Xenophonic Musings from the Valley of the Idiotsyncratic

Un-employed NOT Un-inspired, Day 56

2008-09-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

Who'd guessed, me, creeping up on 2 months without a regular gig?
I have been made painfully aware of my awful time management habits in the meantime, only being marginally productive and completely wasting my daily opportunities while my son is watched by my mother-in-law. Most shameful of all is the wealth of ideas/activities that swell and swirl about my mind. Least forgivable is the notion that all of this stuff should be written down, chronicled, expressed HERE. T'would seem I've developed an aversion to the very thing that would help keep my creative side limber. This demon, this monkey upon my back who steers me to take a path of least resistance. I had such grand hopes of what could be accomplished with this 'forced sabbatical'- hell, going into it I envisioned documenting how each of my days would play out and all of the witty repartie that goes along with it. My motivation drain may be partially attributed to this eBay habit- not with the buying, but with gleeful bargain hunting and re-selling. This time-consuming, semi-buzz; while occasionally profitable, does take the place of actually CREATING anything or furthing my job quest. Oh yeah, compounding matters further is the online web design course I am currently enrolled in; this focus issue of mine has made it tedious to follow along adequately and the concept of being at one's own pace could very well be an epitaph for me. Perhaps the above title is tongue and cheek since I don't have much 'inspiration' to account for save what I may claim I have noggin-locked. The fact that I tippity-tappity rant right now may possibly be my breaking point.. we'll see..

Correspondence from a decade ago this week.. (anybody remember the ASTRO POP?)

2008-07-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

Boy, the crazy pursuits of youth tucked way back in the cozy lap of the 2nd Clinton administration!
Back in the mid-to-late 90s my calling card of sorts was the now defunct candy icon, the Astro Pop. I used to buy them by the case at Smart & Final and distribute them to friends and especially band members when I frequented live music gigs. The reaction of recipients was never neutral; handing over this token was usually met with amusement, occasionally befuddlement. The Astro Pop's sweet-sticky-cementy union was an acquired taste and quite often a childhood memory.

Despite what this charming little nostalgia piece says about an 80's design change.. it was in fact 1998 when the Astro Pop inverted the direction of it's stick-mounted candy cone and removed the wax base entirely. This prompted me to write the company; Spangler's thoughtful, detailed reply is attached below (note my way-nifty, overly-verbose email addy- Rocketmail- which was absorbed by Yahoo at 90's end). Arguably, I may have been using my correspondence as a means to suss out an Astro Pop t-shirt which did not/ever exist.

Alas- the coming of y2k.. my thirties.. the W.Bush dynasty.. marriage.. all conspired in my eventual abandonment of the Astro Pop. After a few years I became aware of it's general unavailability and eventual closure was found on the candy company's website confirming the Astro Pop's demise in 2004. Actually it was a tad chilling (for this nostalgiaphile) to come across that epitaph some 3 years after the fact. Never fails to make you want something so badly, that thing you'll never have again!
::sigh::

Nowadays I've made a lateral move of sorts.. another acquired-taste-nostalgic-confection,
Pink Popcorn, has become my occasional head-turning dispersal of choice. I should probably stock up before the inevitable happens once again?

From: Jim Knight
Subject: Astro Pop
To: "'raygun_equipped@rocketmail.com'"
Cc: WORKGROUP/DPMGR.CU/DonH@spanglercandy.com,
WORKGROUP/DPMGR.CU/Joni@spanglercandy.com

Date: Tuesday, July 28, 1998, 1:34 PM

Dear Mr. V:

Thank you for your email to Spangler Candy Company.

At Spangler Candy, we are always striving to continuously
improve our products. The following Astro Pop changes were
made:

(1) The new shape is inverted and eats better. In the
candy industry, this is known as mouthfeel and is an
important attribute to the success of candy. Note that
product will no longer slip out of your mouth, the larger
end delivers more candy (and more flavor) to your mouth at
one time.

(2) The flavor profile was improved. We changed the
flavor formula to a better flavor note and more impact at
first taste. The formula revision to slightly more
sugar/less corn syrup also helps to deliver more flavor.

(3) The stickiness was reduced. The new product has
slightly higher sugar to corn syrup ratio, therefore making
the product less sticky, and able to withstand higher
temperatures before meltdown, thus we are able to sell
product in hot regions.

(4) The paraffin wax was removed. This edible wax wax not
a problem in the U.S., but some foreign countries do not
allow it. This opens the product up for more sales in
international countries

(5) The graphics were improved. New, exciting and
consistent graphics were applied to all Astro Pops and
boxes.

This may be more information than you desired, however, all
were important facts in the re-design of the Astro Pop. The
new Astro Pop is selling very well, and we appreciate your
good suggestion to add this to our FAQ page.

We are sorry we do not have Astro Pop T-shirts available,
we will consider this for the future.

Sincerely,

SPANGLER CANDY COMPANY

JimKnight
Marketing Manager

"Commencing primary ignition.. stand by.."

2008-06-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

I'm only just now getting around to firing this puppy up.
But hey- the 'journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step' -right?
Sha-zayam!

(this is for you, Mark)