Commercials

Before I get to a big wedding update post I thought I would first start by describing two commercials that have been bothering me.

First commercial

• Context - A barber is upset about a big chain moving in across the street offering $6 haircuts. How is he going to compete with those prices?
• End result - 6 months later - There is a shot of him hanging up a "We Fix $6 Haircuts Sign" as you look across the street at For Rent sign on the big chain haircut place. The barber is happy.
• How did he get there? Well the solution to this barber's problem was of course at Office Depot. He was able to save costs and help differentiate himself from his competitor.
• Recap - In order to defeat a big box competitor that is offering lower prices you need to go to a big box retailer that is offering lower prices. Of course. Does anybody at Office Depot understand the irony of this ad? I mean they are the big box retailer (not much different than the big box haircut place in their ad) that tries to knock off the mom and pop shops across the street with lower prices. All together this is a really weird ad.

Second commercial - Folgers

I love Folgers ads. In fact I think if you asked 10 people walking down Nicollet Ave to complete the following sentence "The best part of waking up..." then 9 out of 10 would say "is Folgers in your cup." The one ad where the guy comes home for Christmas and immediately puts on a pot of coffee that wakes up his sister is a classic. However, their last ad is something I do not understand. Let me try to recap it for you.

Scenes of the commercial-

• An older guy scoops out some coffee to start a pot.
• A 25-35 year old woman wakes up with what some might call a "hangover" face.
• She goes downstairs and the guy (her father) says something like "You sure stayed out late last night."
• She responds explaining how she isn't sixteen again.
• He comes back with a "It still was a late night."
• She then surprises everyone by showing how her hand now has an engagement ring on it. This is accompanied by her remarking "You don't have to worry about that anymore."
• Then for the final surprise the father says "I know. I talked to *Jeff last week."

*I forgot his name. It could be Jeff.

Main questions

• Why is this older woman still living at home? Or is she visiting for the holidays? Did she just get fired and needed a place to move into?
• Why on the night of her engagement did she stay out all night? Obviously she eventually made it back home, so it isn't like she spent the night with her new fiance. Did she get engaged and then go out clubbing? These are answers I need when I see someone who looks to be hungover after she got engaged.
• Why does the father not have to worry about his daughter now that she is engaged? Is that how it works? Once you are married then all responsibility falls on the husband and not the father? It made me think that the father was passing the woman off to the husband in a very *un-progressive move by Folgers.
• Finally the 3rd surprise is kind of creepy. The father was obviously asked by the woman's fiance, but what father responds to her daughter's engagement with a "I know." No congratulations. No excitement. Is this father just happy to pawn off have his alcoholic, unemployed, stays out too late daughter to the sucker who decided to propose to her?

*I don't think "un-progressive" is a word, but I like it anyway.

Vikings - Saints

Tomorrow the Vikings go into New Orleans to play the Saints for a spot in the Super Bowl. That means on Super Bowl Sunday there will either be a team that has never won a Super Bowl despite 4 trips OR there will be a team that has won 3 playoff games in their entire franchise's 30+ year history. The media has to be salivating over having either Brett "Silverfox" Favre or Drew Brees and the high scoring Saints.

For me it is a little complicated because the Saints are my hometown team and the Vikings are the team of my current place of residence. In fact those are the only two NFL teams I have seen a regular season home game. I like and cheer for both teams as long as they aren't playing the Dolphins or Roethlisberger and the Steelers. That doesn't mean I am a fan since I would never consider myself a Saints or Vikings fan, but I do like cheering for them. However, for next Sunday's game I don't know who to cheer for, so I am going to break it down:

Clothing

• Saints - I own one Saints sweatshirt and one #87 Joe Horn jersey.
• Vikings - I own one Vikings shirt that I got for free.
• Advantage - Saints

Mississippi ties

• Saints - Duece McAllister from Lena, MS just got signed back from the Saints. He is not a vital part of their team.
• Vikings - Brett Favre from Kiln, MS. You might have heard of him. He has done pretty well for the Vikings this year.
• Advantage - Vikings

Years of cheering about the team

• Saints - 26 (since I was born since they are Jackson's team and I was born in Jackson).
• Vikings - 4
• Advantage - Saints

Regular Season Games seen

• Saints - 3 (two against the 49ers and one against the Falcons)
• Vikings - 4 (the Packers, Lions, 49ers and Colts)
• Advantage - Vikings

