure the peanut butter or jelly is on the underside when combing the two pieces.  It's a common mistake to not do this.

Right on target

It's going to be a close finish

5)  Whoa that was a tough part but we did it.  There's only one more step.  Now you're going to take the same knife that you may have been using throughout the process and cut the sandwich in half.  You may be thinking that there's only one way to cut a sandwich in half but you would be wrong.  Try mixing it up and cutting the bread diagonally into triangles or maybe even into strips.

Flawless

6)  Enjoy your very mediocre sandwich!

Wow I just took the time to photograph and write about the process of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  That's probably a good insight into how eventful my week was and how many brilliant ideas I had.   I really don't know.

That's all for now.  Bye.