Class Action Suits, Acai Berries, & Sodium Alginates

My morning in a nutshell, just between the hours of 7AM and 9AM alone.

Got up & checked email to find pretty cool news. Y'know those vague "class action suits" that you sometimes will get info about, but there is so much legal jargon on there that you tend not to read it because you see the following phrase: "... or you may choose not to take part ...." You know what I mean. Those.

Well, it's a good thing I bothered this time. Got something about Netflix awhile ago, and actually read enough through it to realize I hardly had to do anything because it most definitely applied to me. Just had to go online and type my email address in a box. It could've happened years ago, I can barely remember.

This morning, email from Netflix: Your account has been successfully upgraded. Whoa! Class action suit to the rescue - we all got free membership upgrades! Yay! Now, instead of having four movies in my home collecting dust for the last seven months at $21.95/month, I can now have five movies going unwatched and ignored for the same price. What joy!


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Had a 7:30 AM dentist appointment to get fitted for a retainer. I am officially done with Invisalign. I started about a year ago, and got a 9-12 month timetable which ended pretty at a year on the nose (I learned 20 years too late the all important Never put your dental hardware in a napkin that you might toss out rule.)

So now that I am done with the course of two-weeks-plastic-trays, I am moving onto my new life of nightly retainer wearing. Poor Dr. Fogarty, I always ask him a million questions. Not just about Invisalign or my personal dental history, but broad general questions about dentistry, orthodontics, the future of dental healthcare, technology, etc. When he told me that my retainer schedule was a nightly event, TFN, it dawned on me... when people (kids) get retainers after they get their braces off, that too is supposed to be a daily TFN routine, right?

But I have lived with and/or spent nights with many former braces wearers. And I think out of nearly four dozen roommates/slumberparties/bedfellows I have said "good night" to... I can only recall one single person actually wearing their retainer to bed. Oh my goodness, why is that? Orthodontics are a ridiculously huge investment!!

Now admit it, how many of you former brace-faces who were sentenced to a lifetime of retainer-ship, now grin sheepishly as you read this, with your mouth full of once-again crooked teeth? SHAME ON YOU!! (Interesting side note, apparently Invisalign was invented specifically for your slackers.)

Anyhow, I just wanted to share this admission: I'm obsessed with the toys at the dentist office. Not in the lobby, just all the fun craft products and tools they use. The fun rubbery dental mold is a compound of sodium alginates, calcium sulphates, silicione... you know, the usual stuff. Hahah, seriously who cares what's in it. (If that info is useful to you someday on a gameshow or something, let me know!)

Kept thinking, this stuff would be fun to play with! Or fix stuff around the house. Anybody work in a place where they have access to something cool that's actually useful outside of work?

I've only got fresh clothing for the gym in the form of PST-shirts and a really killer set of headphones that sound incredible but would look stupid on me if I was going out for a jog.

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Last stop before work (yes, I did all that by 9AM!) was Booster Juice on Nassau Street. It's like Jamba Juice... but here in Jersey.

For a person with notoriously poor nutrition like myself, this is a good way to get your vitamins & stuff into your diet by disguising it as a fun tasty beverage. Not only do they have a full range of drinks & smoothies, they've got these "boosters" you can have added to your drink with all those "It"-supplements that you hear amongst the fit & healthy set: whey, spirulina, wheatgrass, acai berries, etc. etc.


Speaking of the acai berry.... It seems to be very "in" -- like it's the new way to sell your food product if you add the phrase "Now contains ACAI BERRIES!". Even Oprah is all about it, and that should say something.

OK, so what the heck is it? It's a berry from South America which they newly figured out is packed with anti-oxidants. Kinda looks like a blueberry, don't it? Anyhoo, I learned on my favorite drinking show Three Sheets (which is all about drinking. And more drinking) in Brazil, that the Acai Berry is useful in... combatting a hangover!!!! Thank goodness for the anti-oxidants, right?

So from Brazil back to Jersey... the next time you're hungover, swing over to Nassau Street, and nab the $3 double-shot of Acai Berry juice. If it works, I have yet to find out, so let me know if you get there first. Just remember to put enough change in the meter.