Tryptophan... oh, how I loathe thee. I take that back. I loathe how people misunderstand thee. You're found in a lot of different foods, besides turkey meat: chocolate, oats, bananas, milk, yogurt, red meat, eggs, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and peanuts (among others). While turkey does contain a higher level of tryptophan than most foods, it is about the same in any other poultry, or meat in general. In fact, eating excessive amounts of turkey does not cause people to get sleepy; it's from eating large quantities of carbohydrates (stuffing, potatoes, etc.) and partaking in acceptable holiday alcoholism. The carb-heavy meal causes the release of insulin, which then stimulates the uptake of... ah, who cares! Basically, lots of carbs equal sleepy time. So, next year, when you're friends and/or family start blathering about how they're so tired because of all the tryptophan they just ate, please please please do the following: 1.) tell them to stop perpetuating stupid holiday myths, 2.) (optional) correct them by letting 'em know what's really going on, and 3.) get another plate filled with non-sleep-inducing turkey!

Yours truly had the distinct pleasure (pun intended) of attending a friend's bachelor party on Saturday night. During this fun-filled evening, I got to talking with some of the bachelor's colleagues, friends and family. As is what happens with most conversations that occur during this time, we started talking about politics and the results of the presidential election. Big mistake. Said colleagues, friends and family made it quite clear their particular disdain for the victor of the election. Now, I'm usually pretty smart about choosing my words around different groups of people (chameleon comes to mind), so as not to offend or stir up emotions that would cause the conversation to spiral out of control. But, I had had a few too many to drink and, naturally, my lips were loosened. :-/ I let it slip that I had voted for the future president of our country. "Barrage" doesn't quite sum it up; "bombardment" would be better. From that point on, it was a very awkward evening, to say the least.

After spending some time reflecting on that night's conversation (i.e. sobering up), it got me thinking about stuff, namely the president-elect, and how it seems emotions have flared during this whole election process. Oftentimes, it seems that people really dislike our president-to-be on a personal level, bordering on hatred. I try to be very objective about most things and I must say that I didn't really get the feeling that people on the other side of the political fence had as much disfavor for the other candidate.

Tonight, I started thinking about a couple of movies I've seen a few times (more so the former): "A Time to Kill" and "To Kill a Mockingbird". So, to those of you who chose to vote for McCain to be our next president, would you still have voted for him if he were black?

You can thank my coworker, Todd, for this post.

After sending him the link to my (newly created) blog, this was his response:

"I think you should rename it - ass-tute-analysis... even better - ass-toot-analysis"

Now, you, my faithful readers (who am I kidding!), have to realize that Todd is not a sophomoric individual; in fact, he has a PhD in music. So after receiving this "constructive" criticism, I began pondering the universe's many oddities (in the men's room, mind you), which I pass on to you...

What makes an "SBD" silent AND deadly? One would think that a louder manifestation would produce a deadlier result (at least I would). Don't you?

Anyway... thank you, Dr. Todd!

Julia peer pressured me into starting one of these things, even though I'm somewhat opposed to what they usually represent: useless ramblings by people without perspective. So... let the useless ramblings begin! :-)