For kids in the ’70s, the cartoon characters and pop stars on their metal lunch boxes were more important than the sliced apples and PB&Js inside. In fact, the coolness of your lunch box could determine your social status for the whole year. In this interview, painter and graphic designer Dee Adams explains how lunch boxes affected playground politics when she was kid, and how she puts her collection of vintage metal ones to use in a think-outside-the-lunch-box way. To learn more about Adams, visit her blog or Flickr page.

via Vintage 1970s Lunch Boxes Revisited: When Pop Culture Ruled the Playground | Collectors Weekly.

It’s about time for my annual highlights list, where I look back on my year. The trend has been to wrap up the list in early January, so as to cover everything properly. It has been a full year, no doubt.

Wow, that didn’t take long.

The News and Observer has gone to the bottom the barrel again by running yet another advertisement that misleads its readers into thinking they can get something for nothing. In spite of me calling the newspaper out earlier for the misleading “free $2” ad, the paper has continued to take money from the shady Universal Syndications company for its misleading ads.

As with the $2 bill ad, there are plenty of consumer complaints about this advertisement. One only has to check the websites of Consumer Reports and the Better Business Bureau to find them. Bloggers have documented the issues with these ads. Consumer Affairs has covered them. The Columbus Dispatch dig deeper into the story, interviewing the poor people who were duped by the deal:
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It’s been a long and busy day for me. Travis had his last tennis lesson tonight: a two-hour session that began at 9. I spent most of that time playing tennis against Gabrielle, the parent of another student. When Travis complained about not feeling well, we headed for the car. There he had a change in heart and returned to his lesson, at which time I began to play tennis with Reid Serozi.
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My feelings for health insurance companies are about as low as they can get. I’ve long been disgusted by their arbitrary rate hikes and discriminatory pricing. So imagine my joy when we received a hefty refund from BCBS for their having overcharged us in the past. The North Carolina Department of Insurance discovered the overcharging and demanded BCBS refund the money to its customers.

I wonder what other hidden charges insurance companies are padding their revenues with? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this wasn’t the only case of these companies blatantly gouging the public.

Wow, what a week. Working in sales this time of year is keeping me busy, with at least two big proposals going on simultaneously. I’ve been gathering (and disseminating) as much info as I can about the burglars in the neighborhood. And I’ve had meetings and parties to go to, too.

Last night I worked feverishly at the end of my work day to fix some networking issues. Then Travis and I spent some time putting our Christmas tree together. We had to drop what we were doing to head over to the Conn PTA holiday party (which was great fun, I might add). I left early from the party to attend the New Bern Avenue Corridor Study Workshop at Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church. Returning home around 8:30, I had more networking issues to work out so that Kelly could make a phone call to Guam for her work.

Tomorrow promises to be busy, too, but fun things. My big-ticket things to do include taking Travis for a bonus two-hour tennis lesson, during which I plan to play a few matches of tennis myself. Then I head up to north Raleigh to help with trash pick-up on portion of Baileywick Road adopted in honor of my friend Gerry Reid. I scoot from there over to Brier Creek where we bought dining room furniture Wednesday night. I will be picking up the last of the furniture from the seller and hauling it back home.

Sure, I’ve got a lot going on but life is pretty darn good. Work is busy but it’s all good. I am very lucky to be where I am, without a doubt.