Halloween candy may save your life

Just a few weeks ago stores were pulling spinach off the shelves following an outbreak of nearly 200 cases of E coli tied to the sneaky vegetable.

Now, for the second time in just a few weeks, we're being warned that other so-called produce may be harmful to our health. This time lettuce is the culprit and salmonella is its disease of choice.

I hate to say I told you so but c'mon, I totally told you so. All of this healthful eating had to catch up with you at some point.

I've long held the theory that things like fruits and vegetables can be harmful. Thankfully my parents were mindful of that and never exposed me to such dangers growing up. I never had to worry about happening upon carrots or broccoli when dining at such fine establishments as McDonalds and 7-Eleven.

Rewind to Thanksgiving 2002. Rich challenged me to eat broccoli, enticing me with promises of an enhanced Hanukkah gift. And what happened a year later? Yep, I got cancer. Before broccoli: No cancer. After broccoli: Cancer.

I'm no doctor but you can't argue with that kind of scientific logic.

So today, for your health's sake, please gorge yourself on Halloween treats. Skittles and cupcakes have never steered me wrong before.

Breast cancer envy

As everyone knows by now, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The pink ribbons are everywhere. Even the packaging for Campbell's Soup has gone pink for the month.

Now this is a really delicate issue so I'm going to try to be as careful as I can in what I have to say, but I do believe breast cancer has gone a bit too commercial.

Pink ribbons and clothing have become a fashion statement as opposed to a real statement. My mom was even able to buy a Breast Cancer Awareness labradoodle at Macy's last week. The stuffed animal, representing the epitome of trendiness in canines, came complete with a pink bandana and a pink ribbon stamped on its paw. Sure it's cute, but what does it really mean?

Cancer is not about ribbons, cute pieces of jewelry, or pink shoelaces. It's certainly not about stuffed animals. It's a serious, life-changing disease, and I can only hope that the corporations who purport to promote awareness understand that.

I have to ask myself whether I would feel the same way if I saw this commercialism happening to Colorectal Cancer, which, by the way, has its awareness month in March. Maybe I'm just jealous. Maybe I just wish that colon cancer could have the appeal of breast cancer. Would I get a kick out of seeing my very own disease go pop culture? I just don't know.

Please understand that I mean no offense to anyone who has suffered through breast cancer, either personally or through a loved one. As I hope everyone knows, I'm as sympathetic as they come when we're talking cancer. But I'm not so sympathetic when important causes lose their meaning when processed for mass consumption.

To be fair, I do wear a yellow Livestrong bracelet which some people see as cancer-gone-trendy. It reminds me of what I've been through. If the breast cancer merchandise has a similar meaning for those who purchase and/or wear it, then I have no complaints. But if it's adorned because that's what the cool kids are wearing, it's a whole different story.

Alisa meets Sin City

While I've been requested to provide a Las Vegas wrap-up edition of the Recovering Journalist, I'm finding it somewhat difficult to do so. As one of the last people in the world to visit Sin City, it's not exactly easy to make any unique or insightful comments.

Whatever I have to say has likely been said before. You've all taken the same pictures that I took, been harassed by the same porn peddlers on the Strip, and breathed the same secondhand smoke. You took the same gondola ride at the Venetian, saw the same water shows in front of the Bellagio, and dined at the same buffets.

That's because everything in Vegas is perfectly scripted and designed to grab your attention and preferably, your cash. It's total sensory overload times 100.

I do have to admit that I was taken aback by the fact that everything in Vegas is artificial -- every tree, every body of water, and pretty much all of the women too.

Over on the east coast our trees are naturally occurring for the most part. Vegas has trees too but they've all been put there in recent years and spaced just-so.

In a town where everyone is on vacation, the city's promotions office has done a nice job of convincing you to suspend any sense of reality (read: fiscal responsibility) and let loose. I tend not to be very good at that but I tried.

I enjoyed a $22 alcoholic concotion in a large purple tube. We ordered room service. I used two Vegas ATMs, with service charges of $4 a pop. This is from the girl who has been known to comparison shop before buying a pack of gum. So how's that for suspending reality?

To be honest, we had a really good time and will likely be planning a trip back, as long as I can be guaranteed a plasma tv in my bathroom again.

I've become one of them

I took a step this week in joining the 21st century. I finally bought an Ipod.

I figured it was time. I mean hell, even the Luddite Society made mock of me in its most recent podcast.

And in addition to that (which didn't really happen), I have a five-hour plane ride to Las Vegas this weekend aboard Southwest Air, where they offer cheerful flight attendants in lieu of in-flight entertainment. You all know I don't do cheerful.

(Side note: Don't even think of robbing my house while I'm gone this week. We have a top-notch security system complete with sensors and alarms and crap. Even more threatening is that my dad will be there, in his underwear, trying to figure out how to work the Tivo.)

Anyway, Apple recently released its new generation of Ipods so I decided I'd finally cave. They claim there are all kinds of new and improved features on this generation of Ipods. I opted to keep it simple and went for the 4GB Ipod Nano. It's silver and very cute.

As much as I'd like to write more right now, I need to go load more music onto my Ipod. So far I just have a bunch of Barenaked Ladies stuff and several Broadway musical soundtracks and I will not have Billy Joel feeling left out.