January 04, 2008

Best (and Worst) of 2007

[By Mary and Crabby]

Once a year, bloggers around the planet put up a post about the year in review, and Cranky Fitness is no exception. Even though we don't care all that much about 2007 anymore, it being over and all, we think it's a great tradition because we can get out of doing boring research about new stuff gain some useful perspective on the year gone by!


Color of the year
According the NY Times (sorry, free subscription required), the color of the year is Pantone blue iris. (Sort of a bluish greyish, we think.) The NY Times quotes Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, as saying: “Blue Iris brings together the dependable aspects of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.”

The official Cranky Fitness take on this news: Whatever.

Word of the year
According to Merriam-Webster, the word of the year is W00t. (With two zeros, not the letter O twice.)

Yawn. By the time a word makes it into a word-of-the-year category, it's fossilized to the point of belonging in a museum, not a dictionary.

Runner-up Person of the year
Actually, Vladimir Putin was Time's Person of the year, but we thought -- how many books has he written? And if he has written any, has anyone read them? So instead we're going to focus on J.K. Rowling, who was runner-up person of the year. We like her better.

Most Memorable New Product
According to this consumer survey, immediately following the iPhone, Windows Vista (really?), and Febreeze scented candles (c'mon, who are these people?), the Most Memorable New Products of the year were:

4. Domino's Oreo Dessert Pizza;

5. Alli Weight Loss Capsules;

6. Oreo Cakesters;

7. Diet Coke Plus; and

8. Subway Fresh Fit Meals.

Fill in your own cynical comment about how f*cked up this is here: _______

(And personally, Crabby would nominate the Two-Assed Toilet.)


But why should the fun stop there?

Who cares what the rest of the world thinks? They're too busy eating Oreo products with Alli chasers. Instead, let's get some Cranky Fitness "Best's" and "Worst's" going. Feel free to chime in on the following categories or make up some of your own.

Favorite exercise of the year:
Mary nominates:
  • Giving that index finger a workout as I beckon the cabana boy to refresh my vodka-and-lime.
  • My favorite exercise is always the one I just finished.
Crabby nominates:
  • Leisurely walks to the Ice Cream Parlor.
  • The suspiciously orgasmic looking iGallop workout.

Best excuse of the year:
Mary nominates:
  • I'll go workout as soon as I finish reading the paper, drinking this cup of coffee, reading War & Peace.
  • I just joined this new religion that abhors exercise and makes me wear this funny robe all the time.
Crabby nominates:
  • There are workmen replacing the sewer outside, mere feet away from the closed blinds of our basement home gym. The workmen will intuitively sense odd-looking stretches and bouncy anatomical parts within and will throw down their shovels in order to try to peer in. They will then laugh hysterically and cause total humiliation.*
*Note: this was an actual excuse used just last month.


Best “I-know-I’ll-pay-for-this-later” dessert of the year:

Mary nominates:

Chocolate "suicide" cake, a triple layer of chocolate cake with a Valrhona bitter sweet chocolate sour cream frosting. (From Cafe de Marco's website, which is guaranteed to add on the calories just by reading the menu.)

Crabby nominates:

Not being a gourmet, Crabby's favorite treat is the low-brow Safeway grocery store cake. But this is important: she must plop one slab of chocolate cake on top of another slab of vanilla and eat them in combination. This necessitates, unfortunately, the purchase of two huge-ass slices to get both flavor together. Ah, shucks.

Neatest online game of the year:
Mary nominates Free Rice and Crabby seconds it.

According to Snopes.com, the site first started operating on October 7. On that day only 830 grains of rice were donated. As of November 17, the number of grains of rice that had been given away was 2,457,120,420.


Quote of the year:

Mary's nomination: "Never wear anything that panics the cat – P.J. O’Rourke".

And yet again, Crabby takes the low road and nominates:

"I have a wide stance when going to the bathroom." - Idaho Senator Larry Craig.

Are there any bests or worsts of the year that you think need to be commemorated in Ethernet Eternity? Was it a good year for you... or not so much?

23 comments:

  1. It was an okay year, so far my favorite exercise has been the leisurely walk to the corner store to buy junk food and cigarettes. Yes, double bad, I know!

    I totally agree about the Free Rice game.

    And that dessert looks really good!

    My avoidance excuse would have to be the religion with the funny robe too ;)

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  2. Y'know, Crabby, I have to say that freaked-out cat picture goes well with either quote ;)

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  3. Ooh, Reb, that is double bad! But you definitely get credit for the walk. And as long as you don your Slanket, walk a mile, and eat one serving of broccoli, all is forgiven.

    Mary, I didn't even think of that but it's true. (And any other graphic for the Larry Craig quote would just be too gross).

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  4. Actually Crabby, I say the best quote of the year is from the early days of your own blog: "Slow the fuck down."
    I said it then and I'll echo it now -- best health advice ever.

    Now it you could send some of that cake my way....

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  5. Loved the best and worst list! And you just HAD to mention that game didn't you?? haha

    I tried it based on your recommendation. I guess I'm a nerd but I love it! There is something about adding that rice that makes me want to keep that window open to not lose what I've accumulated so far! Is that competive or what?!!

