Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Results

The results, were:

1. Carls, 2. Arby's, 3. McDonalds, 4. KFC, 5. Wendy's, 6. Burger King.

Carls Jr. was the most expensive, so I guess sometimes you get what you pay for.....

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

And the winner is......

Right now, with Lent going on, a bunch of the big fast food chains are trying to push fish sandwiches on the public. (Never underestimate the greedy little minds that run corporate America). Today at work, my friend comes over to my cubicle, and tells me about how him and a bunch of his friends decided to do a fish sandwich survey. They all split up last night, and got a fish sandwich from McDonalds, Arby's, Burger King, Carl's Jr., Arctic Circle, KFC/A&W, and Wendy's. Then, they had a non-taster divide up the sandwiches into six portions. I don't know the total rankings from 1 through 6, but I do know that KFC/A&W received the #1 nod, with Arctic Circle coming in at #2.

When my friend told me about this, I thought it was both hilarious, and freakin' cool. So, of course, I wanted to be part of the madness. I convinced 3 of my co-workers to do a chicken sandwich survey with me. 3 of us would taste the sandwiches and make our assessments, and the fourth person would do the preparation of the sandwiches, to ensure anonymity.

Of course, some parameters needed to be discussed before we set out to comb the town for different chicken sandwiches. There are many different types of chicken sandwiches out there. I.e. the spicy chicken, the crispy chicken, the chicken club, etc. So, we decided that the sandwich needed to be the "standard crispy chicken" sandwich that each restaurant offered.

So, we split up and got crispy chicken sandwiches from McDonalds, Arby's, Burger King, Carl's Jr., Wendy's, and KFC/A&W.

When we arrived back at work with our assigned sandwiches, we handed them over to a girl that wouldn't be involved in the taste testing. This was necessary, as we couldn't allow our results to be skewed. She divided them up and numbered each one.

It was interesting to see how each of us went about ranking each of our test sandwiches. Some of us tasted just part of each sample, while others decided to eat the entire portion of each sample sandwich, before judging on the quality. As for myself, I ate about half of each subject sandwich, ranked each one by number, and then ate the other half later, and then ranked them again. Then, I combined the rankings on each sandwich, and averaged out the score.

Well, needless to say, some were great, while others were completely and utterly abysmal!!! Also, they ranged greatly in price and toppings. This is how they break out:

McDonalds - about $4.

Arby's - about $3

Burger King - about $3

Carl's Jr. - about $4.50

KFC/A&W. - $4.50

Wendy's - $1

Some sandwiches were laden with much more tasty characteristics, such as bacon, or a wheat bun, while others were very ordinary or "cafeteria-esque".

What's your opinion? Look over to the poll I have set up, and let me know which chicken sandwich you think you would enjoy the most.

I'll post again at the end of the poll to let you know the results from our poll.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

ADHD or Just Six?

Julie and I were talking about Sam today. A while back in a parent/teacher conference, Sam's teacher mentioned that we may want to have Sam tested for ADHD. Apparently, Sam can give his teacher "a run for her money" on occasion. So, I guess at this point Julie will have him tested.

I have a couple concerns about this. First, I think it can't hurt to get a professional's opinion on the matter, so we'll most likely have him tested. But, I worry that sometimes kids can be diagnosed with ADHD or Hyper Activity too easily. I do understand that ADHD is an issue that would need to be dealt with, but I wouldn't want Sam to have his life dramatically changed if this was just a case of Sam acting like a typical, rambunctious kid.

When I look back to when I was a kid, I can remember acting like a total dork all of the time. (Well, maybe I still do). But, I remember constantly getting booted out of primary because I couldn't be quiet or reverent. I also remember getting like 20 checks on the blackboard, one day at school. I think it's normal for kids to act out and vie for their friend’s attention. I was always doing stuff that was completely out of control, but I really don't think that I paid a price for this and that my education or learning was hampered too badly because of this behavior.

I guess we'll just have to play it by ear, and decide what we'll need to do if something does come up with the test.