It’s back. What more can I really say other than that? I was hungry, didn’t know what I wanted and then I saw a sign…

So this is my Easter dinner and I’m pretty excited about it. We haven’t had McRib sandwiches in Michigan for the longest time. I heard rumors of them in Florida but we couldn’t find them anywhere we looked when I was here last summer.

I heard these were in the Orlando area and I didn’t even have to hunt for one. Teresa called around for me and found this one in Daytona Beach. My McRib has no pickles on it (yuck!) and it’s awesome!

So I’m heading up north and thought I’d check the McRib Locater Map to make sure I didn’t miss an opportunity. I haven’t had one in years.

But as you can see by the map (click it a live map) that Michigan is completely bare. Please note that these points are put in by people, not McDonald’s so don’t be disappointed if there isn’t actually a McRib there…

Just a quick tip on winning: The easy way to remember which pieces are the winning game pieces for this year’s Monopoly game is they are the last piece alphabetically in their set; except in the case of Boardwalk (which is the major winning game piece).

Be sure to keep me in mind if you use this tip to win the big bucks ;)

I believe this is the same system they’ve used in the previous five years (possibly longer).

My problem with this is remembering the other pieces in the sequence to know if it’s the last one alphabetically…

Water Works – $50 – Odds 1 in 639,000
Mediterranean Avenue – $100 – Odds 1 in 5,701,000
Short Line Railroad – $500 – Odds 1 in 311,389,700
Vermont Avenue – $1,000 – Odds 1 in 106,921,400
Virginia Avenue – $2,000 – Odds 1 in 106,921,400
Tennessee Avenue – $5,000 – Odds 1 in 307,947,900
Kentucky Avenue – $10,000 – Odds 1 in 307,947,900
Ventnor Avenue – $25,000 – Odds 1 in 769,869,600
Pennsylvania Avenue – $50,000 – Odds 1 in 769,869,600
Golden Avenue – $100,000 – Odds 1 in 178,065,100
Boardwalk – $1,000,000 – Odds 1 in 591,287,650

Pretty slim odds, even for the low-end prizes.

* FYI – This is what I found out from looking around on-line and is the system I’m using. I don’t have any connection with the official game/rules.

So I’m getting desperate in my quest. As a last resort I e-mailed Ronald and Co. today, I said:

Dear McDonalds,

I see that McRibs are back at “participating” McDonalds.

How do the fans find a McRib?

Where in Michigan (Detroit or otherwise) or even Toledo, OH or Chicago can I find one of these? I’m traveling next month? I’ll schedule a layover for my flight so that I can stop in a McRib city, seriously!

Is there a list somewhere or at least someway I can check out some specific markets?

Thank you,
Gary

Do you think I might get a response?

I know what I’m having for lunch tomorrow!!

I’ll give you a hint. It’s a McRib sandwich!

I thought after the farewell tour of 2005 it might be a while before we saw them again…

I know everyone keeps their eyes open for good gas prices and will hit one gas station over another since it’s a few pennies different. I’m sure some people sometimes waste gas by driving a little farther. I know I’m always happy when I can save a few pennies per gallon (I usually fill up on Tuesdays since I’m usually over by some cheap stations). Here’s something to keep in mind, 6 cents more a gallon (if it’s around $3) is only a 2% difference (12 cents more a gallon is only 4%).

Normally, when I eat at McDonald’s I get a number 3 meal (Quarter Pounder – no pickle, no mustard which includes a 20 oz soda and medium fry). At the McDonald’s by work (Plymouth/Beech, Redford, MI) it’s $4.77 (tax included); at the McD’s by my house (Michigan/Greenfield in Dearborn) it’s $5.36 (tax included). That’s a 59 cent difference! That’s 12% more at the more expensive McDonald’s. FYI, both the McD’s I’m referring to have been renovated in the last few years and the cheaper one has a playland.

So keep in mind if your $3 gallon of gas was 12% more at a nearby location it would 36 cents more per gallon! Now it’s not cost effective for me to take the time (and gas) to drive home to save 60 cents, but maybe I should check out the other two nearby McDonald’s to see what they charge. Plus Kelly always refers to the Redoford one as an expensive one (that’s the one I say is cheap).

When they talk about fuel price gouging, maybe we should consider all types of fuel…

So I’m at McDonald’s and I want my regular order, a number 3 combo (Quarter Ponder, Fries, Soda); so I order a “number 3, no pickle, no mustard” slow and articulated but as usual they have to ask me again what it is that I want. I don’t understand how they don’t get it the first time, it’s a limited selection of items that I can order even if I slur my voice someone should be able to figure it out, it’s not like I ordered an iPod with a side of onion rings. But that’s actually not my complaint today, she did get it correct and processed that part of the order quickly and accurately.