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  6. I gotta agree with Leah J.Utas... S.T.F.D is superb advice. Mine would be S.T.D.U (Shut The Duck Up!)

    P.S that cake looks terrifyingly good ! :)

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  7. Leah, excellent advice, and good for any year!

    Thanks Julie! And yeah, isn't Free Rice addictive? But the more you play the more you donate, so there could be a lot worse things to make a habit of.

    Weightlossguru--
    Great addition! If we'd all STFD and STFU more often, stress levels would go way down. Oh wait, you said duck, not f*ck. Is it a particularly noisy duck? :)

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  8. best quote of the year-

    "nuclear" pronounced, "nu-cu-lur" by George Bush.

    If he cannot pronounce it he should not be allowed to play with big boy toys aka wmd's.

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  9. Is that one serving of broccoli to be eaten while wearing the Slanket? And that is once a month right?

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  10. I never heard that quote from Larry Craig. What is WRONG with our government that we actually know these things about our senators? Awesome post. I am ready to let go of 2007 now that I have this closure. :) Thanks!

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  11. The Bag Lady has read this post 3 times now and can't find anything to add! Damn.
    Her year was up and down. She lost 10 lbs, then found it again. She quit smoking, then started again. She's hoping for better, if not more permanent results this year.
    But then she saw that dessert...quick, light a cigarette so the craving goes away. Might as well have a whiskey, too...sigh. Old habits die hard.

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  12. That Chocolate "suicide" cake looks freakin' amazing!!

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  13. "W00t" is a funny word to me. I never use it but it always makes me imagine the person who wrote it pumping their arm in an Arsenio Hall kind of way and saying it ten decibels louder than normal.

    Color of the year? "anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic." Oh yeah, that totally sums my year *rolling eyes*.
    (Although just saying the word "Pantone" kind of puts me in a soul-searching kind of mood.)

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  14. Mamacita--oh my goodness, if we started compiling stupid things that man has said, we'd be here until 2009! But that one always grates.

    Reb--yeah just once a month if it's a really BIG serving of broccoli!

    Cara, I agree, it IS really disgusting (but kind of amusing) that we get to know how some of our scuzzier senators use the toilet facilities.

    Bag Lady--it's a Slanket, a long walk and a serving of broccoli for you, too, young lady! We'll get you in shape in no time.

    Teena, every time I come here it makes me hungry. Damn, just when I learned to ignore the cupcakes!

    And Katieo, your description of W00t usage is classic! And may your 2008 be quite Pantone, even if it's so 2007 now.

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  15. I missed something here

    WTF is Mary? And yeah she does need a cooler name

    And Leah spot on...
    Actually Crabby, I say the best quote of the year is from the early days of your own blog: "Slow the fuck down."
    I said it then and I'll echo it now -- best health advice ever.

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  16. Talia, Mary is a who, not a what, and she's a very cool blogger who I enticed to join me over here. She's been doing a great job and is very fun to work with.

    And I like her name!

    It's Crabby who needs a cooler name but she's kind of attached to the one she has.

    I agree, Leah has the best advice of the year.

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  17. I like to think of myself as Crabby-lite: half the wit, twice the bullsh*t. Something like that, anyway.

    Though I could not agree more about needing a cooler name. I think I should put together some suggestions, maybe a straw poll, or whatever they just did in Iowa, to get the voters' opinion of what my new, improved, "cool" name should be. Hillorama, perhaps? Barakimy? (How /does/ one combine those two names? Not that I wish to imply Democratic (or Republican) leanings... ;)

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  18. No, but I'm very interested in the funny robe thing.

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  19. This place may get to be on a "best new gym" list of 2008. Have you seen this yet?

    Crazy!

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  20. Somehow I missed the whole post about the slanket and the two assed toilet, so I am glad that I went back and caught up on these essentials.

    Crabby/Mary, I think you need to do an entire post on the link that Amy (just above my comment) did. I love and hate this guy on so many levels it is amazing!

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  21. Thanks for stopping by, Therapy Doc and Amy and Holly!

    And wow, that anti-gym thing... the bits I caught seemed incredibly sexist and the whole vilifying chubbiness aspect is pretty icky. Got to give 'em points for marketing though--definitely a "distinctive" brand.

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  22. I am giggling at the fact that there is a "colour" of the year.
    I always liked woot though...

    Worst of the year?
    I would definitely put in the toilet of love as the worst of the year...
    And those peanut butter filled corn chip tube snacks I've seen advertised just look like the vilest things imaginable.
    As for fitness, (feel free to mock me now) I tried out catflexing... not possible without losing large chunks of flesh and sedating your cat first...

    Best of the year?
    Learning to run and loving it.
    Foodwise - I discovered tahini and quinoa this year. Yummy things to cook with. And the ultimate - Buying a make your own Twinkie set.
    I now have access to all manner of cakey and gooey fillings.
    Oh.
    Yeah.

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  23. wow, geosomin, what a great list of stuff. Catflexing, "peanut butter filled corn chip tube snacks," and a make your own Twinkie set--the things I learn from blog comments!

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