God love America and our wretched excess!

As we were leaving Sam's Club on Saturday with our world record most expensive cart o' stuff ever, I had a few moments to reflect on the absolute excess of club stores. 40# of dog food, 40# of charcoal, 2 big plastic buckets filled with Baked Cheetos, enough grape tomatoes to string and decorate a Christmas Tree, a box of Tide that will keep our recently reduced household in clean undies for the next 9 months. There was other stuff, too, more than I care to recall. And then we went to WalMart to do our "real" shopping. One might look at our house and think we're children of the depression the way we hoard certain items. When I compare my 3' x 3 1/2' multi-roll package of paper towels to the single roll packages I saw in Spain, I'm ... so ... embarrassed. And a little giddy.

In another show of over-the-top American consumerism, let us reflect for a moment on the chili-and-chip-eating, rooted-to-the couch pastime that is the Superbowl. Only in America would companies throw down several million dollars for 30 seconds of TV time that consists of a pretty woman with a heaving bosom snapping the straps of her tiny shirt and some old guy hyperventilating. I still have no idea what godaddy.com is and if their commercials aren't outright offensive they're really stupid. But I did really like whoever had the commercial where the guy works with monkeys (and his friend works with jackasses). I have no idea what that product was either. But in a stunning win earned by blending brand, humor and frequency -- my declared Superbowl winner is Budweiser. Loved most of their spots and especially the Clydesdale spots (little one pulling the wagon and the football game/streaker spot). Bravo! Runner up? Disney World -- again with the frequency thing and the charming idea of the players rehearsing for their big moment in the spotlight. Makes me wonder why I'm not going to Disney World...

So now that we've snapped out of our food and football induced comas it can only mean one thing .... Speed Weeks. Ahhhh. More American excess, this time represented by big, loud, fast, fuel guzzling cars and sponsorships by beer, liquor and Little Debbies. Long live the USA!