Would you like Fries with that? (Partial Credit to Katelyn Callahan and Raymond Dalton, with thoughts by Tracy Kim)

You know what really grinds my gears?

How many of you have recently been to McDonald's or Burger King recently? First of all, if you have, then shame on you! Fast food is bad for you, so just avoid it! But obviously, it is there, and it is food (hopefully), so I guess you should eat it. But aside from that, have you seen your prices and deals available to you? I mean, 99 cents for a double cheeseburger at Burger King, 49 and 59 cents for hamburgers and cheeseburgers at McDonalds, and lots of tacos for cheap at Taco Bell. Those are great deals!

NOT!

Okay, so the burgers and such are nice and cheap, but what if you want to buy a drink? Do you know how much a drink costs now? If you don't, then go to Burger King, and just buy a drink. You will certainly be shocked. And if you want another thrill, when they ask you if you'd like some fries, just say sure. Again, the cost is far disproportionate to what it should be.

Okay, so let's analyze this. A burger. Well it is meat, at least we hope so. It comes from a cow. The cost of raising a cow and all of the processes from farm to plate is somewhat expensive, I'd say. Let's not forget the wheat for bread, tomatoes, pickles, and whatever condiments. All of that is for 99 cents.

Now let us look at a soft drink. It's just syrup and soda water. And for a medium drink, it's roughly $1.50. Okay, the syrup for a drink and the soda water alone may cost about 5 cents. That right there is practically, not mathematically, a $1.50 profit. Oops, I did forget the cost of that expensive paper cup, plastic lid, and extremely expensive straw. Still, it's a complete ripoff, but if you are going to eat something, it is customary to drink something with it.

And now let's take a look at the French fries. They typically consist of a potato, maybe Idahoan or Russet. They are yanked from the ground by a tractor, and then they are peeled, run through a slicer, and ta-da: French fries. At the restaurant, they pull the bag out of the freezer, put it in the fryalator, and then served. Labor and production alone may not even surpass 50 cents, but yet it costs nearly $2 for a medium or large fry. Really, like I really want to pay that much! But it's a meal, so I guess I should get the side and waste my money away to nothing.

So why is this? Why do we just pay so much money for something that costs next to nothing? Ladies and gentlemen, that is capitalism. The restaurant wants you to buy, so they put competitive prices on the main course, i.e. the burger. So for bang for your buck, you choose which restaurant to go to. And once you're there, you are stuck there, and you are forced to buy their drinks and fries. It's just like a movie theatre.

We can put it this way. In America, you buy hamburger. In Soviet Russia, hamburger buys you. Although that second phrase seems to apply better to us.

I want to thank Katelyn Callahan for the idea of fast food, Raymond Dalton for this idea on the American economic system, and my mom for this overall idea. I like this idea of viewer-choice selections. If you do have any ideas for new blog posts, please let me know. Post a comment or find me on Facebook, and I will try and post some more posts.

And that is what really grinds my gears.

What an Itch!!

You know what really grinds my gears?

Have you ever been writing an essay or paper for class or something? Do you ever get into the groove of writing the paper and you just scribble away? Well if so, comgratulations! Now have you ever been mid-sentence...and your nose itched?

Now you have a dilemma. Do you choose to finish your sentence, and suffer through the pain of your itchy nose? Do you stop writing to scratch your nose, and risk the possibility of losing your thought? Do you multitask, and write and scratch at the same time, but risk having your paper slide and ink smearing your paper? What do you do?

Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of society's greatest problems to date, even surpassing health care. An itchy nose is an unhappy nose, and an unfinished thought is not complete (duh). I'm sure you have experienced the same thing as well. I have come to realize that our noses just itch at the most inopportune times.

You have an essay to write...your nose itches in the middle of a sentence. You are having a conversation with somebody or a group...your nose itches, and you are not going to scratch it because it looks like you're picking your nose. You have to take a picture...your nose itches, and you get a lovely snapshot of your finger near your nose. You are cooking and preping some food...and your nose, once again, itches, and food contamination is very bad.

I beseech the inventors of the world to work on some invention or pill that will prevent nose-itching so we don't have to scratch our nose in neither an embarrassing situation nor a thoughtful project. One of these days, we will solve this problem, and dilemma no more.

And just to let you know, I only had to scratch my nose twice during the creation of this post.

And that's what really grinds my gears.

Cameron