To Kill a Mockingbird

I had the book To Kill A Mockingbird on my shelf at home during all my growing up years, and I never read it. I finally picked it up yesterday, and didn't put it down until I finished it late last night. It is definitely a classic, deserving of all the accolades... but I felt like I knew the plot already. I think I've seen at least 3 or 4 movies with suspiciously similar plots, as well as different TV shows and maybe even other books that borrowed generously from it.

Some additional observations:

• I am surprised that I have never heard the name Atticus Finch before. He is such an iconic figure, in such a famous book, I would have expected to know the name. But maybe I had heard it before without noticing, like when you learn a new word in a foreign language and all of a sudden you start hearing the word all over and you realize that you've heard the word quite often but just never knew it before.
  
• If you were in a high school English class, and you had to answer the question "Who is the Mockingbird?" I think you could go with just about any of the main characters. Although Scout identifies Boo Radley explicitly, and Tom is the other obvious one, you could also make a case for Atticus, Jem, Scout, and even Gill.
  
• It's amazing that the author, Nelle Harper Lee, only published one book. Talk about batting 1000.
  
• I really hate racists. I think we should put them in their own schools and make them eat at their own lunch counters.
  
• I need to ban myself from reading books, it takes up too much time.
  

The Last Pan Pizza

When I was in high school one of my favorite foods was Pizza Hut Meat Lovers Pizza, on the "Pan" style crust. In recent years, however, I haven't had any Pizza Hut pizza, because I've become somewhat OCD about overly greasy foods. I don't eat Big Macs and various other greasy foods anymore either.

Today in my junk mail I got a pizza hut flyer, and they were offering that deal for any pizza, any size, any crust, any toppings for $10. I thought, "Hmmm... maybe I'll give it another try." So after my ultimate game I called up and ordered one. I purposely got the Pan style crust, just to challenge my OCD-ness and see if I could handle it.

The guy on the phone asked what toppings I wanted. I said "All except anchovies." Well it turns out they don't even have anchovies anymore. What's the world coming to, when a man can't get anchovies on his pizza? Not that I wanted them, they're really disgusting, but it just seems like I should be able to get them if I want them, right? Anyway, I asked for everything, but as he was going through the list I said no to Italian snausages, mushrooms, bacon, and tomatoes. So what I ended up with was pepperoni, ham, green peppers, onions, pineapple, beef, chicken, black olives, jalapenos, and extra cheese. (By the way, who had the bright idea to use red onions? I'm sure they're just trying to be more colorful, but to me red onions taste like white onions with a strip of purple scotch tape taped on them.)

When the pizza showed up, it was pretty heavy with toppings... and grease. Way more Supreme than a Supreme. I couldn't even eat it with my hands, I had to use a knife and fork. It was pretty good, but WAY too greasy. I ate a few pieces anyway, but I think that's the last time I'll ever have the Pan style crust. It's just too much.

Adios, Pan pizza, we had a good run.