Baby Carrots, Cingular Still Sucks, NBC in 07-08, and Brett Favre, Meet Terrell Owens

- (From Consumerist) Did you know that baby carrots are nothing more than whittled-down carrots? Apparently, the inventor of the baby carrot, Mike Yurosek, stumbled upon the idea while mulling over what to do with tons and tons of carrot culls--carrots that are deformed, twisted, or otherwise unsuitable to sell. With an industrial green-bean cutter and an industrial potato peeler, Yurosek created the baby carrot that we enjoy with dip, peanut butter, or plain out of a bag (all of which I enjoy).

And yes, I used to think that baby carrots were a different species of carrot than a "normal" carrot.

- (Also from Consumerist) Cingular still sucks, it appears. A customer had his Blackjack replaced with warranty replacement. Unfortunately, Cingular/AT&T never received the phone, and wants either the phone back or MSRP ($349.99). It seems that Cingular promised a refund, then reneged, then offered to charge the customer for the phone, only to get the money back in two months. While I can understand the customer's anger with Cingular for providing contradictory information, how can you NOT ship a new cell phone--defective or not--without tracking information and/or insurance?

- NBC's TV schedule for 2007-2008 has been released, and The Office has been canceled! (EDITED 5/17: Link added)

(Just kidding, Hank.)

This quote from the article, however, does alarm me:

The network took a risk by keeping its Thursday night comedy lineup intact. NBC has drawn strong critical praise but few viewers for shows like "30 Rock" and "The Office," leaving the network faltering on a night it once dominated.

I was aware that The Office didn't draw as strongly as I would expect a show that good to draw. I have to wonder, though, how much longer NBC will put up with their Thursday night ratings. I'm hoping this is a case, simply, of other networks dominating Thursdays, and not because shows NBC's Thursday night shows are actually detracting viewers.

I can't stomach the possibility, slim as it may be, of The Office being canceled in the near future.

(Off topic: My mom and nephew are staying here again. My nephew is already driving me insane; it seems that he somehow got his hands on a spindle of DVD+Rs--some of which have data written on them already--and emptied the whole thing. Anyone want some "like new" DVD+Rs?)

Warning: The following topic may contain sports-like substances.

- Brett Favre continues to speak, and I'm really getting tired of it. In his latest whine, Brat Favre (typo intentional) insisted that he never "wanted to be traded" from the Packers, despite speculation to the contrary. I don't have a problem with him insisting that he never wanted to be traded, but he apparently did have his agent issue a trade demand a month prior. In response to this, Favre claimed, "sometimes when I get frustrated, I let my emotions got the better of me." What? No claim that someone took your comments out of context? Weren't you going to deny the comments for months, and then mention, right before the season starts, that you had "conversations" with the front office?

Enjoy an uneventful 8-8 season, Brett. I look forward to hearing you waver over your future once your team gets eliminated from post-season contention.

- Terrell Owens REALLY needs to shut up. In T.O.'s latest outburst, the temperamental wide receiver claimed that he got absolutely "nothing" out of his one season with former Cowboys' coach, Bill Parcells. Easily the best part of the article:

Parcells isn't missing Owens either.

In a New York Daily News column published over the weekend, Parcells said the Cowboys signing Owens last year "was not my decision. I had to do the best I could with him, which is what I tried to do."

Owens said it doesn't matter what Parcells is saying now, and that it doesn't bother him.

"It's funny, people can say a lot of things when they're gone," T.O. said. "It's really not surprising, but why would he say it now? I'm pretty sure you guys asked him that question before."

Clearly T.O. forgot about what he said about one Donovan McNabb, even after T.O. got left on the doorsteps of the Cowboys. Let's see how long T.O. goes before he has something else to say about Parcells. I'll give it five days before he has the need to drop another bomb on Parcells.

(By the way, is it bad to wish a big hit on T.O. every time he comes up the middle of the field to make a catch?)

Somehow, someway, I hope that Brett Favre and Terrell Owens end up as teammates next year. Maybe T.O. will drive QB Tony Romo insane, causing Romo to quit the NFL and play in Canada. Maybe Favre will suck again (hell, this is pretty much a certainty, isn't it?), and the Packers, as a gesture of good will, ship him off to the Cowboys. Who would win that attention-whoring Royal Rumble?

Somehow, someway, this MUST happen!