The feeling of fall is back in the air. Kids are all settled into a new school year, and leaves are beginning to change color and fall. Football season is firmly upon us, with tailgaters eating hot dogs, and hot chocolate. Parents are gearing up for Halloween and even some are already planning for Thanksgiving. I love the fall, and with all of its wonderful tastes and smells, holidays and rituals it is no wonder why.
But … while all of the afore mentioned things are wonderful, they are not the main reason I love the fall. No, I love the fall for one reason alone, TV.

I know it sounds bad that a teacher, of all people, is such a TV junkie, but my friends it is true. I love TV as much as I loathe Bottom Milk.
The new season brings so much promise. A chance to spend time again with old friends like Betty, Grissom, and Dexter as returning shows come back with new episodes. A chance to meet new friends, Detective Cruise, Dan, Nick, and Chuck as networks and cable channels alike bring out their newest stars.

When you love TV, like I do, you get connected to the show and its actors. So much so that when a favorite show goes off the air, you are heartbroken (sniff, I miss Veronica Mars). If you loved a show enough you are excited when actors from said show appear in other shows. Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) will be joining the Heroes cast this season and I can’t wait! Nathan Fillion (Mal, from Firefly) is on Desperate Housewives, and so on.
Many times you give a new show a chance because of who is in it. Peter Krause (Nathan from six feet under) is in a new show called Dirty Sexy Money. Admittedly, a dumb title, but Peter was enough of a draw for me to tune in and give the show a chance. This is the same reason that Moonlight (Kevin Wiseman, and Jason Dohring), Life (Damian Lewis), Pushing Daisies (Kristen Chenoweth), Big Shots (Michael Vartan) and Gossip Girl (Voice over Kristen Bell) made it onto my DVR. Some of these shows will not last the season. Moonlight is tittering toward demise…. Too much like Angel (a beloved show) with out enough snap of its own to carry it.
Sometimes a new shows comes along, and I give it a chance because of one of the cast members, only to discover I don’t know how I lived with out it.  This is true for me in the case of last years new Showtime show Dexter. This one would star Michael c. Hall, also of Six feet cred, AND Julie Benz who played Darla on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I was excited to see stuffy “David” and wild “Darla” together in a show that cast them in COMPLETELY different characters. Dexter is nothing like David, and Rita is the complete opposite of Darla. AND I LOVE IT. Right now Dexter is the best thing on television. That statement from a die hard LOST fan means something.
Right now my poor DVR is sweating under the amount of hard labor it endures each week to tackle my long list of new episodes. Chuck, Heroes, Dirty,Sexy,Money; Pushing Daisies, Big Shots, Gossip Girl, Life, Bionic Woman, Ugly Betty, CSI, Journeyman, Moonlight, Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Cold Case, Without A trace, Dexter, Reaper… and I am sure I am forgetting a few. Some shows might get cut by the network due to ratings, like last years Studio 60 (Bradley Whitford.. yum!), others might continue in the quest for success, but will fall off of my radar, like the previously mentioned Moonlight.
The good news for a TV junkie like me, is the fact that cable channels, and even some networks, have realized that the TV junkie needs new shows all year round. Channels like Sci-fi have awesome shows like Battle Star Galactica, and USA kept me entertained this summer with Burn Notice (With Bruce Campbell, how can you go wrong!?) These shows keep me from going through complete withdraw during the summer while all my closest friends are on hiatus. So, laugh at me, shake your head if you will… but I have to go, my show is about to start.

I was getting ready for work the other day when I heard the voice of one Matt Lauer, Today Show Anchor, lilt from my room stating that we all needed to “Think before we Pink”.
As I often find myself thinking while watching the Today Show,
I said aloud, “What the hell is Lauer talking about now?”
I walked into the bedroom to watch a story about how much money is actually given to Breast Cancer Research when we purchase pink items. Okay Lauer, I thought, you have my attention.
The story went on to talk about a project of the Brest Cancer Action Group called “think before you pink”.
This campaign was launched in 2002 in response to the overwhelming amount of products that were pink or touting the pink ribbon. The campaign calls for more transparency and accountability by companies that take part in breast cancer fundraising, and encourages consumers to ask critical questions about pink ribbon promotions.

The report gave examples, the lids of yogurt containers; pink M&M’s, Tic-Tacs, nail files, lipstick, etc. The one that really caught my attention and gave me pause was the KitchenAid stand mixer.
I have one of these wonderful kitchen appliances, and I love it. Mine was a Christmas gift from my mom several years ago. My mixer is not a pink one, but I have always said that if I hadn’t been given my mixer as a gift, but was to buy one, I would choose a pink one.
Now, I am not so sure.
Each time a pink stand mixer made by KitchenAid is purchased; the company gives fifty dollars to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. WOW! A WHOLE FIFTY BUCKS! Out of the $399.00 it costs to buy one.
Part of me thinks, that if people are going to buy a mixer anyway, why not have some (even if it is a miniscule amount) go toward something worthy. Another part of me, feels that one would be better off to just send the fifty dollars to the foundation, and save myself the other $349.00…. hence my mixed (forgive the pun) feelings.
It is frustrating that so many of the pink products are aimed at women, and we buy into it thinking, we are getting our cake and eating it too. An impossibility that we all must pay more attention to.

So on the advice of Matt Lauer (something I rarely follow) I checked out the website put forth by the ‘TBYP’ campaign to see who else may be scamming us into purchasing their product for a good cause.

Some things listed were as lame as the 50 out of 400 deal with the mixer. Others weren’t so bad. For example the Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products brand of Quilted Northern Ultra toilet paper will donate 50 cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation for every proof of purchase collected and mailed in from specially marked pink ribbon packages of Quilted Northern Ultra, up to a maximum of $500,000.

The Price for consumers is $2.99 (and up depending on how much TP you buy at once) plus the postage. Not really a bad deal. You the consumer have to put a little work into it, but not much more than what you would have to do to give the money directly to the foundation and skip the toilet paper purchase.

There were several other companies who set up their donation like this one. Consumers purchase an item, and mail in a UPC, or lid and the company turns around and donates the money.

So in the end, am I any less “mixed” up about this donation to a good cause through purchase of a product?  Not really. I still believe that if the consumer wants to buy a $399.00 mixer, why not buy the pink one and help a good cause in the process.
However… why is it that a company that can make a product so well that is worth the $399.00 dollars to buy it, can’t give more than fifty dollars?

Check it out for yourself:
http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/Pages/ParadeOfPink.html

Maybe I am way off in my feelings on this; maybe I should just shut up and be happy that some companies care enough to even donate any money to the cause…. And maybe if we point it out, someone in those caring companies will say, “ hey why are we only giving 12% (forgive my rough math) of the pink profit, maybe next year we can give 20.. or 25.. or even 50% that way more money goes to the cause, maybe finding a cure sooner, and then they won‘t need our money and we can have it all to ourselves… or maybe give it to another worthy cause….

Well a girl can dream can’t she?