would you believe that i do not think that i have ever purchased any Häagen-Dazs before? would you believe that i took the extra step to go into special characters to bring out the umlaut (like i know how to spell the name of those two little dots, be happy i actually know what it is) (ok, so i went and looked it up. sue me, i am such a dictionary geek.  in fact, i think i now know what your site of the day is going to be.) and spell check has the gall to tell me that it is spelt incorrectly?  If i replace the umlaut a with a simple a, it says it is right. well damn you microsoft, i am looking at the side of the little tub there IS an umlaut, whether you like it or not.  And you could tell me, i guess, that Häagen-Dazs in the states does not have the dots due to some sort of national fear of the natzi-ness of it all but damn it, i am using the Canadian English environment setting here!

so at about 8 o'clock i finished watching a movie and considered teh fact that i was hungry a little bit.  this was not so abnormal considering i had only had lunch today and that was at 1:30.  So of course my first thoughts were of pizza.  really they have to be.  but i have been eating too much pizza of late, i didn't really feel like it this evening and i also would rather spend less money than the pizza would cost. my fridge is woefully empty so that was out.  i decided to give it some thought and i sat down at the computer. 3 chats and almost an hour later i realized that i was getting quite hungry and i had yet to make a decision. 
   finally i chose to pursue the only dinner thought that i had had today that had any appeal to me.  A BLT. so i catalogued what i would need to buy at the little market.  Bacon. Tomatoes. Bread.  No, don't misunderstand me, i don't have lettuce, i just don't really consider it an essential part of the BLT, rather i consider the sandwich slightly misnamed. I check my wallet and i have 10 dollars in it. Enough to make all my dreams come true. Then i thought about what other dreams i might have once i get to the store, so i poured some change out of my change dish into my pocket.  Away i go.
   As i walk towards the store my mind starts to think of what kind of dreams it should have.  Unfortunately the sorts of dreams it has are about stopping and having a full meal at the greek restaurant i am walking past.  I make it past that hurdle however and make it a little farther before my head says to me, 'you know what you should have? you should have an ice cream bar.'  This is pretty understandable given that Vancouver is just coming down off of a heat wave.  Then it started to say things like, 'you don't even have to have it for dessert, just eat it on the way home. that way it won't melt too soon and it will help to curb your hunger during the cooking process.' It even made the point that i was a big boy now and there was no adult (other than myself i guess and some would debate that fact) to give me heck for putting the cart before the horse, or the ice before the bacon as it were.

   into the store i walk. i pick up a tomato, bacon, bread, a bottle of pop and then end up in front of the top opening ice cream bar freezer.  the practically empty ice cream bar freezer. two practically empty ice cream bar freezers.  i mentioned the heat wave right?  they have been hard on the ice cream.  all that was left was mint and chocolate bar flavours.  now, i don't eat very much ice cream at all, i have probably had it one other time this year. when i do eat it, i pretty much prefer to keep the experience as pure as possible.  hence, vanilla is quite often my choice.  sniffing in disdain at the ice creams at my disposal, i go to the counter without the cream.
   so my bill, with the extra bottle of pop comes to 11.50 or something like that and i do have to go for the change.  as i count out the change i realize that i had managed to pour $7 more than i needed into my pocket.  i left my groceries at the counter, paid for and went to the big freezer.  i could certainly get some small tub of ice cream for that much money.  so i would have to bring it home before i could eat it and therefore it should likely be dessert. whatever.  at this point i am starting to need ice cream. think about something too much...
   i look through the choices.  there's Häagen-Dazs, which i have tasted but never bought, Ben and Jerry's, which i have never even bought, Bryers, which i have bought and do like. and many others.  in fact, as i think about it now, it might be the case that the people in my neighbourhood have a problem.  there were no prices on anything but i was pretty confident about my ability to pay for pretty much all of it. The only thing that kept me away from the Bryers was the fact that it was a 2 L tub and i was pretty sure i would never ever eat that much ice cream before it went bad. 
   So i bought the little tub of Häagen-Dazs, Vanilla.  $6.25.  i almost choked. but it didn't matter. it was what i now wanted more than anything in the universe. bacon? what the hell could fatty meat of the side of a slovenly pig offer me that could compare to the white product squeezed out of a cows udders and churned until it is so confused that it thickens up.  I brought it home.  I put the bacon in the fridge.  I put the tomato in the fridge. i opened the ice cream. i sat down and started this entry.

Let me ask you this, this little tub of ice cream, it's supposed to be one serving right?

mmmmmmmm. i'm full.

next time i will tell you about the way i fought the fates and got my cable turned off.