Protein Shakes

Let me just start with something that was not planned in my mind for this entry- I am sick and tired of trying to figure out whether words are spelled with "...ie..." or "...ei..." I am not sure if at 1 point in my life I just memorized them individually- I probably did, but it drives me crazy that there is no system. For instance, in the word protein, the EI combo makes a long E sound, like in teeth. But in the word shriek, it is an IE combo that produces the long E sound, like in cheese. I would have appreciated it, if whoever made these decisions would have been more scientific, if you will, and made some kind of a system. It is a little annoying not knowing how to spell words in my own language. Actually, I don't care if I know how to spell the words, I just want there to be a system, so when I come across a word like this, I know what to write. AAAAAnoying. At least in German EI makes one sound, and IE makes another, always. Unless the word is foreign, like French or some other tongue.

Okay now that I wrote that, I forget why this was called protein shakes. So give me a few. While I am thinking, I guess I can write about protein shakes, and protein bars. I recently went on clifbar.com to see about ordering the protein build choco mint bars en bulk, thinking that ordering directly from the producer would save some money. I was used to the 1$ or 1.3$ of Trader Joes for these little guys, but found a box of 12 would cost 21 USD. maybe that is the same as the 1.30 each, but still- straight from the manufacturer, and en bulk, come on fellas. It's all ball bearings these days. Stupid monkeys.

Protein bars here have about as much protein as a tigers milk, which is not a lot, and they are way too expensive, even before converting it to USD. And let me tell you about the protein powder. The word for powder by the way is Pulver. I found that interesting because of our word pulverize, and the many versions of it. With the writing on most labels in a foreign tongue, I had come to believe that no one here was worried about the amount of protein in the things they eat or drink because I figured the word would be similar enough to identify, as are a lot of scientific type words. Finally I read the labels of a bunch of different protein powder types and brands, and had come to believe they were selling egg-white protein here. Seemed weird, but then I figured out the word for protein in German is Eiweiss. Egg white. What a pain in the ass. Funny translation though.

When I thought about the etymology of the German word, I imagined a land where their sole source of protein must have been eggs, or egg whites rather. Then my logic caught up with my imagination and realized they must have had chickens, so why not call protein chicken. Then I thought maybe it was more sustainable to use the chickens for eggs mostly until the end, when they ate them. But seriously, they must have had a lot of other animals here, so my argument held no sound. I guess that would be like the Japanese calling protein fish. Or maybe tofu. Because at least then we know that is all they had. Or, were there animals in Japan?

I get most of my lead from paint chips, so I think I am going to start calling lead 'paint chips'. "Hey, Jimmy, can I borrow your pencil? Mine ran out of paint chips. Thanks."

I guess I never got to protein shakes or powder, maybe next time. I guess the eternal question still stands, what came first, the egg or the chicken.

I'll take the latter.