So they hand me my order, while the QP box has the “no pickle, No mustard” tag on it there is an excessive amount of mustard on the box which lets me know to check before I bite. Sure enough there’s mustard on it (maybe pickle too). So I sent it back. Minutes later I get another one, with pickle and mustard. So I send it back, it’s easily 5 minutes more until I get a correct sandwich. They did give me fresh fries (the first order was better than delicious) and offer me a pie (but they didn’t have apple so I passed). They handed the final order to me in a togo bag, was that a hint?

How much money (food and staff time) did they waste trying to make this sandwich correctly? We’re not even factoring in my time wasted and the fact that this is the most expensive McDonald’s around here.

So there is a site protesting the use of boneless pigs for fast food (bonelesspigs.org). It’s a marketing thingy for McDonald’s who it looks like its canceling the McRib sandwich and marketing it as a farewell tour (and we know how those go, I think I saw the Rolling Stones farewell (or was it a reunion tour in ’93). This is a problem as it is my personal favorite and it doesn’t look like the tour is in my neighborhood. If anyone hears that they are coming to Michigan please let me know (Toledo is close enough and/or it’s an excuse to go to Chicago).

Found at the Fire Ant Gazette.

It’s a funny thing with McDonald’s and the extra domains. I remember way back when when they didn’t even own their own domain and someone did a Wired article about names and trademarks. They tried to give it to McDonald’s and couldn’t even get anyone interested at the time (which was 1994). Here’s a copy of the article (and another), they both seem to load a little slow but the first is all in one file.

I really regret not buying up more domain names. But back then it was $50 a year and a two year minimum. I didn’t have the cash and didn’t realize at the time that these were going to be worth money as the 1-800-NUMBERS of the the future (if not more so). I did know this is where the world was going and I was driving along at the right speed but I didn’t just know how cRaZy the who thing would turn out. I certainly missed that boat (the cash making boat). Tthe article also talked about the money making of squatting but they did say that evaluations on how this would be handled were occurring at the time.

So I usually avoid Tuesday is Chooseday because there is usually a rude question or two (or three) that I don’t feel the need to publish on-line, but today’s is okay with me…

Would you rather:
1. have a first name that nobody can pronounce OR one nobody can remember? I’ll go with no one can pronounce my name (at least they’ll remember me).
2. be confined to a couch for three weeks OR wear rollerblades for three weeks straight? I could deal with the rollerblades. I’m assuming I can sit on the couch to rest.
3. be the person who cleans up the elephant cages at the circus OR the person who cleans the friers at mcdonalds? I’d probably never eat fries again but I’ll choose those over the elephants.
4. your poop be bright blue OR your saliva be grass green? I’ll go with the blue. No one’s going to know about that, right?

From Tuesday is Chooseday.

The Thursday Threesome is back after some technical difficulties with their Domain Name Renewal so that is the theme for today’s questions…

I almost always renew my Scientific American and my MIT Technology Review subscriptions. Those come to mind probably since they are are a little pricey (although sometimes I use my airline miles to buy them), most of my other magazines I get a real deal on (if not free). Oh, and I’m usually subscribed to Wired too, but that’s only $1 a month…

From The Thursday Threesome.

Of course you can, you just might not win in the opinion of the other players. Rules do help since they what not to do. That’s what rules generally do, right? Tell you what not to do. “Have a nice day!” isn’t a rule (but it should be). I’m kind of babbling I just thought it was an interesting sticker. I guess I could have just posted it without any text…

But the rules thing actually made me think about Joan this week. The talk was about choices, actually making choices, and wouldn’t it be easier if we knew the outcome and could make the “correct” choice. It wouldn’t really be a choice then now would it. It’s interesting on how God “bullies” Joan into doing things but talks about choices and outcomes and such.

Back to the rules thing, rules are good, just people need to know when they can be broken. At McDonalds, a cheeseburger comes with ketchup, pickle, onions and mustard (right?) that’s on their list of rules on how to make a sandwich. Wouldn’t it be crazy if every McDonalds made their burgers different? But you can make a special order (thank God for that!) and change that rule so there are no pickles or mustard on it. If you asked nice they’d probably even put BBQ sauce on it, which would be way against the rules (but they might charge you two bits). So sometimes they are good and they let me ‘have it my way’.