$4.99 Twenty Piece McNuggets...WHY?

Half of my 20-piece order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, it's hard to believe but I turned 30 this year! Determined to make this a year of smart decisions I made a goal to start eating healthier and preparing more meals at home. As you can see from the photo above I've run into some trouble--$4.99 Twenty-piece McNuggets are ruining my life!

For some reason I've always had a special place in my heart for McNuggets. The tasty, "golden and juicy, all white meat" morsels have an iconic taste that is hard to beat. I have never been totally sure of what I'm eating when I pop one of these nuggets into my mouth and bite down. It has a texture similar to chicken; however, the consistency of the "all white meat" center doesn't break apart like any "real" chicken I've ever encountered. Nevertheless, I can't let a little thing like that ruin my appreciation for a savory staple of American diet.

So, on to my dilemma. My entire adult life I have always been satiated with a ten-piece box of nuggets. I have never even considered buying a twenty-piece. But McDonald's--in their marketing genius--has decided to flex their "we're the best value in town" muscle once again and lower the twenty-piece McNugget price from approximately $7 to the unbelievable, bargain-basement price of $4.99 (25 cents/nugget)! Of course, the ten-piece price remains $3.69 (37 cents/nugget). Being one to appreciate a bargain I can't seem to bring myself to buy the 10 piece! I always start out with the best intentions--rationalizing the logic of buying a twenty-piece meal by reasoning that I can stow one box away in the fridge and make two meals out of my purchase. It sounds like a good plan, but guess what? You guessed it...the second the scent of these golden devils hits my nostrils I just dig in and, before I know what happened, ALL TWENTY NUGGETS HAVE VANISHED!

I could go into a self-loathing rant about my lack of self control but I'm a grown man now and self-loathing is no longer an option. I need a solution to my little problem. I have determined to buck my value-conscious, cheapskate mindset and pay 37 cents/nugget with the ten-piece. McDonald's! Why must you make my life so difficult!?

Attempting to blog half asleep...

It will be a miracle if this post makes any sense because I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open!
Let's see, Sunday afternoon I dropped Kira off at the airport. I was sad to see her go :-( She does such a great job with reading to the kids and we were having a lot of fun working together. Oh, wait...back up...Saturday I had to go to a doctor because I had this bizarre rash on the back of my head. It was really gross...EWWW! Anyway, the doctor said it was some kind of fungus so he told me to go to the pharmacy and get some anti fungal cream and three pills to be taken every five days. By the way. I showed up at the doctor's office at 4PM on a Sat., waited 5 mins to be seen (by an actual Dr.) and paid $6 for the consultation. The total cost of the drugs at the pharmacy was about $15. And that was without ANY insurance. Well, I took the first pill Sat. evening and by that night I started feeling a little sick. By Sun. morning I was feeling worse with a headache and stuff. To make a long story short I finally feel better today and the fungal infection is completely gone! Tomorrow I'm gonna ask the Dr. if it's necessary to take the two remaining pills.
So, back to Sunday...is this blog making ANY sense? After I dropped Kira off at the airport I rented a car to transport some encyclopedias for the libraries in Salamá. The Rotary Club was cool enough to offer Books for a Better World some space on their shipping container so we shipped the heaviest boxes we could find which resulted in a savings of about $800 in shipping! I had originally planned on hiring a driver to deliver the books to Salamá from Guatemala City (actually Amatitlán) but after I got a couple quotes it seemed like a better idea to just rent a car and do it myself. So I rented a little Toyota Yaris for $38/day instead of paying a driver about $400. Plus I'll have the car to make deliveries. It works out.
So, back to Sunday...I got the rental car and headed to Barcenás to see my friends from la Família Gonzalez Rosales. It was so nice to see them again! For a second I forgot that I was feeling sick but soon I had to give in and go straight to bed. I had a horrible fever all night.
Monday I called my friend (Mandy Vasquez) and we went to lunch along with my friend Ulises Gonzalez. We dined in style at McDonald's. It was really fun to hang out. We dropped Mandy off at work (Telgua...the phone company) and then Ulises and I went to see Hancock at the movie theater. We timed it so I could pick Gilda (Ulises' sister) from work and get back to their house.
Oh, by the way, I wasn't even supposed to be in Guatemala City on Monday (yesterday) because the Rotary Club container was going to arrive for me to take the encyclopedias but it didn't arrive until today (Tuesday). So, today I met up with the Rotary people and we unloaded a huge container of dental equipment. As luck would have it, the boxes with the encyclopedias were the last to come off the truck so I didn't get out of Guatemala City until 4PM. I wish I could have been more help with the unloading but I am so weak from being sick. The good news is that I got the encyclopedias and I'm so thankful to the Rotary Club for all of their help!
I made the trip back to Salamá and tomorrow I'm going to deliver to three schools in a rural area called Cubulco.
Oh, when I got to Salamá I showed Mily (school teacher/local volunteer) the encyclopedias and she was really excited about them. They are really nice with color pictures and plenty of information about a lot of topics. I think they will come in really handy here because a lot of kids don't have access to the internet or other information sources. I was happy to see Mily so excited. She helps us a ton and it's good to see her enthusiasm!