Designer Whey
Originally uploaded by rustedrobot.

Had a somewhat humorous moment at Trader Joe’s recently. As I’ve written here previously, once or twice a week I mix up a smoothie for breakfast. The ingredients that are mainstays in the smoothie are a banana, milk, orange juice and vanilla protein powder. That never changes. I then rotate various kinds of frozen fruit into each smoothie to vary the taste – either peaches, strawberries, pineapples, or mixed berries.

So during my last trip to Trader Joe’s, I approached the protein powder section, only to find that the Trader Joe’s brand was gone, replaced by something a dollar more expensive, called “Designer Whey.” I don’t necessarily care about the extra dollar, but I did seek out a TJ’s crew member to find out what happened to their own protein powder, because I really liked the taste of it and didn’t so much like the idea of dumping $9.99 on a new kind that I might not like. Alas, I had no choice. TJ’s brand is coming back, but not for a couple of months. Designer Whey, here I come.

The thing is, I have no idea what makes Designer Whey any different. If it’s to be thought of the same way as the clothing industry, the term “designer” would indicate that it some kind of high-quality, specialized whey protein. Whaaa? It that even possible? Whatever. It doesn’t taste that bad, but I still prefer the TJ’s brand, probably out of habit alone.

Once a week the Boston Globe runs a little section in their Sidekick insert where a local Boston celebrity lets the Globe take a look at their IPod. The Globe puts it on shuffle and then lists the first 10 songs that came on the Ipod. This is delicious reading. Most people have pretty standard taste in music, so the lists don’t always prove to be terribly interesting, but it’s still always fun to read.

Here’s my first ten songs on shuffle from this morning:

U2 – “Surrender” (1983)
Red Kross – “Follow The Leader” (1997)
John Lennon – “God” (1970)
Dramarama – “Classic Rot” (1991)
Elf Power – “All The World Is Waiting” (2006)
Van Morrison – “Redwood Tree” (1972)
Elliot Smith – “Waltz #2” (1998)
Margaret & The Nuclear So & So’s – “Quiet as a Mouse” (2006)
Bruce Springsteen – “If I Was The Priest” (1972)
Spain – “Our Love Is Gonna Live Forever” (2005)

List yours if you want.