Fans

• Saints - The cheapest tickets to the Cardinals game was close to $200. The cheapest tickets to tomorrow's game are $400+. The fans are absolutely crazy about the team. When they win the entire city celebrates.
• Vikings - The cheapest tickets to the Cowboys game was close to $80. The fans really like their team and it isn't uncommon for someone to mention the pain of the Super Bowl losses or the NFC championship game loss against the Falcons. However, the passion from Vikings fans doesn't match that from Saints fans.
• Advantage - Saints

Overall I will be happy with either team who wins, but I think if somebody asked me to play God and pick a winner I would pick the Saints. My prediction - 31 - 14 Saints. I hope it will be closer and again if the Vikings win then I will be happy as well.

BBQ update - Rooster's

Yesterday, I continued my quest (with my friend Brian) for the best BBQ in the Twin Cities. That quest led me down 94 east past Lee's and Dee's and to a place called Rooster's in St. Paul. We decided to split a pork ribs dinner with mild sauce and a large pulled pork sandwich with hot sauce. Both were incredible. I loved the dry rub and the sauce was just enough to give an extra kick, but in no way did it overpower the meat like some place do. The sauce should compliment the BBQ without being the only thing one can taste. BBQ at its finest is about the meat. In case you were curious here are the update rankings.

1. Ted Cooks - Still the best in my opinion. I love the ribs, the unique sauce and the pulled beef. One note of caution is that if you have an aversion to spicy foods then don't get any other sauce besides the mild. I made the mistake of getting medium for M and she barely could eat any of the ribs because of the spice. Personally I think the spice makes the beer colder and better.
2. Rooster's - description above. You know it is good BBQ when you want to go back the next day.
3. Pastor Hamilton's - The ribs were literally fall off the bone good and while the sauce might not of been God's gift to BBQ it still was above-average. Note that the pork is much better than the beef if you do go.
4. C & G's Smoking BBQ - Of course a BBQ places opens up within 50 yards of my former place of residence the month after I move out. I mean it probably is a good thing since I would probably lose a lot of money and gain a lot of weight, but still I wish I would have had that chance. I have only been to this place twice and both times I was welcomed with surprisingly good BBQ. If this were M's rankings in fact I am pretty sure she would put this as her #1 place. The brisket and the rib tips were both solid and while they didn't inspire the same level of passion as Ted Cook's they were very tasty. I would say that you could do a lot worse than C & G's when looking in the Twin Cities. Based on the small sample size it is kind of like a Jeff Hornacek type player.
5. Baker's Ribs - Good quality food, but unlike most BBQ places there just wasn't enough of it. I got what I thought would be plenty of food and the size was just a lot less than expected. Another negative was that the sauce wasn't much different than what you could buy at a grocery store. However, the meat was really excellent and the service was nice. If you live in Eden Prairie it is definitely a spot to check out especially if you aren't that hungry and like you BBQ with limited amounts of sauce.
6. Cap's Grille - I have only been once and honestly I don't really have much more of a desire to go back. The food was fine, but why waste my time on this when I know there are other options better in the same area.
7. Famous Dave's - The local chain that is all over Minneapolis serves your standard BBQ for the suburbanites. It is an all ways it is nonthreatening, but what else would you expect from a publicly traded company. The BBQ sauce tastes like the generic brand you buy in a store and the meat isn't much better. Of course it isn't terrible and in terms of service it is definitely more clean and more standard. Really, it is just not my type of place....but that doesn't mean it isn't yours.
8. JJ's Ribs - Eden Prairie - This BBQ place is located in a car wash, gas station and is manned by one person - JJ. The pros of this place is the service (JJ's is very friendly), quantity of meat divided by cost and the sides. The cons were that the meat was kind of dry and they were out of ribs the time I went there. If in Eden Prairie again I would rather go back to Baker's Ribs than JJ's Ribs.
9. Scott Ja Mama's - I loved the twice baked potatoes at this place. In fact I wish I could get the twice baked potatoes at all the above mentioned places because it would go really well with good BBQ. If you go please get the twice baked potato partly because that is the best thing about this small, hole in the wale BBQ shack with the friendly owner. The meat itself is charred to the point where you just wish they would have given you more twice baked potatoes.